The Deadly Nightshade | { BOOK 1 of The Flower series }

[02] Betrayal

The doors to Dr. Helen Cho's lab opened, and the Korean woman walked through before halting in her tracks when her dark eyes fell on Ultron. "Scream and your entire staff dies," Ultron warned, causing Helen to close her mouth, but she watched him with caution. "I could've killed you, Helen, the night we met. I didn't."

She gazed at him warily. "Do you expect a thank you note?"

"I expect you to know why," Ultron corrected.

Helen shifted her eyes onto the metal cradle in realisation. "The Cradle." She heard her own recorded voice as it projected out. "This is the next thing, Tony."

Ultron placed a hand on the end of it. "This," he looked up at her, "this is the next me."

"The regeneration cradle prints tissue. It can't build a living body," Helen informed, shaking her head in disbelief and slight fear.

"It can." He moved in on her, earning to back away. "You can. You lack the materials." An Ultron bot moved forward beside Ultron, holding a tube of Vibranium. "You're a brilliant woman, Helen."

Nightshade walked up behind her with Loki's scepter as it glowed a bright blue. The light caught Helen's attention, and she turned around in shock. Nightshade smirked as she pressed the end of it against Helen's heart. The scientist gasped as her eyes turned pitch black before they stayed as a crystallised blue.

"But we all have room to improve."

* * *

The cradle opened in half as Helen was creating the new Ultron body. On monitors, atoms were being shown. "It's beautiful," Helen said with fascination as she stared at the monitor. "The Vibranium atoms aren't just compatible with the tissue cells; they're binding them. And S.H.I.E.L.D. never even thought—"

"The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a Frisbee," Ultron interrupted as he watched his new body be created. "Typical of humans, they scratch the surface and never think to look within." Ultron broke open the scepter's blue gem, and a yellow gem inside floated out and landed in his hand. He placed it in the head of the body.

"Мы используем это, чтобы убить, не так ли?" Nightshade asked, slowly walking up to the cradle as she peered down at the forming body.

We are using this to kill, right?

Ultron chuckled. "By the time we're done, everyone will have time to improve." He stroked the back of his metal hand against her mask-covered cheek. "Even you. You will be a lot powerful than you are now."

Helen gestured for Ultron to sit down, and he obliged. She stuck a large cord in the back of his neck. "Cellular cohesion will take a few hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream. We're uploading your cerebral matrix. . .now."

Wanda and Pietro walked into the lab. Her green eyes shifted onto Nightshade for a moment, sighing when she saw the computerised purple eyes. She stopped right beside the cradle, gently placing her hands on the metal container. "I can read him. He is dreaming."

"I wouldn't call it dreams," Helen informed. "It's Ultron's base consciousness, informational noise. Soon—"

Ultron held out a palm of his metal hand. "How soon? I'm not being pushy."

"We're imprinting a physical brain," Helen exclaimed. "There are no shortcuts. Even if your magic gem is—"

Wanda backed away from the cradle as she screamed, horrified. That got the attention of Ultron, Pietro, and even Nightshade. Pietro cupped Wanda's cheeks as he stared at her with concern.