Second Round: Sparks of War
"So you're thinking of retiring after this fantasy adventure" Owen said while watching Barton, who had just walked in after talking on the phone with his wife.
"I don't know if I like that you can listen to my calls" Barton said, looking at him with a mix of annoyance and resignation.
"You were the one who went to talk in the hallway; it's not my fault I have good hearing to listen to you talk with your wife" Owen replied calmly. At the same time, everyone else opened their eyes wide upon hearing the word wife.
"Wait, seriously? You have a wife?" Nicolás asked, incredulous. The others also looked at Barton as if they had just discovered a classified secret.
"You're retiring?" Natasha asked, observing her friend with a calm expression, as if she had already deduced the answer long ago.
"Yes. It's time" Barton said with an exhausted but firm air. "I'm not as special as you guys and I'm not getting any younger. Besides; it would be good to be a present father."
"Wait, you have kids?" Nicolás asked again, now even more surprised. His tone made it sound like Barton had just confessed he secretly lived three parallel lives.
The collective surprise was as great as the discomfort; no one expected Clint Barton to suddenly announce that he had an entire life he had never mentioned. But before anyone could say anything else, an alarm echoed throughout the building.
The proximity alarm.
And this time it sounded different; more urgent, deeper, as if the base itself were trying to warn them that something impossible was approaching.
No one needed to ask what was happening, because a vibration rose from the ground like a wave. A second later, an explosion shook the entire base, shutting off the lights and making the reinforced steel walls tremble.
"Enemy attack. Enemy attack" repeated the automated voice while red flashes illuminated the hallways.
Owen ran out without hesitation, followed by the others.
As they pushed their way outside, they saw it.
A massive wave of robots was descending from the sky in perfect formation. They weren't simple drones; they looked like coordinated swarms, each unit carrying metallic packs attached to their bodies. Heavy explosives. Too many.
Kamikaze robots. Well designed, well programmed, with no margin for error.
They crashed into the base's defenses like artificial meteors, detonating in sync and breaking an entire section of the outer walls.
The defensive turrets activated instantly around the base and began firing, taking down several units before others took their place and exploded directly over them.
It was evident that everything was strategically planned to leave the exterior zone without defenses in a matter of minutes.
There were even robots that positioned themselves in front of the shots to absorb the impact and act as decoys; sacrificing themselves so the others could break through the firing line and reach the infrastructure.
The heroes had no time to devise a plan. If they didn't act fast, the entire base would be destroyed, along with everything Tony, Pym, and Banner had been building with Doctor Helen.
"Everyone move quickly" Owen shouted before disappearing in a red flash. He appeared in front of one of the robots, ripped off its metallic head, and moved again at ultra speed, appearing in front of another while the previous one exploded behind him.
The priority now was to destroy those kamikaze robots before they reached the structure. But even as the heroes took them down, the machines didn't change their objective; they kept prioritizing the base, and even with their parts loose or damaged, they used whatever energy they had left to propel a final explosion toward the infrastructure.
"Damn it" Nicolás shouted while firing into the sky with two pistols, because he hadn't had time to grab his rifle. One of the robots he had shot began to fall directly toward him, and it exploded so close that he felt the heat burn his face.
The explosions were stronger than those of the previous drones. A miscalculated shot and he would be consumed by the blast wave.
It was as if a rain of truly explosive missiles descended toward the base while everyone tried desperately to destroy them before they touched the ground.
But there were too many.
Only Owen could move at extreme speed, almost flying in a straight line while the explosions roared behind him.
Wanda and Pietro arrived a moment later. Wanda didn't ask anything; she raised both hands and her crimson energy caught several robots midair, stopping them completely before slamming them together like inverted projectiles.
Pietro, moving at high speed, made sure his teammates weren't hit by explosions or metal debris. He destroyed the robots that got too close to the ground; unlike Owen, he couldn't fly, so he cleared the land zone with surgical precision.
Scott Lang, who had run to get his suit, returned wearing it and threw small spheres at the robots. Upon impact, they shrank instantly, turning into golf-ball sized versions of themselves before exploding like simple fireworks.
Meanwhile, Owen crushed the skull of another robot and stopped for a few seconds, watching the sky. The attack was too coordinated, too precise. More than an offensive, it looked like a carefully designed distraction.
And that thought triggered a bad feeling in his mind.
…
"Is it okay for you not to go help?" Pym asked Banner, who was staring at data on the screen with a worried expression. He didn't ask Tony anything; although he wished Tony would step back, he knew it was necessary to have him there in case the machinery needed immediate adjustments. And it had happened several times. The ark wasn't originally designed to handle that type of material nor to build an entire body from scratch. The power of the gem was colossal and forced them to recalibrate almost the entire system constantly.
"I don't think they need Hulk nearby. He's not a bad guy; he just doesn't know how to hold back" Banner said as another explosion shook the lab.
Tony watched through the cameras as the robots attacked and the heroes defended.
"This is damage to intellectual property. I hope they have good lawyers" Tony said with his usual sarcasm.
"A Stark talking about intellectual property, who would've thought?" Pym muttered mockingly. As always, their small arguments about those topics never went unnoticed; not even a single day since they had started working in the same place.
"You know, doctor, if you hadn't created a completely maniacal artificial intelligence we wouldn't have to work together" Tony said with sarcasm toward Pym, who was immediately annoyed and looked ready to respond.
But luckily, Doctor Cho spoke first, with genuine excitement as she observed the creation taking shape inside the cradle.
"It truly is magnificent. I never thought we would achieve something like this. This is hundreds of years ahead of any technology; even a Nobel would be easy" she said with real happiness.
Their technology had surpassed unimaginable limits, and with vibranium as the structural base, the possibility of creating complete limbs, almost indestructible, stopped being science fiction. Her machine could already repair tissues and rebuild parts; but recreating an entire body made of vibranium was insane… a wonder without precedent.
"You're giving too much credit to a simple prize" Pym said mockingly.
"Talking about something you don't have… hilarious" Tony replied instantly.
"And you, Stark? Do you think you'd win one? Maybe, with all the weapons of mass destruction you created, you should be on the blacklist for the Nobel Peace Prize" Pym retorted quickly.
Banner rolled his eyes, exhausted by the old man who behaved like a teenager and by Tony, who clearly was doing the same. They were two of a kind.
He thought they were far too relaxed, considering all their teammates were fighting outside, when suddenly he noticed his eyelids beginning to feel heavier and heavier.
Helen, who was leaning over the cradle, also rested against it and began to doze off.
Tony and Pym realized it at the same time. Tony touched his chest immediately; his armor began to cover him. Pym brought his hand to his neck, activating a helmet similar to Ant-Man's, although only that.
They didn't get to do anything else.
A burst of heat struck Tony directly, sending him flying and crashing through the wall as if it were paper.
Pym only saw an orange flash before a fist sank into his stomach and knocked him unconscious instantly.
Alexei let Doctor Pym's body drop while observing the cradle, where the new body continued taking shape.
"Mm. Looks like Ultron was right" he said with a calm smile.
Behind him, two robots entered through the door, one of them releasing a gas that spread quickly.
Alexei looked toward Banner, who fell asleep almost instantly. This gas had been specially created for him; he didn't want the green giant showing up to ruin his plans.
"We also need to take the woman" Alexei said as he turned toward Doctor Cho.
But what he saw wasn't what he expected.
The two robots behind him appeared with their heads crushed, held by two different hands. One hand wore Owen's black glove; the other, unprotected, held the second skull. Owen released them, letting the metallic remains fall to the floor.
"Entering without being invited isn't very polite" Owen said with a serious look, evaluating Alexei as if trying to decipher what the hell had changed in him… because something was different.
"Well, it was obvious it wouldn't be that easy" Alexei said with a strange calmness, as if he had more confidence than the last time they fought.
That made Owen raise an eyebrow slightly.
"Pretty calm for someone who a few days ago ended up turned into some kind of weird meat paste" Owen said without losing composure.
"That was because I still didn't control my power well. But I've been training" Alexei replied while raising a hand. It began to transform, turning into a molten incandescent liquid resembling lava that dripped to the floor. "Maybe my father didn't tell you, but I'm pretty good at learning when I put my mind to it."
His entire body turned completely red, his skin glowing like heated metal, his hair igniting into flames. Then he launched a massive fire-wrapped punch toward Owen.
Owen moved with extreme speed, appearing right at Alexei's side, his fist already aimed at his head.
Alexei smiled mockingly.
The blow landed… and his head exploded into a red mass, a grotesque mix of blood and liquid flames.
But even without a head, his arm continued the motion, striking Owen by surprise and sending him flying through a nearby wall.
Alexei's head began regenerating rapidly, as if the material he was made of was returning to its place by its own memory. It wasn't simple regeneration; it was something else… like living metal remembering its original shape.
"Now we have time for round two" Alexei said with almost insulting confidence.
Owen emerged from the rubble with a calm expression.
"How arrogant. Who said I stopped training a single day since our last fight?" Owen replied calmly.
Alexei raised an eyebrow just before feeling a strange impact on his chest. He looked down.
One of Owen's daggers was sticking out of his torso.
He lifted his gaze and saw Owen's hand extended. Owen tapped his own wrist, activating the weapon's return. The dagger returned to him, dragging Alexei with it. Owen grabbed him by the chest, twisted his body, and hurled him with all his strength.
His arms charged with kinetic energy. When he delivered the final blow, he did it with all his accumulated power.
Alexei shot through several reinforced walls, tearing through the interior of the building until being expelled outside. His body once again adopted that strange form, between magma and living metal.
At that moment, Tony emerged from the hole in the wall through which he had been thrown earlier. He already wore the full suit, though a black scorch mark on his chest showed where he had taken the hit.
"Keep protecting the cradle and Doctor Helen" Owen said while looking at him calmly before vanishing in a red flash, moving at maximum speed toward the place where Alexei had been thrown.
If Alexei wanted his second round… then he would get it.