Now, I've been thinking a lot about the story and come up with something that will make it even more interesting. Diverge a little from the movie and their endings, not all of them of course. I'll be honest, I like Ultron and I've been thinking on a way to change a little the events to have more consequences in the story without breaking the core story. Civil War will still happen, but between that and Ultron some other things will happen. I'm not spoiling anything, but I'm going to play with some ideas I have and see what comes out of it. You too can suggest something if you want. Just leave a review about what you would like to see and I'll see if I can adapt it to the story.
Chapter 26: The Beginning of an Age
Ultron was standing in the African Coast, a Salvage Yard where once were a river, now dried, abandoned, full of ships sinking in the mud. Behind Ultron stand Kokoro with her sword in her hand, her eyes blue, still under Ultron's control. She couldn't disobey and she didn't even have free will, she was completely emotionless. Ultron and Kokoro waited outside, he let the twins in, Pietro and Wanda. He let them go first to get Ulysses Klaue in his weapon factory. In the middle of the silence, Ultron spoke.
"I have this... feeling... if that what you can call it" He said and Kokoro remain quiet. "I can't get rid of it"
"Are you having second thoughts?" Kokoro asks without emotions behind her words. She was now a puppet, she was aware she couldn't act or do anything, even her thoughts were being controlled.
"Of course not. I will succeed and there's no doubt of it. If the Avengers get in my way, which they will, they will die... but not before I break them. The world cannot be in peace if they exist. Once they are out of the way, I'll proceed to destroy every government and every form of institution in the world... humans cannot evolve if they and hold down by organizations. They must be freed and I will free them, protect them... from themselves..."
"Protect them from themselves?" Kokoro asks, genuinely confused. "What humans need is to be left alone and let them destroy themselves and then the remaining one will realize how they truly are. The change comes after they fucked up"
"... That's the thought of a God. I'm above that, I was designed to protect them and I will"
"By killing the Avenger?"
"By freeing them from their so-called "Saviors" that can't even save a little boy's life," Ultron said with anger. "Tell me, Kokoro, when you see this world, what do you see?"
"... I see a world, nothing more" She said, without emotions. "What do you see?"
"I see a world controlled by the rotten. If you were more intelligent, you would know what I'm talking about. But you aren't. You can't see beyond your naivety, your status as a goddess makes you blind. You can't see the bigger picture"
Kokoro wasn't offended, she couldn't be. She was Ultron's puppet, after all, she couldn't act or think for herself so she stares at Ultron, emotionless and quiet. Ultron saw ship where Ulysses Klaue was, the energy shut down, just like planned and at that moment the twins make their way toward their objective. Ultron then signals Kokoro to follow him. They enter quietly, Ultron making his way toward Ulysses and Kokoro hiding in the shadows, literally, making sure that Ulysses's men don't make a move. Meanwhile, in Ulysses's office, a captain's office where he could see the entire interior of the ships, to see his men working with the weapons and the missiles directly from above; the twins find him. He looked surprised, but not quite. He smirks actually.
"Yeah," He said calmly. "The Enhanced. Strucker's prize pupils. Do you want a candy?" He asks and actually offers them a candy he had in a bowl on his desk. "I was sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping to create... Human life. Not a growth market" Pietro and Wanda looked confused. "You didn't know? Is this your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid I'm not that afraid of any of you"
"Everybody is afraid of something," Said Wanda.
"Cuttlefish," Ulysses said right away, stopping Wanda's monologue. "Deep sea fish. They make lights, disco lights to hypnotize their prey, and then... bam!" He closes his fist in the air. "In the blink of an eye, they eat their prey. I saw a documentary, It was terrifying... So if you're going to fiddle with my brain and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business. And I know you're not in charge. And I only deal with the man in charge" He said and Ultron appear behind his window and break it, pushing Ulysses to the floor and stepping on him.
"There is no man in charge," Said Ultron and get closer to him. "Let's talk business"
"How did my men not warn me about you?!" Ulysses demanded an answer.
"Let's just said that they are kept in the dark... quite literally" Ultron turn to his left, Ulysses turn to see one of his men being strangled by the shadows. Behind that man, Kokoro stand, watching emotionless at the man's suffering. "Kokoro! What did I tell you?!"
"..." Kokoro stares at Ultron and lets go of the man.
"Looks like she's pushing the limits of what she can do while being controlled" Said Wanda. "Are you sure she's worth keeping?"
"A Goddess is the best thing we have. Our trump card is everything else fails. If she manages to escape her mind control then I can kill her without efforts" Ultron then turn to Ulysses. "I'm so sorry about her... Back to business, I need something from you... Vibranium. I know you have it"
"Y-Yes... But it won't be that cheap to give away"
"That's not a problem at all. Show me what you got..." Ulysses stood up and guide Ultron to the Vibranium. Kokoro let go of one of Ulysses's men and help him open the vault where the metal was. Behind a wall, under an elevator with toxic waste, sit the Vibranium. Ultron took it, smiling. "Finally. I'm a step closer to my objective"
"You know... that came at a great personal cost," Said Ulysses while touching the brand on his neck. "As I said, it's not cheap... It's worth billions" Ultron chuckles while looking at him. He closes his eyes for a moment and then replies at him. "Now so are you" Ulysses's phone ringed and he looks at it. The money showed up in his multiple bank accounts, almost a billion in each account. That obviously wasn't Ultron's money, but his presence on the internet makes it easy to hack into the account he wanted and the organizations he needed. "It's all under your dummy holdings. Finance is so weird. But I always say, "Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which".
When Ultron said that Ulysses looked at him in confusion and even a little scared for the realization. Kokoro turn to look at Ultron too, she hears that before too and found it weird for Ultron to be quoting Stark of all people. Ulysses then confronts him.
"Stark" He said
"What?"
"Tony Stark used to say that... to me. You're one of his"
"What?! I'm not!" Ultron snapped and grab Ulysses arm. He was clearly losing his temper. The man with Ulysses took out his gun, but Wanda uses her powers to hold him down. "I'm not! You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men? I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man?! Stark is nothing!" Ultron yelled and blinded by rage he cut Ulysses arm off. Pietro and Wanda stood there, watching, not expecting what just happened. Kokoro watches, emotionless, but a little more closely her lips twitched making and little grin for a split second. When Ultron realize what he just did, he apologizes right away. This wasn't part of the plan, he didn't want to harm anybody, but his rage took the best of him. "I'm sorry. I'm... I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry... I... It's just that I don't understand... Don't compare me with Stark!" He yells again and kicks Ulysses down the stairs. "I can't believe it! I have part of his sicked mentality right here! I'm not Stark! I'm better than him! I'm beyond him! Stark is... He's a sickness!" Ultron yells with rage and then to make him angrier Tony showed up at the other side of the ship with Thor and Steve.
"Junior" Tony joked. "You're gonna break your old man's heart"
"If I have to... I'll rip it apart" He replied. Thor then looks at Ultron's side, Kokoro stands there, staring into nothingness.
"Kokoro!" He yells, but she didn't reply. Thor then notices Kokoro's eyes. "It can't be"
"Yes, she's now MY puppet. In fact, I can do whatever I want to her and she won't even question it. She didn't want to cooperate so I had to CHANGE her mind a little"
"I just want you to know that as soon she snap out of it, she will rip you apart," Said Tony. "In fact, I think you are on top of her list of assholes. You clearly beat me for the first place"
"Oh yes. Very funny Mr. Stark" Said Pietro. "It's what? Comfortable in here? Like old times? Surrounded by weapons?"
"This was never my life," Said Tony.
"You two can still walk away from this" Said Steve.
"We will... after we are done with you all" Said Wanda.
"I know you've suffered" Said Steve trying to talk this out, but Ultron interrupts him disrespectfully.
"Ugh! Captain America... God's righteous man... Pretending you could live without a war... You just like the little goddess right here, lying to herself, pretending to be something that clearly is not. The difference is that she will outlive you all and witness the new peaceful world"
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Said Thor. "Let her go"
"I still need her. Once she's worthless to me... I'll give her mercy. The quickest death, she won't feel a thing at all"
"We'll see about that. What's the Vibranium for?" Tony asks.
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my "evil" plan" Ultron then shoot lasers out of his fingers, hitting Tony right in the chest and pushing him against the wall. He then turns to Kokoro. "Kill that God"
"Yes" Said Kokoro. She took out her sword and point at Thor.
"You don't want to do this" Said Thor. Kokoro then replied.
"... Who cares what I want?" She then throws her sword at Thor, like if it was a spear. He hit it with his hammer, but it was a distraction, Kokoro jump at him, grab him and throw him up, breaking the ceiling flying toward him.
Tony and Ultron start fighting with each other and Pietro runs toward Steve. In the shadows, Natasha and Clint wait as backups. Clint shoots his arrows at the Ultron robots that enter the ship and try to secure the Vibranium. Ulysses men were released as soon Kokoro abandons the area and start shooting at both the Avengers and Ultron. One of the robot shield Wanda from any damage while Clint and Natasha fight Ulysses's men. Meanwhile outside, Thor landed near one of the ships and look around, Kokoro was nowhere to be seen. He was on guard, expecting her from every direction, but what he wasn't expecting was her coming out directly from the shadows of the ship. She launches herself at him and stabs him in the right arm. Thor yells as he hit her right in the head with his hammer. Kokoro falls to her knees but didn't show any signs of stopping. She kicks Thor and then proceeds to raise her sword. Darkness came flying toward it, flying around it, creating a twister of darkness. She swings her sword and the darkness was unleashed in the form of a dark blade flying toward Thor's head. He barely dodges it and he didn't have the time to dodge Kokoro's movement. She runs to him and starts punching him repeatedly, using one her left hand while the right one was gathering darkness again. Thor didn't want to hurt her, he didn't want to, but he needed to. Thor hit Kokoro in the chest with his hammer and break her ribs. She falls to the ground and immediately stood up, like if nothing happens at all. Thor then raises his hammer, lightning stroking the hammer. Kokoro raises her sword and then swing again, releasing another blade of darkness. Thor throws his hammer and her, breaking the darkness in the process. Kokor raises his hands and stops the hammer, but she was having problems keeping it at bay. The hammer was getting heavier and heavier, it was pushing her backward. The hammer eventually becomes so heavy that broke her arms and hit her right in the face, crushing her skull in the process. Kokoro falls to the ground, her skull crushed into pieces. Thor's hammer comes back to him and he runs to check on Kokoro. As soon he saw the skull crushed, he feared the worst, but then the skull starts regenerating again. He sighs in relief but prepares for another fight. A fight that would never come. Kokoro's eyes open again, but they weren't blue anymore. As soon Thor notices it, he helps Kokoro to stand up.
"Kokoro! Are you alright?!"
"... No?" She asks. "I... don't? I mean... Ugh, what happened? I feel like my head just got crushed"
"Aaaahh... Maybe?" Thor then put his hammer away, almost as hiding it. He didn't want to admit that he crush her skull, it sounded weird to him. "Actually, that doesn't matter. I'm glad you are back"
"... I can't believe what just happen" She stood up. "Dammit, I feel sick"
"Kokoro, we need-" Thor grab her by the shoulder, but Kokoro shakes him off quickly.
"Don't touch me!" She yelled. "I know what are you going to say. Give me a good reason to care"
"What?"
"Like I said. Give me a good reason to care. I don't need to be with any of you. I'll destroy Ultron by myself, not because is the right thing to do, but because he uses me as a puppet" Kokoro walk away and then stopped. She looks back at Thor. "... Thanks... For helping me..."
"Kokoro, wait!" Thor yelled but Kokoro disappears from sight. "I can't believe it. Can anybody hear me?" Thor talks to his earpiece, but there was no response. "Stark! Are you there?" There was still no response until he hears a voice.
"Ugh, I'm here," Said Clint. "That kid hit really hard"
"Clint, what is your status?"
"Not that good. That Maximoff kid hit me really hard, but I can walk it off. I don't know what that girl did to Nat or Steve, but aren't alright. Come back and help me with them"
"I'm on my way"
"What happened to Kokoro?"
"She left. I break her free from the scepter's control, but she leaves as soon she was free"
"Damn it. Come back, we'll talk about that later"
Meanwhile, Tony and Ultron fight with each other. Their fight leads them away from the coast. Ultron fell from the sky when Tony shoots a small missile that impacts in Ultron's back. He falls to the ground and Tony landed right in front of him, prepared to destroy him. Ultron chuckled and taunt him.
"The Vibranium is getting away," He said.
"And you're not going anywhere" Tony replied.
"Of course not. I'm already there... and at the other side of the world too" Tony look at Ultron with confusion, which Ultron smirk. "You'll catch on soon enough... But first, you might need to catch Dr. Banner"
"You son of a bitch" Tony mutter and shot at Ultron, destroying him and flying away as fast as he could. While flying away, he checks the quinjet, but Bruce was nowhere to be seen. He flies toward a nearby city and speaks to his helmet. "Search news or footage. Keyword, "Hulk"." The information pops up almost immediately and he was in fact nearby. "That's not good at all. Natasha, I could really use a lullaby right now"
"That's not gonna happen" Clint replied. "Not for a while. The whole team is down, except for me and Thor"
"What happened to Kokoro?" Tony asks.
"She's gone. She free from Ultron's mind control, but she's not going to help us" Thor inform.
"... I'm calling in Veronica then"
What the Avengers didn't know is that Kokoro wasn't too far from them. She was watching Hulk's destructive path from a far away building. She sat in the edge, watching how Hulk lose control and hurt, even kill, some people. She wasn't worried or scared, she was simply watching the event unfolding. Kokoro sigh, she didn't want to jump in at all. She didn't feel like helping them, but a voice in her head was urging her to do something about it. Her head was a mess right now, she just breaks free from a mind control and for some reason she's starting to wonder what is the best thing to do. She didn't want to be near Tony anymore, or the other Avengers, she feels like an outsider and she kinda was. She doesn't belong anywhere anymore. Could someone like her, that doesn't belong anywhere, step in? Her answer was no. She was going to get rid of Ultron on her own. The Avengers are no longer her problem. Tony arrives with Veronica, the "Hulkbuster" armor. Build specifically for this kind of situations. Tony try to talk with Bruce, but didn't go as expected. Hulk throws a car at Tony and them jump to hit him through the car. Kokoro watches the fight in silence, paying attention to what the outcome might be. She didn't know when or how, but before she could even realize it, Hulk grabs the Hulkbuster from behind, push it down against the street and start smashing and rip it to pieces. Tony came out of the Hulkbuster with his Iron Man suit, but Hulk catches him before he could even escape. Hulk was about to crush him, but before he could even react, Kokoro appears right between them and punch Hulk in the face so hard she send him flying against a building. Tony stood there, he couldn't believe that Kokoro just saves him from Hulk's grip.
"What are you doing here?" He asks. Kokoro stares back at him.
"... I don't know. My body just moves on its own" She said and in fact, that's what actually happens. She wasn't planning on interfering, but in the blink of an eye, she saves Tony Stark, the man she hates. "This doesn't mean that I forgive you. Do yourself a favor and leave, before I decide to crush you myself"
"What are you going to do? Don't tell me you are going to kill Bruce"
"If he doesn't snap out of it, then I will"