Beauty and The Beast ~ Hulk Love Story ((Book 2))

Chapter Nine

We all met up in one of the lower levels of Stark Tower that was dedicated to Tony's lab. Natasha and I had taken the time to get out of our party dresses before joining everyone else. My long black hair was pulled up into a messy bun at the top of my head. I had taken off most of the makeup that Natasha had painted on my face earlier. I only left on a bit of eyeliner on my lower lid so I didn't look completely tired. I had stolen one of Tony's band t-shirts because Bruce practically only packed button downs. I had on a pair of black exercise capris and my converse. We were all tired from the fight. Natasha was in place sweat pants and a black t-shirt with a grey jacket over it. Tony was practically sulking over the mangled robotic corpse that Ultron had been occupying. "All of our work is gone," Bruce spoke as he swiped through the files on the computer screen before him. I was sitting on the edge of the table that the computer was sitting on. I tilted my head to see that the files he was looking at were empty. "Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch." He explained to Tony.

"He's been in everything..." I said as I adjusted the way I was sitting. "Files, Surveillance." a chill ran up my spine at the thought of that thing spying on us. "Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." I exchanged worried glances with Natasha.

"He's in your files," War Machine motioned to Tony. "He's in the internet," He started across the room. He was holding onto his elbow which I assumed was hurt during our fight with Ultron's murder-happy bots. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" He asked harshly.

"Nuclear Codes..." Agent Hill spoke up from her place in one of the rolly chairs in the lab. She had her foot in her lap and was fixing up her bleeding toe. War Machine nodded at her. She had voiced the fear that pulled at the back of our mind. There was no telling what this thing was capable of.

"We need to make some calls, assuming we still can." War Machine continued to be our voice of reason.

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." Natasha pointed out. She was right. He was out to get the Avengers not destroy the world.

"He didn't say 'Dead'." Steve pointed out firmly. "He said 'Extinct'." My heart sunk a bit at the thought. I took a side glance at Bruce. Bruce reached laying his hand on top of mine which was resting on the desk beside me. I gave him a weak smile.

"He also said he killed someone," Clint tossed out the bit of information that we had all but forgot. I hadn't come across anyone while on my way to get changed. I was unaware if anyone else had found anything suspicious.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Agent Hill scrunched her face a bit. She seemed to also be thinking about where another person could have been that we hadn't seen them.

"Yes, there was..." Tony spoke as he moved to the middle of the room. He had the small rectangular glass like remote that he used to control his lab. He moved it as if tapping something. An orange glowing ball appeared in front of him. It seemed to be disassembled and broken. Everyone examined it for a moment. Bruce pulled his hand from mine and took a couple steps closer to the broken remnants of JARVIS. Steve hung his head as Bruce mumbled in disbelief.

"JARVIS was the first line of defense," Steve spoke up. His tone was a bit sad. I understood that JARVIS was a computer program that was designed to help us, but he was almost like a part of the team. He was always around and willing to help. "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense." Steve was right. JARVIS would've been able to stop Ultron's escape.

"No," Bruce shook his head. He was looking down at the hologram in front of him. "Ultron could have assimilated JARVIS. This isn't a strategy. This is..." Bruce paused frowning slightly. He lifted his gaze to look to Tony. "Rage." He finished his thought. The click of shoes against the ground roughly alerting us that someone had entered the room. Thor without a second glance at anyone else marched straight to Tony. He was in his Asgardian armor instead of his party clothes. He grabbed Tony by the neck and forced him backward.