Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

xxxix. 𝚓𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚜'𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚡

TONY KEPT a hand on her arm as they tried their best not to be noticed by anyone in Oslo, Norway. When he deemed it safe, he walked inside of the NEXUS Internet Hub. Evelyn followed him, not wanting to waste anymore time. The two Starks made it to the front desk, Tony lowering his glasses.

"I need to speak to Monique. Is she around?" Tony asked just as a woman walked out of the back room. "Aha, hi."

Monique smiled at Tony as she hurried around the counter. "Tony! Hey! What're you doing here?"

"I need a favor," Tony asked her after she hugged him tightly. "Monique, meet my aunt, Evelyn Stark."

Monique's eyes flickered between the pair before nodding. "Sure, yeah. Nice to meet you. Follow me!"

Tony winked at Evelyn as they followed the woman into the back room. Evelyn looked around in awe as she followed her nephew to the largest computer she had ever seen. When Monique gave Tony full access, she backed away to let Tony do his work.

Tony began typing furiously. "A hacker who's faster than Ultron? He could be anywhere. And as this is the center of everything, I'm just a guy looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack."

"How do you find it?" Monique asked.

"Pretty simple. You bring a magnet," he said with a shrug before singingly playfully, "Oh, I'm decrypting nuclear codes and you don't want me to. Come and get me."

Tony and Evelyn watched until suddenly, Tony said, "Well, I'll be damned."

Evelyn furrowed her brows just as she let out a breathy laugh. "Hello, sir," Jarvis spoke.

"Jarvis was destroyed by Ultron, so we thought. He was hidden all this time. Cheeky little AI," Tony said with a smirk.

"That's why he was a mess in the Quinjet," Evelyn said with a nod. "He still tried to help me even though he was hidden in the web."

"We gotta get to Banner," Tony decided. "Meet you there, J."

"Yes, sir."

Evelyn and Tony flew back to New York very quickly. She had yet to hear anything about Steve's mission, but when they arrived, they could see Clint landing his own Quinjet with a solemn look on his face. Bruce was helping Clint unload Dr. Helen Cho's Cradle. Before they left the jet, she heard faint crackling from the comms.

"Stark, come in. Stark. Anyone on comms?"

"Don't answer," Tony said.

"Why?"

"Come on, we don't have much time," Tony murmured, hurrying to help get the Cradle into the lab. Evelyn realized Clint was upset because Ultron had taken Natasha. She furrowed her brows as she tried to think of a way to track her.

Bruce eyed the Cradle with interest, but he quickly averted his eyes to Clint and Tony. "Anything on Nat?"

"Haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron'd be rubbing our faces in it," Tony said with a nod.

Clint tapped the Cradle as he watched Evelyn crouch to look at it better. It looked like a person was being created. She could see the gem from the scepter they spoke of so often. "This is sealed tight," Clint said.

"We're going to need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce decided.

Tony bit his lip before looking at Clint. "Hm. Any chance Natasha might leave you a message, outside the internet, old school spy stuff?" Evelyn realized he wanted Clint out of the room. What was he planning to do?