PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
( that kind of potty language )
ALINE WAS SURPRISED WHEN she went back into the Barton household, Nick Fury was standing in the kitchen like it was normal. Despite the fact that they were all still in contact with him, seeing him so soon after the whole Ultron incident was shocking but nevertheless, she was thankful to see him. So she greets with a strained grin and sits herself at the dining table. Natasha sat beside her, changed into a hoodie and leggings.
"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury explained as he rummaged around in the kitchen. The tribrid shouldn't be too surprised that he knew where everything was, but she still was. "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."
She picked at the food on her plate, struggling to stab one of the peas with her fork. She was never a big fan of peas. Lila suddenly ran towards her and Natasha, grinning ear to ear. She presented to them a colorful drawing of a butterfly, and the two women smiled. Natasha pressed a kiss to the little girl's cheek and Aline gave her a one-armed hug before allowing her to run back to her mother.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.
"He's easy to track," Fury said. "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 codes?" Tony asked.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."
Tony nearly scoffed. "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."
Aline leaned forward in her seat, raising her hand as high as she could, fork still in hand. "Hey, Tony, after this, can you please, please teach me how to do that?" she asked, and the billionaire simply responded with a smirk. Tony was a bit happy that despite the depressing atmosphere, Aline was still able to make jokes.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at NEXUS about that," Fury said.
"NEXUS?" Steve asked.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," Bruce clarified. "Every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth."
"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." When Aline heard that, she nearly barked out a laugh. Serves him right, she thought.
"By whom?" Tony asked.
"Party's unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing," Fury said. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."
Aline bit her lip, toying with the green gem dangling off the end of her necklace. She desperately hoped that whoever this person was, they were an ally and not another enemy. It would be really, really nice not to have someone else targeting her and her friends. At the thought, she ran a hand through her dark hair.
"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 said with a grin.
"I do, I have you," Fury said. His dark eye scanned the others' faces, taking in them. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. 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. 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. All this, laid in a grave. So stand; outwit the platinum bastard."
"Hey!" Aline quickly gained the man's attention, and she leaned back in her seat with a wide smirk. "You should know that Steve doesn't like that kind of potty language."
Steve turned to her, playfully glaring. "You know what, Ashford?"
"So what does he want?" Fury interrupted.
"To become better," Steve answered. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."
"Person bodies," Tony said. "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 said.
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve," Bruce said, staring down at Lila's drawing on the table. An idea was forming in his head. "Ultron's going to evolve."
"How?" Fury asked.
Bruce looked up. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"
A/N: my eyes burn, i have a
headache, and my stomach
aches from eating too much.
but that's the holiday season,
am i right?? happy holidays!!!
YOU ARE READING
PURE AND TAINTED ( wanda maximoff )
Fanfiction❛ i never had the chance to be soft, i was always bloody knuckles and shards of glass ❜ © soughtflxwer 2016 part of the IMMORTAL series. avengers thru avengers: endgame.