BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 3

Hawkeye aimed his smoke arrow with great dexterity at the raging Ultron, who was at that moment too intent on vaporizing U.S. Agent to notice anyone else.

“Now,” said Ultron, “you laughable excuse for a pitiful species, it is time to die.”

Hawkeye fired. The arrow hit Ultron in his right eye-slot and began billowing smoke, temporarily blinding Ultron while U.S. Agent ran to join his fellow Avengers.

“Okay, folks,” said Hawkeye to the rest of the team, of which only Iron Man and the still-unconscious Wonder Man were missing, “time ta take down the tin-can-man. Avengers, attack!”

“Ahh, the more victims the merrier!” shrieked a sight-restored Ultron.

The Scarlet Witch sent Ultron staggering with a hex-bolt, while Spider-Woman bound him in her psionic web. Hawkeye fired his most powerful explosive arrow into Ultron’s maw. The blast sent flames and sparks flying out of Ultron’s head, but the evil robot shook off the shock easily.

“Soft, all of you – soft!” said Ultron, ripping his way out of the psi-web and swatting away the Avengers one by one.

“Too soft for you?” came a heavily filtered voice. “Then try me instead.”

Ultron could not help but be shocked for a split second as he took in the sudden sight of Iron Man in his new armor, which made him look more like a tank than a man.

That split second was all Iron Man needed. His shoulder-mounted gatling gun and double-barreled wrist-mounted cannon fired a barrage of bullets powerful enough to pierce even the adamantium that made up Ultron’s outer shell. With great precision, Iron Man followed this with near-nuclear-strength mini-rockets aimed squarely at Ultron’s biggest wounds. Ultron’s form was now twisted, distorted and emitting foul-smelling smoke. A blast from Iron Man’s particle beam cannon almost knocked Ultron to the ground, but he was still standing until additional firepower came via two enormous guns that Dr. Pym produced from his pocket in miniature size and instantly grew with his special particles. Ultron was finally down.

Iron Man hadn’t expected this from Dr. Pym, and neither had anyone else. Iron Man and Dr. Pym’s eyes met, and Dr. Pym smirked and winked at Iron Man.

After a tense few seconds, there came a startling transformation in U.S. Agent, Mockingbird, and Spider-Woman. Giving in to their basest animal instincts, they dog-piled on Ultron’s remains and began tearing them apart savagely. Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, and the Wasp could only stare in horror.

Suddenly, Ultron rallied with his last ounce of strength and tossed aside his attackers. “Fools!” he raged, “No matter how hard you try, you cannot kill me!”

A guttural voice emerged from the shadows. “Wanna bet?”

Wonder Man, recovered, rushed Ultron, his hands blazing ionic power. One hand grabbed Ultron’s neck, the other a crack in Ultron’s mid-section. With a terrifying roar, Wonder Man ripped Ultron in half and slammed the remains to the ground.

Without hesitating, Iron Man turned his particle beam back on, this time full-force, melting Ultron’s remains to slag. Before Ultron expired, he shocked everybody one last time...by laughing. “Now you can fool yourselves no longer – you are truly no better than I!” More laughter followed, until nothing remained of Ultron but a small puddle of metal.

Hawkeye finally found his voice, and used it loudly. “Ya MANIACS! Ya should all be locked up in chains! Ya call yourselves HEROES??”

“As the old saying goes, the ends justify the means.” said Iron Man coldly. “Besides, you’re not gonna tell me this robot had a soul.”

“An’ what’s gonna happen when we face a flesh-an’-blood villain?” demanded Hawkeye. “You gonna blast him an’ tear him apart an’ torch him, too??”

“If need be, yeah.” sneered Wonder Man facetiously.

“Face it, Hawkeye,” said Mockingbird, “there’s no place for wishy-washy wimps in the modern world.”

“Lady,” grinned U.S. Agent, “you took the words right outta my mouth.”

“So what’s it gonna be, Hawkeye?” asked Spider-Woman, “Are you gonna discharge us all?”

“I’ll beat him to the punch.” said Iron Man. “I’m quitting the Avengers and forming a new team, so anybody’s free to come join me.”

“Count me in.” said Mockingbird.

“Me, too,” said U.S. Agent.

“And me.” said Spider-Woman.

“I’ll join you, Tony.” said Dr. Pym.

“HANK!” exclaimed a horrified Wasp.

“No...” groaned Hawkeye, “...not you, too, Hank.”

“How can you do this, after what we were talking about earlier?” demanded the Scarlet Witch.

“What can I say?” shrugged Dr. Pym. “The scales fell from my eyes. Thanks to Tony, my greatest mistake has been taken care of permanently. That’s pretty damn inspiring.”

“Enough talk,” said Wonder Man, “let’s go do some justice!”

Iron Man and his acolytes walked away, leaving Hawkeye, the Wasp, and the Scarlet Witch behind.

“This is the last straw.” said the Scarlet Witch. “If this is the future for superheroes, I want no part of it.”

“Don’t give up on us, Wanda.” pleaded Hawkeye.

“Yeah,” said the Wasp, “we’ll just re-join the original Avengers.”

“With other killers like Vision, Sersi, Black Knight, and Hercules?” retorted the Scarlet Witch. “ No, thank you.”

“Maybe Wanda’s right.” whimpered Hawkeye. “Maybe we should just quit this dirty business. I’m sure I’ll find a carnival out there willing ta take on an over-the-hill archer.”

“That’s your decision, Hawkeye.” said the Wasp. “I’m sticking with the Avengers.”

The Scarlet Witch and the Wasp went their separate ways, leaving Hawkeye all alone.

Hawkeye stood alone for what seemed like an eternity, tears streaming down his mask.

Finally, he sighed to himself, “That’s life,” and began walking in search of whatever awaited.