Frostbite

Six

I was making my way down to the lab when Steve called out my name, and I came to a halt. Everyone else kept going, needing to see what had happened in that lab while we were gone. Tony had explained what Ultron was supposed to be to the others. No one could come up with anything to say. It was eerily quiet for the moment.

"Why did you keep it a secret?" Steve demanded in a hushed voice when the others were out of earshot.

"Was it really, though? Everyone knew they were working on the scepter," I shrugged, trying to keep myself from letting the guilt take over. I knew we messed up, but it wasn't as if this was the intended outcome.

"Yeah, to find out what Strucker had been up to. Not to create artificial intelligence," he snapped, running his hand across his face in aggravation.

"I was monitoring it. The program wasn't taking. Nothing Tony and Bruce did should have worked. Something had to have changed during the party," I argued, immediately becoming defensive. He shook his head and strode forward without another word. I groaned and stomped after him.

I wanted to lob something at the back of his head but figured it wouldn't help my case. He was pissed and probably just needed time to cool off. Everyone else was already gathered in the lab when we finally arrived.

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch," Bruce informed us.

"Ultron," Steve scoffed angrily, shaking his head as he leaned against one of the tables. I pointedly positioned myself away from him.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other," Natasha said, glancing around warily.

"He's in your files; he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey suggested.

"Nuclear codes," Maria realized in horror.

"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead," I reminded him.

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct," Steve corrected coldly. I huffed and swallowed the smart response that formed in the back of my throat.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint pondered, leaning over the stair's rail.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria objected, still picking glass from her feet.

"Yes, there was," Tony finally chimed in, bringing up a 3-D image of Jarvis' consciousness. It was clearly shredded and destroyed, the orange specs flickering in and out.

"This is insane," I breathed, running a hand nervously through my hair.

"Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense," Steve reasoned glancing around at everyone.

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy; this is...rage," Bruce replied. Suddenly, Thor rejoined us and marched straight to Tony, grabbing him by the throat and holding him up in the air.

"Woah, woah, woah! It's going around," Clint approached cautiously in case it went farther south.

"Come on. Use your words, buddy," Tony managed to choke out.

"Thor! Knock it off," I hissed, stepping closer to force him if needed.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."

"Thor! The Legionnaire?" Steve barked while approaching the two. Thor finally let go of Tony and he stumbled back a few steps, regaining his composure.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it... again," Thor reported back angrily.

"The genies out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron," Nat said, unconcerned about upsetting Thor.

"I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Helen spoke up, confused as she looked at the work on the screens and the robotic parts scattered everywhere. Tony started chuckling. I groaned and could see Bruce subtly shaking his head.

"You think this is funny?" Thor demanded.

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible," Tony finally concluded.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor reprimanded, his face growing angrier by the second.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," Tony snapped, whirling to glare at everyone.

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to..." Bruce began to caution, hoping to help diffuse the situation.

"Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls," Tony jabbed unabashed.

"Only when I've created a murder bot."

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Tony asked me, putting me on the spot.

"No-" I started to reply but was cut off.

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D," Steve ranted, letting his frustration show.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony loudly reminded everyone. There was a collection of moans and groans. No one wanted to make eye contact with him as he peered around the room either.

"No, it's never come up," Rhodey sarcastically shrugged.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that," I added, earning a scolding look from Steve. If he wanted to give the cold shoulder, then he shouldn't expect me to suck up.

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there? That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony prompted, waiting for some glorious answer that nobody could provide.

"Together," Steve replied simply. The expression on his face... I almost believed him, that we could stop whatever came, but deep down I knew we weren't prepared. We barely won the last invasion. 

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too," Steve said, but Tony turned away, obviously not agreeing, "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."