WHEN the Quinjet landed on a familiar farmhouse terrain, Lyra stood up shakily. Thor wrapped an arm around her waist as the left the jet, helping her from falling as she still felt out of it. Gulping, she turned to see the excitement in Clint's eyes as he helped Natasha up the steps.
"What is this place?" Thor asked.
Tony looked at it curiously. "A safe house?"
Clint smirked. "Let's hope, he said as he opened the door. "Honey, I'm home!" Laura walked out from the kitchen with wide eyes as she took in the Avengers in her home. Clint walked up to her with a smile, kissing her once on the lips. "Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."
"Hey," Laura said softly.
Tony glanced at Thor. "This is an agent of some kind."
"Gentleman, this is Laura," Clint said.
Laura laughed. "I know all your names," she said just as loud footsteps appeared from the stairs.
Clint grinned. "Ooh, incoming." Cooper and Lila ran in, throwing themselves at their father.
"Dad!" Lila shouted as Clint picked her up.
Clint laughed, kissing Cooper's head. "Hey, buddy! How you guys doing?"
Tony frowned. "These are... smaller agents."
Lila looked around. "Did you bring Auntie Nat and Auntie Ly?"
Natasha and Lyra walked forward as Natasha said, "Why don't you hug them and find out?"
Lila rushed toward Natasha who picks her up in her arms as Cooper hugged Lyra tightly. "Hey, buddy. You've grown a ton," Lyra said softly, ruffling his hair. Natasha and Lyra swapped as Lyra placed many little kisses all over Lila's face. "My favorite niece! Oh, look how beautiful you've gotten!"
Steve coughed. "Sorry for barging in on you."
Tony eyed Lyra as she approached Laura to hug her. "Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony remarked.
"This isn't what I meant when I said I wanted to see you soon," Laura said with a smirk as Lyra laughed, holding her tightly before kissing her stomach once.
"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low," Clint said as Natasha hugged Laura next.
Laura smield. "Honey. Ah, I missed you."
Natasha rubbed Laura's stomach. "How's little Natasha, huh?" Lyra turned when she heard a smash of something. She could see Steve and Thor staring at broken lego pieces as Thor swiftly brushed them under the table.
"She's... Nathaniel," Laura said softly.
Natasha leaned down to whisper at the stomach, "Traitor."
Lila walked over to Thor in awe of the God, but Thor suddenly turned to leave.
Steve followed him out, and Lyra noticed Thor fly away with his hammer. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. Looking at Laura, she asked, "Do you have any Tylenol?"
Laura nodded, grabbing her hand. "Come on, honey," she said as Clint was telling the others where they could go to change and shower. Natasha went to her bedroom Laura had made for her while Lyra and Laura went to the kitchen. Laura dug through her medical cabinet. "How is Charlotte?"
"She's okay," Lyra said, "I hope. Pepper's been sending me videos, but I'd like to be with my child, you know?"
"Well, Clint's done this for years. He knows how it feels," Laura said softly.
"I know. He's been my rock since I found out I was pregnant," Lyra said as she grabbed the medicine from Laura's hand. She swallowed it dry and she turned to see Tony standing by the door. "What?"
"Can we talk?"
Laura grabbed Lyra's hand as he walked off. "Be easy on him. Remember... this was never his intention, okay?"
Lyra gulped, following Tony up the stairs to Natasha's room. Natasha threw her an outfit from her closet as Tony grabbed a shirt from Clint's pile he gave them. They walked to the first floor bathroom, locking the door behind them.
Tony immediately grabbed a towel to wet it. Once he did, he gently wiped the dirt and soot from Lyra's face. "I'm really sorry, Ly."
"I know you are," she whispered.
"What did you see?" he asked, referring to her time stuck in her mind. "Ly?" he asked softly when the faraway look in her eye never faltered.
"Malibu. Us three living normally until your suits took over and tried to kill us," Lyra said, watching his face fall. She grabbed the towel from him and began to clean his face instead. "I get it, Tone. You want to keep us safe. I just wish you'd think things through sometimes, you know?"
He nodded, dropped his head to her shoulder. He placed a kiss on her neck as she slowly wrapped herself around him. "I'm sorry," he said again. "How long have you known about Barton's family?"
"When I became an agent. He trusted me," Lyra said. "I've been here a handful of times."
Tony nodded, keeping his head in her neck. "Auntie Ly? Did they know about me?"
"You didn't see the family portrait on the fridge that Lila drew with me and you holding hands? They think Iron Man is awesome," Lyra said softly.
He let out a breathy laugh, holding her tighter.
Lyra watched Clint and Cooper measure a large piece of wood an hour later. She sat on a chair next to them as Cooper told her and Clint about a project he had did at school based on the Avengers. No one knew who his dad was, not really, so when he did his report on Hawkeye, everyone thought he knew the guy personally. Clint laughed at that, ruffling his hair.
"I teach them well, yes?" Clint asked with a smirk toward Lyra as she noticed Steve and Tony chopping wood. Lyra's phone rang, and she saw it was Nick Fury.
"Hello?"
"Get Tony into the shed. I need a conversation," Fury said before ending the call.
She stood up with a sigh. "We have company," she told Clint. Laura walked outside, and Lyra smiled at her. "Can you get Tony into the shed?"
Laura looked at her oddly before nodding. "Sure."
After Tony and Fury's conversation, Lyra had helped Laura and Natasha make dinner for the large family. Lila was practically attacked to her hip as she did things, so Lila had helped a bit as well. After dinner, Lyra stood by the door, watching the sky as if Ultron would find them and hurt the Bartons. She was worried about everything.
Fury was washing some dishes—because apparently he knew his way around the Barton home as well—and he eyed the Avengers around the room. "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."
Steve held a stern expression. "What about Ultron himself?"
"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."
Tony stood near Clint as he played with the dart board. "He still going after launch codes?" Suddenly, Clint sent a perfect bullseye with a smile and a shrug.
Fury sat down and eyed Clint oddly. "Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."
Tony scoffed. "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."
"I remember that. Rhodey and I swore you couldn't," Lyra said with a small laugh.
Fury noticed the tension between Tony and Lyra, but he said nothing. "Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that."
Steve looked confused. "Nexus?"
Bruce stood behind Natasha. "It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth."
"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."
Tony furrowed his brows. "By whom?"
"Parties unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Lyra asked.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is," Fury answered.
"I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown,'" Tony said.
Natasha sighed. "Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."
"I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard," Fury answered.
Natasha smirked. "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk."
"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve said with a breathy laugh.
"So what does he want?" Fury asked.
"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies."
Tony walked over to Lyra. "Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha said.
Bruce suddenly grabbed a picture Lila drew of a butterfly. "They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."
"How?"
Bruce looked up in worry. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"
The Avengers stood quickly after that. They needed to go now.
Once they were dressed, Lyra hugged Laura and the kids with kisses to the children's foreheads that had Cooper wiping it off with a smirk. Steve walked up to Tony. "I'll take Natasha, Lyra, and Clint."
"Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the Nexus, I'll join you as soon as I can," Tony said.
"If Ultron is really building a body—" Lyra started.
"He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."
"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me," Steve joked.
Fury walked out to stand next to them. "I'll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"
Tony shrugged. "She's all yours, apparently. What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope," Fury said.
Tony grabbed Lyra's hand before she could walk away. "I love you. I love you more than anything. You and Charlotte are my world. I-I'll stop. I will. I just need to make sure the threat isn't imminent. You don't understand what else is out there waiting for us–"
"And you do?"
"No, I don't. That's what terrifies me," Tony admitted. He kissed her. "Please, be safe."
"You, too," Lyra whispered. "I love you."