The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

17

~17~

     Steve walked off the jet with Maria while Clara waited for Tony and walked back to the lab with him. "How are you feeling?" Tony asked.

"I'm fine," Clara answered. "My head still hurts like hell."

"I wish I could just blast that witch..." Tony started, but Clara stopped him.

"Before you plan a murder Tony, she was just a kid." Clara said calmly as they turned a corner down a hall of Avengers Tower.

"Whatever..." Tony mumbled before changing the subject. "So what are you planning on wearing to the party?"

"Tony, I don't even know what I'm going to be doing five minutes from know, let alone what I'm going to be wearing at a party." Clara gave him a sarcastic laugh as they entered the lab. Clara said down at her desk, trying to get things in order as Tony stood in front of her.

"Then may I suggest the maroon dress?" Tony asked, standing with his hands behind his back like a child. Clara stopped what she was doing and crossed her arms.

"How do you know about the maroon dress?" She asked.

"I know a lot of things Clar. I especially know if you want to impress Rogers, you'll wear the maroon dress."

Clara's eyes widened as he cheeks turned red. "I'm not trying to...where did you...I'm not...impressing anyone." She stuttered out, knowing she was blabbering that a fool. Tony smirked at his stumped sister before turning on his heel and meeting Bruce.

Clara's mind raced with embarrassment as she tried to finish up a few things before meeting back with her bother. "This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron." She heard Tony say.

"I thought Ultron was a fantasy. An idea we came up with like forever ago." Clara said as she walked into the office. She remembered the night that she rambled on about having an artificial intelligence that could end an alien invasion. Of course this was after watching her brother go through a wormhole and her being turned into a bomb, along with a couple of drinks.

"Yesterday it was. If we can harness this power, apply it to our Iron Legion protocol..." Tony started.

"That's a mad-sized if." Bruce interrupted.

"Our job is 'if.' What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for Veronica." Tony said.

"Don't hate, I helped design Veronica." Bruce replied.

"Veronica is pretty great," Clara shrugged as she quietly whispered it.

"As a worst-case measure, right? How about a best-case? What if the world was safe? What if next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?" Tony tried to make sense of it, prove that it was a good idea, but Clara knew it was way too good to be true.

"Yeah but Tony, aliens haven't been the threat for a couple of years. The threats have been..." Clara was cut off.

"People. The only things threatening the planet have been people." Bruce said.

"I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here, that's three days, give us three days." Tony said, us referring to himself, Bruce and Clara.

"I'm not going to be a part of this." Clara said.

"Why not? It was our idea." Tony said.

"Yeah, when I had just gotten done being a human bomb! You're going for artificial intelligence that is beyond our mindset and you don't want to tell the team." Clara retaliated.