After multiple run-ins with death and many shocking self-discoveries in the course of a few months, all America Evans wants to do is hide away in Washington with Steve until she finds out who she really is. But life as an Avenger doesn't allow for a...
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AMERICA'S POV
Everyone's split up around the farm. Tony and Steve are supposedly outside chopping wood, Nat and Bruce are somewhere in the house, Clint is with his kids, and I'm the last one who gets shower privileges. Of course it's me. I barely noticed the freezing cold water beating down my back. I was just thinking about it all, completely lost in thought. I don't know how this is going to work out. I always thought we'd come out on top. We're the Avengers, after all. But now, I'm not so sure.
As I pull on the clothes Laura set out for me, I stare at myself in the mirror. I have so many scars. So many marks. They distort my skin in multiple places. There's a moment where I'm ashamed, but I stop myself.
Each scar is there for a reason. I'm not who I used to be.
In jeans, a white t-shirt, and a dark blue flannel tied around my waist, I feel a bit more like... me. America. I braid my wet hair down my back and head downstairs to find Laura busy in the kitchen.
"Oh, good! Here, you can help me." She beckons me into the kitchen eagerly. I do listen, but I'm hesitant.
"Um, I've got to be honest with you. Last time I cooked, I lit spaghetti sauce on fire. Steve had to put it out, the whole situation wasn't great." It sounds so bizarre that I laugh, and so does she. It feels good.
"It's okay, I'll teach you. I'm making soup and salad. Not too difficult, but very hard to light on fire." She smiles. "Start cutting those vegetables. If you do a good job, maybe I'll let you graduate to the stove."
I do know how to use a knife, so this is a job I can handle. As she hands me the vegetables, her eyes linger on my forearm, where I carved America into my skin months ago, but when she realizes I've caught her, she goes back to cooking. "So, you're the newest recruit," Laura says while stirring a big pot of broth.
I nod. "Yeah, that's me. Although I guess I'm not that new anymore." It's crazy. I've been an Avenger for close to a year now. And it's a family. I'm only a year younger than Nat, but I'm still the youngest, a fact Tony never fails to hold over my head.
"Congratulations to you and Steve, by the way. Clint told me," she says.
"Thanks," I reply, glancing down at my hand to make sure the ring is still there. I almost forgot it after the shower and spent a good twenty minutes feeling bad about it. "We got into a pretty big fight about this whole situation, but we worked it out."
She thinks about this. "Can I offer you some advice?"
"I'd love some." I don't know that many people who are married. I guess my closest married friend is Clint, and I didn't even know that until a few hours ago.
"You're never going to agree on everything. That's okay. Fights happen. At the end of the day, though, you need to remember what's really important." I nod along with her. Laura radiates this warmth and comfort that automatically puts me at ease. In fact, she's the most comfortable I've been around a stranger in a long time.
"Does that work for you and Clint?"
"Most of the time. He's gone a lot, so we do our best not to argue at all when we are together, but it's bound to happen sometimes."
After dinner, Laura puts the kids to bed. Both of them give me hugs, which I'm hesitant to accept, but it's nice. I'm not used to being around kids. In fact, I don't remember the last time I was around someone under fifteen. This is such a peaceful existence, full of love and happiness. I look around at this place, this home, and I wonder.
The entire team, including Fury, lounges around trying to think. Fury. I don't really feel like asking when or how he showed up. He just does. I've come to accept it.
"Ultron took you folks 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."
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asks.
"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."
"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asks, grabbing the throwing darts. I pour myself a cup of tea and sit down at the table next to Nat, who is examing a picture Clint's daughter drew for her.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," he replies, throwing a dart disinterestedly.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."
"NEXUS?" Steve asks.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth," Bruce explains.
"So what'd they say?" Clint asks, picking up his own little dart.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Fury begins to make himself a sandwich. Never thought I'd see that, but I'm still learning.
"By who?" A bullseye interrupts Tony's thoughts. Clint just shrugs at his skills.
"Parties unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asks.
Fury shakes his head. "Ultron has 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 thinks out loud.
Natasha gives Fury a wry smile. "Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."
"I do, I have you." He starts to pace. "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. Whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha murmurs, a smile spreading across her face.
"You know what, Romanoff?"
Fury ignores this sidetrack from conversation. "So what does he want?"
"To become better," I answer. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient," Tony continues. He's right. Ultron can get shot all he wants and it won't be a problem. Me, not so much. "Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."
"When you three programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," Natasha says with a slightly sarcastic voice.
"They don't need to be protected," Bruce mumbles in realization. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."
