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Laura was piloting the Quinjet back from Sokovia above the partly cloudy sky over the Atlantic.
Sighing and leaning back in her seat.
The other Avengers were lounging in the back.
Bruce was huddled in his sweater, listening to opera from his headphones.
Looking down to her bracelet and smiled.
She was… content.
For the first time in a long time.
Her relationship with T'Challa had become serious.
Very serious.
Being with him officially for over two years now.
Even the thought of marriage regularly crossed her mind.
Not seeing her future with him not in it.
Which was something she never would've dreamed.
HYDRA was now history.
Hopefully this meant she could return to him soon.
But she had a few things to wrap up first.
Including how to discuss her job and future with Tony.
He, of course was the only one who knew about T'Challa and true to his word he kept his mouth shut.
But for now she still had responsibilities regarding Stark.
She turned her head around to see Natasha trying to comfort Bruce.
And Clint strapped to a stretcher with Steve and Thor attending to him.
"Hey, the lullaby worked better than ever." she said.
"Just wasn't expecting the Code Green." he said with unease.
"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties. My best friend would've been a treasured memory." she thanked him.
"You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear." he said with discomfort.
"How long before you trust me?" she asked.
"It's not you I don't trust." he hinted.
"Thor, report on the Hulk?" Nat asked him.
"The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims." he declared.
Nat glared daggers at him as Bruce groaned in despair.
"Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course. No no, uh...wounded screams, mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and, and uh... and gout." he finished awkwardly.
"Hey Banner, Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul, is it okay if she sets up in your lab?" Tony asked him.
"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around." he answered.
Laura swiveled the pilot seat around and got up.
"Hey, JARVIS can you take over?" she asked kindly.
"Yes, Ms. Approach vector is locked." he confirmed.
"Tell Cho to prep everything, Barton's gonna need the full treatment." Tony asked the A.I.
"Very good sir."
"There is a silver lining here at least Bruce.." Laura began while walking towards the group. We finally have the scepter…" she pointed at it in its case.
Everyone turned to glance back at it.
"Not that I don't enjoy our raids as much as everyone else but…" she said while nodding to Thor who nodded back.
"No, Lady Laura but this… this brings it to a close." he said relieved.
"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for. I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?" Steve asked suspiciously.
"Banner, Watson, and I'll give it the once before it goes back to Asgard. Is that cool with you?" Tony asked him.
He nodded.
"I mean, just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying right?" he offered.
"Yes, yes, of course. A victory should be honored with revels." he replied.
"Yeah. Who doesn't love revels. Watson?" he asked hopefully.
"You know I do." she smiled mischievously back.
"Rogers…" he offered.
"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA, so. Yes, revels."
JARVIS piloted the jet back to New York and to the newly christened Avengers Tower.
Formerly known as the Stark Tower.
A giant A displayed proudly at the top of the spire for all to see.
Laura had split the building in half for its uses.
The lower half containing Stark HQ2 and the upper contacting the offices and living facilities for The Avengers organization.
Each Avenger getting their own floor sized penthouse for their personal use.
Along with all of the faculties, living arrangements and luxuries they could ever need.
All paid for generously by Tony and Laura.
Dr. Cho and her team were waiting for them as the jet landed on the platform.
Hill walked up to Tony with a Stark tablet in her arm inside the jet.
Dressed professionally.
Clint was rushed away as the Avengers walked off the ramp.
Cho's team of surgeons and Nat rushed Clint inside to prep him for surgery.
"Lab's all set up, boss." she confirmed.
"Uh, actually, he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler." he joked.
"Who are the ones actually in charge again?" Laura asked him sarcastically.
Indicating her and Pepper.
"My point still stands." he joked again.
She rolled her eyes behind her glasses.
"What's the word on Strucker?" Steve asked.
"NATO's got him." she confirmed.
"The two enhanced?" Laura asked curiously.
Remembering the teenaged boy running as fast as the speed of light.
"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins…." she began, showing images of them at an antiwar protest after bombs were dropped on their city.
Levelling it.
Laura frowned, feeling guilty.
"Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special but it's on the way to everywhere special." Hill said.
She frowned as she walked out with Hill and Steve.
"Looks like our handiwork." she said regretfully at Stark's past.
"Their abilities?" he asked.
"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." she explained fully.
Laura nodded but Steve looked at her in confusion.
"He's fast and she's weird." she said bluntly.
Laura snorted.
"Well, they're going to show up again." he warned.
"Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts." Hill said while swiping through it on the screen.
"Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?" Steve said sardonically as they walked down the hall towards the elevator.
"We're not at war, Captain." Hill argued as he and Laura stepped in it.
"They are."
Steve took it up to his floor and she took it all the way up to the top floor to Bruce's lab to join him and Tony.
The Iron Legion flew back.
The letter A opened up and they flew into their slots.
Robotic arms scanned them in and began automatically repairing them beneath the glass floor under their feet.
Loki's scepter was mounted in the center of the main table.
Holograhics surrounding and analyzing it.
Sunlight was pouring through the glass façade.
"How's he doing?" Bruce asked about Clint while putting on his lab coat.
Clint just waking up behind the glass wall next door.
"He's good. He just woke up from Cho's operation. He's thirsty." Laura reassured him.
Walking over to make him a smoothie.
After pouring his glass she and Tony walked over to the setup.
"Alright. Look alive, JARVIS. It's play time. We've only got a couple days with this joystick so let's make the most of it. Update me on the structural and compositional analysis." he asked.
"The scepter is alien. There are elements I can't quantify." he answered.
"So there's elements you can." Tony asked hopefully.
"The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside. Something powerful." he replied.
"Like a reactor?" Tony hinted.
"Like a computer. I believe I'm deciphering code."
That gave them time to next door to the hospital wing.
A wing Laura was familiar with since she had her surgery two years ago.
Clint was resting on the stretcher as Cho worked on him.
"You sure he's going to be okay? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." Nat joked.
"There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don't know they're bonding with simulacrum." she answered.
"She's creating tissue." Bruce explained.
Laura walked in, giving everyone their drinks.
"If you brought him to my lab, the regeneration Cradle could do this in twenty minutes." Cho beamed.
"Oh, he's flatlining. Call it. Time?" Tony joked.
"No, no, no. I'm going to live forever. I'm gonna be made of plastic." Clint joked as well
"Here's your beverage." Laura handed him the glass.
"Thanks." he managed to nod.
"You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton. Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference." Cho reassured him.
"Well, I don't have a girlfriend." he hinted.
"That I can't fix. This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust." Cho said proudly.
"Well, that is exactly the plan. And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday." he ordered.
"Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties." she denied but hesitated for a moment.
"Will Thor be there?
Laura, Tony, and Bruce made their way back to his lab.
She was giddy.
Not really working on a project in one or a workshop in years.
Like her and Tony use to do.
Saying she was excited was an understatement.
"What's the rumpus?" Bruce asked.
"Well, the scepter. You see, we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive. So, I've been analyzing the gem inside… You may recognize…" Tony said as Laura brought out her phone and projected a large holographic of JARVIS' subconscious.
"Doctor." he greeted.
"Started out, JARVIS was just a natural language UI." Tony began, gesturing to Laura to continue.
"Now Tony and I have been… tinkering. Now he runs the Iron Legion. Pretty much does my whole job of running Stark for me. He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper."
"Rendering you, useless." Tony joked.
"That's the plan." she smiled.
He raised an eyebrow at that.
"Oh?" Bruce asked curiously.
"Top of the line." Tony beamed.
"Yes." Bruce nodded.
"I suspect not for long." JARVIS added.
"Meet the competition." Laura said proudly.
Scanning the scepter and Projecting another graphic of a larger, smarter Artificial Intelligence.
"It's beautiful." Bruce said in awe.
"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?" Tony asked.
"Like it's thinking. I mean this could be a... it's not a human mind, it..." he fumbled over his words.
"Um-um." Laura nodded, crossing her arms over her Knicks hoodie.
"I mean, look at this! They're like neurons firing." Bruce said about the "sparks" in the wavelengths.
"Down in Strucker's lab I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They deep-sixed the data, but... I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door." Tony hinted.
"Artificial intelligence." Bruce finished.
"This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron." he said hopefully.
Laura frowned.
"I thought Ultron was a fantasy." he said unsure.
"Yeah, Tony. I thought you said we were years away from that." she couldn't help but agree.
"Yesterday it was. If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol." he hoped.
"That's a mad-sized if." Bruce said, trying to keep his expectations down.
"Our job is "if." What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for VERONICA." Tony argued.
"Don't hate, I helped design VERONICA." Bruce defended the satellite.
"As a worst-case measure, right? How about a best-case? What if the world was safe? What if next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?" Tony countered.
"The only people threatening the planet would be people?" Bruce warned.
"I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here, that's three days, give me three days." Tony asked.
"But Tony, what about the others?" Laura pointed out.
He stepped over to stand in front of her.
"Right. That's right, you know why, because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear the "man was not meant to meddle" medley. I see a suit of armor around the world. You know what's out there Watson. You were the one who closed the portal. After SHIELD fell, tell me that we don't need this. And that Earth isn't vulnerable?" he argued.
She opened her mouth with her finger raised but closed it.
Putting her hands in pockets.
Unable to come up with an argument.
"I'm not saying I don't 100% agree with you but what about the safeguards. SHIELD had safeguards and look what happened to it." she pointed out.
"We're the safeguards Watson…" he said while gesturing his finger between him, her and Bruce.
"It's just us and three days. No one else involved. Are you with me?" he asked.
Placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm always with you." she said, clenching it.
"Bruce?" he asked, turning his head back to him.
"I suppose so…" he said with extreme reluctance.
"This world. This one, this very vulnerable blue one? It needs Ultron. Peace in our time. Imagine that."
For the next few days, the trio went to work.
Working hard at their setups, trying to code a program to work with the Ultron program.
Hardly leaving the lab.
But Laura enjoyed it immensely.
It was like the good old days when she and Tony worked nonstop in his old workshop to meet contract deadlines.
And she marveled at just how smart Bruce really was.
Seeing him in his element.
Day and night passed but each simulation they conducted ended up as a failure.
Surviving on coffee alone at this point, they had just concluded their seventeenth experiment.
It ending in failure once again.
But now it was Saturday and the last day they had access to the scepter before Thor took it back to Asgard.
Unable to come up with a hypothesis.
Laura frowned while writing down the notes in her filled notebook.
Her sitting on the floor against the bench. "
What did we miss guys?" she asked while getting up.
Closing the notebook and putting her pen in her jeans pocket.
"I'll continue to run variations on the interface, but you should probably prepare for your guests. I'll notify you if there are any developments." JARVIS offered.
"Thanks, buddy." Laura smiled before walking out.
"Of course, Ms. Enjoy yourself, sir."
'I always do." he said while following Laura and Bruce out.
Neither of them seeing as the lab was shut down the Ultron program was successfully integrated into the Iron Legion…