Daughter of the Shield

Chapter 13

The Avengers were all in Clint's house as he sat in the living room with his family. Tony threw darts, Natasha and Jo sat at the dining room table, Banner stuck to a corner, and Steve leaned against a wall.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. With the amount of vibrainum he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?"

"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 explained.

"Is he still going after launch codes?"

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

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare!" Tony exclaimed.

"Yeah, well I contacted our friends at the Nexus about tha," Nick continued.

"Nexus?"

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo." Banner answered. "Every bite of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So, what'd they say?"

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

"By whom?" Tony asked. He flinched as an arrow sped past him, hitting the bullseye on the board. Clint slightly smirked.

"Unknown parties"

"Do we have an ally?" Steve asked.

"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing."

"Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is" Natasha muttered.

"I might need to visit Oslo, find out who our unknown is."

"Well, this is good times boss. But I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that" Jo remarked.

"I do. I have you." Fury responded. "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 standing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grace. So, stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk"

"You know what Romanoff!" Steve groaned.

"So, what does he want?"

"To become better," Steve spoke up. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it" Tony added.

Jo noticed Banner stepping towards the table. He was looking at the drawing of a butterfly Clint's daughter had made Natasha.

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

"They don't need to be protected," Banner muttered. "They need to evolve. Ultron is going to evolve."

"How?"

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

"I'll take Natasha, Clint, and Jo" Steve spoke as he attached his shield to his back.

"Alright, strictly recon. I'll head to Nexus and join you as soon as I can" Tony answered as the two walked towards the front door.

"If Ultron's really building a body, he'll be more powerful than any of us."