Venom // Natasha Romanoff

。115 。

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"Green bean!"
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The jet flew down, landing in the old compound and Nova grinned at the sight of it, still holding Wade on her back, the mercenary comfortable as ever.

The Avengers, and Wade, entered the compound and walked to the lab to see Rhodey talking to a hologram of Secretary Ross. The two of them looked over at the group as they heard them approach.

"Mr. Secretary." Steve greeted and Ross took some steps towards them.

"You got some nerve. I'll give you that." Ross stated.

"You could use some of that right now." Natasha replied as Wade stroked a hand through the hologram.

"This is so cool! Think of the nudes you could send." Wade gushed to Nova.

"The world's on fire. And you think all of forgiven?" Ross asked Steve.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you wanna tans in our way, we'll fight you too." Steve explained,, standing forwards.

"Wade, please tell me that's not a boner." Nova mumbled to him.

"I have a thing for authority!" Wade whispered harshly and Nova shook her head.

"Arrest them." Ross ordered Rhodey.

"All over it." Rhodey nodded, getting rid of the meeting table and Ross.

"That's court martial." Rhodey stated before he broke out into a smile. "It's great to see you, Cap."

"You too, Rhodey." Steve smiled, stepping forwards to shake his hand as Rhodey chuckled.

"Hey." Rhodey greeted as Natasha hugged him.

"How you been?" Nova questioned, moving forwards to slap his shoulder gently, smiling.

"Not too bad. I see you have a human backpack." Rhodey gestured to Wade who waved at him. He then looked towards the others and around at everyone. "Wow. You guys.. really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple years."

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star." Sam joked.

"Uh, I think you look great." A familiar voice spoke up and they turned to see Bruce there, wearing a ripped blazer. "Uh... Yeah, I'm back."

"Hi, Bruce." Natasha smiled lightly.

"Green bean!" Nova grinned and Bruce looked back at the two.

"Nat. Nova." He nodded.

"This is awkward." Sam mumbled.

Everyone moved into another room and Bruce explained what had happened and who Thanos was.

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey asked.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda chimed in.

"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" Bruce questioned, looking around.

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest." Natasha explained, standing next to Nova and Wade.

"Who's Scott?" Bruce quizzed.

"Ant-Man." Steve answered.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man? Okay, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he is not gonna stop until he gets..." Bruce paused awkwardly. "Vision's stone."

"The we have to protect it." Natasha stated firmly.

"No, we have to destroy it." Vision spoke up. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature. But also it's composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps, its molecular integrity could fail." Vision walked towards Wanda as he spoke.

"Yeah, and you with it. We're not having this conversation." Wanda denied immediately.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Vision argued.

"That's too high a price." Wanda shot back.

"Only you have the power to pay it." Vision cupped Wanda's cheeks before the woman walked away from him. "Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should." Steve chimed in. "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people?  Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision asked.

"To be honest, it's not." Nova said and a few people stared at her, Wanda glaring.

"Let her finish. I know what she's going to say." Bruce agreed.

"You might have a choice, Vis. Your mind is made up of a very complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, Bruce, me, the stone. All of them put in a blender, all of them learning from the other." Nova explained.

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda questioned.

"I'm saying that if we take the stone out, there's still most of Vision left. Probably the best bits." Nova added.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked her. 

"Not me, not here. Bruce?" Nova asked but he shook his head. 

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast. Ross isn't just gonna let your guys have your old rooms back." Rhodey sighed.

"I know somewhere." Steve said after a beat of silence.

"I don't know where this is but I'm certain it's not a strip joint." Wade mumbled to Nova.

"I doubt it. Be lucky if it was though, wouldn't it?" She chuckled and Natasha slapped her shoulder. "Ow! Sorry, Cherry."

{851}