The Winters Shadow

C.19: Power

We're sitting around by the lab as Bruce walks towards us, "How's he doing?". "Unfortunately, he's still Barton" Tony answers. "That's terrible," Bruce replied sarcastically. I laugh, "He's fine. He's thirsty" I tell him. He walks away, I follow Tony. "Alright. Look alive, Jarvis. It's playtime" he walks towards the tesseract. "We've only got a couple days with this joystick, so lets make the most of it" he gets in front of the tesseract, while I stand to his side. I look at the tesseract, so much power.

"Update me on the structural and compositional analysis" Tony does something, honestly I have absolutely no idea what the hell he's doing. "The scepter is alien. There are elements I can't quantify" Jarvis tells him. I furrow my brows, "So there's elements you can?" I question. "The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside, something powerful" Jarvis answers. "Like a reactor?" Tony asks, "Like a computer" Jarvis states, "I believe I'm deciphering code" Jarvis finishes. Tony and I look at each other surprised. What the hell?

"I'm gonna go check on Clint, let me know when you figure this out, okay?" I tell Tony. "I will" he says as I walk out. I walk into the room just as Bruce says, "She's creating tissue" I look at them surprised. "If you brought him to my lab, the Regeneration Cradle could do this in 20 minutes" the doctor says. "Wow" I comment, standing next to Nat. "Oh, he's flatlining. Call it. Time?" Tony walks in with drinks. "No, no, no, I'm gonna live forever" Clint laughs, "I'm gonna be made of plastic." I laugh, rolling my eyes. "Here's your beverage" Tony hands him a drink. "You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton. Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell a difference" the doctor assures him. "I don't have a girlfriend" he states. "That I can't fix" She walks away, "This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are gonna be left in the dust" she jokes at Tony, "That is exactly the plan. And Helen I expect to see you at the party on Saturday" I roll my eyes. "Unlike you, I don't have time for parties" I snorted at her remark, "That's a good one" I laughed out, leaving the room.

I go in search of Bucky or Wanda, whichever I find first. I need to tell Wanda about her brother. I don't know how. I walk into the kitchen seeing Bucky. "Hey baby" I wrap my arms around him from the back. He turns around, "hey doll". He kisses my forehead and I let go. "What are you doing?" I ask. "I got hungry" he laughs. "Have you seen Wanda?" I ask him, playing with my fingers. "Not since earlier, why?" He asks, leaning into the counter. I sigh, "No reason, just needed to talk to her. I'm gonna go find her" I give him a quick kiss before walking out.

I have looked everywhere. I'm currently back where I started to begin with when I hear Tony's voice, "But I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door" I walk into the lab and see an orange ball, then a huge blue one. "wow" I whisper as I walk closer. "Artificial intelligence" Bruce states. I look over to them with wide eyes, "are you serious?" I question. "Yes, Y/N, Bruce, this could be it. This could be the key to creating Ultron" Tony and Bruce chuckle. "I thought Ultron was a fantasy?" Bruce asks, looking at Tony then me. "Yesterday it was" I say, mesmerized by the blue orb. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol?" Tony tells him. "That's a mad sized 'if'" Bruce says walking around. "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 tells him while I follow along. "Don't hate, I helped design Veronica" Bruce tells him, I giggle. "As a worse case measure, right?" Tony asks, Bruce nods his head. "How about a best case?"

"What if the world was safe?" Tony asks, "What if the next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?" "The only people threatening the planet would be people" I comment as we finally stop walking around. "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" Tony looks at us, "That's three days. Give me three days" Tony pleads. "So you're going for artificial intelligence, and you don't want to tell the team?" Bruce questions, looking at both of us. "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" Tony tells him, "I see a suit of armor around the world." "That sounds like a cold world, Tony" Bruce states. "I've seen colder" I tell him. "This one, this very vulnerable blue one, it needs Ultron" Tony walks back towards the orbs. "Peace in our time" he says over his shoulder as I follow him. "Imagine that" he says.