ᴛʀᴏᴜᴠᴀɪʟʟᴇ | 𝐖. 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐅𝐅 [ ɪ ]

| ᴠɪꜱɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴘᴀɪɴ |

cw: mentions of people burning alive, suicide, self harm, and gore. i'll put a bolded warning before and after the parts that talk about it.

It wasn't hard to find out where Klaue was. It was shockingly easy, actually. The flight to the salvage yard located somewhere on the African coast had been long, but somehow, it hadn't felt that way. Perhaps it was because everyone was too busy being riddled with nerves and anticipation to pay attention to how much time had passed. The tension in the quinjet, on the other hand, was far too thick not to notice. The Avengers weren't particularly pleased with Tony and Thor, especially looked like he wanted to throw something at the man every time he opened his mouth.

So, after a few hours of flying, Tony, Nat, Thor, Clint, Steve, Bruce, and Sage all arrived at a salvage yard on the African coast. When they broke into the boat, they saw that the power was out. Ultron must have already gotten there, which meant they didn't have time to waste.

"All right, everyone remember, Ultron's got the two Enhanced with him, so be careful," Steve reminded them in a hushed whisper. He looked over at Sage. "You stick with me, okay?"

"I can handle myself, Ice cube," said Sage stubbornly.

"Just stick with me. Please," Steve pleaded, his blue eyes swimming with concern. A part of Sage felt insulted that he was so worried about her. She had handled herself well during their previous mission, and she wished to remind him of that.

Instead, she sighed in defeat, knowing that he could be incredibly stubborn when he wanted to be, and that they didn't exactly have time to waste. "Yeah, fine, okay."

From far below them, they heard a loud groan and then a bang. Then, they could faintly hear Ultron's voice shouting something. It was odd, hearing him so angry. His disposition had been calm during the attack at the tower, despite the fact that he was literally threatening to kill them. Sage was curious to know what had set him off.

"All right, let's get down there," said Tony, nodding at Steve, Thor and Sage.

"...It's a thing with me. Stark is... he's a sickness!"

There was her answer.

"Ah, Junior," began Tony sarcastically, flying down. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"Yeah, didn't anyone ever tell you to respect your elders?" said Sage, emerging from behind Steve, her voice silky smooth as she shot Ultron a mocking look of disapproval. "I mean, your manners, they're appalling! Tony, you really didn't do a good job raising him."

"Yeah, well, kids aren't exactly my thing," Tony shrugged. Sage raised her eyebrows, letting out a quiet hum of disagreement. Tony could be quite the dad when he wasn't making snarky comments or bragging. He had been the one who had helped her learn how to tune out noise when things got too loud, and he had let her watch him and Bruce work in the lab on several occasions. When he wanted to be, Tony Stark was probably one of the most compassionate people Sage had ever met, but she had learned that not many got to see that side of him. She was grateful that she had.

"If I have to break your heart, I will," said Ultron.

"Nobody has to break anything," said Thor lowly.

"Clearly, you've never made an omelet," remarked Ultron.

"He beat me by one second," said Tony. Sage repressed a chuckle. For someone who claimed to hate Tony Stark and everything he stood for, Ultron certainly was a lot like him. She wondered if he was subconsciously aware of this, and if it angered him beyond belief.

"Ah, yes. He's funny," Pietro spoke up coolly, glaring daggers at Tony. "Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?"

"This was never my life," Tony denied.