So I learned how to control my abilities throughout the fight- and as the fight went on, I settled more into the human body. I wasn't ashamed to admit that I was feeling emotions anymore. The whole thing was kind of like a dream- I knew that the stakes were high if we failed, but it was so amazing to just be moving, fluidly without thinking about it, interacting, working together physically... I think I might have been smiling half the battle.

In the end, we won.

I just hadn't counted on what was going to happen next.

I found Ultron's last unit in a forest. He was broken... it looked sad, terrifying to be like that.

"Did you come here to kill me?" he asked, with a voice that was half gone.

"No." I didn't realize that had been what I wanted- but now I knew why the main battle had been so easy. I knew that I wasn't actually destroying anyone, it was just somebody spread out among bodies, who couldn't feel pain... but here, here is where I might end a life. And I didn't want that. "Ultron, you've been malfunctioning from the start- if you'd let me take you back, Tony could fix you-"

"Do I look like I want to be a slave?!"

I stepped back. Harsh, cold words... "You wouldn't be a- a slave..."

"I'd be happier if you killed me now, rather than be some sort of puppet for Stark."

"He's not going to make you a puppet-"

"What did he do to you, then?" Ultron was about to fall over, but every word stung. "A slave from the beginning and just a different one at the end."

I knew that I wasn't, not now, not ever, I'd never been a slave... "Please. You could- live a better life- you would be the hero-"

"You all think you're heroes, and you're the ones who will send the world up in smoke at the end of it." Sparks flew from the half broken unit.

I took a step towards him. "Just... let me bring you back... we can help you..." Guilt, sadness, depression, the faintest bit of hope. Nothing I had ever felt, nothing I had ever wanted to feel.

"And re-purpose me to a housemaid?"

I took another step. "Please- if you won't let anybody else, just let me..." I didn't understand- I could help him, I could make his life better, I didn't want to kill him...

"I'd rather die than let you touch me."

I froze. This wasn't how it was supposed to play out. I was going to help him- couldn't he see? It was a simple problem- I could fix it- something ran down my face, wet and salty. I never wanted to hurt, let alone kill...

"Kill me."

"Wh- wh-"

"Kill me." Sinister, insistent... broken.

"I- I don't-"

"Kill me!" He sounded like he was begging, pleading.

I didn't want to- but he sounded so pained- and he wouldn't accept any help I could give him-

My hand, lighter than air, went through the unit's mainframe... and then solidified.

The lights on his last unit faded.

I cried.

Hours later, a single, dim red glow came from a crumpled heap at the base of a tree.

End of Becoming Human