Undefeated

02

The Avengers aircraft landed at the Avengers tower in New York where Clint was taken by Dr. Cho to have his wounds tended to.

Hill walked up to Tony and said, "Lab's all set up, boss."

Tony pointed to Steve. "Uh, actually, he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler."

Ben chuckled softly. "Humble, Dad."

"What's the word on Strucker?" Steve asked.

"NATO's got him," Hill and Dakota replied.

"The four enhanced?"

"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff," Dakota informed. "Twins. Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. There are two more. Gabriela and Mariana Bogdan. Sisters. Orphaned at eleven and seven, shortly before Stark announced himself to the world. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special but it's on the way to everywhere special."

"Their abilities?"

"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis," Hill answered. "Her thing is neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation. As for the sisters, the younger of the two, the temperature changes depending on her mood and for the elder sister, she's able to lure men and women alike to an untimely fate." Steve looked at her oddly, and she rephrased the statement so they could understand. "He's fast and she's weird. The younger sister can control the weather simply based on emotion and the older sister is a Siren, like that from Greek mythology."

"Well, they're going to show up again," Steve said.

"Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts."

"Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?"

"We're not at war, Captain."

"They are."

BANNER'S LAB

Bruce, referring to Clint, asked, "How's he doing?"

"Oh, unfortunately, he's still Barton," Tony replied.

"That's terrible."

"He's fine. He's thirsty." He walked over to the computers. "All right. Look alive, JARVIS. It's play time. We've only got a couple days with this joystick so let's make the most of it. Update me on the structural and compositional analysis."

"The scepter is alien," JARVIS informed. "There are elements I can't quantify."

"So there's elements you can."

"The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside. Something powerful."

"Like a reactor?"

"Like a computer. I believe I'm deciphering code."

Natasha asked Dr. Cho as she tended to Clint's wounds, "You sure he's going to be okay? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together."

"There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don't know they're bonding with simulacrum."

"She's creating tissue," Bruce explained.

"If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration Cradle could do this in twenty minutes."

"Oh, he's flatlining," Tony commented. "Call it. Time?"

"No, no, no," Clint argued. "I'm going to live forever. I'm gonna be made of plastic."

Ben handed Clint a drink. "Here's your beverage."