Stargazing • MCU/S. Rogers Fanfic•

4-50: Interesting Turn

Clint Barton's Farmhouse

May 4, 2015

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The morning started nice. After the past nights events between Astra and the Captain they went back to bed heartbroken. But Astra faked a smile in the morning. 

"Ash, can you go to the barn and get some egg when your done?" Laura asked her from the kitchen.

"Yeah, of course." Astra turned around in her chair. "How many do you need?"

"Maybe like ten to fifteen." Laura responded.

"Okay, but if that turkey comes closer than 15 feat it's gonna lose it's head." The brunette threatened, standing up from her seat to take her plate to the sink. Tony snickered from behind her. "They are terrifying." She pointed. Tony only snorted and then laughing a bit more, even the Captain and Bruce chuckled a bit.

Astra put her dish away and walked out the door to the chicken coop. Grabbing the basket on the door and starts plucking some eggs from their nests. The door creaked open as Lila joins her. Her picking the eggs on the bottom and the younger Stark picking the ones on top.

"Auntie Ash?" Lila started to ask while they leave the coop. "Is something bad going to happen?"

The brunette looked down at the young little girl. Too young to know the reality of the world like Astra at seven. But Lila couldn't be lied to and given false hope. But isn't that what a lot of things are made of? False hope? "Well, bad things do happen." She started in a soothing tone and her hand brushing through the young girls hair. "But, don't worry. We're going to fix it."

The little girl smiled as she moved away. "Can you sing me a fun song like last time?" She giggled as she went to hang off Astra's arm.

"What song?" Astra raised an eyebrow while smiling down at the child.

"A fun one." Lila giggled some more. The brunette smiled at the girl and started to sing a fairly recent song that Lila would like. Astra isn't a terrible singer, but not the best either. But to Lila it didn't matter, she liked to dance and sing along.

*****

"Ultron took you folks out to play to buy himself time." Fury started speaking. "My contacts all say he's building something." Lila ran through the house and handed Natasha a butterfly painting. "The amount of vibranium he made off with I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself." Steve asked as he leaned on a doorway.

"He's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. It still doesn't help up get any angle of his plans through." Fury told the team.

"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony asked.

"Yes, he is." Fury answered. Astra put her tea on the table and refocusing on the conversation. "But he's not making any headway."

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony pointed out the fact that Ultron should have made progress by now.

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

"Nexus?" Steve question for clarification.

"It's the world hub in Oslo. Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth." Astra answered him.

"So what did they say?" Barton chimed in inspecting one of the darts from the board.

"He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are always being changed." Fury continued.

"By whom?" Tony asked, as three darts speed past his face and landing in the center.

"Parties unknown." Even Fury was confused, not really helping anyone feel better about the situation.

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha wondered.

"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing." Fury answered to the best of his ability. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who that is."

"Might need to visit Oslo." Tony commented. "Find our unknown."

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

"I do." He claimed. "I have you. Back in the day had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and will to save the world." Astra looked up from her now empty tea cup. "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 that platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha let the joke live on.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve retorted as she had a teasing smirked.

"So what does he want?" Fury got right back on topic.

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

"Person bodies." Astra chimed in. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, they're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it. And you two programmed him to protect the human race and amazingly failed." Then criticized the two scientists.

"They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve." Bruce looked up from the butterfly picture. "Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury questioned.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" The pieces all clicked together.

"Well, this just look a very interesting turn." Astra commented to herself.

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