From Present to Past - The Tigris Series Book 3

Chapter Seven

May 1st, 2015

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

"Ultron." Steve muttered back, quietly, more than upset with what had occurred.

All of us were in Stark's lab, investigating what had happened. He was standing by one of the tables where he had laid out Ultron's now shut down, mechanical corpse while everyone else either paced about the lab or stood in place, processing everything.

Or at least, attempting to process it.

I was standing in the farthest corner from everyone, facing the wall with my arms crossed and my head down, tapping my fingers against my arm as I struggled to contain the rage bubbling inside of me. Every part of me wanted to punch Stark in the face for what was happening. Though, I knew that if I did, I would punch him hard enough to likely dislocate and break his jaw, and as much as I really wanted to do that, I also really didn't want to do that to him. And that pissed me off even more.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. . . probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Natasha stated, turning around to face us as she crossed her arms.

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

I clenched my jaw at the question, pursing my lips as I glanced back at them from over my shoulder.

"Nuclear codes." Hill stated out loud, picking up what Rhodey was hinting at from where she was seated at the other side of the lab.

He nodded in confirmation, looking over at Stark as if expecting him to say or do something. "Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

Natasha slightly furrowed her brows as she listened. "Nukes? He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say "dead." He said "extinct."" Steve corrected, eyeing them with a troubled expression.

"He also said he killed somebody." Barton cut in.

Hill looked up at him from her chair. "There wasn't anyone else in the building."

Stark left his spot by the lab table to go towards the center of the room. "Yes, there was."

He held up a device in his hand, and projected an orange 3D hologram of what I could only describe as a completely obliterated nervous system in some sort of cyber-type of brain. I assumed that it was the only physical appearance that Jarvis had, which meant that it was the "person" that Ultron had killed. I grimaced upon seeing it, picturing what it would have looked like to be torn apart like that. Ultron said it was an "ugly choice" to do this.

Ugly choice, my ass.

Banner slowly approached the hologram with a puzzled, almost horrified expression. "What?" he whispered under his breath, looking up at Stark for only a moment. "This is insane."

Steve stood nearby with his arms crossed and his head slightly down, as if he was paying his respect. "Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

"No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is. . . rage."

Thor came storming in, furiously, going straight for Stark with a deep scowl. Stark turned to face him when he heard his heavy boots approaching, but before he could say or do anything, Thor had him held off of the ground by the throat.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Steve muttered, his eyes widening.

Barton watched from where he stood in the distance with a lazy slouch. "It's going around."