Steve

     "All our work is gone," Bruce says.
     We all stand in the lab, entirely dumbfounded. Tony stares at a suit with depressed eyes.
     "Ultron cleared out," Bruce adds. "He used the Internet as an escape hatch."
     "Ultron," I mumble.
     "He's been in everything," Natasha says. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."
     She stiffens, quickly glancing at Tori.
     "He's in the files, he's in the Internet," Rodney says, gripping his right arm. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"
     Now Maria glances at Tori, who stares at the floor with her arms crossed.
     "Nuclear codes," Maria says.
     "Nuclear codes," Rhodey repeats. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."
     "Nukes?" Natasha questions. "He said he wanted us dead."
     "He didn't say 'dead'," Tori spits. "He said 'extinct'."
     "He also said he killed somebody," Clint mentions, walking to be with the rest of us.
     "There wasn't anybody else in the building," Maria murmurs.
     "Yes, there was," Tony mutters.
     Stark clicks a remote, showing a holographic orange design spark up from the floor. There is a moment of silence while everyone looks at it, eyeing the small blue parts that sit next to the orange.
     "What?" Bruce breathes, stepping up to it. "This is insane."
     "J.A.R.V.I.S. was the first line of defense," I sigh, lowering my head. "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense."
     Tori bites her lip, debating on what to say.
     "No," Bruce retorts. "Ultron could have assimilated J.A.R.V.I.S.. This isn't strategy, this is rage."
     I hear loud footsteps erupt a few yards away from me. An angry Thor stomps up to Tony, grabbing Stark's throat by one hand and lifting him up.
     "Woah, woah, woah," Bruce stammers.
     "It's going around," Clint mutters.
     I can feel Tori tense up beside me, readying her fists. Before she can do anything, I seize her left wrist, shaking my head at her. She still wears my leather jacket, so I can hear it shift while she steps back.
     "Come on, use your words, buddy." Tony wheezes.
     "I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor hisses.
     "Less than what I have to say to you," Tori growls. "Put my brother down."
     "Thor," I boom. "The Legionnaire."
     The god throws Tony to the ground, earning a small groan from the scientist.
     "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north." Thor says as I release Tori's wrist. "And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it again."
     "Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha says. "Clear and present is Ultron."
     "I don't understand," Doctor Cho mumbles. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"
Tony chuckles, looking down at the floor. Everyone glares at him, shaking their heads. Bruce clearly tries to make Tony stop.
"You think this is funny?" Thor asks.
"No," Tony replies. "It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so, is it so, it is. It's so terrible."
"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor groans.
"No, I'm sorry," Tony says. "I'm sorry, it is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."
"Tony," Bruce mumbles. "Maybe this might not be the time—"
"Really?" Tony asks. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time that somebody snarls."
"Only when I've created a murder bot,"
"We didn't," Tony retorts once again. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"
Bruce awkwardly nods, lifting his shoulders up.
"Well, you did something right," I say. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different from S.H.I.E.L.D.."
"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"
"No, never come up." Rodney says.
"Saved New York?"
"Never heard of that,"
"Recall that?"
Everyone is silent. The only thing I can make out is Tori's sigh as her brother continues his speech.
"A hostile alien army came charging from a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating them?"
"Together," I state, looking Tony dead in the eyes.
"We'll lose,"
"Then we'll do that together, too," I say, preparing to louden my voice. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place, let's start making it smaller."