WHO HAVETH THE POWER...
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Avengers (I wish I did). All rights belong to Marvel. I only own the character Tess Rogers / Tesseract / Amalia Schmidt and her plot and dialogue.
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO Angel1D98, NicoleR85 AND LuckyGo. THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING. THIS CHAPTER IS REALLY SHORT AND IS A BIT MORE OF A FILLER.
They finally had the scepter, all the work finally paying off. To celebrate, Tony hosted a party but Tess hid away in her room, preferring to research the Maximoff twins instead.
'He's fast and she's weird,' was how Maria Hill described them to Tess and Steve.
Tess had sarcastically asked if they were weirder than the original Enhanced was: herself. Tess really didn't need an answer. A small glass of alcohol sat next to her computer that had been brought to her by Tony but it hadn't been touched and Tess was almost certain that it wouldn't be drunk anytime soon. Tess, just like Steve, had to have an absurdly large amount of alcohol to get drunk but she barely drank at all.
Tess rolled her eyes, nudging the glass with her forefinger and wrinkled her nose at it.
Tess hated crowds and parties and just about anyone she hadn't met yet, which was just about everyone at one of Tony Stark's famous parties. Tess sighed and scrubbed her face, before she finally turned back to her files, reading all she could on Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.
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"Another drink…On me!" Bucky grinned, lifting his glass into the air. Tess rolled her eyes at the antics of her close friend while the entire bar cheered.
Even Steve rolled his eyes but was quickly caught up in the revelries of the men, who were simply glad that they were all still alive. Tess dipped her head, resting it on Steve's shoulder and she grinned.
"I…I love this," the newly-named Rogers muttered, her German accent still thick. She was desperately trying to lessen it during her time in America. It was mainly because the strong accent occasionally made the men flinch and every time they did, Tess winced as well.
Steve raised his brows in question, "The party?"
"The freedom," Tess corrected with a quick sigh. She tipped back her glass, not even reacting to the burn of the alcohol sliding down her throat. "And the alcohol that doesn't taste like horse shit."
"Cheers to that." Steve knocked back his glass and laughed at Bucky's antics on the dance floor. "Wait…you've tasted horse shit?"
Tess rolled her eyes but didn't glare. This was far too much of a happy occasion for even the slightest amount of anger. "Shut up, Steven. Now, drinking contest?"
"You can't beat me."
"We'll see. I will…what do you American's say? Drink you under the table?"
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Tess waited until everyone left the party and then trailed downstairs to meet up with the rest of the Avengers, trying to be as silent as possible. Everyone were still dressed up, aside from Tess, who was dressed in track-pants and a hoodie.
"Hey," Tess said quietly to Natasha as she entered, "What's going on?"
"They're trying to lift Thor's hammer," Natasha whispered to her best friend and Tess laughed, dropping down to sit beside Nat.
"But, it's a trick!" Clint cried, seeming to be having an argument with Thor.
"No, no, it's much more than that."
"Ah, 'whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!' Whatever man! It's a trick."
Tess laughed at Clint's retort. "Don't doubt it, Clint. Weren't you controlled by a magic-manipulating Asgardian at some point?" Clint shot her a look and Tess raised her hands, "All I'm saying is that what you call a 'trick,' others call everyday life."
"Thank you, Lady Tess," the Asgardian prince smiled at Tess before he turned back to Clint, who still looked doubtfully at the hammer. "Well please, be my guest." Thor waved his hand at the hammer and Clint stood.
Clint attempted to pick up the hammer, Mjölnir, from the table and failed. Dismally. Tony decided to pipe up and annoy Clint. "Smell the silent judgment?"
"Please, Stark, by all means," the archer replied with a superior look, as if just itching to see Tony fail and be knocked down a few pegs.
The billionaire stood, taking Clint up on his taunting offer. "Right, so, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
Thor nodded, "Yes, of course."
Tony grasped the hammer's handle, "I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta." He pulled on the hammer, to no avail, before he let go and ran out, calling, "Be right back."
He appeared again in a minute, his Iron Man gauntlet on his arm and pulled, still failing. Rhodey came to help, his War Machine gauntlet on as well.
Rhodey groaned, "Are you even pulling?"
"Are you on my team?" Tony scoffed back.
"Just represent. Pull!"
"All right let's go!"
The entire banter made Tess laugh and she leant back on the coach so she didn't fall off after laughing so hard that her sides ached and she was near tears. Eventually it was Steve's turn.
"Let's go, Steve, no pressure," Tess said to her brother and the others joined in.
"C'mon, Cap."
The hammer squeaked when Steve pulled and the smile on Thor's face faltered slightly. When Steve stopped pulling, Thor's smile and laugh were slightly more forced. Tess smirked, suspecting that Steve could lift that hammer, but being a man with high morals, he just didn't want to diminish Thor's happiness.
The dark-haired girl winked at Steve when he sat down and Steve grinned in response.
"And? Widow?"
"Oh, no, no, that's not a question I need answered," Natasha answered and Thor turned to Tess, teasing, "Tesseract?"
Tess shook her head, waving her hand as well. She didn't need that question answered either – she already knew the answer. Apparently, however unworthy Tess had been seventy years ago, Tess had redeemed herself in some way.
And now, she could lift Thor's hammer.
Tony seemed to think that he had the solution, "The handles imprinted, right? Like a security code...'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation?"
"Not everything involves science, Tony," Tess rolled her eyes. She, although a 'science experiment,' was fueled by something far more powerful than a serum and Tony had always hated that he couldn't understand it. "And that's just something your big brain can't handle."
"Yes, that's uh, that's a very, very interesting theory." Thor's voice held sarcasm and he reached out for his hammer, picking it up easily, "I have a simpler one. You are all not worthy."
Everyone immediately started to disagree, Tess not included and then they all stopped as a new voice joined the conversation.
"How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
The Avengers stood, immediately on guard. Steve stiffened, gravitating towards his sister and Tess lit her hands up with her blue energy.
"Stark," Steve said and Tony tapped a control.
"JARVIS." Tony called but the robot continued speaking, "I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or...I was a-dream?"
"Reboot, Legionnaire, we got a buggy suit," Tony muttered, but everyone ignored him as the robot kept talking.
"There was this...terrible noise...and I was tangled in...In...Strings. Had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
Tess narrowed her eyes, "You killed someone?"
The suit turned to face Tess, "Wouldn't've been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Steve asked and Tess moved closer to him.
The suit replayed a recording, Tony's voice ringing out around the group. "I see a suit of armor around the world."
"Ultron!" Bruce breathed, realization hitting him. He looked towards Tony, shock written on his face.
Ultron shook slightly, "In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Tess asked, her voice quiet, barely above a whisper. She knew the different people described 'missions,' seeing it first-hand with her father. Missions…that was just a crappy way of saying genocide.
"Peace in our time."
All Hell broke loose as Ultron called out the Iron Legion.
Tess swiped her hands out through four of the suits. Her eyes glowed a brighter blue as she raised her hands and tore a suit in half using her energy manipulation. Tess pushed all outside noises out, concentrating solely on the fight and jumped up into a portal and fell through another one on the other side of the room, landing on a suit and tearing it down the middle.
The Rogers woman fired a sharp blast at the robot near Dr Cho, who was huddled in the corner, not failing to note how the robot assessed the doctor. She disintegrated any suit that crossed her path until there were none left near her. The rest of the Avengers panted slightly from the fight and Ultron gave an almost human sigh.
"That was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. 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? With these? These puppets?" Ultron tilted the head of the suit in his hand and crushed it in his fist. With a crack, the suit fell to the ground; the head no longer attached. "There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."
Tess, who was standing next to Thor, flashed rage-filled eyes at Ultron and grabbed Thor's hammer from his hand – a surprisingly loose grip – and threw it, reducing Ultron to a pile of spare parts against the wall.
But Ultron still managed to sing an eerie song before the light dimmed from his robotic eyes completely. "I had strings, but now I'm free...There are no strings on me, no strings on me...There are no strings on me."
Tess gulped and turned, seeing the amazed looks her team were giving her and shrugged, "No need to answer if I can lift the hammer, right? Now, Tony, about that murder bot…"
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New chapter! Not many changes here but tell me what you think please.
~ Raven