Carter knew the team would have to leave soon, but he didn't expect Nick Fury to appear out of nowhere and have the guts to be at the dinner table of the Barton household. Carter sat at the table with Lila on his lap, she was coloring a picture of a butterfly at the moment. Nick was leaning against the kitchen sink holding onto a coffee mug, "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." Carter watched Lila color in the lines as Natasha sat next to him, Lila excitedly showed her the drawing and Natasha cupped the little ones cheek.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked looking directly at the man who had vanished due to earlier incidents with Hydra. "He's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though." Fury replied looking at Carter with a sly smile. He was the key to getting the witch on their side.
Carter met his gaze before asking, "Is he still going after nuclear launch codes?" Nick looked at the rest of the team, "Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway." Tony was playing darts with Clint in the corner, and he raised his eyebrows, "I cracked the Pentagon's fire wall in high school on a dare."
"Well, I contacted our friend sat the Nexus about that." Nick poured some more coffee in his mug as he sat down at the table then.
"Nexus?" Steve asked not knowing what that branch was. "It's the world internet hub in Oslo. Every byte of data flows through there." Bruce made it simple, and Carter was thankful for Lila to help distract him.
"Fastest access on Earth." Nick nodded, "So, what did they say?" Natasha looked around at the team once more. "He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."
"By whom?" Tony asked leaning against the wall with the dartboard.
"Parties unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Carter asked impatiently, he wanted to know why Ultron was not getting access to the codes. Someone was helping them somehow, and he hoped they were working fast. "Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Nick let out a smile, it was the first time Carter had seen the man smile. Carter leaned on the table and scratched at his face, he felt the stubble starting to grow. He hadn't had his beard in a while so he figured he'd let it grow out. It made him look older, and look more experienced.
"I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown." Tony locked eyes with Carter and he sighed. The boy was obviously still shaken as his eyes pooled with fear. Natasha broke the ice once more, "Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."
Nick looked at the fallen team and looked about damn ready to make one of his speeches, "I do. I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes 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. Out wit the platinum bastard."
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha smiled a bit, looking towards Steve, who glared at her, "You know what, Romanoff?"
"So, what does he want?" Carter muttered continuing to bounce Lila on his knee, "To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Tony spoke, before Carter noticed Bruce walk forward a bit, "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 mentioned looking up at Bruce who was looking at Lilas coloring. Carter squinted a bit before realizing, and it seemed like Bruce knew too, "They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."
"How?" Fury asked, seeing everyone look up to Bruce's words, "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" The words were haunting and Carters blue eyes met with Nats, they both knew this could be very very bad.
A little while later in the early morning hours, Carter was all suited up and was tucking a sleepy Lila into bed when she asked him, "Are you going to come back?" He smiled before looking down at the little one, "Yeah I'm gunna come back okay? I promise." He held out his pinky finger as she giggled, she held out hers as well, before they locked them together. Carter stood up and walked to the door, he grabbed the knob and swiftly turned around looking at Lila, "I love you Carter." He heard her soft whisper in the dark room, luckly the room had a little night light in the far corner.
He smiled, "I love you too. Sweet dreams Lila." Carter left the door open a crack, and started to walk downstairs, heading towards Steve, Tony and Fury. "I'll take Natasha, Carter and Clint." Steve spoke picking up his shield, he was decked out in the red, white and blue. Carter scratched his chin feeling the little hairs stick out.
"All right. Strictly recon. I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can." Tony spoke, fiddling with his watch. Steve nodded looking at Tony, "If Ultron's really building a body..."Tony cut him off then, "He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot." Carter looked at his gautlets on his wrist, he wanted to say goodbye to Laura, Coop had already fallen asleep.
"You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me." Steve was probably just as shocked as the rest of the world, he wasn't from this time, he was suffering from culture shock most likley.
"I'll drop Banner off at the tower. You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Nick asked putting on his coat, "She's all yours. Apparently." Tony smirked.
"What are you gonna do?" Steve asked seeing Carter linger behind Tony, "I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." Nick walked outside the door, and Carter felt Laura pull him towards Clint and herself.
"I'm gonna finish reflooring that sun room as soon as I get back. Clint looked at his wife, "Yeah, then you'll find another part of the house to tear apart." Laura didn't believe a single word.
"No. It's the last project. I promise." Clint spoke holding Lauras arms tenderly, Carter was waiting for his turn.
Laura looked to Carter and opened her arms, Carter walked into them and hugged her tightly, "Keep each other safe please." She whispered as she held Carters face, he nodded and lowered his gaze. "Tell Coop I said goodbye please."
"I will."
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Carter had never been to South Korea, but as he sat next to Clint in the pilots chair he was enchanted by the city of Seuol, it was beautiful. He also knew Wanda would be here somewhere, he was determined to find her. Carter, Clint and Nat had dropped off Cap a little while ago, they flew the quinn jet between the buildings of Seuol, South Korea effortlessly, Clint was the best pilot Carter had ever seen.
"Dr. Cho!"
"He's uploading himself into the body."
"Where?"
"The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem... its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark."
"First, I have to find it."
"Go."
"Did you guys copy that?"
"We did." Carter spoke, Carter looked on the radar seeing a unauthorized truck, "I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest."
"That could be him."
Carter looked down seeing the truck from the lab, "There. It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them." Clint looked astounded he taught the boy well, and he smiled a bit, "You got three with the Cradle, one in the cab." Clint continued, "I could take out the driver."
"Negative. That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron." Steve replied, and Carter looked at Clint, Natasha was setting up her bike. Carters was right next to hers, he was going to be needed today, but Carter knew the only reason he wanted to help, was to find her.
"Well, he's definitely unhappy. I'm gonna try and keep him that way."
"You're not a match for him, Cap." Clint was so blunt. Carter snorted, "Thanks, Barton."
Carter was listenting to every word of Ultron and Caps convo and it gave him goosebumps,
"You know what's in that cradle? The power to make real change. And that terrifies you."
"I wouldn't call it a comfort."
"Stop it."
Carter gripped his helmet and swung his leg over the bike, Nat was right beside him and he nodded, "We got a window. Four, three...Give him hell." Clint opened up the bottom of the quinn jet and Nat and Carter dropped one by one on their bikes. Carter went on the far right while Nat was going to pick up Caps shield down the center, they weaved in and out of traffic, people honked and Carter focused on his helmet visor then, it had a layout of where Cap was currently at the moment.
"I'm always picking up after you boys." Carters face broke out into a smile, she was so right.
"They're heading under the overpass. I've got no shot." Clints voice was clear as day on the comm, "Which way?" Natasha yelled, "Hard right. Now." Carter turned his bike over as he led Natasha and him over the sidewalk, he soon lost Nat as he went off on his own way, they split up and he raced past a train.
"Clint, can you draw out the guards?" he heard Natasha speak, so she was right in front of him,
"Let's find out."
"They're heading back towards you. So whatever you're gonna do, do it now." Clint said, steering the jet a little bit closer then normal.
"I'm going in. Cap, can you keep him occupied?"
"What do you think I've been doing?" Steve asked obviously winded. Carter had moved closer to the train where Steve was just thrown into, "Cap I'm coming in." Carter heard his sigh which meant he was grateful. Carter stood up on the seat and steered the bike a bit more closer, he then let go of the bike. It was like slow motion, Carter jumped from the bike to the train, he landed hard on his side.
"Ow." He groaned, "That always looked so much more cooler int he movies." He whispered to himself. He unbuckled his helmet and threw it to the ground, it landed with a soft thud catching the metal mans attention, Carter stood up and came face to face with Ultron, "Ah the boy with the evil mind." Carter was afraid, he had never been this terrified of anything in his life. He took a step forward and the next thing he knew he was being pushed by a blur, the metal then pushed together and Carter looked behind Ultron to see Wanda.
Ultron groaned, "Please, don't do this." Wanda was distraught, "What choice do we have?" Ultron threw up his hand and Carter shot a beam out at the metal villain, Ultron groaned, before flying himself out of the front of the train.
"We lost him! He's headed your way!"
The train was about to derail and Carter gripped the metal seats tightly, this train was going off road. "Nat, we gotta go. Nat! Cap, you see Nat?" Carter was frazzled. "If you have the package,get it to Stark! Go!" Steve yelled out causing Carter to move himself towards the twins, his brown eyes meeting Wandas as she looked at him with fear. Her hair covered her neck and her eyes were squinted.
"Do you have eyes on Nat?
"Go!" Carter replied, "Damn it."
Steve looked to Pietro, "Civilians in our path." The boy took off and all Carter could see was a blur, it was pretty amazing. He looked to Wanda, "Can you, I don't know, stop this thing?" She nodded looking at Cap and then back to Carter with her scared green eyes. She raised her hands and released her red energy, it seeped through the base of the train as it reached the brakes, Carter watched her and he saw the struggle on her face, "You can do this! Focus!" He coached her as she gritted her teeth, letting out a couple groans as the train skidded to a stop. Wanda let go of her energy and she stumbled a bit, Carter stood up then seeing her exit the train in search of her brother. He was stunned, she had done something he could never have done.
When Carter had joined Cap outside, she was rubbing her hand up and down her brothers back. "I'm fine. I just need to take a minute." Pietro breathed heavy, "I'm very tempted not to give you one." Steve spoke still having anger towards the two.
"The Cradle. Did you get it?" Wanda wandered over to where Steve was standing, she was eager to know, "Stark will take care of it." Carter felt like she knew something they didn't, and he was most likely right.
"No, he won't." Wanda shook her head, and looked the other way, Steve looked at the young adult, "You don't know what you're talking about. Stark's not crazy." Carter looked her dead in the eye and saw terror, she was afraid of him. He wanted to answer her questions, but in a more private area, not in the crowded streets of Seuol.
"He will do anythingto make things right." She was right, Tony always wanted to protect others and try to reinvent himself after the attack on New York. Whatever she had showed him when they had first gotten hold of the staff had done more damage then good.
Cap didn't want to believe it, "Stark, come in. Stark. Anyone on comms." He let out a sigh and he knew it was the truth, Carter did too, and he shook his head. Wanda clicked her tongue and spoke hesitantly, "Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?" Steve started to walk away then and Carter turned to follow, seeing the twins look helpless. "You two can come with us, I'm sure we could use you." Wanda looked to her brother and nodded, they needed this. Carter smiled at the girl before turning away, she had questions and he would answer them in due time, but not right now.
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almost done with part one of sirens guys!! then onto the heartbreak that is civil war, and then i can focus on carters journey for infinty war! gah im so excited. also i know i suck at action scenes so bear with me im trying lol.