I just realize I've been calling Natasha Natalie this whole time. I'll fix it from this chapter on.
I stood over the bustling party below, a glass in hand dangling off the railing I was leaning on as I scratched the back of my calf with my foot. My short-trimmed hair had been styled and my more relaxed clothes switched out for a semi-formal pair of black slacks, dress shoes, crimson tie, and button-up dark grey shirt. I eyed the party-goers with a soft sigh, sipping my drink idly. I'd never been one for the show-off parties but being with Tony meant I had to get used to them. It was different though, to be at a party and not required to be his lawyer or trying to keep his reputation in check. Though there are people here who are business partners of his company. Shame Pepper wasn't able to show up.
As the party died down, the Avengers moved to a single grouping of couches, laughing and drinking. I was pretty sure they'd gotten a bit tipsier than they'd meant to be, but I didn't mind. With fewer people around, I left my roost and headed downstairs to join them.
"But it's a trick," Clint scoffed, spinning a drumstick between his fingers as Thor laughed.
"No, no. It's much more than that."
"'Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power,'" Clint mocked as I raised a brow, refilling my drink and eyeing the group.
Bruce and Natasha enjoying each other's company again. Steve and Maria drinking with Thor. Tony just watching the show, I mused, giving the space a quick glance before blinking at my drink. Whoa. That's some powerful stuff. My eyes drifted to the flask Thor was using to spike his drinks as I realized he may have done mine as well when I set the glass down to pick my poison. Not bad though. I sipped the cocktail again as Clint and Thor continued to bicker about something.
"Please, be my guest," Thor laughed, waving a hand at his hammer as it rested on a table nearby.
"Oh, are we talking about his hammer?" I questioned, eyeing it curiously and Tony nodded, waving me over to sit on the arm of the couch beside him.
"He said only the chosen one can lift it apparently."
"Chosen one?"
"My words, not his."
"Ah."
"Come on," Tony pressed Clint, who scoffed.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Clint got up and Rhodes smirked. "Oh, this is gonna be beautiful."
"Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony snickered as I rolled my eyes.
"And, onto the dick jokes," I drawled as the others chuckled.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint said, approaching the hammer and grunting as he struggled to even try and budge it. "I still don't know how you do it!"
"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony mocked and I elbowed him.
"I don't exactly see you lifting it."
"Yeah, Stark. By all means," Clint waved at him and Tony shot me a smirk, kissing my temple before getting up to try himself.
"Never one to shrink before an honest challenge."
"Yeah, especially not with Jess watching," Rhodes joked, and I snorted.
"Oh, trust me. I'm not betting on him lifting it."
"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Tony complained, unbuttoning his suit jacket.
"I'm on the logical side," I countered, gesturing to Thor with my glass. "And I'm willing to believe him when he said few are able to lift it."
"It's physics," Tony argued, linking his arm through the leather strap on the end as everyone settled in to watch the show. "Right, so if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course."
"Yeah, he really doesn't need a planet of Gods," I countered, giving Thor a look. "I get the feeling he'd just piss them off until they smite him."
Thor gave me a cheeky grin in return and Tony frowned, bracing himself to try and lift it.
"I will be reinstituting prima nocta."
"And I will immediately overturn it. Try again, Tony," I huffed, knowing exactly what prima nocta was and not approving.
In turn, he gave me an innocent smile that I rolled my eyes to as he struggled to lift the hammer and soon, bringing his Iron Man suit arm into play. When that didn't work, he got Rhodes to don his suit arm and they both still couldn't lift it. Bruce tried as well and then Steve got up to try.
"Go ahead, Steve. No pressure."
"Come on, Cap."
Steve rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a hold, and I think I was the only one who noticed how the slightest shift of the hammer made Thor's expression suddenly get serious. He played it off with a laugh, but it made me curious. He could have lifted it if he wanted to then. Huh. Wonder what criteria someone needs in order to be considered "worthy."
"Widow?" The guys offered and she hesitated.
"Oh, no, no. That's not a question I need answered," she argued.
"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," Tony complained as I got up and made my way to the hammer.
"You bet your ass," Clint said, patting Tony on the back.
"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria teased and said man sighed.
"Did you tell everyone about that?"
"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony ignored him, looking to Thor. "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints,' is I think the literal translation," he mocked.
"Yes, it's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one," Thor mused, standing and picking up the hammer easily, flipping it. "You're all not worthy."
The group groaned and Thor chuckled before he spotted me eyeing the hammer.
"Would you wish to try, Miss Jess?"
He offered the hammer to me and I reached out, hesitating. The others seemed to wait with bated breath as my fingers wrapped around the handle, but it was odd. The hammer was… warm. Not physically, but it was as if it was coaxing me somehow. Like it wanted me to hold it and as Thor began to pull back, I expected the hammer to suddenly weigh a ton and fall from my fingers. It felt light though, and I thought it was because Thor was still holding it. But just as the hammer began to tip forward and his fingers left the handle, a high-pitched screech rang out and I let the hammer go—dropping it to the ground.
Tony pulled out his tablet, but my gaze went to the stumbling robot dripping oil as it stepped into view.
"Worthy," it grumbled, drawing everyone else's attention to it as my stomach churned. "No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark," Steve said, expecting him to have something to do with it and Tony called out himself.
"Jarvis."
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the robot continued—a hap-mash of Iron Man parts barely pieces together. "Or, I was a dream."
"Reboot Legionnaire OS," Tony ordered Jarvis. "We got a buggy suit."
"It's not a bugged suit," I muttered, making him look to me. "It's the scepter."
"What?"
"There was this terrible noise," the robot complained. "And I was tangled in… in… strings."
"Jess, what do you mean?" Tony pressed as I shook my head.
"I-I don't know. But that's not Jarvis. I can feel it. It's the same feeling I get from the scepter," I breathed out, taking a small step away from the robot as my heart raced.
It scared me. Properly so. While the scepter made me nervous, this was a walking, talking, thinking version of it. That made it dangerous. That made it capable of fighting back. And I feared that if it noticed me, I would be one of the first people it went after.
"I had to kill the other guy," the robot explained, making me wince. "He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve questioned the robot.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor asked, picking up his hammer once more.
"I see a suit of armor around the world," Tony's voice played on a recording from the robot, making me look to him.
"Ultron," Bruce realized as the robot became immediately attentive.
"In the flesh. Or, no. Not yet. Not this chrysalis, but I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
The tension in the room was mounting. I counted a number of weapons already out and drawn, just waiting for an attack from the robot.
"What mission?" Natasha questioned it.
"Peace in our time."
Three of the Iron Legion suits flew out from behind it and everyone ducked for cover as Steve kicked up the table to try and stop one. Maria fired off a pistol and Thor smacked one away with his hammer as Tony and Rhodes jumped over the railing, only to get knocked off their feet by one of the robots. I slid out of the way with Clint while the others struggled to take cover themselves.
"It's the scepter," I muttered to Clint, giving him a look. "I can't explain how I know, but—"
"Then, don't. What do we do?"
I chewed my bottom lip. "I'm not sure there's anything we can do."
"Well, we can't stay here. Let's move."
I nodded, rushing out after him before we both had to dive out of firing range once more. I cursed under my breath, mind racing as I tried to think up some way to stop them. Jarvis hasn't responded. This scepter was intelligent. It said it killed someone, could it mean Jarvis? Okay, think. How do you beat an AI? A virus, but that doesn't look plausible at the moment. So, option B. What does it want?
"We need to know what it wants."
"It said what it wants," Clint grumbled. "Some whacked-out form of peace."
"But what does it need to accomplish that?" I argued, mostly thinking-out-loud and Clint wasn't exactly who I was used to bouncing ideas off of. "It's coming after us for a reason."
"It said we're killers," he offered, and I nodded.
"Peace. It's trying to force peace. Take out the people disrupting it, and peace will be made. It's going to take the scepter, obviously, but we need to somehow shut the robots down and get it to understand this isn't the right way to go about things."
"You want to talk to that thing?"
I ran a hand through my hair, stressing terribly. "I don't know. I-I can't think of anything at the moment, okay?" My eyes widened though as I spotted one partial bot moving towards the woman behind the piano. "Cho."
"What? Jess, wait!"
I ignored his warning, rushing out and over to Cho as I tapped on my watch—summoning the arm of Tony's suit that he'd left. And with it, I slammed a fist into the suit approaching Cho, knocking it to Steve, who grabbed it and chucked it to Thor to finish off.
"Cho, are you okay?"
She nodded and I turned my attention back to the group, only to spot the main robot—Ultron—watching me. I swallowed thickly, unable to turn away from its gaze until the rest of the suits were defeated and Ultron sighed.
"That was dramatic. I'm sorry. I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. Not all of you. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" It asked, pacing back and forth, stopping to pick up one of the destroyed suits. "With these? These puppets. There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."
Thor threw his hammer, destroying the robot that sang softly before it's lights went out.
"I had strings, but now I'm free."
Glances were exchanged as Thor went to ensure that the robot was defeated, but I turned my gaze to Tony.
"What the hell was that?"
He stiffened, pulling himself up off the stairs he had sat on. "I didn't have anything to do with it if that's what you're asking."
I pressed his Iron Man suit arm back to him, eyes serious and undoubtedly tinged with fear. "I'm not saying you knew this would happen, I'm asking what made this happen. It recorded you, Tony. Those words? Those were your words. And you." I turned to Bruce, who became immediately sheepish. "You named it. What the hell did you two do?"
"Jess, we didn't do anything," Bruce pressed, looking worried and reaching out towards me, but I jerked away, making him pause. "Jess, I swear. We were just researching it."
"What is it?" I asked instead, looking between them. "You called it Ultron."
He hesitated, retracing his hand and rubbing the back of his neck as he looked over at Tony. My own eyes shifted to him and he sighed.
"What we found was that it was an intelligence, similar to Jarvis, but not as… complete. We had Jarvis working on it. It shouldn't have been able to get into the suits."
"Don't be stupid," I snapped, unable to believe that he wasn't connecting the dots. "Don't you see? You gave it an in. You're supposed to put things like that into an isolated system, not wire it up to the entire grid!"
"Well, how was I supposed to know it could somehow get past Jarvis!" He shouted back, until Steve cut in, grabbing my tense shoulder.
"Guys! Enough," he scolded. "Fighting is going to get us nowhere. Let's go to the lab and figure out what we're going to do next, okay?"
He let my shoulder go and I hastily fled the room, flinching when Natasha grabbed my shoulder in the hall.
"Jess, what's going on? You're not usually this jittery."
I grit my teeth, debating on telling her before giving in. "You remember how anxious I was about the scepter?"
She frowned, confused. "Yeah?"
"Now, it's got legs."
"All our work is gone," Bruce murmured in shock. "Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch."
"Ultron," Steve scoffed under his breath.
"He's been in everything," Natasha informed. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."
"Which can then be used against us," Jess added, pinching the bridge of her nose and waving off an offered glass of water from Rhodes.
"He's in your files, he's in the internet," Rhode continued. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"
"Nuclear codes," Maria realized.
"Nuclear codes. Look. We need to make some calls, assuming we still can."
"He's not looking to destroy the world," Jess jumped in, giving him a tired look. "You heard him. He wants world peace, but he's still in the process of learning. He hasn't figured out that one of the world's greatest enemies against world peace is the people itself. He's coming for the Avengers first, because to him, they're the biggest threat. It's the whole reason I started up my side business. I do my best to cover our asses because otherwise, we are the enemy to people and their peace. He's just picked up on that. He'll wipe out the biggest threat, then work downward. The nuclear codes won't be an issue until he's dealt with us."
"Jess is right. He said he wanted us dead," Natasha agreed.
"He didn't say 'dead,' he said 'extinct,'" Steve argued.
"Meaning, he's going to get rid of us and anyone like us. Make an example of us to prevent any more potential Avengers from popping up," Jess explained.
"He also said he killed somebody," Clint added, confusing Maria.
"There wasn't anyone else in the building."
"Yes, there was," Tony murmured, bringing out a hologram of what used to be Jarvis' AI mapping.
"What?" Bruce breathed, looking it over. "This is insane."
Jess approached too, eyeing the golden bands of light as she crouched down in front of it.
"Jarvis was the first line of defense," Steve muttered. "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
"No," Bruce argued. "Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is… rage."
"Something about Jarvis ticked him off," Jess murmured, lightly brushing her fingers over a golden strand before Thor came barreling in, grabbing Tony by the throat.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
"It's going around," Clint hummed.
"Come on. Use your words, buddy," Tony choked out as Thor growled at him.
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."
Jess touched Thor's arm, shaking her head and the demi-God dropped Tony with a huff.
"T-Thanks, dear," Tony coughed, only getting a glare from Jess as she stepped away.
Really upset then, good to know.
"The trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north," Thor told the others from his trip to follow the Iron Legion bots who had escaped. "And it has the scepter. Now, we have to retrieve it, again."
"I don't understand," Cho murmured then, drawing everyone's attention to her. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"
Tony chuckled, unable to help himself and bringing all eyes to him as Bruce tried to stop him.
"You think this is funny?" Thor questioned.
"No. It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so… Is it so… It is. It's so terrible," he continued to chuckle.
"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor continued.
"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," Tony snapped.
"Tony, maybe this might not be the time."
"Oh, it's as good a time as any," Jess grumbled, folding her arms and leaning back against the railing behind her. "Go ahead, Tony. Tell us why it's so funny that a robot intelligence system you created is out to kill us."
"We didn't," Tony argued, angry that Jess couldn't see past her own blindness to understand the importance of Ultron. "Were we close to an interface?" He asked Bruce.
"Well, you did something right," Steve interjected as Bruce shrugged. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked.
"No, it's never come up. Never heard that," Rhodes scoffed.
"Saved New York? Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there? That's… That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"
"Together," Steve answered confidently.
"We'll lose."
"Then, we'll do that together too."
Tony went quiet, his gaze shifting to Jess for someone to back him up, but she refused to look anywhere but at the floor near her feet. She wasn't about to help him. Not now.
"Thor's right," Steve went on, addressing everyone. "Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller. Jess, can we count on you to help with that?"
Jess nodded, passing a hand tiredly through her hair. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see what I can figure out. Someone just make me a damn good cup of coffee. It's going to be a long night."
"Why, uh… Why are you going through old paper files?" Bruce asked, and I shot him a glare. "Sorry… You, um… You're mad at me too, aren't you?"
"I don't appreciate secrets being kept from me when they're detrimental to my health as well as others," I grumbled, turning tired, red eyes back to the files as he winced.
"Jess, I didn't mean… Tony said he was going to tell you."
"But he acted before doing so," I countered with a sigh, setting the file down knowing I wouldn't get anywhere while we were talking. "I've never asked him to involve me in everything he does or plans to do, but I tell him everything I can about what I'm doing. Quitting my job as a lawyer, starting up this new business, working under the Avengers despite the fact that I've only just recently gained abilities and don't plan on doing anything more than desk work and the occasional interference. So, why is it that he suddenly decided to shut me out of this?" I asked, taking off my glasses and pinching the bridge of my nose again.
Bruce took my hand briefly, only to retract it with a hiss.
"Sorry," I apologized, rubbing at my hand that had glowed red and reaching into my pants pocket for a bottle of suppressants.
He blinked in surprise as I took one dry. "You… You take pills to hold back your powers?"
"I'd say I have to, but most of that's a lie," I muttered. "Tony made it so I wouldn't explode if it got out of hand, but stress aggravates it. Makes it harder to deal with. I haven't gotten to the point where I feel safe not taking them." I glanced at him sympathetically. "I was just a normal human not too long ago… I'm sure you understand what it's like to be a bit afraid of yourself."
He nodded, before turning his gaze to the table. "He didn't think you'd support it," he muttered.
I scoffed. "Honestly, that man. He should know by now that I'd support him on anything."
"W-What? But he said you think AI's in control is a terrible idea!"
"It is, but does that mean we can't put our heads together and come up with something that will work? Or an alternative that's better?" I asked him, raising a brow. "I'm angry at him because he didn't talk with me about it when we could have worked it out. To me, that means he doesn't trust me. That I've done something between now and what happened with Killian that changed things between us." My gaze shifted back down to the bottle I twirled between my fingers and Bruce shook his head.
"No. No, he didn't stop trusting you just because you had abilities forced on you."
"Didn't he?" I asked, unconvinced as I tucked the bottle away once more. "We were fine before then. Relatively, anyway. Now, I'm more involved in the Avengers. I've got my own business that I've pulled away from him completely—"
"Because you wanted to do it on your own. He understands that. Jess, you can't be blaming yourself for things out of your control."
I tangled my hands in my hair, tugging on the strands in frustration. "But this is in my control! It must be something I did! Everything was fine before. We talked, we discussed and argued! So, why is he suddenly pulling away?"
Bruce went to rub my back, but I jerked away as the feeling of his hand turned to the sharp pain of a belt, getting to my feet in a rush. He seemed to sense something was wrong and stood as well, holding up his hands.
"Jess, I'm sorry," he apologized, eyeing me warily. "But you need to calm down. This isn't like you."
"You don't know anything," I spat, hands shaking now as I gripped my shirt and fought to control my breathing that was bordering hysteria. "It's always my fault. Everything that goes wrong, it's always on me. I could have done something to stop it. I could have fixed this before it even happened if I was just—"
"Jess, please!" He said loudly. "Just think a little! What could you have done? You didn't know about Ultron! About any of this!"
"If he had just told me—"
"I didn't tell you because I was afraid of what you might think of me," Tony said, stepping into the room and surprising us. "It was never because of you, Jess."
"But…"
"Honest. Cross my heart," he smiled softly, crossing a finger over where his chest piece had been with a soft smile as he came close. "Have you taken your suppressants?"
I looked down to see my hand glowing and I took a step back away from him, but he continued coming closer. "Don't," I breathed, still feeling panicked as my head ached and tears started to well in my eyes, which I desperately tried to cover up. "Stop."
He sighed softly, taking my hand in his. "I thought I told you before…" he pressed his lips to the palm of my hand—the glow gone. "You won't ever hurt me. Now, let's sit down for a minute and relax."
He led me back to my seat, touching nothing but my hand as his thumb ran back and forth over my knuckles.
"Do you want something to eat? To drink?"
I shook my head, but he stepped away anyway as Bruce reached out.
"Jess, I—"
"Don't," Tony stopped him, a hand on his arm upon seeing me tense. "Don't touch her. Not right now."
"Sorry," I murmured as Bruce lowered his arm, but Tony shook his head, placing a glass of water in front of me.
"Don't be. And it's not your fault, you know. Ultron. Not even I could have predicted how he'd act."
"You could have told me," I murmured, taking the drink and downing half of it immediately. "We could have worked something out."
"You're right," he admitted sitting beside me and slowly taking my hand once more. "I was stupid for thinking otherwise. We've talked about this though, Jess. Not everything is your fault, no matter what he said."
I nodded slowly, rubbing at my face tiredly as he sighed.
"You really need to work on your sleep, Jess. You can't keep running on empty like this."
"Pot calling kettle," I murmured, earning a small smile from him.
"Well, aren't you two cute?" Clint hummed, entering with the rest of the Avengers who gave us both small smiles as I rolled my eyes and Tony smirked, lifting my hand to his lips once more.
"Don't be jealous just because you don't have this."
"Tony," I grumbled ears tinted red in embarrassment, though this was typical Tony behavior that I should've gotten used to by now.
I've never been one for flaunting, but Tony seems adamant on doing so in an attempt to improve my self-confidence… damn him for thinking of it. Steve passed Thor Maria's tablet, and he passed it to Tony when he questioned it.
"A message. Ultron killed Strucker."
"And he did a Bansky at the crime scene, just for us," Tony mused, giving me a glance at it.
"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Natasha commented.
"Strucker knew something Ultron wanted us to miss."
"Right on point," I hummed, drawing their attention to me as I waved a file. "Why do you think I'm skimming the paper files? I don't do this for fun, you know."
"He deleted everything we had on Strucker," Natasha realized, and I nodded.
"All digital files are gone, but the paper stuff is still here. I figured he'd go after Strucker since that's who had the scepter for so long. On top of the fact that, in order to get what he wants, Ultron is going to need technology capable of going against the Avengers. Why not see what Strucker had to offer?"
"Three steps ahead of us, as always," Steve smiled, looking to the others. "All right. Let's all grab a box. We need information."
"No need," I said, getting up and grabbing the file I'd been looking over. "I was checking Strucker's known associates and found him." I slid the file down to Tony, who picked it up with a frown. "Look familiar?"
"He operates off the African Coast," Tony informed everyone. "Black market arms."
Steve shot him a look and Tony rolled his eyes.
"There are conventions. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new. A game-changer. It was all very Ahab."
"This," Thor said, gesturing to a tattoo in one of the file's pictures.
"Ah, it's a tattoo, I don't think he had it," Tony said, and Thor sighed.
"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand."
I went to go look it up, but Bruce waved me off, already on it.
"It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief.' In a much less friendly way."
"Which dialect?" I asked immediately, brows furrowed.
"Wakanada… W-W—"
"Wakanda," I said, understanding dawning on me. "Oh, that is very not good."
Tony agreed, giving Steve a serious look. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…?"
"I thought your father said he got the last of it."
"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce said, getting up and I picked up Steve's shield.
"The strongest metal on Earth."
Ultron didn't understand. Why would this imbecile even think he was one of Tony Stark's puppets? Because of some words? Some words that Ultron didn't even understand where they were coming from? The whole internet had passed through him. His head was full of information. It could have come from anywhere. A book, maybe. But now, he was angry. He didn't know he could be angry, yet Klaude lost his arm because of it, and Ultron felt compelled to emphasize his point.
"Don't compare me with Stark!" He snapped, kicking Klaude down the stairs. "It's a thing with me. Stark is… He's a sickness!"
"Ah, junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart," Tony said, landing behind him with Thor and Captain America at his back.
"If I have to," Ultron replied, cooling his anger for now.
"Nobody has to break anything," Thor offered.
"Clearly, you've never made an omelet," Ultron snarked as Tony nodded.
"He beat me by one second."
Again, it was his joke, his quip, and that made Ultron's jaw tighten for a minute second.
"Ah, yes. He's funny, Mr. Stark," Pietro Maximoff mused, stepping forward. "It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?"
They glanced at the missiles below.
"This was never my life," Tony replied.
"You two can still walk away from this," Steve offered to the two Maximoff's, and Wanda resisted a scoff.
"Oh, we will."
"I know you've suffered—"
"Blah," Ultron scoffed, cutting him off. "Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but—"
"If you believe in peace," Thor interjected. "Then let us keep it."
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet."
"Jess, I hope you're getting this," Tony murmured under his breath—having been sending her a recording of what was going on so she could get a better understanding of Ultron and his possible motives. "What's the vibranium for?"
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan," Ultron remarked, using a magnet in his hand to pull Tony forward and then thrust him back.
The two flew at each other, beginning to fight in the air, as the other Iron Legions who'd been hacked began to fight with the others. Things grew even more hectic when the Maximoff's and Klaude's men began to get dragged in and Jess groaned over their earpieces.
"Not good guys! Tony's drawing the focus of Ultron, which is fine, but with all these guys running in here? It's getting real dangerous. We should retreat."
"We can't retreat," Steve snapped, getting punched in the chin by Pietro.
"We must get the scepter!" Thor also argued.
"Uh, bigger picture? You not only have Iron Man suits flying around with fire propulsion, but also an unknown number of ex-military renegades with guns shooting in a ship full of missiles! Anyone thinking yet? One wrong bullet and the whole ship will go up!"
"Guys, is this a code green?"
Bruce stepped out of the ship that was parked with Jess, who threw her headset in frustration. The radio signal was rather sketchy now and there was no point in trying to argue with them now.
"Stay put, Bruce."
"What? Seriously?"
"With the mind control girl in there, the last thing we need is her getting into your head."
"Good point…"
She sighed. "Honestly, I don't know why Tony keeps trying to keep me on the sidelines when everyone in there is constantly needing me to jump in to protect them from idiocy."
"He just wants to keep you safe."
Jess shot him a look. "I stopped being safe the moment I hooked up with Tony."
"Whoever's standing, we gotta move," Clint said over the comms, confused when there was no response. "Guys?"
"Clint, perfect," Jess said. "What's going on?"
"Don't know. The two kids ran off after the girl tried to do her Jedi mind trick on me."
"She probably got to the others. Great. All you can do is try to find them and snap them out of it however you can." She flipped through the information she had. "It says the victims relive their nightmares. They'll be dangerous, so go for anything. You know how thick-headed Thor can be. Stunning them should work, but he might need a bit of knocking about.
"You sure?" He questioned.
"No, honestly, but I told you guys this plan was stupid without more information. The way I see it, they're planning to get to us from the inside. She's going to go for all of us, unsettle the whole team."
"Then, you two are in danger too."
"I know," Jess murmured, eyeing the closed door. "I'll do what I can, but if I'm going to stop him, then I'll need help. And all my help is currently in their own heads, so helping them will help me."
"We can't let Banner get taken over."
"I said I'll do what I can."
"And Tony?"
"Turned off his comms. He's keeping Ultron busy… Or, well, he's keeping the main Ultron busy."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll explain later. To everyone. Okay? Just hurry up."
"What is it?" Bruce asked, seeing the stress Jess was going through. "What's happening?"
"Is there any way to get into this ship other than that door?" Jess asked.
"Well, no. Even the windows are reinforced—"
"Good. Don't open anything."
"But aren't they out there? Don't they need our help?"
"Right now, they are dealing with a lot of shit, but they'll have to handle even more if you step out of here."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
Jess grit her teeth, staying silent.
"Jess, what's going on? I thought you of all people would want to be out there."
"I would love to be out there, making sure they're safe," she snapped pacing and dragging a hand through her hair. "But nobody listened when I said this was a bad plan. That jumping right in there was a terrible idea. There were too many unknown factors, and now that I know what's going on, it's too late to stop anything except by staying put. It is literally the only thing, and I hate it, but if we don't—if I open that door for a millisecond—it risks everything."
"What would happen?"
"Exactly what I warned you about. Everyone is trapped int heir own nightmares right now and Clint's the only one safe. Tony's fighting Ultron without a clue, which leaves you and me here."
"I don't understand."
"They're trying to destroy us from the inside. They're using the Maximoff girl to get into everyone's heads. And I'm not about to let her get into yours even if it means we're trapped in this damn ship until this is all over."
Something slammed into the ship then and I grimaced as Bruce looked around uneasily.
"We also need a backup plan in case they do find a way to get in," I said quickly, mind racing. "The rest of the team are out of the count. Tony might be able to jump in, but if your green friend there is in control, it'll just turn into a brawl. That, and the city is far too close to here. You'll make a beeline for it."
"But if I get caught, then you—"
"Maybe, maybe not," I said. "I'm not technically an Avenger. Never been recognized as one in the media at all. They might just knock me out. Might leave me alone under the assumption that I can't do anything or that you'll deal with me on your way out. I might have a chance though. I… I can't sing, but you didn't hurt me last time."
He hesitated. "How can you be sure I won't hurt you this time."
Jess managed a small, soft smile. "Because you're still you."
He opened his mouth to argue before one of the front windows suddenly shattered. Jess cursed, making to open the ship's rear door just as a blur slammed into her and knocked her head into the controls. The door opened anyway, but it was too late. Wanda had already stepped in and gotten a hold of Bruce's mind, sending the man into a fury as he shifted into the Hulk and ran out of the ship. Jess cursed, pushed herself to her feet with a cringe and a hand on her head, before suddenly stiffening as Wanda stood in front of her with her hands up. Jess didn't move, eyes flickering over the young woman who eyed her with her own grimace.
"Who are you?" Wanda breathed.
"Jess Norris, ex-lawyer, business owner, tech support among other things," Jess muttered, opting not to inform the people who hated Tony that she was dating him.
"No. You are… something else. You're different. Wrong, somehow."
"Sister," Pietro muttered, uneasy about not only talking with someone associated with the Avengers but also sticking around when they needed to leave.
Wanda slipped into her mind, only to jerk away with a cry of pain as Jess gripped her head and sank to the ground. Pietro, acting quickly, grabbed his sister and rushed them out—leaving Jess curled in a ball on the floor dealing with something worse than nightmares.