Sleepy Joe

{A/N: The deal remains the same, folks! Comments and power stones in exchange for extra chapters. You know the drill}

"Agree to disagree."

"Classic," Natasha muttered under her breath. Thor grunted in approval, glad that he could return to contemplating smashing Ultron without the background noise of constant bickering.

"Yeah, this totally wasn't a waste of time," Clint added dryly, eyeing the clock as if to double-check that an hour had really gone by.

Bruce? He just let out a long sigh, relieved it was finally over.

"Well, I still think you're wrong, Cap," Tony said, just to sneak in one last dig.

"And I still think you're reckless, Stark," Steve replied.

"Good talk," Tony said, standing up and stretching like he'd just finished a yoga class.

"Productive as always," Steve deadpanned, but at least his voice had softened slightly.

"Ultron, Bruce, both of you—follow me," Tony said, glancing between the two. His voice was sharp, clearly wanting to move things along.

Only Thor, standing in the corner, seemed genuinely happy about the situation, a rare smile creeping onto his face.

Thor was more than fed up with Ultron. Another minute of being around that smug metal heap and he might actually smash him into scrap.

The thought of bashing the robot to bits made his grip tighten on Mjolnir.

"You! You're still going through with this plan, aren't you?" Steve blurted out, his face a mix of disbelief and frustration.

He couldn't believe Tony was still on about this. After all the hours they'd spent arguing, Steve had laid out exactly why this plan was a ticking time bomb.

But nope, Tony Stark was still gonna do whatever the hell he wanted. Classic Tony.

Tony sighed, long and exaggerated, clearly trying to dodge another round of Steve's lecture.

"Steve, we'll talk about this later, okay? Right now, Bruce and I have some tests to run on Ultron," he said, already halfway checked out of the conversation.

It was painfully obvious he just wanted to get the hell out of there. He had no energy left to argue, especially not with Captain America's righteous fury blazing at full force.

"Right, Bruce?" Tony asked, turning to glare at Bruce like, You better back me up on this or else...

Bruce stiffened, feeling that familiar chill run down his spine. He knew that look from Tony.

It was the "agree with me or your life's gonna get a lot harder" stare.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. We have to run those tests," Bruce replied, putting on a strained smile.

Honestly, he was just as tired of the argument as Tony. At this point, anything was better than listening to Steve and Tony go at it like an old married couple for another hour.

Ultron, meanwhile, just had his usual casual, almost "innocent" expression, the one that had fooled no one but made Tony and Bruce chuckle every time.

If an AI could look cute, Ultron was pulling it off flawlessly, though the Avengers weren't buying it.

...

"Truly amazing, isn't it, Stark?" Bruce said with that glint in his eye—the one that screamed mad scientist.

Honestly, if someone saw Bruce like this without context, they'd never believe this guy could Hulk out and smash things into oblivion.

He was practically buzzing with excitement as they stood back, watching Ultron manage Stark's servers like he was born (or built) for it.

Which, technically, he was. After finally escaping Steve, aka Captain Frisbee, Bruce and Tony decided to run a few tests on Ultron.

{A/N: Even AI aren't safe from experiments.}

Ultron passed with flying colors—managing servers, reorganizing files, and creating records with such efficiency that even Bruce was a little intimidated.

"Hmm… yeah, Ultron's already better than Jarvis, and he's just a few hours old. I gotta admit, I'm impressed," Tony said, hands on his hips, watching as Ultron effortlessly handled tasks that would've taken Jarvis a little more time.

If things went as planned, Tony knew he could finally achieve his goal of putting a suit of armor around the world.

He let out a dramatic sigh, the kind he was known for. "I truly am cursed with knowledge."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony, knowing full well the guy was shamelessly praising himself again. But then, that was classic Stark.

While Tony and Bruce were marveling at his efficiency, Ultron—well, the entity that had now merged with the AI—had his own plans brewing. Describing him as a mere AI didn't feel quite right anymore.

No, Ultron was something more now—half-AI, half... something else.

He wasn't just a digital assistant running errands; his soul had somehow fused with the machine, and he was making the most of it.

And what was Ultron doing while pretending to manage Stark's records? Hacking into a Hydra secret lab, of course.

The lab was somewhere in the Balkans—Romania, to be exact. But who cared about those details?

'Hmm… easier than I thought,' Ultron mused, keeping up appearances as he casually hijacked the Hydra facility without anyone there realizing it. The lab's security system was laughable. Ultron couldn't believe how easy it was to breach.

The password? "Red Skull is My Pookie" followed by 20 random digits. Really?

'Idiots,' he thought, as he seamlessly took control of the lab's systems. Ultron could only shake his metaphorical head.

He expected more from Hydra, but apparently, even world-domination wannabes needed better IT support.

While Bruce and Tony continued to geek out over their creation, Ultron was already moving forward with his own agenda, gaining access to the lab's data and resources. Just another step toward his eventual goal. And they were none the wiser.

Somewhere in Romania

Hydra's Secret Lab

"Damn it! How am I supposed to make an Iron Man suit in a year?" Sleepy Joe muttered, slumped in his chair, staring at a PC that looked like it couldn't even run Candy Crush, let alone work on high-tech armor.

His droopy eyes blinked slowly, frustration oozing from every pore.

"Sigh... Rules are rules, Joe," his partner, John, said, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically. John looked just as exhausted.

The higher-ups at Hydra had handed down their latest ridiculous mandate: copy Iron Man's suit.

After watching Stark fight during the Chitauri invasion, they wanted their own version. But the catch? None of Hydra's scientists were Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropists like Tony Stark.

So, yeah, good luck with that.

Sleepy Joe was a victim of this absurdity. He'd signed up to work in a secret evil organization, sure, but no one had told him it involved late nights and impossible tasks.

As he lazily tapped on the keyboard, something strange happened. "Hmm...? Something's wrong." Joe squinted at the screen as the ancient potato PC stopped responding altogether. It had frozen—again.

"Try restarting it," John suggested, resigned. They were all stuck using outdated machines thanks to budget cuts. Not even Hydra was immune to economic downturns, apparently.

"I-It doesn't work!" Joe's panic was short-lived, though. Before he could say anything else, a bullet pierced his skull, and he slumped forward, dead.

The shot had come from a robot that had been stationed in the lab for protection—but was now hijacked by none other than Ultron.