Project Reaper

21. Bring Your Work to Family Day

When did I get 250 reads?

I don't check for a day and y'all read it a bunch.  
Glad you guys are reading it, though :D

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing," Fury stated where he was sitting at the kitchen table. The rest of the avengers were sitting around the table as well, and the Winchesters were standing with them as well. Ash was standing between her two brothers, looking vaguely like two bodyguards. Stark had seen the dartboard the siblings had on the wall, and he had grabbed two of the darts.

"And Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"He's easy to track. The guy multiplies faster than a Catholic rabbit." Dean snickered, causing Ash to hip check him. "Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"He's still going after the launch codes?" Tony asked. Ash and Tony hadn't spoken after their disagreement earlier that day.

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

"I cracked the Pentagon in high school on a dare," Tony stated.

Ash exchanged a look with Dean, something along the lines of 'Get a load of this fancy man.'

"Well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."

"NEXUS?" Steve asked.

"It's the world internet hub, in Oslo, every byte of data goes through there, fastest access on Earth," Bruce explained.

"So what'd they say?" Dean asked.

Tony walked to the dartboard to retrieve his darts.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Dean was eyeballing the dartboard, considering throwing a dart but not wanting to give Stark an impromptu nose piercing.

"By whom?" Stark asked. A dart impaled the board, causing Stark to flinch backwards and look to a smug looking Clint, who shrugged as if to say 'no, I don't know how it got there.'

Fury was unphased by his Avenger's shenanigans, saying, "Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Nat asked.

"Ultron has 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 stated.

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you that you'd have more than that," Nat stated.

"I do. I have you." He spread his hands, gesturing to the Avengers and not omitting the Winchesters, causing them to exchange a subtle glance. "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."

"Steve doesn't like that kinda talk," Nat joked.

"You know what, Romanoff," Steve started, reluctantly smiling as Nat smirked at him.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies," Steve continued, steered back on track by his ex-boss.

"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded, but he keeps going back to it."

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

"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve..." Banner muttered.

"So Ultron's gonna evolve," Sam reasoned.

"How?" Fury asked.

Banner swallowed. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

___

Ash closed the door behind the Avengers after reminding them to call her if and when something happens, and allowed her head to loll backwards.

Damn, she'd forgotten how exhausting it was to pretend she was ok.

Walking back to the kitchen, where Sam, Dean and Cas were now sitting, Cas having made an appearance after the others left and Dean asked, "What, you regretting not leaving with them?"

Ash sat down at the table and laid her head in her hands, heaving an exaggerated sigh. "Forgot how exhausting hosting was."

"When have we ever hosted anyone?" Sam asked, placing a drink near her.

"Exactly," she said, grabbing the drink. "Do you guys have plans?"

The boys looked at each other. "Do you?"

"If no one has anything I'm gonna watch nature documentaries in a blanket fort."

"That sounds very pleasant," Castiel noted.

"Do you want to join?"

"Am I allowed to?"

"Do you want to?"

"Sure."

"Alright, do you guys have anything you want me to do or nah?"

"Nah, go have fun," Dean told her. Ash smiled, grabbing Cas's hand and pulling him towards her room. She had a futon near her bed, which she made sure was in couch mode. She pulled out some blankets and pillows and created what seemed like a tent before sliding under it. Ash folded her wings and heard Cas do the same before he lifted the entrance to look at her, who had her laptop out in front of her with Netflix pulled up.

"This is cozy," Cas noted.

"That's the point," she said.

The two watched the first two episodes of 'Round Planet' before Dean knocked on the closed door.

Ash peeked out from an open blanket flap, causing Dean to chuckle and whip out his cell phone.

Ash squeaked, pulling her head back in. "Too late, I got a picture."

Ash exhaled disapprovingly, scrunching her nose as she turned back to the screen, where the narrator said, "They've survived 600 million years without a brain, a ray of hope for some of my BBC colleagues." The narrator chuckled, clearly pleased with himself.

"What the hell kind of a documentary is that?" Dean asked, interest piqued.

"You want to watch?"

"I mean I'm kind of interested."

"Alright, your best bet for entry is by the futon. Otherwise you'll have to crawl over Cas and me."

Dean followed her suggestion, crawling under the blanket while likely biting back grumbles about it being impractical. When he settled himself down, he was nose to nose with Castiel.

"Hello, Dean."

"Hi, Cas."

After several minutes, Sam opened the door and the smell of popcorn wafted in. This time, it was both Ash and Dean who peaked out to greet him.

"Hi, Sammy."

"Thank God you brought the popcorn."
"Is that all I am to you?" Sam snarked.

"No, just an added bonus."

"Should we forgo the fort?" Ash asked.

"That may be wise," Castiel said from under the blankets.

"You got Cas under there?"

"...No?" He lied.

___

I texted my gf one night, no context, just 'Cas in a Pillow Fort'.  I do that kinda thing a lot with this story.  

Have a good one.