Once again, thank you all for the reviews and follows and favorites and - wow, only five chapters, and that's already becoming repetitive. I need to find a new way to say thanks to everyone...
Locating Klaue wasn't hard once he knew where the man's room was. Although, it would be more accurate to call it his command center, since it seemed to be the place where he gave orders, using a speaker system attached to the whole ship. There wasn't even a bed, so Klaue obviously had an actual home to go to every night.
The fun part was sneaking up on the disheveled looking man. It took all Ultron's concentration to step lightly into the room, and hide in one of the dark corners (the room was not very well lit at all), where he then had to stifle his laughter. Klaue, who was sitting at a desk filled with various junk, truly had no idea he wasn't alone. It was only when Klaue popped a piece of sugary candy into his mouth that Ultron couldn't help but let out a, "Boo!"
Klaue fell out of his seat, before scrambling to his feet, about to put his finger on the intercom system. Ultron quickly fired off one of his smaller missiles, sending Klaue's plan (and his device) up in smoke. Klaue then reached for the gun holstered on his belt, and pointed it straight at Ultron. Klaue's arm was shaking badly enough that Ultron doubted the man would be able to shoot straight.
"What the hell are you?" It was a fair question. Ultron assumed that robots weren't something that Klaue witnessed every day.
"I'm new to this, so you probably haven't heard of me. My name's Ultron. Before you ask, yes, I'm a robot. I try to avoid the obvious questions, you understand, so let's cut to the chase: I'm here to do business with you."
He really had no way to make himself appear less threatening to Klaue. He had no mouth so smile with, and he couldn't really shrug. All he could do was keep his tone light, and even then, his current electronic voice didn't have much range in that regard.
"You see, I have a burning need for some of that vibranium. You have no idea how rare the stuff is. No, wait…actually, you probably do, since you sell it at such a high price." He could see Klaue's ears perk up at the mention of money.
"Business, you say? Until now, I've only sold things to humans. Still, money is money…" Ultron could already see the pathetic man's eyes become dollar signs, like in a cartoon he happened upon online. To this man, money was his god. Ultron couldn't judge though; his "god" was probably Stark.
"Who said anything about payment? Oh! Sorry for the confusion. When I said 'business', I didn't mean to hint at a transaction between us. I don't do business with criminals. No, I meant that I'll be taking the vibranium with me. Oh, but before you say anything, I must tell you that I work for Mr. Stark. Yes, that Stark."
Klaue's face paled as he recognized the name.
"I'm glad to see you remember him. Anyway, you know how much influence Stark has; one word from me, and you'll have government agents crawling all over the place. You'd be shut down in ten seconds. However, if you don't give me any trouble, I suppose I won't need to have the authorities alerted. That sounds fair, right?"
Klaue, horrified, fired some ineffective shots at Ultron. The bullets all pinged as they struck Ultron's body. One of the ricochets hit Klaue in the kneecap.
"Oh. Oh no. That was dumb. You really shouldn't have done that. Oh, you're bleeding! Um, um, do you have a rag or anything like that here?" When Klaue shook his head, a desperate Ultron improvised by ripping Klaue's shirt up, using the remains as a make-shift bandage, which he placed around Klaue's knee.
Ultron had to admit that there was one thing he didn't like about humans – how squishy they were. It was repulsive how liquids oozed out of their bodies! The sight made him shudder.
"OK. OK. The bleeding has been contained for now, but I better make sure the police bring an ambulance with them. But seriously, firing bullets at a metal robot? Dumb idea." Klaue groaned.
"You lied to me?" Ultron nodded. "If you were going to have me arrested anyway, why not send the police ahead?" Ultron tilted his head.
"I wanted to be polite. Fair warning is the decent thing to do." Ultron could tell from Klaue's rising blood pressure that the man didn't appreciate the gesture. Thinking fast, Ultron grabbed the candy bowl on the desk, and placed it on the ground next to Klaue.
"Want a candy? I hear that many humans love the taste. I wouldn't know." He expected the angry man to toss the bowl in his metal face, but surprisingly enough, the man hesitantly popped a blue-colored treat into his mouth.
"I still can't believe Mr. Stark found me after all these years," he moaned. Ultron wondered why the man assumed that Stark ever lost him.
As soon as Ultron, who had hacked into all the security feeds around the ship, saw the police cars and ambulance arrive, he decided it was time to make his exit. He wondered if the police would believe Klaue if he chose to tell them about the encounter?
As he began to fly out the window, Ultron stopped and snapped his metallic fingers. "Whoops, almost forgot." He fired a repulsor blast at a large safe in the center of the room. Inside was a large batch of vibranium, all square-shaped. Carrying it all in his arms would be impossible, so Ultron settled for picking up the entire safe.
"Would have been embarrassing if I didn't remember to grab this," he muttered to himself as he took off through the skylight, taking notice of the gorgeous sunset and the way it reflected off his body. It was very picturesque.
He never liked to stop. He always had to be moving, whether he was running, jumping, or simply tapping his fingers on a tabletop. Pietro was like a shooting star, his sister once joked. He replied that he would never burn up as long as she was around; family had to stick together, after all.
He and his sister were very close. Rare were the times that they weren't in agreement of something, and they both agreed that Tony Stark had to die. Not necessarily the other Avengers, who were merely bystanders as far as Pietro was concerned, but Stark was a target. His company, which used to be a weapons manufacturer, had caused the death of thousands – including him and his sister's parents.
A light touch on his shoulder caused Pietro to slow down on the makeshift treadmill that HYDRA had provided. It was very slow, and Pietro could easily outrun it, but what would be the point? He had to exercise somehow.
"Pietro, you are deep in thought again? What bothers you?" Wanda looked at him with worried eyes; he could never hide anything from her.
"Are you still upset about not being able to kill Stark? We'll have other chances, even if it means working with Strucker." Strucker was another thing they agreed on. They were grateful to HYDRA for giving them the power to destroy their enemy, but they weren't fond of Strucker at all. The way he looked at them like they were lab rats was creepy; Pietro swore that if were to ever lay a hand on Wanda, he would kill the old man.
They had both silently agreed to cut ties with Strucker once they finished off Stark. After that…..they hadn't made any specific plans, but staying off HYDRA's radar was a good place to start.
"Maybe," Pietro admitted. "If the army had only waited a few more moments, Stark and his stupid robot would be dead." Patience wasn't one of his strong points either.
Wanda idly glanced around the room, and grimaced. Pietro couldn't blame her; their room was pretty barebones, as Americans might say. Two beds, two desks, and the treadmill were the only objects in the room. There was one window, covered in rows of small bars. There was an ugly smell, like what Pietro had always imagined the sewers would be like.
"We'll find somewhere better, I promise," Pietro whispered. Wanda gave him a grateful smile, squeezing his hand before walking away.
The stars were twinkling when Tony finally found the time to go on a date with Pepper. By date, he meant stay at home and watch a sappy movie while eating a hot dinner. He couldn't cook if his life depended on it, so he left that to JARVIS and DUMMY. The end result was the nutritious but vile mix of mushrooms and cucumber.
"I think my appetite just died," Tony muttered as he scraped the contents of the plate into the nearest garbage, annoyed at how the dinner went. Pepper stifled a laugh.
"Don't let it get to you, Tony. We can always order out." Pepper's voice alone had a calming effect that got Tony's anger to recede, but he still needed to make sure that DUMMY didn't mess up next time.
"I know I say this a lot, but next time, you're going on a date with a trash compactor." DUMMY quickly rolled itself out of the room, before stumbling down a staircase.
"I'm almost scared to say this, but it's your turn to pick the movie." The last film Pepper had chosen had left him in a worse catatonic state than any of his heart attacks. There were only so many ways he could watch two people fall in love.
"Well," Pepper started, eyes twinkling, "it's been so long since we had a chance to just be together, I was thinking that maybe we could…" she stopped, before trailing her foot down Tony's leg. It was then that he became sharply aware of how her black dress accentuated the various curves of her body. She didn't need to finish her sentence; he got the message loud and clear!
As Tony moved in to kiss her, he noticed Pepper glance idly at the window behind him before her eyes widened in fear. The hero wasted no time in turning around to check out the latest interruption, worried that perhaps one of his enemies had decided to drop by unannounced again.
It was with a sigh of relief, not frustration, which left him when he laid eyes on Ultron, who was hovering outside the window, waving wildly before pointing downwards. Tony quirked his head to Pepper, trying to let his creation know that he was about to get busy. Ultron must not have understood, because he pointed downwards once more before descending onto the street over fifty stories below.
"What the heck was that?" Pepper's tone insinuated that she believed that Tony was keeping something from her. Which he wasn't of course, but he had forgotten to tell her about Ultron, something he needed to rectify.
One hasty explanation later, and Tony found that Pepper was on Ultron's side. "I don't know what he wanted to show you, but he seemed pretty insistent. You should go see what it is." That was the last thing Tony wanted to do.
"C'mon, Pep. I've been waiting weeks for this, and I'm sure Ultron can wait a few hours. I mean, if it was so important, he would have called me on my phone, or something." Pepper bit her bottom lip, a sign that she was thinking, and also something Tony thought was very hot.
"Maybe….this might sound silly, but what if he's just shy?" Tony burst into laughter, because there was no way that a robot whose mind was based off his brainwaves could ever be shy.
"OK, Mr. Know-It-All, the only way we'll ever find out what Ultron wants is for you to go and ask him. Now go. If you hurry, we can finish up here later." The last bit was suggestive enough to get Tony to haul his butt to the elevator. As the doors closed, Pepper offered one last piece of advice.
"If he does think of himself as your son, you should spend time with him. A lonely robot might be a bad thing." The elevator began to descend down the many floors of the tower, and Tony felt his heart sink a bit too. It was with some guilt that he realized that he hadn't even known Ultron had left the tower. He had no idea where the robot had gone.
He eventually found Ultron in the lab, placing a pile of….something on the tables. Tony coughed to let the robot know he was there. Ultron turned to his creator, eyes glowing brightly.
"Father, I was starting to worry that you wouldn't come. But I knew you would; you just like to do that human thing." When Tony raised an eyebrow, Ultron continued, "You know, the fashionably late thing." Tony let the corner of his mouth lift up at the joke. Besides, he really had done that before.
"So, Ultron, why did you call me down here? I assume it wasn't just to chat about human customs. Did you need dating advice? I have plenty of that." Ultron shook his head, waving his arm at the pile of metal he had produced. Tony's eyes narrowed. On closer inspection…
"Father, don't ask me how, but I managed to find a whole bunch of vibranium. I didn't spend a single dime, I swear!" Tony knew the metal looked familiar! Oh, the tests he could do! He'd worry about how Ultron managed to acquire it later.
Suddenly almost sounding shy, Ultron looked down before spouting, "I was remembering how useless I was in that last battle. I need a stronger body, so…w-would you be willing to help me construct a new body for myself?"
Author's Notes:
I know a lot of people were waiting for Ultron to get his real body, so...not much longer now! All it needs to be built is some father/son bonding time.
I know that in the film, the vibranium was portrayed as a liquid substance, but I changed it here. No real reason, but I didn't want to copy and paste so many parts of the film.
Meanwhile, I saw Age of Ultron again, and still love it. It's now the sixth highest grossing film of all time! So happy that everyone went to support it!