I don't own The Avengers. Marvel Does. I only own my OCs.
Since Heimdall detected the blob-like growths attempting to consume planets across the galaxy, Loki volunteered to travel to Midgard to investigate, now that the medicine Fylo prescribed to him earlier cured him of his illness. Traveling along the Bifrost, Loki landed in a forest covered in snow, facing the blob-like growth that recently stopped in its tracks. He took a few steps forward with the intention to take a sample. The instant he did, he suddenly noticed the growth started to shrivel up. Figuring he might be able to find the source, the trickster began to follow the shriveling growth, his feet trudging through the snow. Along the way, he noticed blob-like creatures a quarter of his size breaking off from the growth and sitting idly in the snow. He brushed it off and kept following the shriveling blob. The Asgardian stepped down into what had once been a small enclosure, watching as the growth shrank down into what appeared to be a flower which shriveled before his eyes.
Reaching down, Loki used his magic to carefully sever the stem of the flower and capture the rest of it in a partially transparent orb of green energy which kept the plant suspended both in time and space.
"Interesting," he whispered, staring at the now stasis preserved flower, which emitted a dim light from its core, "let's see if you can tell me a little about who is to blame for this."
Back in the conference room, Tony received a text alert from Friday while he reclined in his chair.
"Okay, nobody panic…again, but we just pinged the Bifrost opening."
"What's this mean?" Rhodey asked, "did Thor call for help? Did he just leave?"
"Well, it opened somewhere too far from him so no to the second and…not sure to the first," Tony shrugged, "either way, high time that we get in the field."
Tony stood to his feet and turned to leave the conference room.
"Sir," Vision interrupted, "Ultron is heading for the same location."
Those words stopped Tony in his tracks while he buried his forehead in his palms.
Loki had Barry left the enclosure before he spotted several shapes diving down from the cloud cover and leveling out. Several of Ultron's drones spread out, handling equipment to collect samples of the residue left behind by the growth while his primary body (or perhaps one that was based on the same make and model) hovered in front of the trickster god.
"Loki!" Ultron greeted him with a grin and a sly tone, "how's it been? Fancy seeing you here. So uh…on a spectrum of zero to 'god dammit Loki' how much involvement do you have with this?"
Loki cracked a half smile.
"I'm glad to tell you that I've no hand in this. I was sent on behalf of Asgard to investigate this occurrence and, if need be, render assistance."
"Ah! Good, really didn't want to see Thor give you a spanking," Ultron settled on the ground, "so what've you found?"
Loki held up the stasis locked flora he had collected.
"Behold, the source of your troubles."
"Whoa boy," Ultron leaned in, "no prizes for guessing what I'm thinking."
Each of his drones turned their heads in unison and vocalized.
"Alien."
"Great minds and whatnot," Loki shrugged, "I intend to return to Asgard with this for further study, but if Mr. Stark might refrain from making another life form from this I might be persuaded to wait a bit so that your more intellectual companions can look at it."
Ultron carefully set Carol down onto the ground.
"I proudly accept your proposal," Ultron nodded, waving his hand in a circular motion.
All the while, Carol scanned her surroundings until she found a hole in the ground, her curiosity prompting her to kneel to the ground and peer inside.
"What do you think is down here?" Carol clamored.
Loki and Ultron snapped out of their thoughts and turned their heads towards Carol.
"Please tell me you're not going down there to cause trouble," Loki sighed while he folded his arms.
Carol lifted her head out of the hole for a moment.
"Oh, come on!" Carol blurted, "this could be a great chance of adventure, couldn't it?"
Loki snickered at Carol's comment.
"Oh?" Loki teased, gesturing to Ultron, "little Miss Carol is now so brave all of a sudden? Last time I ventured with you and your puppet boy here, you were too scared to enter the beehive."
Carol scowled and placed her hands on her hips.
"Oh, fuck off!" Carol snapped, "I'm going in to check it out myself!"
With that, Carol started climbing down the hole, leaving Ultron and Loki staring in confusion. After a few awkward moments of silence, Loki glanced at Ultron.
"A real spitfire, that one," Loki commented.
"You have no idea," Ultron chuckled.
With a grin, Ultron went after her, carefully climbing down the hole despite his increased bulk and closely followed by the Asgardian.
"Feeling like tagging along?" Ultron offered.
"Only because with Lady Carol's luck, I expect that there will almost certainly be danger down here," Loki said with a shrug, "I'd be remiss to turn away in such a case."
"What, you think her murderbot boyfriend can't handle it alone?" Ultron snorted.
"I think she and her 'murderbot boyfriend' are climbing down into an area infested by an alien mold that almost swept over your entire planet without waiting for backup," Loki replied as they reached the ground, pausing to smooth out his coat, "pardon me if I decide to fill that role."
With that, Ultron and Loki meandered through the tunnel. Considering how dark it was, Ultron emitted a red glow to illuminate the path. They may haven't traveled farther into the tunnel, but they soon found Carol carefully examining a couple giant amoebae crawling along the ceiling and the walls of the tunnel.
"Well," Loki chuckled with a shrug, "at least we know she's in one piece.
Ultron ignored Loki's remark and took a few steps closer to his girlfriend.
"Carol," Ultron warned, "you might want to get away from those things."
Carol paused in her tracks and tilted her head towards Ultron.
"How come?" Carol objected, "they didn't attack me yet."
Carol made one more glance at the amoeba closest to her before she returned her focus to her robot boyfriend.
"And maybe they won't do so if I just don't disturb them," Carol continued.
"Considering that these are the offspring of some cosmic flower, assumptions should probably be made and tested by people who are handsomely paid for proving or disproving them," Loki recommended, keeping an eye on the amoeba.
"I'm inclined to agree with Reindeer Games," Ultron nodded.
He ran a scan of the amoeba, seeking an analysis of its composition to see if it bore any similarities to native life forms. If so, then that might at least explain where they came from and what exactly became of those who had been engulfed by the growth.
"But let's see if an innocent little peek will tell us something…"
Kneeling down, Ultron swiped a sample of goo from the amoeba, yet it didn't even leap after him. Instead, it started slithering away from the tall robot. Coincidentally, another amoeba crept from behind Loki and extended its pseudopod, trying to obtain something from the trickster only to have him let out a startled yelp and snap his head at the amoeba.
"Greetings, fellow creature," the amoeba said, "what brings you here to our humble home?"
Eyes widening in surprise, Carol tilted her head in the direction of the amoeba.
"Oh, so they talk?!" she warbled.
"It…would appear so," Loki said, removing his hand from the dagger at his belt.
"And like that, the day somehow gets even more interesting," Ultron chimed, now running a more intense scan of the speaking amoeba, "sooooo…hi?"
"Hello," another amoeba spoke up, with a chorus of greetings coming from the rest in a variety of voices that ranged from sounding young to old, male to female.
Carol's face lit up, unable to contain her excitement.
"This is so cool!" she chirped.
Carol spun until she faced one of the amoebae.
"So, do you know where you came from?" she clamored.
"We haven't thought about it," the amoeba replied, "we've spent some time finding a home and getting to know our surroundings."
Smiling, Carol folded her arms behind her back and straightened her spine.
"I guess it's all the reason to make friendly negotiations," she mused.
"And now color me confused," Ultron said as he cut off the scan, "you guys did come with the wave of moldy doom that was covering the ground above this whole place a few minutes ago, right?"
Loki flashed the flower in front of the amoebae to prove the robot's point. One of them perked up its pseudopod in curiosity.
"Oh, we did?" it warbled.
"Do you know…who planted these flowers in the first place?" Carol asked.
"No," an amoeba answered.
"Whoever it was, something tells me that whatever it was that they intended went awry," Loki commented, looking around.
Ultron glanced upwards.
"We've got company coming in fast," he said, seeing the surface through one of the drones he had left up top to watch the area, "Stark, a few of the crew aaaaaaand a whole lot of nervous and trigger happy troops. Something tells me our new friends here should stay out of sight until we've had a chance to talk with Stark and set the record straight."
Carol couldn't help but shudder nervously.
"Oh, boy," she muttered.
Ultron made a brief glance at Carol before he stroked her hair.
"You'll be ok down here, right?" he insisted.
Carol eagerly gave Ultron a salute, her grin wide on her face.
"Not to worry," Carol chirped, "I'll be just fine!"
Giving Carol a smile, Ultron made his way through the tunnel and emerged from the hole, making his way outside just as Iron Man, Vision and War Machine touched down on the ground.
"Hello, Stark," Ultron grinned, "glad to see you came over."
"Yeah, well unfortunately for everyone with basic human decency, we have more company coming behind us," Tony sighed and pointed over his shoulder at approaching helicopters, "the kind aiming to please and shoot to kill at the drop of a hat."
"Well then…" Ultron clapped his hands together and smiled pleasantly, "they're definitely not going underground in that case."
"Why? What's down there?" Tony quipped.
"Oh just…a drop of a hat," Ultron answered, waving one hand dismissively.
Little did Ultron knew, a nearby amoeba was gathering some dead branches and was slithering its way towards the hole. This strange creature drew Rhodey's attention, whose eyes widened in shock.
"Yuck!" Rhodey exclaimed, "what is that?!"
Tony and Ultron stopped their banter and focused their attention on the amoeba continuing its trek towards the hole in the ground.
"Oh no," Ultron grumbled to himself.
"Well," Tony blurted in amusement, "looks like we have blobs of goo to take care of."
While Tony was tempted to laugh at his lame joke, Rhodey narrowed his eyes at Tony underneath his helmet.
"Not funny, Stark," Rhodey scolded, "not funny."
Ultron emphasized Rhodey's annoyed expression with a facepalm.
"You know, if we take a sample," Tony continued, "we might study its molecular structure. That way, we'll know what it's capable of doing and pinpoint where it came from."
"As much as I'd like to join in on the Geek-Out, the first step to learning anything about them will be not talking about them like they aren't sentient or in earshot," Ultron advised, moving to the amobea's side, "and the second step would be making sure somebody doesn't shoot at them on sight."
He looked down at the amoeba.
"You may want to get back underground, or at least get behind me," he advised as the helicopters came in closer, preparing to set down.
Once the helicopters touched down, troops disembarked and met up with Vision, Iron Man and War Machine. All the while, the amoeba crawled behind Ultron.
"Mr Stark!" the officer leading the newly offloaded platoon approached, "seems you've beaten us to the punch again— whaaaat is that?"
The man cut himself off and tilted his head to the side to peer around Ultron's legs.
"Uh…just a…giant amoeba," Ultron answered awkwardly, "Certainly nothing to—"
"Hello!"
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
"Good day!"
Immediately, more of the amoeba emerged from behind Ultron, causing several of the soldiers to stumble back out of shock with their weapons gripped tightly.
"…I stand corrected, it's a whole lot of amoeba," Ultron chuckled sheepishly, "still nothing to worry about though."
"Where'd these things come from?" the officer asked, stepping back when one amoeba slithered too close, still spouting greetings.
"That's where things get interesting, but until I get through it I'd prefer it if you and your men kindly keep their safeties on," Ultron urged.
"If these things are aliens then I'm obligated to act only under the UN's First Contact policy," the officer replied, not unkindly but sternly, "until I know for sure that they aren't a threat or will become a threat, my men keep their weapons hot."
"And who exactly determines whether they fit either of those two categories?" Rhodes demanded, standing by Tony's side and keeping an eye on the nervous looking troops.
One amoeba slowly approached one of the soldiers and extended its pseudopod.
"We don't mean you harm," it chirped.
"Ah, hold it now," Stark said when the trooper's rifle began to rise a bit, "pretty sure the concept of a double negative goes right through them, soldier. Just relax."
"To answer your question, Colonel Rhodes," the Captain said, "that would be up to the Secretary of State—"
"Ohhhhh no," Ultron sighed.
"Thaddeus Ross," Rhodey grumbled.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding," Stark sighed, "who puts that guy in charge of anything these days?"
"After the fiasco with Project Insight and Hydra having their hands in a lot of high ranking departments, there was a bit of a rush to fill in a lot of spots with people who could at least be trusted to not be part of a terrorist organization," Ultron shook his head, "and fortunately for him, not so much for us, Ross was on Hydra's hit list with Project Insight. In the top three hundred actually."
"Oh, he might be obsessed with chasing the Hulk, but hey: he's not Hydra so let's give him another shot!" Stark drawled sarcastically, "just when I thought I wouldn't have even more of a reason to drink today."
Ultron gave Tony a shrug.
"Maybe Carol can give her testimony?" Ultron offered, "that'll be enough to prevent the possibility of bloodshed."
"Might help," Tony nodded, "when can we expect Ol'Thunderbolt?"
"He was already preparing to transfer to the forward operating base we had set up," the Captain answered, "if he's there now we have him here in another ten minutes."
He reached for his radio and murmured into it, likely to inquire on the Secretary's presence.
"Gotta give Thunderbolt credit," Ultron said to Tony, "retired or not, he still apparently prefers to lead on the field."
"He always did like to be personally involved," Rhodes admitted, "so…besides the amoeba, we don't have any other surprises down there, right?"
Ultron was internally debating on whether or not he should tell them that Loki was down below with Carol. While the Avengers might not be hostile to the former would-be conqueror, the same might not be said about the military. It understandably wasn't easy to forgive and forget when somebody brought an armada of aliens on flying chariots and armored eldritch space whales into the middle of the Big Apple.
"Only one," Ultron quipped, "but I'm sure Vision and Carol are equipped with a reason."
Vision nodded in agreement.
"You might want to remain calm, Mr. Stark," Vision advised.
Tony sighed before he stretched his arms.
"Then let's get spelunking!" Tony suggested.
Ultron led Iron Man, Vision and War Machine down the hole before they ventured through the tunnel. The taller robot emitted a red glow to illuminate the path and it didn't take long before they met up with Carol and Loki, with the Asgardian trickster holding out a lantern as Carol was sketching on her clipboard case in front of some amoebae. Loki glanced up at the sound of approaching footsteps.
"I assume you know that a few got past us," he said before the cavern was filled with the sounds of weapons charging and mechanisms shifting.
He slowly turned to find himself at the end of no less than four disruptor gauntlets and numerous weapons that had unfolded from Tony and Rhodes' armors. Loki's brows arched upwards in feigned surprise.
"…Thor did remember to tell everyone that I'm not evil anymore, right?"
"You'll have to forgive me if I don't take any chances," Tony deadpanned, "Ultron, Carol. Context. Five seconds ago. Go."
"He was sent here by Asgard," Ultron explained, "to investigate what happened here."
"Here and on most habitable planets in the galaxy," Loki added, "simultaneously."
Carol paused in her tracks and focused her eyes on Tony.
"Oh hi, Mr. Stark!" Carol chirped, "what brings you here?"
Ultron nodded at Carol while he gestured to the weapons Iron Man unfolded.
"Well," Carol stammered, gesturing to the strange flower in Loki's hand, "it turns out the masses you saw came from these exotic space flowers like this one. On the bright side, these little guys got their own sentience."
Just as Carol finished speaking, Tony noticed a tiny amoeba the size of a squirrel perching on Carol's shoulder as it nuzzled against her cheek, encouraging her to return the gesture.
"Yeah, I got that idea from seeing all the ones up top," Tony nodded, motioning towards Loki, "and Reindeer Games isn't involved?"
Loki chuckled before he placed his hand behind his head.
"Oh, I'm involved, all right," Loki mused.
"Thor has him on…community service," Ultron explained, "Loki was sent here on strict orders from Asgard."
"By the orders of the All-Father," Loki clarified, "I've become a sort of…deniable asset for Asgard."
"Like a…secret agent?" Tony lowered his arm a bit, "agent of Asgard?"
Loki shrugged.
"Sure, let's call it that. Catchy."
"Which means if Thor comes down here right now his first move won't be to put his hammer on your chest to keep you still until he can call a ride home?" Tony asked.
"Thor knows all about my duties," Loki answered, "this is but a small detour I was bidden to make due to how widespread this event was. My primary mission lays in counteracting the machinations of the Mad Titan."
"Mad…Titan?" Rhodes crossed his arms, "not ringing a bell but I'm usually absent for these things."
"Thanos," Loki sighed, "to make a long story short: he is the one who armed and supplied me for my invasion of Midgard all those years ago. He gave me the spear that I used to subdue the will of others, he bid me to retrieve the Tesseract for him and in return he gave me an army to conquer this world. Recently more of the Infinity Stones besides those two have been appearing in the open, and that has Odin understandably concerned."
"One on a world called Xandar," Ultron inserted himself into the discussion, "another during Thor's throwdown in London with Malekith."
"I'm guessing this Thanos has a hand in all of these then," Tony guessed.
"Not exactly," Loki shook his head, "but he has shown it's easier to acquire these stones, and I doubt he would complain if someone else manages to dig up the other two for him."
In a moment of silence, Rhodey and Tony exchanged confused glances.
"Stark," Rhodey asked, "are you sure…?"
"I know how you feel," Tony replied.
Tony turned his head towards Loki.
"You're lucky you don't get to have your head blasted off," Tony advised, "just stay out of trouble, all right?"
Loki nodded as he shrugged.
"A fair deal," Loki answered.
Please leave a review, so Ultron and Loki would be happy.