Philophobia ➤ W.M.

| 06 |

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Third Person POV; with the Avengers

  Thor threw Mjolnir through Ultron, the robot singing 'I have strings but now I'm free' before dying out. Thor looked in satisfaction at the broken suit that had scattered across the floor. The first thought that came to his mind was of Astrilde, since he hadn't seen her much during their fight against the rogue robots.

  So, after checking to make sure Ultron was gone, the Avengers branched off into different directions. Most of them headed to the lab, but Thor stayed back to find Astrilde. His worry rapidly increased when he saw her sword lying not far from a broken window he had heard shatter earlier on in the battle. Thinking the worst, the god flew down to the bottom of the tower to investigate.

  However, nothing was there. He decided to investigate the direction one of the suits had escaped, as per Steve's order. Thor hoped at least he could find the missing legionnaire and force Ultron to tell him where his sister was, but to no avail. There was no trace of Ultron, nor Astrilde.

***

  In a blind fury, Thor stormed into the lab, wasting no time as he stomped up to Tony and held the shorter man up by the throat. Tony started coughing, trying to pry the God of Thunder's hands from his neck.

  "Come on, use your words buddy," Tony wheezed out, desperate for Thor to release his chokehold.

  "I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor growled with barely contained emotions.

  "Thor! The legionnaire?" Steve asked, and Thor finally let go of Stark.

  "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out," Thor responded, but his eyes were broken when they looked at Steve. Steve nearly stepped back in shock, he had never seen Thor broken up. The god was pretty well composed.

  "...And?" Natasha asked, her voice unusually soft. The Avengers glanced at the assassin, whose eyes were calculating.

  "Astrilde has disappeared..." Thor finally responded, his voice strong despite his emotional torment. It wasn't time for grieving, not when he didn't even know if she was dead. Natasha's eyes were filled with a split second of worry, just enough for Clint to see, but they were quickly masked with a flawless emotionless expression.

  "We'll find her, we will put an end to Ultron," Steve responded, even though he knew Thor could function without the slight pep talk. They had gone through worse, Chitauri and Loki type worse.

  "I did find the trail headed north, and the legionnaire has the scepter," Thor spoke, avoiding the topic of Astrilde. "Now we have to retrieve it, again."

***

Third Person POV; Astrilde

  Hours passed by, but they couldn't be counted as Astrilde drifted in and out of consciousness. Whatever height they were at, and whatever speed they were going, it was too much for even her own body to handle. Not to mention that she was wearing a flimsy Midgardian dress, which did little to keep warmth.

  She wasn't sure what to focus on more: the temperature or her location. She decided to rest on her location, but her fear of where she was going overwhelmed any coherent thought. Perhaps it wasn't the fear of her destination, but the fear of the woman who had caused a panic attack only days previously. Ultron seemed smart enough to gather the help of the Maximoff twins, which wasn't incredibly helpful to her nor the Avengers.

  Finally, the Asgardian drifted out of consciousness for the final time, and didn't awaken until she was inside an unknown building. That alone was worrying, but what was even worse were the two bracelet-like cuffs wrapped around both of her ankles. They glowed blue, coloring her skin like a Jotun's. She fought past the pain in her limbs to touch the cuffs. They seemed to be vibranium, and they were definitely power dampening. She could feel them pressing down on her senses, and any powers remaining that she couldn't distance herself from no matter how hard she tried.

  She flicked one of the bars she had been leaning against, testing how much the cuffs actually dulled her senses. It was quickly assumed that the cuffs made her like a mortal- more weak and definitely not as dangerous. That just fuelled her fear as she looked around the dark room. She slid away from the bars, sitting in the middle of the jail cell. Her dampened senses were already screwing with her head, because the silence was unnerving.

  "Ah, you're awake," A metallic voice filled her ears. Astrilde jumped, silightly horrified that she hadn't heard the person coming. Her body tensed, eyes darting back and forth. Unfortunately, the room was too dark to see past the confines of the cage. Her only light source were the vibranium cuffs, after all. She stood, making sure to stay out of reach from any point of the cell bars.

  The sound of metal being kicked made her eyes focus on that spot in hopes of determining who was there. "Who are you?" She tried to ask confidently, but the underlying tone of fear was clear. A deep chuckle responded, and a glint of metal caught her eye. "Ultron." Astrilde realized. Thor better get here soon. This robot already tried to kill us once, what would he do to me? Astrilde freaking out was an understatement, she was desperate to get back to safety.

  "Yes," The robot responded, stepping into the pale blue light. His glowing red eyes drew her attention first, though it was confusing that she hadn't seen them, even in the darkness. She also noted how the metal of his "body" seemed expertly crafted. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." She looked away, trying to calm her now increased heart rate. The hard way would definitely be an understatement, especially with some... thing like Ultron. She was by no means a trained assassin like Clint or Natasha, and if she got tortured she would crack quicker than the Bifrost had.

  A few moments passed, then Ultron spoke again, "I'll take your silence as the hard way, then." She gulped, eyes widening. She couldn't.

  "No. No, I-... I'll take the easy way. I... swear." She already felt weak at her words, giving up so incredibly easy. However, she was but a child compared to her siblings or the Avengers, so it was expected for her to fold. That didn't mean she didn't hate herself for the decision, though. And maybe that was Ultron's whole goal.

  "I'm glad we could come to an agreement." Ultron 'smiled' sickly. 

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Considering that vibranium is the strongest metal in the universe, I will pretend that Klaue had sold vibranium to HYDRA, and that was what was left at the Sokovian base for power dampeners. It's not so farfetched that even vibranium can affect Asgardian's negativley, and I'm sure that there had to be power dampeners somewhere in MCU.