Sorry for the wait, everyone. Thanks for your continues support.
Strucker smiled as he watched a distant building explode. The work of his bomb, no doubt. He dearly wished he could have seen the look on whoever's face was caught up in the blast.
A shift in the wind made him turn his head, in time to see a metallic figure speeding at him like a bullet. Strucker gasped an embarrassing squawk before he felt himself get tackled. Before he could gather his bearings (or oxygen), he felt himself get lifted up. In a panic, he held his hands in front of his face.
The gesture itself didn't make him feel any safer, but as he raised his arms, warmth seemed to spread in his hand, the one that had the ring. As the robot stretched his arm back to deliver a painful looking blow, Strucker found himself desperately wishing that the robot wouldn't be able to make a fist.
The next moment, the robot was missing a hand. It had been replaced by some kind of crustaceous member. Ultron dropped Strucker unceremoniously on the dirty ground as he turned to cradle his claw, as if he could wish his hand back.
"What did you do to me?" Ultron had turned back to stare at Strucker, his red eyes glowing like the devil, but Strucker found that he wasn't frightened of the robot anymore. Standing up and straightening his coat, he smiled.
"I would call it a miracle." And indeed, what else could it be called but a miracle? Strucker had limited experience with the stones, and yet they had assisted him in his dire hour. He assumed that the Reality Stone had been the one to cause Ultron's…transfiguration.
The stones were even more powerful than he had assumed! It was such a rush, knowing that he held such pure strength in his hands! And he hadn't even unlocked their true energy yet! The possibilities stood endless before Strucker! He would be able to do whatever he wanted! He could change the world's currency, control entire populations, and drastically lessen the world's food supply –
No, beyond all that, he could become a god!
Strucker raised his arm, feeling the energy from the stones flow into him. He noticed, with immense satisfaction, that Ultron backed up a step. Strucker closed his eyes, and felt an inkling of his new power drain away as an energy javelin shot from his ring, striking Ultron dead in the chest.
The robot stumbled to a knee - but stubbornly stood back up. His chest area was smoking brown, but was otherwise un-pierced. Strucker spat on the ground, realizing that he must have underestimated the vibranium armor.
Well, trial and error was a proven and successful formula. "Perseverance always leads to victory," Strucker whispered as he let loose another energy javelin. The air around it sizzled, and Strucker felt a small bead of sweat slide down the side of his head.
Immediately after throwing it, he noticed a blurry object intercept. With a small explosion, the javelin vanished into thin air, and the object slowed down enough that Strucker could tell it was that blasted Tony Stark.
"Leave it to you to be fashionably late," Ultron said, obviously relieved after coming so close to oblivion. Stark nodded at Ultron, keeping his body facing Strucker.
"You know I couldn't leave you alone to fight the big honcho. Where would the fun be in that? The others are on their way, too." Raising his voice to address Strucker, Tony added salt to the wound. "I don't think your robots were as impressive as you were hoping. They had some cute tricks, but nothing we couldn't handle."
Strucker ground his teeth together, not noticing the animalistic growl his own throat let fly. How dare Stark continue to hinder his plans? How dare he criticize the Crimson Dynamo unit? How dare he just stand there, no doubt with an insufferable grin plastered on his rich boy face?
Strucker screamed, letting the rage consume him, invade him, change him. He felt the energy from the Infinity Stones film him, but it was different than the energy from before. It was darker, and it didn't flow through him so much as ooze through his pores.
"Father! The energy readings are off the charts!" Stark fired some small repulsar rays at Strucker, and to the man's surprise, the beams simply bounced off.
"Tell me something I don't know," the millionaire replied weakly. Strucker chuckled, and emboldened by his newfound power, ran towards Stark. He took a few steps, and suddenly, he was upon Stark! He had crossed the length of a two school buses in seconds!
Before Stark could scurry away, Strucker clamped a fist around the Iron Man helmet and ripped it off.
"I want to see your face when you die," Strucker growled in way of explanation. As he lifted a hand to smash Stark's face in, he felt two vice-like arms grab him by the waist and hurl him away.
"Stay away from my father." If a computerized voice could sound like rage incarnate, Strucker was hearing it now. Ultron was obviously programmed to guard his creator. Strucker would expect nothing less.
Words were no longer necessary. With nothing else but a roar, Strucker body slammed Ultron into the hard ground, but found himself being flipped over. As his face touched the soil, he considered what might happen if a vibranium foot were to stomp on his head. The next moment, Ultron stomped on Strucker's head with all the power he could.
By all rights, I should be dead. Truly, truly a miracle!
Strucker lifted himself out of the ground, making a show of dusting himself off. He opened his mouth to comment about how weak Ultron was, and how pathetic of a bodyguard he was, but he couldn't get the words out; Ultron fist was slamming into his face like a jackhammer. He heard more than felt his nose break, and his bottom lip split open.
The tangy taste of blood reached his tongue, and Strucker idly wondered if blood was always like that. He had never been out in the field before, so he had never been injured to the extent he was now.
"Get up. I know you aren't done yet, unless you're more pathetic than I thought." Strucker was insulted that a robot could speak to him in such a condescending tone. It would pay for its insolence.
Gems! I demand more power! I command you! GIVE ME MORE!
When Strucker had ripped off his helmet, Stark had quickly blinked his eyes to ease the glare of the sun. He hadn't even had time to feel any fear before Ultron ripped Strucker away to do god-knows-what. It really wouldn't be a good idea to just let his robot kill someone though – it would be pretty bad for his image. Oh, and murder was just wrong.
Shakily standing to his feet, Stark braced himself in case his knees buckled, but his legs stayed firm. Strucker wasn't having so much luck; he was being slammed into the ground, and Ultron seemed intent on creating the world's first ever HYDRA pancake.
"Ultron, that's enough. You don't want to make Strucker uglier than he already is, right?" He strained his voice yelling out, but Ultron gave no sign that he heard. And of course, the com-link had been inside the helmet.
Well, he supposed he could do the caveman method and simply get close enough to tap Ultron on the shoulder. Yeah, that could work.
Stark halted in his thoughts, unable to force his legs to step forward when Strucker changed. Ultron had let up for a few moments when a dark swirl of energy surrounded Strucker. As the old man crawled out of the small crater, he began to grow larger, his military suit ripping at the seams. At the same time, his body, which had been pale, began to turn a sickish green-purple color. It was completely unnatural.
Steam literally glided from Strucker's mouth when the man, no, creature growled. Stark didn't know what had happened, but Strucker wasn't human anymore, at least not in the normal scientific definition. Tony felt an illogical sense of fear, despite the fact that Strucker was putting all his attention on Ultron.
"Ultron, get out of there!" His voice didn't carry very far, but Ultron attempted to put some distance between him and his nightmare-ish foe. As Strucker lunged at Ultron with his oversized arms, Ultron ducked underneath the large body and activated his boosters to fly upwards.
Tony could see the muscles in Strucker's thighs bunch up (his well-ironed pants had torn), and he knew what the HYDRA leader was about to do – but he had no way to warn Ultron. The next moment, Tony's fear came true – Strucker made a leap that managed to cross 15 feet! Tony had only ever seen the Hulk jump higher!
Strucker violently grabbed Ultron's ankle, but despite his bulk, only succeeded in making the robot momentarily stumble before continuing to ascend, albeit at a calmer rate. As Ultron flew higher, Stark began having trouble making out the specific details of what they were doing.
"Tony, what's going on?" So wrapped up he had been in the proceedings, he hadn't noticed Steve and the others.
"Ultron is fighting Strucker. That would normally be cake, but Strucker took a bunch of steroids or something. He looks like a bodybuilder had a baby with a freaky chimera." Hawkeye looked disgusted.
"Now there's an image," he muttered.
"I'm serious, he looks like he must have gained over 80 pounds in muscle alone," Tony snapped.
"I don't know how powerful he is," Widow began in the calm voice that showed she was always in control of her emotions. "But I don't think he'll be able to take on all of us. Of course, first we need to bring him back down. Without Thor, that leaves only one of us who can fly."
Hawkeye sighed the sigh of someone resigned to do hard, manual labor. "Say no more, Nat." He fired an arrow fast enough that Stark didn't have time to ask what the archer was doing, and it reached Strucker before Stark had time to close his mouth.
There was an explosion, and Strucker's smoking but seemingly undamaged body plummeted to the ground. If this was a cartoon, Stark mused, Strucker would have landed on his head, and would have had a heck of a time getting his head unstuck.
"Hit him hard!" No one questioned Tony as they rushed Strucker, Cap at the head of the charge. The second Strucker lifted his head, his face became deeply acquainted with the vibranium shield. Even at a distance, Tony could hear some of Strucker's teeth snap off from his jaws. Cap followed with an uppercut, but having surpassed his initial surprise, Strucker grit his teeth and slammed his bony head against Steve.
As Steve fell, Natasha vaulted over him and zapped Strucker in the eyes. Howling, Strucker stumbled back, rubbing his eyes furiously. Disturbingly, the tears that squeezed out of his pupil-less eyes were black.
Strucker took one last step backwards, roaring when an explosive arrow blew up near his feet. Hawkeye had decided that in this case, quantity would win out, and was firing off three arrows at once. Somehow, this didn't affect his aim.
"RRRAAGGGG!" Hawkeye winced, and his next shot actually missed. Strucker leapt at the dazed archer, and slammed a coloring forearm into his head.
As Clint collapsed on the ground, Strucker raised an inhuman foot (his toenails now resembled gnarled claws), Tony forced himself to move, tackling the monster away from his friend. Without his helmet, Tony's nose was vulnerable to the murky, stale stench that Strucker exuded. It smelled like something rotten – perhaps a week old corpse.
"Ultron, get ready! I'm sending him to you!" Hoping that Ultron had been able to hear him this time, Tony utilized every ounce of arm strength he had and threw Strucker into the air towards Ultron. Not missing a beat, Ultron zoomed downwards at top speeds. When he finally collided with the beast, Tony could almost see the force of the collision materialize in the form of shockwaves.
Ultron knew that he must have damaged some of Strucker's internal organs, or at least broken some bones. The feel of his fist sinking into the madman's stomach had been too satisfying for nothing to have happened.
A few moments later, Strucker coughed up some black blood, confirming in Ultron's mind that damage had been done. A part of Ultron's electronic brain was darkly pleased about that.
"NNNNNnnnoooo." Apparently, Strucker still had human-like vocal cords, even if the words came out slurred and growly. Ultron put a heavy foot on Strucker's chest.
"You've lost, obviously. You can't be deluded enough to think that you can make some sort of comeback." Strucker bared his fangs in defiance as the Avengers crowded around him.
"Yoooo have not, arrrgghhh, bested me yetttt." Hawkeye hoisted another arrow. "If he doesn't stop talking, I'm just gonna fire a sleeping gas arrow."
Natasha nodded in agreement. "That's actually a pretty good idea. We can just grill him for information back at the tower." Strucker's darkening eyes seemed to bulge out in anger at the idea.
Arching his back against the grimy ground, Strucker howled, "More power! I need a little more! Just a little more!" Ultron's opinion was that Strucker had finally cracked like an egg. It seemed like he was begging the Infinity Gems to lend more of their energy – but that was just insane. Ultron twirled a finger around his head like he had seen someone do on the internet, earning a half-grin from his father.
Impossibly, Strucker suddenly moved with newfound strength, pushing Ultron aside and standing back up. Grinning, and showing off his black teeth, Strucker roared – and his body began to expand once again, growing larger and larger until he was bigger than the Hulk.
"Here we go again," Ultron's father said grimly. Everyone tensed up, ready for the next battle in the never-ending stream of fights. Strucker giggled, a maddening sound filled with the insanity Ultron had been expecting.
And then they all heard a noise that sounded like the air escaping from a bicycle tire. Strucker's insane glee had been replaced by confusion, an emotion that seemed grossly out of place on his ugly mug. Before he could even utter a growl, he began shrinking, much more rapidly than he had undergone his growth spurt.
By the time his body was done rejecting the gem's power, his body was shriveled up. Even more disconcerting was the fact that his skin was colored sickly green, as if he had become a plant of some kind.
Shaking violently, Strucker began to scream. "No! No! Why have you abandoned me? I need your power!" Ultron was almost tempted to look away as the sick man began to claw at the air, and move his legs erratically, almost in swimming motions.
"This is painful to watch," Natasha huffed as she pointed one of her Widow's stings at the convulsing man. Strucker spotted her out of the corner of his eyes, and attempted to stand up. A quick sting sent him back down, where he cried bitter tears.
"Nick Fury will lay an egg when we send him an early Christmas present," Stark grinned. Ultron liked the idea of Strucker bound and gagged with a pink bow himself.
"Uh, guys?" Hawkeye interjected. "Something's happening to Strucker." Said man was suddenly engulfed by an unnatural light; Ultron's scanners couldn't pick up any heat coming from it. After the blinding light reached its peak, Strucker's body vanished.
"Since when can he teleport?" No one was able to answerer Tony's question, but a search by Ultron yielded results.
"This actually should have been obvious, but I'm picking up heavy cosmic readings, the same kind the gems were always outputting. He probably used the space gem to warm somewhere else."
"I'm assuming that following him will be impossible." Ultron hesitantly nodded at Steve. The fact was, there was no trail to follow, and they had no way of knowing where Strucker would end up.
"If we're lucky, he warped himself to Pluto," Clint mumbled. Everyone silently agreed.
Pietro, antsy after being left out of the mission, had paced around the base over five dozen times. If Strucker had installed a carpet, it would have been worn down. Pietro wasn't a stressful person by nature, but he hated having to wait to find out if Strucker had been able to bring his sister back.
A strange noise turned his attention over to the center of the large, grey room, where a black circular opening had just appeared in thin air. Pietro dashed around it, but it was too dark to peer inside, and he wasn't stupid enough to just jump in.
But he didn't need to; something fell out of the portal, falling face down on the hard ground. Pietro winced at the thought of anyone banging their nose against the cold floor that no one ever bothered to mop.
The thing let out a groaning noise that was also part growl. Pietro cautiously edged towards the creature, which was starting to look familiar. The monocle, which Pietro spotted as the creature looked up at him, drove it home.
"Strucker?" Pietro's voice was barely above a whisper, but Strucker reached out to grab his hands. Pietro edged back, preferring to keep out of range for now. Strucker's skin looked like it would feel like leather.
Could the Avengers have done this to him? Pietro wondered if even a man like Strucker deserved such a fate – he barely looked human anymore. He resembled a shrunken man, maybe, but one who's skin had lost every bit of nutrients. He looked very sickly, in ways that he had never seen even growing up in poverty.
As he reluctantly leaned down to help his boss up, Pietro could hear the husk of a man whispering something, over and over again. Pietro couldn't make out everything, but the word, "power", came across.
What happened next would forever be ingrained in Pietro's mind. In a fit of madness, Strucker grabbed the three gems, the one thing he had never dared to do. As he grabbed them, he gave a terrible, toothless grin, before his body burst apart at the seams It was both horrifying, and yet beautiful, with the rainbow glow of the stones shining even through the muck.
Pietro fell to his knees as a bunch of startled HYDRA soldiers ran in the room. Pietro had no lost love for the man, and he would not grieve. However, Strucker may have been his best hope to rescue his sister.
Author's Notes:
Aaaaaand Strucker's dead. I wanted to use this chance to give him a flashier death than in the film. Those pesky Infinity Gems are powerful, but not without some extreme risk.
Once again, sorry for the wait. I still plan to finish this fic before May. Which, by the way, that Civil War trailer was epic, even if it's gonna divide the fanbase. Now we just need to see Spider-Man swing by...