Rogue (Under Rewriting)

Chapter Twenty Two

New York, 2015, same time same day

"Worthy... No... How could you be worthy? You're all killers." The robotic voice spoke.

"Stark," Steve warned.

"JARVIS," Tony called out.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or...I was a-dream?" The voice seemed to question itself.

"Reboot, Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit," Tony said typing on his device.

"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 robot lifted its arm and wires as it spoke.

"You killed someone," Alex questioned, slowly taking out her gun.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices," It replied.

"Who sent you," Thor asked. 

""I see a suit of armor around the world"." Tony's voice came from the robot.

"Ultron," Bruce exclaimed.

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission," It said.

"What mission," Natasha asked.

"Peace in our time," It said as Iron Legion bots smash through the walls and attack the team.

Alex was thrown back as a Legion bot flew right at her. She groaned from the floor as she looked for the gun that she dropped. She flung her hands out at the robot that was flying toward her. She watched as purple surrounded the and rip apart when she moved her hands apart.

"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 after Steve destroyed the Legionnaire. Thor throws his hammer at Ultron and smashes him to pieces but Ultron starts singing. "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me."

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch," Bruce said when they had all gathered in the lab. Alex and Natasha had all changed out of their party wear and into more comfortable clothes.

"Ultron," Steve said shaking his head.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other," Natasha said turning away from the computer she was on. Alex gave her a small smile as she noticed Natasha wearing her grey jacket.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting," Rhodey asked.

"Nuclear codes," Maria suggested.

"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can," Rhodey said.

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead," Alex stated.

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct," Steve corrected.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint reminded everyone.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria said.

"Yes, there was," Tony said bringing up the now destroyed 3D image of JARVIS' consciousness.

"This is insane," Bruce said.

"JARVIS was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense." Alex shrugged.

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage," Bruce said as Thor walks into the room grabbing a hold of Tony by his throat, holding him up.

"Woah, woah, woah! It's going around," Clint said not making a move to separate the two.

"Come on. Use your words, buddy," Tony tried to get Thor's hand away from his neck.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor spits out in anger.

"Thor! The Legionnaire," Steve ordered, talking about the robot that had taken the scepter.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again," Thor spoke after he dropped Tony.

"The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron," Natasha stated. Alex moves closer to the girl and put her hand around her shoulder.

"I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us," Helen asked as she moved away from one of the destroyed robots. Stark starts laughing and Banner subtly shakes his head, trying to get him to stop.

"You think this is funny," Thor asked.

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible," Tony said when he stopped laughing.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Alex said glaring at the man

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," Tony explained before turning to Alex and pointing a finger at her. "And you, don't get to call me out for my mistakes. You tried to kill us."

"That was three years ago. And I didn't try to kill you, I just sedated you," Alex had removed her arm from Natasha and took a step toward Tony.

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to-" Bruce said trying to stop the argument.

"Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls," Tony now argued with the scientist.

"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce explained.

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface," Tony stated.

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD," Steve said.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole," Tony asked.

"No, it's never come up," Rhodey answered.

"Saved New York," Tony asked again.

"Never heard that," Rhodey answered once more while shaking his head.

"Recall that? 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...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that," Tony asked looking around the group.

"Together," Steve said.

"We'll lose," Tony shot down.

"Then we'll do that together, 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," Steve commanded.

"I'm going to bed for the night. Wake me up if you need help," Alex whispered in Natasha's ear.

"I will," She whispered back. Normally she would have asked the girl to stay up and help but she knew the girl wasn't getting much sleep. She watched with sadness in her eyes as the blonde walked away.