A/N: Haha, you guys are seriously the cutest. Every single review made me grin, some made me laugh, a couple made me cry. My poor heart can't take all this positive reinforcement XD I'd give a special shout out but I love all you guys too much single any of you out. Basically, just assume this chapter was specifically for you, my sweeties, especially if you left me a super cute review.
(Also I played the sickest game of LOL before writing this but I live in China and can't read Chinese so playing LOL is a lot of Blitzcrank button smashing and buying what I guess is good so it's amusing that I ever have a half decent game, actually HAHA (im a nerd please dont listen to me rant))
"Hello, Ultron," the figure- the man?- said, his voice smooth like honey and rounded with that crystalline British accent that made you fall a little in love as soon as it hit your ears. Still hella suspicious, though, and I had had one to many bad experiences with new acquaintances in recent months.
I scratched at my cheek awkwardly before cutting in with a rasp, my throat still strained from shouting at Ultron moments ago, "Uh, yeah, not to be rude but who the hell are you?"
The mysterious newcomer turned his face towards me, though, with the brightness of the sun behind him I couldn't see much of his face yet. I was more than a little awestruck, too. He glided over the dusty barn floor towards us three, then lowered to ground. It was all so graceful, I felt my breath catch. "I'm sorry," he amended himself, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. They call me The-"
"Vision. My Vision," Ultron interrupted him, causing the scarlet skinned man to purse his lips. Golly, this... Vision was really something. And, I mean, he hadn't shot at us yet, so that was a step up. But somehow he knew Ultron, and Ultron knew him, and was using possessive pronouns. I shot the silver robot a sidelong glance. What was going on here? "I see you came."
"Yes, indeed. And following your trail of metaphorical breadcrumbs certainly wasn't as straightforward as it could have been. You could simply have contacted me directly."
"You know I couldn't risk the likes of Stark catching wind of my existence, let alone what's been going on down here."
Aleks stood up behind me. "Wait, this was your contact?" he asked the two not-quite-humans, giving me that terribly unpleasant feeling you get when you realize that out of everyone you were the one left out of the loop. It felt a bit like betrayal, and a lot like disappointment.
Ultron answered with an affirmative shrug. "Well, I can't say I made many allies in my first life, and all those that I did didn't exactly... last." The android squared his broad shoulders and stared the Vision down. A lesser being would have been intimidated. "Now, can I assume you followed instructions and told no one?"
I don't know what answer Ultron had been expecting, but uncomfortable silence apparently wasn't it. The silver android's eyes widened as he visibly tensed. "Who?" he demanded to know, stepping forward threateningly.
From my vantage point on the ground, battered and broken from the last few days' ordeals, I glanced between the beings warily, and considered whether I would have to put myself between them. I didn't know who on Earth this Vision was, or what he was capable of, other than, you know, flying, but something told me that if it came down to a rumble, Ultron would not be the one coming back out. And we had come too far to let it come to an end like that.
Thankfully, my concerns were answered, in the form of yet another stranger coming in through that open doorway, distracting the superbeings from the tension that had been mounting.
Oh, you thought the situation was diffused? Oh, hell no. No, it just replaced the party popper with an atom bomb. And the bomb went off.
As soon as Ultron's red optics registered the person barging through the door his reaction was immediate and instinctual. He raised a laser endowed metal hand and shot at the woman, who seemed disinclined to stand there and take it. Red laser beams met with similar toned energy in a pulse of pure power, and then were superseded by waves more in a concussive retaliation that knocked the seven foot silver man flying.
I was hardly even sure what I had just seen when I realized that I had sprung to my feet again, like the moron I was, and was throwing myself at the hostile woman with a rage I hadn't known I had in me for Ultron's sake. By the time I caught up with myself my fist was moving through the air with an eagerness for her face- instead it met with something more solid than I knew could exist. The Vision?Something went awfully wrong in my hand as it collided with his green clad chest, but I was shoved back onto the ground and the pain in my side exploded before the lesser agony in my hand could even gather my attention. What the hell?
The buzzing-thud-shwoomp sound that signified Ultron's lasers firing kept the mess going, the shots striking the Vision, and while this thing seemed to be mostly unaffected by the blasts, they did singe his outfit. Now the yellow glow at his forehead was growing steadily brighter, like it was charging something aimed at my sort-of-favorite robot asshole and all my helpful brain could muster up was, Well, we tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end... we're still gonna be a bunch of very dead jackasses with unmarked graves.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Aleks screamed as he got between the brawl with his arms stretched out. "Do we not have bigger things to worry about? The world is heading for war, damn it!"
"You're right. There are greater things at stake." The glow dulled once more as the Vision lowered himself to the ground once more, looking somewhat ashamed, but the outrage still simmered beneath the surface of his self control. At least, he didn't look like he was going to kill us anymore. I couldn't help but level a heavy glare on the two of them as I nursed my hand and tried to ignore the fact that there was tears running down my dirty face.
My scowl, however, was nothing compared to that of whoever this woman was. She was ridiculously powerful, as that little demonstration had showed, dressed in red leather, and seemed to have a personal vendetta against Ultron for some reason. Okay, who am I kidding, the vendetta wasn't that surprising taking Ultron's winning personality into account. I turned my gaze to said robot, my expression becoming confused and upset once more. When our eyes met he looked away to the ground, wiping some black grease from his lip. There was now a deep gash carved into the tough vibranium of his collarbone equivalent, another smear of grease marring the edges, and if I didn't know any better I would say it looked painful. What I did know was that the short scuffle shouldn't have damaged him as much as I could see it did, and I worried again for the state of his poorly repaired fusion core. As if I didn't have enough to worry about without adding the damn robot to the list.
Who am I kidding anymore- he's been on that list a long time now.
"Now," my brother started again, his tone more stern and commanding than I had expected it could ever be, "I want you to explain yourselves, or I want you to leave. We do not have time for immature and unnecessary fighting." At this he cast an irritated look at Ultron, who had, indeed, started it. "Are you two here to help us prevent this catastrophe or not?"
It was still the Vision who spoke for the two of them, probably because it looked as if the only words the woman would be capable of spewing at that moment were terrible curses. "The lives of every human on the planet are at stake. We will do whatever it takes. As I said before, I am the Vision, and this," he gestured a red, gauntlet clad had in her direction, "is Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. You might call us... lesser known Avengers."
"Why would you bring her of all people into this?" Ultron demanded, pushing himself back to his feet. "I see Tony Stark," he spat the name, "didn't program you with boundless common sense."
Wanda's eyes lit with angry red light. "You despicable cockroach. I hope you know that I will take great pleasure in killing you again when this is over." Her voice was thick with the familiar Sokovian accent, but that was of little note while everyone was talking about Ultron contacting an Avenger and Stark's programming and killing someone again on top of the concept of the nearing WWIII.
"Wanda," the Vision murmured gently, resting a hand on her arm. Her glare met his gaze, and slowly her face relaxed. It was almost as if they were having a silent conversation as they looked at each other. Then, she nodded, threw another bitter look at Ultron, and left the barn. Okay, maybe they really were having a silent conversation. Damn superhero types. The red man with the startlingly clear eyes focused back on us three, his expression conflicted. "I told Wanda because she was the only one I was certain to be able to trust with the current situation among the other Avengers. She assured me that she would be able to put the past behind her for the sake of the mission, and I have confidence in her. If you are correct in your assessment of the situation we will need all the power we can muster." He locked eyes with the 'despicable cockroach' and commented, "You cannot exactly blame her for being overwhelmingly hurt and angry even still. Her wounds haven't yet healed, and may never fully do so."
Ultron tightened his hands into fists. "What happened to Pietro wasn't my fault. I never intended to-" his words cut off and his metal lips pursed for a second. "He shouldn't have gotten in my way."
A distant memory pulled at my mind, a conversation from six months ago almost forgotten, talking about the only two friends that the robot had ever had, and killed. Well, whoever this Wanda was, she was still alive and kicking. There were so many unanswered questions. "Ultron, what the hell's going on here? Why would you contact one of the Avengers? " I asked, desperation in my voice. I just wanted life to make sense again.
"Katja," he started, and sighed, a feat that still baffled me considering he was made of metal and circuitry. "This was never what I planned."
"Yeah, no kidding, because your plans never blow up in your face, do they? It must suck that a bunch of lowly humans are doing a better job of conquering the Earth with your drones than you ever did, right? But that doesn't answer my question, does it?" My words were thick with sarcasm and resentment, and I waved a hand at Aleks for him to help me stand so I could continue my pissed off tirade properly. It hurt, but it felt better to stand at full height. "So tell me, Ultron. Why would you put yourself at risk to stop the very thing that you were trying to do just half a year ago? Pride? If you can't have it then no one can?"
He seemed caught off guard and weary of the topic already, but I needed this. I needed this. "Ultron, please. Why would you put yourself in danger for us, over and over again? Why?" I tried again, clinging to the hope that was building in my chest. Was I imagining change where there was none? Was this all just to betray us once more? All these little hints of goodness weren't quite enough. I needed to hear him say it.
The android was silent far too long, and when he finally opened his mouth to speak, it was a disappointment. "I don't know, Katja. I don't know," was all he said. I made a disgusted noise and looked away. My disgust, however, wasn't aimed at him, but myself, because even with his noncommittal answer, my growing esteem for him wouldn't budge.
"Well, you better figure it out soon, because despite your personality you've grown on me, and the longer you take, the more it's gonna hurt when you're ripped out of my life for whatever reason. You kinda remind me of a fungus, too, y'know," I finished with a halfhearted grumble.
"It seems to me," the Vision added, "that at least for now, it should be enough that we all share a common enemy. Perhaps we can settle the finer intricacies of where we stand with one another after it is taken care of."
"Uh, right," I mumbled, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks. Note to self: keep the mushy stuff and incidental definitely-not-flirting to a low with the Avengers in the room. Change the subject, any subject- "So, what exactly are you? How do you guys know each other? I mean, not to be rude, or anything."
The Vision seemed unsure of how to answer my oh-so-tactful questioning. "It's, well, it's complicated, I'm afraid."
"You can trust her, you know," Ultron cut in on my behalf unexpectedly, "you can trust them both."
There was another pause as the red man summed the three of us up before nodding. "Okay. Mostly it is just difficult to explain in layman's terms. Simply, I am something called a Synthozoid, the first of my kind. A synthetic human, with a synthetic mind." He gestured to the android. "Ultron created my body for his own use soon before the attack on Sokovia, however it was retrieved by the Avengers before he could install his consciousness. I came into existence when Tony Stark attempted to implement his own AI to the system." It seemed overly simplified, like there was a lot he still didn't feel like he could share with a couple of civilians, but I guess I could respect that. There was another point that I felt deserved more attention.
"Wait... So, you said that originally Ultron built this body for himself...?" I tried to merge in my mind Ultron's voice and mannerisms with this thin, lanky, gentle body and face, and made myself snort with laughter. "I'm sorry, but couldn't you have designed something a little more... you if that was your purpose?"
Ultron folded his bulky metal arms and raised an eyebrow plate. "Oh yes? If you want to be a critic, what would you have imagined?"
"I dunno, maybe something more like James Spader? A body with a different kind of charisma."
"Come on, sis. Can we please remain focused? We do not want to waste the Vision and Scarlet Witch's time, even if we did have some to spare with the situation as dire as it is."
The Vision smiled warmly, and it was glorious to see. "Actually, I don't think I mind seeing this kind of interaction. It's good to see how much progress you've made since we last spoke, Ultron."
The android didn't respond further than a quiet scoff before we switched the subject quickly, not unlike I had just a couple of minutes ago. "Maybe instead of over analyzing every little thing I say or do, you should introduce Aleks to Wanda outside. He's the least likely to offend her, after all."
I was going to object to that statement, but shut my mouth when I realized it was completely true. The other woman and I hadn't exactly gotten off to the best start, and Sokovian women knew how to hold a grudge. "Yeah, if we want her help- and if she can knock Ultron on his ass than she is definitely the kind of help we need- Aleks, you're definitely our best bet to negotiate with her. Plus, you're smart."
He looked uncomfortable with the suggestion, but understood our logic. "Okay, fine. I will talk to her."
"As you wish. Follow me; I will do my best to convince her to listen to you after the rough introduction you received." And so my brother walked out after the synthozoid, who glided an inch above the ground, leaving me with the mercurial sassbot.
"Okay, you're not exactly the greatest at subtlety, so why did you want to get them out of the room, Ultron?"
"Well, actually, I've been waiting for an opportunity to return this to you," he said, retrieving a small rectangle from under a stack of wood and holding it out to me. Confusedly, I took it from him and inspected it before recognition flooded through me.
"Where did you get this?" I asked quietly, running the pads of my fingers over the worn plastic of the old USB. As far as items went, it wasn't all that significant, but I recognized it as the USB my family used for years when my brother and I were younger and they were just starting to be a thing. It was slow and small for today's standards, but it was my father's.
The Metal Head chuckled. "Actually, it fell out of your bra while I was cauterizing your wounds last night. I had assumed you had been the one to put it there."
Oh, I remembered now. During the rescue that went wrong, Atyets had given me something to hold, and I had, indeed, stashed it in my bra, but I hadn't paid much attention to it with everything going on. I shook the memory away before the pain in my heart could drown me again. "You're right, I did. He, he gave it to me before he..." I blinked at the wetness in my eyes. "Wait a second, I've got to see what's on this thing," I trailed off, and prompted the robutt to fetch my laptop, glad now that I hadn't wasted its battery the day before.
Sitting crosslegged now, with my laptop, true to its namesake, set on my lap, I opened it in a rush and pushed the USB into a slot on the side, patiently waiting for the autoplay popup. Looking at the files, they seemed to be numbered video files. Nerves twisting in my gut, I put them all in a playlist and started the first one. As it started, the tears I had worked to banish came right on back. "Ma," I breathed, pressing a hand to my mouth as the old footage of my mother cooking in a lackluster kitchen, my brother, maybe five or six years old, standing on a stool beside her doing his best impression of helping, smeared with flour head to toe. She laughed, a laugh I hadn't heard in far too long, and that was it; I choked out a sob.
"Why are you filming us, hon? I'm a mess!" she exclaimed, smiling at the person behind the camera, her almond eyes so warm and filled with joy and humor. God, I miss her so much.
"Atyets! Look at the cookies! I made them," little Aleks chimed in, holding up a tray of uncooked dinosaur shaped cookie dough high above his head of wild ringlets.
"Oh, you made them, did you? And I suppose your mother did nothing," the voice of my father joked with his deep rumbling laugh shaking the camera. The Aleks on the screen pulled a face.
"Well, she helped a little."
The clip ended and the next one began, but I could hardly register the footage of a younger me playing on the swings at the park, because I was obviously busy crying my eyes out. It hurt, so, so much to have lost two of the most important people in my world. When you love someone that much and suddenly they're gone, all that love has nothing left to do but cause pain in their absence. Watching that video hurt, but at the same time, there was a broad smile under the rivulets of tears on my face, because I still loved them, and those memories were still happy ones. I knew, from experience, that eventually I would be able to enjoy the good memories again without large portions of the pain, and I was glad that my father had not only kept this with him all this time, and then given it to me. I couldn't wait to share this with Aleks.
My Pa really did love his family.
"Katja," Ultron spoke up gently, startling me. I had completely forgotten he was there. "If it would make you more comfortable, I can go outside, give you some privacy."
I shook my head, turning my attention back to the screen, which was now playing the third clip: Aleks and I playing tiggy in the backyard. "I... don't mind the company, actually. It's up to you, you don't have to stay if you don't want to."
I expected that to be it, but was faintly surprised when I heard him sit himself down to the right of me, more than an arm's reach away, but there all the same. We sat in silence as the videos of my childhood, of happier times, played, not for very long, there was only a little over ten minutes of footage all up, but it was when we hit nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds in that the tone changed and the real world started again.
"Katja, Aleks, I am so, so sorry for all that I have put you through in the past six months. No, I am sorry for every mistake I have made as your father." Atyet's face was closeup and centered on the screen, with all the weathering and signs of age that he held when I saw him yesterday. The video was fresh, and seemed to have been shot in some small room, like a bathroom or storage closet. My breath caught in my throat. "This, though, I think has topped every financial instability or failed plan yet, but-" he cut himself off and glanced to the shut door behind him, before looking back at the camera and continuing with a lower voice, "I swear to you that I will fix this, if it is the last thing I ever do. I'm sorry that I couldn't go with you, but I needed to finish what I started. There is a flaw-"
I gathered enough of my wits about me to hit the pause button and shoot a frantic look over my shoulder at Ultron. "Get Aleks and the others. Now."
We sat huddled around the laptop, watching my father's message for the third time, making sure we didn't miss a thing. "I swear to you that I will fix this, if it is the last thing I ever do. I'm sorry that I couldn't go with you, but I needed to finish what I started. There is a flaw in the Infinitus' system- the human element. The Infinitus Primes- yes, they have one for each squad of Drones- themselves lacks a large amount of autonomy. I'm sure that by now Aleks has explained that they plan on using a team to send primary commands to the Prime, and that the Drones collect their primary commands by a simple program through wireless integration with said Primes. The whole system relies on the indestructibility of the Prime unit. While they have already began working on EMP resistance since your escape, I know these systems better than anyone- that is not the only gap in the armor. I have been developing a specialized virus since I began here." He pulled a face and rubbed a hand over his beard. "It's still untested, and largely unperfected, but if I know you and your stubbornness, Katja, you will be back here soon, so I am encrypting this USB with the Infinitus fail safe code as it is."
There was another pause as his expression became sad and his dark eyes welled with tears. I swallowed the lump in my throat, as I had done each time previously I had watched the confession. "I wish I had been able to leave with you, I regret now that I didn't. While I hope that we will all be able to escape together soon, I... I do fear that not all of us will. The odds are just not in our favor. Please, please stay safe. That is more important than anything. Get the virus to SHIELD, or the Avengers, and go somewhere safe. If for some reason I can't be with you when you get this, please know that I am so sorry that I have failed you as a father yet again, but know that I love you, Aleks, Katja, so much, and I am so proud of both of you. I have to go, but please, stay safe."
The screen became blank as the video ended. Silence pervaded the motley group, but at least no one was shooting at each other.
Surprisingly, Wanda was the first to break it. "Your father, he must have loved you. Is he...?" she trailed off before she finished the question, but the meaning was clear.
"He's dead," I answered her in a dull tone, "he died yesterday while we were trying to rescue him."
"I'm sorry," she replied softly, and I tried to send her a grateful smile, but couldn't manage more than a defeated shrug.
"This was why he refused to join me in our plan of escape, he wanted to stop this from the inside," Aleks said out of the blue, his gaze faraway and his voice laced with regret. "He was thinking of everyone, risking his life for them."
"Well, now he's dead," I snapped, immediately realizing my cruel mistake and heaving a sigh. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. It's just he was right; this was my fault. I'm the one who wouldn't listen to reason and made us go back there and put us all in that kind of danger. I don't want to do that again, Aleks. Next time it might be you, or Ultron, or me." I ran one hand through my dirty hair, and gestured enthusiastically towards the two newest members of the Odd Squad. "He asked us to leave this in the hands of the Avengers, and now we have." I yanked the USB out of its slot and tossed it in the direction of the Vision, feeling an unexplained bitterness roiling in my gut. "There; done. Final wishes complete."
Ultron had never put up with my attitude before, and he wasn't going to start now. "What happened to what you said when I suggested that exact thing this morning? You're quitting already? Didn't take you long, but I can't say I expected better of you."
"Hey, I am great at quitting, alright? I am stubbornly good at quitting. I quit my whole freakin' country and family when things started getting too tough. I never do what I'm supposed to. I always give too much or too little, and it doesn't matter which I choose because it's always wrong. I want to save the people I care about, but I end up killing them in the process." I slammed the lid of my laptop down angrily, cringing when I realized I might have broken the screen, but it only proved my statement. I knew now what a liability I was.
"You think you're the only one, Katja? You're honestly that self centered? Because everything you damn yourself with reminds me of someone." I met the android's glowing red stare with my glassy one, not knowing whom he was referring to. "Me, Katja, you remind me of myself. That's why we're going to help each other see this through to the end; because I don't think either of us can live with ourselves if we don't."
"Why do you care?" I asked him again, feeling the exhaustion of my soul leaching into my words, expecting no answer further than the I don't know of earlier.
But I should have known that robot would always do the opposite of what I expected of him.
"Because I do," he answered simply, not breaking eye contact.
The dumb expression on my face lasted a few long moments, then I sat up straight and clapped my hands together and looked at the other confused and distrustful faces around me. "Well, who's ready to stop another robot invasion? We have an encryption to crack."
A/N: Well, another chapter that did NOT go as I expected it to. Honestly, I don't know how this even happens. Why do I even bother outlining? Guess I have to put the other stuff off until next chapter.
Hows the pacing feeling, guys? It's definitely not my strong point. Some things I rush, and others I stagnate. HA I'm like Katja.
Plenty of things to go wrong before we finish, though, guys!
REVIEW SO I KEEP THIS WRITING ROLL GOING AND DON'T TAKE ANOTHER THREE MONTH HIATUS!