The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

15| Meteors

Natasha jolted awake as some loud noise disturbed her sleep. She tried to keep still, and for a while, she silently scanned the room where she was held.

She was leaning up against a doorway, and around her, little mini-Ultrons were running around making more of themselves. There was a big Ultron, working on none other than another big Ultron.

The room itself had the structural style of Eastern Europe, so Natasha assumed she was back in Strucker's fortress.

Her mind was still swirling from her dream of Mexico or something like that. It was nice while it lasted, at least.

Ultron noticed her. "I wasn't sure you'd wake up. I was hoping you would. I wanted to show you something." He placed something down onto his workbench. "I... I don't have anybody else."

Natasha's heart crept into her throat, keeping her silent.

"I think a lot about meteors. The purity of them," Ultron continued. "Boom! The end. Start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild. I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful. The world would've looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy." His mechanical eyes seemed to bore into her soul. "Instead, they'll look up in horror, because of you. You've wounded me, I'll give you full marks for that. But like the man said, 'what doesn't kill me–" A sudden force ripped the speaking Ultron to shreds and a new body tossed the old one aside– "makes me stronger'." This new Ultron advanced towards her, and Nat scrambled back, trying to get away.

He gave her a cold smile as he slid the cell door closed.

Natasha waited until his attention was focused elsewhere before grabbing the little clicker and a few wires she saw from the corner of her eye. Pretending to be scared works out nine out of ten times in her favour, so she knew she had a very good chance of getting what she wanted.

She twisted a few wires together and began clicking out a message.

Dash- dot- dash- dot, pause, dash- dot- dot- dot, long pause, dot- dot- dot, pause, dash- dash- dash, pause, dash- dot- dash, pause, dash- dash- dash, pause, dot- dot- dot- dash, pause, dot- dot, pause, dot- dash, long pause, dash- dot, pause, dot- dash- dot. Repeat.

She was clicking the message for the sixth or seventh time before she heard a faint click back.

She heard a distant click amid the static noise from the tiny radio she found and turned the dial a little until the clicks were clear.

NR, it said, LL knwn, A n rt. CB. It repeated again until she tapped the clicker in dash- dot- dash, and the line went back to static.

Natasha quickly slid the tiny contraption into a box that shielded it from view by the Ultrons. She glanced around and sighed. She had a while until anyone came.

She settled in her uncomfortable spot on the cold stone floor and waited impatiently. She hated being the damsel in distress, but unfortunately, many metal men were here and she left her bobby pins in the Barton house, so she had no lockpicks. She could however try it with little metal shards on the ground...

She scoured the floor for shards the right size before finding them a few tedious minutes later.

Nat stuck the shards into the keyhole and began the process of picking an undoubtedly 200-year-old lock.

-

(A different perspective, all the way back in Queens.)

Peter sat in his science class, sketching a diagram for homework as his classmates chattered on behind him before class started. If only Ned had science with him. Then they could complain about Mr. Saurich together.

The science teacher came in, with a girl trailing behind him, looking bored.

Immediately, she piqued his interest. She had a Star Wars shirt on and a notebook in her hand, and she was giving one of his classmates, Flash Thompson, a dirty look.

Mr. Saurich cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Everybody, I know it's late in the year, but we have a new student with us today. Class, this is Michelle Jones. Miss Jones, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?" He looked at her.

Michelle frowned at him. "No."

Mr. Saurich sighed. "Very well. Please take your seat anywhere you'd like, and we'll start the class."

To Peter's surprise, she headed his way, and he glanced behind him and around him furtively. There weren't any other empty–

MJ slid onto the seat beside him.

"Uh, um, hi–" Peter stuttered. "I'm–"

MJ grabbed a pencil and tapped the table with it. "Peter. I know. I saw you earlier in the office." She started a small doodle. "We can talk later."

Peter blinked before she turned his head with her free hand towards the board.

Class ended quicker than it should have, and Peter got up faster to catch up with MJ.

"Hey," he said, a little out of breath.

"Peter." She acknowledged him with a small nod. "We just saw each other, so is there something you'd like to say that you, for some reason, didn't when we were sitting next to each other?"

Peter flushed lightly. "I wanted to welcome you to the school. Did you just move here?"

"Yeah." MJ shrugged. "DC was boring anyway."

"Where..." Peter almost walked into a person. "Sorry– where are you going in the fall?"

"Midtown," the girl said offhandedly. "You?"

"Same!" Peter grinned. "It's nice, knowing I'll have another friend there."

"Who said we were friends?" MJ asked, stoic as she began to unlock a locker that Peter assumed to be hers.

Peter flushed darker. "Sorry. Should I go?"

"Depends." MJ closed her locker. "What's your next class?"

"Math. With Mr. Kroeker."

MJ sighed. "Then we can walk together, I guess. There's no point in separating just to see each other there again."

---

Thanks to the amazing Gammacousin (Panda3652), I was able to finish this chapter. Panda, you are my saviour and you deserve a log cabin with a fireplace that is devoid of people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

~Vi, November 12th, 2022