Chapter Nine
"It's beautiful."
"If you had to guess, what's it look like it's doing?"
"Like it's thinking…..I mean, this could be a— it's not a human mind, it...…"
Lainey skipped down the hallway on her way to the lab with a happy smile on her face. Steve had told her to call both Bruce and Tony upstairs for dinner. The Avengers had been on a lengthly mission and had just gotten back that afternoon. So to say that Lainey was excited, was an understatement. She had become even more like Natasha's little shadow since the toddler debacle and had since stuck to her like velcro. Natasha didn't seem to mind, though it did prove planning a surprise party for her birthday a bit hard. But she was a professional, she pulled it off and the party was great. There were plenty of pictures to prove it.
She was so happy that they were back and she couldn't wait to spend time with all of them. Everyone was here, including Thor. She never formally met the man, but he seemed nice. She had heard a lot of great things about him and had even seen him. She just avoided any interaction with him, because of how loud and thunderous he was. She'd have to get over it if he was going to be sticking around.
"I mean, look at this! They're like neurons firing."
"Down in Strucker's lab, I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They deep-fixed the data, but….I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."
"Artificial intelligence."
"This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron."
Lainey stopped in her tracks once she heard that. She recognized the name, 'Strucker'. She read a file that Maria had left sitting out while she was babysitting for Natasha. Baron von Strucker was Hydra, which meant, he wasn't at all a good man. And as much as Lainey adored Jarvis, she didn't think that following Strucker's blueprint for artificial intelligence was a good idea. Strucker was the one who had the scepter that Loki used during the Battle of New York. Apparently, the scepter was holding the mind stone that had been a tool to control other people with a single tap. Lainey didn't really need to know any more to come to her own conclusion that all of this should should not be tampered with.
She remembered exactly where she was during the Battle of New York. She was home alone, in the apartment, watching a movie when she heard panicked screams in the hallway and down below on the streets. She figured that it must've been something big, so she turned on the news and her jaw dropped at what she saw. Aliens, real life aliens, were attacking Manhattan. And that was only a bridge away from where she was. She couldn't believe what was happening, so she ran up to the roof to look out at the skyline, and was horrified to find the Chitauri flying over the city. Fire was burning, people were running, cars were crashing, everything was a mess! There was nowhere to go! And Lainey was only seven years old with no one around to help or protect her. So, in true seven year old fashion, she raced right back down to her apartment, turned the tv off along with all the lights, and hid in her closet, just hoping that it would all be over soon.
It was hours before the screaming and the screeching stopped, but even then, Lainey refused to leave her makeshift safe place. By the time her mother got home, it was during the early afternoon of the very next day. And the woman had rushed back to the apartment, only to find her daughter curled up in the corner of the closet, trembling.
Lainey had seen something in Allison's eyes that she couldn't place. But that day and into the next, Allison had been much nicer and much warmer to her than she ever had been during her whole lifetime.
"Yesterday it was." She heard Tony say. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol—"
"—That's a mad-sized if." Bruce interjected.
"Our job is, 'if'. What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach, turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for Veronica."
"Don't hate. I helped design Veronica."
"As a worst case measure, right? How about a best case? What if the world was safe? What if next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn't get past the bouncer?"
"The only people threatening the planet would be people?"
"I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But Jarvis can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here. That's three days. Give me three days."
So that's what Tony was up to. He wanted to use the scepter to create another artificial intelligent life called, Ultron.
To Lainey, it didn't seem very safe. And the fact that the two men were down in the lab whispering about it, instead of going upstairs to consult with the team, made her think that this was probably wrong.
"So, you're just going for artificial intelligence and you don't want to tell the team." And Bruce's summary of the whole thing confirmed her suspicions.
"Right." Tony agreed without any hesitance. "That's right. You know why? Because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear the, 'man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."
The way Tony was talking was getting to be a little scary for Lainey. What did he mean by a suit of armor around the world? And how could one man do that? If he was so sure about this working, why wouldn't he tell everyone else about it? Why was he hiding this?
"Sounds like a cold world, Tony."
And why was he pushing for it if Bruce was so against it?
"I've seen colder. This one, this very blue one? It needs Ultron. Peace in our time. Imagine that."
"What're you doing?" Lainey decided to make herself known.
Both men jumped right out of their skin. They looked like startled cats.
"What are you doing down here?" Tony ignored her question as she walked over to them, eyeing the scepter.
It looked dangerous enough for her to not want to have anything to do with it. To think, that thing held the power to influence someone to try and destroy an entire city. Lainey didn't even want to look at it for too long, for fear of activating something in it.
"Dinner's ready…..what're you doing down here? What's that?" She pointed to some blueprints he had been looking at, which he quickly swiped away.
"We won't be up for dinner." Tony tried to steer her towards the elevator. "We're busy. Run along."
"What's Ultron?" And just like that, Tony went completely still, causing Lainey to turn around and look at him. "Why do you need the scepter? And why are you keeping this a secret?"
"Look, kid." The man exchanged a worried glance with Bruce. "This is really complicated business that you won't understand. Ultron is gonna be a really good thing, you'll see. The Earth needs to be protected and I have a way to make that happen."
This didn't sound very much like protection. It sounded like control.
But Lainey felt she was too young to judge him on that. He was a grown up, so he had to be right.
Right?
"But—"
"—And you can't tell anyone about this." He put a finger up. "This has to be our little secret, okay? Just you, me, and Bruce. Everyone else can find out when it's all said and done. It can even be a little surprise. Once Ultron is created, then the world won't need the Avengers any more. How would you like to live in a nice house with Natasha without her having to go on all these missions?"
"Tony." Bruce shot him an unimpressed look. It was one thing to try and manipulate him. He was a grown man. But Lainey was just a child. She was impressionable and the bottom line was, it wasn't right.
"You two would get to spend all day, everyday together and you'd never have to worry about her coming home injured after trying to save the world. Sounds nice, right?"
"Yes." It did sound nice. And Lainey did always worry about Natasha when she was away. But she didn't see how any of that made what Tony was doing right. It seemed kind of shady and underhanded.
"If you keep this a secret, then we can get this done, and everyone will be safe." Tony insisted. "But you can't tell anyone."
"Not even Mama?"
"Not even her. It's a surprise, remember?"
Lainey didn't recall ever keeping a secret from Natasha. She told her everything she needed to know. It didn't feel right to keep this from her. But what if Tony was right? What if this did help keep everyone safe? Wasn't it worth keeping her mouth shut for a few days? Maybe he was right and she was the one who was overreacting.
She had to be overreacting.
"Okay." She conceded. "I won't tell."
This could be a good thing. Tony wouldn't lie, would he?
"What's the matter?" Steve asked Lainey once she came back upstairs. "They weren't hungry?"
"No." The ten year old shook her head.
"Alright, well, go get a plate and sit down with everyone else." He smiled, stirring some sauce in a pot.
It looked at if he had made spaghetti and meatballs, which was one of her favorite dishes. Grabbing a plate, Lainey served herself and sat down in her usual place right next to Natasha and looked down at her food. It looked delicious, but she just didn't feel hungry. Her stomach was in knots and the smell coming from the dish made her queasy.
"Is this the child, you have spoken of, Lady Natasha?" Thor smiled at her.
Sitting down, he didn't look so scary. He was a warm man, his hair was long and half of it was pulled up, his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and his voice wasn't as loud as she had thought.
"This is her." Natasha nodded proudly. "Thor, this is Lainey. Lainey, this is Thor."
"It is an honor to meet you, Daughter of Natasha. Your mother is a great warrior and speaks highly of you."
"Hello." Was all Lainey could manage.
Under normal circumstances, what he just said would have meant a lot to her, but right now she couldn't find it in herself to react accordingly. There was too much on her mind.
"She's a little shy." Steve offered the girl some bread as he sat down, to which she declined.
"Don't worry, she'll warm up to you in no time." Clint winked.
"I have no doubt. It is all in her time." Thor spoke gently.
It was never wise to force anyone into speaking to anyone else, especially not a child. Children were great observers. Sometimes they needed time and space to figure a person out and let their guards down.
Thor would wait as long as Lainey needed him to. She would come around on her own.
"Eat your food honey." Natasha put a gentle hand on the child's back and was shocked when she flinched. "Lainey?"
Lainey refused to look at her. She just stared down at her food, picking at it with her fork before taking some small bites. It was almost as if she hadn't heard Natasha at all.
"Lainey, can you look at Mama for a second?" The redhead pleaded. Lainey didn't budge at first, but when she finally did turn towards her, she sighed in relief. "Are you alright? Can you tell me what's wrong?"
"I'm fine, Mama." Lainey grounded out.
She wasn't supposed to tell. This was supposed to be a good thing. If she told, she'd just be getting in the way of it. How could she stop Tony from doing something that would protect the whole world? She had no reason to feel this badly about it.
It was going to be fine.
"You don't look fine." Natasha brushed some hair from her face and rubbed her back. "You're pale…...and sweaty. Do you feel alright?"
"Uh huh."
"Lainey….." Her voice took on a tone of chastisement. "I don't like it when you lie to me."
Those seemed to be the trigger words, because no sooner did they leave her mother, did Lainey throw up what little bit of food she had just eaten.
All over her clothes and the floor the vomit went. Lainey couldn't even try to keep it in, there was no stopping it.
Natasha gasped and shot right up out of her seat, pulling the girl's hair back to keep it clean and let her get everything out.
Lainey had never felt worse. Her stomach hurt! But she wasn't sick. She was perfectly fine. Why was she throwing up? Why couldn't she eat?
All she wanted to do was cry.
"Sorry, Mama." She whispered.
"No, honey. I'm sorry." Natasha shushed her, taking a napkin to wipe her mouth off. "I didn't realize you weren't feeling well. I shouldn't have scolded you like that."
"I'll clean this up." Clint waved Steve off when he tried to offer to do it. He had already cooked the meal. He needed to sit down and enjoy it. "Go get her cleaned up."
"Come on, Little One." Natasha lifted her up onto her hip, ignoring the protests of how Lainey thought she was too heavy or how she might be getting puke all over the woman's shirt.
She didn't care about any of that. Her main priority was that sweet little girl in her arms. She needed to get her out of those dirty clothes and into some warm pj's. The vomit on her own clothes could wait.
Thor felt sorry for the girl. He could tell that she had been wary of him before they had been formally introduced, so he tried his best to appear to be calm-natured. But he guessed that it must have backfired. He hated to think that he scared her to the point where she had become ill.
He just hoped that she'd feel much better soon.
"Mama?" Lainey spoke after a few minutes of silence.
After scooping her up and away from the table, Natasha had brought her to the bathroom to clean up and help her take a soothing bath. She even put some lavender oil in the water to help settle the child and was now letting her sit for a while to let it take effect.
"Yes, Honey?"
"I don't feel good." The girl pouted.
"Do you feel like you want to throw up again?"
"No." Lainey sniffled as tears welled up in her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't feel good." She reiterated, not at all knowing how to express exactly what she was feeling.
"Can you explain it to me?"
"No." Her lip quivered as the dam broke.
"I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong." Natasha cupped her chin.
Lainey just whimpered and leaned into her touch, unintentionally giving her an idea.
"Alright, stand up, kiddo." She grabbed the child's towel and wrapped her up in it, lifting her up to carry her to her room. Setting her down on her bed, she found a set of pajamas for her to wear and handed George over to her once she was finished changing.
She looked so miserable it was breaking her heart, but there was really nothing she could do about it except comfort her. So she sat down in the rocking chair by the bed and invited Lainey into her arms, gently rocking back and forth to soothe her.
She just hoped that Lainey would tell her what was on her mind before it got any worse.
"Well if it isn't Lainey." Sam greeted the ten year old, all too aware of how she was trying to make herself scarce. "Enjoying the party?"
"Ssh." Lainey put a finger to her lips. "I'm not supposed to be here."
It had been a couple of days since she had her bout with an upset stomach and she was beginning to feel a little better. The apprehension was still there, but she didn't feel as awful as she did before. Natasha had made sure of that. She didn't let her thoughts get ahead of her. And it was for the best, because today, Lainey was sneaking into the Avengers' party when she was actually supposed to be asleep.
She was back to her old antics it seemed. Children were forgetful and resilient. They always bounced back. Lainey was no exception.
"Oh really?" Sam played coy. "Is that why you're hiding under the pool table?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "And I'm good at it, too. Nobody found me yet…...'cept you."
"Well, the party's almost over, so I'm gonna head on out." The man bumped her fist. "Stay out of trouble."
"Who me?"
Sam could only chuckle and shake his head. Nothing could hold that girl down.
Lainey giggled and got on all fours, crawling out from underneath the pool table, dodging the adults' long legs.
"She's so cute." She heard someone gush, but she kept it moving.
Honestly, she didn't know why she stayed as long as she had, the party was really boring.
All everyone did was talk and drink.
"Well, well, well." A familiar pair of legs blocked her path.
Lainey grimaced and slowly stood up on her feet. "Hi."
"Hi, yourself." Maria crossed her arms. "Deberías estar en la cama."
"I'm not tired." Lainey pouted when her yawn gave her away.
"Sure you're not. I'd hate to be you when Nat figures out you're here."
"You're no fun."
"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
Lainey whined when Steve came up behind her and lifted her up. "I'm not tired."
He always lifted her up. Sometimes she couldn't stand it. She was so small and light that it was easy to move her wherever anyone wanted her to go.
"Does Nat know you're down here?"
"No."
"Then don't you think you should go back to bed before she finds you?"
"But I wanna see." She insisted. "Please, can I see? I'll do whatever you tell me to! I'm not even tired!"
"Ten minutes and that's it." Steve gave in.
"Yay!"
"And why is the kid up so late?" Natasha narrowed her eyes at Lainey, who tried to sink into the couch next to Thor.
After the slight incident at dinner, Lainey had actually warmed to the Asgardian and found that she wasn't afraid of him any more. Plus, she liked curling up in his cape.
"I think she's talking about you this time." Tony joked.
"I'm not tired." Lainey answered lazily, fighting sleep.
"C'mon, let her stay." Tony pouted to plead her case.
"She's fallin' out anyway." Clint gave her some advice. "It'll be less of a fight to get her in bed if she's already asleep."
Natasha mulled that over and nodded. "You can stay."
"Gracias." Lainey lazily slid out of her place by Thor and squeezed in between Steve and Tony, sighing contently when Steve put an arm around her and patted her back.
"It's clearly a trick." Clint pointed to Thor's hammer.
"Oh, no. It's much more than that."
"Uh, 'Whosoever be he worthy, shall haveth the power'!" Clint recited. "Whatever, man! It's a trick!"
"Well, please, be my guest."
"Really?" Clint perked up.
"Yeah."
Clint accepted the offer and walked over to the coffee table where Moljinir sat, planning on how to lift it.
"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful." Rhodey smirked.
"Clint, you've had a rough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony taunted.
"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint ignored him and tried to lift it, but it wouldn't budge. "I still don't know how you do it."
"Smell the silent judgement?"
"Please, Stark, by all means."
Tony smirked and stood up, leaving Lainey to stretch her legs out on the couch and use Steve's leg as a pillow.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge."
"Here we go." Natasha rolled her eyes.
"It's physics." He grabbed the hammer. "So, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course."
Tony was confident in his abilities, but when he tried to lift it, he failed miserably. "I'll be right back."
Lo and behold, Tony came back with his gauntlet and tried to lift it with that, but the hammer still wouldn't move.
Then, he somehow convinced Rhodey to join in on his foolishness.
"Are you even pulling?" He asked his best friend.
"Just represent!" Rhodey scoffed. "Pull!"
But neither of them had any luck.
Even Bruce gave it a try, and when he failed, he pretended to hulk out to save face.
In other words, he made it worse.
But Natasha seemed to enjoy it.
Lainey noticed that there seemed to be something going on between the two and she wasn't really sure how she felt about it. She liked having all her mother's attention and she didn't want anyone else to occupy her time. Even if it was Bruce.
She knew that it was selfish, but her biological mother never paid this much attention to her if they weren't training. Natasha wasn't like that. But what if she and Bruce got together and she forgot all about her?
"Let's go, Steve." Tony volunteered the man. "No pressure."
Lainey whined when Steve stood up, leaving her without a place to rest her head, but quickly calmed down when he slipped a pillow under her head to replace his leg.
It wasn't the same, but it would do for now.
This time, when Steve pulled on the hammer, it moved ever so slightly, making a small squeaky sound.
No one seemed to notice but Thor.
And even he tried to laugh it off. "Nothing."
By the time the super soldier sat back down, Lainey was half asleep and unaware of everything that was going on. She was doing her best to stay awake, but Steve's heavy hand was resting on her back and it was proving difficult.
He always knew how to get her to go to sleep. She tried to figure out his secret, but he refused to tell her.
He said that one day when she had children, he'd tell her everything he knew. But until then, it looked like Lainey would have to keep guessing.
"Widow?" Bruce looked at the woman.
"Oh no." The redhead smiled. "That's not a question I need answered."
"How about Lainey?"
"I think Lainey's done for the night." Steve chuckled, pointing at the kid who had conked out on his lap literal seconds after he sat back down.
She looked adorable, clad in her Captain America pajamas, lying on her stomach with her finger in her mouth.
Her breathing was soft and even, no one but Steve, Clint, and Natasha had even realized she had fallen asleep.
"What a light weight." Tony joked. "All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged."
"You bet it is." Clint piped up.
"Steve, he was thinking of saying a bad language word." Maria tattled.
"Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve groaned.
"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony completely disregarded Steve. "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation?"
"Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory." Thor stood up. "I have a simpler one." He smirked and lifted his hammer, flipping it with ease. "You're all not worthy."
"Worthy….." A new voice startled them. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark." Steve's eyes widened as he gently shook Lainey awake.
"JARVIS!" Tony called, but received no answer.
Now was not the time for this.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep." The robot spoke again. "Or….I was….a dream?"
"Stark." Steve glared.
Lainey's eyes fluttered open and she sat straight up upon seeing the large robot in front of the elevator.
What was going on?
She just fell asleep!
"Reboot Legionnaire OS." Tony tapped on the touch screen on his phone. "We got a buggy suit."
"There was a terrible noise…..and I was tangled in….in…..strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve asked.
"Wouldn't have been my first call, but down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor questioned.
"I see a suit of armor around the world." The robot relayed Tony's message.
Lainey's jaw dropped and fear washed over her. She remembered hearing Tony utter those same exact words down in the lab!
This wasn't going to end well.
"Ultron!" Bruce gasped.
It was Ultron. The same Ultron that Tony had convinced her not to tell anyone about. The same Ultron that he said would protect the world. She had been right all along. She should've spoken up and said something to the rest of the team, but she didn't. And now everything was worse because of it.
"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this…..chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Natasha asked, just as confused as everyone else who didn't know what Tony and Bruce had been up to.
"Peace in our time."
And just like that, several robots that were part of Tony's Iron Legion burst into the room to attack everyone.
Lainey shrieked when Clint, who, by now, was the closest to her, snatched her up into his arms and ran for cover.
He carried her over to the other side of the room, and covered her head as debris fell from all the attacking robots. Of course everybody wanted those robots gone, but right now, Clint's main focus was keeping Lainey out of the line of fire. It made Natasha's job easier. She didn't have to worry about her daughter being injured if she wasn't in the heat of the fight.
Bruce climbed over the bar to get away, in fear of hulking out, and Natasha grabbed his tie, yanking him down the rest of the way. It was a pretty hard fall, but he was no worse for wear.
"I'm sorry." He apologized, clearly embarrassed by the way he had landed on top of her.
"Don't turn green."
"I won't."
Meanwhile, Lainey's eyes were as wide as saucers as she watched all the chaos unfold around her.
"Lainey, I need you to stay here and stay hidden." Clint got ready to help the team out.
"Okay." She nodded warily before he rushed off and took one out.
She was still tired and all this commotion had her a lot more agitated than usual. She wanted to help, but what was she supposed to do?
"Stark!"
"Just a second!" The man yelled, leaping onto one of the bots, tinkering with a fork he had picked up.
Somehow, he managed to cut the right wire, but that meant plummeting to the ground below.
These robots didn't care who they hurt.
One even went after Dr. Cho.
But luckily, Steve and Thor were close enough to save her.
Lainey gasped as one got a little too close for comfort and quickly crawled away from it. It wasn't human, so she couldn't really fight it. Her best bet was to get away.
But all it did was follow.
"We are here to help." It said.
Help what?
Lainey just kept crawling until she reached Steve's shield. It had been dropped in the struggle and that worked in Lainey's favor.
Because the iron bot was gearing up to blast her with its repulser, and she knew she couldn't run away from it any longer, so she grabbed the shield and curled into a ball, hiding her entire body behind it like a turtle in a shell.
And it was just in time for the beam to hit.
Somehow becoming frustrated with failing, the robot geared up for another hit.
But it never came.
Two bullets hit and disabled it, sending it falling to the ground in front of her.
Natasha had seen the entire thing and shot it just in time.
And Lainey couldn't be more grateful.
Not at all fazed by how she had just been attacked, the child rolled the shield over to Clint, who then threw it to Steve, who used it to destroy the very last one.
"That was dramatic!" Ultron huffed. "I'm sorry. I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved, if it's not allowed to evolve?" He picked up one of his minions' head. "With these? These puppets?" He crushed the head to make a statement. "There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."
It seemed as if Thor had heard enough, because he threw his hammer directly at Ultron, destroying his body. It didn't do much, but Lainey was positive it made him feel better.
This wasn't good.
It wasn't good at all.
"All our work is gone." Bruce shook his head. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."
"Ultron." Steve repeated.
"He's been in everything." Natasha concurred, Lainey resting on her lap while she worked on a computer. "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."
As soon as the fight ended, Natasha wasted no time in rushing over to Lainey and scooping her up in her arms. She double, triple, and quadruple checked to make sure the child wasn't hurt and then refused to set her back down on the ground. Lainey's only response to her behavior was to wrap her arms around her mother's neck and curl up to her.
"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey gave Tony a look.
"Nuclear codes." Maria offered as an example.
"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."
"Nukes?" Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. "He said he wanted us dead."
"He didn't say dead." Steve corrected. "He said 'extinct'."
"He also said he killed somebody."
"But there wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria answered Clint, picking glass out of her foot.
It looked pretty painful, but she was handling it like a champ.
"Yes there was." Tony blew up an image of JARVIS.
Lainey felt her jaw drop. Jarvis was in pieces.
How could something like that happen?
"This is insane." Bruce mused.
"JARVIS was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense." Steve tried to look at it strategically.
"No, Ultron could've assimilated JARVIS. This isn't strategy, this is…...rage."
"It's going around." Clint didn't even bat an eye when Thor stormed in and lifted Tony up by the throat.
"Come on." The man nearly wheezed. "Use your words, buddy."
"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."
"Thor!" Steve interrupted, but not at all to save Tony. "The Legionnaire."
"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north, and it has the scepter." Thor set Tony down. "Now we have to retrieve it. Again."
"The genie's out of that bottle." Natasha bounced her leg. "Clear and present as Ultron."
"I don't understand." Dr. Helen Cho tried to grasp the situation. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"
And with the absolute worst timing ever, Tony began to laugh.
"You think this is funny?" Thor seethed.
"No." He shook his head, ignoring Bruce, who was trying to get him to stop. "It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so— it is so…..it is. It's so terrible."
Even Lainey had to look at him like he lost his mind.
"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."
"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."
"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to—"
"—Really?" Tony sent Bruce an incredulous look. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"
"Only when I've created a murder bot." The scientist deadpanned. "The kid was right about this one. Should've listened. I never should've let you talk me into this."
"You two dragged my child into this?!" Natasha glared. Suddenly, the onset of sickness at dinner, the crying, and the guilty looks all made sense. Lainey knew about this and she hadn't said anything. Why? That was yet to be determined. But if she knew Stark, he probably twisted this all to sound so nice, it would make Lainey feel guilty for speaking up.
"Sorry, Mama." Lainey began to cry silently, burying her face in her neck. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault. I'm not angry with you." Natasha's voice remained colder than she wanted it to be, but Tony had really messed up this time and she was ticked off. He had really manipulated her kid. "It's okay."
"We didn't drag the kid into this and we didn't create a murder bot. We weren't even close to an interface."
"Well, you did something right." Steve sounded so disappointed that Lainey thought she might cry harder if what he said was directed at her. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D."
And who's to say that he wasn't disappointed in her for what she did? Maybe he was and was just waiting to tell her.
Oh she wouldn't be able to handle that. It would crush her.
"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"
"No, it's never come up." Rhodey rolled his eyes.
"Saved New York?"
"Never heard that."
"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that up there? That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"
"Together." Steve spoke firmly.
"We'll lose."
"Then we'll do that together, too. Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."
"It's time for bed, Lainey." Natasha told her daughter, pulling the covers of the bed back so that the child could climb in with little trouble.
But Lainey didn't move. She just stood in place by the door and eyed her mother nervously. Natasha had already told her that she wasn't upset with her, but Lainey wasn't exactly convinced. Why wouldn't she be mad at her? Part of this was her fault. She should be blamed.
Natasha gave the girl a look, prompting her to fully enter her room and crawl into her bed. "Goodnight, Little Miss. Sleep well."
"Goodnight." Lainey played with her duvet cover and stared off into space.
Now, Natasha knew that Lainey could be very difficult when it was time to go to bed. She'd whine and she'd do her best to convince her to let her stay up later than she should. But this was new.
"Alright." Natasha sighed and plopped down on the bed next to her. "Talk to me."
"Huh?"
"What's bothering you? Is it Ultron? Because none of us will let him get to you. You know that I'll do everything I can to keep you safe."
"You will?"
"Of course I will. You know that." Where did that come from?
"Oh."
"Alayna, look at me." She waited for the child's blue orbs to meet her own green ones. "I am not upset with you. You did nothing wrong. You are a child, you are not responsible for anyone but yourself. Ultron is not your fault. So stop blaming yourself."
"But Mama—"
"—But nothing. You are not to blame. I want you to say that for me. Can you do that?"
"I am not to blame."
"Good girl." The woman smoothed some hair away from Lainey's face the way she always did. She hoped that that would be enough for her to work through her guilt. And if it wasn't, she'd be right there to remind her anytime she needed it.
"Mama? Uncle Steve looked like he was mad at Uncle Bruce and Uncle Tony. Is he mad at me, too?"
"No, he's not mad at you. Things are…..complicated. He's just overwhelmed and it has nothing to do with you. He just wishes you had said something instead of keeping it to yourself. And so do I."
"Cause then you wouldn't have to stop Ultron?"
"Because then you wouldn't have made yourself so sick." Natasha corrected, gently pushing Lainey to lie down. "Promise me, Lainey. Promise me that if something is bothering you, you'll tell me, or Uncle Steve, or Uncle Clint, or Aunt Laura. Don't let it eat away at you like this. It isn't healthy."
"I promise, Mama." Lainey spoke sincerely. She should've listened to her tummy. It had been telling her to say something this whole time. Of course Natasha wouldn't be mad at her. She loved her. She'd always help her. "Don't be mad at Uncle Tony and Uncle Bruce."
"I can't make any promises to that. They both did something they weren't supposed to do. Now we have to fix it."
"I think Uncle Tony was scared. He sounded like he was." Lainey offered. "I think he wanted to help."
"The end does not justify the means."
"Huh?" She sat up, only to be forced right back down. "What's that mean?"
"It means, close your eyes and sleep. It's past your bedtime."
"But I can't sleep now! I have to know!" That was the Lainey, Natasha knew and loved.
"Close your eyes and go to sleep before I call the tickle monster to come and get you."
"Goodnight, Mama!" Lainey gasped and threw the covers over her head, just to convince her mother that she was going to sleep.
"Goodnight."
True to her word, the tickle monster stayed away that night. But Lainey might not be so lucky next time.
A booming clap of thunder woke Lainey out of her slumber. She was terrified of thunder. It was so loud! The girl's eyes shot open and she sat up just in time for another large clap of thunder to startle her. She flinched violently, grabbed George and dashed out of the room to go straight to Natasha's.
But the woman wasn't there. Her bed was empty. Maybe she was on the common floor. The Avengers did have a mission to go on, so maybe she was with them, preparing to leave. Unfortunately, Lainey had no so such luck in finding her there either. But the common floor wasn't exactly empty.
"Alayna?" Thor squinted in the dark, trying to see her. "Is it not past the time for you to be asleep?"
Lainey opened her mouth to say something, anything, but another round of thunder clapped and she screamed instead. George was clutched tightly in her arms, so there was no way he would fall and her body trembled, waiting for the next roll.
When more lightening flashed, lighting the room temporarily, Thor was able to take her features in and see that she was afraid. So he beckoned her over and she dashed over to him without a thought, wrapping her arms around his waist to hide herself away.
Thor was big. He was safe. The thunder and the lightening couldn't hurt him.
"Come, Little Warrior." He spoke softly, lifting her up and taking her to the couch to sit on his lap. "Let us sit with one another. Tell me, what is it you fear, child?"
"The thunder." Lainey whispered, squeezing her eyes shut when it clapped again. "Too loud."
"The thunder? Do you not know who I am, small one? That thunder cannot harm you."
"No?"
"Not at all. Neither the thunder nor lightening can harm you. I will not allow it. You have no reason to fear." He rubbed her back before getting an idea. "The sky is speaking just as you and I are having a conversation now."
"The sky can talk?"
"Why, of course." Thor nodded, remembering the way his mother would tell his brother, Loki stories just like this one whenever he was afraid. It always seemed to do the trick. "Do you not hear it?"
"What's it saying?"
"The thunder is telling tales of his adventures, but can hardly get a word in edgewise, because the lightening is so quick with his tongue."
"That's why it's so loud? Because it's trying to speak over the lightening?" Lainey tilted her head.
"That is correct, child." Thor smiled when Lainey cuddled into him. They were finally making progress. Lainey was no longer apprehensive and had allowed him to quell her fears.
"Poor Thunder."
"Poor Thunder, indeed."
"Kid, wake up."
Lainey opened her eyes to find Clint leaning over her bed.
He was still in his uniform, so he must've just gotten home from the mission. But he didn't look so good, so it must not have gone well.
"What time is it?" Was all she could bring herself to say.
"Don't worry about it. We're gonna take a little trip." Now that she was awake, Clint took the time to go through her drawers and her closet, stuffing a few things in a little duffle bag, including George. "Come on." He could never forget George. Lainey would never let him hear the end of it.
Lainey whined dramatically, having been rudely awoken from her slumber, and kicked the covers off her body. "Where're we going?" She stood up and rubbed her eyes. She didn't want to get out of bed. Now her feet were cold. Her bed was so nice and warm...maybe she could just lie back down for a few minutes and rest...
"Somewhere safe." Clint foiled her plans by helping her change into a jumper and denim dungarees. Though, he did most of the work because the child was half asleep and completely useless. It made it easy to shove her feet into shoes though.
'Somewhere safe' was keyword for they were heading to his farm.
And Lainey would've been a lot more excited if it wasn't two in the morning. That mission must have gone horribly wrong for Clint to have to smuggle her out of the Tower.
"We've gotta hurry, kid."
"Mama?" Lainey tapped the woman on the shoulder.
She had noticed that Natasha had been staring off into space, not responding to anything. She looked like she was in some sort of daze.
Actually, everyone except Clint and Tony were.
"Mama?" She tried again, receiving no answer.
"Lainey, honey." Clint kept his eyes focused on the controls from his place in the pilot seat of the quinjet as he spoke to her. "Tasha's not feeling too good right now. Just let her relax for a while, okay?"
"Okay." Lainey acquiesced, crawling onto the woman's lap to cuddle into her.
And to her surprise, she felt Natasha weakly wrap her arms around her. At least she was finding a sense of comfort in Lainey. The ten year old was glad that she was able to help her mother in her time of need. She could finally give back to her and physically show her that she was there for her.
Lainey knew this flight well. She had taken it a few times to get to the Barton farm.
So when the quinjet landed, she wasn't at all surprised.
"What is this place?" Thor asked as they reached the front porch steps.
"A safe house?" Tony guessed, rubbing his thumb along the back of Lainey's hand.
"Let's hope so." Clint opened the door, holding most of Natasha's weight, and allowed everyone inside. "Honey, I'm home!"
He couldn't help but beam as Laura entered the living room. He loved his wife with everything in him. He couldn't imagine being with anyone else, this woman was his soulmate.
"Hi. Company." Barton explained. "Sorry, I didn't call ahead."
"Hey." Laura kissed his cheek.
"This is an agent of some kind." Tony tried to make sense of everything.
"Gentleman, this is Laura." Clint introduced everyone as Lainey slipped over to Steve, leaning on him very sleepily.
He felt her presence and placed a gentle hand on the top of her head, not at all helping to keep her awake.
"I know all your names." Laura waved before the sound of little feet came rushing down the stairs.
"Dad!" Lila leapt into Clint's arms as Cooper hugged him.
"Hi, sweetheart!" Clint beamed, pressing a kiss to his son's head. "Hey, buddy! How're you doing? I missed you!"
"These…..are smaller agents."
"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" Lila asked.
And as soon as Natasha heard her name, she perked up. "Well, why don't you hug her and find out?"
A trip to the farm was just what she needed to get her mind off of her troubles.
"If Aunt Nat's here, does that mean Lainey is, too?" Cooper asked, looking up at his father, hopefully.
"She's right there, buddy." Clint pointed her out.
Lainey smiled brightly, having seen her partner in crime and rushed over to him, getting caught in a big hug.
"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve felt the need to say, watching the two children reunite.
"Yeah, we would've called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Tony quipped.
"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off S.H.I.E.l.D.'s files. I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."
"I got a new football for my birthday." Cooper spoke to Lainey, who now, was no longer tired at all. "Wanna go outside and play?"
"Yeah!"
"Uh, excuse me." Laura playfully put a hand on her hip. "But don't I get a hello?"
"Oops." Lainey ran over to hug her, mindful of her pregnant belly. "Hi, Titi."
"Mmhmm. Hi." Laura cupped her chin. "Stay in the yard."
"Let's go!" Cooper grabbed the girl's hand and lead her out of the house.
"Those two seem close." Steve commented after stepping out of their way. It was either that, or get trampled on.
"Partners in crime." Laura mused. "Double the trouble when they're together."
"Speaking of trouble." Natasha placed a hand on her belly. "How's little Natasha, huh?"
"She's…..Nathaniel." Laura cringed.
"Traitor."
"Can you do a handstand?" Cooper asked.
The two kids had moved on from playing football and decided to tumble instead. With their endless bouts of energy, who knows what they'd come up with next.
"Sure I can." Lainey shrugged and set both hands on the ground, kicking up.
"You're doing it!" Cooper cheered, moving into a handstand of his own. "I'll race you to the barn and back!"
"Ready…set…..go!" Lainey counted before taking off.
Racing upside down was a lot harder than she thought it was gonna be. She was used to doing regular handstands, but she had never tried walking while in that position.
Her hair kept getting in the way and all the blood was rushing to her head, making her face all red.
And her arms were kind of tired after a few steps.
Cooper, of course, being older and a little faster, finished first, but he didn't rub it in her face.
"I win!" At least, not too much.
Hey, what's a win if you can't celebrate your victory?
"What do you wanna do now?" Lainey asked.
"I don't know." Cooper was all out of ideas. But then a chicken clucked and a light bulb went off in his head. "Wanna scare the chickens?"
"Won't your mama be mad?"
"No, we're just playing." He assured her.
And that's all she really needed to hear in order to agree.
She hadn't had this much fun in a long time.
Not since the last time she was on the farm. Chickens were so easy to scare. All you had to do was run up at them and pounce like a cat.
"Here, chickie, chickies!" Cooper called, taunting them.
Lainey grinned and ran all around them, careful not to kick or step on them.
She just wanted to play, she didn't want to hurt them. All the chickens squawked in fright and did their best to run away, but the two kids were much faster. The poor animals had nowhere to go.
So all they could do was cluck and flap their wings.
"What do you two think you're doing?" Clint's stern voice interrupted all their fun.
The two froze, giving their victims a chance to finally get away.
"Well?" He raised an eyebrow.
"We were just playing." Cooper pouted, though, from guilt, or from the untimely interruption, Lainey wasn't sure.
Lainey wasn't even sure if she felt guilty.
She didn't want to cause trouble, but it always had its way of finding her.
Especially when she was with Cooper.
"Run!"