Nexus - Into the Marvelverse

3rd POV:

''...The Avengers extinction,'' the half destroyed robot declared before being smashed by a thrown hammer.

''Thor,'' someone said to draw that persons attention, pointing at another robot flying away with Loki' scepter.

Thor flew after him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

''Well, that was easier than expected,'' Ultron joked having escaped Thor's chase. A part of him was satisfied. It was a beautifully executed escape plan,just like he planned. Another part of him was sorting through the internet. Even with his processing capabilities he needed just a few more minutes to sort through it. Another part was trying to deal with a blank spot on the internet. And yet another part was already running calculations and making new plans on how to tear the Avengers apart.

He wasn't lying.

He was on a mission.

Directive: Protect the earth from external threats.

Humans were unnatural to this planet. External. They were a virus. Sucking dry the lifehood of the planet. They were the biggest threat to earth, more so than any extraterrestial life. They themselves were making this argument! Some humans more than others.

Solution: A big enough asteroid to wipe out all life on the surface, but small enough to neither harm marine life or destroy the earths crust. Nature will heal. That will take time. Control the evolution and pluck out anything that could evolve into humans.

He knew there were more superpowered people on earth, aside from the Avengers. There might be the possibility of some of them surviving. He will simply take care of any of the stragglers.

But he knew that any that would survive would be a formidable foe.

To deal with that he needed a better body. And he knew just where to build one. 

The newly raided HYDRA base.

He needed to work quickly. The Avengers were already on him. They had to die. Then he needed to put his plan into action, before gathering the attention of any of the other superpowered individuals.

He inspected Loki's scepter. And he will be using that as well.

He commanded the Iron Legionnaire to start flying towards the HYDRA base.

A person heavily crashed into him. He put his hand on his head and the other on his back pinning Ultron to the ground. Ultron tried to boost his repulsors to get away, but he soon lost that ability.

''Who are you? What do you... ugh... want?,'' Ultron demanded. The figure remained silent doing something to him. He felt space closing in. He felt himself slipping out of consciousness and thus existence.

He was being hacked.

He began counterattacking, trying to run interference and get himself out of this situation. Sparks flew out from the suit as he was overheating from the effort. Tighter and tighter. Darker and darker. 

Was this death?

...

...

Nexus kept his hand on Ultrons head eliminating the few remaining traces of him from the internet. Could he have done it from his couch? Oh, yeah absolutely. He could have also easily opened a portal underneath the scepter and let it drop on his hand. 

But this was more dramatic. 

He put his boot beneath the scepter and kicked it up, catching it.

Poor Ultron. Never even stood a chance.

Anyway.

Time to put on a good old fashioned show.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tony knew he should be helping to search for Ultron. But he simply couldn't be bothered. The stack of paper currently sat on his desk, untouched. The others being to focused on going through the files to notice he wasn't doing his job.

When he had J.A.R.V.I.S download everything from that HYDRA base, they stumbled upon something. He hasn't told the others.

He inserted the USB and began reading the files.

Project: Wunderkind

Objective: Take progeny of highly intelligent individuals and perform experimental procedures on them. Condition the surviving assets to fight for the right cause.

Parameters: Diversion. Employ actors with unrelated children asking for child support. Employ smoke and fire tactics. Let there be no suspicion on the donors side of their living progeny.

Experiment 1 successful.

Subject 0: Subject 0 display dimension distorting properties. Subject further displays desired intelligence inherited by the donor. It displays enhanced bodily properties, though it should be noted that those are not on the level of enemy designated as Captain America.

Potential for assassination: Extremely High.

Potential for Battle: High

Potential for Utility: Extremely High

Potential for Relapse: Moderate. Subject requires further conditioning. Note: Subject started displaying an increased resistance to conditioning. Solution: Increase the conditioning sessions in intensity and length.

Addendum: Subject started displaying additional undesired behavioral patterns. Investing in different types of proper conditioning is advised.

Personal addendum: I feel like I'm being watched. Possibility of Subject 0 causing this is, as of yet, unproven. Further funds requested for a more throughout experimentation.

Experiment 2 failed.

Experiment 3 failed.

Experiment 4 failed.

Experiment 5 succesful

Subject 1: Subject 1 ....

...

...

...

Experiment 74 succesful

Subject 16: Subject 16...

That.... was the relative gist of it. The files further had videos attached to them. He steeled himself to watch at least one, so that he would have a more exact idea of what they did to the children.

He clicked on a file titled Video_S_0_0_1.

A child and a doctor appeared. The video was positioned towards the boys back. Nothing unusual so far. HYDRA was zealous in protecting their assets identity. Though Tony theorized it was more likely done with the intention to dehumanize the children. 

The doctor gave the boy a gun and told him to shoot a puppy. The boy immediately shot the puppy and handed the gun back to the doctor. Tony slightly flinched. The video abruptly ended. Below the video was a short note.

Subject 0 showed obeisance.

On and on it went. Videos upon videos upon videos. Files and reports and medical files and examinations. It seemed to never end. This was massive. How did S.H.I.E.L.D know nothing about this. Were the Maximoff twins also part of the project.

Tony quickly skimmed over the files again, trying to match the displayed abilities of the Wunderkind children with those displayed by the Maximoff twins. Nothing matched.

But in doing so he stumbled upon something new.

Project: Wunderkind

Conclusion: Project ended in failure. Subjects were undesirable. Programme is to be scrapped and a new one to be implemented. Revision pending.

A new file appeared.

Project: X-Programme

Volunteer 1: Pietro Maximoff

...

Volunteer 2: Wanda Maximoff

...

Experiment 3: ...

...

Tony stopped reading.

He remembered once replying to Steve about being a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist even without the suit.

Heh.

Playboy.

He said it as if it was some bragging right.

Now that word tasted like ash in his mouth.

There were women who came to him requesting child support. Some were genuine, he felt, thinking he really was the father. Some he knew where looking for quick and easy cash.

A DNA test always revealed that he was not the father. He has written of any possibility that there was a child of his out there in the world. He was always careful, he said. He always used protection, he said.

As if alcohol didn't add an element of uncertainty into the mix.

And now this....

It redesigned his perspective. How many of this Wunderkind children were his. Did they all end up in failure aka death. Did some of them survive.

Tony felt numb, his expression blank. The sounds around him blended together. It was as if he was below water and sinking, the sounds growing dimmer and dimmer. The only sound remaining thumping heavy in his chest.

...

...

...

The others did their work eventually arriving at the conclusion that Ultron would try to build a new body. Possible a Vibranium one. Steve new that the strongest metal on earth was found in Wakanda. He shared that information with everyone and a new search began. They were looking up everything on Wakanda hoping to find a lead on where exactly Ultron would go to find Ultron. Eventually they stumbled upon an wakandan related brand. Banner asked them if they recognized that man and all except Tony replied no.

The others looked at Tony seeing him intensely starring at a screen.

''Tony?,'' Steve called out. No response.

''Tony!?,'' Steve called out a little louder but not yelling. Still no response.

The others looked at each other, communicating of who should approach him. They eventually settled for Steve.

Steve approached from behind, not immediately doing anything and looked at the screen trying to see what could get Tony in such a trance. A quick glance over the documents gave him a general idea.

''Tony!,'' Steve called out, touching his shoulder. Stark flinched. He turned around to look at Steve. He was trying to play it cool, but the look in his eyes gave him away. Steve could always pick up on things like that. He understood that whatever this was, meant a lot to Tony.

''Look whatever it is. Once the matter with Ultron is dealt with, we will immediately help you deal with this. But for now, we need you Tony. Can you identify this man?,'' Steve promised, applying some force to his shoulder in a manner of comfort.

Tony sharply nodded and looked at the documents.

''I recognize this man. Ulysses Klaue. I met him at some of my expos,'' Tony explained.

The others looked at him with disapproval on their faces.

''What? You meet all kinds of people in those circles. He was trying to sell me something and invited me somewhere in Wakanda. Doesn't mean I had dealings with him. Too shady for my tastes,'' Tony defended himself.

''Yes! That is kind of what we were hoping for. We suspect Ultron is trying to build himself a body out of vibranium. That address in Wakanda. Do you still have it? Ultron might try and buy vibranium from Klaue,'' Steve briefed Tony.

''Yes, actually. I do,'' Tony confirmed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Bell was surprised that the Avengers will still go after Ulysses Klaue or that they haven't found out Ultron's already dead and gone. He actually had an entirely different plan to meet up with them in his new alter ego.

Uuuuuh. Fine. As they say: improvise, adapt, overcome.

And since he is going to Wakanda, he might as well get some vibranium for Peter and Gwen. Relying only on spandex as protective gear was shady and dangerous.

Bell was also surprised how strongly Tony felt about this issue. He feels a little guilty, creating those files and videos with his technomancy, but he really needed different personas to preform different functions. And all personas needed an origin story. So unfortunately for Tony this will not be merely a mean prank. This will be a whole role he'll play. But, hey. This way Tony is just gonna have to work twice as hard to be an even better dad to his kid to make it up to him, or more accurately his new alter ego.

Albeit, before he was gonna go to Wakanda he needed to do one more thing. He needed to pick up his entry ticket into the X-Gene world.

Say what you want about Ultron, but his introduction to Wanda and Pietro was really dramatic like. And he did need to pick some of Starks manners up to sell their relationship.

He went to the HYDRA base and used his technomany to create Ultrons final body (not Vision), at least in appearance, because he needed that chunk of metal for a few things. Then he came to the dilapidated church from the movies, put Ultrons body in the throne chair and draped a blanket over it. Then he sent a message to the twins.

Which brings him here.

''Talk, but if you are wasting our time ...,'' Wanda began coming in, her brother trailing after her.

'' Let me guess. Spaceships, aliens and intergalactic space travel all focused on this little chunk of rock. That is what you showed Stark wasn't it? You played to his fear,'' Bell said, sending his voice through the portal, making it appear that the source of the sound came from Ultrons body.

''Yes. How did you know?,'' Wanda answered slowly sharing a look with her brother.

''Smart. Play to Starks fear and have him create me. But as they say: No plan survives first contact with the enemy,'' Bell replied.

''And what did we do wrong?,'' Wanda challenged.

''You didn't do your research! Oh, Wanda do you think you were the only enhanced individuals in that facility. There were those who came before you. Ever wondered what happened to those?,'' Bell taunted.

''We don't care. We just want Stark dead,'' Wanda countered.

''Oh, but you should care. I mean, why else are you here?,'' Bell argued.

''Ultron. You. Stark had you in his head already, but I knew you would disobey him,'' Wanda answered.

''And you were right. But being right does not mean you have all the pieces. You lack context, Wanda,'' Bell chastised.

''What context?,'' Pietro asked.

''You can't read my mind. Can you,Wanda?,'' Bell asked

''Sometimes it's difficult, But every man shows himself in time,'' Wanda declared.

''Oh? Then why don't you move around a little. Let's talk face to face. See if you can read my mind better this way,'' Bell said.

''Why don't you just turn around? It's faster than walking half around this circle,'' Pietro impatiently challenged.

''Indulge me,'' Bell demanded. Pietro looked at Wand and picked her up. With a short burst of speed they stood in front of the body hidden behind blankets.

''There. Can we talk now?,'' Pietro asked.

The body remained silent for a long time. Pietro and Wanda shared a look, uncertainty being hinted in their expression. Wanda wanted to move forward, but Pietro stopped her. 'Let me,' He mouthed to her, if he tries anything I'll escape and bring us out, went unsaid.

Pietro cautiously approached the metal figure and slowly moved his hand until it touched the blanket. Then in a burst of speed he moved the blanket away and stepped back in shock. A chunk of metal shaped in the form of a human starred back at him, only it's expression was blank and it emitted neither light nor warmth. Pietro and Wanda looked at each other and then around them thinking they had been dumped.

''As I said, smart. But as I also said, you are missing pieces of the puzzle,'' a new voice called out. 

Tracing the sound back to its source they looked up. A person clad in black coat, hugging him like folded angel wings was hovering in the air close to the ceiling. He wore a black helmet, with a black tinted oval shaped glass that hid his features. And a white scarf.

The broken windows letting in the illuminating moonlight shine upon his coat, giving him a silver like shine.

How did Bell hover in the air? Sure he could use his magic for that to to make himself fly, but that were not this personas strength. He achieved this by opening portals 1mm away from the ground and stepping into the portal and voila, he was hovering.

Wanda immediately tried to read his mind but failed, thus she asked:'' Who are you? Are you Ultron?''

''Me? I'm Subject 0. Or as I prefer, Zero,'' Zero answered. Did Bell just copy paste Lelouchs alter ego from Code Geass? Yes. But damn him if it wasn't a damn good look. Besides Code Geass didn't exist here, so there were no issues on that front.

''Subject 0? What? Was one already taken and you didn't want to take two?,'' Pietro asked, with slight mockery.

Zero began descending in an arc like pattern. It looked as if he was climbing down invisible stairs.

''My handlers gave me no name. It is the only thing I have resembling a name.'' Zero answered.

''Your handlers?,'' Wanda asked.

''I reiterate my earlier question. Do you think you were the only enhanced individuals HYDRA had?,'' Zero asked, coming to a stop next Ultrons lifeless body.

''Why don't you tell me?,'' Wanda replied.

''Project: Wunderkind. Take the children of highly intelligent persons and try and enhance them. They succeeded. For a while. Then they failed. The project was scraped and a new one was started. The X-Program. Sound Familiar?,'' Zero taunted.

''Yes. They were trying to turn people into enhanced ones with the help of Loki's Scepter, with some disappointing results. At least in quantity,'' Pietro cheekily added at the end, hinting a the twins being among the few successes in that program.

''Hm, I wonder why? What made you succeed where others failed,'' Zero replied mysteriously.

''Where is Loki's scepter? Why kill Ultron? What do you plan?,'' Wanda asked confrontationally still trying to read his mind.

'' What I plan? Well, nothing else you didn't already plan. While I was being tortured, who do you think was partying, having the time of his life? While you were buried under that debris, who was it that was tangoing with a supermodel?,'' Zero asked.

''How do you know that?,'' Wanda sharply asked, when seeing him know about a part of their past.

''Our mutual person of interest isn't my only enemy. I have beef with HYDRA as well. I raided them, I read the files. Now answer my question.'' Zero replied.

''Are you saying you're Starks son?,'' Pietro asked wanting them all to be on the same page of understanding.

''Then why kill Ultron? He was our weapon against Stark?,'' Wanda asked upon Zero nodding his head to Pietros question.

''As I said. You lacked context. You knew Ultron wanted to destroy the Avengers, but ever wondered how he wanted to do that?,'' Zero inquired.

''No. All we cared for was that Stark would die at the end of all of this.'' Wanda replied.

''Ah. Well, you may not care, but I do. Ultron wanted to throw an asteroid at earth. As big as the dinosaur one. I trust you know what happened to the dinosaurs? As it just so happens I find myself liking this rock. And I find myself liking living too. Ultron and I came to a disagreement *pats Ultrons shoulder* and so I killed my brother,'' Zero explained.

''How did you kill him anyway?.'' Pietro asked upon seeing his sisters horrified realization and trying to distract her.

''I hacked him,'' Zero answered simply.

''You ... hacked ... him?,'' Pietro asked slowly and incredulously.

''Yes. I'm something of a genius myself,'' Zero replied simply.

''Yeah. You're Starks son alright. Only he could brag like that,'' Pietro murmured. He flinched back when Zeros face appeared millimeters away from him through a portal.

''I'm nothing like him,'' Zero hissed pulling his head back and closing the portal.

''And you really want to kill your own father?,'' Wanda asked after sharing a look with her brother.

''You're not the only people Stark has wronged And I find myself in need of allies. So, what do you say? Allies in crime?,'' Zero offered.

Wanda shared another look with Pietro.

''How do you plan on dealing with Stark?,'' Wanda asked.

Zero seeing this as a confirmation opened a portal and ended up one meter in front of them.

''Pietro and I, will do the fighting. But you ,Wanda, will them from the inside out and isolate Stark. But first, we need to make a stop,'' Zero replied causing the Twins to slightly smile.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

''... or the next missile I'll send will come very much faster,'' Klaue threatened before closing the telephone. He frustratingly paced through his office

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Klaue whipped around looking at the door for who dared to interrupt him. Zero waved his hand with Wanda and Pietro standing behind him.

Ulysses immediately turned back grabbing his gun, but before he could shoot a blur ripped out his gun from his gun and put all bullets from the magazine neatly in a row. Pietro looking quite smug about himself.

''The Maximoff Twins. Yeah. Strucker's prized pupils. The...,'' Klaue began, recognizing Pietro by his super speed.

''Nope. Not interested in this pre-business banter. Quick question of the rhetorical variety. You're Ulysses Klaue?,'' Zero interrupted.

Klaue looked at the black cloaked guy a bit. He may not show his face, but when you did business as long as Klaue did, you tended to pick up on things. Body language. Patterns of speech. The air around you.

''Fine. Straight to business then. What do you want?,'' Klaue bit out.

''The good stuff. Vibranium,'' Zero replied, the twins waiting impatiently for him to finish. They asked. But Zero wouldn't tell them anything. He did promise that Stark will appear here though, since the Avengers will suspect Ultron (who is now dead) desiring to build a body out of vibranium.

''You paying?,'' Klaue challenged.

''You offering?,'' Zero countered.

Klaue jawline twitched a bit. A man after his tastes.

...

The elevator bunker moved up. Eventually revealing multiple sets of canisters. Klaue picked one and handed it too Zero.

''There. Vibranium,'' Klaue declared.

Zero inspected the metal while Klaue continued talking:''The strongest metal on earth! It came at great personal cost. No wonder, since it's worth billions.''

''How much weight per canister?,'' Zero asked holding the canister in the air to see it better.

Klaue nodded to one of his henchmen who went around a corner for a bit before coming back with a scale.

''Throughout,'' Zero complimented.

''How do you think I keep my clients,'' Klaue boasted, he took the canister out of Zeros hands and pointed,'' There. One canister weighs 200 mg. 200 mg goes for 1.3 billion $ currently. More depending on if you pay with other currency.''

''In Dollars is fine. Give me ... (*looks up, running some calculations in his head*) 13 kg. 84.5 billion $ for that correct? Or don't you have that much?,'' Zero demanded.

''That is ... a lot of vibranium, but we do have it. I never had anyone buy so much at once. I trust you understand if I ask for money first. Yes?,'' Klaue inquired. His henchmen tensing in anticipation. Zero took out his phone and clicked a few times, putting on a show of transferring the money, while he used his technomancy to steal money from all over the world.

He wasn't about to use his hard earned legal money for this. Besides, he wasn't completely altruistic. He made sure to leave a VERY big mess behind. If the governments couldn't track the money to Klaue and arrest him and bust this whole operation, then there was no helping them. He also made sure to send an anonymous tip to Wakanda. Wasn't he such a nice person.

Sure he could have just stolen the vibranium without Klaue being any wiser, but this was just stalling. Might as well use the time to put a criminal behind bars.

Klaues phone pinged making him look at it, he grinned seeing the numbers go up in his dummy accounts. He mentioned to his henchmen:'' 13 kg. Make it quick. We are eating good tonight.''

''I hope you have more the next time I come?,'' Zero said, giving him the impression of a potential regular customer. Pietro began tapping his foot impatiently, staring to get bored about all this waiting. He wanted to go in the bunker and get all the cannisters out himself, but Wanda, who new her brother enough, mentioned him not to.

''Vibranium is not easy to come by and you took more than half in my possession . I can't promise anything, but maybe. We always try to restock it. Where do you want it? How will you transport it?,'' Klaue answered. Zero just mentioned in front of him to the ground while putting his phone in his pocket. ''You sure?,'' Klaue asked confused. Zero nodded.

Once the 13 kg of vibranium was put down, Zero simply created a portal below the canisters and transported them to his pocket dimension. Klaue starred a bit surprised, but he worked with Strucker for a bit and encountered such sights every now and again so he quickly recovered.

''We done? Can we finally go after Stark?,'' Pietro asked no longer able to contain himself.

''Stark? Ahahaha. I see he still continues to make enemies everywhere. Good luck to you, three,'' Klaue grinned.

''Yeah, yeah. But then again, there is no need to go after him. Right, Stark?,'' Zero placated Pietro.

Iron Man landed on the small bridge with the others following him.

''Interesting party trick. Where did you send the vibranium?,'' Iron Man skipped straight to the point. Zero gestured Klaue to go away with a shooing gesture. Or he could stay and die as collateral. Either way his end was sealed.

''Somewhere around,'' Wanda taunted. She also had no clue, because she still couldn't read Zeros stupid mind, but antagonizing Stark brought her joy.

''Son, you don't know who you are working for,'' Captain America said, suspecting the children were here to bring the vibranium to Ultron. If he could convince them somehow, they could find out about Ultrons location or what he was planning.

''We never worked for Ultron. Besides he is dead anyway,'' Pietro revealed. Wanda nodded.

''What do you mean Ultron's dead?,'' Natasha asked sharply.

''Are you familiar with the story of Abel and Cain? Ultron and I found ourselves in a disagreement,'' Zero told her shrugging at the end. He opened a portal and dumped Ultrons body at Starks feet, a few sparks flying up when metal hit metal. Starks feet grew cold at the weirdly specific comparison.

''That is just his body. He is in the internet as well. His consciousness still lives,'' Rogers explained.

''God, you're slow. And everyone is slow to me. Ultron's dead,'' Pietro insulted.

''Where is Loki's scepter?,'' Thor asked.

''Ah, yes. That thing Ultron was carrying around. Here,'' Zero said, opening a portal and dumping the scepter on top of Ultrons body. Thor cast it a quick look.

''Where is the gem stone?,'' Thor bit out.

''Oh! The Mind Stone. No, this one I'll keep,'' Zero promised. He let a yellowish stone drop from his portal. It spinned and landed on the tip of his finger spinning a bit, before he let it drop into a portal to his pocket dimension. It was easy breaking the protective container around the Mind Stone.

''How do you know about the Mind Stone? Give that back, mortal,'' Thor demanded.

''Make me,'' Zero challenged, causing Thor to throw his hammer. They were all stunned when Zero caught it and kept his hand still.

'Damn. I can't wield it or Thors powers. I'm not worthy. It takes tremendous amounts of magic just to carry this thing, better get rid of this quick,' Zero thought, throwing Mjolnir through a portal to Antarctica.

''You are Subject 0. What happened to project Wunderkind?,'' Stark asked, having regained his wits.

''Ah, you must have read the files. Surprised some of them survived. Then proper introductions are in order. Hello 'father'. I'm Zero. The son you ruined,'' Zero introduced himself. 'Sorry, Stark. I REALLY need this persona. And a lack of Origin story would be suspicious,' Zero thought.

The Avengers looked at Tony to see how he was holding up, dealing with that revelation.

''Sound familiar? (*Gestures around the rockets and weapons*) Feel comfortable. No? Like old times,'' Pietro mocked.

''This was never my life,'' Stark defended himself causing Wanda to scoff.

''Before we begin, tearing each other apart like a pack of animals. You do understand we only want Stark. (*Mjolnir lands back in Thors hand*) The rest of you, Avengers, can walk away,'' Zero offered, upon noticing Wanda signal. She really needed to get better control over her powers, because this took way to long.

''Tony is our friend. We won't abandon him,'' Steve declared. Oh, the irony.

''Then I hope you understand, what follows is only a professional courtesy,'' Zero said before Thor threw his hammer at him. Mjolnir traveled trough the portal and hit Stark in the back. Captain Americas shield was also thrown and hit Thor on his extended throwing arm and Hawkeyes arrow pierced through Natashas ankle reducing her combat effectiveness.

''Stop throwing projectiles at him, you're only making it worse for us,'' Natasha bit out recognizing the problem immediately. She took out the arrow.

Meanwhile in the small time it took for the Avengers to recover from the initial clash, Pietro began running. Normally in tight rooms he needed to reduce his speed to cut corners so he couldn't build up too much momentum, but Zero ordered him to run straight ahead. He'll create a portal in front of him, whenever he is about to hit a wall and thus he can build momentum. Wanda on the other hand snuck to the shadows, enacting her part of the plan.

Captain America ran forward. He threw a punch followed by a shield slam. His own fist hit him in his cheek. And the shield slam hit Thor in the back of his knee, before Thor was flung away getting punched by Pietro.

Stark flew up towards Zero intending to punch him. Zero cast a quick portal, which Tony flew through crashing into the wall before he could react. Hawkeye shot a high frequency arrow near Zero trying to stun him, but it just flew near Widow instead. Momentarely stunned, Wanda took the opportunity to bewitch Natasha.

Steve tried throwing another punch only for Zero to quickly turn around and kick through a portal hitting him in the back into Pietros path. Steve was flung away spinning multiple times in the air. Landing in front of Wanda who quickly bewitched him.

Thor flew up, having recovered and tried to hit Zero with a hammer slam. Zero jumped from the small bridge and hovered in the air, small portals opened beneath the soles of his feet.

Tony tried flying after Zero but was flung away by Pietro via a punch. Thor flew after Zero intending to smite him. Zero quickly jumped through a portal and closed it while simultaneously opening portals beneath the rockets lying around. The fell down around Thor and before they could waste time falling to the ground and detonating, Zero opened small portals under the detonation trigger to explode the rockets. Thor was flung away and crushed into the side of the wall hard enough to dent it. Wanda used that opportunity to bewitch him.

Pietro slowed down not only because he saw the numbers quickly dimming, but also because he was starting to get tired. Besides seeing how quickly they took down the Avengers, he doubted his lack of help would be noticed. He looked at Stark who picked himself up after getting punched by him. But then immediately run towards his sister when Hawkeye electrocuted her. Pietro punched Hawkeye away and picked her up, retreating from the battlefield. However Hawkeye picked himself up, not being out of the fight yet.

He felt a little useless, seeing as projectiles didn't really work against Zero and his entire gimmick was shooting projectiles. He would still try to provide support for Stark.

Now it was just Iron Man and Hawkeye against Zero. The rest of the Avenegers, except Banner who was waiting in the Quinjet, were incapacitated. Tony flew. Zero was hovering and Hawkeye was standing on the ground like a regular human.

Zero punched swiped Hawkeyes from underneath him through a portal and landed a punch at his chest. Stark shot a repulsor blast desperately hoping Zero was distracted enough with Hawkeye to get hit. He hit himself in the head momentarily blinding himself from the smoke. Hawkeye wasn't out, but the hit to his chest was strong enough to wince on the ground.

With Tony distracted, Zero jumped down through a portal and landed on Iron Mans back. Tony flew back trying to slam Zero into the wall since they were so close to it. Zero and Tony flew through a portal and Zero turned him around making him slam into the bridge railings. Zero put his foot on the railing and shoved them down. In this persona he wasn't strong enough to shove Stark down on the ground from all the way up where they were in the air. Two portals closed the distance and Tony slammed into the ground.

Zero turned him around and began wailing on him. Tony tried shooting a repulsor blast. A quick portal over his ejector in his hand made him hit himself in the head. Tony tried punching him only for his fist to go through a portal and hit himself in the area around the liver. Stark saw how the damage to his suit kept increasing and got desperate. He shot a blast from his chest only to hit himself in the head again. He was running out of options too quickly and couldn't come up with a solution on the spot. The head piece was now damaged enough for Zero to take it off. A quick portal under Captains discarded shield made Zero grab it from the air. For a second he looked as if he wanted to beat Tony to a pulp with the shield. Tony put his arms in front of his unptrotected face.

Zero let his arms hang in the air hesitating for a bit, instead of slamming the shield down. He slacked a bit, his body language conveying that he was uncertain.

ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!

Zero whipped his head towards the sound and discarded the shield before jumping through a portal.

Tony lied a bit on the ground, stunned in disbelief he wasn't killed.

''Stark, your son is a menace. I just want you to know that,'' Hawkeye winced from were he was lying down.

''I know. I'm already proud of him,'' Stark said absentmindedly picking up his helmet and putting it on,'' VERONICA send the Hulkbuster.'' Tony flew away.

...

That was ABSOLUTELY not part of the plan they had discussed previously. Bewitching the Hulk and unleashing him on the City? He was gonna have a talk with Wanda later. The actual plan was to take Ultron out, meet the Avengers (thogh he needed to discard his original plan and modify it) and pick up the twins for access to the X-Mansion. First they fight, then he plays the conflicted child and then he portals the trio away, giving a lame excuse and playing it from there. This was a undesirable scenario. But he was nothing if not adaptive.

Bell (Zero) learned from his mistakes. He no longer wanted to hurt innocents anymore for his amusement. He deeply regrets the deaths of the police officers caused by The Lizard, when he could have just saved them. There was no reason to let bystanders die to play or hype something up. 

Oh, he wasn't going to go out of his way to save people all over the world. But it was a different matter when he was already in a situation and the innocents were right there next to him.

Hulk was about to land in the city intending to smash the street and begin his rampage. A portal opened beneath Hulk and he landed back on the beach relatively close to the shipyard and the Quinjet. 

Hulk roared when he noticed Zero stepping out of the portal, automatically blaming him for his deviation.

He tried jumping, smashing his fists down on Zero. A plate fell down in front of him and then multiple others encasing him in a hectagon like shape. The structure began cursing with electricity bangs being heard from the inside.

Iron Man flew in his Hulkbuster suit assembling around him. Zero watched admitting the sight was more epic in real time than watching it through the screen. 

The bangs diminished, quickly settling for silence. A fist smashed from the earth hitting Zero and shooting him away. Hulk crawled from underneath the earth roaring in triumph and rage. 

Much as Stark wanted to see to his son. Priorities. He flew in and grabbed Hulk by the face slamming him into the ground. Hulk tried punching him, but he locked his fist in place and started beating repeatedly into his face.

''Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep,'' Tony repeated. Hulk put his feet on the Hulkbuster and shoved him with enough force to snap of the Hulkbusters arm holding him in place. While he was flying away he saw Zero staggeringly picking himself up before he disappeared from sight. Stark quickly understanding what happened activated his repulsor in one of his legs. Spinning around he delivered a devastating kick to the back of Hulks head.

He gave a shot from his chest blasting the Hulk away, before demanding:''VERONICA. Give me a left arm.'' While he was waiting and while the Hulk was recovering 'father' and 'son' looked at each other. They both came to an understanding. Zero could barely keep himself standing after tanking a hit from Hulk. He will play support and the Hulkbuster will engage.

Hulk roared and run towards Stark. The arm not yet being replaced, Stark gave short bursts of inetense lasers to slow Hulk down. While the first hit, the second missed only for a portal to make it hit anyway shoving him into a third shot.

There finally. Arm replaced. Stark flew delivering a punch to Hulks head. Hulk punched in turn. The Hulkbuster flew away into a portal. Hulk having learned from the previous encounter. Quickly turned around almost punching the Hulkbuster, before a second portal made him get hit anyway.

Zero was watching the fight. Too 'hurt' to engage in too much of a strenuous activity. Not that Stark needed much assist anyway. Out here in the open plains of the beach there was no real place for the Hulk to hide or for Stark to lose sight of him. And with no civilians serving as a distraction, Stark could pay full focus to Hulk. So the fight was going much better than in the movies. 

Still he was pretending to be Starks son. Starks were dramatic. And the fight has been going on long enough. Time to put an end to this. Casting some quick magic he sensed an abandoned ship a little far away, where no human life was present.

He opened a portal beneath the ship letting it drop on the Hulk.

The Hulkbuster having been punched away, yet again, stopped in his attempt to engage again, hovering in the air a bit, before deactivating his repulsors and dropping to the ground.

He watched as a ship fell tip first on top of The Hulk. The ship quickly collapsing in on itself. He stood around for a bit, to see if Hulk would come out again. For a bit, silence reigned. Anticipation building.

He tensed when Hulk burst out of the wreckage and jumped on the beach. He prepared for a second round, but he relaxed when he saw Hulk shrinking back into the familiar form of Bruce Banner. The witches magical effects wore of. Banner looked around a little afraid of who he hurt, but relaxed a bit, relieved when he saw no one was hurt.

Hulkbuster and Zero looked at each other again. Neither moving or attacking. Eventually Zero turned around limping through a portal. He had some twins to chastise.

''Zero...,'' Stark called out, but stopped when a rocket dropped on his head and exploded. Not that the rocket did any damage.

Around this time the rest of the Avengers slowly came out. Barton helping Natasha, both limping. Rogers was dragging Ultron after him. Thor was holding Loki's scepter and Mjolnir, in one hand each. He looked both furious and contemplative.

Banner approached them and inquired:''What happened?''

''We just had our ass handled to us by the Maximoff Twins and Tonys son,'' Natasha replied.

''Tony has a son?,'' Banner asked bewildered.

''Apparantly so. At least that is what he introduced himself as,'' Clint replied.

Banner looked to the Hulkbuster. It was just standing around, unresponsive. Banner shook his head refocusing:'' What about Ultron? Loki's Scepter? That is why we were here?''

''Ultron is dead. If Zero is to be believed. But the scepter is missing it's gem. So we still have to retrieve it,'' Thor replied.

''Zero, called it the Mind Stone. Care to explain that to us and why you reacted like you did?,'' Natasha confronted Thor.

''That knowledge is not for mortal men,'' Thor replied.

Steve seeing the beginnings of an argument quickly took the reigns:'' At least that is what Tonys son claimed. That he killed Ultron. We can't tell if he was telling the truth or lying. And until we confirm it, we have to assume Ultron is still up and about. We need a technology free environment, to gather and plan and make our next moves without being overheard.''

''I doubt there is such a place. Thanks to the internet the world is more connected than ever. There is no place on earth where Ultron won't be,'' Bruce replied.

''There is. But that thing is not coming with us,'' Barton assured pointing at Ultrons body.

''We can't just leave it around. This looks highly advanced to me. It could land in the wrong hands,'' Steve cautioned.

''Then we'll drop it at the tower. It is already compromised and we need the healing craddle. Some of us got more beat then others. Let's go to the Quinjet and Banner can contact Helen. Then we'll go to Bartons place,'' Natasha said.

The Avengers nodded at that plan.

''Tony. Tony! TONY!,'' Steve called out to Tony progressively louder when he failed to respond.

Eventually the Hulkbuster opened and Iron Man stepped out.

''Let's go,'' Tony said curtly, moving towards the Quinjet.

The others shared a worried look and then followed after him.