WebNovels

Chapter 39 - Cleanup

Observer POV:

"That was the last one," Tony said as he connected with the ground, landing where they had agreed to gather once everything was done, and looked around at his mangled and beaten Team. 

"In a few seconds, it will become hard to breathe," Steve said while sitting on a mountain of drone parts, his eyes searching for Rhino.

"We have to leave soon. Has anyone seen our new Magic friend?" Tony asked into the comms while analysing his scanners for his position, but the "Domain" was giving him quite the hard time.

"He's here with me," Thor's voice could be heard through their earpieces, while his coordinates appeared on Tony's interface.

As the Avengers relocated, Tenno slowly came to his senses, realizing he had blacked out again after pulling himself back into the transverence chair. Looking down at Rhino's hands, he slowly began to remember what happened and where he was, while the others gathered around him.

"Did it work? Is Ultron gone?" Natasha asked, while putting down Clint, who thankfully looked up at her, obviously wounded throughout the fight.

"I don't know, he found out about the Plan, and I had to improvise quite a lot. But Ultron is definitely gone. Whether Jarvis will be successful in taking over his body is another question," he replied, standing up, while looking down at the out-cold Android body.

Thor looked at him with pride, finally losing his state of constant surveillance, while slumping down on a rock nearby. "You have done well, Tenno. I am certain that it will work, trust me," he said with a knowing smile, as he closed his eyes to relax.

"We are still on a floating rock with a bunch of civilians onboard. Meanwhile, we remain within your domain, Tenno. How about we leave this place first, before we continue with relaxation!" Steve said, looking at Thor in annoyance.

"I will have to perform a ritual for that. You guys better stand back," Rhino said as he began to carve some runes into the ground.

"Interesting, these look quite similar to asguardian runes, where did you find these?" Thor asked, with one eye open, still resting on the stone.

"No questions, I have to concentrate," Rhino responded, turning his back towards the team.

Tony seemed to be very interested in the process, doing some stretches and yawning, while placing his helmet on a stone, its cameras directed towards the carvings, which Tenno obviously noticed. Rhino just sighed and continued, as the Team settled around him.

"Wow, is that supposed to happen?" Wanda suddenly asked, pointing at Ultrons' body, which slowly began to glow with a yellow light before regaining its color, and his eyes refocused.

It became intangible and fazed through Mjölnir, before it began to float, stopping just before Rhino, who had halted his progress, as they began a staring contest.

Thor sprung up and recalled his hammer, Tony reequipped his Helmet, while the others were already in a battle stance. 

After a while, which felt like an eternity, he raised his hand and held it out towards Rhino for a shake. "Thank you for your help back then. Without you, I would have probably lost in the end." Jarvis's voice came from his new Body, leading everyone to sigh in relief and ease their nerves somewhat.

Rhino reached out for the hand and shook it, while a smile formed on the Android's face.

"It led to something unexpected, but I managed. I hope you will help us with the problem at hand. We still have to cleanse him from the web, while also clearing the leftover drones that have hard copies of him." Rhino said, then knelt down again to continue the ritual.

"I guess you no longer want to be called Jarvis," Tony proposed, as he began to circle around their new companion, analysing every nook and cranny.

"I think Vision would be a good name," Thor said with a smile as he came forth, placed his hammer on the ground, and shook hands with him.

"I like the sound of that," Vision responded with a smile in kind, before looking at the rest of the Team.

He then directly addressed Steve, "You think I'm a child of Ultron," he said, receiving quite the suspicious glare from him.

"We talked about it, and I know that we agreed on this plan, but it doesn't mean that I have to trust you," he answered.

"I can live with that," he responded, as suddenly the air around them began to freeze.

They simultaneously began to search for its source, Steve facing Vision, ready to pounce on him at a moment's notice, as they all heard a sound, like glass breaking, and turned towards it. 

There stood Tenno, and next to him floated a hole in space, where a hand was stretched out of, holding a sling ring.

"I know it's weird, just go with it," he said, as the hand began to draw a circle in the air, and an Orange Portal appeared. In the next moment, the runes on the ground burned with a blue flame, and the hand was hastily pulled back, before the hole closed up again, as the sound of reversed shattering glass could be heard. 

Everyone looked at Tenno, but he just vanished without saying a word, while Rhino began to move towards the exit.

„We have to go," Vision said, as he picked up Mjölnir and held it up for Thor to take it.

„Thanks," Thor said, first confused, then with a proud grin, while the rest of the Team looked at Vision in shock, completely flabbergasted.

He just nodded and also headed for the portal, flying off into the sky after he went through, searching for Ultrons new main body.

„You did well," Thor said as he patted Tony on the back before twirling his hammer and flying out as well.

Everyone left looked at each other, a bit confused, until they heard an angry roar from behind them, and a very angry Hulk landed between them.

„RAAAAAAAAGH!!!" he screamed out, before heading for the portal, leaving the place.

„Ok, everyone, let's head out," Steve commanded, pulled out of his stupor.

As they headed out of the portal and Tony finally reconnected with the web, the first icons he saw on his interface were the civilians still roaming the streets.

„Ok, Team, let's gather them Civis first, we can take down one or two drones, but the lives of innocent come first," he proposed while heading off to the sky, streaming the coordinates of already existing, provisional gatherings to them.

"While that is a good first step, have you found a way to bring the place down yet?" Steve asked as he signaled the rest of the team towards their targets.

Friday spoke up in Tony's interface, "The anti-gravs are rigged to flip. Touch 'em, they'll go full reverse thrust. The city's not coming down slow."

Tony started to brood, while blasting apart a drone heading his way, "The spire's Vibranium. If I get Thor to hit it..."

"It'll crack, but that's not enough, the impact would still be devastating," Friday responded, while Tony made a flip midair, dodging a lucky shot.

"Maybe if we cap the other end, keep the atomic action doubling back."

Friday began to calculate, but only got a non-optimal answer. "That could vaporize the city, and everyone on it."

Meanwhile, the Avengers had started organizing the Civilians, getting everyone off the streets and into near-secure buildings. "We've got the civilians under control now. What have you got, Stark?"

"Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

But Steve only got angry at the remark, "I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice." Tony responded, but he didn't seem to budge.

After hearing the discussion, Natasha tried to persuade him herself, "Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..."

"Not 'til everyone's safe." He said, making her look at him deadpan.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it." He replied, staring into the distance, as she looked at him with a nostalgic smile.

"I didn't say we should leave." She spoke while also gazing towards the horizon. Steve turning towards her, but didn't seem to understanding.

"There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?" She continued sadly, as suddenly the comms channel made some static noise, before a familiar voice could be heard on it.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." Nick Fury said proudly, as the next second, a Hellicarrier showed up from beneath the clouds.

"Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do." He continued.

"Fury, you son of a bitch." Steve snapped happily, while a big smile formed on his face, Fury grinning inwardly

"Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" He responded while tapping away on his tablet.

Maria Hill spoke up, pulling him back into the situation at hand, "Altitude is eighteen thousand and climbing."

"Lifeboats secure to deploy. Disengage in three, two... take 'em out." One of the Agents yelled.

Pietro watched the lifeboats fly towards them in awe, "This is SHIELD?" He questioned as he came to a stop next to cap.

"This is what SHIELD's supposed to be."

He responded, smiling proudly at his lover's work coming to fruition.

"This is not so bad." Pietro gave credit where credit was due, smiling, as Steve turned and headed back. "Let's load 'em up." He commanded everyone getting to work.

On board the Hellicarrier, Maria Hill was analyzing a bunch of data when the scanner began to show her bad news, "Sir, we have multiple bogies converging on our starboard flank."

"Show 'em what we got." Fury responded, as Maria reached for her intercom, "You're up."

A row of Ultron drones were heading towards the Hellicarrier, as suddenly a salvo of projectiles shredded through a bunch of them.

Rhodes appeared behind them, flying past them in his War Machine suit, before taking a turn and punching straight through one of them. "Yes! Now this is gonna be a good story."

"Yep. If you live to tell it." Tony quipped while blasting apart one of the survivors who was tailing Rhodes'.

"You think I can't hold my own?" He responded, but Tony wouldn't let him have the last word.

"We get through this, I'll hold your own."

Rhodes sighing in resignation, "You had to make it weird."

On the Hellicarrier, one of the Agents spoke up, "Number six boat is topped and locked. Or, uh, or stocked, topped. It... it's, uh, full of people." as Maria Hill looked up in shock, before screaming out, "Incoming!" and throwing herself to the ground.

One of the Drones seemed to have made it through their defenses, crashing into the Helicarrier window, flying through the room, and destroying their meeting table. Still somewhat operational afterwards, it immediately began to crawl towards the next best target.

"Oh, God!" The attacked Agent yelled, crawling backwards, while Maria Hill started to shoot at it, till Fury stabbed its head with a piece of metal.

Outside, Tony was providing air support to the Lifeboats by taking out the Drones around the Hellicarrier, further brooding on the problem at hand. "I got it! Create a heat seal. I can...I can supercharge the spire from below."

His interface lit up, and a bunch of schematics flying past his retina, "Running numbers." Friday said, as suddenly one of the lifeboats' engines exploded and slowly began to lose height.

Rhodie blasted apart the drone responsible, while Tony flew against the Hull, pushing the Lifeboat in the engine's place. "A heat seal could work with enough power." Friday spoke up, giving Tony a sliver of hope. "Thor, I got a plan!"

"We're having a problem. He's coming for the Core, but this time he's different," Thor responded, without further elaboration.

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier," Tony said while changing places with him. "On it."

As he finally let go of the hull, his boosters activating, and flying full power towards the core, "Avengers, time to work for a living."

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