Red

All Fun and Games Until We Die

"Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron." Steve said his name.

"He's been in everything. Filed, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Natasha said.

Adelaide shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She knew everyone in this room had something they were hiding. They all saw it in each other's faces. Adelaide began to twist a few strands of her hair between her fingers. If Ultron knew their secrets they could be turned against each other in seconds.

"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 guessed.

"Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." He told them all.

"Nukes?" Natasha asked. "He said he wanted us dead." She reminded them.

"He didn't say "dead." He said "extinct." Steve told them the exact word Ultron used.

Adelaide thought there was a big difference between the two. Extinct meant there wouldn't be anymore Avengers, ever.

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

"There wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria told him.

"Yes, there was." Stark walked to the middle of the room and a broken image popped up.

"What?" Banner looked at a dismantled Jarvis. "This is insane."

"Jarvis was the first line of defense." Steve said with his head hung. "He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

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

Thor stormed in and when Tony turned around he was quickly lifted off the ground by his throat.

"Come on, use your words, buddy." Stark told him as everyone in the room watched.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor told him, keeping a tight hold on his throat.

Adelaide watched, nervous. Banner had told them all that together, they made a bomb.

"Thor." Steve stepped up. "The Legionnaire." Steve reminded him of why he was here.

Thor threw Stark down. "Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again." Thor reported.

"Genie's out of that bottle." Natasha said. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand." Helen Cho turned to them. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" She asked.

Tony started laughing. Bruce stood next to him, shaking his head quickly. Adelaide stared at the floor. All that laughing and joking was gone, now they were all at each other's throats. Just like old times.

Adelaide looked at Steve. "Oh, he's gone crazy." She sighed into the palm of her hand as she watched.

"You think this is funny?" Thor demanded.

"No." Stark turned to them all. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so... Is it so... It is. It's so terrible." He continued to chuckle to himself.

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor told him.

"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's so funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this." Tony said.

"Tony, maybe right now might not be the best time—" Banner started before he was cut off.

"Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?" Tony pointed to him and cowardice.

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

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

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D." Steve told them all.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked. "Saved New York?"

Adelaide put her head in her hands. "Jesus, Tony." She sighed. Of course he would remind them of his greatest accomplishment in light of his absolute failure.

"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 lifelong day but up there, that's... That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony asked the team.

"Together." Steve told him.

"We'll lose." Tony told him.

"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve nodded his head. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

"I hate that childish optimism." Adelaide told Steve.

They spent all night going over files and searching for leads. Adelaide was on the phone with Gerda, telling her she wouldn't make it to visit her this month.

"Can you check on him?" Adelaide asked. She had only visited the soldier a few times but she liked to make sure he was doing okay, even if it made her feel guilty.

"I will. But if you see me dead on a newspaper headline..." Gerda said.

"Don't joke like that, he won't hurt you." Adelaide saw Steve down the hall. He waved to her and gestured for her to wrap it up. "I gotta go. I love you." She hung up the phone and followed Steve.

"Who was that." He asked with curiosity. Adelaide didn't say things like that to anyone.

"No one." She brushed him off casually.

Everyone else was downstairs looking through paper files and cardboard boxes.

"Known associates. Baron Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve said, tossing the lid off another box.

Adelaide found a file containing information about super soldiers. She trashed the file without even reading it. She didn't need them asking if she found anything.

"Well, these people are all horrible." Banner said.

Adelaide mindlessly flipped through pages. There was nothing helpful about Strucker. She hadn't been a part of the team much since her adventures around Europe over the last year.

"Wait. I know that guy." Tony stopped Banner. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." Steve gave him a look. "There are conventions. All right? You meet people." He defended himself.

"This?" Thor pointed to a mark on the guy's neck.

"Ah, it's a tattoo, I don't think he had it." Tony said.

"Those are tattoos, this is a brand." Thor corrected him, pointing between the two.

They scanned the picture for a match to any language. "Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning "thief." Bruce told them. "In a much less friendly way."

"What language?" Steve asked.

"Wakanada." Bruce attempted to pronounce it. "Wakanda." He stammered.

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Stark looked at Steve and they both had the same look.

"Thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve pointed out.

"I don't follow." Banner spoke for all them who were equally confused. "What comes out of Wakanda.

"The strongest metal on Earth."