Several hours later, Laura shouted from the porch for the team to gather in the house once more.
Steve and I jogged to the porch. He allowed me to take the steps first.
"What's going on?" asked Steve.
"We have a guest," said Laura.
"Guest?" repeated Steve.
Laura held open the front door for us. Steve and I slipped through. We followed the hushed voiced into the kitchen.
Nick Fury casually stood in their kitchen, fixing himself a sandwich. He looked up when Steve and I entered.
"It's a shame we had to gather on this type of occasion," he said.
"And what occasion is that?" asked Steve.
"Possibly the end of the world."
Natasha and I took seats across from one another at the table.
Bruce lingered in the corner behind her.
Steve leaned against the door frame behind myself.
Tony, on the other hand, stepped through the doorless entry into the room behind the kitchen. He found a dart board and plucked the darts from the bullseye.
"Anyone up for a game?" muttered Tony.
I raised my hand. A reasonable distance away from the board, I opened an exit portal. The entrance portal hovered over the table.
Tony passed five darts through it, then stood beside it, throwing first.
Fury decided to start the explanation, choosing to ignore our game. "Ultron took you all out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. With the amount of vibranium he left off with, I don't think it's just one thing."
"What about Ultron himself?" asked Steve.
"Oh, he's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a catholic rabbit," said Fury, joking, although there was no humor on his face or in his tone.
"And we don't know what he's planning?" I tried.
"Still going after launch codes?" asked Tony.
He landed his first dart on the second circle.
I tossed mine through the portal, sticking it in the same circle he did. Tony stuck his tongue out.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."
Tony paused, his face scrunched skeptically. "I cracked the Pentagons firewall in High School on a dare."
"I talked to our friends at the Nexus about that," Fury told him.
"Nexus?" asked Steve.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo. Every bite of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth," explained Bruce.
Entering into the conversion and the kitchen, Barton asked, "What'd they say?"
"He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are constantly being changed," said Fury.
"By whom?"
A thud sounded, drawing my attention to the board. Three darts were in the bullseye.
Tony and I look at Barton, who shrugged, an action meaning we should have seen that coming.
"Parties unknown," answered Fury, tearing his eyes away from us.
"Do we have an ally?" asked Natasha.
"Ultron's got an enemy, but that's not the same thing. I'd pay folding money to find out who it is."
"We might need to visit Oslo," decided Tony, "Find our unknown."
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," admitted Natasha.
"I do. I have you," insisted Fury, "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."
Natasha smirked, rolling her eyes to the man standing behind me. "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," she joked.
Humor in his tone, Steve sighed, "You know what, Romanoff..."
"So, what does he want?" asked Fury rhetorically.
"To become better," I said instantly, "Isn't that why he keeps building more bodies?"
"To be better than us," he corrected.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha sarcastically praised the science duo.
"They don't need to be protected," disagreed Bruce.
He stared at the picture Clint's youngest had drawn for Natasha: a butterfly.
"They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve," he said.
"How?"
Bruce stared at the picture, fingers anxiously tapping against Natasha's chair as he thought of an answer. When it came to him, his fingers stilled.
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"
"He's targeting her?" I asked.
"More likely her machine," said Bruce.
"We need to find her before Ultron does," said Steve.
"It's likely he already found her," said Tony. "I'll head to Oslo, see what I can find in the computers."
"Clara, do you mind taking me to the Tower?" asked Bruce.
"You sure?" I asked.
"I'll be more helpful there than with you guys," he agreed.
I opened a portal in front of him. He waved to the team and stepped through. I closed it.
"Meet in the quinjet in five?" said Steve.
"Sounds good," said Barton, nodding thankfully.
Steve and I took an extra minute to thank Laura for the hospitality, then we started to make our way to the forest, where Barton hid the quinjet.
"It's nice," sighed Steve.
Our steps slowed purposely, reminiscing over the land.
"Think you'll ever have it?" I asked.
"No," he said without hesitation. He chuckled. "The man who wanted all that went in the ice seventy years ago."
I took his hand in my own and brought it to my lips. He did the same to me.
"Don't worry about me," he insisted. "I'll be okay."
Our hands split when we entered the quinjet. We took seats along the wall.
Barton's return brought the jet into the air. With Tony in the lead, we were off to Oslo.
Steve suddenly made a noise of remembrance when Barton said we were ten minutes out. He reached into the bag beside him, prying out a stack of clothes. His suit, Natasha's, Barton's, and my own.
I ducked into the bathroom to change. When I came out, Natasha wolf-whistled. My cheeks flushed.
"I don't look that good," I said.
"Let's ask Steve, shall we?" she asked. Then, she turned and smirked, fully knowing the amount of awkward she was pushing on us.
"Cap, get ready," warned Barton, "We're dropping you in three minutes."
Steve slid past me and into the bathroom to change into his uniform.
"Time has saved you from embarrassment this time," cursed Natasha.
Steve exited. He approached me, hanging on to the handle above my head.
Natasha tapped a button on the ceiling, opening the hatch in the floor of the jet.
"For the record," shouted Steve, over the wind, "I do think you look very nice in your suit!"
Cheeks red, Steve flashed me a toothy grin before jumping through, landing safely on a building.
Natasha shut the hatch immediately. "What did he say?!" she yelled.
"Just told me the plan again," I said smoothly, my lips curved in a content smile.
A couple minutes later, the microphone chip on Steve's suit picked up Helen Cho's voice saying, "He's uploading himself into the body."
"Where?" asked Steve.
"The real power is inside the cradle. The gem, it's power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. Find it, and get it to Stark."
"I have to find it first," Steve told her, "You guys copy that?"
"We did," I confirmed.
I ducked into the cockpit.
Barton programmed the tablet on his left to scan through cars on the highway.
Natasha's fingers danced across the touch screen computer, searching for suspicious transportation.
"I got a private jet taking off across town," she said, "No manifest."
Barton pointed to his left through the window. "There. It's a truck from the lab."
"Right above you, Cap, on the loop by the bridge," I clarified.
"Three with a cradle, one in the cab," Barton read from the tablet's scan, "I could take out the driver."
"Negative. That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron."
Steve did so by leaping from the bridge and landing on top of the semi-truck. He managed to slide open the trailer door, proceeding to receive a red blast from Ultron's hands that left one half of the trailer door sliding on the highway, barely attached.
"Well, he's definitely unhappy!" called Steve, grunting as he tried to hang on to the door, "I'm gonna try to keep him that way!"
"You're no match for him, Cap," said Barton instantly.
Steve gave a long sigh. "Thanks, Barton," he said sarcastically.
He leaped on a passing truck, using the side mirror to swing on top of the lab truck.
Ultron exited from the inside of the trailer to take care him. He fired a few blasts. Steve blocked them by turning, bouncing them off the shield.
He tore the shield from its magnetic attachment to his back. Giving a quick spin to generate speed, Steve whipped the shield at Ultron. The robot lazily threw up a hand to block it, sending the shield away from Steve's reach.
"I'm going down there," I said.
"Let me get the shield," said Natasha.
"What am I supposed to do, then?" I asked, "Don't make me sit out."
Natasha, her squinted eyes locked with mine, directed a question at Barton. "How many robots did you say were in the truck?"
"Three."
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Think you can handle three robots by yourself?"
"Of course," I breathed, relieved of the faith they were finally putting in me.
Barton lowered the quinjet to the highway.
I stayed by the window, searching for a car that would be inconspicuous to Ultron's eyes.
Natasha climbed into the hatch, positioning herself on the motorcycle.
Barton reached to the ceiling, clicking the necessary buttons to open the hatch. His finger halted on the last one.
"Four, three, two.. Give 'em hell."