Project Z (Bucky Barnes Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

As the rest of the guests left the tower, the Avengers sat down on the couches and floor around the coffee table. They were just laughing and messing around as they relaxed from the night. 

Zara was on the couch next to Bucky and smiling with the rest of the group. She couldn't remember the last time she had smiled like that. It felt really good to just relax and smile. 

Bucky was laughing and telling a few stories of Steve before and during the war with his arm around the back of the couch. "No, I'm telling you, Steve was the one with the worst potty mouth! Closely followed by me, but he had the biggest potty mouth! I can't believe he said language in the last mission!" He said and everyone said their version of no way. 

Zara laughed next to him as she put her head on his shoulder gently. 

Zara had been getting tired and was falling asleep on Bucky's shoulder as there was a loud screeching noise, causing everyone to cover their ears and become on guard. 

Thor had his hammer in hand which people were trying to pick up a second before, Tony was looking around, Steve stood up and immediately grabbed his shield, and Bucky had stood up quickly. Zara had stayed sitting but was looking around to try to find the source. 

"Worthy... No... How could you be worthy? You're all killers." A robot said as he entered the room. 

The thing had everyones attention and now they were standing. 

"Stark." Steve said as the rest of the Avengers just looked at the thing that was in front of them. 

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or...I was a-dream? There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled in... in...strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy," The thing said and Zara shrunk back a little bit but stayed standing. 

"You killed someone?" Steve asked and looked at the rest of the group, trying to figure out what to do. 

"Wouldn't have been my first choice." The robot said as he was looking at himself and the room. 

"Who sent you?" Bucky said and all of a sudden Tony's voice was echoing around the tower. 

"I see a suit of armor around the world." 

"Ultron." Bruce said looking at Tony and Tony just looked at Bruce for a second before looking at the machine, who's name was apparently Ultron. 

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission." Ultron said and everyone tensed at the word mission.  

"What mission?" Natasha asked. 

"Peace in our time." He said and all of a sudden a couple of Iron Legion robots burst through the wall and attack. 

Steve kicks up the table to use as a shield but they run right into it and he gets knocked back and he groans a little. 

Zara screams as Bucky pulls her down before anything can hit her. 

"You can do this, stay down and if one of those things comes towards you call me or use your power. You can do this." Bucky said and she nodded before he got up and ran to help Steve. 

Zara watched the chaos above her for a second, frozen for a minute, before she started to move. She started to army crawl away but something grabbed her ankle. She screamed and the thing was torn away from her. She looked back and saw one of the murder bots being sent away from her but then came back towards her. She screamed again but it was sent flying back in pieces when Steve's shield flew into it. 

"That was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve? With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction." Ultron said and everyone had stood up or just looked at them from where they were. Before Ultron could say anything else, Thor threw his hammer and destroyed Ultron. "I had strings, but now I'm free." His soft voice echoed through the room and everyone was frozen for a good five minutes before anyone said anything or even moved. 

"Stark what the hell just happened?" Bucky asked breaking the silence, Tony just shook his head. 

"Let's work on cleaning mess this up before we start that long talk about what just happened." Natasha said and everyone just kind of nodded and went to a random area. 

Everyone went to work cleaning up on the mess that was created, and it was almost silent as they cleaned up except for the sound of glass and furniture. 

Zara was cleaning up the area by the bar with a couple other people. Her hair had half fallen from the bun. It was all over the place and her dress now had oil stains on it since the robot had basically exploded right above her. She didn't care what she looked like, she was occupied with what just happened to everyone. 

She knew Tony would mess something up, he can never stop making weapons. There was always something he cold 'improve' or something he could fix. 

Bucky walked up to her and looked at her cleaning for a second. "Are you okay?" He asked and she shrugged a little. 

"He keeps putting people in danger. He needs to stop. "He's going to get one of us killed." She said and he sighed a little. 

"I know, I know he needs to stop. This is the way he copes and I don't know what to do to make him stop. I don't know if he will stop." He said and she nodded a little and looked at him. 

They just looked at each other and Zara just hugs him. Bucky stands there for a second before hugging back and holding her. Nothing was said between them, it was just them. 

They just stood there for a few minutes before someone cleared their throat as they were passing so they separated and smiled a little at each other before getting back to work.