When Time Collides ★ [2] ✔

Evolve

So Nick Fury swung by for a visit. With dinner almost ready, he was another guest in the Barton household. Laura didn't seem to mind. She seemed like the kind of person who would let legions of superheroes stop by her house for pasta.

I sat next to Natasha at the dining room table. Bruce and Steve stood a bit away with Clint in the kitchen and Tony playing darts with himself.

Lila came to sit on my lap, handing me a butterfly drawing. I grinned. "It's beautiful, my lovely."

"I knew you'd like it!" she squeaked. "It was the butterfly we saw today! In the fairy dust!"

I couldn't help but beam. She was talking about the time dust from my watch. She thought I was a fairy. I didn't want to go ahead and say, 'no, sorry. I'm actually an old lady who's been alive for, well, thousands of years. No sweat.' So I just went with it.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury theorized as he buttered his bread. "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."

I whispered into Lila's ear to go join her brother in the living room. I had a feeling that Laura didn't want her around Fury who had a habit of swearing like a sailor.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve questioned, folding his arms over his chest.

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

"He still going after launch codes?" Tony wondered, throwing a dart.

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

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," the billionaire bragged.

I raised an eyebrow. "How much free time do you have?"

He simply shrugged in reply.

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that," Fury said.

"NEXUS?" Steve queried.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," Bruce answered. "Every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on Earth."