Combustion ✦ STEVE ROGERS² [✓]

08 | CHASING DOWN ULTRON

SEVERAL HOURS LATER, THE TEAM GATHERED IN CLINT'S KITCHEN, DISCUSSING ULTRON AND HIS NEXT MOVE. Since their arrival, Fury had joined them, now sporting a jacket and beanie to seem less inconspicuous, and was now telling them what he knew. Kato listened intently, with little Lila Barton sitting on her lap, coloring with a set of crayons. Natasha sat beside Kato, staring at Fury with her arms folded over the table. Bruce and Steve stood with Clint and Fury in the kitchen, and Tony was playing darts with himself.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury said as he made himself some toast. "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, crossing his arms.

"Ah, he's easy to track, he's everywhere," Fury replied. "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 launch codes?" Tony asked as he threw a dart.

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

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

Kato rolled her eyes. "No one asked nor cares, Shellhead."

Fury glanced at Tony. "Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."

"NEXUS?" Steve repeated.

"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 whom?" Tony questioned him. Kato watched as Tony quickly dodged a flying dart thrown by Clint, then gave him a look before Clint shrugged and smiled.

Fury shrugged. "Parties unknown."

Natasha threaded her fingers together. "Do we have an ally?" she asked.

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

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown,'" Tony said, giving up his dart game.

Natasha leaned back in her seat, smiling with a soft sigh. "Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

"I do, I have you." Fury glanced around at each of them. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream of." He walked over to the table so he could stand in front of them. "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 he admits it or not, his mission is global destruction." Fury gestured to their surroundings. "All this laid in a grave." He met each of their gazes. "So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha said teasingly.

Steve cut the woman a look. "You know what, Romanoff?" he said, and Natasha smiled mischievously at him in reply.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked.

Kato frowned, thinking to herself. It was obvious what Ultron wanted. He wanted to be better than them. Better than humans. But that couldn't be his only plan, right? There had to be more to it. And even if, by some freak of nature, he did reach his goal, then what was he going to do? He clearly had something else planned beyond just "becoming better".