Take Me back to the Start | B. Barnes

57. Wakanda

Before anyone can interpret Ultron's mission, three Iron Legion bots fly through the wall, smashing it recklessly as they leave a trace of destruction and attack us. Steve kicks off the table to protect himself but he gets thrown off while Thor uses his hammer to defend himself. The whole room drowns in a chaos and a storm of bullets, everyone seeks protection.

A bot tackles me down to the ground, my back hits painfully the ocean of broken glass and I groan. Struggling against the Iron Legion, I notice how Bruce stands behind the bar, looking for protection but his breath turns unsteady when he watches me helplessly fighting. Shit. "I've got this, don't worry! Stay there and don't turn green!"

I throw my head against the robot's, then I place my arm around his neck and rip off his head. Standing up, I see how Clint and Natasha protect Helen Cho while Maria helps Rhodey and Thor and Steve fight together. Taking off those uncomfortable shoes, I throw them against one of the bots as the point of the high heels pierces its way through his head.

"Tony!" I yell when I see how one of the Iron Legions is about to throw him through a book shelf. Without hesitation, I try to shield him but instead, we both fly through the wooden furniture and land harshly on the ground. Groaning in pain, I stand up and glance at the billionaire. "You okay?"

"I don't need your help." He huffs and ignores my offering hand, then he stands up and runs towards the next Iron Legion, jumping on it. I roll with my eyes at his stubbornness and attempt to shut the bot down.

"Thor?" I refer to the igniting electricity in my hands and he immediately reacts, nodding in comprehension.

"Got it. I suggest you  jump off the Man of Metal, Stark!" Thor warns him and on his sign, I shoot my electricity at Mjölnir, powering Thor's electrifying blow to the ground. The Iron Legions are knocked out and fall down, luckily deactivated but Ultron.

"That was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" Ultron scoffs and picks up one of the dismembered Iron Legions. "With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."

Thor shuts him down by smashing him with his hammer with a loud crash. The damaged pieces of Ultron lay on the ground, but his creepy singing voice somehow still fills the air. "I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me."

The growing and tensed silence afterwards ceases quickly as I shoot Tony and Bruce an almost glare. "What the hell was that? Is that what you were doing with the scepter during your days in the lab? Building a killer robot?"

Thor glares angrily at Tony and I've actually never seen him that furious before, only knowing the happy side of the demigod. Swinging his hammer, he prepares himself for a flight. "I'll be looking for more Iron Legions and the scepter."

Within seconds, he flies off and we are left with a destruction and a threat of an artificial intelligence. With a sigh, I realize that Bucky's case has to wait and Sam's on his own for now, the Avengers are needed again.

***

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch. He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Bruce reports about the failed initiative of him and Tony while the others take care of injuries in the lab.