The team arrived at the Stark tower and Clint was taken by Dr. Cho. Natasha followed the two and Thor wondered off with Bruce, the two talking about the mission. Maria Hill, previously Agent Hill for SHIELD, walked onto the aircraft as it was unloaded by the team. Steve and Tony asked for the information on Strucker and the aftermath of the HYDRA base. As Johnny walked off and into the tower, Sue wondered behind at a slower pace. She wanted to see if she could catch Tony alone, who was yet to spare her even a tint of his eye colour.
'Wanda and Pietro Maximoff,' Maria said after Steve asked about the enhanced. 'Twins. Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special.'
Maria noticed Sue lingering nearby and held out the tablet that JARVIS powered with information. The woman took it with a smile and walked off, scrolling through the details about the two enhanced siblings. As she left, Tony turned and watched her go, his adam's apple bobbling as he swallowed. He waited until she was inside the tower before heading in, leaving Steve and Maria to talk.
The abilities of the said twins was extraordinary. Sue flicked through the information on Pietro, the man whose metabolism was above the standard and his thermal homeostasis was beyond any normal human being. Wanda, the one who she encountered in the base, was capable of neural electric interfacing, telekinesis and mental manipulation. They were experimented on by HYDRA and were now lose within the community. It was likely they would show up again, and Sue was prepared for when they did.
Sue put down the tablet on her nightstand once she made it to her bedroom. When she wasn't in Tony's bed, she was in the room that he made especially for her. All the things that were moved from Malibu were stored away in a wardrobe, some drawers and more storage under the bed. The windows that made up the entire wall that faced the city showed New York during the day and twinkled with the skyscarper lights at night. JARVIS operated the blinds that came down for the early mornings and there wasn't a thing in the room that wasn't tied into his systems. But she still chose to sleep in Tony's room, because she felt alone and cold without him.
'JARVIS? Can you call Pepper for me, please?' she said aloud, taking a seat on the edge of her bed.
'Of course, ma'am.'
JARVIS's screen appeared on the windows that showed the city, and the phone icon rang with Pepper's name lettered underneath. Sue twiddled with the ends of her hair, the brown minimal as her blonde took over. The sound of a click was heard, before Pepper's voice flooded the room.
'Hello?'
'Hey, Pepper.'
'Sue, how are you?'
'I'm okay. How are the companies going?'
'Stark's still in its usual chaos. Richards Incorp. is running smoothly. It's a pleasant change. Richards' almost runs itself.'
After Killian was removed from the land of the living, Richards' company was back in limbo. Sue contemplated taking it back under her wing, as the last time she signed it over, it was in the hands of a man who tried to kill her, Tony, Johnny and Rhodey. However, the reminder of how little time she had for it was evident when she moved into the Stark tower. With negotiation and form signage, Pepper was able to find someone in Stark Industries to run Richards' company, all while operating under her supervision. It brought a great deal of relief to Sue to know it was in good hands.
'Can I ask a strange question?' Sue asked, her fingers running over the ends of her hair.
'Sure. I'm not busy for once in my life.'
'Did you know Tony before his parents passed away?'
Since Sue was shown her childhood memory of her mother passing away, she thought that Tony may have seen the same. The story of Maria and Howard Stark's passing was a tragic one, and even she heard about it when it happened all those years ago. Tony was only twenty-one at the time and he had graduated from MIT, set to have a great career with his brilliant mind. That was when he inherited Stark Industries and the rest has led up to where he was today.
'I didn't,' Pepper said through the phone. 'Rhodey did, though. He said that Tony was very much the same when at MIT, only younger and less... restrained. And that's saying something.'
Sue let out a laugh.
'But I know that his parents' passing affected him, a lot. His father wasn't the best fatherly figure, but his mother was a wonderful woman. She loved Tony, as any mother would. Can I ask what the sudden interest is?'
'It's nothing... just curious.'
---
'Down in Strucker's lab, I saw some fairly advanced robotics work,' Tony talked to Bruce. 'They deep-sixed the data, but... I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door.'
'Artificial intelligence,' Bruce finished with wide eyes.
'This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron.'
'I thought Ultron was a fantasy.'
'What's Ultron?'
Tony and Bruce turned to the door of the lab and saw Johnny. He wore his blue suit underneath a white t-shirt and a leather jacket, his legs clad in dark blue jeans. His blonde hair was pushed back and beginning to curl to its original twists, the gel that was applied from the morning drying up.
'Have I walked in on your master plan?' Johnny smirked, seeing the look Tony and Bruce exchanged.
The 3D images of JARVIS and the stone that sat inside Loki's scepter was displayed side by side in the air. Johnny looked between the two and saw the similarities. He was no scientist or genius, but even he could see that their makeup was drastically similar. Tony, who juggled a remote back and forth between each hand, thought about how to explain it to Johnny.
'Ultron was something Bruce and I-' Tony stopped and was careful with his words. '-were discussing.'
'Yeah, I gathered that,' Johnny raised an eyebrow at the obvious. 'Have you been doing something you shouldn't, Stark?'
'Shouldn't is along the lines of it,' Bruce piped up and shrunk back when Tony whipped around with a glare.
'Stark?'
Tony turned around and Johnny's expression was inquisitive. He sighed and knew he wouldn't be able to lie to the Storm. Once again, he was too much like his sister.
'Ultron is my idea of an artificial intelligence that could help the team,' Tony spilled. 'I want to take this power that the scepter holds and apply it to my Iron Legion.'
'Now, that is not something we discussed,' Bruce held up a finger and stepped forward.
'I was getting there. What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun-drenched beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for VERONICA?' Tony turned back to Bruce.
'Don't hate, I helped design VERONICA,' Bruce fought.
'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?'
'I like the sound of that idea,' Johnny nodded as it was the first thing he understood in the conversation. Tony winked at the man and thanked him for his sense, but Bruce intervened again.
'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,' Tony pleaded.
'So, you're going for artificial intelligence, and you don't want to tell the team?'
'Right. 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 armour around the world.'
'Sounds like a cold world, Tony.'
'I've seen colder...'
Flashes of Tony's hallucination in the HYDRA basement flooded back to him. Bruce with arrows in his back and Johnny with his eyes lifeless. Sue with her grey skin and motionless chest that was meant to rise and fall with each breath. His chest ached at the image, and he resisted a shake of his head to rid himself of it.
'This one, this very vulnerable blue one?' Tony pointed to the hologram of blue next to JARVIS's orange one. 'It needs Ultron. Peace in our time. Imagine that.'
Bruce gave into Tony's insistence. He too wanted to bring Ultron to life, but he was unsure of what it would bring. Tony was grateful and he instructed Bruce to get to work in finding a program that could harvest the data schematic. He turned to Johnny, who stayed in the doorway. He saw the expression that he knew would prove to be difficult. The two had to keep in mind that there was one person they both would need to keep uninformed for the time being.
'I'm no genius, but this sounds like something you don't want Susie knowing about,' Johnny said.
'Let's keep this on the downlow. Just for now,' Tony walked over and saw that Johnny was waiting for something. He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes, hating how much Johnny was like himself. 'Alright, what do you want?'
'I'll keep my mouth shut, if you install something in her suit that will make it so that I don't... incinerate her every time I fly us somewhere,' Johnny cringed at the word 'incinerate'. 'As much as I enjoy seeing her try to keep up, I feel like it would benefit all of us if she was up in the air, as well.'
'Good point. I should've installed it before. I'll get right on it.'
'Sweet,' Johnny grinned. 'Oh, and ugh, I need new shoes. Burnt through my last pair while trying to outrun Rogers.'
'I was wondering why you were bare-footed. I thought it was a new hippie style you were going for.'