✓ | Porcelain.

chapter nine

CHAPTER NINE: NICK FURY

At some point during the night, Nick Fury had joined us. He was awaiting Tony's arrival as he sat in the barn by himself. Classic. Now, all of the Avengers were sitting around the kitchen table, listening to Fury as he spoke.

"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 said as he walked around the kitchen counter.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked. He was leaned up against the doorframe, his arms crossed.

"Ah, he's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guys multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still, doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though." Fury answered.

"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, a small dart in hand. His body was turned towards a target up against the wall.

"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."

"I cracked the pentagon's firewall on a high school dare." Tony boasted.

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that." Fury stated. What's NEXUS?

"NEXUS?" Steve questioned, seeming to be as confused as I was.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on earth." Bruce answered-thank the gods he's smart. I would be so lost without him.

"So what'd they say?" Clint asked curiously.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked with furrowed brows. Then, he jumped back as two darts went flying, landing in the dartboard to his right. He turned, meeting Clint's eyes. Clint innocently held his hands up with a smile.

"Parties unknown." Fury's lips were pursed

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked from her seat at the table.

"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown'." Tony said from his side of the room as I looked up at him. I made my way over to the table in the middle of the room, and took a seat next to Natasha. Despite my fathers help, I began to feel dizzy again. I couldn't help but notice that the others looked just fine by now, and I didn't.

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha said honestly.

"I do," Fury turned to look at her, "I have you. 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." He began to walk around the room.

I laughed quietly to myself before saying, "hey, that's a bad language word." I looked over at Steve to see him smiling at me.

"You know what, Barnes?" He raised a brow. I smiled mischievously.

"So what does he want?" Fury questioned, bringing our attention back to the important conversation at hand.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Steve pondered.

"Person bodies." Tony spoke up. "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 sighed.

"They don't need to be protected," Bruce mumbled softly as he made his way closer to Nat and I, looking at the butterfly drawing that one of Clint's children had made. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury questioned.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

All of us were getting ready by now-preparing to head out to where Cho was, and I was waiting for Steve's orders as I stood by the front door in my suit.

"I'll take Natasha, Clint and Hazel." Steve then spoke up. Hazel? He hasn't used that nickname on me in years. Not since Bucky was around. It must've just slipped out.

"All right, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can." Tony nodded. I was surprised that he didn't question the nickname at all.

Steve sighed, "if Ultron is building a body..."

"He'll be more powerful than any of us." Tony shrugged. "Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know," Steve started, "I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me." He said honestly. I chuckled softly at the comment.

"Those were good times." I agreed.

"I'll drop Banner off at the tower." Fury walked over to us, putting on his jacket as he did so. "Do you mind if I borrow Miss Hill?"

"She's all yours, apparently."

"What are you gonna do?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

"I don't know." Fury sighed before looking at me. "Something dramatic, I hope."

"Well," I hummed, "consider me intrigued."

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lizzie speaks...

hello nick