Later that morning, everyone re gathered in a lab downstairs except for Thor who marched away angrily.

Laura and Tony were looking down at the workbench where the scattered, broken suit pieces were scattered about it.

She was pinching her nose beneath the nose of her glasses.

Still in her dress and with a bad migraine forming.

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch." Bruce said gravely.

"Ultron?" Steve asked unknowingly.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Nat warned while glaring at Laura who felt her gaze in the back of her head.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey asked while pacing around.

"Nuclear codes." Hill realized.

"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." Rhodey said urgently.

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." Nat stated.

"He didn't just say dead. He said extinct." Laura said confused.

"He also said he killed somebody." Steve added.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building." Hill argued.

"Yes there was." Tony said and brought out his phone.

He projected a holograhhic of JARVIS now destroyed consciousness for everyone to see.

Laura gasped in horror. Bruce slowly stepped forward in front of her to get a better look in shock.

"This is insane." he managed to say.

"No it isn't." Laura said quietly.

Getting everyone's attention.

"JARVIS is running the building. Security. The Iron Legion. Our defenses. It makes senses." she clarified.

Thor marched in his cape and armor angrily.

Holding Mjolnir as he shoved between everyone and grabbed Tony by the throat, holding him up while ignoring everyone's shouts.

"It's going around." Clint said dryly.

"Come on. Use your words, buddy." Tony managed to choke out, grasping at his wrist.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." he threatened.

"Thor, it wasn't just him. I'm to blame as well!" Laura said angrily while marching up to him.

"That can be arranged, Lady Laura." he threatened as he towered over her.

She glared up at him, refusing to back down.

"Thor! The Legionnaire…" Steve asked, trying to defuse the tense situation.

Thor dropped Tony with a thud.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again." he said annoyed.

"The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Nat warned.

"I don't understand." Cho asked, getting everyone's attention.

She herself was glancing down at the scattered Legion pieces.

"You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" she asked Tony.

He just began laughing and Laura placed her face in her palms.

Bruce just shook his head in disbelief.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked unamused.

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so... is it so... it is. It's so terrible." he rambled.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor argued.

"Tony's right." Laura spoke up, marching up to his side.

"That threat…" she said while pointing up to the ceiling.

"Is still out there it not?" she asked sarcastically.

Tony nodded in agreement.

"See why is that Watson is the only one taking this seriously. I mean it's funny. It's a hoot that the rest of you don't get why we need this." he seethed.

"Guys, maybe this might not be the time to…" Bruce said, trying to calm their anger but he interrupted him.

"Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls." he said through his clenched teeth.

"Only when I've created a murder bot." Bruce said sarcastically.

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?' Tony stated.

"Not even closed." Laura said while crossing her arms.

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD." Steve said disappointed.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony remarked.

Laura raised her hand high, earning glares from everyone which she ignored.

"I did. I was the one that closed the wormhole." she added sarcastically.

"No, it's never come up." Rhodey rolled his eyes.

"Saved New York?" Tony continued.

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's... that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?" he warned while looking directly at Steve.

"Together." he countered.

"We'll lose." Tony warned again.

Laura couldn't help but agree.

"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve stated.

Laura frowned and Tony just shook his head in disbelief.

Walking away Steve turned to address the group.

"Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."


Later that day in the Avengers Tower, Laura and Tony were going over reports of the Ultron Attacks on Stark Tablets.

Apparently he was attacking highly advanced, top secret research faculties.

Limited fatalities however which she thought was odd.

Steve and Hill walked in, getting their attention as they joined Thor and Nat who was at a computer.

"What's that?" she asked about the tablet in Steve's hand.

"A message. Ultron killed Strucker." he said while handing her the tablet.

She saw his body with the blood smeared wall with "PEACE" written in it.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Tony quipped.

"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Nat asked.

"Strucker may have been onto something in that lab. Maybe something Ultron wanted." Laura suggested.

"Yeah, I bet he…" Nat agreed while trying to pull up his files but "Records Deleted" popped up instead.

"Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased." she sighed.

"Not everything." Tony hinted.

They made their way downstairs to the archives room where all of the old SHIELD physical files were stored that were salvaged after it was destroyed.

Laura was going through a box.

"Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve stated.

"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce said while going through the files but Tony spotted a familiar face

. "Wait. I know that guy." Bruce gave it to him and Laura inhaled a deep breath.

The face of the man being hauntingly familiar to her past.

She stumbled backwards almost into Nat.

"Laura…?" she asked concerned, grabbing on her shoulders.

"I'm fine it's just…" she choked out and Tony frowned.

"You know that guy?" he asked surprised.

She took a deep breath and regained her composure.

"Yeah, look can I talk to you alone." she asked.

He nodded and the two walked out into the hallway, ignoring everyone's curious gazes.

"Laura, what's this about?" he asked comfortingly.

"Look you know about my boyfriend right?" she asked with a whisper.

"The Wakandan Prince, yeah?" he whispered back.

She looked around to see nobody eavesdropping.

"I'm dating him because I'm also Wakandan." she revealed.

She saw the surprise in his eyes but saw he was trying to play it cool.

"I mean that doesn't surprise me. It would have seemed kinda random if you weren't." he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah well, when I met him. And I went there. And well I know you know I'm adopted obviously. And Wakandans are obviously very reclusive And uh…" she began to ramble.

"Yeah, we're you going with this. How do you know this guy?" he asked confused.

"I don't know him personally but I do know…" she said and took a deep breath.

He grabbed her shoulder comfortingly

"He murdered my parents." she revealed.

"What?" he asked in shock.

"I can't go into exact detail. But there was an attack. You are aware of what use to come out of Wakanda right?" she asked, glancing down to her necklace.

"I do." he nodded.

"Well… he was after it." she explained.

"I met him once. Before I knew you." he began.

She frowned.

"Only once though. I obviously didn't know what he did… specifically but Laura…" he said but she put her hand up.

"It's okay. Obviously you didn't. Besides the both of us have more than enough blood on our hands with our past weapons business." she admitted sadly.

He sighed.

"Let's just get back to the others. Thank you, for telling me. Don't worry Watson. We'll catch this guy." he said with a small smile at the end.

"I know we will. I won't let him get away with what he's done." she said with determination.

Tony seeing the deadly look in her eyes.


They walked back out to the group, getting their attention.

"Laura, are you okay?" Nat asked first and she sighed but nodded.

"Yeah, sorry. I can't get into it but that is Ulysses Klaue. He's a South African arms dealer, smuggler. Black market arms." she explained while everyone passed around his photo.

"What's this?" Thor asked her while pointing at the brand on his neck.

"It's a brand. It means thief." she said with a sigh.

Nat raised an eyebrow, wondering how she knew that, piecing the clues together silently.

"What did he steal?" Steve asked her.

"The strongest metal on Earth."


Laura made her way back upstairs to her penthouse and changed into her jumpsuit in her walk in closet.

Strapping her spear and placing her Glock in its holster.

She walked out to her bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the bead on her bracelet. Making a call and T'Challa's head appeared.

"Laura, are you okay?" he asked with worry.

"I'm fine. Everyone's fine…" she said but scratched the side of her head awkwardly.

"Laura, what is going on?" he asked urgently.

"Uh, T'Challa. We kinda created Ultron…" she admitted quietly.

"Oh, Laura…" he said and she could hear the disappointment in her voice.

"I'm sorry. This wasn't our intention. It was a horrible, horrible mistake. But uh we did track down a possible individual…" she began.

"Who?" he frowned.

"We're going to go after him… Klaue." she said and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry Laura." he apologized knowingly.

"I'll be okay T'Challa. I promise but please you need to believe me that all of this is just a horrible mistake but I promise you we're doing everything we can to fix it." she pleaded him.

"I believe you Laura. I've never had reason not to." he reassured her.

"After three years I hope not." she said lightheartedly and both of them smiled at each other.

"Uh, I gotta go. We're about to head out." she let him know.

"Okay, I love you T'Challa."

"I love you Laura." she hanged up and stood up.

Ready to confront her past.

And get revenge…


Author's Notes: So I apologize for the shorter chapter but this was the only good place I could think of to break between chapters