Soundproof - An Avengers story

𝟜. Harmony

Ultron led them to the lower part of the building, but not before his cold hand caressed Bombshell's head. "Oh, little one, let me help you with that." He snapped, unlocking her headphones without the need of the usual push of a button.

Before, she feared that she'd never been able to hear again because the only control to her gear was in ashes, buried under the HYDRA debris. Now? She was scared her powers would power up and destroy the only two people left that cared about her.

They had scolded her that she couldn't get attached to other soldiers, but the Maximoff had dangerously gotten close to her heart. She was willing to kill villages, even whole countries, though the twins were off-limits.

Everyone in her range was in danger, so how can she kill others but protect her family? She asked Ultron— concluding his voice was bone-chilling too— for a middle ground, where she could change the volume of her headphones. Although the machine couldn't grin, Bombshell imagined him doing it.

The only thing related to manners that HYDRA had taught Bombshell was to curtsy, so she did just that, with the tiniest smile tugging on her lips. "Changed my mind. Kinda like him."

They finally entered Ultron's room, raising his arms towards his prized possession. "We'll move right away. This is a start, but there's something we need to begin the real work."

"All of these are..."

When they peeked through the door, they saw a room full of machinery. Whatever parts you required for the creation, they were scattered across the room. The craziest part was the fact that it was wielding itself. Some of them were already in the walking state.

Ultron pulled on some chains using the blasters located on his back. "Me. I have what the Avengers never will: harmony. They're discordant. Disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other. And when you get inside their heads—"

"Everyone's plan is not to kill them." Pietro's mouth was formed into a thin line. He wasn't much of a talker with stranger, but, the few times he did, he made the most sarcastic remarks.

The robots paced faster into the room. "And make them martyrs? You need patience. Need to see the big picture."

"I don't see the big picture. I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it, every day." Bombshell managed to smirk at his comment. The only person who managed to make her do that was Pietro. And the occasional Wanda trick. And killing people, but that's a very different, unrelated topic.

"You've lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the records," Ultron nonchalantly responded. The two of their faces fell.

Bombshell didn't ask about their parents, but she'd heard whispers across the years. That was enough for her common sense to tell her to not ask anything. "The records are not the picture."

Wanda intervined. "Pietro..."

"No, please," Ultron persisted, so the speedster let the memory loose.

"We were 10 years old. Having dinner, the four of us. When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits. But it doesn't go off. It just... sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted one word."

"Stark," the other twin spat.

Pietro's gaze became softer and softer, remembering the suffering gone through such a young age in such a short amount of time. "We were trapped for two days."

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, 'This will set it off'... We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us."

Pietro forced himself to put on a brave smile. "I know what they are."

"What about you, little one? Your records are not in my reach." Ultron's eyes moved slightly lower, reaching Bombshell's height.

She looked at the ground, ashamed to tell her story when she was ordered thousands of times to not let anyone know about herself. "No memory before HYDRA. Just... pain. Made me strong and with purpose: kill SHIELD before they kill us."

"I wondered why only you three survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right. You and I can hurt them." The machine said, referring to Pietro and Bombshell. Then, his hand gently stroked Wanda's cheek. "But you will tear them apart... from the inside."

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When Ultron told Bombshell she would have the honor of killing the one and only Von Strucker, she was over the moon.

Yes, her loyalties stood strongly with HYDRA's beliefs, but she despised the man. He would never let her do overkills, he gave her food scraps when he took over her HYDRA, and the way he handled the Avengers attack? Horrible to say the least. She knew literally any soldier in training could do better.

"Just leave the face intact. Get creative if you want," was the final message from Ultron before she was dropped at her mission.

On a wall on her left side, she noticed beautiful graffiti of flowers, birds, and peace signs. For her, it was weird to be outside, let alone to have the opportunity to watch art without protective chains around her. She grimaced, dragging her long coat towards the von Strucker hideout.

At the burst of the door, the man jumped, but relaxed once he saw who was standing on the other side. It was one of his own, one that he knew very well. "Ah, Bombshell. Glad to see you're alive."

She didn't share the sentiment of excitement. Instead, she spat on the ground, a thing von Strucker adored to do in her presence and at her mistakes. "Traitor."

His heartbeat rose with the touch of one simple word. "Traitor? Me? Come on, you—" 

Bang!

The blast she had aimed at his chest burst the skin wide open. His screams filled the room until the room tone took over. "Will not miss your voice," she muttered to herself.

The splatter of blood kept gushing and gushing, so she decided to use the creativity Ultron had nonchalantly suggested. Remembering the words written at the mural, she wrote the word that stood out the most. Five letters. One by one. Peace.

Her black jeans and shirt were stained with blood and dirt by the end. However, she didn't panic because Ultron promised her she could get new clothes soon. And her beautiful grey cape was intact.

She left to rendezvous with the others.

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