Otherwise Known As... | Bucky Barnes

Chapter (47) Fourty Seven ~ ...the girl who helped build a murder robot

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

"Ultron," Steve said, still unsure of what he was.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." I watched as Natasha glanced at Clint.

"He's in your files, he's in the Internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey asked, walking across the room.

"Nuclear codes." Maria piped up from where she sat in front of me, as I had been helping her get broken glass out of her foot.

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

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." I chimed in.

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

"He also said he killed somebody." Clint pointed out.

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

"Yes, there was." Tony let go of Avery's hand and walked toward the middle of the room. We all watched as my nephew pulled up a familial orange hologram, only this one was more damaged-looking. Like it was broken. Like it had been attacked.

"What?" Bruce breathed out, walking up to the image. "This is insane."

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

"No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is... rage." I told the group.

The sound of loud footsteps could be heard, Thor storming into the room and grabbing Tony by the throat, lifting him into the air and bringing him to the nearby wall.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Avery yelled, following the god. "Thor, let him go."

"It's going around." Clint shrugged, making me roll my eyes.

"Come on, use your words, buddy." Tony choked out.

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

"Thor. The Legionnaire." Steve yelled. Thor finally dropped Tony to the ground and Avery wasted no time in helping Tony to his feet.

"Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter." The god glared at the other Stark. "Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"Genies out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Natasha said.

"I don't understand," Helen said, gaining everyone's attention. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony started chuckling then, making everyone look at him strangely.

"You think this is funny?" Thor questioned.

"No. It's probably not, right?" Tony looked at me, making me glare at him. "This is very terrible. It is so... " He paused, laughing 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. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny." Tony shot back, walking up to the large God of Thunder. "It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time."

"Yeah, Tony, shut the hell up." I hissed, agreeing with Bruce.

"Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot."

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

"I mean, we must have if Ultron came alive," I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well, you three did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD." Steve walked closer to Tony.

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

"No, it's never come up." Avery sarcastically shook her head.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that." Rhodey played along with her.

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's... That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve stated.

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too." The two stayed silent for a moment before Steve continued.

"Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The worlds a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

~~

"Why did you do it?" Steve asked me, leaning on my doorframe. I was up in currently my room, putting on new shoes after changing out of the short dark blue dress I had worn to the party, though I put my leather jacket back on.

"I do a lot of things, Steph. You'll have to be more specific."

"Why did you make Ultron? I thought you knew better than that."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't see the future and tell my past self that the being I was trying to help create would come back to kill us all." I rolled my eyes.

"I thought the idea was great. Tony's "suit of armor around the world"? That could help us in so many ways. It would stop things like what happened in New York from happening again. It would be one more way of protecting the few people that are still in my life."

"Oliv-"

"No, you are not allowed to pity me, or even be angry with me. I did what I thought was right, just like you have your whole life. The way we do things is just a bit different. I am sorry that I didn't tell you, but if you haven't noticed, I hadn't really even been out of the lab since we got the scepter. I didn't really have time to come up and tell you about the scientific and technical things I was creating with the guys that would make your head hurt from confusion."

"I guess I understand that." Steve slowly nodded, walking to come sit beside me on the bed. "I've never understood your tech talk, even in the 40s."

"And because of that, I don't talk to you about it much. Just like I didn't tell you about the time crunch passion project that we all thought wasn't going to be able to become a reality."

"Well, that passion project worked out a little too well."

"Yeah. Now it wants to kill us. Honestly didn't really see that one coming."

"You should have since your nephew had a hand in it."

"Yeah, well. Sometimes, I see so much of Howard in him it's hard to see him as his own person. I think I've accidentally called him Howard a couple times while we're working too." I cringed.

"When was the last time you visited him?" Steve asked, setting his hand on my knee.

"When was the last time you visited Peggy?" I shot back, placing my hand on top of his.

"Touche, Oliv. Touche." Steve nodded, squeezing my knee before he stood up. "We're starting our search for Ultron first thing in the morning. Make sure you get enough sleep tonight. I know Tony got his insomnia from you, not Howard."

"Oh, Howard had it too. He was just never around for you to see it." I gave him a pointed look. "But I think I'm gonna help Tony and Bruce out. See what they're up to since I know they're not sleeping tonight."

"Do me a favor and get a few hours in. I don't need you to get hurt cause you were sleep deprived."

"Don't worry, Stephanie. You're stuck with me, 'cause I'm with you."

Steve's eyes widened a bit at my words, a small smile coming across his face.

"Till the end of the line."