Long Ago and Far Away

07

ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Thor, dressed in casual clothes, waited for Erik Selvig as he left the building.

"I like the look," Selvig commented. "If you're going for inconspicuous, though, near miss."

"I need your help," Thor told him.

"It's nice to be needed."

"It's dangerous."

"I'd be disappointed if it wasn't."

BARTON FARM

Fury met with the rest of the team and said, "Ultron took you folks out to 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."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."

"He still going after the launch cods?" Tony questioned.

"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at NEXUS about that."

"NEXUS?" Steve and Anna wondered.

"It's the world Internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth," Bruce explained.

"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.

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

"By who?" Tony inquired.

"Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha questioned.

"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our "unknown,"" Tony said.

"Well, this is good times boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," Natasha told him.

"I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. 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."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk."

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve retorted. Natasha smiled mischievously at him while Louise let out a soft laugh.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony clarified. "The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you two programmed to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha told Tony and Bruce.

"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve," Bruce corrected. "Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury wondered.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

KOREA

Dr. Cho was using the Cradle to create a new body for Ultron.

"It's beautiful," Dr. Cho said. "The Vibranium atoms aren't just compatible with tissue cells, they're binding them. And S.H.I.E.L.D. never even thought-"