Philophobia ➤ W.M.

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I just want to express how much I love writing this book! It's so fun to be able to explore the MCU and still have different parts from the movies and such.

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  It was no surprise that as soon as she arrived back at the old HYDRA base, Astrilde marched straight back to where Ultron was. It was time for him to hold up his end of the bargain, and there was no way in Hel that he would screw her over. It was kind of odd, though. The twins hadn't followed her like last time, and there was only two sentries actually trailing her. If that didn't scream "suspicious", then she didn't know what did.

  "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Ultron asked. Astrilde frowned from her place in the doorway of his "office". She knew he was playing coy, the robot was basically made to know everything. That included permanent memory.

  "Let me speak to my brother," Astrilde commanded, glaring at the metal man. She wasn't scared in her blind fury and anguish. It was much too late for fear. And she had given herself a pep talk. That probably helped too. Ultron laughed.

  "Y... you honestly didn't believe that I was going to let you talk to him, did you?" Ultron belted out. Even for a robot, he held incredible emotion in his voice. In this case, uncontained glee and humor. Everything started to fuzz around the edges of Astrilde's vision, but before she could attack him, the familiar metal of Ultron's clones held on to her. She fought against them, but didn't get very far when one of the dampening cuffs was slapped around her wrist. As she was dragged out of the room, she heard Ultron utter one last sentence. "Maybe if you behave I'll release the cuffs."

  Astrilde was screaming at the murderous being the whole time she was being dragged, even when she couldn't see the office anymore. She didn't even notice Wanda Maximoff watching from the shadows, a tiny sliver of sadness evident in the brunette's red eyes. Wanda closed her eyes as the Asgardian left her view, attempting to block out the pure anguish spilling from the Asgardian's mind.

***

Third Person POV; with the Avengers

  Thor took the tablet from Steve, secretly hoping it had information on his sister. He hadn't gotten sleep for days, too stressed and worried that Astrilde was suffering. It was a horrible way to live, but Thor couldn't quit until his last living sibling was located and safe with the Avengers.

  Unfortunately, no information on Astrilde seemed to be on the screen, only a picture of Strucker dead, with the word 'Peace' written in what appeared to be blood.

  "A message, Ultron killed Strucker," Steve explained to those who couldn't see the tablet. Thor hit Tony quite hard in the chest to hand over the device, his fury for the billionaire not yet quenched.

  "And he did a Banksy at the crime screen," Tony added, looking at the screen with a vague interest. Bruce appeared from behind Tony, looking at the screen with furrowed brows.

  "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Natasha asked.

  "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve pieced together.

  "I bet he," Natasha started, typing on the computer in front of her,"Yep, everything on Strucker's been erased."

  "Not everything," Tony responded.

---

  That led the Avengers to going through files upon files of information. They were looking for anything and everything on Strucker. Thor threw his files in random directions, not really looking at them as he threw. He was more focused on Astrilde and if she was even alive. So far, Ultron hadn't led them to believe she was dead, but Ultron was about as predictable as Tony Stark- he wasn't.

  "Wait! I know that guy," Tony exclaimed, pointing at the file Bruce held in his hands. Bruce handed the file over to Tony. "Back in the day. He operates off the south African coast in black market arms. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer." Thor looked at the information on the man by the name of 'Ulysses Klaue'.

***

Third Person POV; with Astrilde

The whole group was gathered together that day. "Group" referring to Ultron, Wanda, Pietro, and Astrilde. Astrilde was no longer attacking people, something she had done for the first few days after Ultron's betrayal of their agreement. To say she had given up certainly wasn't an overstatement.

  A sinking feeling appeared in Astrilde's stomach and couldn't be shaken as she walked through the shadows of a beached ship with the twins. She tried to keep light on her feet to keep the metal beneath her feet from ringing, not wanting to alert any aggressive parties. No need to cause any deaths on this innocent enough sounding mission. Ultron had decided to stay outside the ship to disable the electricity inside it, claiming he would join the trio once he was done. They were instructed to get vibranium from a Ulysses Klaue, a black arms dealer that they had discovered was hiding out in Africa.

  Suddenly, the inside of the cargo ship they were in went dark. The sounds of explosions sounded at the same time outside, and the ship slightly shook with the impact.

  "That is our signal," Pietro stated quite obviously. He grabbed the two women before running to Klaue's office at unnatural speed. He stopped just short of sight, opting for dramatics of walking in like they owned the place.

  Astrilde took a deep breath when she was released, edging away from Wanda, whose arm was touching Astrilde's own. The contact wasn't uncomfortable, but Astrilde was wary around the girl.

  She was thrown out of her thoughts when the sound of a gunshot filled Astrilde's ears, but there was no bullet that came after the sound. She turned to see Pietro missing from behind her and Wanda, letting her assume that the Maximoff male had been the one to stop the bullet. Wanda and Astrilde started in the direction that Pietro had gone in, Wanda leading the two.

  "The enhanced. Strucker's prized pupils. And somebody else..." Klaue was smiling as he sat on a chair behind him. Clearly, rumor of Astrilde joining up the Avengers hadn't reached the public, otherwise the despicable man would ridicule her. Klaue looked at the twins and Astrilde with no fear shown, only amusement. "Want a candy?" He asked, grabbing a bowl filled with things she was sure wasn't edible. "Oh, sorry to hear about Strucker. But then he knew what kind of world he was helping create. Human life, not a gross market." The twins looked confused as they glanced at each other. They were also clearly confused, which worried Astrilde. If Ultron hadn't told them everything, what could he be hiding?

  "Yo-You didn't know? This is your first time? Intimidating someone. I'm afraid that I'm not that afraid," Klaue continued.

  "Everybody is afraid of something," Wanda responded bitingly, walking out of the shadows.

  "Cuttlefish." They looked at him blankly, unamused. "Deep sea fish. They make lights, disco lights," He made a weird noise like he was imitating a fish badly,"To hypnotize their prey. And then," He made another gesture and noise. "I saw a documentary, it was terrifying." Astrilde blinked when she saw a blue blur, before Pietro was standing in the same spot he was previously in. The only difference was a piece of candy in his hand that he unwrapped before popping it in his mouth. "Immature," Astrilde coughed, quite loudly. Pietro glared at her. He turned back to Klaue.

  "Sorry, if you're going to fiddle with my brain... and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't so business. And I know you're not in charge. And I only deal with the man in charge." Astrilde cringed when she saw Ultron on the other side of the glass Klaue had his back turned to.

  The Asgardian got out of the doorway, standing behind Wanda so she wouldn't be hit with the glass that was flying everywhere. When Ultron had broken the glass, he had launched Klaue through the doorway, following straight behind.

  "There is no man in charge," Astrilde heard from where she stood, Ultron's voice clear. "Let's talk business."

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