Ch 58 Recovery

"And now we have to hide." Tony said.

"Yeah. I remember." Clint said as he shot Tony a glare for a second before they all turned to the screen.

"Thank you, Clint." Steve said, "You risked a lot by bringing us to your home."

Clint simply nodded.

In the Quinjet, a traumatized Bruce was sitting quietly. Steve, Thor and Natasha were also trying to shake off the traumatizing visions they had while Hill sarcastically told Tony on video call that the news was loving them but the others not so much. There had been no official call for Bruce's arrest but it was in the air while the Stark Relief Foundation was on the scene. She asked how the team was.

"Not good at all." Natasha said.

"And very traumatized." Bruce added while Wanda and Scarlet Witch winced in guilt.

"Look, there's a picture of Captain America in your office, Hill!" Hope said to lighten the mood and made Hill blush again.

"Crush confirmed." Scott said in her support.

"I think Hope is the captain of that ship." Bucky joked and everyone laughed while Steve and Hill blushed in embarrassment.

Tony said they had taken a hit but they'd shake it off. Hill said for now they should stay in stealth mode and stay away from New York until they could find Ultron as she had nothing else to offer. Tony said they didn't either as the call was cut. He asked Clint if he wanted to switch out but he said he was good and they were few hours from a safe house.

"A very safe house." Fury added.

"All thanks to you." Clint said.

They eventually landed in the middle of a farm and everyone followed Clint as he supported Natasha and they walked into a house. Thor wondered what the place was and Tony said it was a safe house. Clint walked in and said, "Honey? I'm home." A woman who looked a few months pregnant walked out and kissed Clint happily while Tony commented she was an agent.

Everyone chuckled as Hope finally said, "Busted."

"Been ages since you said that." Scott commented.

"Nice to hear it again." Thor said.

Clint introduced her as Laura who said she already knew all their names. Tony waved awkwardly as a little boy and a little girl arrived. Clint hugged them both and lifted the girl. Tony commented they were smaller agents.

"We don't employ anyone at that age." Fury said and everyone chuckled.

"My little girl has grown a lot in just 3 years." Clint commented, "Almost seems like too much." [1]

"Well, we all grow up some time." Sam said.

"Yeah, like me." Benjamin said and everyone chuckled.

Lila asked if he had brought Auntie Nat and Clint said they could hug her to find out. The children ran towards her as she hugged them both happily too.

"So you were the only one outside of Barton, Fury, Hill and Coulson to know about them." Loki said.

"Yeah, I was the only one." Natasha said.

"She is my best friend. I trust her." Clint said.

Steve apologized for barging in on them and Tony said he'd have called but they were busy having no idea they existed.

Everyone chuckled at Stark's wit again.

Clint said Fury had helped him set this up when he had joined. He had kept it off SHIELD's files and he'd like to keep it that way.

"And it didn't remain that way." Tony muttered guiltily.

"You can't change what happened. You can only move past that now." Pepper said gently.

Clint said it would be a good place to lay low. Thor accidentally stepped on a Lego which Steve noticed and to his amusement, Thor swept it away with his foot.

Everyone chuckled as Clint joked, "So that's why you left. Because you stepped on my daughter's Lego. Good thing. Or I'd have killed you."

"I don't doubt you." Thor chuckled.

"Neither do I." Odinson said.

"I'd be a fool to." Loki chuckled.

Natasha touched Laura's stomach and asked how little Natasha was. Laura said it was actually Nanthaniel and so she kneeled down and jokingly called him traitor.

Everyone chuckled again as Clint said, "She got names of two Avengers now."

"Thank you." Wanda said, still grateful to him for naming his son Nanthaniel Pietro Barton.

Thor looked down to see Lila looking up at him.

"She knows." Rhodes said and everyone chuckled.

"And I'll leave after this." Thor joked and more chuckles followed.

Thor remembered the vision and as the toast came out of the toaster, he walked out. Steve followed him and asked where he was going. Thor said he had seen something in the dream and needed answers which he won't find here. Twirling Mjolnir, he flew off.

"Off to find the answers." Loki said.

Steve turned to look at the farmhouse and once again remembered Peggy's words so he walked out.

"I get the feeling, Cap." Logan told him, "I consider the X-Men family. But I don't know what I can do outside of fighting either."

"I'm sorry." Steve said to him in sympathy and he nodded.

Laura treated Clint's wound as he said she had worried for nothing. Laura said if they were going to sleep here, some of them would have to double up. Clint said that won't sell as Laura asked how long the thing between Nat and Dr. Banner had been going on. He seemed puzzled as she laughed and told him she'd explain when he was older.

"She later told me she found out because the air around her smelled like cringe." Clint said and everyone laughed loudly, Natasha and Bruce included, because it was cringe.

Laura said Natasha seemed really shaken and Clint said Ultron had some punks as his allies but they carried a big damn stick from which Natasha had taken a hit so someone needed to teach them manners.

"Yes. Someone did." Wanda agreed.

Laura realized that someone was Clint. She said, "You know I totally support your avenging. I couldn't be prouder." She looked at Steve and Tony about to chop wood outside and said, "But I see those guys... those gods..." Clint interrupted her, "You don't think they need me." Laura said, "I think they do, which is a lot scarier. They're a mess." Clint agreed, "Yeah. I guess they're my mess." He got up as she said, "You need to be sure that this team is really a team, and that they have your back. Things are changing for us. In a few months' time, you and me are gonna be outnumbered. I need...Just be sure." Clint nodded, "Yes, ma'am." They kissed and then he kissed her forehead as she touched his abdomen and said, "I can feel the difference."

Everyone looked at Clint's relationship with his family and seemed happy for him.

"Yeah. We really were a mess." Tony remembered.

"During that time, a huge mess." Steve agreed.

"Without Barton, we really do come apart." Thor said half-seriously and half-jokingly.

At the U-Gin Genetics Research Lab in Seoul, Korea, Helen Cho and her staff were about to get to work. She walked into a room but saw Ultron standing there as he said her entire staff would die if she screamed.

"That son of a bitch." Fury said.

"At least she survived." Vision said.

Ultron said he could have killed her that night but he didn't. She sarcastically asked if he expected a 'thank you' note and he said he expected her to know why. She realized it was because of the Cradle as Ultron played her statement of it being the next thing and said this was the next him. Cho said it couldn't build a living body but Ultron said it could and she just lacked the materials. An Ultron Sentry arrived with the Vibranium as Ultron said she was a brilliant woman but there was room for improvement as another Ultron Sentry touched her chest with the Scepter and her eyes glowed blue.

Everyone paled as Clint snarled, "And now he has her under control."

Natasha was sitting in a bathrobe as she remembered her visions while Bruce had a flash of Hulk's rampage as he shaved. He walked out as she said she would have joined him but it didn't seem like the right time and Bruce said he had used up all the hot water and joked she had missed her window.

"I'm so happy I missed it." Natasha said.

"You're not the only one." Bruce said.

The cringe in the room was real.

Bruce said the world had seen the real Hulk for the first time. Natasha said she had a strange dream that she was an Avenger and anything other than the assassin they made her.

"Because you are." Bucky assured and she nodded in appreciation.

Bruce said she was being too hard on herself.

"Thank you!" Clint said to Bruce.

"No problem." He said.

Natasha jokingly said she had thought that to be his job and walked closer. Bruce asked what she was doing and she said they should run together. Bruce asked if she was out of her mind.

"Yes I was." Natasha said.

"Maybe what I did affected you more than any of us thought." Wanda suggested.

"That can be an option." Bruce agreed.

"Either way, I'm sorry." Wanda said again.

Bruce said he was a threat everywhere but Natasha said not to her.

"Not to Betty." Bruce said.

Bruce said there was no future with him because he couldn't have kids physically. Natasha said she couldn't either because she had been sterilized in the Red Room to make her efficient with one less thing to worry about. It made killing easier. She asked if he still believed himself to be the only monster in the team.

"You're not a monster." Aunt May assured her before Bucky could.

The people from the future exchanged looks. At the end of all this, they would tell Natasha what to do to make what was done to her right because she would survive in the new timeline.

Bruce asked if they should just disappear.

"No. Only I should." Bruce said.

Steve and Tony were chopping wood outside as Tony asked if Thor hadn't told him where he was going for answers. "Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things." Steve said pointedly.

"Stupid thing to say." Steve said, "Now I didn't know it was Bucky but you deserved to know. So I am sorry for saying that. I shouldn't have."

Tony shrugged. He too said insensitive stuff at times without thinking so he could forgive Cap for saying it once, even if it was directed at him.

Steve said he was hoping Thor to be the exception as Tony said he wouldn't know what Wanda had shown him. Steve said she had pulled apart the "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" like cotton candy. Tony said he had walked away all right. Steve asked if it was a problem and Tony said, "I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old-fashioned." Steve said, "Well, let's just say you haven't seen it yet."

"What is the dark side?" Peter asked innocently.

"Peter!" Aunt May chided.

"No, it's okay." Steve said, "Basically, things about me that others consider good can also be the worth thing about me."

"Yeah, I know." Tony agreed.

"We all do have dark sides." T'Challa agreed.

Tony said Ultron was trying to tear them apart from the inside and Steve said he'd know and the question was whether he'd tell them or not.

"While you were at fault, Tony, I think I'm being a bit overly harsh too." Steve said apologetically.

Tony said Banner and him were doing research. Steve pointed out it'd affect the team. Tony snapped, "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 angrily snapped a log in two with his bare hands.

Everyone's jaws dropped as Scott said, "Damn!"

"Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time." Steve said.

"I believe it is both ways." Steve said.

"Both of us had merits and flaws in our arguments." Tony agreed.

Laura arrived and said their tractor didn't seem to start so he could check it out. He walked off and told Steve not to take from his pile.

Everyone chuckled as Sam asked, "Did you?"

"No." Steve said.

"And now my wife is acting like an agent." Clint joked and everyone chuckled.

"For me." Fury added.

Tony walked up to the tractor and asked what ailed it when Fury arrived, "Do me a favor. Try not to bring it to life." Tony muttered how Ms. Barton was a minx.

"Don't call my wife that ever again." Clint warned.

"Noted." Tony nodded.

"But the Director is here." Hill said cheerfully and everyone nodded.

Tony realized Hill had called him and asked if she had ever stopped not working for him.

"Nope. I worked for both of you." Hill said.

Fury said Tony hadn't even hesitated as he said it had been a long day so they should skip to the part where he was useful. Fury told him to look him in the eye and say he was going to shut it down. Tony said he wasn't his Director. Fury said, "I'm not the director of anybody. I'm just an old man who cares very much about you." "And I'm the man who killed the Avengers." Tony said, saying he hadn't told the team.

Everyone sympathized a bit with Tony as he said that. He had tried to play God, but he only wanted to protect the friends and family he cherished.

Wanda felt guilty again.

Tony said he had seen them all dead and felt it. Fury said Wanda was playing on his fear as Tony said he wasn't tricked but shown. It wasn't a nightmare but legacy and end of the pat he had started them on. Fury said Tony came up with pretty impressive inventions these days and war wasn't one of them. "I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right?" Tony asked, "Nope. It wasn't the worst part." Fury realized what he meant, "The worst part... is that you didn't."

The ones from the future winced again. Because Thanos had made that come true in a way when he had snapped his fingers.

In the Royal Holloway University of London, Erik Selvig walked up to Thor after talking to a student and said he liked the look. Thor was wearing a hooded jacket as Erik said it was a near miss if he was going for inconspicuous. Thor said he needed Erik's help and Erik said it was nice to be needed. Thor said it was dangerous and Erik said he'd be disappointed if it wasn't as they sat in the car.

"Going to find out about the visions?" Fury asked.

"Aye." Thor and Odinson said at the same time.

At the farmhouse, Fury said Ultron had taken the Avengers out of the play to buy himself some time. Lila handed Natasha a drawing as he said that and she took it lovingly. Fury said the amount of Vibranium Ultron had made off with couldn't just be about one thing and commented how he was multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit.

Everyone chuckled as Steve said, "I guess you put it like that to make me understand."

"Damn right!" Fury said.

Tony was throwing darts and asked if he was still going after launch codes. Fury said he was but not making any headway. Tony commented how he had cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare.

"You really did that?" Scott asked.

"He did." Pepper said.

"Yup." Tony agreed.

"What a guy!" Rhodes muttered.

"What a guy indeed." T'Challa agreed.

Fury said he had contacted his friends at the Nexus about that. Bruce said Nexus was the world's Internet hub in Oslo and every byte of data flowed through there. It was the fastest access on Earth. Fury said Ultron was fixated on the codes but they were constantly being changed. Natasha asked if they had an ally. Fury said Ultron had an enemy and it wasn't the same thing but he'd still need to see who it was.

"I believe it was me." Vision said.

"Yup!" Tony said.

Tony said he'd visit Oslo while Natasha said she was hoping he had more than that.

"And I did." Fury said.

Fury said, "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. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"I think you're pretty good at it too." Benjamin said to Fury who shrugged.

Natasha joked how Steve didn't like that kind of talk and he was amused.

Everyone chuckled.

Fury asked what he wanted. Steve said Ultron wanted to be better than them as he kept building person bodies. Tony said the human form was inefficient and biologically, they were outmoded. Bruce looked at the drawing Lila had given Natasha. It was of a butterfly. He then came to a realization as Natasha said him and Bruce had amazingly failed when they had programmed him to protect the human race. Bruce said they didn't need to be protected but evolve. Ultron was going to evolve. When Fury asked how, Bruce asked if anyone had been in contact with Helen Cho.

"He is already there! Damn it!" Scott said.

"I know. Unfortunate." Clint agreed.

In Cho's lab, an android in progress was shown.

"Me." Vision said.

"Yeah. You." Wanda said.

Cho said the Vibranium wasn't just compatible with the tissue cells but was binding them. Ultron commented how they had used the most compatible substance on the planet to make a Frisbee and it was typical of humans as they scratched the surface and never thought to look within.

"I'm not offended." Steve said.

"I am." Tony said.

Ultron then took the Mind Stone from the Scepter and put it on the android's head.

"And that is how my birth starts." Vision commented.

Steve readied himself and said he'd take Natasha and Clint while Tony said he'd hit the Nexus and they realized with a new body, Ultron would be more powerful than all of them. It was an android designed by a robot. Steve commented how he missed the days the weirdest thing science created was him.

Everyone chuckled as Bucky said, "I miss that too."

Fury said he'd drop Banner off at the tower and asked Tony if he could borrow Hill. Tony said she was all his and asked what he was going to do. Fury said something dramatic probably as he walked off.

"It was very dramatic." Natasha said.

"Even more dramatic was Cap's mouth. Fury commented and everyone chuckled while Steve shook his head in amusement.

Clint told Laura he'd re-floor the sunroom when he returned and she said he'd find another part of the house to tear apart. Clint promised it was the last project and they kissed. Later, Laura watched as the Quinjet flew off.

"And then I returned." Clint said.

"Sorry I called you." Steve said apologetically.

"I don't regret it." Clint told him.

Thor and Erik walked into a cave and saw a stream which was the Water of Sight. Thor hoped Erik could find what they need before the water's spirit consumed him. Erik said this was a new kind of dangerous as Thor muttered something in Norse. Erik asked what he meant and he said, "The thing I fear contains the thing I need."

"You're afraid?" Tony asked.

"You'll see why soon." Thor said.

"And you still did it." Hill said.

"You will always be in over your head…..unless you're Thor." Benjamin stated matter-of-fact.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence my friend." Odinson said and Thor nodded too.

"I think that sounds about right." Loki agreed.

Thor took out a flask. Erik asked what that was for and he said it was for him as he felt scary.

"But you'll overcome your courage because that's what you do." Steve said.

"Yes." Thor agreed.

"Need to see that." Bruce said.

At the Nexus Internet Hub, Oslo, Norway, Tony was on the computers as some intern watched. He said a hacker faster than Ultron could be anywhere and as this was at the center of everything, he was a guy looking for a needle in the world's biggest haystack. A female intern asked how to find it and Tony said he'd bring a magnet. He then started decrypting nuclear codes, asking the hacker to come and get him.

"Smart." T'Challa said.

"Very." Hope added.

"Thanks." Tony shrugged, "And you were great Vision."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Vision said.

Thor was in the water when he laughed but the voice was not his.

Everyone was creeped out as Peter asked fearfully, "Who has possessed you?"

"A Norn." Thor said to their shock.

"It was what needed to be done." Odinson said.

Erik recorded as Thor's eyes glowed and he said all of them were fools while lightning emanated from him. Erik asked how to stop Ultron and the Norn spoke through Thor and said by sacrifice. Erik asked what kind and Thor said human.

"Did he mean my brother?" Wanda asked.

"He might have. I didn't think about it then." Thor said.

The Norn said through Thor the dead were legion and that the Stone brought Ultron to his brilliance and him to his end. Erik asked if it was the one from Loki's Scepter and the Norn spoke through Thor, "It was never his, it is of the Six, the Infinite Six cannot be joined or kept apart."

"What does that mean?" Tony muttered.

"You will see." Scarlet Witch said.

More lightning emanated from Thor as the Norn said this one fought them. Erik asked about the Stone as the Norn spoke through Thor, "The Mind Stone that rules perception. It melts the minds of monsters. It carved out your will and still you don't see?" Erik was shocked as the Norn said through Thor his enemies were closer. He said something about father's ambition and brilliance only blinded. Lightning then emanated from Thor as he freed himself from the spirit.

Everyone was chilled to the core.

"That was the creepiest thing I have seen." Hope said before saying to Thor and Odinson, "Which makes you doing it even braver."

They nodded in appreciation.

Logan said, "Now the big stuff is coming."