WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The story of the penguin and the seagull is a real story that I wrote when I was in third grade. I was very proud of it.
Chapter Eight: Ultron's Last Words
Pietro entered the building first, he did a scan of the main building. Just a few straggling soldiers here and there, nothing the Avengers couldn't handle. Pietro found the last Ultron in a medical area in the center of the building. He could not find Claire, he raced back outside to where the rest were waiting.
"Good news and bad news." He put his hands on his hips, slightly breathing heavily. "Good news, I found the last Ultron. Bad news-"
"You didn't find Claire." Natasha finished. "What do you want to do Barnes?"
Bucky looked around at the group, surprised he was picked as leader. "Why are you looking at me?"
"Because you pulled us all here on behalf of your girlfriend," Natasha played with the dagger attached to her hips. "You're in charge, do you have a plan?" Bucky stood a bit taller with his new title.
"Sam, Parker, Clint, Pietro, and Scott go to Ultron. Natasha, you come with me to find Claire." Bucky put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Call if you need us." Sam cracked his neck.
"We got this. I got a lot of pent up anger that I am ready to unleash." Sam jumped up and down and raced inside. "Let's go!" The others soon followed.
"So," Natasha looked around at the large factory Ultron was hiding in. "you take the left and I take the right?"
Steve Rogers and his team pulled up to the abandoned factory twenty minutes later. When he saw the open gate of the jet they had technically stolen he would have been relieved, that should have meant that they just arrived. But his relief was crushed by the sound of a battle came from the factory.
"What's the plan?" Rhody asked.
"You go find Ultron, I'll go rescue Claire." The team started to run. "Tony tap into the team's blue tooth's, we need to speak with them."
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., did you hear the Captain?"
"Yes, sir. I'm connecting you with the rest of the Avengers." A female robotic voice responded.
"-if you do that one more time, I'm going to take your spider mask and shove it up your"
"Sam, this is Steve. Where are you?" For a moment the line was silent. "Sam." The disappointment in his voice was clear.
"Fourth floor, it seems Ultron has been busy making minions."
"This place is huge; how did we miss this?" Tony flew up to the fourth floor with ease.
"Hello, Mr. Stark." Peter said quickly.
"Kid, you're in big trouble. Who left the jet door open? What if Ultron decides to make a dramatic exit?"
"What?" Bucky responded. "Left the door open? Reagan and Ashlie were in there." Steve put a hand to his temple, this whole situation was a complete mess.
"Why don't these girls listen?" Steve scolded.
"Would you?" Tony asked. "If, let's say, dear old Buck was in trouble, wouldn't you do anything to get him back?" Steve stayed silent. "Exactly. Let's just focus on the mission. Has anyone found Claire?"
"Barnes and I are looking, haven't found anything."
"Didn't you give the girl's blue-tooth as well?" Pietro added. He raced around, slowing down the environment around him to literally tear apart his enemies.
"Ashlie?"
"Reagan?"
No response came.
"Do you think Ultron captured them?" Wanda asked.
"No, Ultron did not." The team stopped fighting as a metal giant stood before the team. He looked weak, rusted. "If they were here, I would have taken them hostage and stored them in the basement."
Bucky and Natasha started heading down to the basement. As they opened the basement door and shut it behind them a lock clicked. They tried to open the door again but it wouldn't budge.
"Sometimes," Ultron scratched his metal chin, "it's too easy." Bucky and Natasha wondered around the basement. There were crates covered in old fabric, they started uncovering them. "I truly want to know though, what is your need to save this one human. She's been…difficult."
"You're talking about Claire?" Vision asked calmly.
"That is correct, my Vision. You're growing up so fast, so smart. Claire talks…a lot. It got kind of annoying after a while. Is she always like that? Even after her voice started to weaken, she just talked more and more. I almost returned her for the purpose of never hearing her voice again." Steve threw his shield at Ultron legs, he crumbled to the ground.
"Where is she?"
"And what she talked about wasn't anything important, she made up stories. My favorite was about the penguin who fell in love with a seagull. Spoiler, the seagull gives up flying to be with the penguin."
"Steve, there's no one in the basement." Bucky reported.
"Did I say basement? I meant storage closet on floor two, it's in the South Hallway, next to the window." Hawkeye and Scott ran off toward that direction.
"Wait, don't trust him." Natasha said.
"We have to check, at least. We'll keep an eye out for any of them." Hawkeye responded.
"And," Ultron continued, "every day I would tell her if she didn't stop talking I would kill her. She just kept talking. And talking. And talking. God, I wanted to just tear her head off her shoulders," Steve tensed up. His gut dropped out of his body. Claire can't be dead, she can't, he thought. "But somehow I thought that wouldn't help, so I kept her alive. Every day I would tell her to shut up, and I think that just motivated her more."
Scott and Hawkeye got to the storage closet.
"Get to the point, Ultron." Tony pointed his hand at Ultron's face. "Where is Claire?"
"Hey, guys," a voice pitched over the blue-tooth, "its Reagan. Ashlie and I are borrowing the jet for a second, thanks."
"Wait." Bucky said, but before the word got out the sound of an engine roaring to life sounded across the building.
"Why are there so many buttons? Do you really need all of these?" Reagan asked.
"Reagan," Ashlie's voice was barely audible from the background noise. "Crush it."
"Okay, okay. Guys, here's the thing, we think we know where Claire is. Just stay there and fight the Iron Giant then we'll back, okay?"
"Reagan-" Bucky yelled.
"Gotta blast." The line went dead.
"Oh," Ultron smiled, "you don't think I brought Claire here did you? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Looks like two human girls are smarter than the Avengers."
Natasha snagged a map off a table in the corner of the basement. "Or," Natasha read over the map, "They saw your map you so generously left lying about in the basement."
Ultron looked confused, "I didn't leave a map…Jerry, that stupid robot couldn't do anything right."
"I know where Claire is. Let's go." Natasha attempted to kick the door down. "Damn, how did those girls get out?" Bucky cleared his throat and pointed to a cracked window. "Oh. Nice."
"Well, when you find Claire, tell her it has been a pleasure-" Steve threw his shield and Ultron's head came off, the blue glow in his eyes dimmed until they turned off.
"And that is the end of Ultron." Vision tilted his head at the damage.
"Nat, where is Claire?"
"You're not going to like it."
"Eh, that's what you always say." Tony started flying out the door. "Shot gun!"