To The End [Steve Rogers]

24 - The Blame Game

Steve and Clint stand defensively as soon as the robot begins speaking. Jessica looks between the two of them and places a hand on Steve's wrist.

"Stark," he says anyway.

"Jarvis," Tony says in turn.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or... I was a... dream?" The robot's monologue overlaps Tony's orders for Jarvis to reboot the suit. "There was a terrible noise... and I was tangled in... in... strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve presses.

It turns its head back towards them, "Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

Jessica releases Steve to tap her bracelet nonchalantly. The built-in screen lights up awaiting her orders, but she stands instead.

"Who sent you?" Thor questions.

The sound of a recording being scratched echoes from its speakers. Then, Tony's voice comes from the suit, "'I see a suit of armor around the world.'"

The words must strike something in Bruce because he whips his head to Tony in realization, "Ultron!"

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

"A mission?" Jessica repeats, making Steve shift his weight to the other foot protectively.

"Yes," Ultron confirms, "Peace in our time."

The walls behind him explode as more robots burst into the room. Steve acts immediately, pushing Jessica out of the way of an incoming bot and into Tony. He catches her arm and pulls her with him and Rhodey. They jump over the railing to the level below.

Another incoming robot flies towards them and she instinctively ducks, but Tony doesn't see it. It plows through him, throwing him into the cinderblock bookcase and Rhodey through the window.

She doesn't have a second to help either of them. It's charging towards her again, but she points her fist towards it and taps the proton blaster on her bracelet. It throws it off-course but doesn't entirely destroy it.

"Go! I've got him!" Maria yells, referring to Rhodey. Tony is already off the ground and running up the stairs, so she doesn't let herself worry about him either.

Her blasts don't do much on this level, so she flips herself back up over the railing to where they were originally seated. One of the robots is sending shots back and forth between Natasha and Bruce as they hide behind the bar, so Jessica offers ground assistance by blasting it in the back.

That is until Steve leaps onto it. She lowers her arm immediately to make sure she doesn't accidentally shoot him. The distraction gives Natasha and Bruce enough time to run, but the robot gets away from Steve by throwing him into the decorative concrete wall.

As much as she wants to run to him when he body falls painfully to the ground, Jessica focuses on aiming at the robot again. Natasha and Bruce are in the wide open as they run up the stairs, but she's firing back as well. When it has no success in hurting them, the robot turns to Jessica.

She curses, realizing how out in the open she is. It raises its arm to blast her, and she throws herself behind the pool table.

And then, it's suddenly not shooting at her anymore. When she peeks over the splintered wood, she finds that Tony jumped on its back.

Steve runs towards her, ducking behind the table as well. He's breathing heavily and is covered in cement dust but seems to be okay otherwise. His eyes run over her the same way in a quick effort to make sure she's all right.