Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Get The Cradle

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Eyepatch said, "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?" I asked.

"Ah. He's easy to track, 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 launch codes?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Eyepatch responded, "he is, but he's not making any headway."

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

"Yes, well I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."

"NEXUS?" Bucky questioned.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," Bruce explained, "every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth."

"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.

"He's fixated on the missiles," Eyepatch told us, "but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked.

"Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.

Eyepatch shook his head, "Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown'," Tony said.

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

"I do," Eyepatch said, "I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream of. But here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. Outwit the platinum bastard."

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

"You know what, Romanoff?" I shot back.

She smirked at me.

"So what does he want?" Eyepatch asked.

"To become better," I said, "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony 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 drawled.

"They don't need to be protected," Bruce said, "they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Eyepatch asked.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Bruce questioned.

We all looked at each other and shook our heads.

"You think he's there?" I asked.

"Makes sense," Bruce responded.

"Right," I said with a nod, "Suit up."

We all went to change.

"I'll take Natasha, Clint, and Bucky," I told Tony as I put a com link in my ear.

He nodded, "Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron is really building a body..."

"He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

I sighed, "You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me."