AN: Hello. I am back. That was a long one. But I said I wouldn't post again until I'd finished the Ultron arc. And I have. Expect more posts in the following weeks.

And now to answer some of the comments since the last post.

First, a general multiplicity of comments mention Wisp is out, and holy cow it really has been that long. Yikes. Going to start sticking little afterthoughts at the bottom of chapters explaining how I'm picturing the frames would be similar to how I listed them out earlier.

On the subject of it being difficult to tell who's talking at any given point, I've tried to go back through and change things up to make it easier, but it might take a few more chapters before I really get it down. It's partially why I've tried to keep only one or two tenno in play at any given time. Obviously there will be points where I can't do that and I will continue to try and make it clearer.

Genevaconvention: First off, like the name. Secondly, I will admit my research is probably lacking in the area of what's acceptable in modern battle. Most of what I came across was that the general idea was to keep casualties and suffering to a minimum. That's why things like flamethrowers are a no go. I think all of the elemental frames (Atlas, Chroma, Ember, Frost, Hydroid, Mag, Saryn, Volt, and Zephyr) could feasibly fall in the same category. Frames like Equinox, Garuda, Nidus, Inaros, and Grendel are basically nightmare fuel and would most certainly be frowned upon. I thought about answering on a frame by frame basis, but that would take a lot of space. Sorry I couldn't answer this earlier as it appears your profile isn't open to dm-ing. Not a problem, but I had to wait until I posted this chapter to respond.

Mo Eazy: Both of your points are valid and entirely true. Thank you for crystallizing them for me. The tenno being narcissistic assholes was admittedly unintended, but now that it's been pointed out I can use it as an overarching theme of them becoming less so. I will try to execute it well. The second point; how the tenno aren't really changing anything was also unintended, but now I'm going to play it off like I knew what I was doing the whole time and start making them have an impact. One of which will be readily seen before the Ultron arc is over (Not going to spoil it).

PinkRose3101: Thank you!

Alright. Those were the big comments I wanted to address. Thank you for putting in your two cents, as I usually only have my two cents to work with and that generally doesn't buy a lot. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

"Drop me off on that roof." Steve said, indicating to Clint where he meant.

"Captain, why are you getting off of the plane?" Matariel asked. "The facility is much farther away."

The Captain began walking toward the door. "We need to sneak up on him." He said, voice tinged with directed impatience.

"He has access to literally every camera in the city." The tenno replied. "He knows we're here already. You should just drop onto the building itself, not approach on foot."

Steve's brow creased. "But what if he's still in the building?"

The clanmaster faced the Captain fully. "He won't be, a fight with us would cause too much collateral damage and likely harm the new body. And before you ask, Natasha, I think we'd know if the body was completed by now, he'd be rubbing its fist in our faces. No, he's gone. Teli? Clint? Keep watch for suspicious vehicle activity."

"Already on it." The male sharpshooter replied. Natasha quickly joined the other two in turning the jet's sensors on every vehicle they could find. They were now over the lab, and Steve opened the rear door, dropped down into the water near the lab, and pulled himself over the railing with little effort. Back on the jet, Matariel listened to Steve's audio as the soldier ran.

After a brief moment where all that could be heard was Steve's footsteps, the soldier skidded to a halt. "Dr. Cho!" Steve yelled when he saw her. Into his earpiece, he began reciting what he saw. "Several corpses, wounds consistent with energy weapons all directly over where the heart should be. Cho has a wounded arm, moving to treat."

She struggled to get up when she heard the Captain approach. Steve immediately went to try and treat her wounds, but she started pushing him off. "He's already uploading himself into the body."

"Where?" He asked.

She shook her head, letting Steve treat her. "The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark."

Steve finished patching her up. "First I have to find it."

"Go." Was all she said before passing out.

"You guys get all that?" Steve asked.

"Loud and clear." Matariel answered. "What gem was she talking about?"

"Probably the one in the scepter." Natasha called over. "That thing was pretty powerful. Strongest rock I've ever seen, anyway. Oh, got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest. That could be him."

Matariel copied her readout onto the screen nearest him. "Not likely. We have air superiority here. He's on the ground until he's out of range or gets desperate enough."

"I've got a truck from Cho's lab... yep that's him." Clint confirmed. "Three bots in the back, one in the cab. Above you on the loop by the bridge, Cap. Do you want me to take the shot?"

"Negative." Steve said as he climbed a road service ladder. "You heard Cho. That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron."

Matariel watched as Steve jumped off an overpass and landed on the truck. Huh, so he can move after all. The tenno thought. He shifted his footing slightly as Clint banked the jet in pursuit of the truck, which had turned to try and hide itself among the city skyscrapers.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy." Cap said over the radio. "I'm going to try and keep him that way." Matariel directed sensors toward the soldier. Cap was now hanging off the end of the dislodged back door of the truck. Huh.

"You're no match for him." Clint warned.

There was a pause. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Steve sighed.

Matariel made his way toward the cockpit. "Get me down there." He told Clint. "He needs backup." A brief glance over both his Zenith and his Dex Furis showed they were both combat ready.

Never taking his eyes off where he was driving, Clint said. "The motorcycle is ready, setting up for insertion." Both the tenno and Natasha nodded and made their way to where the cycle was stored. "Got a window in three… two… one… Give 'em hell." He flipped the switch and the floor dropped out from under the other two, Natasha driving and Matariel balanced carefully on the cycle's rear. Matariel flicked the Zenith to puncture mode and tried to sight in on Ultron, but it was too far and the truck turned before he could get a shot.

"Cap's shield!" Natasha yelled over the motorcycle's roar. Matariel spotted it and braced himself as she leaned the bike over to swipe the shield off the ground.

Clint came on over comms. "You're not going to catch up on that road, they're heading under an overpass."

"Shortcuts?" Natasha asked.

There was a brief pause, as Clint looked for possibilities. "Hard right… now."

Black Widow swerved around the car next to them and began barreling down an alleyway. Rather than risk getting thrown off, the Limbo leaped onto the nearby buildings, barely keeping pace with the now-slowed motorcycle as he hopped between the sheer walls of the alley. A few sharp turns and they were back out again and the tenno landed in his original spot. From there the truck was just a few meters away. Matariel yelled "Get the cradle!" before grabbing Cap's shield and leaping onto the truck, knocking Ultron's grip on Steve's neck loose with a hard hit from the shield. Ultron went spinning off the side of the truck and fired his thrusters to stabilize himself. He rebalanced quickly, but it was enough time for the Captain to regain his footing. Matariel tossed the shield in Steve's direction and squared his stance against Ultron, who fired energy beams in retaliation. Matariel instinctively went into the rift, leaving Steve to reflect them off his shield. The two then went into a full on dual assault on the seven foot robot, Matariel serving as offense and Steve as defense. One blocking, the other bringing the hammer down.

Ultron kept pace, but slowly began to lose ground. After a particularly hard swing from the tenno's arca titron sent the robot crashing through a concrete support pillar, Clint swung the jet in and unloaded a string of bullets on him, preventing Ultron from returning to the truck. A pair of bright blue lights erupted from the back of the truck and sent the jet shooting away, pursued by two minion robots. Ultron himself dove at the tenno, but instead hit the Captain, who rolled with the blow and sent them both into a nearby train.

"Oh. They peeled off. They're coming for you." Clint said over the radio. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now."

"Cap, can you keep him occupied?" Natasha asked as she pulled up to the truck.

"What do you think I've been doing?" He responded, out of breath.

Matariel flipped inside the truck and joined Natasha, both of them taking a second to process what they were seeing. The spy shook it off first and started pressing buttons, but the cradle was locked down, unable to be accessed. She stumbled when the floor shook, but Matariel kept his footing. "We're going airborne." He said.

"Shouldn't we stop them?"

The tenno shook his head. "No. We own the skies, let them try to flee. We will catch this sparrow in our talons." The truck was flying above the river now and the tenno took a second to look down. He'd survive a fall, but her…

"I lost him!" Cap shouted in their ears. "He's headed your way!"

"I have a shot on the robots carrying the truck." Clint said. "Do I take the shot?"

Cap answered first. "Negative. They can't stop you from taking the cradle now. We have to get it to Stark." There was some chatter on the Captain's side of the mic but it was unintelligible.

Matariel made up his mind. "Catch the cradle in the back end of the jet. Then drop the jet again to catch me, I'll pop the drones." Natasha set to cutting the cables strapping the cradle down. Outside, the jet matched their speed and flipped around. The cradle came loose with a thud and began sliding out of the truck. Black Widow grabbed on and vanished through the truck door, leaving Matariel behind. He turned to destroy the drones but a flash of silver outside caught his eye. Before he could register what had happened it was gone again. The jet's engines revved up and Matariel let out an annoyed sniff, realizing that Cap had probably ordered the jet to leave. With a shrug he launched himself out of the truck with all his Limbo had, barely managing to catch the door and pull himself in before the door closed and the jet accelerated away.

Steve braced himself as he watched the end to the rail tracks rapidly approaching, he stumbled when it hit and caught one of the passengers who hadn't had as solid footing. He turned to the twins. He pointed at the Pietro. "Civilians in our path." The boy vanished. He turned to Wanda. "Can you stop this thing?" She hesitated for a moment, during which time they crashed through another wall, before finally steeling herself and throwing everything she had at the wheels. Sparks flew off them as they rapidly wore down, slowing the train's motion to a halt. Steve's superhuman traits meant he only had to take a few seconds to breathe, then he was helping civilians off the train. When he was sure the train was evacuated, he made his way over to where the twins now stood. Pietro was sat on a barrel, panting hard, and Wanda turned to look as Steve approached.

"Do you have the cradle?" She asked.

Steve waved a hand in a placating gesture. "Stark will take care of it."

She shook her head. "No he won't."

"You don't know what you're talking about. Stark's not crazy." Steve said.

Her voice grew more frantic. "I've been inside his head. Stark will do anything to make things right, even if it means digging himself further into a hole."

Steve stopped to consider her words, wary of any foul play. "Stark, come in… Anyone on comms?"

Wanda continued her warning. "Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?" Something in her voice definitely set Steve's warning bells off.

Back in the Avengers Tower, Tony, Bruce, and Clint were all gathered in the lab, staring at the newly recovered cradle. "Where's Matariel?" The genius asked.

"I think he headed out to where his orbiter landed." Clint responded.

"Any word on Nat?" Tony continued. "I haven't heard, but Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it if she was… you know."

Bruce spoke up, eager to change the subject. "The cradle is sealed tight, we'll need to access the program, break it down from within."

Tony turned back to the archer. "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet? Old-school spy stuff?"

"There are some nets I can cast." Clint said, then nodded to himself. "Yeah, I'll find her." He walked out the door, almost running as he went.

Bruce was poking the cradle's screen. "I'll work on tissue degradation if you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."

"Yeah, about that."

Bruce fixed Tony with a hard stare. After a second, he flinched. "No."

Tony shrugged. "You have to trust me."

Bruce shrugged. "Kind of don't."

Tony started advancing toward the other scientist, Bruce backed away, matching Tony step for step. "Our ally?" Tony said. "The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him." He flicked his wrist and JARVIS's hologram flickered to life in the air above the cradle.

"Hello, Dr. Banner." The AI said.

Smirking, Tony continued. "Ultron didn't go after JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So JARVIS went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory, but not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

Bruce couldn't help but scoff. "So you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?"

"No! Of course not." Tony said. "I wanna help you put JARVIS into this thing." At Bruce's expression Tony raised his hands in surrender. "We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."

"And you just assume that JARVIS's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?" Bruce asked sceptically.

"JARVIS has been beating him from the inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity. We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches that he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."

"I believe it's worth a go." JARVIS chimed in.

Bruce threw up his hands. "I'm in a loop. I'm stuck. In a time loop. This is exactly where everything went wrong. The tenno have been through this already and look how they turned out."

Tony dismissed that with a toss of his head. "The tenno say their masters left the robots to their own devices and had no hand in the development of their enemy's AI. We have all the cards here. JARVIS was built from the ground up, not evolved from some basic learning system. Even down to the most basic components, JARVIS is meant to help people. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."

After a long moment and an almighty sigh, Bruce gave in.

They were three minutes away from completion when the door opened.

"I'm going to say this once." Steve announced.

"How about none-ce." Tony said, not missing a beat.

Steve took a step forward. "Shut it down!"

"Nope, not gonna happen." Tony continued his typing.

"You don't know what you're doing." Another step.

"And you do?" Bruce spoke up, gesturing at Wanda, now stood behind the soldier. "She's not in your head?"

Wanda looked like she was about to say something, but the look in Bruce's eyes made Pietro to step in front of her, cutting her off.

Steve cut back in. "Banner, after everything that's happened-"

"It's NOTHING compared to what's coming!" Tony yelled.

"This isn't a game!" Steve yelled back.

"Oh, you want a game? Let's play this one." A new voice spoke. Before anyone could blink a midnight grey and purple Nezha appeared on the cradle, ferrox humming quietly in one hand, pointed directly at the glowing yellow gem underneath. "Let's play convince me not to pull the trigger."

Everyone took an instinctive step back. Pietro recovered fastest and in a blur disconnected all of the cables linking the cradle to the lab equipment.

The fact the tenno hadn't stopped the speedster gave Steve a bit of hope. "Rain. Don't. If you shoot that gem could wipe out the entire city." Steve's hands were in the air in a placating gesture, but his face hardened when Rain didn't move.

"My kill count is over a million. What's a million more?" He gestured derisively at Tony. "Especially if it stops that one from making another mistake."

"It's not a mistake." The genius defended himself. "Putting JARVIS in that thing is the best option we have."

"With your current track record, our best option would be to prune the bad vine." The tenno shrugged and turned back to the Captain. The ferrox hummed louder. "Two strikes." He said. "One more and you're out."

A flash of light hit Rain from behind and the warframe spun around and fired at Tony, who used his chest repulsor to dodge out of the way. Steve rushed forward, intent on getting Rain away from the cradle as fast as possible. A gunshot went off and Pietro vanished into the floor. Bruce somehow managed to get behind Wanda and put her in a headlock. Matariel stepped out from where he was hiding and without breaking stride decked Steve and pinned Rain against the floor with the tip of his sigma sword. Thor suddenly burst into the room, instantly drawing everyone's attention as he drew all the electricity in the building into Mjolnir and threw it down into the cradle.

The following silence was deafening.

Then the cradle exploded outward, sending everyone ducking for cover. The thing that hopped out was silver and red. It looked around, seeming to be trying to grasp its surroundings. Without so much as a twitch the thing flung itself at Thor, who deftly caught it and threw it past him, out into the main lounge area. Wary, the tenno righted themselves and prepared to blitz the creature, but Thor raised his hand to stop them. The thing had one arm raised, gem in its head gently pulsing. It was observing, seeing the world around it for the first time. Millions of flickering lights, souls going about their evenings, unaware of the danger they were just subjected to.

Steve hopped onto the main floor, ready for a fight, but there obviously was none to be had. Slowly, the android turned around. "I'm sorry. That was odd." He turned to Thor. "Thank you, for preventing things from escalating."

Back in his transference seat, Rain's eyebrows shot up. "Jarvis?" He asked over a private void channel to his clanmate.

"I don't think so." Matariel responded. "Not anymore." The android saw Thor's cape and created one of its own to match. Both tenno zeroed in on the action. That slip in the laws of physics looked very familiar.

Steve took a step forward. "Thor. You helped create this?"

The god nodded. "I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that." He pointed at the gem. "It's the Mind Stone. One of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe."

"This universe." Rain interrupted.

Thor ignored him. "It's unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring-" Steve started but Thor interrupted the soldier.

"Because Stark is right."

"Oh, it is definitely the end times." Bruce said quietly.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor said.

The android stepped forward. "Not alone." The android spoke.

"They aren't alone. And why do you sound like JARVIS?" Matariel's tone was wary, but relaxed.

The thing looked down at itself. "True, and I sound like JARVIS because they reconfigured JARVIS's matrix to create me."

Steve let out a disgruntled noise but didn't say anything.

The android saw it. "You think I'm a child Ultron."

"You're not?" Steve asked.

"I am not Ultron. I am not JARVIS. I'm… I am."

Wanda spoke then. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation, but now it is gone. How do we know it will not return?"

"We don't." Matariel said. "We can only hope that this...Vision?" The tenno looked to the android, who nodded. "Doesn't turn on us. Given that JARVIS's base coding is rigidly benevolent, I expect this one's moral compass to be similarly… inflexible."

Thor nodded. "Her powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone." He said. "And they are nothing compared to what it can unleash, but with it on our side-"

"Is it?" Steve asked. "Are you?" He addressed the robot directly. "Are you on our side?"

There was a beat of silence, broken by Rain's quiet voice. "...Oh the sound of the other shoe."

"...I don't think it's that simple." Vision said.

"Make it simple." Clint threatened.

Vision began to pace across the floor. "...I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You." Vision answered.

"Where?" Tony followed up.

"Sokovia." Clint supplied. "I got a response from Nat before things went haywire."

Bruce squared himself up against the Vision. "If we're wrong about you… if you're the monster Ultron made you to be…"

"What will you do?" The android asked.

It shut everyone else up, but not the tenno. Matariel's posture turned deceptively lax, fingers twitching as if trying to grasp his weapon that had been sheathed. "If you are our enemy, Vision, there will be no place under the sun where you can hide. We still have void keys, their destinations are not anchored on this side. It would be a one way trip."

The Vision considered this for a moment. "I don't want to kill Ultron." He said finally. "He's unique. But he's in pain. And that pain will roll over the Earth… So he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of him on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others."

Rain bit his tongue.

"Maybe I am a monster. I doubt I would know if was one." Vision said, looking down at his hands. "I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go." The android handed Mjolnir to Thor, oblivious to the startled expressions of everyone in the room. Thor accepted it, if stiffly, and Vision walked away, presumably to start preparing.

Everyone stood for a solid thirty seconds, shell shocked at what just occurred.

After a moment. Thor tapped the hammer against his palm. "Right." Then he patted Tony on the shoulder. "Well done."

Matariel mimed pinching his nose in frustration. This entire situation was getting ridiculous. The energy signature coming from the android's forehead was eerily similar to the one Sandon had reported was in the Sorcerer's posesion, and if they both were stones, that made two out of six. Statistically speaking, the chances of two ending up on the same planet was, quite literally, astronomically low.

While Matariel was ruminating, Captain America had given orders for the rest to disperse and arm themselves. Rain placed his hand on Matariel's shoulder. "There's something you need to see." A pair of images popped up on Matariel's HUD. "Something was bugging me and I pulled up the analyses of the sorcerer's amulet and Vision's forehead stone."

Matariel nodded. "They are similar enough that we can safely assume they are both Infinity stones."

"Then I pulled up the tesseract files." Another image appeared.

Matariel froze. "Oh. This is worrisome. The chances of two are nonzero. Three universe scale rarities though? Something is wrong. Very, very wrong." The two approached where Thor and Vision were speaking, capes flapping in some unseen wind. Matariel grabbed the god's upper arm and pulled him around to face him. "Thor. Do you know of our good friend Dr. Strange?"

"I have heard of the magician, yes." Thor shrugged off the tenno's grip with a perturbed expression.

"Then you're aware of the amulet, the tesseract, and the stone in Vision's forehead?"

The god nodded. "And a fourth I came across not long ago, during the convergence event. I wasn't going to say anything until after this was over, as they're prone to distraction." He gestured at the rest of the Avengers, in various states of getting ready. "I'd ask that you do the same. The gravity of the situation is much, and our plates are only so big. We do not know who is behind all of this, and Stark's paranoia often puts greater stress on a situation."

"Fine. But we're going to have to tell the doctor, since he's directly involved." Rain said.

"Again, after all of this. Unless one of you is already there?"

Matariel shook his head. "No. Three of us are stuck in Europe, one of us is on standby for orbital drop, one is with Fury, Polis is here in New York, but I'll ask him to stand by in his arsenal for the moment Ultron is burnt out. I'd prefer to have the ability to call down specific warframes should the need arise."

"A good plan." Thor said as he watched Vision walk away. "If the Vision can give your cephalons some breathing room, we'll be able to bring down your full might on Ultron. An invaluable tool." Steve chose that moment to call everyone together. One by one the group convened and made their way to the jet hangar, loading what they had on board.

"Ultron knows we're coming." He said as the jet took off. "Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. That's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia? They didn't. So getting everyone out of the city comes before taking him down. After that comes finding what he's been building and finding Romanoff. To that end, Pietro, once we touch down, can you find every police station and get them to help? If we're forced into a fight, we won't have enough manpower to get everyone to safety quickly and the police could take care of it."

The young man nodded. "Aye, but I don't know where all of them are. You have a map, no? That would make it go faster."

"I got you covered." Clint said from the front seat.

Wanda spoke up. "I can help direct people on a much wider scale. Several blocks at a time at least." Matariel noted how well the twins responded to being treated as peers, and resolved to always do so in future. Warframes may be immune to her mental powers, but that didn't mean she couldn't cause problems.

Steve nodded to them both before continuing. "Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

"To be fair." Rain broke in. "He's probably right about us tenno. We're not exactly peacemongers. And heavy fire by whose standards?"

Matariel cut Steve's response off. "This isn't another capital ship trench run Rain. Even if he hasn't weaponized the entire city, we still need to treat it with caution."

"You mispronounced 'squash it like a bug'."

"You know what I mean."

Rain scoffed, but didn't say anything else.

Tony glanced between the two. "What about the rest of your friends? Will they be helping out?"

"Gemma, Theris, and Siren are on their way to Sokovia now by way of other human transport. They'll be bringing a Valkyr, Mag, and Nova to the field. I don't know when they'll arrive, but it should be near the same time we do."

"And what about Sandon, Polis, and Teli?"

"I've told Thor this, but Sandon and Polis are on standby in case we need specific loadouts. Teli is accompanying Fury, wherever he's going." Matariel froze as something occurred to him. "Oh."

Natasha turned to face him. "What?"

Matariel's voice laced with worry. "The Conculyst."

Rain swore. "You're right. Bruce. How much data did you get on their adaptive functions?"

Bruce swallowed. "Not much. Just raw data, we hadn't run any analyses yet. To be honest we still weren't sure whether they fit in Tony's field or mine. Sentients are complex enough to be treated as biological, but they're still distinctly machinery. I don't think Ultron will be able to recreate their ability to adapt."

"He doesn't need to recreate it." Rain said. "He just needs to integrate it. If a sentient core gets incorporated, that robot likely won't be able to be harmed by any conventional weaponry." As he spoke, Matariel covertly scanned Vision.

"The core's not in Vision. Why?" The clan master began pacing around the ship.

"Diversification of power?" Rain supplied.

"Imbalanced." Matariel responded. "Mind Stone and core in one body outweighs two bodies with one each."

"His construction?" Rain suggested.

Matariel tilted his head in thought. "Possible, but unlikely. Construction and body were two separate projects. Would he be cautious enough to wait until after the body was created to install it?"

Rain looked at Vision, who seemed to be the only one keeping up with the speed they were conversing at. "Maybe. Removing the core isn't hard. It usually comes out when the drone loses structural integrity, but the drone becomes useless afterwards."

Matariel froze in place. "Incompatibility."

"Duh!" Rain exclaimed. "No. Wait. The drone was controlled back when we caught strucker."

"Controlled, but not integrated." Matariel shot back. "There's still a chance the core didn't mix with other components, be it the Mind Stone or the Vibranium." He sighed, then addressed everyone. "The point is, we need to be on the lookout for any sentient based tech. If there is. Call a tenno immediately. The void is the only thing that can damage sentients."

Everyone nodded and Iron man turned back to piloting.

The sun had yet to rise by the time they landed in the forest outside the city. Pietro immediately vanished, carrying Wanda to the denser populated areas of the city. The rest of the group spread out. Iron man carried both Rain and Matariel to the other side of the city to help there, placing them on top of buildings as lookouts. The city overall, however, was quiet. Soon people began flowing out of the buildings, sometimes guided by policemen, other times simply wandering in the general direction, not guided by anyone, faint red wisps in their eyes. Rain bounded off to find a higher vantage point. Matariel, on the other hand, surveyed the city on his HUD, marking chokepoints and calling out to redirect any officers or Avengers in the area to help dilute the floods.

"Found a way underground." That was Thor over comms. "Bruce and I are heading in."

"Here!" Siren's voice chimed. "The three of us are here and awaiting direction."

"Get situation reports from the nearest police officers, help with people hunting." Matariel said in clipped orokin. "People over engagement." Siren voiced an affirmative. A moment later the clan leader spotted Theris in his Mag bounding over the roofs in the distance.

Suddenly Stark peeled off from where he'd been circling the city, flying directly toward a cathedral.

Not a minute and a half later, the city exploded.

Without any hesitation Matariel pulled out his Rubico and began putting down robot after robot as they popped out of the ground. He could feel the moment each tenno switched to combat mode, silently connecting themselves through the void. An Ultron minion came flying out of nowhere and Matariel swung down with his sigma, cleanly removing its head and one arm and throwing it down into the street below. The people below let out startled yelps, but the tenno ignored them, instead focussing down the closest hostiles.

"The far side of the city has been cleared out. Move toward my position." Steve ordered.

Rain threw down a few shield osprey specters and ordered them to stick with the people before blazing a trail through the streets drawing robots off and leaving swathes of purple fire in his wake. "They're flying!" He shouted. "Why do they have to fly?" An Ultron directly over his head shattered, spraying the nearest wall with scrap. "I wish we had our archwings."

"Yeah, we all do." Siren said. She had to hold back on using her Nova's powers near civilians, and it was taking its toll, however minor. She sprayed another round of bullets from her Tiberon prime.

"OPERATOR! That -wretched half gone pile of scrap- just gave us an opening. Anything you require?" Rain felt a wave of relief pass through him when his ship cephalon spoke.

"Thoril! Drop me my Fluctus will you?" Rain asked.

"Excellent choice operator! Bisect them with great prejudice!" A sonic boom popped off overhead and in the blink of an eye a pair of Ultrons approaching a nearby civilian were flattened, leaving a massive gun on the ground where they stood. Rain casually stepped over, firmly grasping the handles and powered the archgun up. He went to lift it and stumbled under the weight. Wait, the gravimag engaged. It's shouldn't weigh this much. Rain stumbled again and realized it wasn't the gun that was heavy, it was his whole body.

He was accelerating upward. And not just him. Everything around him.

"Do you see the beauty of it?" Ultron's voice echoed from every minion, booming out over the city as cracks split bridges. "The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. The tenno know this, but the Avengers, they do not. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword and the Earth will crack under the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It matters not. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world, will be metal."

As always, thank you for reading. Leave a review with any ideas for improvement! It always helps. I apologize for the incredibly long wait time, and I hope to make it up to you guys.

Captain Marvel is going to be interesting, and I know I'm going to have to resist the impulse to have an angry tenno give the Black Order a sudden and violent disassembly. I think I'm going to stick more closely to comic personalities, and definitely allow for more characterization. Corvus Glaive was criminally underused in both movies.

Also all of the new warframes, but those I will get to as they come about. The next arc after Ultron will deal with most of that.

Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything! Thanks again!