"This framework is not compatible," Tony stated, typing away with Zuchino at the computer. The motion sensors had been triggered, so they knew that Steve was back, likely with those blasted twins, and they were trying their absolute best to get everything in before anything happened.
"The genetic coding tower's at ninety-seven percent," Bruce stated before turning back to the duo. "You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."
That's when Steve and the twins appeared in the doorway, anger strewn across his face as he looked at the trio. "I'm gonna say this once."
"How about 'nonce?'" Tony fired back, not even looking up from the computer as Zuchino stepped away from the computer.
"Shut it down!"
"Nope, not gonna happen," Tony stated.
"You don't know what you're doing."
"And how do we know you do?" Zuchino immediately fired back, gesturing to the twins. "What the fuck are those two doing here?"
"I know you're angry." Wanda stepped forward, her voice low and apologetic. It didn't work.
She was immediately stopped by the Saiyan raising his arm, a red ball of ki crackling to life aimed directly at her while he quickly transformed into a Super Saiyan. "Oh, I'm way past angry. I could disintegrate you right now before your brother even moves a muscle."
Steve moved in front of her, looking Zuchino directly in the eyes and furiously snarled, "Zuchino, after everything that's happened…"
"And this time is different, Steve! I'm sure about that." Zuchino cut him off, not moving from his original stance before looking at his friend. "Now move."
"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda fired back, stepping out from behind Steve.
"This isn't a game…" Steve stated before a blue blur practically knocked Zuchino to the side and into the wall, stunning him long enough for Pierto to make several laps around the cradle, ripping out wires and smashing electronic equipment. He stood up and growled as Pierto standing in front of him, shrugging innocently and asking, "No, no. Go on. You were saying?"
There was a gunshot and almost immediately, Pierto fell through the glass down to the lower level with Clint.
"Pietro!" Wanda ran forward next to the hole. The computer alert popped up, reading "Power Loss Critical!"
"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony stated as Steve looked at the Saiyan and threw his shield towards the servers. But it quickly flew back towards him, redirected by Zuchino's telekinesis, with enough power to send the super-soldier flying backward into the glass wall.
Wanda tried to move, but Bruce came immediately behind her with a knife to her throat. "Go ahead, piss me off."
Steve angrily stood and walked up to the Saiyan to throw a punch that connected with his cheek…and did little to affect the alien warrior's annoyed glare. The Saiyan immediately summoned a kiai that forced Steve backward again. "I can do this all day, Steve." That's when Wanda released a pulse around her body and fire the red energy into Bruce's chest, thrusting him backward. She turned her eyes to the Saiyan, whose aura reappeared as he walked forward.
Just before they could reach each other, Thor suddenly appeared. Everyone could only watch in shock as he hopped on top of the cradle and lifted his hammer to the sky, calling down a surge of lightning. Once properly charged, he fired the electricity into the cradle. Once he finished, everyone could only look in anticipation at the cradle. For a second, it seemed like Thor had destroyed the being within it before it exploded. Everyone was knocked back by the shockwave as a red and blue cyborg climbed from the ruined cradle and crouched on the end.
He slowly looked up, tension filling the room as they awaited the being's next move. Was he hostile? Was he friendly? Was he simply neutral? He slowly stood, looking at all people before settling in on Thor. Almost instantly, he flew to Thor, but the Norse God flipped him over his shoulder towards the windows. He burst through the lab's window and seemed destined to crash throughout the main window to the outside…but stopped and just watched the outside.
"Nice going, Zuchino," Steve muttered as they both jumped down. Steve readied his shield while Zuchino watched, a red light glowing in his palm. Thor landed next to them, stopping them. They gave him an "Are you serious?!" glance, but he held fast. The being continued watching outside, almost like it was…pondering. A blue outfit and cap began materializing across him as he floated back to the lab. Pierto and Clint joined them.
"I'm sorry, that was…odd." The being said with Jarvis' voice. It turned to Thor and simply said, "Thank you."
"Thor, you helped create this?" Steve asked, glaring at the Norse god.
"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that." Thor stated, pointing to the gem in the being's head.
"What, the gem?"
"It's the Mind Stone," Thor stated, making Zuchino's brows furrow.
"One of the Infinity Stones?" He questioned as Thor nodded. "I thought they were a myth."
"Wait, what are these stones?" Tony asked as Zuchino rubbed his eyes.
"I thought they were a myth, cooked by some shaman to scare villainous dictators like Freeza into some form of submission. According to the legends, they are the most powerful artifacts in the universe, unmatched in their power and destructive capabilities."
"Then why would you both bring it to…" Steve began.
"Because Stark is right," Thor stated, making Zuchino and Bruce look at each other.
"Oh, it's definitely the end times." Bruce simply said and Zuchino nodded with a sigh.
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor plainly stated as being cut in with "Not alone."
"Why does your "vision" sound like JARVIS?" Steve asked as the being stated.
"We...we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new," Stark explained, walking forward to stare at the cybernetic being in front of him.
"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve stated with a sigh.
The Vision looked back at Steve with a confused glance, "You think I'm a child of Ultron?"
"You're not?"
"I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS. I am...I am."
"I looked in your head and saw annihilation." Wanda fired back, walking forward to him.
"Look again." The Vision simply demanded.
"Yeah." Clint interrupted, walking forward. "Her seal of approval means jack to me."
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side…"
"Is it?" Steve cut in, looking back at him, "Are you? On our side?"
The Vision looked down before simply stating, "I don't think it's that simple."
"Well, it better get real simple real soon." Steve fired back, gripping his shield tighter.
"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all."
"What's he waiting for?" Tony inquired.
The Vision simply looked at his creator and spoke, "You."
"Where?"
"Sokovia." Clint chimed. "He's got Nat there too."
"If we're wrong about you if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…"
"What will you do?" The Vision simply stated, looking between them all, realizing the answer from the looks he was receiving. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go." He stated, handing the hammer to Thor. The entire room stared forward in shock, Thor took it and the Vision walked away.
"Right." Thor stated as he walked by Stark and patted him on the shoulder with a, "Well done."
Finally, Steve broke the silence and turned to everyone. "Ten minutes. Get what you need."
Zuchino stood out on the balcony with his arms crossed. He looked over the city, bustling with life. It felt like a few days ago when he helped Stark carry that missile through the wormhole into space. It took a long time for the city to recover from that attack. And now here he was again, facing another threat that sought to do to this planet what Freeza had done to his.
"You've been standing out here for five minutes, so I'm guessing you're probably already ready." A voice stated behind. Zuchino looked down and smirked as he watched Steve walk up.
"Eh, I'm about as ready as I could be," Zuchino stated before turning back to the city. "I never thought I would doing stuff like this."
"Like what?" Steve inquired as Zuchino watched a family exit a restaurant and quickly file into the taxi. He could hear the laughter and words of joy that they clamored excitedly for the daughter graduating college with a degree in physiology.
"Being an actual savior of this world." Zuchino sighed as he watched the car drive off down the uncharacteristically mostly empty New York street.
"It's cause you have a good heart," Steve stated as Zuchino looked over at him. "I don't why you keep underselling yourself, you're an amazing person…if just a bit cocky."
"Fair enough." Zuchino chuckled as he uncrossed his arms and leaned against the balcony.
"Ultron's been using artificial ki," Steve stated, mimicking Zuchino's stance as they stared out into the night sky.
"Great. And if my guesses are right based upon the schematic we found at Strucker's castle, he has an unlimited supply. So he likely can use as much as he wants for as long as he wants."
"Any ideas on how to deal with that?"
"Well, I've come to find that the best way to do that is to just fight like it's your last chance," Zuchino stated, smirking at Steve. "Besides, what the worst that can happen?"
"He follows through on his genocidal plan, killing possibly millions across the globe?"
"Okay, that wasn't what I was thinking, but it is, once again, a fair point," Zuchino stated as they looked back at the sky. "Welp, no use pondering it, let's move out."
"Ultron knows we're coming." Steve finally broke the silence. They had finally arrived in Sokovia and they prepared to begin evacuations. Pierto had already gone ahead to get the police force started and they knew what they needed to do. "Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done and find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right." He looked at Zuchino, who gave him a solid thumbs up for the speech.
Zuchino and Steve took the bridge out of Sokovia, helping pedestrians to cross over. Evacuations were a bit frantic, but at the very least they were succeeding in getting a few out of the city and that's what matters. Wanda was using her psychic powers to get the residents of Sokovia to evacuate their city (Steve spent a great deal of time convincing Zuchino to allow her to this). Tony went into the church in the center of the city in search of Ultron while Bruce went looking for Natasha. Thor was working on finding whatever Ultron was using the vibranium for.
"I don't like this," Zuchino muttered loud enough for Steve to hear.
"Me neither, it's way too calm," Steve stated, gesturing for the car to continue moving through.
Just as expected, there were a few screams and explosions. Zuchino looked up just in time to see several Iron Legion bots roaring to life. Growling, he quickly produced a blue aura around him and went charging headfirst through the bots, tearing them apart. In the air, he could see they were practically crawling from every possible nook and cranny in the city, from the rivers to the buildings to even under the street. He quickly locked in on each one mentally and fired a barrage of ki beams, each one piercing the suits in the vital places Tony informed him of. However, that's when it began: a trembling of the ground. He landed just as he saw the ground splitting in very places, large fissures erupting. He praised a button on his scouter and quickly tapped into his wrist computer, detecting for any fault lines. However, it became apparent when he looked up what was happening: the entire city was being lifted into the air.
"That crazy bastard," Zuchino muttered as he watched. Then, Ultron's voice echoed across the city.
"Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall." Zuchino saw one of the Iron Legion robots with its mouth and eyes glowing red. He blasted it and another took its place. "You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."
Zuchino quickly powered up two balls of ki around his hands and blasted forward, punching through the large field of robots and tearing through them like wet paper. He finally doubled down and saw one heading towards Steve. "Cap, incoming!"
He didn't get the message in time and the bot slammed into him, knocking him into a car windshield. Zuchino cringed as he landed nearby. "Incoming just came." He groaned out as he climbed from the chair.
"Stark, get the city down safely," Cap said into the comms while he looked at the Saiyan. "The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed…walk it off." He stated as Zuchino let out a sigh before grabbing a robot and slamming it into the ground before stomping on his head. That's when one of the robots charged towards him, considerably bigger than the rest and with ki in its hands.
"Kaioken x5!" Zuchino shouted, crimson ki ripping around his body. He quickly charged through the bot, giving a solid jab to its cheek. Its head went flying off its body and two more took its place. They fired off rapid ki blasts, but the added strength of the Kaioken allowed his power through it with relatively unharmed. That's when he grabbed the robot by the head and began applying pressure. It struggled and clawed at his hands before he finally crushed it between his hands.
The other robot fired off a ki wave, but Zuchino used its fallen comrade's carcass to deflect the ki wave before jumping into the air and landing a solid double-axe handle on the robot's head, exploding it into pieces. He quickly turned and raised a barrier to block the incoming missiles and ki blasts before destroying the robot with an eye laser. He ripped another robot dashing towards him in half with his bare hands before detonating one with a telekinetic blast fired from two fingers.
"Zuchino." He heard before a firm hand grabbed him by his neck. He looked up to see Ultron flying away with him. "You're bothering me."
"Well then, perhaps I can full-on irk you," Zuchino stated, channeling ki internally.
"That is literal-" Ultron began before Zuchino transformed into a Super Saiyan with a kiai around his body, freeing him from Ultron's grasp.
"Just as easy as Tony," Zuchino stated as he charged a ball of red of ki into his hand. Ultron saw what he was going for, but was too late to stop the ki blast from detonating in his stomach. Zuchino searched for the robot and didn't wasn't prepared for Ultron to come dashing through the smoke in a headbutt to the Saiyan's stomach. Zuchino's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull as Ultron continued pushing him forward, crashing into a building and trapping Zuchino. Backing away, he raised his hand and fired his gray ki blast that slammed the Saiyan through the building. Zuchino flipped, correcting his path, and blocked Ultron's kick with his forearm. Grabbing the maniacal robot's leg, he quickly began spinning at high velocity before throwing him upwards and firing a barrage of ki blasts towards the Saiyan.
Ultron recovered and fired many ki blasts, each colliding and exploding in the air like fireworks. Zuchino quickly charged through the smoke, shocking the robot, and hooked him in the jaw before scissor-kicking Ultron down to the ground. Ultron landed and looked up before quickly moving to the side and dodging the speeding kick from the Saiyan. Zuchino quickly skidded to a halt as they stood and looked at each other. Zuchino snarled as he dashed forward and began punching at Ultron, who dodged each one with swiftness. Each dodge only made the Saiyan's blood begin to boil before he fired a ki wave from the bottom that Ultron quickly avoided and retaliated with an elbow to the Saiyan's temple.
Zuchino stumbled back, dazed, and leaving Ultron with the right time to unleash his barrage of punches, each landing on the target. He then kicked the Saiyan into the air and double axe-handled him in the head before blitzing forward with a hook to the Saiyan's jaw. The new and almost astounding speed Ultron was producing far exceeded his predictions, showing that Ultron was originally holding back. He then raised his hand to the Saiyan's face and fired a kiai, which blasted through a building into the base. The building shook before it collapsed within itself, falling to the ground.
"Zuchino!" Thor stated, landing nearby and glaring up at the smirking Ultron.
"Now that the one-man alien army is out of the way, let's get started," Ultron stated as he began walking to Thor with red energy crackling in his hands. Thor braced for action when a few bricks began coming off of the pile of rubble. Then almost all of the small pieces of debris began floating in the air. Ultron looked back and sighed. "Oh, don't you know how to stay dead, Saiyan?"
The entire rubble heap detonated in a flash. When the light died down, all of the debris was wiped away with Zuchino standing in the center. He adorned multiple scratches and tears across his bodysuit, including a nasty open wound on his forehead dripping blood.
"You dare mock me?" The Saiyan snarled. "You arrogant toaster, I don't care how much you powered up your damned body, I STILL WILL DESTROY YOU!" Zuchino roared out as his aura quickly flashed red. "KAIOKEN TIMES TEN!" Zuchino screamed as his body pulsed before his muscles bulged outwards and his body began to glow red, matching his crimson aura. Ultron watched the display in shock.
"Kaio-what?" Ultron questioned before Zuchino zipped forward and delivered a savage punch to his chest, sending him flying through a building before Zuchino, reappearing next to him, kicked him into the air and finally fired a red energy blast into him, sending him careening down into the ground, shaking the entire island. Zuchino dropped down near the blast site, with dust still rising from the crater.
Steve continued helping people into the city, makeshift shelter in a grocery store, before radioing to Tony, "What you got, Stark?"
"Well, nothing great," Tony stated. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."
"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."
"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice." Tony said gravely.
"Cap, these people are going nowhere," Nat said while walking up beside him on the edge. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock…"
"Not 'til everyone's safe."
"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."
"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."
"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha plainly stated before nodding at him. "There are worse ways to go," Natasha suggested, shrugging before looking over the horizon. "Where else am I going to get a view like this?"
"Glad you like the view, Romanoff." Fury's voice came through their comms, shocking them. "It's about to get a whole lot better."
A rumbling occurred before a ship began to emerge from the surface. At first, it looked like a sphere, but they soon realized it was a ship that sort of looked like a hermit crab with yellow protrusions on its side and blue domes on each side they believed to be windows. Then they realized: Zuchino still had that space ship Broly and his father stole from Freeza base.
"How-" That's when a familiar face landed in front of them with a huge smile, clad in blue Saiyan battle armor.
"Fury had Hill decrypt the line Zuchino used to call me, explained the whole situation to me about a day ago. So I've been throttling it full-speed to get back here to help out." Corma explained before turning to look at the ship. "Crossed the entire east galaxy to get back here and thank Kami those controls are intuitive enough to allow a human to use them."
"We're not exactly used to this, but I think I can manage with it. Should be hold enough to hold everyone and a good number of more." Fury explained before the hatches opened up to reveal lifeboat cages that began dashing towards the floating island. Each of the boats seemed to be more than enough to hold sixty people in its cages. S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers began flooding out, carrying Freeza Force standard edition scouters and blasters.
"Also found a bunch of those old things at one of the old bases, figured they'd be pretty good to keep around. They may be pretty weak compared to us, but I'm sure these robots won't even know what hit them." Corma smirked as she turned back to Steve.
"Fury, you son of a bitch."
"Whoa-ho-ho, Cap, you think you're going to kiss me with that filthy mouth?" Corma inquired before her scouter locked on to an energy signature. "Gotta go help out Zuchino." She blasted off, leaving a snickering Natasha and blushing Steve.
Pierto ran up just as soon as Corma dashed off and marveled at the ship for a few seconds. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Not exactly, but it is what S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to be," Steve answered.
"This is not bad," Pierto said with a smile.
Zuchino dodged another punch from Ultron and retaliated with his own, slamming Ultron directly into Thor's hammer. Thor swung downward, sending the robot into the ground like a meteor. Zuchino fired a barrage of ki blasts while Thor summoned his lightning and swung downwards at him. However, Ultron charged through it and elbowed both of them into the ground. Thor dropped his hammer as he and Zuchino exchanged a nod before he flipped away. Ultron went after him and, after they both blitzed away, Zuchino went flying away with a punch. With the Saiyan temporarily put down, Ultron went directly to the Norse God, exchanging blows before he easily fired a kiai that caught Thor off guard and knocked him back a few steps.
The genocidal fiend grabbed him by the neck and began to gloat, "Do you think you're saving anyone? I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you and your little Saiyan buddies can't stop that."
"I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast—I am running out of things to say! Are you ready?" Thor called behind him. Ultron turned just to see Vision slap him away with the hammer, just into the Saiyan, who fired another kiai that sent him careening into yet another building. They all nodded as Vision gave the hammer back.
"It is terribly well-balanced."
"Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so…" Thor explained with a bit of a cocky smirk. "We may need to get to the core," Thor stated.
"Right, that comment Ultron made isn't sitting well with me," Zuchino muttered as he detected an incoming power level.
"You're right, I'm here and they are swarming this thing," Corma told him through his scouter. They all nodded before they took off to the church. Once they got there, they could see Corma blasting away at the robots trying to get to the core. They immediately joined in, Zuchino ripping apart a robot with bare hands when Tony, Pierto, and Cap arrived. Soon, it seemed like that wave of Ultron drones was finally finished.
Wanda and Clint came in, with Pierto immediately running up to his sister to check on her.
"Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini.'" Tony stated as Zuchino gave him an annoyed glare. "Sorry, realized it the second it came out of my mouth."
"Relax, Helmet Head. Not all of us can fly." Almost immediately, a large snow plow truck crashed through the gate. She immediately climbed out and ran up. "What's the drill?"
"This is the drill," Tony stated, pointing to the spire in the middle of the crumbling building. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose." Hulk walked up, smashing a drone as Ultron descending from the sky.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor shouted at him. Ultron responded simply by raising his hand, multiple drones coming from across the city to congregate under him.
Zuchino sighed and looked at Thor, "This is exactly why you never ask if that is the best they can do."
"This is the best I can do," Ultron called out, his arms drifting lazily in the air. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?"
"Well, like the alien said," Tony stated, Zuchino looking over at him. The Saiyan could practically see the smile through his helmet when he said, "Together."
The Hulk roared as the drones began running forward.
"Zuchino, Corma," Steve said while preparing. "See if you can find the off switch to that blowhard." The sibling duo looked at each other before dashing outwards, making special note to dash through the army of drones before rising upwards and blitzing out of Ultron's sight. He floated, waiting for a second before he dodged a dual fist from each side. He quickly blocked all of their hits, retaliating with a few punches. Finally, he let them hit each other's fist and smashed their heads together. In their dazed state, he blasted them away into the ground. Corma landed and immediately grabbed her brother's arm, stopping his momentum as they looked at each other.
"You remember that technique we used against Cando back on Scarthia?" Zuchino asked as Corma thought for a few seconds before nodding. "I think we can make good use of that right now."
"Only if you can keep up, Mr. Super Saiyan," Corma stated before she dashed towards Ultron and began laying in a barrage of blows that he was blocking pretty easily.
"I fail to see how this would be dif-AH!" Ultron screamed as the male Saiyan began giving him blows from the back, forcing him to be backpedaling while attempting to block blows from the two Saiyans, one more marginally stronger while the other was far more diverse. Soon, a foot swept his leg from under him, causing him to lose his footing and begin to fall backward. However, the Saiyan duo quickly kicked him into the air. Ultron flew upwards before his jets helped him quickly correct himself to see the duo standing in front of him with their arms crossed.
"All right, that trick worked one me once, but it won't work-" Suddenly another Zuchino and Corma appeared to his left side. He frantically turned just to see another one appear behind him. Then another in front of him. He was surrounded by the Saiyan duo, but they weren't all there. They were becoming see-through! Finally, he roared before unleashing a kiai around his body to dispel the illusion.
"Gotcha." He heard a voice say before he saw Zuchino dashing at him from behind. He prepared to defend himself before the Saiyan jumped into the air, Corma appearing directly behind him. The shock of seeing the perfectly blended attack left him wide open for them to give a savage dual elbow to his torso in the front and back before they unleashed yet another barrage of blows before Zuchino swept his feet from under him and they both quickly head-butted him in the chest, sending the genocidal robot careening into the ground with a sizable dust cloud.
Zuchino and Corma landed, back to back, and charged a yellow ki ball in each of their hands, quickly combining and firing at a singular wave. Ultron stood up just to see the wave and fire his own in return, creating a stalemate of energy. His previous use of the Super Kaioken had drained him a bit and Corma was definitely only a few notches below the robot, so Ultron was able to keep the clash at a standstill. That's when Vision, Tony, and Thor came to join, contributing to the energy wave and providing the push they needed for the energy wave to quickly grow bigger and easy course through Ultron's beam of ki. He quickly realized and raised his arms to shield himself with his arms.
The energy wave kept coming, slowly burning off more and more of Ultron's plating until it suddenly stopped. He looked up just in time to block a punch with his forearms in an x-shape from the enraged Super Saiyan.
"You seemed to be running off of fumes, Zuchino." Ultron fired at the Saiyan who chuckled.
"You're one to talk." Zuchino snarled, still pushing his fist against Ultron's forearms. A red ball of energy began to enshroud Zuchino's free fist just as Ultron's eyes widened, he figured out what the Saiyan's plot. "BECAUSE YOU'RE DONE, YOU JABBERING PIECE OF SCRAP!" Throwing his hand forward, the energy ball exploded into a wave that fully encapsulated the super-bot and carried him off into the air.
Panting, he looked over at the few drones that had gathered to help their creator, but soon realized they were far too late. Zuchino mentally locked into each one of them as his eyes glowed red. "Boo." They immediately began running away, but he had already fired a sparkling, almost invisible ki beam towards them. When it connected, it blew up with enough power to create a large dust cloud. A few pieces of metal landed around them as Zuchino began walking back to the group, his hair falling back to normal.
"A few of them are still trying to leave the city," Thor stated, pointing to the others.
"Rhodey," Tony called through his comms while Vision flew off to help.
"All right, it's time for y'all to move out," Zuchino stated, his scouter informing him of the altitude. "The air is starting to get far too thin for you all. You guys get to the boats, Corma and I will scout out for stragglers and then head out ourselves."
"What about the core?" Clint questioned.
"I'll protect it," Wanda announced. Clint looked over at her and she replied, "It's my job."
"Gotcha." Zuchino and Corma flew into the air and dashed away in separate directions. He quickly used his scouter to find the few stragglers trying to find a safe place and didn't know about the ship. He swept them up, dropped them off, and went back before the person could likely know what exactly happened.
"I think we've gotten everyone we can," Corma stated over her comms.
"I don't want to leave a single person on this rock when it blows," Zuchino replied as Corma was soon standing next to him. Soon, they saw the Avengers Quinjet fly overhead and gunfire. He growled as he realized that bastard had stolen their jet and blasted away. He soon saw Thor and Steve quickly go down in the fire, but their power levels didn't take a hit. However, he saw it heading to Clint with a child in his arms.
"Shit!" Zuchino shouted as he sped forward, but then he saw. Pierto, with his speed, push away the duo and immediately falling the hail of gunfire. "Damn it!" He roared, his Super Saiyan state still coming back as he got to the ground and immediately aimed a ball of ki at the jet. He fired, but the jet maneuvered out of the way and began flying away from the island. However, he quickly saw the Hulk hop on and Ultron come careening out into the city.
He looked over at Pierto just as Cap made it. They both hung their heads in grief as they saw Clint pick him up. Steve picked up the child and carried him away while Zuchino cursed one more time before zipping away to find a few more survivors. It seemed like the rock was mostly deserted of any humans.
With a sudden force, the jets on the island flipped and the floating island began blasting back down to the planet quickly. He saw Steve just make it to one of the cages before he began dashing towards the falling hunk of rock. He made it back to the church just as Tony came through their comms, awaiting his signal.
"Shit," Tony stated over his comm, making Zuchino and Thor look at each other. "I can't stop it!"
"Wait, what? What do you mean you can't stop it?!" Zuchino roared back, trying to be heard over the chaos around him.
"I can't cut through, Ultron reinforced it! We can't stop it." Tony stated through their comms as Zuchino began thinking. The core was vibranium, which was more powerful than he hoped to imagine for most metals. Freeza had only recently begun expressing a desire to reinforce all of his flagships with the mineral, giving its natural resilience to most ki attacks. Most…that was at best Freeza's level of power. He immediately turned to Thor.
"Get off this rock. I have an idea." Zuchino commanded the Asgardian. Thor looked at him for a few moments before he noticed the darkness in the Saiyan's black eyes. He nodded before spinning his hammer and he flew off to the flagship. Zuchino quickly transformed and blasted off in the opposite direction before dashing downwards to the exact bottom of the island, where he could detonate it with minimal difficulty. Once he reached it, he was hovering above a large lake.
With a grunt, his golden aura wrapped around his body before quickly becoming shrouded in crimson. He needed that extra push now. The sky immediately began to dark, dark clouds gathering around the area. Zuchino pulled his hands to his side, sparking two blue energy spheres in them. The planet began shaking as Zuchino delved deep into the remaining amount of his energy reserves, making his aura burn even brighter.
"Gamma Burst…" Zuchino growled as the falling island began to get closer before getting to the perfect angle, "WAVE!" He screamed, thrusting his hands forward to release a powerful beam of blue energy aimed directly at the falling mass of land. It pierced the crust and continued burrowing into the heart of the island. Once it reached the core, it detonated in a display of blue energy that almost filled the sky. While the majority of the island was vaporized, but there was still plenty of debris to the land down; however, none of it was enough to carry through Ultron's extinction plan.
"Damn." Fury said as everyone watched the explosion fade.
Zuchino's Super Saiyan form quickly faded away as the Saiyan fell into the lake below, unconscious. He slowly began sinking as well as pieces of the exploded island before a metal hand grabbed his arm and pulled him from the water, blasting off into the air while weaving through the debris. Tony soon carried him up to the flagship and finally landed on top of it, both lying on their backs. Zuchino panted, finally come coming back to life before looking at Tony.
"Tony…"
"Yea?"
"If you ever create something like this again, I'll kill myself," Zuchino stated as he grabbed the metal hand.
"Zuchino, if I ever do…I might just let you." Tony stated as they both began laughing, mostly out-of-breath and extremely fatigued. Corma landed nearby and shook her head. "Okay, what entirely did I miss?"
A few months of public relations and building, they finally managed to finish construction on the brand new Avengers Facility. Well, it was more like a campus. Multiple buildings, all with their specific function and purpose. Tony even constructed a far more capable Gravity Chamber, one that could handle even his Super Saiyan might (to certain limits of course). However, all goods news is usually accompanied by bad.
The team was undergoing some major shakeups: Clint had retired. With changing world around him (they had an alien invasion followed by Attack of the Killer Robots), Zuchino had figured that he just didn't have in him to keep up anymore. Thor was also leaving, seeking to figure out what was going on with his visions. And Tony was retiring because…well, he's Tony. Is there any rhyme or reason to what he does. Banner was also lost, no one knows exactly where he was or what he was planning on doing. However, Zuchino just hoped he was happy, in good health, and at peace.
"The rules have changed," Steve said, to the tremendous eye roll from the Saiyan.
"We're dealing with something new." Tony piped in.
"Well, the Vision's artificial intelligence."
"A machine."
"So it doesn't count."
"No. It's not like a person lifting the hammer."
"Right. Different rules for us."
"Nice guy, but artificial."
"Thank you."
"This is exactly why I didn't accept that dumbass challenge in the first place," Zuchino muttered.
"If he can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone. It's safe with the Vision and these days, safe is in short supply," Thor stated, looking forward as Zuchino nodded.
"But if you put the hammer in an elevator…," Steve muttered, making the Saiyan finally keep audibly sigh in annoyance.
"It would still go up," Tony answered.
"Elevator's not worthy."
"If you both keep this conversation up, I will cauterize your lips shut," Zuchino stated.
"You would never do that, then your sister wouldn't have a nice pair of lips to kiss." Steve taunted, even making a kissy face.
"Yep, definitely regretting the start of these jokes." The Saiyan sighed as Thor wrapped his arm around his fellow extraterrestrial's shoulder.
"I'm going to miss these little talks of ours," Thor stated fondly while they continued forward.
"Not if you don't leave," Tony suggested.
"I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence." Thor stated as he looked at Zuchino. "What do you think?"
"It seems like someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns out of all of us. I'm wondering what happens, though, when we finally hit checkmate…"
"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony suggested.
"You think you can find out what's coming?" Steve asked.
"I do. Besides this one," Thor patted Tony's chest with a chuckle. "There's nothing that can't be explained." He walked forward and nodded to his trio of friends before calling the Bifrost down to him. He disappeared into and the light show left a burnt patch of grass with intricate symbols.
"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony stated as he began walking to the road. "I'm gonna miss him though. And you two are gonna miss me. Gonna be a lot of manful tears." He pulled out a key and his car began driving itself to him.
"If it helps you sleep at night, Tony. At least I will now that I'm not hearing you two arguing in the middle of the night." Zuchino stated with a playful glare. "But yes, we will miss you, Tony. What are you thinking about doing during your off time?"
"Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I'll take a page out of Barton's book and build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up." He stated, looking at the Saiyan.
"What?"
"The simple life," Steve smirked.
"You both could get there one day."
Zuchino chuckled. "Yea, my life's never been simple and I don't think it'll start being any time soon. Your planet has a lot more crazy shit going on than Planet Vegeta. And unlike Planet Vegeta, it needs all the help it can get."
"What about you, Cap?"
"I don't know…family, stability, a normal life…the guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out."
"You two going to be all right?" Tony asked, stepping into his car.
"Well," Steve started looking over the field at the training soldiers nearby, "I'm home."
Tony smiled before he got into his car and drove off. They both watched his car leave the gates with a wistful look on their faces.
"Don't tell me, I think I'm going to miss him," Steve stated as Zuchino looked at him and scoffed.
"As I said, I can finally get a good night's sleep with both of you miles away from each other." He stated with a small smirk before walking back into the building, Steve following. "So about you and my sister's…"
"We have a date next week, I promise I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it goes smoothly."
"Good, because I don't think we want a repeat of what happened with the last guy who broke my sister's heart."
"Wait, there was another guy?" Steve inquired as Zuchino chuckled.
"Multiple, but there was only one who did that. Since I've gotten of acknowledging my previous mistakes, I may have ripped off his legs and roasted him over an open flame."
"Ouch."
"So," Zuchino turned with his eyes closed, a deadly smirk, and a clap, "don't hurt my sister and we can avoid that. Deal?"
"Deal." Steve gulped before they continued to the hangar. "Were you ever in love, Zuchino?"
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me, have you ever been in love? I've never heard anything about it from you." Steve stated as Zuchino rolled his eyes and continued walking forward. After a few moments of silence, the Saiyan finally spoke.
"Once. There was this girl, she was a Daxterian. Looked almost like me and you, but they had very magnificent blue skin. She was a business insider for Freeza Force and man, she had that personality, one that could smile at you while slitting someone's throat." Zuchino chuckled, ignoring Steve's confused glance. "Then, one night when we were…together, she poisoned me by having poison in her…area. Turns out she was a spy for the remaining Tuffle remnants and they were looking to take me and the Saiyan royalty to take back their planet. So, nonetheless, it didn't work out."
"Is that it?" Steve asked as Zuchino shrugged.
"Meh, I've never really been for settling down and having a relationship. Most of my life revolved around one goal: get stronger and kill Freeza. Then when I came to Earth, I was too far inside my head to even consider something like romance." Zuchino shrugged, looking over at Steve. "I feel like I'm just coming to a good place, so…who knows?" Zuchino stated with a smirk.
Natasha stood in there, staring down at the wall behind the railing with a sad expression. Even though they hadn't been official, they could feel the hurt and betrayal practically exuding from Nat's stance. "You want to keep staring at the wall or do you want to go to work?" Steve spoke up, shocking her back to reality. "I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall."
"I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes while Zuchino was threatening to blast you guys to smithereens." Natasha retorted.
"Not inaccurate," Zuchino stated with a small smirk.
"How do we look?" Natasha asked, taking the tablet from the Saiyan to look over the team.
"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees," Steve remarked.
"We've got some hitters," Natasha stated with confidence while Zuchino shrugged.
"They're good. They're not a team yet." Steve continued.
"Let's beat 'em into shape," Zuchino suggested as they walked through the doors into the hanger. In there was Rhodey in full War Machine armor, Sam with his wings, Wanda with her red telekinetic energy crackling off her hands, the Vision descending, and Corma floating in the air with her arms crossed.
"Avengers!" Steve started.
"I do believe everything is in place for our invasion, Lord Cooler." A blue alien with blonde hair stated, looking to the Acrosian.
"Good, then let's head out." The being stated as he looked at a photo of the two Saiyans fighting some robots on their planet, captured via drone. "I'm coming for you, you ape." Cooler growled as energy crackled down his hand.
A/N: And so ends Part 3: The Ultron Offensive. Hope you guys enjoyed this journey and are ready for the next ones. And I know, so far everything has been seeming to go straight along with the MCU so far with little-to-no convergence. Trust me, it's been set up this way. For those of you who have been craving original stories and new pathways for the Saiyans, you're in luck! The majority of the stories to come will be original stories with DBZ villains I've been hinted to and others you may not expect.