The Little Siren

Chapter 6

After opening presents and throwing wrapping paper balls at each other, the Avengers went into the dining room to eat cake. They began to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ for Tony.

“Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Tony,

Happy Birthday…”

Mia, who was actually enjoying herself and singing along, unexpectedly felt a sharp sting on her cheek as a shard of something sharp scratched her face. She put her fingers to her cheek and when she removed them they were smeared in blood. She gasped. The singing stopped abruptly as everyone turned to look at Mia.

“Mia!” Pepper exclaimed. “You’re bleeding, what happened?”

“I don’t…” Mia turned to face to big windows and saw a crack in the glass. “The glass!” Mia exclaimed as the windows shattered with a resounding CRASH!

Tony grabbed Pepper and pulled her under the table to protect her. Everyone else shielded their heads with their arms.

“Tony! Get Pepper out of here!” Natasha cried. Tony quickly put on the awaiting Iron Man suit and flew Pepper out of one of the now open windows. Suddenly, seven robots flew in through the gaping holes to confront the stunned Avengers. Bruce transformed into the hulk, Natasha and Mia grabbed hidden weapons, Clint found his bow, and Steve dove to reach his shield as Thor summoned Mjölnir.

“What are these devices?” asked Thor. “They are similar to the man of iron are they not?”

“I don’t know Thor,” said Steve. “But they are not friendly.”

The robots had a humanoid form and were completely white. They had red glowing circles where eyes would be on a face.

“Avengers located. Terminate,” said one robot. They lunged towards the heroes and the battle began. They smashed, tore, and obliterated the robots but they were incredibly fast. They managed to dodge and avoid almost every move the Avengers tried. Mia wasn’t sure how long they fought, but the robots were clearly programed to be skilled fighters. They had dispatched 4 robots already by the time Iron Man came back.

“What took so long Stark!?” yelled Clint as he notched an arrow.

“Pepper! She didn’t want me to go. I left her with Fury aboard the Helicarrier. What are we dealing with?”

“Robots!” yelled Mia as she ducked behind the bar and reloaded her gun. “Fierce and pretty good fighters.”

Tony shot one through the center with one of his cannons. It fell to the ground then after a few seconds of twitching, got back up.

“What the-”  Tony began before the robot tackled him.

“You have to shoot them in the head, that’s where its core processing takes place!” Steve yelled.

The Avengers were tired but they still had 3 more robots to destroy. Mia was trying to fight one robot that was clearly the smartest of them all. It was memorizing her battle strategies and adapting to avoid them.

“Mia! On your left!” Steve cried running over to where she was dodging punches.

“I know!” she yelled back. “I got it!”

Steve picked up the robot from behind and threw it across the room.

“What did you do that for?” Mia yelled in his face. “I had it under control!”

Steve looked taken aback. “I was only…” he glanced over Mia’s head and saw the robot charging towards her from behind. “Mia! Move!” Steve cried pushing her down. He put up his shield but it was too late.  The robot changed his hand into a long knife and stabbed Steve in the shoulder. “Steve!” Mia cried as he stumbled back gasping. She kicked the robot down and smashed its head into the floor, killing it.

“Steve!” she yelled again and this time the other Avengers heard her. Together, they had destroyed the remaining two robots and ran over to Captain America. His right shoulder was bleeding a lot and he was unconscious now. “He…he was trying to protect me. We have to call for help!” Mia rambled on. “Don’t worry Mia,” Clint said. “I just called Fury. He should be here any minute.”

As if on cue, the Helicarrier pulled up next to the shattered windows. A platform extended into the destroyed rooms and Bruce, who had become human again, helped Thor carry Steve inside. Natasha, Clint, Tony and Mia followed them to get their own medical attention. They were hurried off to the medical bay.

“Where is she? Where is Mia?”

Mia could hear her uncle shouting as he ran down the medical wing. He skidded to a halt in front of her room and entered. She was getting her arm and check bandaged where she had gotten badly cut. “Mia! Oh my god, how are you? You’re not too hurt are you? Let me-”

“Uncle!” Mia said loudly cutting him off.  “I’m fine. See, just a few crapes.”

Coulson let out a relieved sigh and leaned back against the wall. “I’m glad. I was worried about you when I heard what happened.” He looked over his niece and decided that she really was in fairly good shape.

“I need to find Steve!” Mia said jumping up from the bed once the doctor was done bandaging her up. “He was badly hurt and… I have to go!” Mia ran out of the room and down the hall where she saw her companions waiting. They all had various stages of injuries, but they were all relatively safe. Pepper was also with them.

“Steve! Where is he?” Mia said breathlessly.

“Our captain is in there,” Thor pointed to the white emergency room in front of them. “He is being treated for his wounds but they will not let us in.”

So they waited.