Observer POV
Aboard the Quinjet:
"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air. The only one that's gotten away with good publicity was that newcomer who helped Tony." Maria Hill spoke to the Avengers over the intercom.
"Stark Relief Foundation?" Tony questioned,
"Already on the scene. How's the team?" Maria asked in return.
"Everyone's...we took a hit. We'll shake it off."
Tony remarked as his gaze swept over them.
"You already got a Theory on the new guy" Tony finally asked, not able to hold his curiosity any longer,
"We'll all things considered, it was his first debut. The South African population has named their new Hero Rhazaka, after an African Deity in the form of a Rhino.
But from what we know, because of the animal theme and the technical standard he showed us, he's probably of Wakandan origin."
"Noted, all this was about Vibranium after all, not really surprising they would send someone to look out for it," Tony responded, deep in thought.
"Well, for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here." Maria said, shaking Tony from his stupor, "So, run and hide?" He questioned.
"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer." Maria sighed.
"Neither do we," Tony responded while glancing at the others, ending the call and switching the monitor off. He then spoke to Baston, who was still flying the Quinn. "Hey, you wanna switch out?"
"No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time, 'cause we're still a few hours out." He explained.
"A few hours from where?"
"A safe house," Klint responded while smiling.
U-Gin Genetic Research Lab, Seoul, Korea:
Dr. Helen Cho was walking through her lab, talking to her employees, as she entered her personal research lab.
"Scream, and your entire staff dies." Ultron said to her as he stepped out of the shadows, scaring her deeply, "I could've killed you, Helen, the night we met. I didn't."
"Do you expect a thank-you note?" She responded sarcastically as she searched for a way out.
"I expect you to know why." He retorted, staring at her intensely.
"The Cradle." She gasped in Realisation, before hearing her own recorded voice speak up, "This is the next thing, Tony."
"This...is the next me. And since the Wakandans are now on the playing field and want their stuff back, I need it faster than I anticipated," Ultron said, more to himself, turning to the machine with gentle care.
"The regeneration cradle prints tissue, it can't build a living body." She noted defensively as Ultron began to step toward her.
"It can, you can. You lack the materials." He promised as she stepped back in fright, and one of Ultron's drones came out of the shadow, holding a vibranium sample.
"You're a brilliant woman, Helen. But we all have room to improve." Ultron, having one of his drones come at Cho from behind, holding the scepter.
Cho turned around in fright, stepped back till she hit the cradle, before the scepter touched her chest, the mind-control taking hold.
The Barton's Farm House:
Inside the Kitchen, Nick Fury stood at the counter, getting himself some water, while the remaining Avengers were scattered about the living room.
"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something." Fury said as Barton's daughter went over to Natasha to give her the picture she had drawn.
"The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing." He explained further as he started making himself a sandwich.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked, leaning in the doorway, while Barton played with his family in the background.
"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though." He answered while making a sandwich.
"He is still going after launch codes?" Tony asked while playing darts.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway," Fury responded.
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony declared.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that," Fury said as he got interrupted by Steve.
"NEXUS?" He asked in confusion, Bruce coming to his aid, standing in the corner,
"It's the world's internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth."
"So what'd they say?" Asked Barton, eyeing his darts.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed," Fury replied while biting into his sandwich.
"By whom?" Tony asked, before flinching, as two Darts hit the bullseye simultaneously.
He looked over at Barton, but he just shrugged at him with a smug grin on his face.
"Parties unknown," Fury replied.
"Maybe it's the one that helped with Bruce's neural realignment?" Tony joked, but everyone just looked at him in annoyance.
"What, too soon?" He asked, but they just ignored him.
Natasha moved in her chair while in thought. "Do we have an ally?"
Fury just looked at her, "Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is and if it is in fact the same person we met earlier."
Tony came into the living room and leaned into the doorway opposite Steve. "I might need to visit Oslo, find our, unknown…"
He began to say, but Natasah interrupted him, "Well, these are good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."
Fury leaned onto the kitchen table and let his gaze sweep over all of them. "I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world." He began his monologue while walking into the middle of the living room.
"Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his Mission. And whether or not he admits it, his Mission is global destruction, all this, in the grave. So stand, outwit the platinum bastard," he ended his big speech while sitting down at the living room table.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha corrected Fury, while Steve looked at her, eyebrows lifted, "You know what, Romanoff?" he began, till he saw the mischievous grin on her face.
"So what does he want?" Fury interrupted them in annoyance,
"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Steve theorized, but got cut off by Tony.
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient," he began, while Bruce came out of his corner to look at the picture Barton's daughter had drawn, now lying on the table,
"Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it." Tony further elaborated.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha went on, looking over to Bruce, as he was now right next to her.
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve." Bruce began, as he slowly put together the puzzle pieces, looking at the painting.
Everybody looked at him in interest, but Fury was the first to speak up, "How?"
Bruce gazed into the room, clearly not liking what he deduced, "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"
U-Gin Genetic Research Lab, Seoul, Korea:
The cradle opened, and a vibranium body came into view, still in production.
"It's beautiful." Cho said while looking at a live feed, microscopic view of what happened inside the cradle, "The Vibranium atoms aren't just compatible with the tissue cells, they're binding them. And SHIELD never even thought--"
"The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a Frisbee." Ultron interrupted her as he began to walk over to the scepter, getting fixated by one of his drones on a table,
"Typical of humans, they scratch the surface and never think to look within." He finished as his drone began using a laser to break open the scepter's blue gem.
As it broke, a yellow gem inside it came into view, floating out of its former position and landing in Ultrons' open palm.
He then walked over to his new body in the making and placed the gem on its forehead, causing yellow energy strands resembling a human brain to form inside it.
"Let's proceed with the plan," Ultron said.
"I will instruct Wanda and Pietro to remain outside and keep watch. We need to ensure that this new Hero doesn't disrupt our Plans. I couldn't sense him before, and the world has no record of him ever existing, so he likely has a way to evade detection by technology. We need human eyes up there." As he spoke, he sent a command to one of his drones, which guided Wanda and Pietro outside the lab and explained his new Plan to them.
The Barton's farm:
Steve took his shield, the last piece of his equipment, ready for the next mission, "I'll take Natasha and Clint."
Tony came from the living room,
"Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, quickly look out for the new guy, maybe he's willing to help us instead of flying solo, will join you as soon as I can."
"If Ultron is really building a body..." Steve started the sentence, while Tony finished it, both of them leaning in a doorway, "He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."
Seve looked at him reproachfully, "You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me."
Nick Fury came from behind the stairs, meeting them in the hallway, "I'll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" He asked while donning his jacket.
"She's all yours, apparently," Tony responded.
"What are you gonna do?" Questioned Steve, Fury already on his way
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope."