Chapter 18 – Regrouping
"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest but it's in the air" Maria told us.
"The Stark Relief Foundation?" Tony asked.
"Already on the scene. How's the team?" Maria asked in return.
"Everyone's…we took a hit, we'll shake it off" Tony replied.
"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."
"Neither do we." Tony turned off the screen and walked over to Clint and I. "Hey, you wanna switch out?" Tony asked Clint, who was piloting the jet.
"No, I'm good" Clint replied. "If you want some kip, now's a good time because we're still a few hours out."
"Few hours from where?" Tony asked.
"A safe house" Clint replied.
We arrived at a farm house and I instantly recognised it from what Clint had allowed me to see in his mind. This was his home.
"What is this place?" Thor asked.
"Safe house" Tony replied.
"Let's hope" Clint said as he opened the door. We walked into the living room and Clint looked around. "Honey? I'm home" he said. A woman with dark brown hair walked around the corner and I noticed her pregnant belly. "Hi" Clint greeted her. "Company, sorry I didn't call ahead" he said to her and then they kissed.
"This is an agent of some kind" Tony said to Thor.
"Gentlemen, this is Laura" Clint introduced his wife.
"I know all of your names" Laura smiled, "except yours" she said to me.
"Lanie Stark" I introduced myself and she smiled at me.
"Incoming" Clint said as we all heard footsteps.
"Dad" a little girl greeted him and he picked her up while the boy hugged him.
"Hi sweetheart, hey buddy. How are you guys doing?" Clint greeted them.
"These are smaller agents" Tony said.
"Look at your face. Oh my goodness" Clint said to his daughter who was smiling.
"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" his daughter asked.
"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Nat said and hugged the little girl.
"Sorry for barging in on you" Steve said to Laura.
"Yeah, we would've called ahead but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Tony said.
"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. Kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D's files, I'd like to keep it that way" Clint said. "I figure it's a good place to lay low" Clint added.
"Honey, I missed you" Laura said to her husband. I couldn't help the pang in my heart as I watched Nat coo over Laura's baby bump and I walked outside and around the balcony. I missed Bucky, I wanted him here to help us, of even just to hold me. I was scared, this was a bigger threat than I thought it would be. I pulled out my burner phone that had Bucky's number in it and stared at the number for a few minutes before I pressed 'call'.
"Hi" I said softly.
"Hi" he returned. "Is everything okay?"
"No" I admitted. "I'm scared."
"I saw the news. Big green guy demolishing a city? Isn't he on your side?"
"He had a run-in with a girl who has similar power to me. She warped his mind and he feels terrible about it" I explained. It went silent.
"Did she mess with your mind too?"
"No, I don't think she can. I couldn't mess with her mind either, so it's now an even playing field" I said.
"So why are you scared?"
"Because she's working with a really big metal guy who is super smart and super strong" I replied.
"You can beat them."
"How?"
"You may not be able to mess with her mind but you could mess with the metal guy" he reminded me. It went silent again.
"Steve got hurt during the fight. The girl messed with him and he won't admit it but he was hurt by whatever he saw" I told Bucky.
"He's okay though?"
"He's alive. He blamed me for what happened though, because he thought I would've searched through Tony's mind to see what he and Banner were creating."
"You didn't know though, did you?"
"No, of course not. I would've changed their minds if I knew" I told him.
"Sorry, I had to ask" he said. "Are you going to come to Bucharest?" he asked. I felt a glimmer of hope and smiled.
"I can't, at least not yet" I replied. Disappointment. "But once Ultron is stopped, I'll be on the first flight to Romania" I told him and I felt his heart skip a beat.
"Stay safe" he said.
"Always." I hung up and tucked the Nokia-3120 phone back into the pocket of my jeans before sighing. This place was so relaxing, I watched as Steve and Tony chopped firewood and Clint came outside with his daughter.
"Hey" he greeted and his daughter smiled at me.
"Hi" I returned and knelt down in front of his daughter. "Hello beautiful girl" I smiled.
"Hello" she said. I stood back up and looked around.
"How are you holding up?" Clint asked.
"I'm alive" I replied.
When it got dark we all went inside for dinner and then cleaned up. Nick Fury was there too, he'd had a conversation with Tony earlier.
"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing" Nick said.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked. I looked over my shoulder though, watching as Clint and Laura said goodnight to their children and then Laura led them upstairs while Clint joined the conversation.
"He's easy to track, he's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though" Nick explained while Tony played darts..
"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony asked.
"Yes he is, but he's not making any headway" Nick replied.
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare" Tony responded as he walked closer to the rest of us.
"Well I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that" Nick said.
"Nexus?" Steve asked, beating me to the question.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of date flows through there. Fastest access on Earth" Banner explained.
"So what did they say?" Clint asked as he fiddled with a dart.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed" Nick said.
"By whom?" Tony asked as Clint threw a dart the just missed Tony and hit the bullseye on the dartboard, Tony glared at Clint who just shrugged.
"Parties unknown" Nick replied.
"Do we have an ally?" Nat asked from her spot at the dining table.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing" Nick stated. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Tony walked back towards the table before speaking.
"I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown" he said.
"Well, this is good times boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that" Nat said.
"I do. I have you" Nick said. "Back in the day I had eyes everywhere and ear 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 said 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" Nick said and then sat down.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk" Nat said teasingly and I had to bite my lip to hold back a laugh.
"You know what Romanoff" Steve started to say in response.
"So what does he want?" Nick asked, referring to Ultron.
"To become better, better than us" I said.
"He keeps building bodies" Steve added.
"Person bodies. The human form is efficient, biologically speaking we're outmoded but he keeps coming back to it" Tony said.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race you amazingly failed" Natasha said to Banner and Tony.
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve" Banner said.
"How?" Nick asked.
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Banner asked.
"The cradle" I realised.
"I'll take Natasha, Clint and Maddie" Steve said as he geared up.
"All right. Strictly recon. I'll hit the nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can" Tony said.
"Why take me?" I asked Steve from where I sat on the arm of the couch.
"If Wanda tries to brainwash us again, you can bring us back" Steve explained and I nodded.
"If Ultron's really building a body" Steve started.
"He'll be more powerful than any of us, maybe all of us" Tony said. "An android designed by a robot."
"You know I really missed the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me" Steve said and I smiled.
"I'll drop Banner off at the tower, did you want me to take Miss Stark too?" Fury asked.
"She's with me" Steve replied.
"Okay. Do you mind if I borrow Miss Hill?" Nick asked Tony,
"She's all yours. Apparently" Tony replied.
"What are you gonna do?" I asked Nick.
"I don't know, something dramatic. I hope" Nick replied and then walked outside. I ran my hand through my hair and looked to Steve, who motioned for the jet but on my way I stopped when I saw Clint had said goodbye to his wife.
"He loves you" I told her.
"Look after him?" she asked. I could feel her worry.
"Of course" I promised, hesitating. "He reminds me of my brother when he was young; protective, brave, funny" I listed and Laura smiled.
"He's all of those things" she told me.
"I promise that I won't let you become a single mother today" I told her and she gave me a hug before I left to join the others in the jet.
Author's Note: Hi all, I'm not sure anyone is still reading this story but to those who are; much love! I'm not sure anyone noticed the mention of a Nokia phone in here but the model I wrote as the phone Lanie contacted Bucky on was the same model as my first mobile phone/cell phone. Anyway, have a spectacular day/evening/night and I hope to hear from you soon J