Saving Grace

Thirty Nine

Tony walked out of the barn with none other than Nick Fury himself, a man Grace never actually met but certainly heard about. By the way he half-smiled at her when he saw her, like a greeting, she guessed he'd heard a lot about her, too — though not necessarily from Tony.

They all gathered in the kitchen — the whole team — and sat down to talk, which is what they're doing now.

"Ultron took you guys out of play to buy himself time. 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," Fury says, leaning back against the counter.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asks.

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asks.

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

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

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

Grace's brows furrow. "NEXUS?"

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

"So, what'd they say?" Clint asks.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed," Fury replies.

"By whom?" Tony asks.

"Parties unknown."

Then, Nat butts in, "Do we have an ally?"

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

Tony chews his lip, thinking. "I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown.'"

Nat sighs, looking at Fury. "Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

Fury cracks a small smile. "I do. I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum..." And then he says a word unsuitable for children, though Grace is standing right there.

Nat smirks. "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk."

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve replies, fighting a back a laugh. Grace actually does laugh; Tony told her the story forever ago, after it first happened.

Fury sighs. "So, what does he want?"

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

"Person bodies," Tony adds. "The human form is inefficient — biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

Nat looks at Bruce and Tony. "When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

But Bruce gets an idea. "They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Grace asks.

Bruce's eyes widen. "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

No one has. Everyone jumps up, preparing to head to the lab where Dr. Cho should be.

"I'll take Natasha and Clint," Steve says.

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