Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

xxxviii. 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗

STEVE WALKED forward first, engulfing Evelyn into a hug since it had been a year since he had seen her last. There were a few things he noticed about the woman before him. The faint bruise on the side of her neck. She was wearing a new necklace. Her wedding ring was on her finger while Bucky's was not in sight. He bit his tongue, knowing there were more important things to talk about now. Evelyn squeezed him just as tightly before backing away just to be hugged by Tony.

"You're an absolute ass, Evelyn Stark," Tony said without remorse.

"You must take after me then, Man in a Can," Evelyn quipped with a smirk as she let go of him.

A voice behind them called out, "Oh, God. There's two of them." Natasha sniggered quietly, hitting the man's shoulder once.

"Agent Barton?" Evelyn asked cautiously as she approached the large group. The man smiled as he moved his hand from around a woman's waist to extend it for her to shake.

"Clint Barton," he greeted. "Nice to finally meet you. This is my wife, Laura. Kids, Cooper and Lila. Now, how in the hell did you find my house?"

Evelyn dropped his hand as Fury answered, "I gave her the coordinates. I figured we'd need another set of hands with this threat." Evelyn shook Laura's hand before hugging Natasha and Bruce—the scientist awkwardly hugging her back. "So, let's get inside and get planning. We have a lot to talk about Mrs. Ba—Ms. Stark."

Evelyn nodded at him with a smirk, stepping on the porch—a sigh leaving her lips. Tony went to the dart board as Clint walked over to the sink with Laura following to do dishes. Natasha sat next to Lila, the small girl coloring. Cooper sat on the other side of the table, next to Steve. Bruce stood behind Natasha, leaning on the wall as Evelyn watched Fury take a seat at the head of the table. She stood behind Steve, placing her hands on his shoulder to which he placed his own on top of hers. She noticed his finger gently graze the wedding ring. She cursed in her mind for not taking it off.

Steve and Natasha took turns giving Evelyn a rundown of what was going on. Tony and Bruce had created a demented robot while playing with the scepter that Loki had used to warp minds. Tony ignored her glare she sent his way. They continued by explaining how Ultron had recruited Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Wanda could do crazy things with her mind while Pietro could run super fast with enhanced strength. Ultron wanted to wipe the Avengers from existence, but he would not stop there. He wanted to create something to destroy the world.

"So, what's the plan?" Evelyn asked. "What happened to get you here?"

"Mental manipulation," Clint replied. "Not a fan."

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury began. "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."

"Vibranium," Evelyn interrupted as she glanced from Tony to Steve. "I thought Howard said—"

"There's more," Steve admitted with a sigh before glancing at Fury. "What about Ultron himself?"

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit," Fury said as he smiled slightly. "Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."

Tony was playing darts alone, missing dramatically. "He still going after launch codes?" he asked.

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

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

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