Ninety
There was a faint beeping as sunlight hit my eyelids. It was a fitful sleep full of nightmares. Nightmares about my team being dead on that piece of rock on the other side of the wormhole. Nightmares about my Loki dying at my feet. My fault. I could have done more to save them. I could have…
I woke with a start, that beeping and sunlight waking me. I slammed the console with my fist, shattering the screen.
"Tony!" Bruce shouted.
"Sorry." I said rubbing my eyes. "I didn't sleep well."
"Stop destroying the equipment. We're already down most of it."
"Beeping was driving me crazy" I halved the truth. I didn't want my friend to know I'd been having nightmares about killing him or the rest of the team.
"Well, it's been beeping since that cat of yours hopped down and disappeared." Bruce looked a little grumpier than normal. "I think I tracked Ultron down to a country, Wakanda?" He butchered the pronunciation.
"Wakanda?" I corrected. "What for? All they export is," My brain finally started working. "Vibranium. Son of a bitch."
"Language." He scolded.
"Oh, you're on that now. Just go fuck off."
"Don't let Steve hear you talk like that."
"I don't give a flying fuck what Steve thinks. He's part of the reason why I stayed up all night perfecting Ultron. We'd never be in this situation if hadn't helped Thor get rid of Loki. I still don't understand what he meant, but if Loki were here, I wouldn't be building sentient drones. I probably be in a sex coma." I rambled on.
"Tony, I'm sorry between you guys went south, but we have to stop Ultron, and I don't think we can win this without everyone. Let's just go to Wakanda and put a stop to this." Bruce grabbed me and pushed me in the direction of my armor.
A few hours rest in the Quinjet on our flight to central Africa helped. Yet, it wasn't enough. I was still plagued by nightmares. I was still tired when we landed and found where Ultron was hiding. A plan was put into motion, leaving behind the big guy until he was needed.
When we did initial surveillance, Ultron was with the two powered people. He was unloading the vibranium from the vault owned by a Ulysses Klaue. Klaue also had a large amount of weapons, all bearing my name. I was already disgusted by the situation. I wanted to get in there, destroy Ultron, grab the scepter, and go home. I had to get that back and find a way to Asgard, and to my Loki. I needed to know he was alright.
My worry was probably my downfall, as the plan spiraled out of control. A few snarky comments back and forth and dragged Ultron into the upper atmosphere. The rest of the team focused on the two powered people. I destroyed the shell Ultron was in, only to be notified by Jarvis that he moved through the Internet to another shell. Jarvis also notified me that Bruce had left the Quinjet.
"Jarvis, news reports of Hulk sightings in central Africa." I commanded. Jarvis displayed images on my screen in my helmet. I flew to his location. Bruce was busy over turning cars, causing damage for what seemed like no reason. He growled when he saw me, his eyes bloodshot red. I reached out in an attempt to touch the pressure point to calm him. He attacked me, throwing me. Now the only way I was going to get Bruce to calm down was to knock him unconscious.
"Jarvis, deploy Veronica." I asked for the suit Bruce and I created to contain the Hulk if he ever got out of control. We finally settled on an orbiting satellite. The suit assembled and I was able to step into it.
"Alright everyone, stand down." I yelled to the milita that was trying to gun down my friend and just making him angrier. "Listen to me, that little witch is messing with your mind. You're stronger than her. You're smarter than her. You're Bruce Banner."
Hulk threw a car at me.
"Right! Don't mention puny Banner." I corrected. He smashed himself into the car I'd caught, knocking me off balance.
I needed Bruce to sleep, but I didn't want to hurt him. I also half wondered where the rest of my team was. And why weren't they helping. Thor would have only had to hit him once, but he was conveniently absent.
I dragged Bruce through concrete and into buildings trying to knock him unconscious. He stabbed me with a light post.
"Ouch, just stab me in the back." I was glad to be in the Veronica suit, as I was able shed the damaged arm and new parts came to me from the floating base. If I had time to pat myself on the back, I would. But I was trying to keep him away from me until the new parts synced up. As they synced up, I was forced to use them to block what would have been a devastating punch. We shattered every window in the vicinity. It was time to move the party somewhere less populated.
"Go to sleep." I yelled, punching him in the head. "Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep." I was thrown fortunately into a building that was under construction. I jetted up with him, throwing him through the building. I hoped the sheer destruction of falling through fifty floors knocked him out. He unburied himself from the rubble looking confused at the approaching milita. I took the opportunity to knock him out, ending the chaos. I hated doing it, but it needed done to stop the destruction.
The flight back to the states was long and uncomfortable. Every member of our team defeated and dealing with their inward battles brought on by the witch. All except Clint, and he knew where to hide us until the tension calmed down.