"Alright, might as well do this quickly and hope that no one else sees it coming or something like that. Would definitely make it a little easier to pull off," Flynn muttered under his breath to Raynor. Yup, if no one suspected a thing, then this would go by a lot quicker. There were so many people who died because of Hank Pym, including his own family as Susan just so happened to point out. No, all of this could be avoided if Hank Pym was no longer living in any time period.
"I know something that you can do Dr. Pym," he said a bit coldly towards the man, as smoke started coming from Flynn's body as his hands burst into flame. "You can die." With those last words, he sent a large stream of fire slamming into Pym, sending him to the ground in an instant. He kept the flames going for a few moments, before the fire died down around him. His idea of what this mission entailed was accomplished. Hank Pym was now dead.
Location:The Hub (Pym's office) - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 Skills: N/A
Pym hadn't changed, or rather he wouldn't change. Just as annoying and demanding. Susan did a good job of snapping back at him which Niah appreciated. She just wanted to grab Pym by the shirt and shake him until he helped. Niah had a good idea for what her plan was. Wipe the code on Ultron and start over. She wasn't much of a computer person but with Carter there they could probably pull it off.
WHAT THE ACTUAL-
Her jaw dropped and she stared at Flynn. Yeah, he was volatile and had proven he wasn't good at following directions...and she hadn't given him any. It all sort of fit with what she knew about him, especially now that Bonnie - She cut off the thought not wanting to think the words. Instead, she voiced "What the fuck Flynn? Why did you kill him? He was the only way we could save Raynor and Sparky from the quantum realm." Her voice was tense. She looked to Raynor thinking he would back her up, but something about his face told her not to expect it, in fact, quite the opposite. From his face, she was surprised he hadn't been the one to kill Pym. She stared stunned.
The ramifications.
She turned to Dr. Strange. "You can see possibilities right? What did this do to them? We need options, a way to get the timeline back on track." She didn't want to go home to a world even more destroyed. Then under her breath, she said to Strange and Susan "Incapacitate both of them immediately." She drew her ICER and aimed it at Flynn pulling the trigger three times quickly. He collapsed.
Tinley cursed under her breath as Ultron called her out. She stood up as the fight commenced. It was true their force might not have been the most formidable, but Ultron would learn not to underestimate humans in any form. First though, they had to actually win a fight. And this far, it was proving difficult. The Hulk was having a hard enough time and Jocasta (who looked so damn familiar for some reason), attacked Wanda, only for Vision to shield her and take the hit. And it appeared he would not get up, so yet another member of their team was dead.
Though Tinley cared little for the synthezoid, it still hurt.
She plugged the virus into the terminal, or she would have had she not fumbled with it as Ultron called out to her. "Shut up you walking Amazon Echo." As she spoke, she managed to get the device inserted and start up the program with little effort. Once she set the command through, she stared at Ultron smugly, only to see nothing take effect. A growing worry began in her gut, but she heard the telltale sputter of something happening. She turned her attention to the other side and, once she saw it, everything clicked.
The fight with Luminous and Tempest's Death
Why Jocasta looked familiar.
Why it seemed Ultron knew their steps and what to expect.
As Cassandra fell to the ground, sputtering, smoking, it clicked. Cassandra was not Cassandra. She was a robot. Jocasta appeared like Janet van Dyne and Cassandra had been dead since December. And now she found out the hard way, leaving yet another number of theirs down.
Tinley clenched her fist. At this point, she wanted nothing more than to die at the hands of Ultron, if it meant he would no longer get to win.
The Hub - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 - 10:50 A.M.
The 1984 Squad
Invisible Woman
Strange
Niah
Roman
Flynn
Raynor
Before the others had a proper chance to react to Flynn's murder of Pym, Strange took action. He had seen these possibilities before and had hoped that Roman would heed his words and stop Pym's murder - it was the easiest option he had foreseen. Unfortunately, Roman didn't seem to act fast enough, still just remaining quiet and standing there. The Sorcerer Supreme instead had to fall back to Plan J. Using the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone it contained, he temporarily froze time for a few precious seconds.
"The timeline will begin to take hold soon," he warned Niah quickly. "I've gathered that the most likely outcome would be an even bleaker future - one caught in a war between the cyborg Tony Stark and the enchantress Morgan le Fay. I'm going to send you back to when we arrived here and you'll have another chance, Dr. Bautista, to get this right. In fact, I'm going to fold time around you into a loop - the loop will only break once either you die or you succeed in averting an apocalyptic future in 2020."
Dr. Strange then made a complicated series of hand gestures and Niah was surrounded in a green light, so intense it would blind her. And the next thing she would know...
The Hub - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 - 10:10 A.M.
Having just been transported by Dr. Strange from the Baskin Robbins, the group finally arrived at the Hub in San Fransisco. It was just a little past ten in the morning and already, the halls were busy with people rushing to and fro. Some of them were in nice dress clothes, other military uniforms, and even a few of the harried workers had lab coats on. None of them really took notice of the little group, with Strange smirking to himself.
"Sorry, I hate public transportation," he explained. For Niah, she would have an incredible sense of déjà vu. She would remember seeing Flynn kill Pym just seconds ago and Strange's solution, but no one else would. To everyone else, this was the first time they had arrived here - the first time they would spot the phone and directory on the wall not too far away from them. That would be useful - they might want to get in contact with Pym or Fury, after all.
"This was a lot quicker anyway," Susan agreed.
"Now, Dr. Bautista, if you would like to call Dr. Pym or Mr. Fury, that would be wonderful," Strange said. Right on cue, a small red kitten came up to Niah and started to rub up on her a little bit, purring as if they had already met that day.
"... Fuck, is that Fury's cat?" Raynor asked, a bit shocked.
Stark Tower - New York: July 15th, 2021 - 10:30 P.M.
Explosions + Assault Squad
Goose
Banner
Scarlet Witch
Cass
Tinley
For Cass, her legs would feel like they were live wires. It had all happened so suddenly, the searing pain that knocked her down to the ground. She wouldn't understand what had happened - she had no awareness that she wasn't organic matter, that she was just a glorified machine. Her memories were her own, weren't they? She'd be able to remember everything - from her sister's face to the early years of S.H.I.E.L.D. and to Ultron's supremacy. Maybe Ultron had hit her with a nerve gas of some sorts - yes, that would explain her sudden pain, wouldn't it?
"I always thought of myself as more of a Siri," Ultron mused, clearly enjoying Tinley's torment. Goose, Wanda, and Tinley were the only beings made out of organic matter left here. Shuri was back at the Sanctum along with Dr. Doom - perhaps it would be a good time to try to contact the cavalry and call them in, or should Tinley not send out the call and let someone else take up the mantle of humanity's last hope?
"Don't strain yourself, dear," Jocasta told Cass, shaking her head slightly. "It's just a nasty bit of malware, your antivirus will clear it out in a moment..." The robot was quiet for a moment, contemplating what else Cass had said - about Ultron controlling her and her son, Vision. "Everyone is controlled by someone, Virginia. Free will... is an illusion held by organic beings."
Virginia? Now why would Jocasta call Cass by that name?
"Come on - we can't stop now," Wanda urged Tinley. She spat on the floor before her red glow had surrounded Vision's form. Cass had given the Scarlet Witch an idea. Nothing they had been able to do really seemed to hurt these machines - it took one of their own kind to kill the Vision. So, why not use the Vision to kill them? "I dedicate this weapon of death and destruction to the Merchant of Death - Stark," she boasted dramatically, before using her powers to manipulate the probabilities surrounding Vision's body.
It worked. Wanda managed to activate the laser from the Vision's forehead, despite the extensive damage it had taken on. Magic and science working together - who would have thought? The laser beam flew at Jocasta perfectly and the robot dropped to the ground, a gigantic hole in her head. If that robot had been Janet van Dyne in some way, it didn't matter. Jocasta was dead. And Wanda had her sights on Ultron now.
"You took EVERYTHING from me!"
"HULK SMASH!!!!!!!" the Hulk screamed, leaping back up into the room. The green monster let out another roar and started doing his best to try to pummel Ultron, only for Ultron to manage to match him blow for blow. Raw strength didn't seem to be enough to win this fight. Hopefully though, none of this would matter and the group going back in time would succeed.
"You killed my wife," Ultron laughed. "I suppose you'll have to do as her replacement then, Dominion."
The moment that Tinley put the virus in, she thought that they had done it with no problems at all, she stared at Ultron waiting for him to see what it would do to him. Only for her to let out a scream in pain as it shot up through her entire legs, forcing her to collapse onto the ground. She was completely confused what was actually going on, looking down at her body seeing her legs sputtering like mad, Cassandra turned to look over at the others. She remembered everything from her younger years, her sister, even the early days in her SHIELD career as well. Cass quickly turned her head to stare at Jocasta when she spoke to her, mentioning malware and antivirus, she shook her head and clenched her fists.
"What the hell did you do to me?!" Cassandra asked, Jocasta calling her Virginia made her shake more she didn't want to believe that she was working for Ultron the entire time. She remembered Bonnie as well, and what had happened in Wakanda she didn't want to think about it at all, that she could have been spying on them the entire time. She wanted to tear off Ultron's head, she wanted answers what was going on with her, letting out a groan in pain as some more pain shot up through her body. Wanda managed to use Vision's body and fired it at Jocasta as the laser hit her in the head killing her. Cass turned to look at Tinley and Wanda as well for a moment, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do to her. "Tinley I am still me, just let me prove it!" Cassandra said, as the Hulk came into the room again and started to fight Ultron, she wasn't going to be his puppet at all.
The man was in a state of slight amazement, seeing as they had just managed to build a goddamn time machine. He was even more amazed that it seemed like they would be able to pull this whole thing off without half a million Ultron-bots coming out of nowhere to slaughter them like it was no business. Yet they had managed to finish building the device, all the same, something that he still halfway thought would be impossible, and was almost certain would kill them if they used it. Then they went and did exactly that, they used the time machine to go back in time. Roman closed his eyes as they traveled, practically embracing the death he was certain awaited them all.
Yet then he heard people bustling all around him, and the group talking to each other. Slowly he blinked his eyes open and looked around with a slightly slack-jawed expression. They had done it, from the looks of it. They were in some sort of SHIELD installation, and it truly did seem they had gone back in time. Either that or they had all died and the afterlife really sucked if it was just more work for SHIELD. With that thought in mind, he decided that he wanted to believe that they had truly traveled back in time. Turning his attention back towards the rest of the group, Roman listened silently even as he scanned the surroundings to enjoy the Ultron-less world.
Then an odd occurrence happened. As he was with the group, he looked over and saw a man in a neat suit with a shield pin on his tie. The weird thing though, is that Roman absolutely recognized this man. At least, he felt very familiar and as if he had seen the man before. Roman shook his head and wore a confused expression. He knew for a fact that there was definitely no way in hell he had ever seen that man before. Muttering just loud enough for those nearby to hear, they would hear Roman complaining about Deja Vu, and mumbling that time travel must have fucked his head more than he could have possibly anticipated.
Flynn glanced around the area that they had been transported to. Yup, it most definitely looked like a SHIELD facility, and he was really glad that Strange had decided to just transport them all there. There definitely were some perks to knowing magic and being a wizard it would seem. He rolled his eyes slightly at what Raynor had just said about making jokes. Considering how bad things were in the future, should they really be cracking jokes right about now? All the people who were currently around them in the crowd were all probably dead in their time, if not from old age then probably from Ultron and his group.
"So, we're just going to wait for Niah to call them? Or are we actually going to go and find them. Since just standing around here, fairly certain we'll stand out like a sore thumb." Flynn said, looking around the hallway more before he saw the little red kitten ran up to Niah. "Ok, I know that Goose isn't your typical cat, but how the hell could he possibly be here? Like, seriously? The cat would be almost 40 years old in our time! Not to mention, this is slightly weird but it seems like he's acting like he knows you or something Niah, that's a little strange, since last I checked Goose is not that trusting. Maybe he's just mistaking you for someone else or something, who knows."
Location:The Hub (Round two) - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 Skills: N/A
Niah blinked at Strange's explanation. Was this something she thought she could pull off? Not really. She had needed the whole group's help. But there they were minutes before Flynn had killed Pym standing in the entrance to the Hub. She saw Agent Carter, not Roman, walking past talking with Stark again. And there was the little red cat, Goose.
She looked at Dr. Strange frowned and said to the group. "I, uh need to use the restroom." She bolted off running. Hoping they would think she was running for the restroom and that time travel had upset her stomach or something. She had no idea if that would work. Niah knew the path to Pym's office though, and she headed directly for it. She didn't bother knocking, though she did avoid stepping on the ants.
"Listen here Pym." Not a great start. She took a deep breath. "My name is Niah Bautista. I'm from the future. We used Ultron to retrieve people from the quantum realm and it went crazy and took over the world. You need to stop it. Also, there are other people from the future and two of them want to kill you, but I at least have a head start on them." She put her hand on her forehead. She sounded insane. There was no way Pym would believe her. "I don't have time for you to argue. There is something wrong with Ultron's code. She didn't want to bring up Stark, but she knew that's what he was thinking that this was some joke from Stark. Recalling what Susan had said she modified it a bit. "In the future, not just you and your family are killed but thousands of others. Are you going to risk that I'm not serious? Or are you willing to at least try to stop this catastrophe."
The Hub - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 - 10:20 A.M.
The 1984 Squad
Invisible Woman
Strange
Niah
Roman
Flynn
Raynor
While Niah seemed to really need to take a bathroom break (perhaps she was feeling sick from all of the dimension hopping), Roman was strangely quiet and the Sorcerer Supreme couldn't help but notice that. "Cat got your tongue?" Strange asked him with a slight smirk. Sure, he was a defender of the multiverse now but that didn't mean he wasn't an asshole from NYC anymore. He had been performing surgery in the midst of the Incident in New York - nothing in the world could deter him from doing what he wanted to do. It was odd to him that so many things seemed to keep Roman from acting - was he paralyzed by indecision?
"I'm impressed you still haven't realized that Goose isn't a cat - he's an alien," Raynor informed Flynn matter of factly. "One of the deadliest ones in the galaxy in fact. The Kree have been known to run in terror at the sight of just one flerken." Raynor didn't blame them. Aside from the Hulk, the little cat in front of them was the worst creature that lived on planet Earth. His own reality hadn't had any infest Earth thankfully, but a few of them had taken over Asgard for about a thousand years back when his grandfather, Odin, was young. It had taken the might of the Valkyries to repel the feline threat.
A young man came dashing down the hallway with two working eyeballs. "Goose!!!!!" Nick Fury shouted, about to scoop up the little red kitten only for Goose's tiny tentacles to come out and warn his owner not to approach. Nick Fury skidded to a halt, a bit out of breath. "Goose, you can't eat people - we've been over this after last time, remember?" Fury scolded.
"Mrow?" Goose went innocently, tickling Flynn's knees with his tentacles and purring slightly.
"No! Bad cat!" Fury scolded. "Sorry, I had a meeting run late and he hasn't been fed yet..." he apologized, still looking sternly at the cat.
"Oh, no worries..." Susan replied awkwardly, not really sure what to do.
Meanwhile up at Pym's lab, changes to the timeline were more apparent here than anywhere else. Dr. Pym's face visibly went through the emotions he was feeling: disbelief, annoyance, questioning, worry, dismissal, and finally... "Who do you work for - the Russians? Or did Stark put you up to this to get into my head?" Pym asked, his eyes narrowed. "I don't know how you know about Project Ultron, but I have to give it to you, you've got one hell of a story - if time travel wasn't impossible, I'd even believe you."
"But you made a big mistake - you brought my family into this."
Stark Tower - New York: July 15th, 2021 - 10:40 P.M.
Explosions + Assault Squad
Goose
Banner
Scarlet Witch
Cass
Tinley
"I made you into a goddess, Virginia," Ultron answered Cass with a chiding tone. "I took your mortal form and boiled it down to the only thing worth while - and preserved that in a suit of armor. Isn't that what humanity idolizes - men in armor? I took evolution one stage farther - I combined humanity and machine to allow you to ascend." The android was positively smirking as he continued to block and parry the Hulk's blows, only just showing the slightest sign of strain. Theoretically, the Hulk became more and more powerful the angrier he became - but did he have enough anger in him to match Ultron?
"My children - capture them all alive. It's time we make more gods," Ultron commanded. The ceiling began to glow before about twenty five ultron bots descended like spiders. Ultron laughed manically, certain that these heroes were going to become just new cogs in his grand army soon enough. He had allowed them to live as humans long enough and he had grown tired of this game. They either had to become a part of him or they had to die.
"And Virginia? Awaken." Cass' vision would then begin to blur, before it was like she was looking through an Iron Man suit. Digital readouts covered her vision, she would instantly know the distance between her and every other player in the room, and a command would appear in front of her eyes: CAPTURE THE HEROES. The paralysis in her legs would vanish and an indicator on her screen would say what percent capability she was at: 69%.
"Another army..." Wanda muttered under her breath. She let out a feral scream and began to manipulate the probabilities the best that she could, rapidly increasing the density of about half of the bots. They plummeted to the ground and exploded on impact. Meanwhile, the Hulk was doing his best to wrestle Ultron, thick green blood dripping from all over his body.
Location: Stark Tower Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Baton Combat
Tinley clenched her fists as the situation got more out of hand. Cassandra was a robot, whether or not she was on their side remained to be seen. Was the real Cass in there still, just beyond reach? Tinley didn't know as Cass pleaded with her. If Cass so much as stepped the wrong way, Tinley would take her down. It wasn't the Cass she knew and cared for. Not anymore.
But Ultron was the bigger threat. With his wife now dead, it was a matter of taking him down. And he had the figurative balls to call her out as his future wife. "I would sooner marry Goose fuck face." She watched as Scarlet Witch and the Hulk geared up for battle as the Ultron bots swarmed down. It was a fight now.
Tinley knew her target. She sprinted forward as the bots came around. She kicked, punched, and flung at least 5 of them before she got to Ultron. She jumped, kicking Ultron in the head before she unleashed a torrent of punches at his machine bits. She didn't stop, even as he tried to retaliate. She got some hits too, sure, but she wasn't through. She beat until her fists turned red from her own blood. She wasn't about to stop. She reared back for a big hit, seeing the badly damaged bot.
Until she felt something cold and metallic through her body. She felt herself get lifted up. She looked down to see Ultron had impaled her through his arm. She coughed, blood spurts coming out. She began to feel cold. She gripped his arm in a vain attempt to pull herself off, but it was no go.
So she did what she had to. Be a badass. She took her remaining baton, stared at him, and said, "By the way, for the marriage proposal. I don't!" And she drove it into Ultron's eye.
He dropped her and Tinley crumpled to the ground. She saw the edges of her vision grow darker, but she took satisfaction she hurt Ultron. Even if he didn't die, he saw humanity at its fullest potential and not taking any of his bullshit.
Location: New York, Stark Tower Skills: Season Manipulation, Hand to Hand Combat, Enhanced Condition
Cassandra glared at Ultron, she didn't want any of this at all or become a tool of his to hurt or kill anyone else or even become a 'goddess' Ultron put it as, she watched the Hulk continue to attack Ultron, she just wished I was all just a bad nightmare right now. "I am not Virginia!" Cassandra yelled, she continued to fight the pain going through her legs, before Ultron spoke again and looked up at the ceiling as more Ultron drones started to come out of the ceiling. Then the words Ultron spoke, her vision started to get blurry for a moment and the pain in her legs were now completely gone. Her vision was reading readouts like something out of a HUD from a video game or an Iron Man suit. Seeing exact distances where everyone was in the room, and then the words going over her eyes, she started to shake her head.
"No.. i'm not going to!" Cassandra yelled again trying to resist the control, Ultron had on her she was about to target Wanda first. She managed to clear her head and shook slightly as Wanda took down some of the drones now in the room she watched Tinley lunge forward attacking Ultron, getting a few hits on him. Then she watched her friend getting impaled by Ultron himself, Cass tried to take control over the drones but she couldn't do it at all letting out a scream as Cassandra watched Tinley's body fall just after she impaled Ultron's eye with her baton. Cass propelled herself forward, landing a good punch on Ultron as his body fell to the ground.
Traveling through time, coupled with the whole deja vu thing really seemed to catch the young agent off guard. He was so focused on the fact that 1). He was in a different time entirely, and 2). Apparently somehow halfway expected or found things here familiar that he didn't really spend too much effort trying to fit in. Could he be experiencing some weird side effect of time travel, that deja vu? But if so, why didn't anybody else seem to be experiencing it either? That aside, he certainly hoped he wasn't sticking out too much for others to notice, else he would be really embarrassed.
Yet it seemed that he would not be so lucky. Hearing the good Doctor respond to his amazement, Roman turned to face the man with an irritated look upon his features. "Yeah, we just pulled off the fucking impossible. So I'm a little amazed, how does this kind of stuff not amaze you, Strange?" He asked, firing back quickly to try to conceal his embarrassment that he had been caught looking utterly amazed at the Hub. That, and being slightly annoyed that the goddamn wizard was seemingly not fazed by this at all while also apparently deciding to throw some shade his way. Really wounded the ego of the man, who felt he had a bit of right to look amazed at the time. After all, he had literally just helped invent time travel.
Niah then decided she had to apparently use the bathroom in the middle of their super-secret time mission back towards time. Roman found it a bit strange that she had decided to run off. She knew they had important missions at hand, and Niah hadn't exactly struck him as somebody to just up and dip out on a mission. He looked clearly confused as he looked around the group, then towards the good wizard. "Any idea where she ran off towards?"
"...You're saying that Goose is one of the deadliest aliens in the universe? I find that kind of hard to believe," Flynn said with a bit of an eye roll when Goose came running up to them. He looked at the little kitten as the cat warned Fury back away from him with the little tentacles. Flynn tried to grab the cat, but the cat decided he didn't want to be touched or something and sort of warned him away with the tentacles. He rolled his eyes, he didn't know what a Flerken was, but clearly they had the same temperament as cats. This is why he had always been more of a dog person.
"Clearly the little guy doesn't want anyone touching him," he said to Fury. He wasn't really paying attention to what was going on with Niah, and the fact that she had taken off somewhere. Flynn wasn't sure where she had gone, but the thing that was obvious was the fact that she was no longer standing around them. He had heard her say that she was going to the bathroom or something, but was now the time to do that or something? They were supposed to be saving the future.
Location:The Hub (Round two) - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 Skills: N/A
"Oh shut it." Niah snapped at Pym. "I time-traveled based on your theories. And yes I brought your family into this because of your stupid machine they are dead. So you're to blame for this more than anyone. I can see why certain people want you dead. You're insufferable, but I need you alive. I need you to fix this. I don't want to be stuck here with you and I don't want to see a future where everyone we, yes we, care about is dead. So get off your fucking high horse and fix it. Make Ultron properly." Niah wanted to slap Pym. She wanted to scream wordlessly at him and let out all of the frustration and pain she had gathered over the last months.
"I don't have time to deal with twenty questions. I don't have time to deal with you being an asshole. People are dying right now in the future because of you. I want you to understand this completely. Everything Ultron does is your fault. This right here and right now is your chance to change that. To make Ultron not into a psychotic killer. It is important to note that you didn't know it had a secondary protocol and that is what triggered it into becoming a murdering machine." While Niah talked her hand did move toward her ICER preparing to draw it and fire it into Pym if need be. She'd rather risk a reset of her day again than risk him hurting her and possibly killing her. Her death meant the world would lose.
The Hub - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 - 10:30 A.M.
The 1984 Squad
Invisible Woman
Strange
Niah
Roman
Flynn
Raynor
The Corridor...
Strange smirked, gesturing to the amulet around his neck. It contained the most powerful tool in his arsenal, the Eye of Agamotto - the Time Stone. It was dangerous to warp the laws of reality, but the fate of the universe demanded it and this was hardly his first time messing with timelines. "Because this is not my first time in a loop," he answered cryptically. He winked at Roman, before glancing around for a moment. "She went to the second floor - come along."
"Well someone believed that you had potential in you, so people believe impossible things every day," Raynor teased Flynn with a smirk. He hadn't heard what Strange said about living in a loop before, seemingly paying more attention to how the little kitten had smacked Flynn back with its tentacles to keep him from picking him up.
Fury picked up Goose without any issues, looking at Flynn apologetically. "He's got trust issues," he said, before scratching Goose behind the ears. "Were you guys turned around? I can give you directions, if you need any," he offered.
Susan perked up at that. Asking Fury for directions to Pym's lab was likely going to be a better outcome than just wandering around trying to find it and directories weren't always that helpful. "We're here to see a Dr. Pym," Susan explained. "We're visiting researchers from Harvard Medical."
Fury looked a bit surprised. "Huh, I always heard Pym didn't play well with others... Anyways he's on the second floor," he explained, before giving them step by step instructions on how to get there. They were relatively easy to understand and follow. Everything was seemingly fine, until Raynor pulled his dagger, Lyting and attempted to stab Fury. Baby Goose wrapped his tentacles around Raynor and flung him to the side of the room just in time, people starting to scream and scatter, whereas the field agents pulled their guns and aimed them at the time traveling group.
"What the BLOODY HELL is going on here?!" Peggy Carter demanded, holding two pistols - one pointed at Raynor, the other at Flynn. Other agents had weapons pointed at Strange, Susan, and Roman. "Put your weapons on the ground NOW and raise your hands slowly - or we WILL shoot to kill."
Strange then began to smile. "The future's secure. Your friends survived - including Dr. Chase and Dr. Sparks."
Pym's Lab...
Pym's eyes twitched as he stared at Niah, his face turning bright red from anger and fury. His hands were shaking and his fingers moving ever so slightly, as if he was about to take all of this wrath and direct it at Niah. But then, something happened - his shoulders began to slump. And then, beyond it all, he couldn't help but smile slightly - or maybe it was more of a grimace. "...To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell... Richard Feynman said that to the National Academy of Sciences," Pym said.
He moved to his desk and started pulling out files, eventually taking out one marked as the Ultron project. "I won't apologize for something I haven't done - but if this Ultron is as terrible as you say... Maybe what we need is a Vision instead."
Stark Tower - New York: July 15th, 2021 - 10:50 P.M.
Our heroes had succeeded the impossible - they had destroyed Ultron. His robotic minions had succumbed to their fates as well, with the exception of Cassandra. The Hulk was missing an arm, the gigantic green limb lying across the room as the beast howled in anger and agony. The Scarlet Witch was panting as she leaned up against the wall, trying to keep her wobbling legs from giving out. Tinley was near death, so close that she would be able to hear the faint sound of knocking. The shadows may have been playing tricks on her eyes, as she would briefly glimpse three hooded figures in the darkness.
"... They say revenge does not make you whole," Wanda ventured, breaking the silence. She knew there was nothing she could do for Tinley. Her powers did not allow her to resurrect the dead, as far as Wanda was aware. Perhaps one day she could do more, but for now... she was limited. "They lied." The darkness outside had not yet lifted, but the next dawn would be the beginning of a new age, a new era... one without the robotic devil that had held them captive for nearly a year and had taken the lives of so many.
The Hulk let out a roar of rage, before jumping out through the window and disappearing into the evening mist. Perhaps he was going to try to find more villains to kill - or maybe he was looking for somewhere to fall asleep for the last time. Banner had died. If the Hulk were to turn into Banner... then that would be it for him.
Wanda surveyed the scene of destruction in front of them, uncertain what to do now. This was the first time she had fought for her own cause - for justice for Pietro - and she didn't know what to fight for anymore. The Brotherhood was a thing of the past. Cassandra would notice something unusual though. Her sensors also allowed her to pick up heat signals and somewhere on this level, there is another living, breathing person. Their body temperature is slightly cooler than expected, as if they had been placed in stasis.
Another figure appeared in the shadows, one that only Tinley would be able to see. She was a rather elegant woman, dressed in black. Despite never seeing this woman before in her life, Tinley would instinctively know that she was staring Death in the face. "You have fought well, my child," Death whispered, kneeling down next to Tinley. "But your war has only just begun. The Mad Titan approaches and you must be ready for him when he does... If you are the champions I believe you to be, then you will face him three times... You and your friends must be willing to sacrifice to save the universe. Two will die. It isn't fair, my daughter, but such is fate - so cruel to those who deserve a chance to sleep, perchance to dream..."
Wanda tilted her head slightly. Her magical abilities were untrained, yet she could sense the dark presence in the room. "...Who's there?" she called out.
It was over and they had won. Tinley wanted to feel hopeful, but she knew her time was coming to an end. Darkness slowly began to envelop her sight and she knew she was not long. But she had done what she wanted. She struck Ultron down, showed him humanity was not something to be messed with, and got revenge on those he took from them.
A figure appeared. At first, she assumed it was Wanda checking on her, but she didn't recognize the face. Even then, she knew who it was. She hadn't pictured Death this way, but it was fitting. A beautiful woman as Death. Take that patriarchy! Her words were like velvet, but she didn't understand them. "Not how I imagined I would die but...could be worse." She struggled to keep her senses about her. What Mad Titan? And why did she sound like Tinley wasn't on the verge of death?
Her...daughter? Before Tinley could connect the dots, remembering two would die and how it was inevitable, she looked at the woman again. "Mother?" she croaked out before she lost the ability to make any more sound as her vision darkened to the final moment.
Everything was eerily quiet right now, as Cassandra stood there looking around the room once more half expecting something to jump out and attack them. Staring down at Ultron's body, she half expected to have shutdown as well with the other Ultron drones, Cassandra stared at the Hulk who roared loudly before jumping out of the tower itself. Seeing his arm was laying on the ground, she wondered if there would have been a way to help him or if he would end up dying from his injuries or not. Cassandra turned around the moment she picked up some heat signatures within the room, that weren't hers, Wanda's, Tinley's faint ones or Gooses.
"I'm picking up some heat signatures somewhere in here." Cass said, it was still really weird for her to see all the readouts displayed over her eyes. Cass could hear Tinley talking to someone, and moved over towards her, she wished that there was something that she could do for her friend.
Location: The Hub - San Francisco Skills: Shooting!
When Strange winked at him and mentioned being in a loop, Roman took a few moments to really comprehend what the Wizard was saying to him. At which point, his mouth dropped open slightly as he realized that the wizard was hinting they were stuck in a time loop. Which meant his feelings of Deja Vu earlier were because he had been there before. Then another thought occurred to him, why the hell had Strange left him out of the loop while Niah was included. "Wait a fucking second, you left me out of the time loop? I feel betrayed, man." Roman said as he went to follow the wizard.
Then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the glint of what seemed to be a dagger caught his glance. "Oi! The hell is that for!?" Roman demanded as he pulled his ICER and tried to fire off a rapid shot towards Raynor, but his shot missed clearly as the man was instead thrown by the alien-cat-tentacle thing. Sure. Then there were guns pointed at them and Roman immediately dropped his weapon and put his hands in the air. This went to shit... very fast. As a woman demanded what they was going on there, Roman spoke up quickly. "I don't know about that dumbass over there, but uh... damn how do I explain this... believe it or not, I'm with SHIELD. If my allies and your guys all drop the whole weapons thing, I'd love to explain more about the whole situation." He said, trying his best to defuse the situation.
Flynn once more just rolled his eyes at Raynor. The guy was definitely getting more then a bit on his nerves, but that wasn't too important right now. Now they more of had to deal with Pym then sitting there arguing with one another. He glanced over at Susan as she was asking Fury directions to Pym's lab, made sense to ask. After all, they were in a different time era, so who knows where things were in this place. However, that quickly seemed insignificant as he saw Raynor seemingly lost his cool and went to openly attack Fury.
"What the hell are you doing? Also you totally deserve Goose flinging you around for that one," Flynn said when the others around them went to draw their weapons and point it all at them. When Roman tried to shoot Raynor, he rolled his eyes at that. "Stop doing that, you are embarrassing the rest of us by not being able to shoot a damn," he said, letting out a bit of a sigh. "Like seriously, you should be able to shoot better than that."
Location:The Hub (Round two) - San Fransisco: March 5th, 1984 Skills: N/A
The tension in Niah's shoulder released and she dropped her hand away from her ICER. She was able to contain the sigh, but only just barely. "Thank you Pym. You don't have to apologize. You're fixing it." Niah waited a moment to see if the loop restarted. When it seemed that it wasn't going to restart she excused herself. "I have a few other things to attend to, such as ensuring I know when to come to." She smiled and left Pym's lab. Thankful to be away from the ants crawling around the place.
Niah headed down to the first floor where she had left the rest of the team. She felt a pang of regret that she had left them all with Flynn and Raynor, but she hoped they had kept a lid on the situation.
Or not. She sighed deeply as she saw Peggy Carter had a gun pointed Raynor and another at Flynn. She rubbed at her eyes trying to decide what to do. Once the timeline adjusted for the changes they would all snap back to the future. Niah needed to get some things taken care of first. Instead of interrupting the standoff in the lobby of the Hub she skirted around the commotion. She looked around for the newspaper stand, found the postcard, wrote the date, and separately a short letter. It was unlikely the letter would work, but she had to try. Niah had the address she was sending it to memorized since she was a child. She was able to convince someone to lend her the change to buy the stamps necessary and dropped it in a public mailbox.
Niah then headed back into the building hoping things had calmed down a bit so she could pass the card to Fury...or rather she guessed to Goose? It was a very odd thought.
