James Rogers

The fight in Ultra City isn't over, not yet. Ultron is gone, for now, thanks to Torrun, but there's still that worry in the back of his mind, that Ultron will be back, and they still won't be ready for him.

Tonight, he's taken a fire away from the others. Pym and Azari are off doing something that looks like a complicated game of tag. Torrun is praying to her father again. Or actually talking to him, for all James knows. Tony is working on Vision's body that they'd fetched from the Arctic.

He just needs a moment to get this all straightened out in his head. Thor is real. Clint Barton had been real. That meant....

A soft voice, singing in Russian, the smell of sweat and metal, the feel of the shield under his tiny hands. All that could have been real too.

He pokes his fire a bit, eating the rations that Tony had found for them. He's not sure what he's brooding about tonight, but this is far more than just not wanting to listen to Tony. This is his wanting to know where they go from here.

He hears the scrape of a shoe and has a moment to brace himself before Francis joins him at the fire. He doesn't say anything, just uses his stick to poke the flames again.

Name: Cat
DW username: N.A
E-Mail: catrood –at- the gmail
IM: AIM: LadyFoxstone
Plurk: errantwritings

Other Characters:
Ellen Harvelle: justrunsasaloon
Porthos: dashingdignity

Character Name: James Rogers
Series: Marvel’s Next Avengers
Timeline: End of the movie
Canon Resource Link: Wiki link
Character History: James and the others grew up on stories of the Avengers. Of the Soldier (Captain America), the Spy (Black Widow), the Knight (Iron Man), the King (Black Panther), the Giant (Giant Man), the Pixie (Wasp), the Ghost (Vision) and the Archer (Hawkeye) and how they eventually fell to Ultron.

James is a pretty typical teenager – filthy room, refusing to get out of bed and surly disposition. The other three children decide that James should be awake (he snores).

Azari wakes him from a dead sleep and James slams his holographic shield into the other boy, smacking him into a mud puddle outside. James walks out, growling about being woken up. When the others chastise him for not joining training, James asks what is he going to miss, laundry day? He then jumps backward and behind Azari and Pym, pointing out that they can act however they want (Azari as a King, Pym as a superhero and Torrun in a fantasy world of ayes and verily-s) but nothing will happen. So what’s the point. When Torrun calls him a jerk, James points out their parents are dead, hers just abandoned her.

Torrun attacks him and he activates the shield generator on his arm, creating a holographic replica of his father’s shield and catching her (presumably Asgardian) sword against it. James taunts her by saying her magic sword doesn’t scare him.

The fight is ended when Tony (Stark) tells the children to go to their separate bungalows and cool off. Tony stops James, telling him he understands – about being stuck, about being angry, about how James’ father could never handle having nothing to do. Tony says James can go to him, but James points out that that’s the point – Tony isn’t his father.

Alarms start sounding. James, and the other children, are sent to James’ bungalow. Stuck there, James dresses. Azari asks if James has ever heard of cleaning up.

The children talk about why they’re stuck there and what could be going on. Torrun thinks they should be with Tony, Pym suggests it’s Ultron – the thing that killed their parents. James scoffs and points out it’s likely something else – a fire on the machine level or a watermain leak. “It’s not Ultron.”

James flips on his shield when he sees the thing that walks through the wall of the bungalow. It turns out to be Vision, another member of the Avengers that has appeared for repairs. Tony comes in and takes Vision away to repair him.

James chases after Tony, but is told to wait until later, when Tony will give him an explanation. James is the first to agree to follow Tony into the bowels of the area where they live. James gets Pym to open the door, and then leads the way down.

James pauses for a moment, vaguely remembering being in this place before. Then, lights come on. Standing before all of them are the robotic equivalents of their parents. James is the first to identify them. James stares at the robots, allowing the others to talk, while he contemplates his parents. He can’t just walk away. Even when Torrun tells him to follow, he can’t.

He stands there, contemplating his robotic father and mother. He doesn’t remember them, but this is a chance… He even asks Torrun, “what if it has my dad’s voice? or if it’s programmed to be like him? Or his memories? Do you think he can hear me?”

Then James makes a huge mistake: He steps into the light and asks the robot if it’s online. Immediately all the robots come online. He and Torrun jump backward away from them and watch them leave the facility. Oops.

He tells them to wait, to stop, to stand down. Then he tries to stop the robot Captain America by grabbing its arm and calling it Dad. None of that works. He watches as the Iron Avengers take off into a snowy evening sky. He’s scared of what he’s done, of what has happened, but he immediately runs for Tony with Torrun, telling him what he did and what happened. James apologizes a lot, knowing that he did something wrong.

Tony tells them they’re leaving and all of them are shocked but they run for the control center on Tony’s orders. He’s been their father for a long time. Vision explains why the Iron Avengers are going offline – Ultron is overtaking and corrupting their systems.

Then Ultron attacks.

They learn that Tony is the Knight (Iron Man) and they run for a way to get out of the only home they’ve known for most of their lives. Vision launches the quinjet, taking them away. James tells Vision to take them back, that they have to go back.

Vision refuses, and tries to convince the children to head for the Savage Land. When Vision runs out of power, the children argue about what they should do. James blames himself for what happened to their home and to Tony.

Pym, one of the other children, manages to fly the quinjet to Ultra City to go after Ultron. James tells Torrun that her plan to fight through the city is a bad idea, but she doesn’t listen. “Tell me she didn’t just do that.” – what he says to the other two when she attacks the robots.

He and the others join the fight, James using the shield, larger than before, to protect Azari from falling debris from one of the robots. He’s grabbed and pulled back through a wall with the others.

Uncertain where they are, James wakes up completely confused. Then, there are “robot people” trapping him, Pym and Azari. But he’s glad to see Torrun. They follow this other kid (Barton) through the sewers. He explains about the Scavengers and how Ultron doesn’t keep prisoners. Despite his warnings, James and the others decide to go after Tony in the Citadel. He asks Barton if he wants to give them a hand. Barton turns them down and James is rather mean when he asks “Did your father give up this easily?”

Barton agrees to show them how to get there, but nothing more.

James leads the other kids to the Citadel and then leads them inside. James reassures Torrun that everything will be okay. Then, they come across a ‘trophy case’ dedicated to the Avengers, including broken armor from Iron Man and the destroyed mask of Captain America along with his shield. James steps on a panel, and the entire room lights up, showing a trophy case of the world’s heroes that Ultron defeated.

They finally rescue Tony, only to be caught by Ultron and the Iron Avengers. James barely leaps to safety when Ultron fires of him. During the escape, he, Azari, and Hawkeye fall off part of the building and are only saved from going splat by Torrun.

Later that night, after Tony is seen to, Tony sits up and explains about how he built Ultron and how it evolved without their control, before turning on them and destroying the Avengers. He explains why Francis (Barton) didn’t come with the others and why they were always hidden.

They also learn about the Hulk. And how he disappeared into the desert. Hawkeye shows them a way out of the city and then joins them in looking for the Hulk in the desert. He talks to Hawkeye about how big the world is. Also, Torrun is not a girl. She’s also not available.

James watches Betty and Bruce Banner reunite after many years. James asks the important question: Can the Hulk defeat Ultron? He’s given a speech about how the Hulk doesn’t care about Ultron and just wants to be left alone.

After that, the children are outside. Torrun says they have to hide. James, however, points out that they have to stand up to Ultron. If they don’t then who will? If they don’t stand up for people like Hawkeye’s Scavengers, who will? And the longer they wait, the stronger Ultron gets.

He slides down the hillside and points out that they owe it to their parents. Then he says they can bring Ultron to the Hulk, since the Hulk won’t go to Ultron. Torrun disappears, saying she can’t, but the others go to the ship and start it, knowing that will bring Ultron and the Iron Avengers.

Tony comes out, asking them what they think they’re doing. James points out “what our parents would have.” Which renders Tony speechless.

James gets the unwelcome task of telling the Hulk what they did. Bruce grabs the boy and slams him against the cavern wall, shaking him and asking him what he did. While a storm brews outside the cavern, inside, the children and Tony talk about the coming fight.

Just before the Iron Avengers arrive, Torrun rejoins the group and James is glad to see her. When she says he knows she wouldn’t miss a fight, he smiles and says ‘verily’. Then, the Iron Avengers are there, and the time for joking is over.

The children run outside and are confronted with Iron Giant Man. He punches the wall and the children fall. Torrun ends up saving Azari and James from falling onto the ground. Then, the children square off against different opponents.

James takes on both Black Widow and Captain America. When Tony falls, James uses the shield that Iron Captain is using and launches himself up the hillside. Using his shield as a skateboard/toboggan, he slides along the hillside and catches Tony before he can fall, but Tony is already unconscious.

He reengages with Iron Cap and Iron Widow. She takes out his shield generator, but he’d taken the shield from Iron Cap and he picks that up, and throws it at her, disabling three of her four arms. When Pym is attacked by “robot moms” (robot Wasps) James throws the metal shield and takes out one of them while he leaps up to catch it.

James shouts for Pym to get to the Hulk. Anger brings him out, make him angry! After several… juvenile suggestions (He’s fourteen, okay?) the Iron Cap jumps out of the rubble and James leaps down to fight him again. Everyone stops and stares when the Hulk roars. James is awed by the Hulk calling him ‘Incredible’.

… Then Ultron arrives. While the Hulk handles Ultron, the rest of them are in combat with their robot parents. James finally uses his (Cap’s) shield to slice the Iron Cap in half. He flings himself, and the shield, at Ultron, saving Torrun. James is under fire – literally – when the Hulk arrives and eventually rips Ultron apart.

The kids are prepared to take on the Hulk when he stomps over in front of Pym. But Betty Ross intervenes and turns Hulk’s attention away.

James watches as Ultron starts twitching again. When Torrun grabs the parts and starts flying upward, James tries to stop her. It’s dangerous what she’s proposing. When she doesn’t immediately fall back to Earth, he starts pacing, wondering what happened to her. He scuffs the dirt, worried beyond all reason.

He’s ecstatic when she appears again and runs to give her a hug, laughing when Vision starts talking again. Then, he picks up the shield one more time. Hawkeye suggests they go to Ultra City to handle the robots. When Tony asks if they’re up for a little “avenging”, James raises the shield and says “Avengers! Assemble!”

Abilities/Special Powers:

Battle Ready: James has been trained from an early age to be ready for battle and for combat.

Shield: He’s also been trained to use the shield from the generator on his wrist, and that transfers into the metal shield when it’s dropped by Iron Captain America.

Gymnastics: It’s obvious the way James moves that he’s been trained in gymnastics as it pertains to the battlefield.

Third-Person Sample: James pushes himself up. His arm aches where the shield is still. He groans and flops over onto his back. Falling out of a plane hurts. Why hadn’t Torunn caught him? She had the last time he’d fallen out of a plane… well, that plane had been blown up. But she'd still carried all of them.

Hearing the soft lapping of water nearby, James forces himself to stand. It’s water. He knows what it is, but he’s never smelled seawater before. The water at home had all been fresh. It tastes nasty. He spits it out, grimacing and turns on a dime, hearing someone nearby. The shield is up and at the ready. “Who are you? Where is my family?”

First-Person Sample: [James still has the shield. He’s been clutching it, since he’d won it back from that robot Tony had built of his father. Plus, his shield generator isn’t working on his wrist. The shots from his mother’s robot had damaged it and without his workshop, Tony couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t fix the shield either. Apparently, the metal was too rare.]

Azari? Torrun? Pym? Hawkeye? Where are you guys? This isn’t Ultra City. Where are we?

[He’s barely aware of the broadcasting thing nearby and stands, holding the shield like he’s used to holding one.]

Mr. Vision? Is this the Savage Land? Tony? Where are you? TONY?!

Second Third Person:

James slams the book closed. All the 'thees' and 'thous' remind him of Torrun and that's an ache that he's unwilling to face right now. Reaching up, he puts the book back and truns down the aisles, looking for something that might actually be useful in getting out of this place. He needs to get home, to help the others.

His one escape attempt so far - through a closet - had resulted in being buried in sports equipment and having to duck behind the shield to dodge a falling bowling ball. Not his finest moment.

Fingers trail over the spine of the books as he walks through the aisles, the shield strapped to his back. That, he's never letting go of. Not only had it been his father's, but he doesn't trust this place not to take it from him too.

His fingers find a book - There and Back Again. Maybe this will tell him how to get out of here and back to the others. Grabbing it, he pulls the shield off to rest against his legs while he reads.

By the time he realizes it's not showing him the way home, James is engrossed in the story. So engrossed that when someone speaks behind him, he dives forward, rolling and coming up with the shield at the ready. "Oh, uh, sorry..."