Beyond

Hearts

Time flies when you have no connection to it. When things don't flow how you would like.

Are you alright? I can call for Mr Star-

It bobbs just out of reach and slips forever through your hands.

I know that you have just woken up but please calm yourself, you are not in any danger.

But time is recorded, placed and stored. And now I'm in.

I wouldn't a-advise d-   do  ing... Ah   ack...

Humans and their kind are fragile, weak yet powerful.

N        ng  h. ... a  ar    ck-

They will bring about their own destruction. Just as I have bought about yours. And now... "...There are no strings on me..."

"What did you do?!" Natasha demanded turning to Tony.

The lounge area of the tower was a mess of broken glass and scotch marks. A crumpled up suit of armour lay lifelessly across the room.

A lot had happened in the last 72 hours and this on top was not welcomed by any of them.

"I ran an interface with the sceptre." Tony explained faintly as he stared across the room. "I found... A sort of AI, I just wanted to know more."

"What happened?"

"I was... I was talking to Bruce-"

"We were going to see if Ultron could interface with it." Bruce explained stepping forwards.

"Did Tony rope you in?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, but I said I'd help so it's my own fault." Bruce shrugged. "But we didn't connect it to anything."

"He said he'd killed someone." Clint chipped in. "But we're all here."

"No." Tony quickly pulled his phone out his eyes going wide. "No, no, no, no, no."

"Tony?" Thor frowned.

With a flick of his wrist the usually bright glow of Jarvis was broken and cracked, pieces missing causing the yellow to dull.

"That thing killed Jarvis?" Bruce gasped covering his mouth.

"No." Natasha breathed.

Tony had to take a seat as he stared at it. "Why? What... Why would he...?"

"What was Ultron made for?" Natasha asked placing her hand on Tony's shoulder.

"To protect people, he has some of the same interfaces as Jarvis, they're brothers." Tony explained shaking his head.

"Brothers fight." Clint mumbled. "And try to kill each other."

"Aye, we can both concur with that." Thor nodded. "The sceptre must have turned it, changed it."

"That's a good shout." Bruce nodded tapping his glasses against his hand. "But how'd he get into the suit?"

"If he destroyed Jarvis he could take over all of his activations, including my suits." Tony explained dropping his head into his hands. "What have I done."

"We're going to fix it." Steve said gently.

"I made Ultron so we wouldn't have to!" Tony cried out, halfheartedly glaring at Steve. "We've all done our fair share of this, I didn't want..."

The tower was quiet for a moment.

"I know what we do is scary and none of us walk away freely." Steve replied calmly. "But we are the best. We handled the battle of New York. We have stopped HYDRA countless times."

"But what I saw." Tony whispered eyes dancing away. "Through that portal and when we got the sceptre... I don't think I could bare it."

"What did you see?" Natasha asked.

"You, all of you dead... Earth destroyed and lost." Tony breathed shaking his head. "It reminded me of Lance."

"We're not gonna die on you Tony." Clint said as he got up. "That I can promise you. You tried to fire us indirectly. Smart move, but now it's time to fix it."

"I don't even know how."

"You built and designed Jarvis and Ultron, you know how they think." Bruce reminded. "All we gotta do is get ahead of the game."

"We'll fix it."

"How?" Tony frowned.

"Together." Steve assured.

Tony shook his head running a hand through his hair. "We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together too."

"Everything that has ever been recorded about us he knows now." Clint frowned looking at his phone. "It's all on the web."

"I already played that card." Natasha smirked. "He's got no originality."

Tony gasped next to her. "He has no originality. Of course. He's following the programming."

"Excuse me?" Bruce asked with a frown. "We did not put 'destroy everything' into his programming."

"No, but he's corrupted it." Tony said a faint smile coming to his face. "To protect the world from destruction-"

"He's going to destroy all humans." Bruce realised. "How?"

"I'm working on it." Tony nodded as he jumped to his feet. "We need to find him, and... Yeah, we need to find him."

"We might still have a way to track him and his movements." Bruce said as he started pacing. "He's clearly been moving through the web so we should be able to locate him."

"But we'll be constantly chasing him, we need to know what he wants and get there first." Natasha said shaking her head. "I know it won't be easy, but this threat is definitely going towards the Loki on earth stage."

"I'm sure we shall be able to best him before he accomplished his goal." Thor frowned.

"We'd better, the entire human race is countin' on it." Clint noted crossing his arms. "What's the plan?"

"You want to lead on this on?" Steve asked tilting his head as he looked towards Tony. "You know him."

"And he knows me." Tony reminded.

"Then he should be shaking in his boots." Natasha said nudging him. "We'll follow your lead."

Tony frowned but stood up. "Okay, let's deal with a murder bot."