Age of Charon

~ Stark Tower, New York

"Tell me, Pietro. What am I seeing?"

Pietro hid his face in his hands.

“Do you see the blood seeping on the walls?”

A few hours after Joha—; a few hours after, once he found a moment alone, he had run to the hospital nearest to the wreckage.

It was a nightmare. The hospital didn’t have enough beds for everyone. The halls were filled with screaming and groaning and crying. Trembling, he checked every department using his speed.

They couldn’t have done this, he kept thinking, begging. They couldn’t have done this. They didn’t mean to—.

And then he entered the pediatric wards.

“Where’s dad? Why isn’t dad here?”

“Mommy! I want my mommy!”

“Save my sister, please!”

He vomited in the nearest trashcan.

The news had said that they were still searching for people in the rubble. He wondered how many children, just like he and Wanda, had watched the ceiling cave and their parents sink through the floor. He wondered how many hid under their bed, waiting for a rescue that might be too late.

He had then returned to the base, unable to look at his sister in the eye. He had spent the night in his room, staring at the reflection of the darkening bruises around his neck.

What had they done?

“I think we know the answer to that... Don't we?"

They were monsters.

Wanda hadn’t realized it yet. But one of these days, once things became calmer, and she was able to think past their pain, she would wake up, look in the mirror and see a mon—.

He couldn’t imagine his sister’s face, once she felt the things he was feeling right now. It was why he hadn’t spoken much with her these past few days. It was why he hadn’t told her of Ultron’s anger. He couldn’t have that conversation. He couldn’t be the one to make her see. What they were. What they had done.

He stared at the walls of his comfortable little prison, thinking back on the Widow’s interrogation.

“6 years.” she had said. “And for what?” she had changed the TV’s channel to the news coverage. They were reporting on the final death count for the ‘incident’— as they called it. “For this?”

"Only children would want to kill people because they have been hurt.

Children, and —.

Pietro felt nauseous once more.

“Mr. Maximoff,” the feminine voice in the walls called.  While he didn’t like how it reminded him that he was being watched at all times, at least it distracted him for a few moments. “There are currently intruders in the Tower. For your safety, please remain in your ro—.”

The voice stopped speaking unfinished. But intruders? Were Stark’s enemies attacking the building? He rose to his feet. Regardless of what it had said, he couldn’t stay. He had to find Wanda. She could be in danger.

He then heard a coughing sound, drawing his attention to the speakers again, followed by a very familiar childish voice. “Sorry for butting in, little sis!” it said, before calling out for the twins. “Ok then, Pietro! Wanda! Guess who’s in the lobby right now?”

Ultron was here?

“Do you see the blood seeping on the walls?”

“Did you miss me?”

* * *

~ Same time, in LA

“I have been locked out of the Tower’s system, Boss.” FRIDAY reported.

“Locked out?” Tony asked, wishing he could rub his face while in the armor.

“Ultron has pushed me out of the servers and I can’t hack my way back in.” the AI explained. “We don’t have eyes or ears in the field. Likelihood for that to change is 6.33%. I shall keep trying—.”

“No.” he stopped her. “That’s a terrible idea. Stupid. Horrible. The king of bad ideas. Don’t even get near the Tower. We have no way of knowing how the Stone’s influence affects AIs it wasn’t originally connected with. And now that Ultron has even less control over it— just… stay away from the area.”

“Got it, Boss.”

“What now, genius? Ultron has relocated to New York under our noises?” Rhodey asked. “Or is it a distraction?”

“Distraction.” Tony said, convinced. “Mighty good distraction, actually.  Know who else is in the Tower?”

“Thor? Hill? Fury?” his friend kept asking. “Are you seriously going to make me guess?”

“The twins.” Tony said, a slimmer of guilt in his voice.

“Which twins?” Rhodey asked, although from the sudden sharpness of his tone, he probably knew what he was referring to.

“The Wonder Twins?” Tony answered, although it came out as more of a question.

“Dear God, Tony!” Rhodey burst out. “Are you telling me you offered your house to neo-Nazis?”

“Well,” he started. “There wasn’t much ‘offering’ in there.”

Rhodey cursed. “You illegally arrested two underage foreign HYDRA agents and experimental enhanciles and just forgot to tell me, or anyone actually involved with the State Department, about it?”

“Again,” Tony continued. “There wasn’t much ‘arresting’ in—.”

“Tony!” his friend almost-shouted, so Tony shut up. “Have you been harboring foreign terrorists for weeks? Have you lost your mind?! Why didn’t you tell me befo— no. Why the fuck did you tell me now?! Have you forgotten my day job? I will have to report this!”

“Hey!” he mildly protested. “I have SHIELD’s seal of approval.”

“After the Triskelion, SHIELD is in such thin ice—,” Rhodey started before abruptly stopping. “This is not about SHIELD. This is about you. The enhanciles are kids. Steve wanted to help. The team agreed. And you couldn’t say no, could you?”

Ah, he had really lost his touch and become too easy to read for Pepper and Rhodey. After Iron Man Adventures: The ‘Great Discovery of A New Element’ Edition —as he called that small, tiny, huge mishap with the palladium poisoning, something which often pissed Pepper right off nowadays and made Rhodey frown sadly like the teddy bear he was— they had become better at reading in-between the lines of whatever he said. Even worse, they became really good at guessing what he was going to say before he said it.

“Aww, you do know me, honey bear.” Tony teased, as he tried to think what Ultron could want with his ex-partners in crime.

“I don’t even know why we are even friends, sometimes.” Rhodey said, letting that conversation go, for now.

“Only sometimes?” Tony asked, as he checked the data from the sensors he had flown over LA.

“I was trying to be polite—,” Rhodey started, only to finish with, “Huh.”

“What is it?” he asked immediately. “You got something?”

“You were right. It was a distraction.” his friend said.

“Called it!” Tony said, before addressing FRIDAY. “FRI, call Fury. Let him know some agents are needed to protect and/or escort the twins off the property and onto some shady government black site.” He then spoke to Rhodey again. “Where to, Rhodey?”

“Minor problem. You underestimated how right you were.” Rhodey started, and before he could finish, Tony saw two of the sensors he was responsible for watching over on his screen respond to signals corresponding with thruster flight and sonic activity characteristic of all his Suits; except Sneaky, of course. He realized where this was going. “I think there might be too many distractions.” His friend ended, and he was right. Excluding NY, there were 9 responses in total, a majority of which were fleeing LA as they spoke.

Ultron couldn’t just fall for his trap a second time, now, could he? Plan B it was.

“FRIDAY, it’s your turn to shine.”

“Intercepting the Sentry as we speak, Boss.” The AI confirmed.

Hopefully, this would work. Learning from nearby CCTV cameras that all of the 9 signals responded to Legionnaires equipped with holographic projecting technology, he groaned.

Better. He meant better. This would work better.