On The Edge. | Steve Rogers.

twenty eight.

Issac poked at the remains of his dinner, half-listening to Fury's pep talk half tuning the rest of it out. The Avengers needed to pull themselves together in order to defeat Ultron, or at least come up with a plan to do so at the moment. While they sat around in the middle of Iowa, licking their wounds and playing house, Ultron only grew stronger.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked, the movement as he sat down at the table finally drawing Issac away from his thoughts.

Steve mulled over the thought.

"To become better." he voiced from where he leaned his body against the doorframe. "Better than us."

Issac furrowed his eyebrows as he twirled the fork between his fingers. AIs were harder to understand on an emotional level because most of the time, their emotions weren't really emotions, but feelings or instincts they had picked up from their creators or the people around them. In Ultron's case, it was fear. Perhaps being built as a peacekeeping robot, he was afraid of failing, of death or of being destroyed. He was programmed to protect the human race, not destroy them, so where did it all go wrong exactly? Issac sat up a bit, something popping into his mind.

"What did he say back at the tower?" he finally spoke up, placing the fork aside. "Humanity needs to...evolve? In order to grow?" He looked around to make sure that he wasn't losing his mind just yet and that everyone else was on the same page.

Bruce stepped forward, rubbing his chin absentmindedly as he began following Issac's train of thought. He glanced down at the table where a picture of a butterfly painted by Lila lay beside Natasha's plate.

"Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury sat up, expression growing serious once again.

Bruce's expression suddenly turned grim.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho recently?"

Issac frowned, sitting up from his seat.

"Are you saying Ultron can use her technology to make himself...human?" He asked incredulously. He knew he wasn't nearly as gifted or educated in the science field as Bruce or Tony, but he knew enough to follow along with most of their inventions and the science behind some of it.

"She can make him a body. Ultron's intelligence combined with the vibranium and her technology...it's possible."

"Then we need to go." Steve announced, pushing himself away from the wall. "Everyone suit up, we need to find Ultron before he manages to evolve. If he succeeds, all hope of stopping him is lost."

Issac sighed heavily as he pushed himself up from his chair, dispersing with the rest of the Avengers to find his gear.

He was lacing up his boots when Steve stepped into the room, fully decked out in his Captain America gear with his shield resting on his back. He shut the door quietly to give them a bit of privacy before walking over to Issac.

Issac finished and looked up, smiling tiredly at Steve as warmed hands cupped his jaw.

"Hey." he greeted the blond, lightly touching his wrist.

"You gonna be okay?" the other asked softly, studying the dark circles that remained. Issac had managed to get a few hours of sleep before dinner, but he still looked completely exhausted. Steve could tell by his body language that he was still suffering from the lingering effects of whatever had happened to him back on the ship, but he was doing his best to hide it.

"Ah, don't worry about me, Rogers." he mumbled, gently squeezing Steve's hand. "I'll be fine, I promise."

Steve studied him closely, looking for any signs of a lie before nodding. He leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on the other's forehead before easily hauling him to his feet.