Soundproof - An Avengers story

𝟝. Sickness

Ulysses Klaue was calmly in his office, taking a phone call in his office in the heart of South Africa. The production had blossomed given his recent luck in the mines.

Suddenly, the power went out, making every worker in the lower levels alarmed by the situation. They started yelling amidst the panic in the dark.

He pulled out a gun from his drawer, aiming it at the empty entrance to the room. A silver flash emerged from the darkness. It ran around him and perfectly placed every bullet in line on top of his desk. Wanda and Bombshell followed behind Pietro.

"Yeah. The Enhanced. Strucker's prized pupils." He sat, grabbing a bowl from his desk. "Do you want candy? Hmm? I was sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of words he was helping create. Human life, not a growth market."

Bombshell tilted her head at the contrasting reaction of the twins. Did Ultron not tell them about the plan? And if they were sad, did they not want revenge on the guy too? She was confused.

Having question marks was on her 'No Emotions' list; she kept a neutral face. Besides, the last thing she needed right now was for the Maximoffs to get mad at her. Klaue laughed at their faces. "You didn't know? This is your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid I'm not that afraid."

"Everybody's afraid of something," Wanda reassured.

"Cuttlefish. Deep-sea fish. They make lights, disco lights... to hypnotize their prey, and then... I saw a documentary. It was terrifying." The bearded man made movements and sounds to recreate the previously mentioned creatures.

Pietro took the awkward opportunity to zoom in and grab four pieces of candy: one for him to eat now, and the other three to share among them later.

The guy didn't seem impressed. "So if you're going to fiddle with my brain and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business. And I know you're not in charge. And I only deal with the man in charge."

From behind the window, Ultron emerged in all his glory. He shattered the glass, pushing Ulysses outside his office. "There is no man in charge. Let's talk business."

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Ulysses led them to an elevator, using one of his henchmen to push the buttons to go down. Eventually, they reached the part where the secret stash of valuable materials stood. "Upon this rock, I will build my church. Vibranium."

Ultron tossed a vial in Pietro's direction, which he caught ungracefully. Ulysses scoffed.  "You know, it came at great personal cost. It's worth billions."

Through his connection to the interweb, Ultron deposited random and constant amounts of money, all higher than 6 zeros. Then he chuckled. "Now, so are you. It all in your dummy holding. Finance is so weird. But I always say, 'keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which'."

"Stark," Klaue abruptly barked.

Ultron cringed at the all-too-familiar name. "What?"

"Tony Stark used to say that... to me. You're one of his."

"What? I'm not—" The henchman retrieved his gun, but Wanda's powers prevented it from moving an inch away from its hoister. "I'm not. You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men? I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!"

Ultron dropped his arm, slashing one of Klaue's instantly. He screamed on the floor as blood poured out of the currently empty socket.

The others stared at the scene in disbelief while the machine 'apologized'. "I am sorry. I'm... I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!"

With a kick, he pushed the remaining of his body down a set of stairs, the henchman paced after his superior.

"Stark is... he's a sickness!"

The smoke and flashy outfits came from behind Ultron. The Avengers are here. "Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart," Iron Man spoke.

Ultron's footsteps creaked across the metallic bridge that stood between them. "If I have to."

"Nobody has to break anything," the God of Thunder warned.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet."

Tony scoffed inside his suit. "He beat me by one second."

"Ah, yes. He's funny. Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro, for the first time since their arrival, talked. He glared at the bombs that unfortunately reminded him of home.

The bombs also reminded Stark of home, but not in the way the Sokovians did. He frowned. "This was never my life."

Steve Rogers intervened. "You three can still walk away from this."

"Oh, we will," Wanda smiled sourly.

"I know you've suffered..."

"Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

Thor lowered his chin, trying to reassure trust in the outcasts. "If you leave it in peace, then let us keep it."

"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'."

"Yuh-uh. What's the vibranium for?" Tony pondered.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron tugged on the air, dragging the core inside Tony Stark closer to him. Then he pushed him towards the wall like it was nothing. They started fighting in the air, flying machine against flying machine.

The rest of Ultron's robotic minions began attacking the Avengers, the Sokovians following not too far behind. Pietro dashed with critical hits, Wanda moved objects around, and Bombshell focused on the overall damage. Unlike everyone present, this was her first actual team fight.

Given the betrayal, Ulysses ordered his men to start attacking, keeping Black Widow and her team occupied. Bullets ricocheted.

Pietro, after throwing a punch to Captain America, noticed Mjölnir ripping the air. In admiration, his hands grabbed the handle, automatically sending him flying with the hammer a couple of feet away. Steve did a final blow to his face with his shield. "Stay down," he commanded.

Thor fought against Bombshell, each throwing blasts in the opposite direction. As she absorbed the noise from Pietro's running, one of her blasts hit the god straight in the stomach. She dodged most of the attacks, until one lightning bolt struck her back. The explosion she was about to release did a massive hole across the wall as she fell to her knees.

Meanwhile, Wanda had stayed hidden until further instruction. Now that he wasn't busy, Thor's mind was consumed by a horrible vision. The destruction of his Asgardian home, to be precise.

Then, Steve's perimeter clouded completely. He was mentally gone too. Soon enough, everyone but Hawkeye had a nightmare with the help of Wanda. Mighty old Clint Barton used an electric-filled arrow on her head, preventing him from a second supernatural person controlling his mind.

Pietro punched him in the gut, pulled the arrow from his sister's forehead, and dragged both her and Bombshell away from the scene. I hate that guy, he thought.

He found an isolated part of the mines, where he left his sisters. Bombshell wasn't speaking, but Wanda was groaning in pain. "What can I do?" Pietro asked.

"It hurts," she responded.

That made the older Maximoff's tiredness disappear. "I'm going to kill them. I'll be right back."

"No. I'm alright. I want... I want to finish the plan. I want the big one. Shellie, your turn."

Although her whole body was shaking, Bombshell's veins didn't fade from their pitch-black color. The tiniest accumulation of the sound was enough to blast Bruce Banner's surroundings, leaving Wanda to do the rest.

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