Celestia sat, head on hand, on the red, comfortable, armchair as Laura convinced Lila to give her drawing to Nat. She smiled as the little girl stood up, and ran over to the table, Celestia following suit. She sat next to Nat as she accepted the drawing.
"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 spoke.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked, leaning against the doorway.
"Oh, he's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit." Celestia screwed her face of at that, catching eye contact with Nat. "It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."
"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, throwing a dart.
"Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway." Fury responded, cutting a sandwich.
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony said, sceptical of Ultron.
"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that." Fury said, holding his sandwich.
"Nexus?" Steve asked, confused.
"The the world Internet hub in Oslo." Celestia responded.
"Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth." Bruce finished off.
"So, what did they say?" Clint asked, inspecting a dart.
"He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are constantly being changed." Fury answered.
"By whom?" Tony asked. A dart flew by his head from the kitchen.
"Parties unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Nat asked.
"Ultron's got an enemy-" Fury started.
"That's not the same thing." Celestia finished off, chuckling humourlessly. Fury nodded his head towards Celestia; a silent agreement.
"Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."
"I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown." Tony said, leaning against the doorway.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Nat said, looking to Fury.
"I do. I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes-" 'eye' voices whispered in Celestia's head, making it hard for her to hold back a laugh. "-everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all 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." Fury finished his pep talk, sitting down.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Nat teased. Celestia put her hands over her face, trying not to burst out laughing, resorting to quite chuckles.
"You know what, Romanoff." He responded, a small smile on his face (part from Nat and part from the happy Celestia). Nat just smirked in response.
"So, what does he want?" Fury asked, interrupting.
"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Steve responded.
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it." Tony spoke.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Nat said, her eyes on Tony and Bruce. Celestia nodded along, agreeing.
"They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve." Bruce said, looking at the butterfly picture Lila drew for Nat.
"How?" Fury asked, taking a sip of his drink. Bruce and Celestia caught eye contact. He seemed to somehow convey what he was thinking in his eyes, making Celestia gasp quietly. He slightly nodded at her.
"Anyone been in contact with Helen Cho recently?" She asked, tearing her eyes from Bruce to look at everyone else.
**
"I'll take Natasha, Celestia, and Clint." Steve said, picking up his shield. Celestia looked up at them exiting the room as Laura quickly sewed up a cut in Celestia's suit. As soon as Laura whispered 'done', Celestia stood up and looked at her shoulder. It wasn't exactly Tony level handiwork, but Laura did pretty good.
"Thanks Laura." Celestia said, hugging the pregnant woman. She smiled, waving it off. Celestia rubbed her baby bump as soon as they pulled away. "You best believe I'm going to visit Nathaniel as soon as he's born." She grinned up at Laura who smiled back.
Celestia walked away, meeting up with Tony and Steve in the hallway.
"You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science every created was me." Steve sighed out. Fury came walking up, putting on his jacket. "I'll drop Banner off at the tower. You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"
"She's all yours. Apparently." Tony responded. "What are you gonna do?" Steve asked, bringing Fury's attention off of Tony.
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." Fury answered, walking away.
Pretty short chapter but I think the next one will be longer
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