Keira just watched the bedroom slowly turn darker as the sun made its way across the heavens. Despite not having been forced to relive any of her worst fears or memories, she still felt like she had. Because it was almost impossible to shut out the howling voices of feelings and thoughts from her teammates. With a small sigh, she let her head fall back against the headboard.
The team would be able to recover, they always did. The only question was; how long would it take this time?
Natasha stirred in her sleep, causing Keira to look down at her sleeping figure. Her eyebrows were furrowed together and it looked like she was chewing the inside of her cheek. But as Keira gently brushed a hand through the red locks, Natasha's brows slowly unknotted and her face relaxed.
The day had taken a toll on Natasha, not only physically but mentally as well. After their little talk, both women had collapsed in bed, Natasha with her head in Keira's lap.
But unlike her friend, Keira seemed unable to sleep. Her mind was simply too preoccupied, and it wasn't nearly exhausted enough to grant her some peace. Would she get any wiser by mulling things over? Probably not.
So, with slow moments, so as to not wake the spy in her lap, Keira untangled herself and put her feet down on the hardwood floor. Before she left the room, however, she tucked a blanket around Natasha's sleeping form.
Climbing down the stairs without making a sound was easy. After all, she had spent a lot of time in this house, and therefore knew exactly which floorboards would creak, so she made it to the kitchen without trouble.
Clint was standing there, absentmindedly looking out of the window with a bowl of cereal in his hand.
"Managed to spot any flying elephants yet?" Keira asked casually, folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head.
"Oh, Jesus!" Clint shrieked, jumping so badly that he nearly spilled his cereal.
Keira pursed her lips in thought before shaking her head. "Hm, no. I appreciate that you believe I'm godly, but I think I'll reserve that title for Thor. Thank you though." She chuckled, scooting over so she could join him by the window.
Clint playfully rolled his eyes. "Be glad I didn't spill my cereal, or you would've been forced to clean up."
"Pfft, and here I thought your birdlike reflexes wouldn't allow for such mortal things to happen." Keira shrugged, the corners of her lips twitching slightly. "And besides, I clean up my own messes, but you spilling your cereal merely because you're a chicken, doesn't count."
"Watch it. You're still under my roof." Clint warned, pointing a finger at the blonde, but his twinkling eyes made it clear that it was all a joke.
"So?" Keira's smile broke into a smirk as she brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Besides, I know who's in charge of this place, and I'm terribly sorry to break the news to you, Clinton, but it's not you. And knowing your wife, she'll put up a fight before she banishes me off these grounds."
"I'm afraid she's right about that, honey." A soft voice said from behind them, causing them both to spin around.
"See? Told you." Keira shot a victorious smile in Clint's direction before crossing the room and embracing Laura in a one-armed hug. "Thanks for having my back."
"Of course, we girls gotta stay together." Laura chuckled, throwing her arms around the blonde.
Clint merely grumbled a few incoherent words under his breath from his place by the window, but he was watching the hug between his wife and friend with warm eyes.
After having released Laura, something out on the porch drew Keira's attention. "No way..." She muttered distractedly, moving out of the kitchen and into the hall. In front of Tony, a person she hadn't seen for a very long time was walking. "Director Furry. Never thought I'd see you again." She mused, raising an eyebrow before doing a mock salute at the man.
"Call me that again, and I'll shoot you myself, Nowak."
❆
"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." Fury explained severely, the topic landing on the problem at hand. Despite not being the director of SHIELD anymore, the man could still pull some strings.
Keira poured herself some orange juice, but her focus wasn't just on the liquid because her eyes kept darting to Natasha. The redhead looked like she had managed to sleep pretty well until Keira had awoken her to announce Fury's arrival, but there was still some tiredness lingering in those green eyes. Having filled her cup to the brim, Keira put down the juice jug just as Lila sprinted over.
The little girl gained Natasha's attention when she presented the redhead with a drawing. Natasha gently cupped the girl's cheek and thanked her for the picture with a big smile. Lila then took off in the direction of her mother, who was halfway up the stairs to put the kids to bed.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve quizzed, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Oh, he's easy to track. He's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit." Normally, the joke probably would've earned at least some chuckles, but this wasn't a normal circumstance. So instead, Keira pushed a sandwich over to Natasha, who somewhat reluctantly accepted the PB&J sandwich. "Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."
Tony, who had been throwing darts for quite some time now, joined in. "He still going after launch codes?"
"Yes, he is." Fury replied simply, focused on cutting up some tomatoes for his sandwich. "But he's not making any headway."
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony scoffed, not believing that his AI wouldn't be able to access the information.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."
"NEXUS?" Steve asked, not having heard the name before.
Keira almost jumped from her seat, and after a kind nod from Bruce, she explained. "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 chimed in, twirling a dart around in his hand.
"He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are constantly being changed." Fury answered.
The codes were being changed? How? And by who? Who could possibly match the speed of an AI like Ultron?
"By whom?" Tony asked, thinking along the same lines as Keira. Three darts flew past his face, planting themselves in the bullseye. He threw an accusing look at Clint, who just shrugged, not being able to help himself from showing off.
"Parties unknown."
Natasha looked up from her sandwich, which was nearly finished. She hadn't realized how hungry she had been until she had started eating. "We have an ally?"
"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing." Fury denied. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."
"I might need to visit Oslo." Tony placed both his hands on the door frame, his head slightly lowered. "Find our 'unknown'." Well, if there was anyone that would be able to figure out who their helper was, it was Tony. Unfortunately, that would also mean that they'd lose him for at least half a day, if not longer. And they would definitely need his suit against Ultron, but hopefully shit didn't go down before he returned.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha sighed from beside Keira.
"I do. I have you."
Keira had to force herself not to scoff at the statement. It sounded like something that Steve would've said back in the day. The fight is never lost as long as you have a good team to back you up. And looking around, it seemed like she wasn't the only one who thought this.
"Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up." Fury walked closer to the table, a glass in one hand and a piece of bread in the other. "Here we are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard." He settled down at the end of the table, done with his speech.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha smirked, causing Keira's face to break into a smile.
Steve playfully glared at her. "You know what, Romanoff?" The poor man was never gonna live that down.
But Fury was having none of the jokes. "So, what does he want?" He questioned, bringing them back to the subject at hand. Ultron.
"To become better." Steve answered and Keira nodded in agreement. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."
"Person bodies." Tony chimed in. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."
Something had started to tick in Keira's mind. While the human body may be inefficient, it also meant it had room for improvement. And without their imperfections, the human body could prove to be a very able one. So maybe that's why Ultron kept coming back to it? Maybe he had found a way of correcting the weaknesses? And if the human part was the weakness, it would make sense for the AI to want them to go extinct.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha addressed both Bruce and Tony, although she was looking mostly at Tony. Bruce in the meantime had shuffled closer and was observing the drawing that Natasha had received from Lila earlier.
"They don't need to be protected." Bruce uttered in a low voice, his finger following the wing of the yellow butterfly. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."
"How?" Fury demanded, lowering his drink.
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"
Shock and dread filled everyone's features. All of them were coming to the realization that with the Cradle, Ultron would be able to build bodies from scratch, and with the vibranium he had managed to steal, they would be practically indestructible. And with the scepter, he would be able to mind control Helen into helping him.
"Alright, time to suit up. I'll take Natasha, Keira, and Clint. Stark, you hit the NEXUS, see if you can't find out who our anonymous helper is. Banner, I want you to get back to the tower, see if you can find out anything more from there."
"Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can." Tony nodded, pushing himself from the doorframe.
Keira just watched the faces around her, seeing how none of them were especially excited for yet another mission without proper rest. But since the world depended on them, they had no choice but to pull themselves together.
It didn't take long for them to pack their stuff, most of them had taken a shower and changed clothes before so their personal belongings hadn't had the time to find themselves strewn across the house. Banner and Fury were the first times to take off, and Tony left soon after them.
"Say goodbye to the kids for me, alright?" Keira mumbled as she hugged Laura out on the porch. It didn't feel right to leave after such a short while, especially not while knowing how rarely Laura got to see her husband.
"Don't worry, I will." Laura smiled gently, brushing a hand over the mutant's hair. "And don't be shy to visit, okay? Clint will need help with that sunroom if we want it finished within this century."
Keira couldn't help the big smile that crept upon her face at those words. "Are you saying that your husband is helpless without me?" She quizzed with one eyebrow raised, although her eyes twinkled in the dim light.
"When it comes to finishing projects? Yes. I don't even wanna think about how long a project used to take before he took you in." Laura chuckled, releasing the blonde and keeping her at arm's length. "Are you gonna be okay?"
"Well, I'll take that to heart. Don't let him hear you say that though." Keira teased, letting her eyes close for just a second. But upon hearing the second question, her eyes snapped open. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
Laura merely raised an eyebrow. "You're deflecting my question with another question. Keira, you tend to forget that I'm no stranger to that tactic."
A small sigh escaped Keira's lips and she nodded. "Okay, got me there. But yeah, I guess Clint told you what happened?" Glancing up, Laura was nodding. "I'm gonna be fine. Wanda didn't mess with my head this time. It's not like I haven't been through it before."
Laura's eyebrows knotted together, and she tilted her head slightly, encouraging the blonde to go on.
But Keira shook her head. "It's a far too thrilling tale to tell now, and cutting it short would just be a shame. Besides, I better be going, or your husband will chew my ears out for being late. Kinda on a timer here. But it was great seeing you again, Laura." She gave a theatrical bow and caught the look of disappointment flashing across Laura's face before turning around.
Well, it wasn't all lies. It wouldn't be the first time she was put under Wanda's magic. And she didn't have time to waste. They needed to stop Ultron before he made his promise true.