My head throbbed like a thousand knives were cutting into it or someone was trying to tear it in half. A scream of pain tore itself from my throat as I gipped my head in agony. I saw things. Things from my nightmares. The planet burning, jewels of unspeakable power, creatures not of Earth and the echoing sound of a snap that turned people to dust. I saw Tony, lying on the ground with his whole right side burnt as his glassy-eyed stare sent a different kind of pain through my heart.

"No… No, I won't let that… I can't let that happen," I breathed, voice raspy as I started to push through the slowly receding pain, heaving myself up slightly.

The images changed. A red-skinned man with a golden jewel, Ultron, a figure with a red cloak and glowing golden hands. Then, I saw someone out of the corner of my eye, and I let out a soft sigh of relief as I cradled my head.

"T-Tony. Thank God. Bruce is—"

Except, it wasn't Tony. It was a face far more familiar with cold eyes set into a glare and a sneer on his face that made my voice catch in my throat. I scrambled back, nearly falling out of the jet in my haste as he moved towards me.

"N-No. No, no, no, no. Y-You're dead. I-I… I was there. I-I saw you. Y-You can't be—"

A spike of pain forced me to clench my eyes shut with a whimper, attempting to shake it off because I couldn't risk turning away from him, from my father. But when I was able to open my eyes again, he was gone. I was alone. Had been alone. My father had never been there. I'd just been tricked by the Maximoff girl, but I was still on edge. More than on edge, but I had a job to do. I shakily got up, cringing as my head throbbed with a left-over migraine and stumbling back into the jet to pick up the comms once more.

"Clint, they got us."

"What? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, relatively. Really bad migraine, but Bruce is gone. Can any of the others—"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Not for a while. The whole team is down. I don't know how you're all right, honestly."

"I-I don't really know either. Something must have gone wrong."

"Well, you're different, right? You could talk to that cube before, so maybe that has something to do with it?"

"Maybe. Is Tony back on the comms?"

"You bet, Jess. You sure you're all right?"

I glanced out of the corner of my eye, expecting to see my father standing there, but there was nothing. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"And a good liar, but you are talking to the best."

"Look, we'll talk about it later. We need to stop Bruce."

"I'm calling in Veronica."

"Don't start fighting with him, Tony," I argued, tapping at my watch and allowing my suit to cover me as I made my way out of the jet, still a little wobbly on my feet.

"Um, Jess. In case you haven't noticed, the Hulk is rampaging in a city."

"Stall for time. I might be able to calm him down."

"Do you know the lullaby?"

"No, but I almost did it back when Loki was around, until I got interrupted, anyway. Look, just let me try. If you two start fighting, there's going to be backlash. The people will hate heroes even more than they already do, and that's not even mentioning the cost of the damages."

"What's your ETA?"

"Two minutes. Three tops."

"That's too long."

"Stall him with Veronica and see if you can at least get him out of town, away from the populated areas. Keep any military support as far away from him as possible and get civilians safe. You know they're—"

"The priority. I know, Jess. See you in a bit."

"Clint, I'm leaving the others in your care. Get them in the jet and be ready to meet up with us once we've calmed down Bruce."

"Will do."

I flew as quickly as I could, ignoring the sweat sliding down the back of my neck and the way my heart raced in my chest in a panic. I could still feel his eyes on me. It was impossible, but every time my headache flared, I'd clench my eyes shut and see him there, hear his curses, feel the phantom pain in the scars he left behind. My suit fell slightly, jolting me out of it as I swallowed thickly and urged myself to calm down. Almost there. I need to focus. If I show him I'm scared—of anything—he'll react poorly. Right now, I need to only concern myself with calming him down and making sure those people are safe. I forced myself to take a calming breath as I approached the city and winced.

Evidence of the Hulk's rampage was obvious by the trashed cars, screaming citizens, and military and police presence. Tony had left his own evidence of conflict as well—Veronica's sealing box left in a crater and the man himself repeatedly punching the Hulk in the face.

"I thought I told you not to fight him!" I snapped, making him pause.

"Whoops?"

I groaned, turning to the police nearby. "Get this area evacuated! As quickly as possible! No citizens! No military! Nothing within the next ten blocks!"

They hesitated but soon began to do as I said as Tony called out.

"Jess! Little help!"

"Let him go!" I shouted, and he released the Hulk and flew back to put some distance between them as I hastily moved in. "Hey! Hey, bug fella! Remember me?"

The Hulk turned to me and roared angrily, so I removed the helmet of my suit—holding up my hands.

"I'm not here to hurt you! I swear!"

He picked up a car and threw it, but I ducked, easily avoiding it as Tony started to move closer.

"Jess!"

"Stay back, Tony!" I pressed, holding a hand out to him to stop him. "Help get the people away."

"Jess, I really don't think—"

I glared at him from over my shoulder and he groaned.

"You know, I hate it when you do that."

"Yeah, well get used to it," I huffed, turning back to the Hulk as he growled—eyeing me, but not moving to do anything just yet. "See? Look. Nobody trying to hurt you. No shooting, no fighting. Just… talking."

He looked past me, teeth bared at Tony's back.

"Don't worry. He won't do anything. We just want you to calm down a little, okay?"

His gaze snapped back to me angrily and I held my hands up peacefully.

"O-Or we could just go down to the beach and you can freely express your anger there on some trees and a boat or two?" I offered still a little worried, but hopeful since he wasn't attacking me just yet. "Look. I know you're scared. That girl did something to us, remember? But you're smarter than that. You and Bruce both. Don't let her manipulate you into doing this. Don't you know how Bruce feels about this sort of thing?"

He bristled then, making me pause. I was misunderstanding something. Something important about the dynamic between Bruce and the Hulk. Is that…

"Are you… afraid of him?"

It was subtle, but the Hulk had stiffened for a moment before roaring again and slamming his fists into the concrete.

"No. I know what you're doing. You're trying to play it off," I said, stepping forward slightly, eyeing him. "You are, aren't you? You're afraid of Bruce. You're afraid he'll become so scared of you—he'll hate you so much, that he won't let you out. He'll smother you inside him, trapping you. That's why you hate being trapped. Why you lash out at people attacking you. You just want to be out here, experiencing things, living but everyone's afraid. They all see you like you're a monster, try to hurt you," I murmured, beginning to understand. "So, you try to protect him to show him you're good. To get him to like you, but that means…"

I looked around at the destruction of the city.

"My God. That makes so much more sense now." I turned back to him with a small smile on my face. "You're honestly just a big teddy bear, aren't you?"

I didn't know the Hulk could look embarrassed or flustered, but the moment was short-lived when a rock bounced off his temple and he whipped around with a fierce roar. My eyes snapped to the person who'd thrown it, seeing a young boy maybe ten-years-old quivering beside his mother who was huddled on the ground holding his shirt to try and get him to stop. He shouted at the Hulk in his native tongue, my suit translating the words for me.

"Get out! Monster! Leave! Go away!"

Angered by the attack, the Hulk picked up a heavy piece of concrete and I hastily moved between him and the two.

"No! Don't!" I shouted, trying to calm him once more, but the piece was already flying.

Not enough time to move them. Shit. I hope this suit can handle the strain! I flicked my helmet back on and grabbed the boy and his mother, covering them as the concrete slammed into me and everything went dark.

"Jess!" Tony whipped around, charging back to where the slab of concrete was and lifting it easily with his enhanced suit.

A woman and her son scrambled out from underneath it, looking no worse for wear and Tony reached for Jess, who was hunched over where the two had been.

"Jess?"

Her suit was dented terribly, and she began to sag, making him hastily grab her and carefully bring her close.

"Diagnostics," he commanded his suit, reading what it came up with and cursing under his breath.

He'd expected the head trauma after whatever the Maximoff girl had done, but her suit wasn't capable of handling an impact like that. He pulled the suit off, being as careful as he could as he took in the damage. Broken arm from propping herself up on that wall to keep those two safe, possible concussion, severe bruising of her back. She is going to be the least happy person on that jet back. His gaze went to the Hulk then, eyes settled in a glare as the beast seemed stunned at the unconscious woman in his arms.

"You did this," he spat as the Hulk began to shrink and grow less green.

Bruce soon looked up at him shamefully as Tony threw a dark blue blanket at him to cover himself up with. "I'm sorry."

"Don't talk to me until we're back."

They returned to the jet where the others were in equal silence, though due to the nightmares that haunted them more than what had happened with Bruce. Tony wasn't thrilled but allowed the doctor to look over Jess and get her arm splinted and in a sling, as well as cleaning some of her cuts and icing her bruised back. Tony kept a close watch on him while he did, before making sure Jess was strapped in for their flight and moving to get an update from Maria back at headquarters.

"The news is loving you guys," Maria informed them. "And thanks to Jess, few people are wanting to put a call out for Banner's arrest. Jess's relief foundation is already on the scene and I gotta admit, it was smart of her to use real people instead of your Iron Legion… No offense."

"None taken," Tony replied, cracking a slight smile. "She wanted it to be all her own and she's better at reading people than I am. I do believe she said something about humans needing the comfort of others, not the comfort of robots who didn't understand."

"How's the team?"

"Everyone's… We took a hit. We'll shake it off. Jess was the only injured and it's not too bad off. Should be waking up in the next few hours."

"Well, for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here."

"So, run and hide?"

"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."

"And with Jess unconscious, we don't have much else, do we?" Tony sighed softly, turning off the comm and heading up front to where Clint was flying. "Hey, you wanna switch out?"

"No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time because we're still a few hours out."

Tony frowned in confusion. "A few hours from… where?"

"Safehouse."

Knowing he wouldn't get much else from him, Tony moved back to where Jess was, unbuckling her and sitting down himself so that he could hang onto her as she slept and get a nap in himself. They landed the next morning at a farmhouse and Clint led the way with Natasha being helped along as Tony carried Jess—who'd yet to wake up.

"What is this place?" Thor questioned him.

"Safehouse."

"Let's hope," Clint said, opening the door and calling out. "Honey? I'm home."

A young woman stepped around the corner, raising a brow at the ragged and beaten group as Clint smiled sheepishly.

"Company," he explained. "Sorry, didn't call ahead."

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony said in an attempt to understand what was going on as Clint kissed his wife and introduced them.

"Gentlemen, this is Laura."

"I know all your names," Laura smiled with a small chuckle as footsteps hurried down the stairs.

"Ooh, incoming," Clint said, ducking down to sweep his kids into a hug as Steve raised a brow at Tony.

"These are smaller agents," Tony muttered, while the kids rushed over to hug Natasha too.

"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologized as Tony nodded.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed."

"Yeah, well, Fury helped set this up when I joined," Clint explained. "He kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. I'd like to keep it that way. I figured it's a good place to lay low."

"Sorry, but do you have a spare bedroom?" Tony asked then, adjusting Jess in his arms and Clint nodded.

"I'll show you."

I was huddled in the closet, shaking with my hands over my ears—flinching with every shout, every crash, every footstep. He was coming up the stairs now, looking for me, shouting my name and spitting curses. I was unable to stop the whimper of fear when a bottle crashed against the doors, revealing my hiding space. They were whipped open and a hand wrapped tightly around my ten-year-old wrist, hauling me out of the closet and throwing me to the ground.

I couldn't hear what he was shouting, but it didn't matter. The feeling was there. The anger, the hatred, the blame. The way his cold eyes looked at me like I was worth less than the mud caked onto his boot. Then, I was older. I'd come home from school with a butterfly stitch over my brow from a fight I'd gotten into, a split lip, and a dark bruising on my jaw. I stood outside the front door, hand shaking too badly to put the key in and see what punishment I'd get here for the teacher calling my father to report what had happened.

I thought about the pocket knife in my pocket, wondering what would happen if I finally decided to draw it today. End my problem before he went too far. Before he realized that I had grown as a woman and tried something else. Or before he understood that I was almost at the age where I could leave and without police bringing me back home like they had time and time again. I fingered the handle of the blade when a voice purred behind me.

"Peace in our time."

I winced, cradling my head as I suddenly found myself on the floor of the living room, a boot slamming down on me again and again. My vision was foggy, shifting in and out of focus, then I was in a car. My mind struggled to comprehend the abrupt changes as blood slid down my face and I turned to see—not my dead father in the driver's seat, but Tony lying there with his body burned and blank eyes staring into space. My heart raced, panic rising, and I reached out towards him, but a man stood there blocking my way.

"I went forward in time to view alternate futures," he said, voice calm but confused. "Why were you never in them? Fourteen million one hundred and five different futures. Why didn't you exist?"

"You are… something else," the Maximoff woman murmured, switching with the man as her eyes glowed red. "You're different. Wrong, somehow."

Then, everything went black, leaving a soft, glowing blue cube in the center that sent a tingle of fear up my spine. My head throbbed and ached with every flare of its blue light.

Anomaly.

Then, I snapped awake.

I sat up in a panic, heart racing and breath coming out in short gasps. I found myself in a bedroom and confusion and fear added to the anxiety I was dealing with after my nightmare. My body throbbed as I forced myself up, stumbling to the door as my mind struggled to determine where I was and if I was still dreaming or not. A woman startled me when I managed to get downstairs.

"Oh, you're awake. That's good. Can I get you anything?" She asked, looking at me in concern. "Are you all right?"

I didn't know who she was, where I was, or anything that had happened after seeing those red-tinted eyes of the Maximoff girl. Not knowing what was going on or whether this woman was a threat or not, had me rushing out of the home. I made it to the porch before arms wrapped around me and my panic doubled. I swung my arm back, elbowing the person holding me in the gut and promptly flipping them over my shoulder and onto the wooden deck despite the pain it sent through my back and splinted arm.

"N-Nice throw," Clint grunted out as Steve rushed over, seeing the commotion with Tony from the front yard.

"Jess! What the hell are you doing!"

The woman from inside rushed to Clint's aid, eyeing me in uncertainty and fear, sobering me up slightly as I took a few paces away from them and Tony hurried toward me, hands held up to prevent anyone from approaching.

"Hold on! Hold on! Give her a minute! I don't think she's entirely coherent yet," he said, making the others eye me as I tried to calm down some.

"Coherent? She just threw me," Clint grunted, getting helped up and Tony winced.

"Yes, well, she has been taking lessons from Natasha."

"Tony," Steve grumbled, and he frowned.

"Just like you guys, she has a past too. It just so happens that her past is bad enough to warrant getting violent if things get out of hand, okay? She just needs a minute to calm down without anyone touching her, okay?"

Steve's eyes widened as understanding began to dawn on him. "She was abused?"

"Steve," Tony said darkly.

He nodded, going quiet and leaving the questions for another time, which I was grateful for. I'd finally relaxed some, breathing much calmer now that I had a familiar face and voice, but still a bit tense. Tony held his hands up and moved towards me slowly, watching me for any sign that he was getting too close too soon, but for once in my life, I wanted him here. I wanted him right in front of me, holding me close so I could confirm that this was really him. That he was alive and breathing, not just a burnt corpse with soulless eyes. He moved a bit closer and I surprised him by closing the distance and wrapping my good arm around his neck as I buried my face into his shoulder. He was rigid for a second before holding me in return and patting my back lightly, being careful not to hold me too tight with my injured arm between us.

"Well, this is new," he murmured, before clearing his throat. "We're, uh… We're hiding at Clint's place for now. Keeping out of Ultron's sight and the media's. You okay?"

I shook my head slightly, tightening my grip for a moment and he cleared his throat once more, nodding for the others to give us some space to talk. They went off—Steve being the only one remaining in sight and he was still out of hearing range as he chopped at some wood nearby.

"Jess, what's going on? Not that I don't enjoy this, but it isn't like you," Tony mused, moving us to a couple of chairs.

"Nightmare," I murmured.

He frowned. "But you were fine."

I shrugged, dragging a hand down my face with a grimace. "I-I don't know. Delayed reaction? I just… You know how I am about those memories, and for a moment on the jet… before I went after Bruce, I thought I… I thought I saw him."

"He's dead, Jess."

"I know. I know," I bit out, leaning my head on my hand as my elbow rested on the table. "But ever since that stupid cube… You know how real they seem. They're even worse now because of her. Because of… of whatever she did."

"She did the same thing to you as the others."

I shook my head. "No. No, something was different. I-I don't know if it was her or me, but… I can't… I can't remember anything that happened after she tried to mess with my head."

"What? But you… You were trying to calm down Bruce. Saved two civilians at the cost of breaking your arm and you… you don't remember any of that?"

I glanced at the sling with a frown. "No. I thought… I-I didn't know I was out of my nightmare. I thought these were from…"

"From him? Jess, he is gone. I've read the reports. There's no way he would have survived—"

"You think I don't know that?" I bit out, grinding my teeth and tugging my hair. "But he's not gone. He won't ever be gone. Not for me. I-I just threw Clint to the ground because of a damn nightmare about him! How am I supposed to forget about him when—"

"Think about me instead," Tony cut me off.

"Tony, now isn't the time to—"

"I mean it, Jess," he said seriously, making me look up at him in uncertainty. "Any time he pops up in your dreams, picture me there. You know I won't let him hurt you."

I scoffed but managed a small smile at that. "You're such a knight, aren't you?"

He smiled, taking my hand and rubbing my knuckles with his thumb. "A knight in shining red armor."

My smile faltered though, remembering the other part of the nightmare. The part with him.

"Tony, I—"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark?" Clint's wife called out, eyeing us apologetically. "Clint said you wouldn't mind, but our tractor doesn't seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you and your wife might—"

"Yeah, I'll give her a kick," he said the same time I responded.

"I'm not his wife."

She smiled, though the twinkle in her eyes said she didn't quite believe me. "Of course. I'm Laura, by the way. If you need anything, let me know. Jess, right? Clint's told me a bit about you. The, uh… smart-aleck glue that's holding everyone together, I think he said."

"Oh, did he now?" I grumbled, giving said man's back a look that had him shuffling his kid away from the front door.

"Come on, Jess. You give him a good scolding later," Tony mused with a smile, holding out his hand to me with a flourishing bow. "My lady."

"Don't call me that." I rolled my eyes, accepting his hand up and cringing. "Jesus, what hit me?"

"Oh, a big slab of concrete thrown by guess who?"

I sensed a bit of bitterness and lightly smacked his arm. "Don't blame Bruce."

"He nearly crushed you with concrete."

"And I'm sure he already feels terrible without you adding to it," I countered. "Would it kill you to forgive and forget when the team is already in shambles?"

"Yes."

I gave his ear a sharp tug and he winced.

"All right! All right! I won't blame the green guys. Sheesh."

"You're such a child sometimes," I muttered as we entered the shed where the tractor was.

"Hello, Deere," Tony joked, giving me a wiggle of his brow at the pun as I gave the vehicle a look as well. "Tell me everything. What ails you?"

"Do me a favor," a familiar voice called out and I resisted a groan as Tony and I both looked over to where Fury had mysteriously stepped out of the shadows. "Try not to bring it to life."

"Why, Ms. Barton, you little minx," Tony drawled, giving me a look. "You sure you two aren't related?"

"I'd be honored if we were," I drawled, leaning against the tractor tire and dragging my hand through my hair. "Maria called?"

Fury ignored the inquiry. "Artificial intelligence. You never even hesitated."

"Look, it's been a really long day, like Eugene O'Neill long," Tony said, gesturing at me. "And Jess has a migraine on top of a concussion she just woke up from. We don't need to stress her out any more than we have to. So, how's about we skip to the part where you're useful?"

"Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down," Fury demanded.

"You're not the director of me," Tony argued.

"I'm not the director of anybody. I'm just an old man who cares very much about you." Fury leaned over to look past Tony at me. "Both of you, believe it or not."

I snorted but said nothing, willing to let this play out between them without my involvement unless I felt it'd be needed. Tony was right in saying I had a migraine and I didn't want to aggravate it.

"And I'm the man who killed the Avengers," Tony declared, surprising me. "I saw it. I didn't tell the team, or even you, Jess. How could I?"

I pushed myself off the tire, heading over with a frown. Were they able to see visions too? Is that what that woman—Wanda Maximoff… Is that what she did? Not only showed them nightmares but showed them a possible future?

"I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world too. Because of me. I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could," Tony said, slowly moving back away from Fury and me.

"Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear."

"I wasn't tricked, I was shown," Tony pressed. "It wasn't a nightmare. It was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on."

"You come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn't one of them," Fury said, standing and giving me a look. "Jess wouldn't be standing here beside you if it was."

Tony didn't look convinced. "I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right? Nope," he scoffed. "It wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part, is that you didn't," Fury concluded. "What about Jess, hm? I'm surprised you didn't say anything about her."

Tony frowned, looking to me. "Yeah… Odd thing was, you were never in it."

"Really?" Fury questioned, also eyeing me now and I frowned.

"Like I know what she's capable of? Or why she didn't use me?"

"Could be she wasn't able to," Fury offered with a shrug. "You said you could speak with the Tesseract before, didn't you?"

"This isn't the Tesseract though."

"But it's the scepter, which has always had a connection with the cube," Fury countered. "When you were caught by the girl, what happened?"

"I-I… I'm not sure. I don't remember anything that happened afterward. Just… pain."

"That's different," Tony said, leaning against the tractor. "None of the others had physical pain."

"Is there anything you remember? Anything at all?"

I hesitated, remembering the words she'd said and the dreams I'd been having, and they noticed.

"What? What is it, Jess?" Tony pressed and Fury frowned.

"You've been hiding something."

"Look, I… I don't understand it. None of it, really, but I've been having these… dreams. Ever since talking with the Tesseract. They're just fragments, whispers, but they… they keep happening. I… I had a dream about New York. When you fell out of the portal, Tony."

"Like a vision?" Fury questioned dubiously and I scowled.

"I told you, I don't get it either, but I keep having them. Images and flashes of things that maybe won't happen, or maybe they will. I don't get it, but when she… When the girl looked at my mind, she said something that I've heard in those dreams. That… That the Tesseract called me…" I paused for a second and looked at them both. "She called me wrong. The Tesseract called me an anomaly. The dream I had today… There was a man who said I'm not meant to exist."

"But you obviously exist," Fury countered. "This could just be her playing on your fears like everyone else."

"No. No, because my biggest fear isn't not existing," I argued. "I've already lived my biggest fear, and those memories were replayed for me. This is something different. The Tesseract showed me that I wasn't meant to exist in this world a-and I don't know what that means. I've tried to figure it out by myself because I didn't know what else to do," I explained to Tony, swallowing back a hint of fear. "I didn't want to say anything, because if these dreams are real, then…"

"Then, what?" Tony questioned.

"Then, she has foreknowledge of what is going to happen," Fury concluded, giving me a serious look. "And it isn't in any way good."

I shook my head, my eyes trailing towards the ground. "No… No, it's not."

"But if they are true, then you could tell us," Tony said hopefully. "Prevent that future from happening."

I snapped my head back up feeling my heart race at the thought. "No. No, I can't. I can't tell you."

"Why not? Jess, we could save people!" Tony pressed.

"There's nothing to tell," I argued. "I only get flashes, not enough to give any help beforehand. And even if I could…" I wrapped my hand around my stomach. "It doesn't feel right. I feel like it would only make things worse. Way worse, and I don't want to know what could be worse than that future."

"So, you're saying that because you were able to speak with the Tesseract, you now have glimpses of the future. And it's due to that connection you had, that something went wrong when the Maximoff girl tried to corrupt you," Fury summarized. "The thing is, this means we know what she showed you, Tony, is false. Jess wasn't in it because that girl couldn't use her to manipulate you. It's proof that she was just manipulating your fears to try and split the group apart."

"So… what now?" I asked, feeling a bit raw and tense after finally admitting what had been bothering me for ages.

"Now, we work on bringing the team back together," Tony declared, definitively, giving me a soft smile that helped me relax.

His reaction to what I'd just said had been the most important to me, and it was good to know that he wasn't about to fight with me on anything. That, and it made me happy to know that what I'd seen in my dreams had allowed him to come to terms with the nightmare Wanda had shown him. Now, to get the others back on their game. We headed back to the house as dinner was served, calming down those who were not pleased to see Fury had joined us. And even though Thor was still missing, Fury went ahead and started up the conversation everyone needed to hear once dinner was finished.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something," he said as I eyed the little girl who came in and gave Natasha a picture she'd drawn of a butterfly. "The amount of vibranium he made off with… I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Oh, he's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit."

Steve made a face at the metaphor as I snorted, tossing a dart with my good arm and giving Tony a proud look when I hit near the bullseye.

"It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though," Fury added.

"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony questioned, hitting the bullseye on the dot and making me click my tongue.

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

Even I was surprised to hear that.

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," Tony scoffed.

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

"Nexus?" Steve questioned, getting answered by Bruce.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo. Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So, what did they say?" Clint asked.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

"An ally?" I questioned, thinking of what sort of mentality a person would need to do that when I realized no human would be capable. "Could Jarvis have survived somehow? No human has the thinking power to change it and keep up with something like Ultron."

"Could be anyone with a supercomputer," Tony argued. "Get the right algorithm going and it would take Ultron too long to crack it before the password changed."

I grunted, not knowing enough about computers to be able to argue his logic, shooting Clint a small glare when he tossed a dart at the bullseye right past my nose. He just shrugged with a sheepish smile as Tony continued.

"I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown."

"Well, this is good times, boss," Natasha jumped in, eyeing Fury distastefully. "But I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

"I do. I have you," Fury said, earning more than a few winces.

The group was still sore from Wanda's nightmares—some more than others.

"Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So, stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha joked, earning a complaint from said man.

"You know what, Romanoff?"

She smirked, and I chuckled as Fury looked between us.

"So, what does he want?"

"To become better," Steve replied. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony added. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

I frowned, twirling the dart in my fingers. "Hold on a minute. What if he's not coming back to it for himself."

They looked to me, confused.

"Explain," Fury said, but before I could, Bruce figured it out.

"They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

I snapped my fingers at him, nodding as Fury eyed him.

"How?"

"With someone with better tech than us. Someone who is capable of recreating the human body into something better. Something more… indestructible. Capable of changing itself to suit the environment, the situation with ease," I offered, and Bruce looked at everyone.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

"Shit," I cursed.

"Ah!" Tony lightly chided as Steve groaned.

"God, I should have known," I complained, rubbing my head. "When Ultron first jumped us at that party, he went after Cho. We should have protected her from the start."

"No use panicking about it now," Fury said, sipping his drink. "Looks like you guys finally have a place to go. I look forward to never having to do a pep-talk like this again."

I snorted. "If it makes you feel any better, it's usually me."

"With more violence," Tony teased, wincing when I smacked the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Go get ready. And don't think I'm staying here just because of this," I said, lifting my injured arm.

"Jess, I really don't think—" Steve started, but hastily cut himself off at my glare. "I'm not going to convince you, am I?"

"Not on your life."

Tony walked towards him and pat him on the shoulder. "Don't argue with the missus."

"I'm not your missus!"