New Year's Day

Chapter 9

March 14th, 2015 Pt. 2

"Peace in our time."

I stood up from the couch as three more of Tony's Legionnaire suits burst through the walls directly behind where Ultron was standing. Steve kicked up the coffee table in an attempt to take one down, but it rebounded on impact and knocked him to the ground instead. Maria Hill was taken down also, but had taken out a pistol and was firing at the flying machines.

Thor was swinging his hammer, frantically searching to dissolve one of the targets. Clint was knocked into a bookcase. I turned at the sound of broken glass to see Rhodey being launched downward to the floor below us where the Quinjet was, but in that split second of distraction I was struck in the head and thrown to the floor, temporarily blacking out. I didn't pass out completely, but the impact was more than enough to put me in a haze.

I stood, stumbling to catch my footing. A harsh, sharp ringing filled my ears. Everything was a blur; metal and sparks and glass whipped around me in a tornado. As the ringing faded and my vision came to focus, I heard gunshots, explosions, and utter chaos.

My head whipped around, searching for anything to reorient me. A person, a weapon, a target. I watched as Bucky leapt over the bar, shooting determinedly at every bot he could see. Tony was now mid-air on the back of one of the suits, trying desperately to find the right wire to shut it down.

In a flash I saw the top half of one Legionnaires fall to the ground next to me. I thought it was off, but suddenly the lights of its eyes flickered back on, and it lifted into the air once more. I sharpened my focus and watcted it disintegrate into a frenzy of screws, wires, and bolts. Another suit flew out the window, carrying the scepter.

"Thor!" I yelled, "The scepter!"

He looked in my direction, recognition swirling in his eyes. He flew out the broken window in pursuit of the robot, but I couldn't see the glow of the staff anymore. It was gone.
I caught my breath as Sam tossed the shield to Steve, who threw it through the last suit, dismembering it and ending the fight.

"Well that was dramatic," came Ultron's hollow voice. Again, he turned in a circle, surveying the damage and regarding each and every one of us. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well," he started, "you just didn't think it through. You think you're protecting the world, but this planet needs protection from you."

"How can humanity be saved if it's not allowed to... evolve?" He bent down and picked up the battered torso of another suit, "I think it's time that happened," he said, throwing it back to the ground dramatically. I wondered why he was still talking; why we were letting him continue to berate us.

"There's only one path to peace. The Avengers extinction."

No. This is enough, I thought. I took a step forward and lifted my arms, pulling them apart as hard as I could. Ultron practically disappeared, fracturing into nothingness as I channeled my anger into decimating him.

I turned around to face Tony, feeling everyone's eyes lingering on me.

"What the fuck did you do?"

The Lab.

"All our work is gone," Bruce groaned. "Ultron wiped it. He used the internet to escape."

We were all gathered in the lab upstairs, various Legionnaire limbs laid across tables like bodies in a morgue.

"Ultron," Bucky muttered.

"He's been in everything. Footage, records, data. He probably knows more about us than we know about each other," spoke Nat.

Rhodey stood up, clutching gauze to his shoulder. He shook his head as he walked around the room in disbelief. "He's in the internet, he's in our records. Is anyone else concerned that he might try to access something more interesting than memorandums?"