The Fox's Return

Suit of Armor Around the World

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Marlene made her way back to Avengers Tower not long after dropping Peter off at his apartment in Queens. She knew Clint was injured and being patched up by Dr. Cho, who was a delightful woman with an odd obsession for Thor. 

As she passed the training room, she caught a quick glance. Steve and Nat were both training at the moment, and looks as though they have for a while. Natasha moved to do her signature scissor leg move, but Steve caught her just as she wrapped her legs around his neck. He rolled to the ground quickly, somehow managing to pin Natasha to the ground. 

She wasn't there for long before getting out of it. She definitely could've gotten out of it faster if she would stop drowning in his eyes . . . but that was a story for another time. 

Marlene moved along, feeling like she was witnessing something personal.

Clint was in Bruce's lab with Dr. Cho. Thor was most likely in the kitchen or marveling at the movie picture box. 

That left Tony and Bruce to be in either Tony's lab or Marlene's. 

And she was ready to beat some men up if they messed with her stuff. 

When Marlene entered Tony's lab, she found the two of them goggling at two holograms. 

One she instantly recognized. It was a cozy orange color that made her feel safe. However, the one next to it was something completely new. It was nearly twice the size of JARVIS, and a cold blue. While both were a spherical shape, the blue hologram seemed . . . unwelcoming. 

"It's beautiful," Bruce sighed. 

"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?" Tony questioned turning to Bruce. 

"Like it's thinking," Marlene answered, pushing herself off of the wall she was leaning against and moving towards them. "Like neurons are firing."

"Exactly, blondie!" Tony grinned, pointing a pen at her like he was a teacher of some sorts. "This is why you're my favorite, and the better Rogers."

Bruce rolled his eyes while the corner of Marlene's lip quirked up 

"Down in Strucker's lab I saw some fairly advanced robotics work," Tony spoke. Surprisingly, his dark brown hair didn't look like it was going in seven thousand different directions. "They deep-sixed the data, but... I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."

"Artificial intelligence," Bruce said, still amazed. 

This could be it, Bruce, Blondie," Tony said hopefully. He sounded like a kid excited to go into the candy store. "This could be the key to creating Ultron."

"I thought Ultron was a fantasy," Bruce countered. 

"We dropped that project months ago, mate," Marlene agreed with Bruce.