With everybody back on the Quinjet, freed from their respective visions.
"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air." Hill said.
"Stark Relief Foundation?" asked Tony.
"Already on the scene. How's the team?"
"Everyone's... we took a hit. We'll shake it off." Tony replied.
"Well for now I'd stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here."
"So, run and hide." Nova affirmed.
"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."
"Neither do we." Tony replied as he ended the call and switched off the monitor. He then turned to Clint who was flying the Quinjet.
"Hey, you wanna switch out?"
"No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time, cause we're still a few hours out." Clint said.
"Where are we going?" Nova asked, approaching the two men.
"A safe house."
⍟ⴵ
The Quinjet landed outside a large farmhouse and they all walked towards the house.
"What is this place?" Thor asked.
"A safe house...?" Tony replied.
"Let's hope." Clint replied.
He opened the door and they all entered the house.
"Honey, I'm home." Clint exclaimed as his heavily pregnant wife, Laura, walked in from the kitchen.
"Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."
"Hey."
Laura kissed Clint.
"This is an agent of some kind." Tony stated, Thor and Nova turned to him.
"Gentleman, this is Laura." Clint introduced his wife to the team.
"I know all your names." Laura affirmed.
They all looked at her awkwardly. They heard noises from upstairs coming closer.
"Ooh, incoming."
Clint's children, Cooper and Lila ran in.
"Dad!"
He picked up his daughter and hugged his son, "Hi, sweetheart! Hey, buddy! How you guys doing? Ooh... Look at your face! Oh, my goodness!"
"These are... smaller agents." Tony added.
"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" Lila asked.
"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha replied as Lila rushed towards her, who picked her up in her arms.
"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve said.
"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Tony added.
"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low." Clint replied.
"Honey. Ah, I missed you." Laura said to her husband.
"How's little Natasha, huh?" asked Natasha, touching Laura's stomach.
"She's... Nathaniel." Laura replied.
Natasha bended towards Laura's pregnant stomach.
"Traitor."
The hallucinations brought on by Wanda continued to creep up in Thor's mind and he walked out of the house. Steve and Nova Sadie followed him outside.
"Thor." Steve said.
"Where are you going?" Nova asked.
"I saw something in that dream. I need answers, I won't find them here." Thor replied and he used his hammer to fly away.
Steve and Nova turned to enter the house when he heard Peggy's voice from Wanda's vision.
"We can go home."
Instead of going inside, Steve turned and walked away.
"Dad...?" Nova called him.
"I want some alone time." Steve replied.
Nova watched as he walked away.
After a while, Nova found herself sitting on the porch of the house, looking at the landscape.
"Hey girl."
She heard Natasha's voice calling her and she turned towards her.
"Hey Nat..." Nova smiled at her, "How are you...?"
"Been better... and you?"
"With a few more bruises." Nova replied as Romanoff sat next to her.
"I'm glad you and the others have recovered from Wanda's visions."
Natasha looked at her sadly.
"Sorry... I didn't want to remind you... forgive me."
Natasha stroked her shoulder, with a small smile.
"It doesn't matter now."
Nova gently took her hand, "For anything, I'm here... I promise."
Romanoff nodded, smiling at her.
"I know, little Rogers."
⍟ⴵ
A few hours later, Steve and Tony were chopping wood outside Barton's house as Nova was sitting at the picnic table, looking at them.
"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?" asked Tony.
"Nope..." Nova replied.
"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things. I was kind of hoping Thor would be the exception." Steve added.
"Yeah, give him time. We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him." Tony said, while Steve chopped the wood.
""Earth's Mightiest Heroes." Pulled us apart like cotton candy."
"Seems like you walked away all right." Tony stated.
"Is that a problem?"
"I don't trust a guy without a dark side." Tony chopped a wood, "Call me old fashioned."
"Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet." Steve replied as Nova whistled, impressed.
"You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right?" Tony affirmed.
"Well I guess you'd know. Whether you tell us is a bit of a question." Steve replied.
"Banner and I were doing research."
"That would affect the team."
"That would end the team. Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the "why" we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?"
Steve split the wood with his bare hands, Tony and Nova looked at him, surprised.
"Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time."
Laura interrupted them.
"I'm sorry. Mr. Stark, uh, Clint said you wouldn't mind, but, our tractor, it doesn't seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you might..."
"Yeah, I'll give her a kick." Tony replied.
He turned to Steve before leaving, "Don't take from my pile."
Father and daughter were alone as they watched Tony leave. Little Rogers got up and approached her father who was continuing to cut wood.
"I didn't ask before, but... how are you?"
Steve stopped, looking at his daughter.
"I'm fine, I think."
"What did you see in your vision?"
He sighed, frustrated, looking at the wood.
"Aunt Peggy..." he turned to her, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to read your mind..."
He put a hand on her shoulder, "Never mind, I'm used to your power."
She smiled at him as he continued, "And you? What did you see?"
"Me...? Nothing. Wanda didn't use her power on me, though she could have but she didn't."
"No, I mean at the party, before Ultron, when you touched Thor's hammer."
"How...?"
"Everyone noticed that something was wrong, you were motionless for several seconds."
"I've seen images scrolling fast, I couldn't decipher what they were showing me, but, probably something that will happen to Thor in the future. It has happened before and it has always come true."
"Good. Always good news." Steve replied, sarcastically.
"We're a little short, actually."
"Let's get inside."
She nodded as he put his arm around her shoulder and they went in.
⍟ⴵ
Back inside Barton's house, Fury met with the rest of the team.
"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." Fury said.
"What about Ultron himself?" Steve 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." Fury replied.
"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asked.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony affirmed.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."
"NEXUS...? What is it...?" Nova asked.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth." Bruce replied.
"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Fury replied.
"By whom?" Tony asked.
"Parties unknown."
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha added.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Fury affirmed.
"I might need to visit Oslo, find our "unknown."" Tony declared.
"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that." Natasha affirmed.
"I do, I have you. 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 or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard." Fury said.
"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha declared.
"You know what, Romanoff?"
Natasha smiled mischievously at him.
"So what does he want?" Fury asked.
"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies." Steve replied.
"Person bodies. The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it." Tony added.
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed." Natasha affirmed.
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve." Bruce declared.
"How?"
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"
"I'll take Natasha, Nova and Clint." Steve said as he took his shield.
"Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can." Tony added.
"If Ultron is really building a body..." Steve declared.
"He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."
"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me." Steve added as Nick approached them.
"I'll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Fury said.
"She's all yours, apparently."
"What are you gonna do?" Steve asked.
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." Fury replied as he left.
Clint approached his wife, "I'm gonna finish re-flooring that sunroom as soon as I get back."
"Yeah, and then you'll find another part of the house to tear apart."
"No. It's the last project. I promise."
He kissed her; later Laura watched them fly off in the Quinjet.