Chapter 17 – Fears
"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out using the internet as an escape hatch" Banner said.
"He's been in everything; files, surveillance. He probably knows more about us than we know about each other" Natasha told everyone. I noticed Clint tense.
"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he tries to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodes asked.
"Nuclear codes" Maria said.
"Nuclear codes" Rhodes agreed. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can" Rhodes continued.
"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead-" Natasha said.
"He didn't say dead, he said extinct" Steve reminded her.
"He also said he killed someone" Clint added.
"There wasn't anyone else in the building" Maria said as she tried to clean up her bloody toe.
"Yes there was" Tony said as he showed us the remaining pieces of Jarvis. Everyone went quiet.
"This is insane" Banner said.
"Jarvis was the first line of defence, he would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense" Steve said.
"No, Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is rage" Banner told us. Thor then walked over to Tony and lifted him up by the throat.
"It's going around" Clint noted.
"C'mon, use your words buddy" Tony said. I stepped forwards to intervene using my powers but Clint shook his head.
"I have more than enough words to describe you Stark" Thor said.
"Thor" Steve said, catching his attention and making him drop Tony. "The legionnaire?" Steve asked.
"The trail went cold five hundred miles out but he's heading north and he has the sceptre. Now we have to retrieve it, again" Thor replied.
"Genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron" Nat said.
"I don't understand. You built this program, why is it trying to kill us?" Helen asked. Tony began laughing and Bruce shook his head.
"You think this is funny?" Thor asked.
"No, it's probably not, right? This is very terrible. It, it is, it's so terrible" Tony said but he seemed unsure.
"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand" Thor said.
"No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's funny, it's a hoot that you don't get why we need this" Tony stated.
"Tony this might not be the time" Bruce said.
"Really?" Tony turned to face him. The emotions in the room were beginning to drive me crazy; the anger, the fear, the confusion. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"
"Only when I created a murder-bot" Bruce replied.
"We didn't, we weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Tony argued.
"Well you did something right, and you did it right here. The Avengers was supposed to be different than Shield" Steve said.
"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked.
"No, it's never come up" Rhodes replied.
"Saved New York?" Tony added.
"Never heard that" Rhodes continued.
"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space, we're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers; we can bust arms dealers on a livelong day but that up there, that's the endgame. How are we planning on beating that?" Tony asked.
"Together" Steve replied. Tony stepped up to Steve.
"We'll lose" he told the Captain.
"Then we'll do that together too" Steve said matter-of-factly. "Thor's right; Ultron's calling us out. I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place, let's start making it smaller" Steve told the group. Everyone seemed to go their separate ways but I stayed in place. Nobody seemed to notice until Natasha walked over to me.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. I shook my head.
"Seeing this is bad, but feeling the emotions just then…it felt like someone was tearing me apart" I told her and she pulled me in for a hug.
"We're not a big happy family, we're a team though and this team will stick together when it comes down to it" Natasha said while she tried to comfort me. I pulled away from her and wiped the tears from my eyes.
"I should go talk to Steve" I said and then walked towards where Steve had been heading.
"Did you know?" Steve asked without turning around.
"About Ultron?" I returned, making Steve turn to face me. "No."
"You hear thoughts, you feel emotions; how did you not know?" Steve said accusingly. I looked at him in curious anger.
"I don't run around invading people's thoughts all day Steven. That's invasion of privacy and I'm not that kind of person" I snapped. Steve was taken aback.
"He's your nephew, you don't want to know what he's up to in his free time?"
"It's not my business what he does in his free time, he may be my nephew but it's not like we're the closest family around."
"What about Buck?" Steve asked, the rage still showing in his eyes. "You know where he is." It wasn't a question. I opened my mouth to say something but Steve beat me to it. "You kept secrets from me before, how do I know you're not lying now?"
"You know that was different" I said quietly.
"You know where he is, you could've known about Tony and Bruce creating Ultron" Steve said.
"I know where Bucky is, but that's different. He told me and I never had to read his mind with that, just like I don't have to read your mind to know that you've had Sam searching for him" I said. "But I never knew about Ultron, we have enough stuff going on around here and I don't like prying into everyone's minds. It's draining" I explained. Steve sighed and folded his arms across his chest.
"You really didn't know?"
"No" I said, shaking my head.
"Okay then" Steve said and relaxed a little.
"You're an asshole" I stated and Steve smirked, letting his arms fall to his sides.
"You're still a pain" he teased and gave me a hug but I pushed him away playfully.
"So about Buck-"
"I'm not telling you where he is, not unless he tells me to" I said and Steve sighed.
"Why not?"
"Because he's trying to deal with all he's been through, he's trying to remember who he was, and he's learning to deal with it" I explained.
"Would you know if he was in trouble?"
"Yeah. I feel everything he's feeling" I replied.
"…Stark, he's a sickness-" Ultron was rambling.
"Aww, Junior, you're gonna break your old man's heart" Tony said.
"If I have to" Ultron stated as he and Wanda and Pietro walked towards us.
"Nobody has to break anything" I said.
"Clearly you've never made an omelette" Ultron retaliated.
"He beat me by one second" Tony said.
"Yes, he's funny. Mr Stark" Pietro said. "It's what? Comfortable?" the boy looked to where the weapons were and I could feel his anger. "Like old times?"
"This was never my life" Tony replied.
"You two can still walk away from this" Steve told the twins.
"We will" the girl said. I tried to read he mind but it was like a red flash of light at first glance, I'd never had that before.
"I know you've suffered-" Steve started but he was cut off by Ultron.
"Captain America, God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-" Ultron was then cut off by Thor.
"If you believe in peace then let us keep it" he said.
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet" Ultron told him. I focussed more on Wanda's mind.
I'll go for the weaker one's first, maybe the girl with the dark hair, she seems quiet. Then go for the Captain, save Stark for last, I want him to suffer. I snapped back into reality and looked to my nephew.
"What's the vibranium for?"
"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan" Ultron said and then used some kind of magnetic force to pull Tony to him before zapping him against the wall behind us and then Tony flew right at him and they met in the middle. The fight broke out pretty quickly and I kept my eyes trained on Wanda, Steve ran at her though and she used some kind of red power the throw him backwards. Telekinesis.
"It's time for some mind games." I heard from one of the robots that Ultron had recruited. I watched as Wanda slipped away and walked up behind Thor, flicking her wrists as red seemed to shimmer into Thor's head.
"Thor" I called out.
"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay" Thor replied. "Fortunately, I am mighty" he mumbled to himself. I watched as he seemed to become dazed and then Wanda turned towards me.
"You don't want to do this" I told her.
"Stark killed my parents" she said.
"I can feel your pain, your anger. Don't do this though, there are other ways" I told her as I backed away.
"You don't know anything" she snapped.
"I'm an empath, I know more than you think" I told her as I stopped backing away.
"So do I" she said and flicked her wrist. I watched as the red swirled towards me, it was so mesmerising. I shook my head and kicked her in the stomach, making her curl over.
"I like mind games too" I told her before kneeling down in front of her. "You believe you already got me" I tried force into her mind.
"You are telepathic too" she realised. She hesitated before turning and running toward Pietro who was attacking my team and she used her power on Steve.
"Damn it" I mumbled before running to where I knew Clint was. I had to warn him, he had a family to protect.
"Clint" I called out when I saw Wanda again. He turned and used an electric-looking arrow on her forehead, making her shake. Pietro then knocked Clint through the window and looked at me before taking his sister out of there.
"Yeah, you'd better run." I heard Clint say.
"Whoever's standing, we better move" I said through the comms.
"Guys?" Clint asked over his. I looked at him and shook my head.
"This is bad, we need to get out of here and regroup" I told him and he nodded.