Book 3: Chimera [Thor]

Chapter 8

Anya rushed towards the broken window in the lounge area. Her eyes searched for any sign of the suit above the city without luck.

"Did you see where it went?" Thor wondered. The Asgardian marched towards her position, now dressed in his suit of armor.

"No," she said. "It flew straight out and I lost sight when another robot took my focus."

He gave a nod, and turned his attention towards the young woman. "Are you well?"

He caught sight of the mirages throughout the room using a bit of strength from the Aether. Looking into her eyes there were no traces of the dark matter present, but if the god needed to remove her from the situation to recover, he would.

"I'm fine, go."

Extending Mjolnir, Thor flew out the open window into the darkness.

Anya turned away to take in the destruction inside. Furniture was broken beyond repair, bullet holes lined the walls alongside charred sections blasted out from hand cannons, and glass scattered everywhere. The team rushed to the lab, Steve helping James out from where he fell. Thankfully he remained conscious and nothing broke. But Maria was having difficulty. In the chaos she kicked off the heels to move easier. The decision, however, left the underside of the feet susceptible to multiple cuts from the glass. Anya rushed over to help. She slung the woman's arm over her shoulders to support some of the agent's weight.

"Thanks," she breathed out with a grimace.

They came to the stairs where Helen went to take the other arm over her shoulders. It allowed them to carry Maria up to the next floor.

Bruce and Tony furiously tapped away on multiple keyboards to assess the total damage. The air in the room grew tense while the others waited. Steve dragged Ultron's shell in for it to be analyzed too. The noise it made when the suit hit the table caused the scientist to flinch. The super soldier then stood in front of the table with crossed arms and an unimpressed look on his face. Anya and Helen sat Maria in a chair, the young woman searching through drawers for bandages and tweezers to remove the glass. Finally, the desired items were found. The woman refused assistance from there and set to work in silence.

"All our work is gone," Bruce sighed. "Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron," Steve's head shook. The man ran a hand down his face. He knew nothing good was about to come from this.

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

That didn't comfort the team, and a few shared uneasy looks.

"He's in your files, he's in the Internet," James pointed out.

The man sported a few nicks to the skin from when the glass broke under him. Blood stains littered the button up dress shirt on one side.

"What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

"Nuclear codes," Maria stated. What a horrifying thought.

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

"Nukes?" Natasha wondered. To her it didn't add up in her mind. "He said he wanted us dead."

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

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint added.