-5-

"Worthy," an unfamiliar voice spoke after the loud ringing came to a halt. Riley looked up, lifting their hands away from their ears as they did so. A machine walked slowly towards everyone, raising its feet in a weird pattern, looking stiff as it did so. Everyone was now facing towards it, confusion painting their faces. "No," it spoke again , turning around to show its face that shone with light blue lights, "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark," Steve said, not taking his eyes away from the mechanical figure.

"Jarvis," Tony tried to get a hold on his A.I, but to no avail.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the machine apologised, looking down at its raised arm. Riley furrowed their eyebrows, noticing the avengers symbol on its chest that must of been scrapped from Tony's previous inventions. "Or, I was a-dream."

"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit," Tony muttered to himself, pressing buttons on the small holographic screen he had up.

"There was this terrible noise," the robot continued, "And I was tangled in... in... strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve asked, his voice sounding stern as he did.

"Wouldn't have been my first call," he replied, "But, down in the real world, were faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor asked. Riley and Helen were stood behind the tall man as he gripped his hammer tightly. The machine made strange noises before it played an audio clip that it had collected from who knows how long ago.

"I see a suit of armour around the world," the voice sounded like Tony, everyone knew that immediately. The man in question tensed up slightly at this, rolling his shoulders back slightly.

"Ultron," Bruce said when a sudden wave of realisation hit him.

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet," he corrected himself, "Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready." Thor readjusted him grip once again on his weapon as a click came from Maria for Riley to see that she had her gun out ready. "I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha asked Ultron turned his head.

"Peace in our time," he simply stated. As soon as he finished his sentence, three similar looking robots blasted through the walls behind him, shattering glass as they did. Everyone acted quickly, falling to the floor to protect themselves whilst Steve flipped the table up to act as a makeshift shield. One of the robots charged into him, knocking him over the couch and onto the floor.

Riley scrambled away from the area as Maria aimed her gun and started shooting. Thor swung his hammer at another mechanical enemy, flinging it was far away from him. Riley witness Tony get flung into a shelf full of books after jumping over the railing and sliding over a slanted window with Rhodey, only for him to shoved back into one of the panes and crash onto the floor below it.

Thor attacked another robot with his hammer as Clint quickly grabbed Riley's forearm and dragged them along with him as he slid under a table to get out of any possible target spots. The two put their hand out to stop themselves easier at the wall. Catching their breath, they both looked back at what was happening. Gunshots fired and lights flashed as the Avengers fought.

Steve jumped into the air and latched himself onto one of the bots that had Loki's Scepter in its grip. Riley's face scrunched up in worry, wondering how they could help in this situation. They looked over to Clint, trying to see if he looked like he had a plan they could help complete. He was starring at the ground, looking like he was thinking of different ways to attack without getting hurt.

The two of them under the table snapped their heads up as the head a loud thud to see Steve being slammed into a wall by the bot he was trying to fight, tiles falling out of their place and crumbling to the floor. He got thrown to the floor, shattering a table and making chairs fall over on his painful journey to the floor.

Natasha and Bruce could be seen running up the stairs in a hurry, the red-head firing her gun at one of the machines trying to attack them. Clint grabbed Riley's arm again, signalling to them he had a plan. They just didn't expect the plan to be running out into the sight of one of the robots sliding down a slope near the stairs as glass shattered around them. The two groaned in pain after landing, a few stray glass shards scratching them slightly. Clint got up first, not wanting to be out in the open for any longer, lifting up his friend beside him as they continued to groan in pain whilst they scrambled to their feet to find a place to hide behind.

"You okay?" Clint asked them, breathing heavily as he did, after seeing them examine the small cuts they got from the glass that got destroyed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," they said, looking at him. He nodded at them, looking back and forth between the team members he could see from where he was. Riley copied, trying to figure out where everyone was and how the situation has been handled so far. They saw Thor throw a robot against a wall using his hammer, making a large circular crack, differing of it going further back then the previous. He then grabbed the robot and threw is over the ledge, breaking the glass railings. It seemed to stop moving when it landed harshly on the cold, black marble floor.

"Clint," Riley said in a panic, seeing half of it get back up again and head towards Helen who was hiding behind the piano near the window. The archer looked over to where they were looking, to see the terrified Doctor trying her hardest to protect herself around the piano. Riley tried to quickly think of a way to help Helen, forcing themself to think of any sort of plan that had a chance of working. No matter how hard they forced themself to think of something, they couldn't. Even if they had an idea, they were paralysed in fear at what might happen.

It got ready to fire at her, then to only lower its hand it had raised to attack. As it did so, Steve held onto it and swing it around, calling out for Thor as he let go. Thor's hammer was in the air when it was coming towards him, ready to attack; he swung his hammer right into the face of the top half of the robot. This wasn't the end, however. Clint had gotten up from where he and Riley were hiding to go get Steve's shield that was propped up against a window.

Meanwhile, Tony was in the air, hanging onto a hovering robot. He as trying to disable it and he seemed to be close as it was repeating some phrases over and over again, similar to how a malfunction would sound. He jammed what he was using into its 'neck', causing it to fall to the ground and the light in its eyes to fade away- literally. Tony fell with it, however, falling on top of the robot as it landed on some stairs below it. Tony bounced into the air once more before falling onto a pile of shattered glass. Riley winced as they watched, knowing how painful that probably was.

Gunshots echoed once again, coming from the direction that Natasha was in. She was shooting her gun and going behind a pillar to protect herself at the top of the stairs.

"Hey, Cap!" Clint called out for his friend's attention as he got ready to throw his shield towards him. Steve was prepared, running and jumping into the air to quickly get his shield, and throwing it as soon as he caught it to finish off the last robot. When the shield split the robot in half, scattering the many parts it had connected to it, the leader of the Avengers landed back onto the floor. The, now two separate halves of the robot, fell onto the ground.

Everyone stopped where they were, guns stopped being fired and there were no shoes hitting the hard floor as people ran around the room. Riley got up from where they were hiding, trying to steady their breathing. They looked at everyone as a mini headcount of some sorts.

"That was dramatic," Ultron stated, his metallic feet clanking as walked. Tony sat down on the stairs next to him, making the sound of glass being moved as he did. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through."

Riley jogged over to Helen, when they saw her once again, wanting to check if she was okay. They placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at her with a sympathetic look on their face. She smiled and them as she placed a hand on theirs, grateful for their concern.

"You want to protect the world," Ultron continued, "but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?" Everyone in the room was looking at each other in confusion and worry, still not knowing where this thing came from. "With these? The puppets," he picked up a robot, that was on the floor near him, by its head, only to pop off the metal that protected the wiring. Buzzing sounds came from it as sparks flew out of the gaps around it. Ultron threw it back onto the floor harshly. Riley kept their eyes on it, seeing it bounce a bit as it made contact with the floor, sparks still flying off of it.

"Theres only one path to peace." Ultron told everyone, moving back and forth slightly, "The Avengers' extinction."

With no hesitation, Thor threw his hammer at Ultron, breaking his body up into chunks. A small gasp escaped from Riley's mouth as the machine's limbs flew off of his body as he hit the wall as Thor called him hammer back into his hand. The blue light from his eyes flickered, as a more gravely version of his already deep voice sung.

"I had strings, but not I'm free. There are no strings on me." 

Nobody spoke. They all just stood there for a moment, taking in what Ultron has just said to them. Steve was the first one to move, going over to Helen and Riley to see if they were alright. The three of them began to walk out of them room, Thor deciding to follow them.

They made it to the hallway, Riley walking closer to Thor as they did so. Thor noticed how they kept their eyes to the floor, their face contorted into a look of fear.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly. Riley turned their head to face him, their expression not changing.

"I..." they began, thinking of how they should phrase their feelings into words. "I didn't move."

"Pardon?" Thor tilted his head a bit in confusion.

"I mean," they recollected their words, "I saw Helen in danger, and I didn't move. I just kept hiding. Thank God she was safe, but what if the worse happened? I would know that I could've done something... but I didn't."

Thor's face showed sympathy, his eyebrows no longer moving closer together in confusion. "You were scared of what might happen to your friend," he began to explain to his worried friend, "everyone reacts differently to fear, and that's just how you react. And if anything bad was to happen to Dr Cho, we would be able to help."

Riley smiled, their anxiety over the situation fading slightly, both from what Thor had said and being reminded they were with the Avengers. They still felt extremely guilty, however, not being able to stop overthinking and regretting what they did.