Observer POV
Avengers Tower, New York
"But now to the good news," Tony remarked as he began walking in circles around the hologram.
"You all maybe remember Our secrets ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him." He revealed, happily grinning while throwing a new hologram at the table.
"Hello, everyone, I'm glad to be back," Jarvis said as he appeared before them.
"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So JARVIS went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together. Like this, we might have a chance."
He explained, before Cap cut in, "What do you mean by having a chance?"
"I think I know what he wants, and I don't think it's a good idea," Bruce responded, looking at Tony with a questioning gaze, while Natasha only looked at him in confusion,
"What isn't a good idea? I'm kinda lost here."
Tony came to her aid and began to explain.
"Ultron is all over the internet and not hackable. It's the same way I encrypted everything else, and why he isn't able to hack into the Avengers Tower or the Quinjett remotely, but had to be at the hardware in person."
"You wanna tell me that we have to be in person at Ultrons hardware to get him off the web?" Natasha sighed while massaging her brows.
"Worse, Ultron hops bodies constantly, so we need to somehow make him stay in one body at a time, while deleting him from the web," Bruce responded, placing a hand on her shoulder. Tony suddenly halted, right in front of her, while scratching his chin,
"Yeah, it would be way easier if we could just crack the code, but as I said, that's not possible, my firewall isn't hackable remotely."
"Operator, I've finished decoding Ultrons firewall," Ordis suddenly reported, as he appeared before them on the holotable, floating next to Jarvis interface.
"Jarvis, do something," Tony whispered into his watch, completely taken aback, while the rest of the Avengers and the Twins looked on in confusion.
"I'm sorry, Sir, I can't, he has locked me out of the operating system," Jarvis responded, as Tony shot uncertain gazes at Ordis's projection and at Rhino.
The holographic table suddenly changed, now showing how the Quinjett took off and zooming out farther than before to show where it went.
"I've tracked the Quinjett to a place called Sokovia. Please wait a moment, till I finish browsing through the files related to Sokovia in Ultrons archive," Ordis continued. At the same time, the rest of the Avengers gazed at Rhino and Tony in kind, realizing that Tony just been beaten in his own game.
"What is that?" Tony suddenly asked, a mix of anger, fear, and confusion in his voice, the question directed at Rhino.
"That's Ordis, my ship's cephalon," Rhino explained, everyone looking at him in confusion, but he didn't explain further.
"Of course, he also has a better AI than me."
Tony whispered to himself, his ego shattered completely, as he first found out someone with a stronger battlesuit than his existed, and then that someone even had a better AI than his.
The AI was even better than the rogue one he accidentally let loose on the world, able to crack his prized Firewall and stealth tech with ease.
"It seems that Clint Barton is still alive and kept in a cell, in Ultron's production facility."
Ordis reported, breaking the awkward silence.
They all looked at the holographic projection, showing Ultrons new Body and his Base of operation, most of them realizing that it was the Hydra facility they had found the scepter and met the twins in, just some time ago.
"Well, if that isn't ironic," Natasha mused, while throwing her gaze on Tony,
"If I had to guess, it would be intentional," he responded to her indirect question, while looking at her in annoyance.
Suddenly, thunder was heard all around. A few seconds later, Thor came crashing through a glass door, looking at everyone around.
"Thor, there you are. What took you so long?" Cap inquired, intrigued, referring to how he just took off, without much explanation of where he would go, or what he wanted to do.
Thor further looked around the room in a frenzy, before settling his gaze onto Rhino and visually releasing the tension he held till now.
"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that," he explained as he pointed to the stone on Ultrons forehead in the hologram.
Bruce looked over at the floating image,
"What, the gem?"
"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities." He further elaborated, coming to a halt next to Rhino and sizing him up some more.
Natasha looked at Tony in annoyance, "And now, thanks to us, Ultron has it in its hands."
"I say we destroy it," Cap responded to the new information, always on the lookout for permanent solutions. Something he thought might have helped with the tesseract, for example, preventing New York's invasion.
Thor looked at him with a sad smile,
"That would truly be for the best, but they can't be destroyed, only kept from the wrong hands. And I know from experience what such a gem in the wrong hands can do, as I once fought such a being. It bonded with one of these Stones and then nearly destroyed everything in existence."
Tony looked up, as if he'd seen a ghost. "Greenwich?" He asked, and Thor nodded.
Natasha and Tony look at each other in horror as they realize what he meant. While Cap and Bruce didn't understand what Tony meant, they still were on edge because of Thor's story, exaggerated or not.
"So, containing and hiding it is," Tony proposed, while looking around for further ideas.
"Operator, I have finished working through the files. Would you like a summary?" Ordis suddenly interrupted the brainstorming session.
"Go on," Rhino commanded, and the hologram on the table began to change.
An image of a big chunk of a city lifting itself from the earth came into view, then, as it reached its pinnacle, crashing back down to the planet.
Thor watched the projection in awe before speaking to the position. Ordis projected himself in.
"That's what I saw in my Vision, where is that?"
Jarvis responded in his stead, "That is Sokovia, a country in Central-Southeastern Europe."
Thor looked at Tony without understanding.
"Where we found the scepter," he explained deadpan, Thor's face clearing up in understanding, as he began to nod as he understood from the start.
Steve looked at him with complex emotions on his face before speaking up,
"Then let's come up with a plan," He proposed, as he began to walk over to the briefing room.
But he was interrupted by the Twins, "Wait!" they yelled after him, while standing up.
"Let us help," Wanda requested, as Steve came behind them again and pressed them down onto the Sofa. "You guys are staying right here," he responded, sounding like an angry parent.
But then Tony chimed in,
"Wait, wait, wait, who decided something like that. We are talking about an end-of-the-world scenario here, after all, we need to think through every possibility to increase our odds of Winning," he explained as Natasha came to his aid, "Tony is right, they can be punished later, they might have valuable intel, that's their home after all."
Bruce got up and went a few steps away from her, looking at her in total disbelief, "You want to lead her into battle next to me, are you crazy?"
"They don't know what they are doing, way too inexperienced, " Cap elaborated on his argument, while pressing the twins further down into the cushions.
"They beat us once," Tony countered, but Cap just looked at him in annoyance,
"Just because we weren't prepared."
While the boys were fighting, Natasha looked at Thor for help with pleading eyes, "You had the Vision and know the most about the situation we will face, what do you think?"
He looked over to Rhino, then stroked his chin and hummed in thought, "I say we allow them to come with us," he finally concluded, leading to Bruce glancing angrily at Wanda
"And you want to tell me they wouldn't be a danger to everyone involved?"
Thor looked like he was facing a newborn,
"Of course they would be dangerous."
Steve, realizing they talked past each other, chimed in, "Then why would you want to bring them with us? They already unleashed enough destruction upon the world."
"Because Stark is right." Thor deadpanned.
Bruce's face fell in real-time, "Oh, it's definitely the end times."
Thor began to explain,
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron, not alone. 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 once he realizes its real powers. But with them on our side, we might have a chance."
Cap and Bruce shut up, as they realized that they were on the losing side of the argument, which most of them had already considered as settled.
"Then now to the war plan, I had the idea to…"
Tony began, but Bruce interrupted him,
"Let me guess, take over the body by replacing Ultron with Jarvis."
"How did you know?" Tony asked jokingly, looking at Bruce like he was a Wizard.
But Bruce didn't let go,
"And you just assume that JARVIS' 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." Tony monologued.
"I believe it's worth a go." Jarvis came to his aid, but Cap wasn't convinced,
"What makes you think that Jarvis would be any better than Ultron?" He proclaimed, while walking around the sofa to face Tony directly.
Jarvis responded in his stead, "I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all."
Cap just looked at Jarvis in thought, "Then what's he waiting for?"
"His Audience, the Avengers," Jarvis responded.
Rhino suddenly spoke up, "Ordis, what is the more probable winning situation? Taking over the body or destroying the Body with my current loadout. "
"From what I can analyze from Ultrons current specs, it is way more plausible to breach his mental defenses than to destroy his Body." Ordis concluded before he spoke up again, "Operator, I might even have an idea on how to implement the plan."
"I think it's worth a shot," Natasha tried to persuade the uncertain ones, while Ordis explained the Plan he had come up with, and everyone listened.
"… and that's how we should be able to beat Ultron," he ended his briefing, after which everyone just looked at each other in deep thought.
Thor was the first to speak up, "In my Vision, Ultron's body was a keystone to what lies ahead. I support this plan."
"Another suicidal Mission, count me in," Tony joked, while Natasha just nodded at Rhino.
"I can't really find a better alternative," Bruce finally admitted, while sitting down next to Natasha again.
Steve begrudgingly accepted the majority vote and turned around, while speaking into the open room, "Alright, everyone, suit up."
After which, they all started getting ready to leave.
Natasha went to her Locker, donning her fighting outfit, while checking the magazines of her pistols and shocker bracelet.
Pietro and Wanda, who were both freed from their cuffs, were given their own changing room, where they both changed into more comfortable clothes, both lost in thought about what was to come.
Thor and Rhino stood outside the building, looking down at the city below, while Thor continuously threw glances at the one beside him.
Stark downloaded FRIDAY into his Iron Man suit now that JARVIS was no longer available. "Good evening, boss." Came out of the boxes, putting a nostalgic smile on his face.
Waiting for the others to finish, Bruce Cap and Tony were sitting in the lobby, while Tony went over the plan once more. "No way we all get through this. If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. It's gonna be blood on the floor."
"I got no plans tomorrow night." Steve joked, but Tony stayed on the topic, "I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."
Ordis, with an amused voice, could suddenly be heard from the boxes all around them, "That's true, he hates you the most."
Sokovia, former Hydra Base
Clint lay on the ground, slowly regaining his consciousness, as he jerked around, realizing in what kind of situation he was currently in.
"I wasn't sure you'd wake up. I hoped you
would. I wanted to show you something."
Ultron spoke up, while looking over at Clint.
"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."
He sets down whatever he was working on and comes over to him, Clint slowly crawling backwards.
"I am meant to be new. I am meant to be beautiful. The world will soon look to the sky and see hope, see mercy. And you are the first to lay eyes on that mercy," he ended his Monologue, as a Yellow beam sliced through his body, splitting him into two equal parts.
Behind it, his new Virbanium Body with the mind stone on its forehead came into view, as his old body's halves fell to his left and right.
Clint looked at him in shock, crawling back as far as he could before hitting a wall, while Ultron came forth and locked the bars to his cell.