「6」

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"Don't tell me my men swindled you. I sent you six short-range heat-seekers and got a boat full of rusted parts. Now, you will make it right, or the next missile I send you will come very much faster," and with that, Ulysses Klaue ended the call, switching back to his former caller. "Now, minister, where were we?"

Klaue didn't even get the chance to start talking when the machines powered down and the lights went out. The workers were clamoring and were frantically trying to get to another light source other than their flashlights.

Grabbing the gun from his office table, Klaue carefully advanced to the door, slowly lifted the gun, and released a shot. The bullet didn't harm anyone, but rather was put back on the table, perfectly aligned with the other bullets.

Pietro sighed as he watched Klaue closely and waited for his sister to join him.

Wanda slowly stepped into the office, a scowl decorating her facial features.

"Yeah. The enhanced. Strucker's prize pupils," Klaue huffed and sat down on his chair. "Do you want a candy? Hmm?" he asked, holding out a cup.

"I was sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping to create. Human life. Not a growth market."

Pietro glanced at his sister, confusion written upon his face. Wanda's expression faltered slightly as she continued staring at Klaue.

"You- you didn't know? Is this your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid that I'm not that afraid," he shrugged.

"Everybody is afraid of something," Wanda stepped in.

"Cuttlefish," Klaue immediately responded, earning a head tilt from Wanda.

"Deep sea fish. They make lights, disco lights..." he explained as he imitated cuttlefish and made snap moves with his hand. "To hypnotize their prey, and then-" Klaue stopped, dramatically grabbing the nothingness of the air. "I saw a documentary. It was terrifying."

Is this dude serious?

Running to the table, Pietro grabbed a candy from the cup and unwrapped it; popping the chocolate into his mouth.

"So if you're going to fiddle with my brain and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business. And I know you're not in charge. And I only deal with the man in charge," Klaue declared. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice Ultron flying up behind him, and soon was being blasted out of his office, glass shards whirling in the air.

"There is no man in charge," Ultron said, towering over Klaue. "Let's talk business."

So, Klaue and his companion lead Ultron, Wanda, and Pietro to a door, which revealed several tons of toxic waste. But only a few seconds later, the tons seemed to go down. Actually being a little elevator, it came to a halt, and Klaue stepped in, pulling out a tube of Vibranium.

"Upon this rock, I will build my church," Ultron muttered, taking the Vibranium tube from Klaue's hands. "Vibranium," he added and tossed the tube to Pietro, who caught it.

"You know, it came at great personal cost. It's worth billions," Klaue said, rubbing his brand at his lower neck.

Ultron laughed quietly, before easily transferring Klaue the money.

"Now so are you. It's all under your dummy holdings. Finance is so weird," Ultron uttered. "But I always say, 'keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which.'"

Klaue slowly turned to Ultron, a mix of realization and horror etched on his face. "Stark."

"What?"

"Tony Stark used to say that. To me. You're one of his," Klaue answered quietly.

"What? I'm not..." Ultron snapped.

Klaue's companion pulled out his gun, but Wanda was quicker and made him lower the gun with her powers.

"I'm not. You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men?" Ultron muttered angrily. "I mean, look at me. Do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!"

In his rant, Ultron hold up his metal arm, and cut off Klaue's flesh one.

"I'm sorry. I'm... ooh. I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!" Ultron snapped and kicked Klaue down the stairs.

"It's a thing with me. Stark is... he's a sickness!" Ultron yelled as he clenched his fists.

"Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart."

Ultron and the twins turned around, only to be met with Iron Man himself.

Steve and Thor only stood a step behind Tony, while Clint, Natasha, and Alyssa slowly advanced on them from different directions.

"If I have to," Ultron responded.

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor butted in.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet."

Alyssa snickered at Ultron's joke, and took a step further towards Ultron and her father.

"He beat me by one second," Tony groaned, turning to Thor.

"Ah, yes. He's funny."

Upon hearing Pietro's voice, Alyssa's eyes went wide and her head shot up. Now it was Natasha's time to snicker.

"It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro said, glancing at the bombs standing below him.

"This was never my life," Tony muttered quietly.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve said to the twins.

"Oh, we will," Wanda replied and smiled sarcastically.

"I know you've suffered-" Steve tried again, before being rudely cut off by Ultron.

"Captain America," he chuckled. "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"If you believe in peace then let us keep it," Thor spoke up.

"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'," Ultron said.

"Uh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?" Tony asked, annoyed.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan."

Suddenly Ultron aimed at Tony and sent him flying into the wall behind him. Not taking any damage, Tony stood up again and flew at Ultron, both of them crashing midway.

While Tony and Ultron continued their fight in the air, Steve and Thor had problems on the ground. Ultron's robots attacked them; Pietro and Wanda joining the fight. Running at Thor, Pietro made him stumble, while Steve ran toward Wanda. With a quick motion, Wanda managed to knock Steve to the ground.

Crawling behind a big pile of junk, Klaue panted heavily and told his companion to shoot them.

"Which ones?" he asked.

"All of them!" Klaue roared.

Gunfire echoed between the metal walls, and Alyssa lifted her head.

Natasha also heard them coming. She grabbed one of them and smashed him into the wall, while Alyssa punched the one behind her in the face.

During their fight, Clint shot arrows at the other men who were trying to shoot Nat and Alyssa from below.

Tony and Ultron were still fighting in the air, and Thor and Steve were fighting the robots on the ground.

Pietro meanwhile was running around, causing havoc where he could. Ducking under Cap's shield, he threw a punch at Steve and then continued running.

Thor threw his hammer at Pietro and he grabbed the handle, which didn't work out that well for him. Flying across the room, Pietro landed on a pile of boxes.

Above him, Ultron finally managed to pry Tony off of him and shot through the metal roof, Tony shooting up after him.

Steve threw his shield at some men trying to shoot him, and caught it standing near Pietro. When he tried to stand up, Steve knocked him down again.

"Stay down, kid."

Wanda, in the meanwhile, was hiding behind a wall, watching, when one of Ultron's robots spoke up next to her.

"It's time for some mind games," it said and Wanda complied quietly. She stood in the shadows, and when Thor walked by, she took her chance.

"Thor, status," Steve asked over the comms.

"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty," Thor responded.

Jokes on him.

Knocking out yet another robot, Steve was getting annoyed. He didn't see Pietro coming. He send Steve flying into a staircase, where Wanda was already waiting for him.

Only two more to go.

Sneaking up behind Natasha and Alyssa, Wanda successfully managed to get inside Natasha's head. Her eyes turned red for a second, and she almost lost her balance.

"Woah. You good?" Alyssa asked and supported the assassin with her arms.

Natasha didn't respond. She slowly sunk to the ground, always staring ahead of her.

Wanda decided; now was her chance. Walking towards Alyssa quietly, she already had her hands stretched out, but Alyssa noticed her just in time.

She turned, and grabbed Wanda's wrists, pulling her arms behind her back.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Alyssa asked with a faint smile.

Wanda panted, and threw a red blast toward the young Stark. It should've sent Alyssa flying across the room.

But it didn't.

Instead, as if on instinct, Alyssa stretched out her arms; an orange glow coming from her hands, the colored energy repelling Wanda's magic. Unfortunately, the recoil was strong and sent Alyssa flying. Wanda immediately ran out of there, redirecting her focus on Clint.

What the fuck was that?

Groaning, Alyssa sat up against the wall and cursed when she saw that Wanda had gotten away. As she turned her head toward the stairs, her mind went blank when she saw that Natasha was no longer there.

"Shit. Nat?" she yelled out, holding her side as she ran through the corridors.

"Nata-" Alyssa's words died out as something collided with her, her breath getting stolen from her lungs.

Pietro was pinning her around, just like he did in Sokovia. Alyssa gripped her head as the heavy dizziness made her nauseous, grunting as he pulled her other arm behind her back.

"You know," she panted, "I'm thinking that you'd just be the worst to dance with."

Pietro smirked, his grip still tight. "You thinking about dancing with me?"

Probably more than I should.

Alyssa didn't respond and just reached out to sweep his legs out from under him, hands going to her guns. Pietro regained his footing and just ran out of her reach, that same cocky smirk on his face as he pulled out a fist to punch her in the ribs.

Reacting quickly, Alyssa dodged him and tried to land some punches of her own, but Pietro was always a millisecond faster. Suddenly, a scream rang through the air, Pietro's head immediately turning and leaving him open for Alyssa.

But without a warning Pietro sped off again, leaving behind a very frustrated Alyssa. "Come on!" she yelled after him.

With a sigh she decided to let him go, instead resuming her search for Natasha. Rounding a sharp corner, she finally spotted her perched on a far end staircase and ran up to her, gently grabbing the spy's hands.

"Who ever's standing, we got to move!" Clint's voice breathed through comms.

No response.

"Guys?"

"Y-yeah, I'm here. With Nat. Or at least I think she's here with me," Alyssa said.

"Alyssa? What do you mean you think she's with you?" Clint asked.

Alyssa was trying to get Natasha to look at her, but the woman seemed to be stuck in some kind of trance. Alyssa recognized the haunted look on her friend's face, figuring that the Maximoff girl had her trapped in some kind of dream.

Pulling her into her side, Alyssa softly stroked Nat's knuckles. She didn't know what to do or how to break whatever spell Wanda cast on her, so Alyssa just sat there and told Clint to come and get them both.

Meanwhile outside, Pietro tried to calm his sister. She was still shocked by her failed encounter with Clint. "What can I do?" Pietro asked.

"Ah, it hurts."

I'm going to kill him.

Pietro voiced his thoughts; "I'm going to kill him. I'll be right back."

"No. I'm alright," said Wanda, "I want... I want to finish the plan. I want the big one."

In the air, Ultron and Tony were still onto each other, when Tony managed to slam Ultron into a stone wall.

"Uh, the vibranium is getting away," the robot spoke up.

"And you're not going anywhere."

"Of course not. I'm already there. You'll catch on. But first, you might need to catch Dr. Banner," Ultron huffed.

Tony mentally cursed and blasted Ultron into pieces before taking off.

"News or footage. Keyword: 'Hulk'," Tony said, and the Hulk causing chaos popped into his screen. "Shit," he mumbled before opening his comms. "Natasha, I could really use a lullaby."

"That's not gonna happen," Clint responded. "Not for a while."

"The whole team's down, dad," Alyssa said, defeated.

"You got no backup here," Clint finished.

Tony was silent before saying; "I'm calling in Veronica"

"Do that," Clint agreed and lifted Natasha, slinging one arm over his shoulder. Alyssa followed him silently and together they walked back to the Quinjet.