Sunshine | Pietro Maximoff

CHAPTER 5

"No..." It continued. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark." Steve said.

"Jarvis." Said Tony, trying to get the AI's attention.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was a- dream." The robot clunked closer to us as it spoke.

"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit." Tony quietly ordered.

"There was a terrible noise. And I was tangled in... in... strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve asked.

"Wouldn't have been my first call." The robot answered. "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Asked Thor, tightening his grip on Mjolnir.

"I see a suit of armor around the world." A recording of Tony's voice played from the robot.

An identical look of realisation came over the faces of Tony, Bruce and I.

"How..." I trailed off.

"Ultron..." Breathed Bruce.

"In the flesh." Ultron answered. "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Asked Natasha.

"Peace in our time."

The moment Ultron spoke, two Iron Legion robots burst through the wall on either side. I instantly formed a ball of light between my hands and blasted it at the robot coming straight at me. It was knocked back slightly but was not off course for long. I dove onto the floor, narrowly avoiding it as it flew straight over me.

"You okay, kid?" Steve asked, pulling me up.

"Yeah." I answered.

The robot looped back around and charged straight for me. A blast came from its hand, which I narrowly avoided. I sent out a rope of light that fastened itself around it's arm. With a grunt, I pulled at the rope until it caused the robot's arm to sever from its body and come crashing to the floor.

"Madden, find Dr Cho!" Called Tony, as he ran off.

"On it!" I called back.

I took off as fast as I could, covering my head from the shards of glass that rained down as one of the robots broke through a window. She couldn't have gone far, I thought. I ran up the stairs, scouring the area. Suddenly, I was tackled to the floor and dragged under a table just as a blast went off where I was standing moments before. I turned my head to see Clint beside me.

"Thanks." I said, out of breath.

"No problem." He replied.

Emerging from the cover of the table, I sent out a ball of light that hit the back of the robot's head. Slightly disoriented, the robot turned his head to face me. It was then that Natasha, who had been hiding behind the bar, began to fire at the robot, drawing its attention away from me. I took this opportunity to run in the opposite direction. Turning the corner, I saw Dr Cho hiding behind a piano. A robot with its legs cut off was slowly approaching and raised its hand to fire. Coming up from behind, I sent out a rope of light that secured itself around the robot's neck and threw it in Thor's direction.

"Thor!" I shouted, getting his attention.

Landing in front of him, Thor smashed Mjolnir onto the robot's chest. I hurried to Dr Cho's side.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I asked.

"I... don't think so." She replied.

The next minute, Cap flung his shield and cut the remaining robot in half, sending it crashing to the ground.

"That was dramatic..." Said Ultron. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through."

Ultron began to pace while he spoke. Each member of the team watched him wearily.

"You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change." Ultron continued. "How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to... evolve? With these? These puppets..."

He picked up the torso of one of the Iron Legion robots. Then, he crushed it's head in his hand before tossing it away from him.

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

As soon as Ultron had spoken, Thor sent Mjolnir flying into him. It hit him square in the chest and knocked him back against the wall. Mjolnir returned to Thor's hand.

"I had strings, but now I'm free..." Ultron said, in a distorted sing-song voice before the light faded from his eyes.

~*~

"All our work, gone..." Banner stated. "Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch."

The team and I were gathered together in the lab. The broken body of Ultron lay on the table in front of Tony and I. I couldn't wrap my head around how this had happened; Bruce told me they hadn't made any further progress after I left.

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

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Asked Rhodey.

"Nuclear codes..." Maria said.

"Nuclear codes." He repeated. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

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

"He didn't say 'dead' he said 'extinct'." Steve said.

"He also said he killed somebody." Stated Clint.

"But, there wasn't anyone else in the building." Said Maria.

Tony walked to the centre of the room and I turned around to look at him.

"Yes there was." He brought up a broken 3D model of Jarvis.

"He killed Jarvis..." I said in disbelief.

Bruce approached the model. "What... This is insane..."

"Jarvis was the first line of defence. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense." Said Steve.

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

Just then, Thor marched into the room and made a beeline for Stark. He grabbed him by his throat and held him up in the air.

"Come on, use your words, buddy." Tony said, struggling to breathe.

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

"Thor! The Legionnaire." Said Steve.

Thor returned Tony to the ground rather forcefully.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter." He explained, glaring daggers at Tony. "Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"Genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present as Ultron." Said Natasha.

Dr Cho joined me at the table Ultron's body was on, a look of confusion on her face.

"I don't understand. You built this program." Her gaze shifted between myself, Bruce and Tony. "Why is it trying to kill us?"