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Adam stayed at the transparent screen while Tony and Bruce worked on the scepter. The model kept changing in front of them as Tony tried another route. Bruce adjusted the reading, and Adam watched the pattern inside the gem shift again. Tony asked for one more reading. Bruce gave it to him, and the same break appeared near the center of the model. Adam saw the break return on the screen near Tony's last input.
Brainstorm's mind caught the problem faster than Adam's normal mind could have. The thing inside the crystal was not moving like a program that wanted orders. It pushed back whenever Tony tried to shape it.
Adam's fingers slowed on the glass.
'This is not going to become what Tony wants,' he thought.
Tony wanted a guard for the world. Adam could see the danger in that order. If this mind decided people were the problem, it would start locking people down instead of saving them.
Adam looked at the model again. That was why Vision still bothered him. Ultron woke through this stone and turned on Tony. Later, Vision carried it and still chose the team.
'Maybe JARVIS is the difference,' Adam thought. 'Vision had JARVIS inside him before he woke up.'
Natasha came to the lab entrance while Adam was still looking at the screen.
"Boys, party time."
Tony glanced at Adam and smiled a little. "Your girl is calling you. You should go."
Adam looked back at him. "She said boys."
He tapped the last command on the transparent screen. "My work is almost done."
Natasha looked at the screen under his hand. "I didn't know you liked this stuff too."
Adam turned toward her and raised his eyebrows. "There are a lot of things you don't know I like. Come on. I can tell you."
Tony looked at Bruce, and Bruce looked back. Neither of them said anything.
Tony left one process running before he moved away from the table. "JARVIS, keep me notified."
"Yes, sir," JARVIS answered.
The party had already started when Adam entered with Natasha. People stood near the windows and around the bar. Adam recognized a few faces from the movies, but his eyes stopped on one old man holding a drink.
Stan Lee.
Adam stared for longer than he meant to. That face had appeared in too many Marvel stories for Adam to ignore. Now one version of him was standing here like a normal guest.
'How many avatars does this man have in this universe?' Adam thought.
He was still smiling to himself when Natasha spoke from behind the counter.
"So what do you think?" she asked. "Fight it, or run with it?"
Adam rested one hand on the counter and looked at her. "I am weak-hearted in this kind of thing. If I tell someone I like her, I start thinking she might betray me one day. So I do the safe thing and don't walk up to her."
Natasha watched him for a second. She did not laugh.
Steve came closer with a glass in his hand. "I think you should try, Adam."
Adam looked at him. "I don't think you are the right person to give that advice."
Steve gave a small smile. Adam saw the hurt under it and stopped teasing him.
The party kept going after that. Adam stayed near Natasha and laughed when the others laughed. He kept checking the time in his head anyway.
'Ultron comes before the night ends,' he thought.
Then the lights dipped, and a hard sound cut through the room. The party stopped around them. Tony reached for his device as the others turned toward the entrance.
The damaged Iron Legion suit stepped into the room. Its body dragged on one side, and its head twitched as if the machine had been forced to stand before it was ready.
"Worthy?" it asked. "No. You're all killers."
Steve looked at Tony.
"JARVIS?"
The suit did not answer like JARVIS. It talked about waking in noise and getting caught in strings. Then its broken face turned toward them.
"I had to kill the other guy."
Bruce went still.
Tony's hand lowered a little.
Steve stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The suit played Tony's own voice through its speaker. The recording was from the lab. Tony had been talking about a shield for the planet.
Adam lifted his hand toward the Omnitrix but did not press it yet.
'Not yet,' he thought. 'This body is buying time.'
Ultron's head turned toward him.
"An alien among humans," Ultron said. "They keep you close and call it safety."
Adam pressed the Omnitrix.
Green light moved over him. Brainstorm's shape changed. His frame stretched taller, and the metal in the room pressed against his senses.
Lodestar.
Ultron paused for a fraction of a second.
Adam understood that pause. Ultron had seen enough of him already. Public clips were everywhere, and Tony had saved his own files.
The walls broke open.
Iron Legion robots rushed into the room. Adam stepped in front of the Avengers and opened his hand. The robots froze before they reached anyone.
Their thrusters kept burning. Adam held them in place and felt one unit twist its shoulder, trying to slip out of his control. He tightened his fingers. The shoulder locked.
One robot's arm moved toward Natasha. Adam pulled it back. Another aimed toward Steve. Adam snapped its weapon arm down before it fired.
Thor lifted Mjolnir.
The robots exploded before he could throw it.
Adam's grip broke for a second. Metal pieces flew across the room, and two units tore free from his hold. He reached for them again, but another blast pushed heat and smoke between him and the others.
The freed robots shot toward the Avengers.
Adam turned toward the counter. Natasha was near it. Bruce was beside her.
Adam swept his hand across the metal under the counter. The frame bent upward. Bottles fell and broke as the counter folded through the air.
The metal cover came down over Natasha and Bruce.