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Avengers Tower, New York
It had been a unanimous decision to leave Dara with Maria. She would still be backup, along with the Avengers other helper. Though she felt like there a degree of danger given what one of the twins could do with your mind.
Rubbing her face, she watched the screen estimating the Quinjet's arrival in an hour. Maria was tapping away and making a few calls.
"Warn the city." Dara told Maria. The agent looked over at her. "We don't want casualties, send a warning to the city officials the moment the position is given away is best."
It looked like Maria was thinking through this idea, the pros and cons, before deciding it would help while still giving a surprise advantage of the Avengers appearing before Ultron. So she prepared the agents in the Shield small office there to be ready for the deployment of warning on her command.
Walking off to the lab, she stood in front of her suit that was plugged into the processors. "Jarvis, how is the search going?"
"There are terabytes of material to go through, yet I am slowed down momentarily by the walls Ultron has created. Given what I have learnt from the HUB in NEXUS, the information flow would help most of the processing to accelerate. They have been tracking Ultron from there, he is still after the codes for nuclear strikes." Jarvis replied to her. He had already secured the tower again, making it that much easier for Maria to work with secret SHIELD.
"Where is NEXUS? If we are there maybe you can gain communication with our ally and help." asked a frowning Dara. There is a danger to leaving the safety here. But this is more important, she wanted to get all of Jarvis back. They need him in a fight against another AI.
"Oslo, Norway."
Nexus, Oslo
Coming here had been the best idea. Dara couldn't believe their sudden amount of luck. They found out the person helping slow down Ultron. It was JARVIS. He had followed her advice of having fail safes, one in her suit because he was wary of Tony at that point, one in Pepper's suit, and the other to break down into small codes so he can hide and have a cyber battle for the nuclear codes with Ultron. He's been at it for two days.
It had taken them 3 hours to fly over, Dara had taken a jet that Maria had supplied from SHIELD. The NEXUS techs were watching her as she bounced on her feet slightly, squeezing her hands behind her back as Jarvis was fully restructuring himself again. They didn't quite understand her excitement over an AI. He's a friend, saved her life many times.
Finally after almost 6 hours of this, they were ready to leave. Dara had been given a different location to go. But it had to be in a roundabout way. Hill wouldn't tell her more information. They were not in a jet this time, as that would be easier to track. Quite an uncomfortable flight via suit for 4 hours at sonic speeds.
Seeing the destination was a farm land she asked "Are you sure this is the safe house, Jarvis? This is vulnerably exposed."
"Yet it is in plain sight, Ultron would not expect a farmer home in a far off town. He would suspect his creator, Sir, to pick a more technology reliant city." Jarvis remarked.
"Good point." she said before landing on the grassy ground and walk over to the light up two story cozy home. This is nice.
Knocking on the door, she waited for it to open. Her helmet went up when she saw it was a Clint. Giving him a grin, she asked "Guess who I found?"
Clint chuckled letting her inside. Getting out of the suit she looked at everyone, then the woman she didn't know. She looked between her and Clint, then back again, before she started swearing at Clint.
It was the appropriate reaction. "She should have been in the girl chat room, we could have used her help when you wouldn't come out of the vents."
Laura laughed as she snuck up behind her husband, smacking him lightly on the arm, and introduced herself. "Laura Barton, and there are two more smaller Bartons asleep upstairs."
Giving her a big smile then added a glare to Clint, she asked "You have any food, I'm starving, been flying all day."
Steve came over to hug her tightly. She frowned at the way he was being, something went wrong. Rubbing his back, she whispered "Its alright, Steve. Don't worry, everything will be fine. We'll make it work. Together."
"I'm glad you weren't there." Steve whispered before letting her go, only keeping his arm wrapped around her.
"Alright I will ask later what happened, but first, Fury if I may?" she asked the Director.
"While you were all in South Africa, Ms Yates went to follow up on the ally we had that was stopping Ultron from gaining any missile codes. There were constantly being changed and difficult to track down." he started off for her as they had already covered the talk about Ultron's fixation on the launch codes.
"Jay needed a better place to track down the ally. So we went to NEXUS in Oslo. And guess who we found there. The language was easy to decyper." She said with a mischievous smirk and bite into her sandwich.
Tony had a big grin. "JARVIS."
While she nodded excitedly, her suit started speaking. "I had restructured myself after having broken myself down, leaving parts of myself with Dara and Ms Potts."
"Are you still fighting Ultron?" asked Nat.
"Yes, I am still changing the codes, but now I have made them into a language he will not be able to figure out." At this the helmet turned to Dara, who was looking at the kids pictures with Laura. The others understood, Dara's made up language was being utilized here. "I no longer need to be everywhere."
"This is great, we can just concentrate on Ultron's other goals." said Steve.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than this." said Nat.
"I do, I have you. 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. Outwith the platinum bastard." voiced Fury. It was motivational.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Nat teased which got some smiles and Dara giggling as she brought Laura into the joke.
"You know what, Romanoff?" he threw her a scalding look.
"So what does he want?" Nick asked the room.
"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Steve provided. Dara stopped, she already knew what Ultron wanted. Evolution of mankind, but in his imagine.
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it." pondered Tony aloud.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, granted it was with the wrong ideas given what the witch did to Tony, why did he say he wants us extinct." Nat mentioned from her seat in the chair.
Bruce looked at the finger painting of a butterfly, the idea joining to what they must do now. "Humans don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."
"How?" Nick asked with his raised brow.
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" he asked apprehensively.
Barton Home, Morning
It was still going around in her mind. The chaos that happened in South Africa. The witch had gotten to every member of the Avengers team. Bruce had felt it when she had attacked, he and Hulk had tried to fight it off, but then she had put in their minds that they hate each other again. It was an awful feeling that they were still avoiding right now. It was like their old wounds had been ripped open again, reminded of the hurt they made on each other. Especially Hulk. He wouldn't help to bring the barrier down again. Bruce had to put it up after waking so that he could prevent more lashing out while they were recovering from the spell.
The others weren't better off. Thor was out searching for some particular answers with Erik. Tony was feeling so much guilt for having started all this, and it didn't help that the others were busy with their own problems to remind him that just like them he was under the same spell. Nat had to relive through her horrors in the Red Room.
She had spent the night comforting Steve with his red mist spell. Steve had to see the nightmare that was suddenly finding himself in the 40s but without Dara, and then the Peggy there died, along with all his old friends. They were killed by the Winter Soldier. It was his worst nightmare as everything then iced over, he couldn't breathe. After she had gotten him to calm some, he had become very passionate. It was almost stifling, yet just what they both needed during this fight with nightmares. She's sure he didn't sleep at all, just kept her in his arms as she slipped into sleep before waking up again to him stroking her hair shifting her in his arms.
Clint had been able to escape the spell as he was prepared to not go through something like that again. Seeing the mood present as everyone was having breakfast, but separately she had enough of it. They needed help, someone to remind them that if they fall, they can rise up to the challenge again, but together. Rebuild that trust.
Moving over to Laura, Dara wondered aloud "Hey Lila, what are your bad dreams?"
The little girl looked up from her cornflakes and drawing she was making for Dara. "My bad dreams are of zombies from that video that Cooper was watching."
At this Clint and Laura sent a stern look at Cooper who tried to hide behind his book. It was cute.
"And what do you do in your dream?"
"I run away." she whispered.
"What if Cooper was there with you?"
Her head raised to look at where her brother had put down the book. A smile came to her. "We would face the zombies and fight."
Cooper grinned at her. "And if your mom and dad were there too?"
"Then we would win, Daddy is very good with the bow and arrow." she loudly complimented her father. He stroked her hair.
"Yeah, those Zombie's would perish!" Cooper yelled in agreement. "The Bartons are the strongest." He high fived his dad and Dara when she reached for him.
Turning back to the others she stood up, swinging Lila's hand slowly. "You have to live through nightmares. You were alone in them, you had no control. But then you woke up, and it stuck with you, the knawing fear. It made you feel defeated and unable to face challenged. But you forgot one thing, you have friends, who will help you against any nightmare. Just talk to them, join them in arms, and fight together. Trust that the other has your back, become the strongest. It shouldn't be any different than the other times you have gone on missions. Only this time the nightmare is larger, smarter, and is one move ahead of you. I know you all can overcome this, each having their unique skills to bring together. Don't let your fears tear apart the bonds you share, don't break the team. Don't look at it as the world you need to save." She looked down to Lila and Cooper. "Just do it for their future."
Cooper looked in pride at the standing heroes, they will save the world again.
"One hell of a pep talk, sis." Tony told her with a nod and downed his coffee to go prepare her suit. They were all energized now.
Steve gave her a kiss before going over to Fury, Nat and Clint.
Walking over to Bruce, she gestured to the outside. He knew what was coming and followed her.
"I can't imagine what you and Hulk went through yesterday." she said softly while walking beside him. "You're scared of it happening again, losing that control that was snatched from you."
"We tried to fight it off, but …" Bruce said sadly, then was growling as he thought of the destruction they wrecked on the city. "Fury told us that your warning allowed for little damage, no one was at the mall where we fought Tony and Veronica."
Reaching over she rubbed his arms, breathing loudly that he followed her. "You have come so far in the last few years together. I know I will be very difficult, but Bruce, Hulk, please work together, don't let the witch win."
Bruce was shaking his head, scared of changing, of Hulk's anger, of her or anyone getting hurt.
"You know something Bruce. In all the raids you have done, and the criminals you met, were any of them with your or Hulk's disposition. Did they hurt others with indifference, without care of life? No, because they didn't care, they wanted others in pain, to have power, to rule with fear. That is not either of you. There is not a vindictive trait in either of you. Just trust each other again. If you cant all the way, then start from somewhere. Its better than leaving wounds to fester." she asked him while squeezing his shoulders. Bruce looked at the faith clear in her eyes. So much trust, and not a single ounce of fear or trepidation.
"Alright." She beamed at him when he agreed.
"Get on it then, no time like the present, I'll let the others know that I will bring you back to the tower later. This space is good. I don't think the kids will mind." she said without his input as she walked off. Bruce got a small smile and sighed.
"Come on, Hulk. Lets get better and help save the world. For Dara, for the little Bartons in there, and for beating that witch. We wont be scared anymore." he said resolutely.
Hulk growled into a roar in his head, and the barrier between them was shimmering. Bruce closed his eyes and sat down on the grass, going into his meditative state, bringing down the barrier slowly with Hulk's help.
"They are better off with you around, Dara. I hear it in Clint's stories, in the way they got a boost of confidence before leave, working together. When they came, they were fractured, and I could tell Clint was worried, not knowing how to make the team trust each other again for the final confrontation. It scared me for him to go to a fight with a team like that, I admit." Laura spoke to Dara as they watched the kids play with the Hulk in the large back yard of the Barton farm.
At first Bruce had been busy internally. When he switched to let Hulk break the barrier from his side, he had caught the curiosity of the children. Dara gave no warning to them. If there is one thing she knows, the Hulk likes kids, he gets zero threats from them. Laura was told this the moment her children started sneaking up to the Hulk, it was reassuring to see the proof. Cooper was roaring with laughter from his upside down dangling position from Hulk's fingers, while Lila was clutching his hair sitting on his shoulders.
Bruce had been wary at first, then felt something, the trust, unencumbered towards the children. He built on that trust during playtime. Teaching Hulk the game the kids wanted to play; Simon Says. This was therapeutic in a whole other way that they never sought out before.
"I always try to just help my friends. Laura I have very little friends, all of them are very important to my life, and I keep tag of their lives passionately. Before that alien attack in 2012, my life was a routine of a drifter, in some ways, then I found a place with people that I care about. I'm not an Avenger, I'm not a hero, but I do what I can to help keep my world safe. Its selfish, I know, but I'm only human." Dara summarized for Laura her role in her friend group. The worrier and the friend.
"They are lucky, you care so much." Laura whispered. "It's a relief for me to know that there is someone looking out for Nat while Nat is looking out for Clint."
"Trust me, the whole team look out for each other. They may disagree, shout, and fight each other, but there is no one else that seems to empathize on such a level as each other. They have such a big responsibility put on them that they sometimes forget that forgiveness is an important trait to have. People make mistakes, if they don't learn, you teach them if you are a friend. They are a group of imperfect individuals and the world only sees them as either good or bad, wrong or right." Dara explained to Laura. They saw Hulk had chased the kids out of the surrounding woods from the left of the house.
"It's the curse of being a celebrity. If the world wont give them a break, they owe it to each other to not take mistakes as absolute crime." Laura said after some silent contemplating. "That's why you forgive Tony's faults."
"My brother is a genius, but a lot of geniuses have drawbacks when it comes to social behaviors and norms. He cares for others on whatever level he allows himself to, because the rest of the time his mind is firing up with ideas. He is a futurist and inventor. He should be just himself, it's the rest of the team that will balance him out. Pepper balances him out. What happened with Ultron, he didn't tell anyone except Bruce, he would usually tell such things to me or Pepper. But that spell, it convinced him that only he could save us from that ever present threat outside out world. It morphed into something horrible now, because he wasn't being careful. You can ask Jarvis, he will tell you that Tony didn't put up fail saves the entire time he was working on Ultron four days ago. And he always has some fail saves so the level of danger is low and only affects him if it fails. I saw all the videos of his tests in making the Iron Man suit after he returned from captivity. No one got hurt, the suit didn't gain its on conscious and malfunction."
"I understand what you mean." Laura interrupted. She could already hear the sadness in Dara's voice. "People don't actually know Tony Stark the way you and some of the team do. And because of his character, he's not going to tell anyone how he feels."
Dara shook her head. "He wont whine and throw a hissy fit with tears like we would. No discharge for him. I can't imagine how Pepper gets him to release some of it, even a small amount."
Laura shrugged, not knowing either. "Tony's strong willed."
Dara hummed. "They all are. One became Captain America but felt useless until he took matters into his own hands. He woke up out of his time and found himself lost. One was molded into a weapon in the Red Room and all the while had a growing consciousness of morality that conflicted with her orders, then left to fight for good and was betrayed. Another had a rough childhood and escaped it only to be trained into being an assassin after losing his brother. Three had awful fathers to deal with, but they grew individually with lonely hearts and found it with great difficulty. One was a cocky god that had little boundaries until he was taught a difficult lesson, he lost his mother, his brother, and unfortunately he is in a relationship that cannot last. Seeing where they are now, its commendable how much effort they had put in after being broken and remade."
"That is an accurate summary. I think its amazing they are not completely mental. We humans are resilient." Laura added. They watched one of them coming their way. They got up as Hulk had started to change. He was bare chested now. Dara tossed him the shirt he had left on the porch. The pants were ones that Tony had gotten Reed Richards to make for Bruce, since he also stretches.
"Ready to go, Bruce, Big Guy?" She asked with hope.
"Yes, Dara."
"DAR!" Hulk yelled. She laughed, this was amazing. How fast they had been able to snap back together.
"Great job, both of you. Lets go home." She turned to Laura and the kids. "It was a pleasure to be welcomed to the Barton family home. I hope we see each other a lot more now."
"Yes!" Lila shouted as she hugged Dara. Copper was hugging Bruce. He will miss the big guy.
Bruce smiled giving his thanks as Dara went to her suit. Bruce was going flying with her. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she took off. Accelerating to get to Avengers Tower before the others. They should be on their way back now.
Team spirit regained, lets go kick Ultron's ass.
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