Chapter Twenty-Four

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The Avengers had eventually gathered in the lab, most of them confused or disappointed in the actions that had led up the situation they now found themselves in. 

"All our work is gone." Bruce choked out from where he stood by the monitor. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron," Steve repeated, the disappointment in his voice overwhelming. 

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Natasha said, looking over to Aquila who sent her a small smile in return. 

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

Aquila's eyes widened once she realized what Rhodes was referring to. 

"Nuclear codes," Maria said from where she stood, voicing Aquila's thoughts/ 

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

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead," Nat asked looking around in confusion. 

"He didn't say 'dead'. He said 'extinct'," Steve corrected. 

"He also said he killed somebody."

"There's wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria spoke up. 

"Oh god," Aquila muttered, the realization coming to her. 

"What?" Nat asked her. 

 "Yes, there was," Tony said answering for Aquila. 

The room grew extremely quiet as Tony brought up a 3D diagram of Jarvis's mainframe which was destroyed. 

"What?" Bruce asked sadly, walking around the diagram examining the severity of the destruction.  

"Jarvis was the first line of defense," Steve said.

"He would've shut Ultron down." Aquila continued following Steve's thoughts. 

"It makes sense." Steve finished. 

"No," Bruce replied. "Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is. . .rage."

Aquila quickly jumped out of the way as Thor stomped into the room, a hand outstretched which soon found its place around Tony's throat. 

"Whoa, easy there," Aquila said, holding her hands up.

"Use your words, buddy." Tony just about managed to choke out with Thor's hand still around his throat."

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

"Thor!" Steve shouted as Aquila rolled her eyes. "The Legionnaire."

Thor dropped Tony to the floor. "Trail went cold about one hundred miles out, but it went north. And it has the scepter." Thor said as everyone sighed in disappointment again. "So now we have to retrieve it again." 

"The genie's out of that bottle," Natasha said, stepping forward to fall in line next to Aquila. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand." Dr. Cho spoke up from where she stood, sounding distressed.  "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Laughter filled the air, coming directly from where Tony stood. The man, as usual, seemed incapable of giving a simple explanation. 

"You think this is funny?" Thor shouted. 

"No." Tony quickly replied. "It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so. . .is it so. . .it is. It's so terrible."

"This could've  been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

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