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Jade sighed as she leaned on the railing of the large balcony that held a landing pad, staring down at the ground far, far, below, a cigarette delicately held between her index and middle finger. The Tower was... amazing. Huge, to the point of excessiveness.

All the bedrooms for the long-gone Avengers were on one floor, with even more bedrooms for guests situated a floor below. At Ultron's urging, she'd picked a bedroom on the Avenger's floor; it faced south, and was the size of her entire old one bedroom apartment, with a king bed, a sitting area and a to-die-for en suite bathroom - complete with a disgustingly huge bathtub and lavish shower. The bar, living area and a multi level lounge was a level above hers, taking up an entire floor. It was a huge open concept thing, with the lounge overlooking the landing pad, and stairs leading up to the bar, that had stools and a couple of sets of seating arrangements.

Overlooking the lounge and bar were the Labs, huge areas full of technology that she couldn't even begin to grasp. It was there that Ultron had set himself up, setting 'his' chair - a huge, carved, metal thing that looked like something out of a Gothic cathedral - in the centre of the room, facing the glass-like screens that always had information scrolling across them. To the left of the Labs was the medical wing, a large space with half a dozen beds and a central 'scanner' bed that Ultron had told her was something akin to a CT scanner, but much more advanced.

There was a third, smaller lab, just off the medical wing, but Ultron had specifically sealed off - it was where he kept samples of the virus for his tests.

Below the lounge area was a huge hanger where the Quinjet was parked. All maintenance on the jet was done there, shelves and shelves covered in spare engine parts and paneling that made up the jet's stealth-skin. To the side of the hanger were rooms full of weapons and personnel lockers - lockers that had once belonged to the Avengers themselves. She hadn't touched them, deciding to let old ghosts rest in peace.

The kitchen on the floor with the main bedrooms was massive, situated in the north corner, and Ultron had packed every cupboard with food for her, everything from organic oatmeal to sixteen kinds of coffee. The walk-in freezer was full of meat, frozen fruit and vegetables, and he'd assured her that in the spring, he'd build a garden for fresher food. He'd even gone out of his way to go forage for dog food for Cami, which had surprised her, because he didn't seem to really like the poor dog in the first place.

Jade still hadn't investigated the lower floors, not that they held much interest for her. She knew from the floor plans that Ultron had downloaded onto a smart screen tablet for her that there was an 'arc reactor' powering the entire tower in the sublevels, a floor dedicated to a massive 'machine room', where all the construction and creation of Ultron's sentries took place, and tens of floors of office space, where the various companies that Stark Industries had owned did their business.

Ultron had pretty much given her the run of the entire place. He'd left her to explore on her own, though the glimpses of small, discreet, cameras told her that he was probably watching her every move.

She'd come out onto the huge landing pad for some air, the height of the tower letting her look out over most of New York. The city had changed in the two years since the epidemic had started. Without road crews and workers to maintain the city, nature had retaken what humanity had left behind. Sapling trees and grasses had grown between every crack and hole in the concrete streets, vines curling around infrastructure as they climbed up the sides of buildings. Ultron had told her that he'd released all of the animals in the nearby zoos, and now, deer, elk, wolves, tigers and lions roamed the city, each carnivorous species keeping to their respective territories

She didn't want to know what had happened to the animals that hadn't survived the first winter season. Food for the carnivores, probably.

It was all too... surreal.

October was just around the corner, the leaves on the trees already turning various shades of reds and oranges, a shiver going down her spine as a breeze sent her hair blowing into her face. Sighing, she shoved her hair out of her face with one hand, while raising her cigarette to her lips with the other. Leaning heavily on the railing, she let her gaze settle on the horizon, her attention focusing on the far off Central Park. Maybe it was time to go exploring, just for the fun of it, biters be damned.

It was New York, there had to be a gun store somewhere in the city that she could raid for more ammo. Or a police station, their evidence lockers always had lots of guns and ammo and fun stuff.

She'd head out in the morning, when she had time and sunlight on her side. There was no way she was going to risk getting stuck in the middle of the city in the dark; the biters always seemed to be more active at night.

Plan in mind, Jade tapped her cigarette on the railing to break off some ash, then moved to take another breath of nicotine.

Except a silver hand shot out from behind her and plucked the smoke from her fingers.

"Hey!"

"You're not smoking this garbage in my tower," Ultron frowned as he flicked the cigarette off the edge of the balcony, rolling his eyes when Jade glared at him. "Don't you realize what's in those things?"

"Listen you, I'm down to smoking two cigarettes a day. So kindly piss off," she growled, irritation making her bolder than she felt. "Besides I'm not in the tower, I'm on the damned balcony."

"Semantics. They cause cancer, why would you put that garbage in your body?"

She sighed and turned her gaze back to the city, resting both arms on the railing. "They help me stay calm," she admitted grudgingly, glancing down when the sound of repulsor blasts caught her attention and watching as one of the drones that patrolled the 'safe zone' took out a lone biter.

"There's only one," Ultron told her as he moved next to her, copying her stance and leaning on the railing. "You're safe here, Jade."

"I was on my own for a year, Ultron. Safe isn't really something I'm used to anymore. Sure, I had the shield around my home, but it's not like I stayed in there twenty-four-seven. I get cabin fever if I stay inside for too long."

He sent a wary look her way. "Don't tell me you're thinking of leaving the tower."

"Had to leave a lot of stuff behind when I ditched the truck. You managed to grab the important things, but I need some clothes and other stuff."

"You didn't bring clothes?"

"I brought two outfits, and one is covered in blood and paint from the farmhouse."

"Then... what was in the suitcase?"

Jade glanced at him. "A photo album, my brother's leather jacket, some of mom's jewellery, one of my grandmother's books, and two quilts."

He opened his mouth to berate her, then stopped, realizing just why she'd packed what she had. The last remnants of her family. "...I'll go with you."

"You don't have to. I just need to find some ammo for my gun."

"What kind of gun do you have?"

"Nine-millimeter Glock. Got it from the police station back home."

It only took a fraction of a second for him to mentally re-task one of the sentries patrolling the perimeter. "I've sent a drone to find some. There are a couple of gun stores in Manhattan, one of them ought to have what you need. And I'm going to get you a phone. I'll tie it into my systems so you can call me if you need help."

"Thank you," she murmured, surprised. "I appreciate it." Then, as an afterthought. "Other than the biters, and the roving animals, anything else I need to keep an eye out for?"

"No. Though I do a sweep of the city every couple of weeks. I don't know where all these damned infected are coming from... Oh, and I tested some of the animal species' blood. As far as I can tell, they're immune to the virus. Which is... odd."

A tired laugh left her. "Nan always warned us that sooner or later, the planet would rebel against what was being done to it. The pollution, destruction of habitat, deforestation, the extinction of so many species... Humanity was tipping the scales. Sooner or later, something was going to happen to bring things back into balance."

Ultron blinked. "You talk as if you think the planet is aware."

"Nan thought it was. 'Everything has a soul. Humans, animals, plants. Even the smallest insect.' Nan believed that with every fibre of her being. She taught the same values to my mother, and to my brother and I."

"And you really believe that?"

She sent a glance towards him at his doubtful tone of voice. "Yes."

"Hm." He turned his attention to the streets below, optics easily focusing on the sentries that were patrolling the area. "I like that. Belief. Such an odd thing, intangible, yet it can drive people to do the most incredible, or the most horrible, things."

"Yeah. We're weird that way. Though, I never saw the point to fighting over it. I always thought it was like squabbling over who had the best imaginary friend."

A chuckle rumbled out of him. "True enough."

"Personally, as long as they're not hurting anyone in the process, I don't care what someone believes. I have no right to shove my beliefs down their throats, nor do they have the right to push their beliefs onto me." Jade sighed, her gaze locked on the far off green jewel of Central Park. "Though I think I'm in- was in the minority."

"You're not the last," he said into the silence that followed, meeting her gaze when she looked at him in surprise. "There are pockets, mainly in South America, Africa and New Guinea. I've been keeping track of them, making certain that the infected stay away. If I ever manage to perfect a cure, I want to inoculate them, probably with an aerial vaccine, something low key, so as not to create panic."

"But I'm the only one you're found here?"

Her voice had gone soft, pained, and Ultron sighed. "I stopped looking for people six months ago," he admitted. "But if you managed to survive, there's no reason to think that there aren't others. I've already got the satellite scanning for uninfected life, but the search area is massive. It could be years before I've gone over every mile of this continent."

She frowned thoughtfully. "You can probably knock big cities off the list - they're too infested. People would stay on the move, scavenging food and fuel as they went, until they found a safe haven they could defend. Though, truthfully, the biggest danger isn't the biters, it's other people."

"I'm aware. I saw how well humans can work together when the pandemic was at it's peak, and people were raiding and looting, sometimes killing each other for meager scraps."

"Not everyone is like that," she protested softly. "I'm not. My family wasn't."

The defensive, hurt, tone of her voice made him frown. "No? And if you needed food, or medicines, and someone else had what you needed?"

"If I couldn't barter, then I'd look elsewhere." When he gave her a doubting look, Jade huffed and fixed him with a glare. "If you hate humans so much, then why bother saving me? Or did you just want someone to insult?"

"I didn't insult-"

"You basically just said my entire species is made up of heartless bastards and murderers. That's an insult, because I know... I knew a hell of a lot of good people who weren't like that. My family wasn't like that. I am not like that."

Ultron opened his mouth to snap a retort, but stopped himself. He'd learned of some horrible, horrible, things on the internet. Wars and atrocities, murderers, rapists, crooked companies, even more crooked people who were in the 'justice' system. He'd seen some tiny bits of humanity amongst the ugliness that were, not redeeming, but certainly signs of hope. And he'd seen all of Jade's files. She certainly wasn't like some of the people he'd read about.

Though there was one thing... "What were the bar fights about?"

"What?"

"On your file, you were arrested for bar fights."

"Gods, you really did dig up everything on me." At his expectant look, she sighed, leaned her hip against the balcony and folded her arms across her chest. "Fine. The first one was because some drunk guy slid a hand under my top and groped me, and I broke his nose and his left knee. The second one - I was a bartender, and some guy was beating his girlfriend in the bathroom, so I got involved. He was a boxer, I know ju jitsu. I won, and his crazy girlfriend thanked me by telling the cops that I attacked first. There were no cameras in the bathroom, and because of my prior, they took the bitch at her word. Happy now?"

Ultron blinked at the anger in her tone, then chuckled. "Thrilled," he smirked, copying her stance. "And no, you're not."

The sudden change in topic sent her for a loop. "I'm not what?"

"Like those looters. And I didn't mean to insult you."

She eyed him warily for a moment, then sighed and lowered her arms. That was probably as close to an apology as she was going to get. "Okay."

"Good! Good." He pushed away from the railing, rolling his shoulders a little. "When you have a moment, come up to the Lab. I'd like to take a blood sample, if that's alright. Run a few basic scans, and give you that tetnus shot for your arm. You might need antibiotics too, considering how you got that cut."

Jade sent a glance to her arm, then let her gaze be drawn back to the city. "Maybe this afternoon? I kind of want to enjoy the view a bit more."

Well, that was the most polite 'leave me alone' as he'd ever heard. Though, he supposed that their conversation had drug up some bad memories. "My calendar's open. Take your time."

"Thank you... Ultron."

He graced her with a smirk and turned to head back inside. "No problem."

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tbc