Red

The Safehouse

Kamila's POV cont.

 "Kid." Steve shook me. I jumped awake and threw a punch out of reflex. He easily caught it. "Nice punch." I rolled my eyes.

"We're here." Barton called. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stood. We walked up to a farmhouse surrounded by acres of land. Barton led the group, letting Natasha lean on him.

"What is this place?" Thor asked.

"A safe house." Stark replied.

"Let's hope." Barton said over his shoulder. "Honey. I'm home." He called into the house. A very pregnant brunette woman walked out.

"Hey. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead." He explained to her. The two embraced and kissed.

"This is an agent of some kind." Stark said.

"Gentlemen, lady," he nodded at me. "This is Laura."

"I know all of your names." She looked over at me. "Well, except you." I gave her a small smile.

"Ooh incoming." Barton said, and two kids ran at him. They embraced, and I had to turn away. The loneliness was a sharp pain that stabbed through me.

"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve said.

"Yeah we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Stark added.

"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low." The little girl approached me.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"I'm Kamila."

"Mia?" She asked. I gave a small laugh.

"Sure, Mia. What's your name, little one?" I asked.

"Lila."

"That's a very pretty name." She smiled at me.

"Come on honey." Mrs. Barton said, taking her hand. "Let's go draw a picture." She smiled.

"Okay Mom! Bye Mia!" She waved as her mom took her away. Laura looked over her shoulder and said,

"Third door on the right. There's a shower and there might be clothes up there, but just in case I'll bring you some fresh clothes." I smiled at the kind woman.

"Thank you." I followed her instructions, and showered. I managed to find a sweater and leggings. A knock sounded and I called,

"Come in." Mrs. Barton entered, a stack of clothes in his hands.

"Oh good you found some." I gave her a small smile.

"Thank you, Mrs. Barton."

"Oh, call me Laura. Mrs. Barton makes me seem old." She chuckled. "Oh and I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Kamila Orlova."

"Are you a new recruit?"

"Uh sorta, I guess." I shrugged. She smiled warmly at me.

"Well if you ever need anything, let me know." I nodded and gave her a real smile.

A few hours later everyone was sitting around the dinner table. Nick Fury had arrived earlier that day and and was saying,

"Ultron took you folks out of 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.

"Oh he's easy to track. He's everywhere. The 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 still going after launch codes?" Stark asked.

"Yes he is. But he's not making any headway."

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." I pursed my lips to refrain from saying I could do it by 13.

"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that."

"Nexus?" Steve asked.

"It's the world Internet hub in Oslo. Every bit of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth." Dr. Banner explained.

"So what'd they say?" Barton said, while fiddling with a dart.

"He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are constantly being changed." Barton handed me the dart and winked. I looked across the room and saw the board. I quickly aimed and threw.

"By whom?" Stark asked, right as my dart hit the bullseye. He jumped back. He glared at Barton but he held his hands up in an 'It wasn't me' gesture. I smiled down at my plate.

"Parties unknown." Fury replied.

"Do we have an ally?" I asked.

"Ultron has an enemy. That's not the same thing." Fury corrected. I looked down, the unfamiliar feeling of being wrong filled me. "Still I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha said.

"I do. I have you." He replied. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up." I fiddled with the food on my plate. "Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. 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 motioned around himself, "All this, laid on the grave. So stand. Outwit the guy." He say down and then said,

"What does he want?"

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

"Person bodies." Stark added. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha commented.

"They don't need to be protected." Dr. Banner said, and I looked at him. "They need to evolve." I followed where he was going with that.

"Ultron's going to evolve." I said. He nodded at me.

"How?" Fury asked.

"Has anyone had contact with Helen Cho?" Dr. Banner asked.