Chapter Four: No Strings On Me.
It had been hours since the Battle in Sokovia, a small party had been thrown, but now the Avengers, their support team, plus Dr. Cho and Maria Hill are sitting around in the main living room. Thor's hammer was stood up on the table between them.
A particular discussion is being had. A rather stupid but entertaining one.
Clint "No, it's got to be a trick!"
Thor shook his head. "Oh, no. Barton, It's much more than that."
Hawkeye snorts: "Whosoever be he worthy, shall haveth the power, Whatever man! It's a trick." He insisted with a shake of his head.
A particular discussion is being had. A rather stupid but entertaining one.
Iron man raised an eyebrow. "Come on, now."
Clint blinks. "Really, you're sure?"
Thor nods. "Yeah!" he insists.
Hawkeye shrugs before getting up, putting his drum sticks to the side, and then walking over to the table.
Rhodey grinned from ear to ear. "Oh this is going to be beautiful." He whispers to the support team, making Cisco, Caitlin, and Harrison smirk.
"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony jokes, causing the others to laugh.
Barry merely shook his head, tired of the rather lewd jokes the man makes. Not much made him laugh at the moment. He was still in a rather down state. It took him a while to get over the death of friends..
The archer approached the table where Mjolnir sat. "You know I've seen this before, right?" Hawkeye reminded his friends before finally reaching down to pick it up.
After pulling with all his might, he laughs. "I still don't know how you do it." He relents, letting go while shaking his head again in bewilderment.
"Anyone else smell the silent judgment?" Tony smirked, annoying the archer.
Clint gestures to the hammer as he walks back to his seat. "Please, Stark, by all means."
Deciding to take that challenge, the billionaire gets up and walks over to where Clint once stood. He then grasps the hammer's handle.
Nat smirked. "Oh, here we go guys."
"Uh-oh, the big man has arrived." Rhodey agreed jokingly.
Clint Nodded sarcastically. "Um-hmm."
Tony shrugged. "I was never one to shrink from an honest challenge. You see It's just physics." he insisted.
Bruce laughed. "Physics, really!?"
Tony waves him off. "Right, so, if I lift it, I...I then rule Asgard?" he asked, wanting to confirm.
Thor nodded with a twinkle in his eyes. "Yes, of course."
Tony tries to lift Mjolnir up with all his strength. " I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta." He states, still trying to lift, only for him to let go and frown. "I'll be right back..."
Tony tries lifting again, this time wearing an armoured gauntlet. He fails again.
~ - ~
Both wearing gauntlets, Stark and Rhodey, both try to lift Thor's hammer, using the exterior jets to help.
"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey accused his friend.
"That depends. Are you on my team?" Tony asked sarcastically with a raised brow.
"Just represent! Pull!" Rhodey exclaimed. They both go flying backwards as they activate full power, only for Barry to flash forwards and catch them before they hurt themselves. They had failed.
Bruce then tries to lift the hammer, he roars as though pretending to change into the Hulk, and everyone either looks at him with annoyance or smiles reassuringly.
Steve was next to walk up to the table, not really wanting to try but had been egged on by his teammates. So, being a good sport, there he was.
"Let's go, Steve, no pressure." Tony encourages, looking forward to this. If anyone was worthy, it was definitely Cap.
Steve starts pulling on the hammer, and it seems to wobble a bit, making a small sound, removing the amused smile from Thor's face. However, Steve let's go, shaking his head. He, too, has failed.
Thor's smile returns. And he seems to be relieved. For a second there, he had been worried.
"Okay time for the kiddos, and then it's you, natasha." Tony smirked, turning to look at the assassin who merely flipped him off.
Supergirl walked up to the table, nervous but confident. She grasps the handle and tries to lift it, but she can't. She's able to hold buildings, stop missiles, and even fly a few million tons worth of Kryptonian prison into space, but she can't lift this 'magic' hammer.
Kara sighs, puts the hammer down, and then sits back in her seat. It had been worth a shot.
Barry smiles at her before getting up. He then walks over, grasps the hammer and...just let's it go. He doesn't want to know. He doesn't believe he is worthy, and that's enough for him. If he didn't feel worthy enough to be the flash, then how could he be worthy to wield the legendary mjolnnir.? Forget it..." he shrugged, walking back to his seat.
Everyone is silent for a moment, worried about Barry before their attention turns to Natasha. They would talk about ways to help him after these tests. The kid seriously needed some help.
"Widow?" Tony asks. Gesturing to the hammer.
"Oh, no, thank you. That's not a question I need answered." She replied with a small mischievous smirk. She had been teasing them all with the possibility of her trying to lift it, but in the end didn't feel like doing it.
Tony rolls his eyes. "All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged." He shrugged.
Hawkeye snorted. "You bet your ass it's rigged!"
Maria, after taking a second to sip on her wine, gasped and pointed at Clint. "Steve, he said a bad language word!"
The captain lightly glares at Tony. "Did you tell everyone about that?"
Tony smirked, not replying as he changed the topic back to the situation at hand.
"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints, I assume, is the correct answer."
Thor gets up, lifts up his weapon, and twirls Mjolnir around in his hand. "Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one. You're all not worthy." He smirks. His friends begin to argue playfully at this, pointing at one another as they joke around.
Suddenly there's a loud screeching noise, obviously electronic, causing everyone to cover their ears. They eventually lower their hands as the ringing fades.
As they do this, one of the Iron Legion suits, heavily broken and leaking several fluids, limps into the room. It's cracked face turned upward to face the small crowd.
A small trail of oil and hydraulic fluid trails behind it.
"Worthy... No, how could you be worthy? You're all killers." It says with a sneer.
Steve turned to the owner of the building. "Tony?" he whispered, wondering what was going on. Tony nodded, calling out for his partner to come assist. "Jarvis?"
He was not answered. There was no posh British voice, no notification ping, nothing.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or... I was In a-dream?" The damaged Legion drone muttered.
Starting to worry, Tony tapped his watch multiple times, only for the screen to glitch and not respond. "Reboot, Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit."
Steve turned to the owner of the building. "Tony?" he whispered, wondering what was going on. Tony nodded, calling out for his partner to come assist. "Jarvis?"
Steve frowned, righteous anger in his voice as he growled out. "You killed someone?"
"It wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices. Choices none of you would ever make, well maybe one or two of you, but who am I kidding?" Ultron chuckled, holding out his arms.
"Who sent you, machine?" Thor asked, clasping his hammer close.
Ultron plays a recording of Tony from earlier in the day. "I see a suit of armour around the world."
"Ultron!" Bruce exclaims, eyes wide in shock and disbelief.
"In the flesh, well no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm on task, I'm on mission." The recently revealed ultron replied.
"What mission?" Steve asked.
"Peace in our time."
*BOOM*
Three iron Legion drones burst through the wall behind 'Ultron' and begin firing repulsor blasts at the Avengers.
Barry Flashed Maria, Caitlin, Cisco, Harrison, and Doctor Cho to the panic room. Leaving his teammates to deal with the hostiles. "Stay here, do not leave until I tell you too!" Barry told them before bolting back upstairs to help his fellow avengers.
~ - ~ - ~ - ~
The Corrupted Legion drones begin attacking the team, who all go on the defensive and fight back. Rhodey tries to summon his suit only for him to get knocked through a window by a nearby drone, sending him .
"Rhodey!" Multiple people shout out.
Half a second later a flash of gold bolted out the window and then returned. It was Barry, and he had caught Rhodey and brought him back up.
"Thanks kid..."
"No problem, ill bring you back your suit." The teenager promised before turning around, only for him to be punched by an unusual looking Iron Legion drone. This one had a lightning bolt shaped Arc reactor and had multiple heat vents and thruster pods embedded all over.
"Tony, what the hell is this!"
"That's the velocity drone. It's a prototype based on speedsters. It was designed to be an assistant for you, but it shouldn't be operational, I hadn't finished it!" Tony replied as he fought with a drone he had tackled, trying to disable it with a fork.
Bruce jumps over the bar as Barry is tackled back. However, the man slips and lands on top of Natasha. "Sorry!" Bruce exclaims, embarrassed about the comprising position they are in.
"it's fine just don't turn green!"
Bruce nodded quickly. "I won't." He promised before getting up and dodging multiple blasts from another drone.Kara flies out the window to help Barry with the speed infused drone. She knew the others could handle themselves and so reckoned she would be of more help to her friend.
As this occurred, one of the other Iron Legion bots steals the Sceptre and blasts out the window.
"Thor!" Cap called out, pointing to the fleeing drone. The Asgardian ceased his battle with two of the drones so he could chase after the escaping bot.
"Stark, we could use your firepower here!" Steve yelled out as he blocked a punch aimed for his head.
"I'm a little busy!" Tony replied as he jabbed a fork into the drones neck, tearing through the wires. Cutting off the connection for the rest of the suit, thank goodness he remembered how he built these things. He knew all the strengths and weaknesses.
"Thor!" Cap called out, pointing to the fleeing drone. The Asgardian ceased his battle with two of the drones so he could chase after the escaping bot.
The man catches his shield and uses it to dispatch the drone he had been fighting, ending the conflict.
A few seconds later, the others had destroyed their own foes. Leaving a slightly tired team of heroes glaring at the last remaining drone.
"Well that was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" Ultron asked, picking up a destroyed drone that was at his feet.
"How are you going to accomplish that, with These puppets?" Ultron scoffed before crushing the head of the drone and tossing it to the floor. "No.. There's only one path to peace, Humanity's extinction."
A hand vibrates through Ultron's chest, tearing out his arc reactor before pulling back. It was Barry, his body covered in cuts and a large black eye. Kara flew in through the window, holding the trashed body of the Velocity drone.
"I had strings, but now I'm free..." Ultron's voice trails off, the light in the drone fading away.
-(Sokovia, Hydra Base) -
"There are no strings on me, no strings on me." Multiple Ultron drones sing at once.
(End of chapter four)
Reviews are welcome, I hope you are enjoying this story so far!