OUR LIFETIME « Pietro Maximoff

4 /| ultron

[chapter four]

SHE COULD FEEL THE ESSENCE OF THE SCEPTER RADIATING OFF OF THE MANGLED BOT. It, in a sense, was alive. Though, not alive enough for her to drain its energy. She balled up her heated hands into fists as she waited for the machine to act. She barely noticed as many of the Avengers stood up.

Sav did hear Tony mutter to JARVIS, but to no avail as the bot did not shut down.

"There was a terrible noise—and I was tangled in strings," the bot rasped, stumbling a bit. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy." Savannah could feel the absolute wrongness of the situation deep in her bones. She'd never heard one of Tony's legionnaires speak like it had a mind of its own.

"You killed someone?" Steve asked, alarm seeping into his voice.

Savannah squinted her eyes at the machine as it replied, slowly standing. "Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

"What do you know about the real world?" Sav questioned, her voice cold. She shifted in her heels, hiding her hands away and hardly feeling the burn.

The machine lifted its arm, in a grand gesture. "More than you could ever fathom."

"Who sent you?" Thor inquired angrily.

"'I see a suit of armor around the world'" The machine played. It was Tony's voice. Maybe Savannah should've watched him a little bit closer the past few days.

"Ultron," Bruce voiced. Savannah had heard the name before, back when she was into eavesdropping on Tony's conversations, but that was so long ago.

"In the flesh," it replied. Savannah could picture a smile on its face. "Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha moved closer to Bruce.

"Peace in our time." As if on cue, Iron Legion bots smashed through the wall causing absolute chaos. Steve kicked up a table before falling back.

One bot flew towards Sav, but she shot a beam of energy at it, an it went straight through its chest. She used a heeled foot to kick another floating bot before using her powers to pull off its arms. Her glowing hands easily beheaded the machine.

She moved onto to another one, dodging its shot. With a jolt from her powers, she pushed herself to its height. Savannah forced its head from its body. She didn't want to project too much, because then she'd have to go to one of her friends for energy later and that was embarrassing.

"We are here to help," the Iron Legion chorused. She ignored them watching as her fellow Avengers took their own assailants out.

"No more, that's the one," she heard Tony say on the back of a legionnaire.

There was a crash of metal against metal, then silence. She looked around. The whole room was trashed. Ultron was still in his original place.

"That was dramatic," Ultron said in a bored tone. "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?" He picked up one of the dismembered Iron Legions, crushing its head. "With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."

Suddenly, Thor threw his hammer at Ultron and he broke into hundreds of pieces. "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me," sang a distant voice. Savannah sunk back into her seat, sighing in exhaustion, her previous feeling of giddiness evaporated.

•••

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out," Bruce said.

"Ultron," Steve repeated. His face was darkened by his thoughts.

Savannah could hear Natasha shuffle from across the room. Sav had long since changed out of the dress and into jeans and a borrowed Stark Industries shirt. She hadn't bothered to put on her cooling gloves. Nat spoke quietly. "He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

Savannah unconsciously blanked out of the conversation. She was so far in her head, and she was weaker because of using her powers and not replacing what she'd lost. Suddenly, Thor stormed into the room, grabbing Tony by his throat, and holding him up. She stepped forward slightly, her attention immediately focused on the two.

"Come on," Tony said in a choked voice. "Use you words."

"I have more than enough words to describe you Stark," Thor replied angrily. Steve questioned Thor about the legionaries, and he put Tony down.

"I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Helen asked from across the lab. Stark started laughing. He actually started laughing.

"You think this is funny?"

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? It's so terrible." Tony's voice was filled with mock humor, which only enraged Savannah.

"Be quite Tony. Just be quiet," she let out through gritted teeth. "I asked you not to do anything stupid. This is stupid." He looked at her, eyes wandering over her face briefly.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor's was still angry.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," Tony said, his voice rising. Savannah's hand glowed a dark blue.

She approached Tony. "No. You don't get it." She shook out her hand. "You can't control what you do not understand."

His brown eyes narrowed. "You're right. Absolutely right." She narrowed her eyes too. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" He turned.

"Not something I recall," Sav said at the same time Rhodes said "No, it's never come up."

"Saved New York? Recall that?" He questioned of the whole room. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve replied.

"We'll lose." Tony said this as if he were stating a fact, not at all unsure.

"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve turned to the rest of the room too. "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."

Savannah grabbed Tony's arm as everyone dispersed. "You're hiding something."

"I always am."

•••

"Ultron killed Strucker," Steve said. "He knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss."

Natasha typed something on the computer. "Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything."

Savannah groaned. "There goes my Sunday."

"Grab a box lazy," Clint laughed.

Five boxes later, and she'd almost fell asleep twice. Her fatigue was catching up to her. Tony had found something on a man named Klaue, shaking her awake. The man's tattoo, was a brand. She studied it as Bruce did the same. The brand seemed familiar.

Bruce nodded. "Oh yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Steve questioned.

"Wakanada—Wakanda," Bruce struggled. Tony and Steve shared a look. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

"Vibranium," Savannah said, receiving questioning looks from everyone. "What? I did my research."

"Where's this guy now?" No reply came.

She realized they probably be fighting in the next few hours. "Good, I needed some energy."