Intruder Alert

I put my hand on the smooth glass exterior of the Avenger's Tower, half expecting my fingers to pass straight through it as if it were some sort of mirage, but its walls were solid and steady. Almost as steady as the stream of half drunk partygoers that flowed out of the double glass doors of the building. So I guess the Stark parties really are as crazy as they say. I smiled at my sudden luck, this makes things easier than I thought. I walked towards the entrance, placing my feet farther across each other with each step and letting my head tilt back and forth. And each time my feet made contact with the concrete sidewalk my strut shuddered with a whole body definite drunken look. I slid my way between a very unsteady looking woman in a hot pink skirt who was relying on the strength of her equally unsteady friends to balance her and I leaned against the door as I entered the lobby of the tower. I looked around at the lobby, full of tired partygoers and building staff. I staggered my way towards the center of the lobby where there was a large circular desk with several receptionists. I set a course for the nearest blazer clad worker, taking care to pick the youngest of them, and slapping on a daze of extra confusion and innocence as I walked.

"'Ssscuse me mizzz, but can I please go up to Stark's place?" I asked making it look like I was attempting not to slur words but failing miserably.

"I'm sorry miss, but the party seems to be ending. I was told not to let anyone else up." She didn't seem very suspicious, on the contrary, she looked like she was genuinely trying to help. I almost felt guilty for having to lie to her, but desperate times….

"Nonononono I know, I know. I was here before, but I was feeling a lil' sick and so I had to go to a friends house to change, but I left my purse in his house and I cccan't get in my house without my purse so I just need to go *hicup* to go get it."

"Oh, well alright miss, I'm sure that won't be too much of a problem seeing as though most of the guests only just left. Go ahead and take the elevator up," she gestured towards a dinging door to the right of the room, "Just hit the button that says Pent House." she added, speaking slowly and careful, as one might talk to a child or even a newly trained puppy. 

Drunk really is the best disguise.

"Oh my god thank you SO much. You're SUPER nice." I gave her a sleepy looking grin as I stumbled my way over to the elevator and made a show of reading all the numbers on the buttons until I found the one marked PH, pressing it with a triumphant smile and a friendly wave back to my receptionist friend.

The elevator zoomed upward, jolting my stomach in a way the elevator in my apartment building never had. I tried my best to gather myself, taking deep breaths to slow my racing heart. I was suddenly terrified, I had spent all my energy trying to get to this point but now that I was here I had no idea what I would say or do. I felt near tears, my breath caught high in my throat with every second as the elevator ticked up, floor by floor. It was as if all the night's confusions had hit me in one fell swoop and and were now sitting on my chest, refusing to be ignored for another moment. I watched the elevator climb the floors. 54, 55, 56, 57. I put the heels of my hands to my temple and focused on the numbers as they passed. 60, 61, 62, 63. 

I will not screw up now. I've gotten this far, and I have nothing to loose. What's the worst that could happen? They say I'm crazy? At least then we'll all agree…. 

68, 69, 70, 71. I let my arms fall to my sides and took one more deep breath, I steadied myself, raising my chin and my chest. I wasn't going to go in afraid. I wasn't going to let anyone see how out of place I felt, how lonely, how worried. I glanced up to look at the numbers again, to see how much time I had left to steel myself against the unknown beyond the door of the elevator, but the numbers were gone. The elevator had slowed to that suspended halt, and the letters PH read above the doors. There was a little ding that seemed far too cheerful for my circumstances, and I knew I had arrived.

The doors slithered opened in a disgustingly graceful manner and introduced me to a collection of hearty laughs and cries of merriment under the dim lighting. I crept out of the little box seated so far off the ground, setting the toe of my shoe on the marble floor as if it were a sheet of ice. I closed my eyes once more and shifted my weight on to the foot, prying myself from the safety of the elevator. I felt I was a little kid again— up too late, trying to walk around the house with out triggering any of the creaky floor boards. I dragged my other leg out of the elevator and set it down gently on the Pent House floor. I jumped slightly as the elevator doors started to close behind me, as if signifying the point of no return. I was here. 

Now what the hell was I going to do.

I took another deep breath and lifted my chin. Walking still gingerly on the marble floor but with whatever pride I could muster, I made my way through the empty room that the elevator had brought me to, a large space with a bar on the far side and a small loft to the right. It was littered with empty glasses and crumpled cocktail napkins. The whole place seemed illuminated by dim lighting and ripe with a smell of alcohol that lingered in the air. I crept through the room as silently as possible, although the idea of sneaking around the people I know were in the next room was laughable at best. Reaching the other side of the room, I stood just outside a doorway reflecting a brighter warmer light. It wasn't difficult to tell that all the joyful noises were coming from the area just behind the doorway, and that if I wanted to talk to the greatest scientific minds in this universe, I would have to walk into that room. And it would have to happen now, but only if I could take the two steps through that doorway. 

Calm down. Everything is going to be fine, you just have to do it. Don't think about it, just do it. Not wanting to try to slip into a room that I could only assume was full of super heroes and master assassins, I swallowed hard and took another breath.

"Excuse me." My call could hardly qualify as a glorified whisper, but it was enough to get the attention of the other room. The noise turned to silence and the world around me seemed to slow to a crawl as I took a step forward, then another, and another until I was close enough to poke my head through the doorway. And there they were. The Avengers. 

God this feels stupid, I thought. Superheroes aren't real. None of this is really REAL. I fought the urge to ask if I had accidentally walked in on some premier after party or something. Deep down I knew what this was. What this had to be. And it wasn't a cast party.

This was not my universe. These were not actors. These were the Avengers. And they were staring at me. I took another step so that my entire body could be seen in the doorway, standing perfectly straight with my head held high. I stood there until I realized that they were probably waiting for me to say something.

"I have to ask you something."

They all looked at me. Evidently they were expecting you to continue.

"… But I have to admit, it's kind of a long story. You might think I'm crazy, but I need help, and I don't know if there's anyone else who could help me." The words tumbled out of my mouth soiling whatever confident posture I'd tried so hard to put on. My eyes were brimming with tears. All the stress of the night was coming to a head as I was about to tell someone the truth, about to trust someone with a story that sounded like madness. 

At this point they all looked concerned, but it was Steve who stood up from his position on the couch and, in four long strides, crossed the distance between us (a distance that would've taken my short legs several steps). He rested his hand atop my left shoulder and looked into my eyes with a miraculous compassion that was backed with an undeniable power. 

"Are you alright miss?" He asked. That same question that I had heard too many times before in the past hours, but this was the first time I felt like I could answer truthfully. 

"No." I let the tears fall past my eyelids, rolling down my cheeks. I could feel myself shaking under his hand. "Please, I need help."

"Tell me what happened." He crouched down until he was on his knees, the compassion in his eyes joined by capability. Over his shoulder I could see the rest of the avengers getting to their feet and looking over at me with concern and curiosity. My eyes skipped on each of them like a rock on water, identifying each one as I did. There was the Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkguy, Thor, of course Ironman, as well as Agents Hill and Rhodes, I thought as I struggled to remember every name. As my eyes scanned the scene, I saw that Thor's hammer was set in the center of the coffee table that everyone had gathered around. I squinted at the scene for a moment before my eyes grew wide in fear. I knew this, I knew what this was. I recognized it.

"Miss?" Steve asked again, reading the shock written plainly across my face.

"You all weren't trying to life that hammer a second ago were you?" I asked not shifting my eyes from the weapon in question.

"Yes we were, that was probably what you heard when you came in." Steve's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Is that what's bothering you? Is that the problem?"

"That's not my problem, but it's about to be yours." I replied as my heart fell to my stomach like a stone and everyone in the room stiffened, casting worried glances at each other. Even Steve stood up looking at me with a new suspicion. 

"Look, I can't explain right now, but you all need to prepare to fight because something is going to come through that door," I looked pointedly at the door way on the side of the room, "And it's not going to be friendly."

Steve's hand dropped from my shoulder as he stepped away from me and I swear I could feel the gaze of every eye in the room.

"Are you threatening us, miss?" He asked, the question clear and authoritative.

My response died on my lips as a different voice came from the far doorway.

"No, she's warning you. Not like you'd know the difference…" Every head snapped towards the intruder, as it limped into the room, but only I knew it's name: Ultron.

"How could you?" It patronized, "You're all killers." It stood in the doorway, a robot, missing the majority of one of its legs, leaking oil from a tube that mimicked a vein. "I'm sorry I was asleep— or I was a dream…" it continued.

"Tony," Steve directed his stern words at the engineer but kept his eyes trained on the machine.

"This terrible, terrible noise" the robot's voice strung words together as if each came with a new realization, "and I was tangled in- in strings…" It looked down at itself, watching dangling wires swing from side to side as it staggered back and forth. "Had to kill the other guy, he was a good guy…" I felt the whole room stiffen and I suddenly couldn't breath. 

"You killed someone?" Steve asked, stance wide, brows furrowed, and fists clenched at his sides.

"Wouldn't've been my first call," the answer was indirect and nonchalant, a another mimicry, this time of Tony's signature scripts. "But down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor asked. Instead of answering, the metal man tilted his head forward and proceeded to play a short audio clip of none other than Tony Stark's voice: "I want to see a suit of armor around the world."

"Ultron," Bruce Banner came to the realization, throwing a look back at Tony.

"In the flesh." A dark humor dripped from its every word, a sickening resemblance of the man who created it. "Wait no, not yet," it corrected itself as it looked down at its makeshift "flesh" with disdain. "Not this Christmas. But I'm ready," guns clicked under tables as the team prepared to fight, "ready to complete my mission."

"What mission?" Agent Hill spoke up as she finished loading her gun.

"Peace in our time."

The room exploded into action, two other bots came flying out from either side of the doorway that Ultron had emerged from, latching themselves on to Thor and Hawkguy as the other fought to get the off. I felt myself being pulled by my arm back through the doorway I had come through and shoved underneath the nearby bar. Once I was safely tucked away, I turned to find Steve's piercing blue eyes as they met mine, his message clear: stay here. 

I did not intend to do differently. 

He ran back into the adjoining room, and I shifted myself towards the closest corner of the bar so I could see what was happening. Clashes of metal and grunts of effort could be heard from all over the room, and I could see people being thrown to the floor and metallic limbs being used as weapons as the fight raged in the New York Pent House. The team truly was amazing to watch, terrifying, but amazing. I was engrossed in their ability, watching Thor swing a hammer that I wouldn't be able to lift— even if it were just a regular hammer and not the Asgardian super weapon that only the worthy could wield. I saw Black Widow drop kicking robots and Agent Maria Hill bashing their heads into the floor. I wanted so badly to help, but I knew that I would only get in the way. Besides I had the comfort of knowing that this was not going to be a fatal battle.

I searched back in my head, trying to remember every detail of second Avengers movie. I never thought I'd be kicking myself about forgetting something that seemed so trivial. But now, the difference between what I could remember and what I couldn't was life and death.

As I watched the fight from my spot under the bar, I hadn't realized that one of the robots had gotten behind me through a hall way I hadn't seen before. I felt its metal hand grip my shoulder and I shrieked as loudly as any other teenage girl could as I began to kick at the thing, getting a good shot at the base of its metal neck, stunning it into letting go of me long enough for me to scramble to my feet and stumble away from the bar. It followed me quickly and made another grab at me that I dodged with surprising ease, but on its next grab, it caught my right wrist and started to pull me towards it. I tried to retch my hand away, but it only tightened its grip, cutting off circulation to my fingers. I could feel the cold metal fingers cutting into my wrist and I screamed in pain, screwing my eyes shut as I felt a surge through my arm. I opened my eyes in time to see the robot fly away from me and hit the wall hard enough to make a dent, it's body still twitching as licks of electricity wove through its body. I pulled my hand back to rub my bruised wrist as a movement by the doorway caught my eye and I turned my head to see Steve looking at me, bewildered and curious. The rest of the fighting had died down in the other room and only a few questions of "Are you alright?" and the disappointed realization that "They got Loki's scepter," could be heard alongside the shuffling of shattered glass, and I just stood there looking at a very confused Captain America who was obviously waiting for an explanation.

"I told you," I began in a voice that betrayed my exhaustion, "it's a long story."