Just as suddenly as the fight seems to have begun, it ends with Thor using his trusty hammer to demolish the final ragged robot standing.

You'd think that nearly dying would be the worst possible thing to happen to you. But for me? Sitting in awkward silence as the Avengers brood while the Wifi is shot...now that is third-tier level horror. Add onto that, I have a hungover Murk wearing the darkest shades possible fretting over Tony Stark with a volume much too loud in a space as small as this lab. "Here, Maria, let me help." I pull up a stool across from where the agent is attempting to pull the glass from the bottom of her foot, mostly unsuccessful. She grumbles in defeat and rests her ankle across my knee before handing over the tweezers. I carefully begin to extract the small pieces with a steady hand while the Avengers converse after Tony's shut Murk up — no easy feat. The broody Russian abandons the billionaire to wrap his arms around my shoulders, using the back of my head to rest his chin on. "Hello to you too, Murk."

"Shhh...Iris quit yelling."

"Bitch, I will show you yelling-"

"I'll put whip cream between your toes-"

"I'll shave you bald-"

"I'll steal your dog-"

"I'll- wait, what dog?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Are your conversations always like this?" Colonel Rhodes cuts into our back-and-forth bickering with bewilderment.

"Yes." The two of us answer together while Maria leans back in her seat, watching us with close eyes. I've only ever told her stories about Murk, but to actually witness the two of us interact must be a real experience. Still, she keeps to herself. In the background, Dr. Banner has begun conversing about the latest excitement. Or should I call it the latest threat to Earth?

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch."

Steve quietly whispers 'Ultron' to himself while shaking his head, unhappy with the whole situation. I mean I would be too if a robot smashed my hella rad party with my friends, tried to kill a doctor from a foreign country, stole a weapon that had belonged to a brooding Asgardian who could crush your skull with his bicep alone, and totally decimated your entertainment space.

Not to mention the wifi.

Murk seems to agree with my sentiments. He groans and tilts his head to rest his cheek on my head. "Did angry robot have to take out the wifi on the way out? Now how am I supposed to watch compilations of Tony Stark breaking stuff in New York?"

"Nothing is sacred with this Ultron man." I concur.

"Robot."

"Huh?" I look up at Banner.

"Robot. Ultron's not a man." He corrects me.

"Right, right." I straighten up, much to the displeasure of my accomplice, and allow Maria to set her glass-free foot on the cold tile. "I suggest cleaning that up with a bit of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol. None of the cuts were large enough to need stitches." I tell her calmly, which puts a smile on her face, albeit briefly.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance... He probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Romanoff adds, arms crossed as she leans against the far wall with a window into another portion of Stark's lab. Barton shifts uneasily behind us, takes a deep breath and looks around uncomfortably. It's like there's something he doesn't want anybody to know, even his closest friends.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodes poses the question seriously. The side of my lips curls upwards while I let out a soft snort.

"Like Tony's browser history?" I chuckle.

"I wouldn't mind seeing that." Murk lowly murmurs in my ear. I reach up and nearly smack him in the face before he moves his head.

Maria looks off into the distance for a moment before closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Nuclear codes." Rhodes mimics her with a more distressed tone.

"Who keeps nuclear codes on the internet? That just sounds like a bad idea." Murk scoffs with a roll of his eyes before leaning down to whisper 'Americans' into my ear with distaste. I lift my shoulders in a shrug.

"What were you honestly expecting?" I ask my friend. We lock eyes before mouthing 'fast food.'

"Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." James says while looking at Stark, who has since been staring at a pile of scrap that used to be one of his Iron Legion. He then peers around the room to all the others. All eyes rest on him.

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." Natasha says.

Yeah, that's why he crashed the wifi.

But on another note, if he did want them dead, why weren't they? I'm sure he had the means. "He didn't say 'dead,' he said 'extinct.'" Rogers corrects. He looks up from a table covered in scrap metal.

"He also said he killed somebody." Clint looks mildly worried as he shifts his gaze down to Maria. She looks up at him with confusion.

"There wasn't anybody else in the building. Except them." She takes a second to point at us.

"Maybe he killed Murk's sanity."

"Hey, fuck off." I tilt my head back and stick my tongue out at the brunette standing above me. He mirrors my actions.

"No, there was." A solemn Tony speaks up while holding a transparent device. He abandons his dismantled creation and holds the device up before flicking it in the air lightly. Some sort of holographic, orange mess appears in the center of the lab. I tilt my head at it as Dr. Banner turns around to inspect it. Everybody else also faces it, uncertain and unsettled. Bruce walks up to it with his arms slightly out at his sides. He almost looks like a kicked puppy.

"What?" He asks, voice low. Then he looks over to Tony questioningly. Tony gives him this look that says 'I'm sorry.' Banner looks back down. "This is insane."

"Jarvis was the first line of defense." I whip my head to look at Rogers, who still has his arms crossed. The patriot looks down at the ground.

"So we're basically looking at a dead body...can't say it's like any I've seen before." I muse out loud. To say that shock ignites the air would be an understatement. They've no idea the things I've seen and heard.

"He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense." Steve continues uncertainly. My brows furrow together. How was an AI supposed to stop Ultron if Ultron was a robot?

Wait. Ultron isn't a robot...he's another AI. He just took over the suits...

So that's how Ultron 'escaped' through the internet.

Tony turns and looks at me as if I just stated that two plus two equals four. I grimace as everybody follows suit. Guess I'm still not the best at keeping my thoughts just that - thoughts. "Hey, it's not my fault that you all knew that and didn't share it with the rest of the class." I defend.

"Come on, Iris, keep up." Murk taunts, although it's clear he's only just had the same revelation as I.

"Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is...rage." I turn as heavy boots enter the lab after Banner finishes speaking. An angry Thor. How ironic, Banner talking about rage and a thunderous-looking Thor storms in.

Wow, I'm so funny.

I flinch as Tony turns around only to be grabbed by the throat by Thor, who continues walking, lifting the billionaire into the air. I sit shock still in my seat while Murk untangles his arms from my shoulders, ready to interject in the fight. I manage to catch his wrist and hold him back. "Don't. You may make it worse." I warn quietly when he looks at me with confusion.

"It's going around." Hawkeye says as he tensely watches the scene unfold. Dr. Cho quickly moves from where she's standing and Nat stands up with a straightened back.

"Come on, use your words, buddy." Tony says, his voice weak.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor replies, too calmly for my taste, as Tony grunts.

"Thor," Steve says in his authoritative voice, his arms dropping to his sides as he strides towards the two of them with even steps. "The Legionnaire." Thor then returns the billionaire to the floor, looking none too happy he didn't get to have his way with Stark. Murk's tense muscles relax and I release him to go fret over the genius.

"The trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north." He says and continues to glare Tony down, only turning to Cap at the end of the sentence. Then he turns back to Tony and glares at him. "And it has the scepter." There's cold malice in his voice as he speaks. Once again he turns back to Steve. "Now we have to retrieve it. Again." Natasha then speaks up, causing the Asgardian's gaze to turn towards her.

"Genie's out of that bottle." She looks away and nods her head toward Rogers. "Clear and present is Ultron." My body turns as I look at Helen Cho, who stands at another table, looking at the destroyed robot.

"I don't understand." I lift my brow at her. "You built this program." She directs her words to Tony. He starts walking in her direction after assuring Murk he'll be fine, only to stop by a computer monitor. "Why is it trying to kill us?" She finishes and awaits an answer like the rest of us. That's when Tony starts giggling. Now everybody is looking at him. I simply roll my eyes and wait for someone to smack him upside the head. Bruce shakes his head, trying to get him to stop before he says something incriminating.

"You think this is funny?" Thor demands with a false smile on his lips.

"No." Tony turns around. He's almost like a kid who's just been caught by his mother with his hand in the cookie jar. "It's probably not, right?" He looks to everybody else for confirmation. I place my palm against my forehead before muttering swears under my breath. "This is very terrible. It is so..." He breaks a moment to chuckle. "It is so...it is. It is so terrible."

No, really, Sherlock?

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor reprises him, only for Tony to instantly pick up the argument.

"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny." I roll my eyes. I almost lose my patience. I'm seconds from either smacking him or throwing something at him with the hopes it hits him. "It's a hoot that you don't understand why we need this." Tony says and walks straight up to Thor.

"Tony, maybe this is not the best time..." Bruce says in a small voice, trying to defuse the tension in the air.

"Really? That's it?" Tony suddenly turns and looks at Bruce with his face twisted up as if to say 'I can't believe you.' "You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?" He questions the doctor.

"Only when I've created a murder bot." Bruce says with a mix of sarcasm and seriousness in his tone. I grin and tune the fight out. This team seems to have an endless circle of arguments. It's tiresome to keep up with all of it. It reminds me too much of the heated arguments between Fury and Pierce only years ago. It leaves a quick and unexpected sour taste in my mouth — it makes my skin crawl, makes a chill encase me.

"Listen, children." I stand up, my voice a clear-cut authority that causes silence to ensue. "Is this what you do in the face of a new danger? This is what heroes do? Fight amongst yourselves? Someone made a mistake, an accident. Now we can waste more time standing around here arguing who's fault it is, what's been taken, or you can all shut the hell up and be adults. Come on, you are literally at each other's throats." I glance between Tony and Thor. "Does it really matter who's 'right' in this case?" I watch as everybody begins to deflate. "Can we please just find a solution?" Well, at least I thought everybody was beginning to back down. But Tony, he's not ready to let this go. The playboy goes on to remind everybody about the attack on NYC a few years ago. I scowl at his ego and take two steps toward him before Steve grabs my upper arm to hold me back. I feel my irises burn with energy, burn to the point that they glow like an animal's in the dark. His ego is bigger than one of those flying worms from space. Tony gives a quick little speech about justice and bad guys before asking the others how they plan on tackling it. Steve gives him a hard look.

"Together."

"We'll lose." Tony says.

Way to ruin the moment.

"Then we'll do that together too." Steve says and stares him down. I tilt my head as Steve looks at me, an encouraging smile on his face. That golden ember alight in my eyes dies just as suddenly as it came.

"Wait, wait." I lift my finger and shake my head. "Oh, no. No no no. I am...I am not getting embroiled in your..your murder robot problems. I am not a hero. I'm a HYDRA science experiment trained to kill high profile targets with a history blistered in abuse to match."

"Welcome to the club." Natasha chuckles from the other side of the room.

"That's why you're here though isn't it? Why you stayed? Because you wanted to see what being a hero was all about? Well, this is your chance. Prove yourself." Steve says, righteousness already seeping into his voice. I gape like a fish out of water I try to come up with an excuse — any excuse — as to why I can't help them. He turns to Murk. "What about you kid?"

"Don't have to ask me twice."

"You gonna let the hot-head show you up, Iris?" Clint taunts.

This is a trap, this is a trap, this is a trap...

"I can't believe I'm getting involved in all this." I grumble as I look at Steve's outstretched hand apprehensively. "Alright, whatever. Fine, I'll help." I huff and take the outstretched hand.