Walking in the Wind // Avengers

Together

•••

After the attack, Lexie had quickly sent Erin home where she'd be safe, with a promise that she'd send her updates when she could and that she'd be careful. 

The team was now assembled in the lab, looking at the damage Ultron had caused. The man of the hour himself, or rather robot of the hour, was in a pile on one of the tables. 

"All our work is gone," Bruce said. "Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron," Steve said disappointedly. 

"He's been in everything," Natasha stated. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

"Not good," Lexie sighed.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet," Rhodey continued where Natasha left off. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting."

"Nuclear codes," Hill realized.

"Nuclear codes," he agreed. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Natasha questioned. "He said he wanted us dead."

"I believe 'extinct' was the word he used," Lexie spoke up.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint added.

"There wasn't anyone else in the building," Hill said.

"Yes, there was," Tony finally spoke up, pulling up a visualization of Jarvis. 

"What?" Bruce whispered, studying it. "This is insane."

"Jarvis was the first line of defense," Steve said. "He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

"No," Bruce interjected. "Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is... rage."

Thor walked in and lifted Tony up by his neck making the man let out a gasp and the others to tense.

"Thor!" Lexie protested.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Steve spoke.

"It's going around," Clint commented as he watched on with interest.

"Come on, use your words, buddy," Tony tried.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor said angrily.

"Thor," Steve interrupted. "The Legionnaire?"

The god put Tony down. "Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north," he answered, mainly looking at Tony. "And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha said. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand," they all turned to look at Helen Cho when she spoke up, looking at Tony. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

The man in question suddenly began chuckling, making Bruce look embarrassed and shake his head, trying to make him stop. "Mmm-mmm."

"You think this is funny?" an annoyed Thor asked.

"No," Tony turned towards them. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so..." he laughed again. "Is it so... It is. It's so terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

"No," Tony interrupted. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," he spat angrily.

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time" Bruce tried, knowing they'd messed up.

"Really?" Tony turned to look at the scientist. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot," he said bluntly. 

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Tony asked Bruce which he shrugged at.

"Well, you did something right," Steve said. "And you did it right here." He walked forwards. "The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

"No, it's never come up," Rhodey shook his head.

"Saved New York?" Tony continued. 

"Never heard that," Lexie said in the same tone as Rhodey had used.

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it."

"Yes, Tony, we all remember that, but..." Lexie sighed, but stopped when she saw the look on Tonys face.

"We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but up there, that's... That's the endgame. How are you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve said determinately.

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too," he spoke softly before his voice returned to its usual commanding tone. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

Tony let out a small sigh and turned away, sparing one final look at Lexie who was still watching Steve, his mind haunted by the empty, black eyes staring back at him

•••

Fairly short chapter, sorry about that.

I've started writing Civil War and I'm getting more and more nervous the closer I get to writing Infinity War and Endgame. I have a plan on how I want to write it and how to involve Lexie and Erin, but no matter what happens, we all know it's gonna hurt.

We've also reached 1k reads and I just wanted to thank you guys for reading.

Vote, comment and have a great day xx