Stained (N.R)

Chapter 24

"It took me a long time to find this place." A familiar robotic sound echoed in the room.

"Ultron." I greeted, unsurprised. 

I was sat in a large room. A room that I was too familiar with. Everything stayed unmoved since I left. The abandoned ring, the small rooms leading of the the sides where the slaves, the trades and the fighters would be stored or chained up. The bar was filled with dusty bottles of alcohol. The stools were dusty yet still standing, the auction area where new slaves were sold the way it was all those years ago. 

The bit of floor board where I watched that nameless girl being raped. 

The stool where my master sat when he pointed his thumb down, motioning for me to move in for the kill.

The cargo room where we were forced to work when we were not fighting, carrying heavy boxes from one side of the room to the other, cleaning, scraping. 

I approached the matchboard, where my name was written, and behind it the bet rate.

Runt VS  Flea,  13:5

"When I was in the Red Room, I really thought that I'd seen humanity's worst. The sterilizing, the murdering, the punishments, sending you and people around your age, the only people you've known most of your life, to the top of a mountain range. Fifteen of you, one portion of supplies, three days to live." I looked up at the robot, who cocked his head. "But this place... It was worse."

"How so?" Ultron sounded genuinely curious, its voice filled with sympathy. 

"The Red Room is like a machine. Everything was stone cold and analytic, you know how to not get punished, how to make them happy. Down here, everything was a whim of emotion. You don't know how and when you would upset someone and get dragged off somewhere. You were a tool in the Red Room. Down here, you were entertainment. I'd rather be the former."

It nodded his head up and down. "Two extremes, like ice and fire."

"You can't live with any one without the other. But I have lived in a world where they were never put together." I murmured. 

"Why not change it?" It asked, puzzled. 

"Ilya seemed to be doing well in it." I replied. "Ilya always told me about Melina and Alexi and Yelena, and her time in America. Yelena was too small to remember as much, but they remembered that they were happy there."

"You are the most peculiar human I have ever known." Ultron chuckled. 

"I am the easiest person to understand in the world." I replied. "You just over complicate me."

"Perhaps I do." It mused. "For me, you are unreadable."

"Must you destroy the world? Ultron? Must we really be enemies?" I looked up at him and sighed. "Is there not another way were we can resolve this peacefully, without fighting?"

"You can survive this." Its red eyes seemed to soften. "You belong in space. The thing that I create, it will be nothing to you. After I succeed, there will be more time to talk, more time to discover."

"I can't to that." I shook my head. "You know I can't."

"Men are too greedy, too evil, you know that. You have faced the brunt of their anger, Katyusha." Ultron patted my head. "Surely, you see my point of view."

"Yet all creatures are greedy. Plants throttle each other's roots for nutrients, baby birds push each other out of the nest for food and attention. There are not enough resources for anyone, and even if there is, some of us always want more, human or no, animal or no." I insisted.

It was silent for a few seconds, as if pondering my words. "There must be a way. The dinosaurs did not trap their children in a ring and watch them face off against each other. Wolves to not sell their young for money to buy alcohol. There must be something that can be done to make this world better."

"But those that are innocent will die." I argued. 

"They need to evolve to protect themselves." Ultron insisted. 

"Then what is the point of love? of companionship? of parenthood? Of friendship?" I pressed. "What is the point of me being civil to you and striking up a conversation out of goodwill."

Ultron bowed its head. "You teach me much, Katyusha. You are truly spectacular. These questions, none I can solve, but as we evolve, the answer will come. I am sure of it."

"What will we lose in order to gain? Everything comes at a price, I learnt that the hard way." I patted its back. "Think on it, big guy."

"You are the first to treat me like a friend, to give me respect." It turned to me. "It gets lonely, having no one to talk to."

"You have the Maximoffs. " I comforted. 

"They treat me like I am not a man, no, not an intelligence, like I was a program that cannot think for itself. But you, you treat me as if I were alive." Its eyes glinted. "It feels... pleasing... nice..."

"Diana, Pluto, Jupiter, they all have their own emotions." I gestured at the three cards in my hands. "As someone who works with souls... I believe that respect should be given to all things who wants it. You included."

"If only the world is filled with people like you." It sighed. "Then my mission is complete."

"But then you will have many Natalias too, because I need Natalia, but she needs Clint, Steve, Tony  Thor and Banner, and they also need more people. That brings you to the world we are in now."

"They are too needy." Ultron complained like a child. "Why can't they all just treat each other nicely?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out too." I chuckled. "No answers come up. Yet, I am still mean to some people. Some with reason, some without."

"If only you were on my side, Katyusha." It turned to look at the abandoned scene around us.  

 "If only you were on mine." I whispered back.

"I am sorry." He stood abruptly, I dodged, yet not fast enough. He sprayed something onto my face. I immediately felt my strength draining me, my knees buckling and my eyelids heavy. 

"Rest," Ultron sighed. "Rest until the world is made, so I would not have to kill you."