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Marlene made her way back to Avengers Tower not long after dropping Peter off at his apartment in Queens. She knew Clint was injured and being patched up by Dr. Cho, who was a delightful woman with an odd obsession for Thor.
As she passed the training room, she caught a quick glance. Steve and Nat were both training at the moment, and looks as though they have for a while. Natasha moved to do her signature scissor leg move, but Steve caught her just as she wrapped her legs around his neck. He rolled to the ground quickly, somehow managing to pin Natasha to the ground.
She wasn't there for long before getting out of it. She definitely could've gotten out of it faster if she would stop drowning in his eyes . . . but that was a story for another time.
Marlene moved along, feeling like she was witnessing something personal.
Clint was in Bruce's lab with Dr. Cho. Thor was most likely in the kitchen or marveling at the movie picture box.
That left Tony and Bruce to be in either Tony's lab or Marlene's.
And she was ready to beat some men up if they messed with her stuff.
When Marlene entered Tony's lab, she found the two of them goggling at two holograms.
One she instantly recognized. It was a cozy orange color that made her feel safe. However, the one next to it was something completely new. It was nearly twice the size of JARVIS, and a cold blue. While both were a spherical shape, the blue hologram seemed . . . unwelcoming.
"It's beautiful," Bruce sighed.
"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?" Tony questioned turning to Bruce.
"Like it's thinking," Marlene answered, pushing herself off of the wall she was leaning against and moving towards them. "Like neurons are firing."
"Exactly, blondie!" Tony grinned, pointing a pen at her like he was a teacher of some sorts. "This is why you're my favorite, and the better Rogers."
Bruce rolled his eyes while the corner of Marlene's lip quirked up
"Down in Strucker's lab I saw some fairly advanced robotics work," Tony spoke. Surprisingly, his dark brown hair didn't look like it was going in seven thousand different directions. "They deep-sixed the data, but... I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."
"Artificial intelligence," Bruce said, still amazed.
This could be it, Bruce, Blondie," Tony said hopefully. He sounded like a kid excited to go into the candy store. "This could be the key to creating Ultron."
"I thought Ultron was a fantasy," Bruce countered.
"We dropped that project months ago, mate," Marlene agreed with Bruce.
"Yesterday it was," Tony acknowledged. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol."
"That's a mad-sized if," Bruce added, his black looked like it was greying in that instant.
"Our job is 'if.' What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for VERONICA."
"Don't hate, I helped design VERONICA," Bruce frowned at Tony's remark.
"My brother was a 'What if'," Marlene joked as she mocked a deep voice, resembling Colonel Phillips. "What if we take shrimpy over here and use him as a lab rat . . . might not work . . . but hey! If it does, we get a super buff, blonde dude.
"As a worst-case measure, right? How about a best-case? What if the world was safe? What if next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?" Tony said, almost like he was proposing a business deal...which he technically was.
"The only people threatening the planet would be people?" Bruce wondered.
"I've seen some people do some nasty things to other people," Marlene mumbled.
"I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense," Tony continued. "We can only do it while we have the scepter here, that's three days, give me three days."
"So you're going for artificial intelligence and you don't want to tell the team," Bruce raised a dark brow.
"Right. That's right, you know why, because we don't have time for a city hall debate," Tony said with his typical sass. "I don't want to hear the 'man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."
"Sounds like a cold world, Tony," Bruce said sadly.
"I've seen colder," Marlene remarked, tilting her head and raising a brow.
"This one, this very vulnerable blue one?" Tony continued, going off of what Marlene said. "It needs Ultron. Peace in our time. Imagine that."
Marlene would be the first to admit that she was skeptical at first, but definitely not as skeptical as Bruce. She thought a lot about it, just as she always did.
Stopping a war before it started . . . that was . . . you couldn't argue with the possibility. Protecting the people on this Earth was what she was meant to do. This A.I. could help with that.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. It definitely didn't within the next couple of days.
For the next three days, the trio worked tirelessly on 'Ultron'.
When the time for the party came, the three of them made their way up from the lab.
"Damn, Rogers!" A voice called as Marlene made her way through the room. "You looking fine!"
"Nothing beats you, Wilson," Marlene winked at her friend as she pulled him into a quick hug.
Sam and Marlene's outfits practically contrasted each other. Sam wore a dark jacket and a red shirt. Marlene wore midnight blue dres pants and white button up shirt was tucked into her bottoms.
"I can never win this game, can I?" Sam grumbled, taking a sip of his scotch.
"Depends on what you call winning?" Marlene grinned as the two of them made their way over to the bar.
"Finally making you stutter or not have a response. Hell! I'd settle for some blushing!" Sam stated as he waved over the bartender.
"Nothing makes me blush, darlin. I make others blush," Marlene said, the troublemaker grin never falling from her face.
A part of Sam wanted to ask if Bucky could make her flustered, but he didn't want to ruin her mood. Besides, he had a feeling he'd know eventually.
"I'll find a way to make you blush, Rogers," Sam winked at her.
"I'm quaking in my boots," Marlene said with feigned fear.
Sam opened his mouth to speak another flirty remark when Steve interrupted with an unimportant look on his face.
"Don't flirt with my sister," Steve said with disgust, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Great," Marlene groaned, throwing a shot of tequila to the back of her throat. "Over protective brother. Why weren't you like this in the 40s?"
Steve didn't say anything. He wasn't this up front about it in the 40s. He wasn't exactly intimidating enough to go up to someone twice your size and tell them not to flirt with your sister that was eye candy to everything. He typically took it to the back alleys . . . or rather, he was dragged there when he did say something to these men.
"Why can't you go back to drooling over Nat?" Marlene groaned.
"I do not-"
"You do," Sam and Marlene both cut him off.
"Hey, listen, man," Marlene said sincerely. "I can't blame you. Honestly, if I swung that way, bet your ass we'd already be married."
"That sentence makes me think you seing both ways-"
"Hey look! Tony and Clint are having a drinking contest!" Marlene cut her brother off and walked away from him, not even hearing what he said. "Time to go break some egos!"
"She truly is something else," Steve shook his head before turning back to Sam, who was starring at Marlene intently. "Seriously?"