Tony walks into the lab where Bruce is. "Have anything on Nat?"
"Haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron'd be rubbing our faces in it."
Clint crawls off the cradle. "This is sealed tight."
"We're going to need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce tells Clint.
"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message, outside the internet, old school spy stuff?" Tony suggests, trying to keep Clint busy.
"There's some nets I can cast. Yeah, alright, I'll find her,"Clint assures.
"I can work on tissue degeneration, if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted," Bruce suggests.
"Yeah,about that," Tony says.
Bruce stares at Tony for a moment. "No."
"You have to trust me."
"Kinda don't"
"Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes?" Tony flicks his panel. "I found him."Jarvis appears behind Tony.
"Hello,Doctor Banner," Jarvis says.
"Ultron didn't go after Jarvis cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So Jarvis when underground. Okay, scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there,until I pieced him together."
"So,you want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing?" Bruce asks, to make sure he's hearing this right.
"No,of course not!" Tony assures. "I want to help you put Jarvis in this thing." Bruce shakes his head no. "We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."
"And you just assume that Jarvis's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"
"Jarvis has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity,we can create Ultron's perfect self, without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."
"I believe it's worth a go," Jarvis supports.
"No. I'm in a loop. I'm caught in a time loop, this is exactly where it all went wrong."
"I know, I know. I know exactly what everyone's going to say, but they're already saying it. We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. You gotta own it. Make a stand. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line." Bruce lets out a sigh.
In Strucker's lab, in Sokovia, Natasha is waking up on the floor. "I wasn't sure you'd wake up. I hopes you would, I wanted to show you. I don't have anyone else." Natasha tries to sit up,weakly. "I think a lot about meteors,the purity of them. Boom! The end, start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild. I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful. The world would have looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy. Instead they'll look up in horror because of you. You've wounded me. I give you full marks for that. But,like the man said, what doesn't kill me," Ultron comes up behind the one speaking and destroys him, terrifying Natasha into backing up. "Just makes me stronger!" Ultron closes the cell,locking Natasha in.
Tony works on his computer as Bruce connects wires and tubes to the cradle. Clint sits at a table, listening on frequencies to find a code from Natasha. He smiles and drops the headphones as he hears the gently tap of Morse code. He quickly zeros in on her location.
"This framework is not compatible," Tony complains.
"The genetic coding towers at ninety-seven percent," Bruce informs. "You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."
Steve walks into the room, the trio behind him. "I'm gonna say this once."
"How about nonce?" Tony retorts.
"Shut it down."
"Nope. Not gonna happen."
"You don't know what you're doing."
"And you do?" Bruce asks. "She's not in your head?"
"I know you're angry," Wanda consoles.
"Oh,we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."
"Banner,after everything that's happened," Steve starts.
"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouts.
"You don't know what's in there,"Wanda says.
"This isn't a game," Steve tells them.
"The creature," Wanda starts.
Pietro looks annoyed as he runs and disconnects the cords. "No, no. Go on. You were saying?"
A bullet rises from under Pietro's feet and he sees it in slow motion. The glass under him breaks and he falls through the floor. Clint stands on Pietro's legs. "What?You didn't see that coming?" he retorts.
"I'm re-routing the upload," Tony calls as the computer. Steve throws his shield, destroying the computers around. Tony's Iron Man hand wraps around him and he shoots Steve as Bruce puts his arms around Wanda's neck. The rest of the suit wraps around Tony.
"Go ahead. Piss me off," Bruce baits. Steve punches Tony and they both fly apart. Clint climbs through the floor to help. Wanda uses her powers to free herself. Thor comes flying in and lands on the cradle. They all look at him as he calls his power. "Wait!" The electricity hits the cradle, overloading its power capacity. The cradle opens, breaking and throwing Thor off. The red,humanoid figure stands up and looks at them all. He flies at Thor who throws him off into the living room. As he is about to hit the window, he stops and looks at his reflection. Thor and Steve land behind him but Thor holds Steve back. The figure turns around slowly and Thor sets down his hammer. Wanda,Bruce, Pietro and Tony come into the room.
"I'm sorry," the figure says. "That was odd. Thank you." Clothes and a cape appear on the figure.
"Thor," Steve starts. "You helped create this?"
"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center it that." Thor points to the stone.
"What,the gem?" Bruce asks.
"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."
"Then why would you bring it to," Steve starts.
"Because Stark is right."
"Oh,it's definitely the end of times," Bruce comments.
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."
"Not alone," the figure says.
"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?"Steve asks.
"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix to create something new," Tony explains.
"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" the figure asks.
"You're not?"Steve asks.
"I'm not Ultron. I'm not Jarvis," the figure thinks, "I am. I am."
"I looked in your head and say annihilation,"Wanda says.
"Look again."
"Yeah," Clint scoffs, "Her seal of approval means jack to me."
"Their powers. The horrors in our heads. Ultron himself. They all came from the mind stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash," Thor convinces, "But with it on our side."
"Is it?" Steve asks. "Are you? On our side?"
"I don't think it's that simple," the figure says.
"Well it better get real simple real soon,"Clint interjects.
"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."
"What's he waiting for?" Tony asks.
"You."
"Where?" Bruce wonders.
"Sokovia," Clint answers. "He's got Nat there too.
"If we're wrong about you. If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be. What will you do?"
"I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique. And he's in pain," the figure explains. "But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the 'net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are. And not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go." The figure turns around and holds out Thor's hammer. They all look at him shocked.
"Right," Thor says, following him. "Well done."
"Three minutes," Steve says. "Get what you need." Clint goes and loads his quiver with arrows and other accessories. Pietro and Wanda find closets for them, too. Pietro changes his shoes and clothes while Wanda and Annabelle watches Thor and Vision.
Tony fidgets with new interfaces, choosing Friday and putting her in the suit. "Good evening, boss."
Pietro finds a red jacket and tosses it to Wanda and an icy blue one to Annabelle.
"Noway we all get through this. If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost," Tony says. Clint looks at a picture of his family. "It's gonna be blood on the floor."
"I got no plans tomorrow night," Steve comments.
"I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."
"That true, he hates you the most," Vision says in passing.
"Ultron knows we're coming," Steve says. "Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out."