I'm Iron Man, And I'm Agent Coulson

Chapter 72 We need to find Ultron

The air shimmered with angst and shock, but no one said a word, as Thor flew off and followed the fading four bright lights in the sky. I limped foward and dropped down onto my knees to peak down inside the lab.
"I hate being right, but the sceptor's gone," I croaked, unable to completely process what just happened, "so I'll ask you again Tony, no more sarcastic bullshit, what have you done, and why?"
"Uh, we need to get you into the lab first, so Cho and I can take a look at your back," Rhodes stated, lifting me onto my feet, but no one answered my question, "you're bleeding all over the place, so save your yelling, till we get you stitched up," Rhodes contended as I opened my mouth.

We all filed quietly into the lab, with Tony and Steve carrying what was left of the broken robot inside, as Bruce and Natasha immediately began to assess the files, and make sense of what happened.
I sat in a chair while Dr. Cho checked my back, and silently went through everything Ultron said, only to experience more detriment than before. It wasn't what he said about me, I mean it was, but I was sadly getting used to being called out by the bad guys.
No, it was how he boasted about our own extinction, since we were the only people who could stop him, but it was more than that. I didn't want to admit it, but as I looked at the bigger picture there was a small truth to his words. It made me uneasy to think that way, because I never really thought about all of our future's, but I was now, whether from exhaustion or something else.
We'd been right here before.
SHIELD had tried to protect the world, only to fall to its own misgivings.
Project Insight was the 'suit of armor' at the time, but it was rotten from the inside out. It failed, and the Avengers were born out of necessity, made from our own antics and agendas. Steve and I almost died trying to stop it, and in a fucked up way I wasn't entirely surprised Tony had taken the sceptor and studied it, coming to the conclusion it was something that could be used to save the world, but again, here we were, stuck with a murderous program, set loose upon the world.
Tony was one of the smartest people in the world, only this time, it didn't work in our favor, at least not how he must have envisioned it. However, to do something, like this, so brash, after everything we've seen, demanded answers and reason.
It was a well known fact that more threats began to pop up all over the world since Iron Man became a household name, but even more so once the Avengers saved New York.
Some of the senators repeatedly blamed us for creating more chaos, and in the quiet of Tony's lab, I began to understand why. We were a double edged sword, in more ways than one, and more people were going to suffer because of it.

"I'm losing my mind.." I rushed out and looked at Tony.
"Some of these are pretty deep, we need to suture..." Cho exclaimed shakily, but I put my hand up to stop her.
"Just do it," I growled, growing more agitated that once again, I was left unprepared, and my warnings went unheard. Pff, why would they. It's not like I had a handle on my own issues, I couldn't even control my own fear and reticence.
Exhaustion slammed into my body, and I was having a hard time holding myself up in the chair, but this was a different kind of exhausted. One that forced me to question what I was doing, what we were all doing.
I tried to put all my raging thoughts in order, and figure out our next step, but I kept coming back to Ultron's words, and the reason he was created. To do something so rash, and impulsive, even from Tony, begged for understanding, but would that be enough this time?
What did he need to protect us from?
The answer to that, I firmly believed, stemmed from whatever happened in Sokovia, and I was determined to find the answer.

"Everything's gone, all our work," Bruce stressed, "he used the net to escape."
"He's been in everything, files, surveillance, our phone calls," Nat added, "he probably knows more about us, than we know about each other."
Clint and Natasha shared a fleeting look, but I caught it, and it forced me wonder just what else was in those files, or phone calls.
"If he's in the net, what if he decides to get into something a little more dicey than your files," Rhodey hinted, and cleared his throat.
"Nuclear codes, military computers, classified files," I blurted out.
My tired mind automatically thought of Terminator, when every major countries nukes were launched destroying almost everything, "our whole armed forces is run by computer, the planes, our equipment..."
"We need to make some calls," Rhodey reiterated.
"To who exactly, and tell them what?" I hissed, and gritted my teeth through the pain in my back.
"I don't think we need to worry about that, he said he wanted us dead, not the world," Nat contended.
"Pff, not yet," I scoffed, and kept my eyes on Tony's back.
"He didn't say dead, he said extinct." Steve stressed, "the Avengers needed to be extinct in order for humanity to evolve."
"He may have a point," I blurted out, drawing everyone's eyes on me, "I mean look around us."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Clint asked exasperated. He moved down from the staircase and stepped closer Natasha, "so what, you're team Ultron now, all because of what, Stark?"
I stood up and met his anger head on, "no, it's because I read fuckass," I snapped.
Tony snorted, but didn't turn around.
"Here we go," Rhodes sighed, but took a seat near Maria.
"Then please enlighten us, cause I'm getting tired of this cloak and dagger shit too. If you know something then say it," Clint reiterated. His attitude didn't hide his worry, but we were all worried, and I was enraged.
"That's enough," Steve challenged, but I was already beyond pissed off.
"I did say it, and no one fucken listened, so back off Barton," I hissed, and flexed my wounded back, enjoying the pain, "maybe it's just me feeling like doom and gloom, or finally coming to terms with what happened with SHIELD, but when I first started, Fury had me do nothing but reading files and training, and when Nat dropped everything SHIELD had, onto the web, I read some more. I'm talking hundreds if not thousands of files, some of them classified above top secret. I spent hours decoding some of these classified files, and..." I paused and looked towards Tony, who still hadn't turned around from his robot, "before any of us joined SHIELD, there were threats, small squabbles, and one big one dealing with a few beings from outer space and one of our own enhanced individuals, I didn't even know existed, and from the look on your faces, you didn't either. Then when Iron Man hit the scene those threats increased five fold. Vanko, AIM, The 10 Rings, and things just got worse as the Avengers took their place and saved New York, and later uncovered HYDRA. It wasn't just Thor and Loki who forced SHIELD'S hand, but these threats popping up all over the world. Project Insight was allowed to get off the ground because of Pierce, and New York, but the plans have been there since the early 90's. Including these new enhanced beings. Our team's a double edged sword. We were created out of necessity, to fight things the world's never seen, only to create new problems along the way," I recited quickly, "I'm not saying that it's TRUE, I just think that's what Ultron may of meant, because he's seen these files, and whatever else he was able to gain through the net. How can humanity experience peace when the one's who are responsible for saving the world, are also viewed as the biggest threat by everyone who's not us. You saw the reaction in Sokovia. It's like that all over the world. All over the world, The Avengers have become synonymous with the words tyranny, and totalitarianism."
"I don't believe that," Steve surmised, "and that doesn't really help us here."
"It doesn't matter what you believe. I was surprised by the overreach SHIELD was capable of, we both were, and apparently we have the same problem here," I grumbled, seeing Tony's shoulders droop, "we can't police the world and expect it not to fight back, even if it's for the good of mankind, being against evil, doesn't necessarily mean we're good."
"I'm with Cap, but be that as it may, we have work to do, and we need to figure out who the first victim was," Clint consented, "besides, that doesn't really explain why Ultron has a vendetta against us."
"You're not listening," I growled, and shook my head.
"Anyways, there was no one left in the building, but us," Maria added.
"Yes, yes there was," Tony objected, finally speaking up. He walked to his computer platform and tapped his tablet.
In seconds, what was left of JARVIS appeared in front of us. Only, there was what looked like blue synapses firing, sending data, and infiltrating what used to be JARVIS's mainframe.
Bruce and I both walked forward, and my mouth dropped open. JARVIS was gone, totally obliterated, and in it's place was pieces of Ultron.
"This is crazy," Bruce gasped.
"J was the first line of defense," I pointed out, "but this... theoretically Ultron could of assimilated J, easily, but this looks like JARVIS was torn apart, out of rage or fear. It's almost as if this thing is..."
"Thinking ahead," Bruce finished for me.
"Why would Ultron be afraid...of..." I managed to get out as Thor's heavy boots pounded the tile in anger, and headed straight for Tony.
I jumped forward as he grabbed Tony by throat and slammed him up against the glass.
"Its going around," Clint sighed, but did nothing, no one did.
I understood everyone's trepidation, but this, fighting each other, wasn't going to get us any closer to finding Ultron, nor the sceptor, and too be honest, as I looked back at what Ultron did to JARVIS, along with the amount of fighting we had all done these past two years, I almost understood why Tony made the decision to act. Of course I would of went about it another way, but this was Tony, and he didn't do things just out of happenstance.