The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

13| Goodbye

After dinner, they discussed Ultron.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time." Fury poured himself a glass of either apple juice or liquor. "My contacts all say he's building something."

Lila ran up to Natasha, holding a drawing of a butterfly.

Nat accepted it with a small smile.

Fury sighed and grabbed a cookie. "The amount of vibranium he got off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked from the doorway.

Fury scoffed. "He's easy to track. He's everywhere." He chuckled without much humour. "Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"Is he going after launch codes?" Tony called from the dartboard.

"Yes, he is," Fury replied. "Bue he isn't making any headway."

"I cracked the pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony retorted.

Fury took a bit of his cookie. "Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that."

"Nexus?" Steve questioned.

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

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

Natasha and the others looked at Nick expectantly.

"He's fixated on the missiles," Fury said. "But the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked, and flinched away as a dart flew by his face and hit the bullseye. He turned to glare at a shrugging Clint.

Fury grabbed another cookie. "Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked, slightly hopeful.

"Ultron's got an enemy." Fury stared at her for a second before looking at Bruce behind her. "That's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo," Tony came in from the dart game. "Find our unknown."

Natasha sighed. "Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Her eyes warned him not to say anything about retirement.

"I do." Nick gestured around the room. "I have you."

Everyone had their own little scoff of disbelief.

"Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else." Fury gave a light chuckle. "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." He walked into the dining room. "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." He paused to let that sink in. "All this, laid in a grave. So stand." He gave everyone in the room a glare. "Outwit the platinum bastard."

Natasha toyed with a small smile. "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk."

"You know what, Romanoff?" The captain rebutted.

"So, what does he want?" Fury sat down at the head of the table with his cookie.

Steve sighed. "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."

Natasha glanced at Bruce, who came closer to study Lila's drawing, and to Tony, who had opened his mouth again. "When you two programmed him to protect the human race," she smirked at them, "you amazingly failed."

"They don't need to be protected," Bruce said next to her. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve." He glanced up to see if they were listening to him.

"How?" Nick asked.

Natasha knew where the scientist was going with this, and she sighed. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" she asked, resigned.

An hour of discussion later, Steve was suited up with his shield again. "I'll take Natasha and Clint," he said.

"All right," Tony replied. "Strictly recon. I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can."

Natasha watched the two walk to the front. She glanced at Bruce, who was interacting with Lila in the living room and smiled to herself. "Hey," she sat down on the couch.

Bruce looked up at her, and Lila giggled, running off to find Laura. "Hey." The scientist's eyes followed the girl until she was out of sight, and then he turned to Nat. "Lila is..."

"Yeah." Natasha smiled at him softly. "I have to go with Rogers and Barton in a few minutes."

"I know." He looked back at the table, where an unfinished painting dried slowly. "Think it's going to hurt?"

"It's supposed to just be recon," Nat shrugged. "But we both know that isn't all that's going to happen."

He glanced up at her swiftly. "Don't– please don't get hurt." He said quietly.

"I'll try not to," she smiled. She took his hand and inspected it. "You have paint on your hands." She said matter-of-factly.

Bruce chuckled slightly. "I'm aware." He studied her eyes. "Promise you'll come back, Tasha?"

Nat smiled at his little nickname. "Well..." she trailed off, teasing him. "I can't exactly promise, but I will try not to die. Besides," she added, leaning into his ear. "We have one hell of a retirement to look forward to."

She felt the neck grow warm and she pulled away to see a stoically blinking Bruce. "Was that too much?"

"No." He blinked again. "A little surprising, but no." He sighed. "Just– please, be careful."

"I will," Nat smiled, twirling a finger into his curls. "I'll come back."

"Natasha!" Clint's voice called from the door.

She looked into Bruce's eyes, ignoring her best friend. "You be careful too." She smiled. "We have a bit left at the Tower, so maybe let's not break it more."

"Why, of course." Bruce smiled up at her.

"Romanoff! You and Brucie better not be locking lips on the couch!" Tony yelled this time.

She sighed and clambered off the sofa. "I guess this is goodbye," she whispered into Bruce's ear.

"Bye," he said quietly.

Nat touched his arm as she passed him, smirking softly to herself. She shook that off when she got to the Quinjet outside and addressed Steve and Clint. "Are we going now?"