Princess of Asgard

Death of a Protector

I changed into sweatpants and a sweater and walked down to the lab. I entered the lab earning a small smile from Steve. I smiled back.
"He didn't say 'dead' " Steve said, "He said extinct."
"He also said something about having killed someone" Clint said as I stood beside Steve.
"But there wasn't anyone else in the building" Hill said.
"Yes, there was" Tony said showing us the image he was looking at. It was an image of JARVIS ,Tony's A.I system, Jarvis's data matrix had been clearly ripped apart. The whole system was flickering. All do us knew what this meant. Jarvis ,their constant companion, was a fatality of Ultron's attack. There was a moment of grim silence until Bruce broke it.
"This is insane" he said.
"JARVIS was our first line of defense," Steve said thinking tactically, "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
"No, Ultron could've just assimilated JARVIS into himself," Bruce explained, "this isn't strategy. This is rage."
Just then, Thor rushed into the room wearing his full battle armor. He grabbed Tony Stark by the neck backing him through lab equipment and up against the wall.
"Use your words buddy" said Tony.
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark" Thor huffed.
Steve stepped up trying to defuse the situation, "Thor... The Legionnaire?"
"The trail went cold one hundred miles out. He's headed north... and he has the scepter" Thor responded to Steve putting Tony down.
"This is the magical alien scepter that controls minds, creates enhanced people, and makes angry machines come to life- have I got that right?" asked Rhodey.
"Technically it's the stone inside," Bruce pointed out, "the scepter is just a receptacle."
Rhodey gave Bruce a blank look.
"But uh.... I guess that's not your point" Bruce said.
"We have to retrieve it again" Thor was quick to say.
"Yeah, but the genie's out of the bottle" Natasha said.
"The clear and present danger is Ultron" I said.
"If we find one, we find the other" Steve said, "which means that Ultron still needs the stone for something. Any ideas Stark?"
Tony looked up and said nothing.
"I don't understand something ,Tony," said Dr Cho, "it's your program. Did you program it to kill us?"
"And if he's so bent on killing us, why didn't he?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest clearly upset with Stark.
"He could've blown up the whole building taking most of us out. Instead he attacks us head-on?" Steve asked.
"It wasn't an attack" Thor grimaced.
"It felt very much like an attack" said Rhodey.
"It was an invitation" Thor said.
"Or a distraction" Hill said.
At that moment, Tony laughed out loud earning us to look at him. "You think this is funny?" Thor asked angrily.
"No" said Tony honestly, "it's very terrible."
Thor was back in Tony's face. "And it could have been avoided if you hadn't-"
"No! Wrong!" said Tony, returning Thor's aggression. "There's a million different scenarios that could have played out, but if you think any of them involves us getting out of a fight, then I change my answer to yes, this is funny."
Bruce tried to calm his friend down. "Tony, this might not be the time to-"
"Really? That's it? You just roll over and show your belly every time somebody snarls at what we were doing?" Tony said cutting him off.
"Only when I've just created a murder-bot!" Bruce said.
"We didn't!" Tony shouted, "we weren't even close to an interface."
"Well you did something," Steve observed, "you did it right here, keeping it secret from the rest of us. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."
Tony's face flushed with anger. "Does anyone remember when I carried a nuke through a worm hole and saved New York?" Tony asked.
"Wow, no, it's never come up" Rhodey said dryly.
"When did that happened?" I asked sarcastically.
Tony ignored him and continued, "A portal opened to another galaxy, to a hostile alien army, and we were standing 300 feet below it. Whatever happens on Earth, that up there's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"
"Together" said Steve firmly.
"We'll lose" Tony said with a serious look.
Steve was unfazed. "Then we'll do that together, too."
Tony seemed unconvinced by Steve's words, Steve turned to the rest of us, "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. I'd like to find him before he's ready for us."
The others nodded to one another, knowing he was right.
"It's a big world, guys," Steve continued. "Let's start making it smaller."
"I agree with Rogers" I said staring at Steve as I put my hands in the sweatshirt pockets.
"Does no one agree with me?" Tony asked.
"I don't think I should" I said dryly as I exited the lab and walked back to the training room. I turned to find Steve behind me.
"Wanna train?" I asked smiling.
"Sure. No fire" he said and I nodded to him. I took off my sweatshirt. Underneath my sweatshirt was a black tank top. He went to the bathroom and changed into a tight under armor short sleeve shirt with navy blue sweatpants. We get in our positions and it was as if Steve had turned away from my side. He looked at me as if I were the enemy. I was starting to think about this training but it was too late. He swung the first punch and I ducked under wrapping my arms around his torso trying to push him back. Wrong choice Alena. He reached down and grabbed my legs turning me upside down against his chest. I noticed my legs were over shoulders so I pulled myself up and now Steve's vision was blocked by my torso. I flipped off of Steve's shoulders and turned toward him. He swung another punch and I ducked down once more onto the mat sliding my leg under his causing him to fall back onto the mat. Steve jumped up and pinned me to the mat. I looked in Steve's ocean blue eyes as sweat dropped down his forehead to the side of his temple. With him distracted I kicked him where in hurts and he doubled over in pain. I couldn't help but laugh. Me and him both stood up. Then without warning he ran over picked me up and swung me over his shoulder. I'm basically useless like this. I kicked him in the gut and he dropped me to the floor. I ran towards him and kicked him again this time he grabbed my leg and yanked me to the ground. I fell face first onto the mat.
"Okay! You win!" I yelled and Steve was about to finish the job. He smiled kindly and helped me up.
"But I didn't say we were done. You may have won the battle. But I will win the war" I said backing up slowly with a smile. I think I left him scared.