When lightning always strikes, you know she's not far behind.
Kidnapped at a young age and recused seven years later, Avalyn Stark is forced to try to navigate a new world far from what she remembered. With threats around every corner, she was nev...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
2015 BARTON RESIDENCE
"Ultron took you folks out if 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."
The man speaking was Nick Fury, former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. before it went underground. He was tall, dark-skinned and wore an eye patch over his eye. Naturally, Avalyn was curious about how he lost his eye.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve questioned.
In the bustling kitchen, the Avengers had gathered around Fury. Seated at the table were Avalyn, the enigmatic and formidable member of the group, and Natasha, the skilled and stealthy spy. They were joined by Lila, Clint's young daughter, who was engaged in making delicate daisy chains with Avalyn. For once, Avalyn appeared to be at ease with the young girl, who seemed to be enjoying her company.
"Ah, he's everywhere. Guys multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit," Fury laughed.
"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, playing darts with Clint.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," Tony said, trying to make a point.
"That late in life?" Avalyn teased, getting up and taking the dart out of Tony's hand,"I am sure that I hacking more advanced things younger than that."
"I gave you those genes."
"Doesn't mean I am not better than you," Avalyn grinned, throwing the dart and hitting the centre.
Florence rolled her eyes, cursing at Avalyn getting more of Tony's personality than hers.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the N.E.X.U.S about that." said Fury.
"N.E.X.U.S?" Steve asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"It's the world Internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth," Florence turned to face him in her chair, explaining what it is.
"So what did they say?" Clint looked at Fury, with his eyebrows furrowed.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed," Fury answered.
"By whom?" Tony asked.
"Parties unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha said, leaning her elbows on the table.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing," Avalyn warned.
"Still, I'd pay for folding money to know who it is," said Fury.
"I might need to visit Oslo, find our, 'unknown'," Tony informed us.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," Banner spoke up nervously, shuffling in his position anxiously.
"I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard," Fury swore.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha teased.
"You know what—" Steve rolled his eyes playfully.
Avalyn grinned at the two as she let Lila place the Daisy Chain crown on her head. In return, Avalyn also placed the one she had been making onto Lila's head, causing her to smile brightly and run to find her mother.
"So what does he want?" Fury asked eating a half-sliced sandwich that he had been making during this conversation.
"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies," Steve answered, his serious tone quickly coming back.
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we are outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it," Tony sighed.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha said smugly.
Avalyn was suddenly struck with a thought.
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve," She said, "Ultron's going to evolve."
"How?" Fury stood up.
"Has anyone been in contact with Dr Helen Cho?"
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
There was no word other than 'amazing' to describe the N.E.X.U.S. hub. To Avalyn, it was fascinating how you couldn't hide anything from the internet, it would always come back to you. Anything 'living or coding' that wasn't a biological specimen could be found.
"A hacker who's faster than Ultron? He could be anywhere. And as this is the center of everything, I'm just a guy looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack," Tony explained.
Avalyn and Tony had been the only one to head there to find out. Florence had gone with Natasha, Clint and Steve. Avalyn was unsure where Bruce and Thor had gone (Thor hadn't returned at all), but she could only do her job.
"How do you find it?" Asked the Tech operator.
"Pretty simple. You bring a magnet," Avalyn comments as Tony starts singing while typing.
"Oh, I'm decrypting nuclear codes and you don't want me to. Come and get me."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
