TITLE: Iron Maiden - Days of Future Past

DISCLAIMER: The Marvel Cinematic Universe characters and everything from Earth-199999 belongs to Marvel under the umbrella of The Mouse of Doom, ahem, sorry, Disney... anything from other Marvel Universes / dimensions / timelines belong to their respective comic creators… basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic SHIELD on me, I'm just here for the fun.

1418 New Orchard Rise
Willowdale
Virginia
West Virginia

April 24th, 2010

"So?" Bruce asked, sipping at his herbal tea quietly in the lounge of Betty's house while she read through the lengthy e-mail she'd received back from Doctor Foster.

It contained quite a bit more information than she'd originally asked about, including a ton of pictures that were attached of the research compound, the living facilities, her laboratory and the grounds outside.

"It's all above board apparently," Betty said, her eyes not looking away from where she was reading down the e-mail. "Jane says the research compound is like a dream for her, she's got all the latest technology, lab equipment that the university couldn't even dream of having, and apparently Doctor Stark's computers that run the entire place are fast enough for them to perform complex real time physics simulations without needing to request personal time with a super computer or anything." She rattled off. "Apparently she's even got access to Doctor Stark's satellite for real time weather tracking so she can actually properly focus and calibrate simulations based on atmospheric changes. She sounds pretty excited about it all."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully as Betty replied. "That's... that's not really a surprise, after everything he's showing off on stage?" He asked, thinking back to everything that Tony Stark had announced and shown off at the Stark Expo so far. "Full holographic systems, the computing power alone for that must be astronomical, the nanotechnology, the whole thing about the variable artificial gravity generator..."

"Jane mentioned that, apparently they got to experience it at the compound before it was announced at the Expo." Betty confirmed, flicking back through the e-mail to the area where it was mentioned. "She says there's a lab where it was being worked on, it's Doctor Stark's daughter who figured it all out apparently. She's working there too."

"That doesn't surprise me," Bruce chuckled at the thought. "She looked to be another Stark genius on stage. The armour, the rock band, the announcements and everything, she looks to be taking after him pretty solidly. It wouldn't surprise me if she's just as smart as he is."

"So?" Betty asked, turning away from her laptop to look at Bruce properly now. "What do you think?"

Bruce sighed, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he thought about what Betty was asking. Honestly he'd thought of very little else ever since Doctor Stark had first sent over the contracts, but now, hearing about how the research compound was every bit what Doctor Stark had actually promised...

"If we want to find a cure for you, this research compound looks like it's going to be our best chance at it." Betty admitted. "The university laboratories can only do so much, and without them putting proper funding into the research, I can only run so many tests and experiments before people start asking questions."

Bruce nodded, knowing that was the truth. Betty had been running tests on his blood and tissue samples whenever she could, but sooner or later someone at the university was going to notice and put things together, and then it would only be a matter of time before things went horribly wrong again.

"I think... I think it might be a good place for me." Bruce admitted.

He'd seen the photos Betty had pulled up from the e-mail, and while he'd focused mostly on the big laboratories and workshop spaces, his eyes had been pulled to the wide open spaces, forests and open land that surrounded the compound.

At least there they were away from major cities and crowds of people, so if The Other Guy did decide to make an appearance, the destruction would be limited to only a small area instead of a city block or a university.

There was also the added fact of Doctor Stark's Iron Man armour and whatever capabilities he'd built into that. He knew that Doctor Stark's daughter had shown off wearing the same sort of suit, which led to a lot of questions about how far along they were in developing functional nanotechnology and how powerful their suits actually were.

There was also the question of that variable gravity generator which theoretically could be used to stop The Other Guy and keep him from harming anyone. After all, if The Other Guy appeared in a zero gravity room where he couldn't run or charge or jump at anyone, keeping him contained and floating until he changed back was definitely an appealing prospect.

"A good place for us." Betty corrected him. "Doctor Stark's offer was for both of us, not just you." She pointed out with a small smile.

"You're really serious about moving across the country to help me?" Bruce asked, hope starting to flicker in his eyes for the first time in a very long time now.

"Of course," Betty rolled her eyes at him. "We're in this together. And if I can help you, if we can find a cure for this with Doctor Stark's help... moving to Albany is hardly a giant step, I'd move to the ends of the Earth to help you if you needed me to."

Bruce actually felt his heart in his throat as that. While they'd never actually confessed how they felt about each other, not since before the experiment that had created The Other Guy, it was moments like this that really showed him how much Betty really meant to him.

"I'll e-mail Doctor Stark back, from both of us, and tell him we're accepting his offer." Betty said, seeing on Bruce's face everything that he couldn't put into words.

"Thank you," Bruce whispered softly, trying to get across just how much this all meant to him.

"You can thank me by cooking dinner again," Betty countered with a laugh. "Unlike you, I've been at the university all day, and if I'm going to have to talk to the dean tomorrow and hand in my tenure, I'm going to want a proper celebratory dinner for it first."

Bruce did laugh back at that, feeling surprised and free for the first time in a very long time. He hadn't felt hope, proper hope, not for years now, not since he tried that Amazonian plant down in Rocinha. That had been a false hope though, and hadn't been anywhere near effective enough to treat his condition, but now... Doctor Stark and his research compound, that actually looked like a viable source of hope, something he hadn't thought possible, and desperately needed right now.

Leaving Betty to work on her laptop and e-mail Doctor Stark back, he made his way through to the kitchen to start cooking, allowing a small smile to grace his face as he settled into the domestic routine that for the last five years had been nothing more than a faint dream that he was sure was never going to come to pass.

He didn't deserve Betty, he was sure of it, but she was standing with him and was going to help find a cure for The Other Guy, so he was going to do anything and everything he could to show her exactly how much that really meant to him.

How much she really meant to him.

The Triskellion
Theodore Roosevelt Island
Washington, D.C.

"Speak to me people." Director Fury ordered as he entered the research laboratories at The Triskellion, looking around to where the mass of technicians, scientists and engineers were all going over the same printed dossier on everything that had been released so far at Stark Expo.

They hadn't managed to actually get any of Stark's new technology, not yet, but it was only a matter of time.

With Stark's new cell phones, computers, hardware and god knows what else he was releasing publicly, they would be able to buy up enough of the products and actually get a proper reading on what sort of technology Stark was working on these days.

The ideal outcome was actually being worked on two floors up, where he had computer specialists going over the download of Stark's new operating system to see if they could get a look at the encryption from the back end of the system and figure out a way through it.

He was hopeful that they would. It was a mistake for Stark to release it free like that, now SHIELD would be able to engineer their own ways around Stark's security and figure out ways to bypass it and enforce their own security beyond Stark's standard.

The intel they'd managed to track down about Stark's daughter had now been officially confirmed in a Stark International press release. Stark's new flashy branding was everywhere now, on social media, their website, youtube, advertisements... he was sick of the chrome branded logo already, but had a sinking feeling he was going to be seeing a lot of it in the future annoyingly.

Stark International had confirmed Morgan Stark as the daughter of Tony Stark. There had been a lot more polite worded phrasing and legal jargon about how she was poised to take over the Research and Development side of Stark International while holding the reigns of Stark Medical, but most of it was just flowery prose from Stark's PR team, the important bit was them confirming her name, which confirmed all the intel they had managed to retrieve from the Spanish government so far.

The SHIELD linguistics team had come back with their analysis of her accent from the opening night's videos, and basically agreed with everything that he'd profiled on her so far with the intel they'd managed to gather. European accent, mostly Spanish but with a lot of western European flavour, probably moved around a lot, but spoke English fluently enough for it to be either he first language, or a language she was raised with along with Spanish.

"Sir, we've been going over Doctor Stark's new products, the releases he announced yesterday. Some of them... some of them are similar enough to things we've actually already been working on." One of the lead engineers explained.

"Such as?" Director Fury frowned, looking across to the engineer who spoke up.

"The energy guns," Another engineer explained. "Workshop nineteen has been working on a prototype system for them for nearly two years now. They're calling them night-night guns." He explained. "But they're nothing like Doctor Stark's energy guns, nowhere near as efficient or perfected. They don't expect to have a working prototype for at least another year."

"Scrap the project." Director Fury said dismissively. "If Stark's already perfected it, then we can get our hands on his version and reverse engineer our own. We don't need to waste time going over ground he's already figured out."

"Yes sir," The engineer nodded. "The gravity field generator though... we're still trying to figure out exactly how Doctor Stark has got it working, none of us can figure out the science behind it, but we all agree that whatever is powering the field must be extremely powerful."

Director Fury grunted in acknowledgement of that fact, not really able to argue one way or the other. Science wasn't his strong suit, he relied on SHIELD's engineers and scientists to do the work for him and break things down into bits he could understand.

Stark's gravity field generator was in all the news headlines. He'd even seen footage of actual live interviews going on while the reporter floated around freely in the hall, her hair floating and moving around gave enough proof that it wasn't some trick or generated sensation, but actual gravity manipulation in real time.

The ramifications for that were extraordinary, and led him to thinking about space ships and other things he hadn't thought about for over a decade now when he'd first gone into space with Danvers and those weird green Skrull aliens.

The big space ship back then that the Skrulls had been living on had had artificial gravity. He hadn't thought much about it at the time, just putting it down to alien technology that he would never be able to understand or replicate... but if Stark had actually mastered it and had a working prototype, then things could certainly get very interesting, especially if it was small enough to be equipped somewhere like Stark's Expo... that meant that it was small enough to be equipped on space stations and space ships.

Put together with Stark's Arc technology and his repulsor technology, space ships weren't as much of a far off dream as he'd previously thought.

"What else?" Director Fury barked out, putting space ships and the idea of a SHIELD watch station in orbit out of his mind for now. Those were pipe dreams he could think about later on when he didn't have other things to focus on.

"The holographic show he put on on stage with the hologram of Howard Stark, we think it's similar to the holographic Photostatic Veil technology we use, but fully three dimensional rendering rather than a scaled flat surface moulded over someone's face." The lead engineer explained. "Right now we're trying to figure out the math for how full free floating holographics are possible, I've got a full team working on it and running simulations, but it looks like it would take a lot of processing power and a lot of energy sir."

"Both Stark has in buckets," Director Fury nodded. "Keep them at it, the implications of the holographic technology could lead somewhere interesting." He said after musing on the idea for a moment. "Next?"

"The energy shield sir," Another technician spoke up. "We... we think we're figured out how he's doing it, but how he got it in such a small device and kept the power down... we think we can replicate it, but we're not sure about the physics right now." He admitted. "You know the old saying, 'if it defies the laws of physics, Stark made it'?" He asked. "I'm pretty sure that's a fact now, because the energy requirements and computational power to make a shield like that... they just don't fit in a hand held piece of tech that small, no way, not without some serious changes to electronics and the laws of physics that I know, but on a larger structure like a quinjet or something... we should be able to get it to work."

"I'll authorise testing, keep me in the loop." Director Fury nodded, dismissing that engineer mentally. "What about those suits Stark and his daughter were wearing?"

"We're almost certain they're based on nanotechnology sir," The lead engineer spoke up again. "The camera footage wasn't high enough resolution to get a close look at how the suits dissolved around them, but we all agree that it's based on some sort of nanotechnology."

"Hnh," Director Fury frowned, having come to the same conclusion himself. Though he didn't know nearly enough about nanotechnology to understand the ramifications or capabilities that Stark's suit clearly now had. "Can we replicate it?" He asked.

It fit, it fit well. He knew the photostatic veil technology was based on nanotechnology but that was as far as SHIELD had ever got in mastering the technology, so if Stark was working on nanotech it could have paved the way theoretically, though he didn't know enough about nanotechnology or holographic technology to understand either or the link between the two.

"No sir," The lead engineer shook his head. "I didn't even think anyone was close to getting that far with nanotechnology, certainly not to the level Doctor Stark was using it at." He explained. "I've only heard rumours that one other company was working on nanotechnology, and they haven't published or promoted anything like Doctor Stark's suit."

"Who?" Director Fury demanded, giving the lead engineer his full attention now.

"Pym Technology," Another engineer confirmed. "There's been rumours they've been working on nanotechnology for years now, but it's never been confirmed or anything proved, it's just... something everyone knows."

"Hnh," Director Fury grunted as he thought about that.

He knew Hank Pym had worked with SHIELD before, but that was before his time at the agency, he'd only seen the name in briefings and reports from agents who had worked with the man back in the eighties.

He was a respected scientist, a genius apparently, who had quit working for SHIELD back in the eighties due to something or other, and apparently had a grudge against Stark over something Howard Stark did when they were working together.

He didn't know the full details of it all, but he was definitely going to refresh himself now and see exactly what Hank Pym was up to. If he could recruit him back into SHIELD to start working on their own nanotechnology and a counter to Stark's technology, it would certainly be worth it, and would be a good genius to have in their camp now that Stark was currently out of his reach for the time being, and possibly Banner too.

"Keep me in the loop, I'll have daily reports from Stark's expo sent down. I want full reports on all Stark's technology, how we can recreate it, how we can use it, and a threat assessment for what it means if it was used against SHIELD." Director Fury ordered, not bothering to wait for a reply before he strode out of the research laboratories and moved around the corridors, aiming to head for the main elevators to take him up to the offices on the top floor of The Triskellion.

Updating his knowledge on Hank Pym was a priority now, especially if the scientist was working on the same type of nanotechnology as Stark was. SHIELD having their own genius to counter Stark if they needed to was paramount.

He just had to find out why Pym had left SHIELD, and manipulate things to his advantage to bring Pym back into the fold. If his vendetta against the Stark's was true and not just rumour, then that was something to be kept in mind as well, and could be used to entice Pym to work on a counter for Stark's technology.

He was pretty sure Pym wasn't Stark, or A Stark, and definitely wasn't worth both Stark and Banner, but right now he would take what he could get.

He still needed to reassess his profile of Stark and get a handle on exactly what he was missing. As of right now, he'd tossed out the entire psychological profile and decided to start on a blank slate, as it was pretty clear that the profile was complete garbage and based on faulty assumptions and Stark's own miss-information campaign.

His old profile had indicated that Stark would be susceptible to manipulations pandering to his ego, his need for self worth, and his family issues.

Right now, Director Fury couldn't agree with a single one of those points.

Stark's ego was in question, it was possible the genius was as much of an egotist as he'd always believed, but managing to hide away his daughter for twenty five years, keeping her out of the spotlight and sacrificing time with her for her own safety?

That didn't fit, not with Stark's old profile.

He was certain that Stark's daughter wasn't a new addition to his life, not the way she'd been part of Stark's Expo, sharing his technology and the way they'd acted together on stage. He'd seen acting and forced closeness before, and that wasn't it.

No, he was certain that Stark and his daughter had been in contact for a long time, and they were close enough to bond as father and daughter, and proud enough to stand together and announce her existence to the world.

Which meant Stark's family issues could be scratched off the profile as well, and using Howard Stark as a manipulation technique would likely fail in it's entirety unless he tried to use it on both Starks, which ran the risk of failure on both accounts, and ran a higher risk of either genius seeing through his techniques and pulling away from SHIELD even further because of it.

Stark's need for self worth and his narcissism were in question as well, if he could manipulate the press and keep the spotlight focused on him so that his daughter grew up safe and out of the public eye... those weren't the actions of a narcissist, but the actions of someone who was putting their family first beyond anything else.

Stark might have enjoyed the spotlight and the attention, but it didn't change the fact that he was doing it as a distraction to keep people from looking at his daughter, a plan that had been staggeringly successful to the point where even he and SHIELD had fallen for it.

He could only imagine the disaster that Stark becoming a father at fifteen must have been. Howard would have probably screamed bloody murder at the irresponsible and reckless action.

He must have known as well, and been in on the secret. Either paying the mother off, or helping to hide her away so the baby could grow up away from the media and Stark's craziness. Either his and Stark's choice, or the mother's choice, either way the result had been the same really.

Of course, the flip side of that meant that Stark's daughter was a weakness. If he was willing to do anything for her, then they would be able to use that in the future against him.

It was certainly a risky proposition, especially given the technology both Starks apparently had access too. Without knowing their full capabilities, he wouldn't want to actively risk a confrontation with either Stark until he had a complete and full dossier on their suits technology, defences, weapons and capabilities.

For now though, he would keep SHIELD in the shadows and continue as the world moved on. He would watch, and keep his eye on Stark, both Starks, and reassess things at a later date when he had more accurate intelligence to go on.

If nothing else, the existence of Stark's daughter brought up some worrying thoughts about Agent Carter and her upcoming legal battle.

If Carter had somehow managed to threaten or scare Stark's daughter during her infiltration mission, that would explain why Stark had been so vicious in their meetings. A father defending his daughter. It fit, and set a worrying precedent as it meant that Stark wouldn't be able to be bought off or manipulated into dropping the suit against Agent Carter, not that he'd shown any sign of actually being reasonable and willing to talk so far anyway.

It was certainly a possibility, and one that fit with the facts, but without confirming it with Stark or Agent Carter, it was just supposition.

He had a lot more important things to think about now, and could afford to put Stark on the back burner and let the intelligence teams gather proper actionable intelligence on the man and his daughter, from there, then he would be able to put a proper and accurate profile together and decide whether this 'real' Stark was worth the hassle or not.

HYDRA Research Base
Urdu-Flavantuch mountain range
Sokovia

As he woke up, it didn't take long for Clint to recognise he was the last one awake.

They'd taken shifts watching through binoculars and scope from their camp in the mountains, a good mile away from the HYDRA base that was actually an actual fortress from what he'd been able to make out.

A quick glance around showed Yelena sat by a small camp fire with Alexei, both talking in hushed whispers and enjoying steaming drinks from the small metal mugs that he'd packed in with his supplies.

For a moment he wanted nothing more than to stay in the warmth of his sleeping bag, the snow on the ground and frost in the air certainly weren't welcoming, but he was on a mission and comforts like warmth were secondary to ensuring the mission's success.

Pulling the sleeping bag zipper down, he wasn't surprised when both Yelena and Alexei turned to him, Yelena nodded at him as he climbed out and wearily wrapped his arms around himself to stave off the cold from the snowy mountains.

"There's coffee in the pot if you want some," Yelena said with a small smirk as Clint came over and bundled himself up close to the small fire they had going.

"Yeah, thanks." Clint nodded absently, looking around for another one of the metal mugs before grabbing it from the supplies pile and gingerly looking at the metal kettle that was hanging over the fire. "Where's Nat and... Melanie?" He asked hopefully.

"Melina," Yelena corrected him. "Down by the cliffs, they took over about an hour ago, just before dawn." She clarified. "There hasn't been much going on down there overnight. A few patrols, nothing worth waking you up for."

Clint simply nodded at that, using one of the bundled up cloths to lift the kettle off of the fire and pour out a steaming mug of coffee that he was immediately thankful for as the aroma filled his nostrils.

"You are hunter, da?" Alexei asked, watching as Clint got comfortable on the logs that were arranged around the fire, sipping gingerly at his coffee and keeping himself warm. "You use arrows, old hunters technique."

"Uh yes." Clint nodded hesitantly.

"Quiet, deadly. Good with stealth." Alexei nodded approvingly. "Natalia calls you Соколиный глаз, The Hawkeye, a name full of respect. There are not many men that have earned such respect from my little girl."

"Thanks... I think?" Clint mumbled, not sure whether he liked the sound of that or not.

Yelena did laugh at that, smirking over to him. "It's a good thing, if Nat trusts you at her back, that's definitely a good thing." She said with a nod. "You keep watch on things, keep an eye out on the base while we infiltrate?"

"I see better at a distance," Clint nodded. "I've done over-watch on missions plenty of times before. I'll get in position and keep an eye out, take them out from a distance."

"Da, a good plan." Alexei nodded in agreement. "We rest today, watch, make sure there are no surprises. We attack the fortress tonight in glorious battle."

"That's the plan," Yelena smirked over. "So, Nat says you were part of the team that got me out of The Red Room?" She asked, looking to Clint now and wanting to get to know him a bit more. "How did that go?"

"Messily," Clint admitted. "We didn't get as many of... you, the Widows? I don't know what to call them. We were trying to get as many out as we could, but with that mind control stuff and everything else... Nat said we wouldn't be able to keep many of you contained until we found a cure."

"She was right," Yelena said calmly, looking away and staring into the fire. "She said someone else killed Dreykov, that she couldn't." She said, keeping her eye on the fire. "Was it you?"

"No." Clint admitted quietly. "I wasn't there for that. You were down protecting the labs and computers and stuff, we went down there to get to the labs and see if there was anything that could fix the mind control. Dreykov tried to escape while we were dealing with that."

"There were two others then," Yelena said, looking back to him now. "One with you, another with Nat. The one with Nat killed Dreykov."

"Yes." Clint nodded, seeing no reason to deny it.

"It was Tony Stark, wasn't it?" Yelena asked, causing Alexei to turn to her and cast his full attention on the discussion now. "I see the way she talks about him. Weary, not afraid, but with burgeoning respect. Like he did something for her, and now she wants to repay him but doesn't know how."

"You'll have to ask Nat about that." Clint sidestepped the question neatly.

"You confirmed it with your eyes, you don't need to say anything." Yelena smirked at him. "So this is Nat's debt, fighting HYDRA in payment for killing Dreykov?"

"I don't think so," Clint shook his head. "If Stark wanted this base destroyed, he could do it with a missile or something." He said, thinking about the arsenals of weapons Stark must have at his control, or he could just build something new that nobody else had seen before, and nobody would be able to link him to it at all. "The intel we got... Maximoff?"

"The Witch," Yelena nodded. "I read the files, I didn't believe most of it, but the intelligence so far has been accurate."

"It's all true, all of it." Clint said calmly, sipping at his coffee. "That base down there. That's where she was supposed to get her powers from. She was going to turn HYDRA soon, maybe she already was." He said with a shrug.

"And this is all to stop her from becoming The Witch the file spoke about?" Yelena asked. "This intelligence, you know a seer, a clairvoyant, someone who sees the future?" She asked.

"Something like that," Clint chuckled at the thought. "Taking out this base, destroying everything we can. That's a mission worth it, worth anything."

"You would die to ensure this base is destroyed?" Yelena asked curiously.

"If it meant Maximoff never got her powers and never... and everything stopped?" Clint asked. "Without hesitation." He admitted.

He'd already penned a note to Laura and the kids explaining things, it would be delivered to them if he didn't make it back to the farm in time. Putting things right, stopping Maximoff from ending the world and destroying everything, that was worth sacrificing himself for.

If his death meant that Maximoff or another Witch couldn't rise and start the apocalypse, then he'd walk to his death gladly knowing it would mean Laura and his kids would have a world they could grow up in without Scarlet Witches or red rifts of energy.

"It means that much to you?" Yelena asked, staring across and catching his eyes to evaluate his determinism for herself. "Nat is the same." She commented, looking away from Clint, finding what she was looking for. "The Witch, the Maximoff girl. Nat was scared of her, of what this clairvoyant of yours said she was going to become."

"Anyone with a brain should have been." Clint snorted at that.

"And now she's dead." Yelena said with certainty, having watched Clint and Nat dig up the burnt and half dissolved remains, she watched as they hacked the bones apart with shovels and a machete, and dug seven different graves around the forest to bury them all separately. "You really think she was going to cause the end of the world?"

"Yes." Clint said without hesitation. Everything the future Stark had said had been right so far, and he'd seen the sort of future tech she had access to. There was no doubting any of it now.

"Then we did a good thing." Yelena said with a small smile. "Does that make us heroes now?" She asked with a smirk.

"Probably not," Clint laughed, shaking his head. "But who cares." He shrugged. "I'd rather stay out of the spotlight and do stuff like this, stop the threats from ever happening in the first place. Let the idiots have everyone watching them and calling them heroes, I'll keep to the shadows and fight for what I think is the right thing, I'm not letting anyone tell me what that's supposed to be anymore."

"How do you know?" Yelena asked after a long moment's pause.

"What?" Clint asked, holding his coffee in both hands and savouring the warmth that had permeated through the metal mug and felt amazing in his hands right now. "How do I know what?" He asked again when Yelena didn't say anything else.

"What the right thing is?" Yelena asked quietly.

"The right thing is not the same to all people little one," Alexei answered before Clint was able to say anything. "It is decided in your heart, not in your head. It is a matter of blood and loyalty and devotion to an ideal, not pretty words and leaders who lie to your face."

"What the big guy said," Clint nodded, definitely in agreement with Alexei's views there.

"They sent you to prison, in Russia." Yelena asked. "Were you trying to do the right thing?"

"Perhaps," Alexei admitted. "I did not agree with Dreykov and how The Party was ruling Mother Russia. They take too much, give little, and offer nothing to the country that made them who they are." Alexei explained with a scowl. "Dreykov saw me as a threat to his power, and threw me in prison before I could do more than speak of things I wished to see change."

"Until we broke you out with mom," Yelena smiled at the thought, like rescuing the closest thing she'd had to a father meant more than anything to her.

"Da," Alexei chuckled, reaching across and ruffling Yelena's hair playfully. "My two girls, the strongest and deadliest girls in the world. I am prouder than you could ever know." He said with a wide smile.

"What do you think's going to be waiting down there inside?" Yelena asked, turning the conversation back to the HYDRA base that was their target. "Guns? People? Computers?"

"Probably all of that and more," Clint admitted with a frown. "It's supposed to be a research base apparently. Kinda matches what we've seen so far, more scientists and lab workers than soldiers and guards. Getting in and blowing the place shouldn't be a problem."

"Do you have more intel about it from your clairvoyant?" Yelena asked with a smirk.

"Nothing that's any good," Clint snorted, shaking his head.

According to the little files that the future Stark had said over, he'd only been able to piece together bits and pieces about the HYDRA base and what supposedly happened their in that weird messed up future that the future Stark had come from.

They'd attacked the base at some point later on, in four or five years or something. Definitely after the twenty twelve invasion, and by then it was far more secure and bolstered with alien technology and fancy weapons, fancy energy shields and stuff that he really didn't want to face.

Of course, in that weird future, he'd been part of Fury's enhanced team with Stark, Nat, Rogers, The Hulk and some guy called Thor that was supposedly a god and the brother of another god that screwed with his mind.

He wasn't sure how messed up things were going to get in the future if gods and aliens were part of it, but he was going to do his best to stay the hell away from all that sort of stuff this time around.

Though it did beg the question, was attacking this HYDRA base with a super-soldier and three Black Widows better than attacking it with Fury's enhanced team? He thought so. Their odds were definitely better if they all worked on stealth and took the defences out quickly.

With Alexei as the muscle if things got out of hand, the three Black Widows should be more than enough to take care of the HYDRA goons inside, and he'd be able to keep watch from on the roofs and pick any targets off that were scouting out or getting into dangerous positions.

"So your clairvoyant isn't perfect then?" Yelena picked up on his hesitation and smirked at him.

"No, she is, but she says a different team attacked the base in about five years, me and Nat and four others." Clint pointed out. "We're doing it early, so things are different now."

"So your clairvoyant is a woman, interesting." Yelena smirked again.

"You know what, I'm just going to shut up now." Clint groused, enjoying his coffee and intent to just sit by the fire and stay warm until Nat came back over.

"Da, probably a good choice." Alexei boomed with laughter at Clint's face. "My girls are too smart for their own good, even catch me out with their words and trickery. It is a proud moment when your children are smart enough to outsmart any who would see them hurt."

Clint snorted at that but nodded in agreement, knowing he'd never won an argument with Nat either, especially when she resorted to tricking him into admitting or confessing something to her that he'd been intent on keeping secret.

It was how she'd found out about Laura and his kids in the first place, though that hadn't turned out so bad, and now she was like an aunt to his kids who he knew would protect them if the worst happened to him.

Still, it was kind of nice to be sat here with another father, even if Alexei didn't know he was a father as well. He didn't fully understand the whole family dynamic thing Nat had going on here, but apparently she saw Alexei as some sort of father figure, and Melina as a mother.

He wasn't going to say anything against it, especially considering one was a super-soldier equal to Rogers apparently, if a lot fatter and hairier, and the other was a Black Widow of the same calibre as Nat.

It was a pretty crazy family, but it worked for them somehow. And now they were all going to attack a HYDRA base together like some sort of demented family outing.

The world was definitely a weird place, forget aliens and gods and whatever else was coming over the next few years, he had to survive this craziness first and get home to Laura afterwards. Afterwards, then he would see where things led from here.

Going on missions with Nat and this family, stopping HYDRA and doing the right thing, that felt like a worthwhile mission to him. Without SHIELD to muddy the waters and all the craziness that followed, he could finally start putting things right and cleaning out the red from his ledger as Nat would say.

Taking out a HYDRA base had to be worth a whole lot of red anyway, he hoped it was at least, because according to the video Clint from the future, he had a lot of mistakes to make up for.

Flushing Meadows
Queens
New York

Morgan grinned as she walked into the back stage area of the Air Force hall, looking around it was very different to the other back stage areas around The Expo.

Depending on the various halls and how things were set up, they all had a different feel and arrangement to them. Some, like the main stage hall, were practically chaos with monitors, equipment, dressing rooms and makeup areas, then places for VIPs and monitors with stage timings and prompts displayed on them.

Then there were the places like the Emergency Services hall that was set up as part of the Stark Technologies area, where most of the back stage area had been quietly stolen away by the Stark International shops that came off the back of it, and were now filled with stock boxes leaving the back stage area looking like a sleek and slick black maze.

The Air Force back stage area was different though. It was clean, perfectly organised, almost OCD level. Everything was set around in specific areas, and everything had it's own place.

There were a few service men wandering around in uniforms, a couple that she recognised from The Angels, and other technicians and engineers that were still double checking everything ready for after the main stage announcement of War Machine and the Angels. After they'd been on the main stage, they'd be moved back over to this hall where the Air Force could do their own thing and have Rhodey and the Angels around for publicity, their own announcements, and whatever else they had planned.

That stage announcement she was really looking forward to, and was glad she was going to be on stage with her dad when he showed it all off.

They were going to do the entire presentation in full armour too, emphasising the fact that the War Machine project was Stark International armour and property, and was only contracted to the Air Force right now.

"Miss Stark,"

Morgan looked around, smiling widely when she saw Lt Colonel Callaghan walking towards her, dressed in her full blue dress uniform with an array of awards and medals on her chest.

"Hey, weren't you OK calling me just Morgan before, what happened to that?" Morgan smirked at her as she came over. "Or do I have to go back to calling you Lieutenant Colonel Callaghan and saluting every time I see you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow to her.

"Fine, Morgan." Jules laughed back, nodding in defeat as she came to stand next to Morgan. "You know, your announcement lit a fire under the entire base." She said with a grin. "Think everyone got so used to just seeing you down in the dirt with us working people, they didn't think you were one of the top class girls."

"Hey, none of that, I work for my stuff." Morgan huffed in fake annoyance. "If I didn't do any work, you wouldn't have that new suit or the wings or anything." She pointed out.

"Point," Jules laughed again. "Think it just threw people off a bit, aside from The General, he was just smirking through the whole stage show like he'd known about you all along." She explained. "Did he get a pre-show leak or something?"

"Not that I know about," Morgan frowned thoughtfully. "Rhodey might have told him, he knew, but I know my dad didn't say anything."

"Probably Colonel Rhodes then," Jules nodded, it was understandable that he knew after all, he'd been friends with Doctor Stark for years now, it would probably be more surprising if he didn't know.

"Probably," Morgan shrugged in agreement. "What's going on around here then, anything interesting?"

"Not really," Jules shook her head. "I'm on the recruitment tables again, got quite a few coming through and signing up already. Think we're going to get a load more after the show and tell next week."

"Monday," Morgan grinned. "You ready for being up on stage?"

"I'd be lying if I said yes." Jules laughed, shaking her head. "I don't know how you and Doctor Stark do it, just looking at that big stage is enough to put me off and send me back to base." She grimaced at the thought. "I'll push through it though, get up and do my part."

"It'll be fun," Morgan reassured her. "We'll do all the talking, you guys just fly in and show things off, then we'll bring up Rhodey's armour and do a show and tell, then we can all get out of here."

"You can," Jules groused playfully. "I'll be back on recruitment again and standing around the hall with Colonel Rhodes answering questions and playing everything up for the brass and the hounds with cameras and interviews."

"Ah, the press." Morgan smirked at her. "The General wants you both ready to answer questions and do the whole thing then?"

"Yeah, we've been given a ton of scripted answers already to memorise, the Air Force wants to push for as much good publicity as they can get. So Colonel Rhodes in his armour, me in the wings and everything, we'll be posing on stage together like little dolls for the Brass and all the cameras and news shows."

"Been there, done that." Morgan said with a knowing sigh. "You been practising with the new wings and pack? It all holding up alright?"

"Yeah, it's great." Jules grinned enthusiastically. "The new thruster pack is amazing, it's got a lot more oomph than the old one, banks a lot faster too, have to pull it in a bit on the tighter corners or the g-force gets a little crazy."

"Dangerous?" Morgan asked, making a mental note of everything Jules was saying. "I tested it out myself, but I've been flying repulsor armour for ages now, so I might not have accounted for paratrooper style flying."

"Not dangerous, not once you've got the hang of it, just something to note." Jules explained. "Are you going to be rolling out the new packs to everyone else in the squad?"

"In the next couple of months, we had to put a hold on everything for The Expo, but once we get back to the workshop and start getting things back to normal, I'll start putting together an upgraded Angels pack for the rest of them." Morgan explained.

"I'll jot down a list of things to note about the new pack and everything then," Jules nodded thoughtfully. "Are they getting new wings too?"

"Not like yours," Morgan shook her head. "Archangel was always designed to be a one off piece. The others, I might upgrade bits and pieces, but we can't afford to throw the whole thing into the kit for all of them."

"Of course," Jules nodded.

The Archangel wings were a dream to fly, literally. They were a brighter silver than the normal Angel wings, and far larger. Seemingly more mobile and prehensile as well, and extremely dangerous to boot.

She'd already tested using the wings for actual close quarters combat and had been suitably impressed, if a bit wary, of how the sharpened tips and points of the wings were razor sharp and capable of cutting through anything she'd actually tested them on.

Between the razor sharp edges that Morgan had told her were actually laser sharpened vibranium, the control mechanisms that moved the wings and adjusted them for flight had enough strength behind them to adjust flight angles against extreme wind pressure, so on the ground when she flicked them out or swung around in an attack move, they had enough strength behind the wing to actually slice clean through a tree trunk without much resistance at all.

After seeing that, she could only imagine what they could do to a human body if someone attacked her while she was wearing them, and it wasn't a pretty sight to think about at all.

The Brass were ecstatic though, and combined with her new lethal offensive weapons to match and the vibranium flight suit, they'd been partnering her up with Colonel Rhodes more and more for training exercises and preparing them for actual missions together.

While the rest of the Angels squad would be strictly search and rescue, and over-watch for now, she would soon be going on live combat missions alongside Colonel Rhodes, and putting her life literally in the hands of that sleek vibranium suit and those shiny wings.

"Is Doctor Stark going to be stopping by today then? Or are you both doing different things around the grounds today?" Jules asked curiously. "He was around yesterday, talking with Colonel Rhodes a lot, but he didn't really hang around enough to look around the hall and everything."

"He's probably around somewhere," Morgan mused. "He was heading over to the shops last time I saw him to go over some figures and make an appearance there, probably drumming up more publicity for the phones and laptops and stuff." She said with a grin.

"I saw them earlier," Jules nodded. "I came in two hours before I was on shift, thought I'd have a proper look around and see everything for myself." She explained. "That medical hall... those arms and legs... are they... real?" She asked.

"You mean the cybernetics stuff?" Morgan asked, continuing on when Jules nodded at her. "Yeah, replacement limbs. We're working on rolling them out in the next couple of months as soon as we get the go ahead for human trials. They all work great though, we'll probably have to run ten or twenty trials first, implants and monitoring the arms or legs over a period of time, a week or two or something like that. Show off the results and get them checked by an third party, the volunteers will probably be interviewed as well, but it shouldn't be too much of a big thing."

"You said on stage about them being for veterans?" Jules double checked, because she knew all too well that a lot of promised could be made on stage and to the media, but it was very rare for a huge business or famous celebrities like Doctor Stark... or Morgan Stark... to actually stand by their word and back up their promises with real action.

"Yup, I've got specific designs ready for veterans who want to get back to work, or back in the Air Force or Army or whatever." Morgan nodded back. "Some stronger and more resilient ones for people going on missions and stuff, some with some extra toys and gadgets depending on what they need. Different colours for people that need different stuff, if they don't want the normal skin covering for whatever reason."

"Wow, so... so it's really going to be properly released then?" Jules asked in surprise, trying to imagine how things were going to be on base when Air Men started appearing with robotic arms and legs.

"We're trying to," Morgan confirmed with a wide smile. "Medical trials are a bitch to get through though, but we're working on it. Once we get a go-ahead for volunteers, we'll probably ask veterans first, see what they think, get them up and about again and let them put the limbs through their paces to see how they do in the real world."

"That's going to really change peoples lives," Jules said thoughtfully, imagining how many wounded and disabled veterans would jump at the chance to get a Stark arm or leg so they could come back to service.

"That's the plan," Morgan smiled proudly at the thought. "Also, meant to mention... did dad or Rhodey talk to you about the UN stuff yet?"

"The UN?" Jules asked, blinking in surprise at the change in conversation. "No, nothing comes to mind. Were they supposed to?" She asked curiously.

"Just something that's in the pipeline, waiting to see about getting an actual meeting with the UN council and stuff, that's going to be a headache on it's own," Morgan said with a smirk. "We're going to be talking with the UN about setting up a proper team to work internationally, crisis stuff, rescue, terrorist response, stuff like that."

"Under the peacekeeping initiative?" Jules asked curiously.

"Something like that, probably more active than the peacekeeping stuff, but we're probably going to be donating a lot of gear and equipment to the peacekeepers anyway," Morgan nodded as she explained her thoughts. "Basically it'll be a response team set up to handle stuff the normal army or peacekeepers couldn't handle. Huge terrorist threats, enhanced problems, the big stuff you know?"

"And you'll be part of this?" Jules asked, thinking back to that purple and silver armour she'd seen Morgan wearing on stage, and startling a bit when she realised that it must actually be the same technology as Doctor Stark's Iron Man armour, which meant it was the same as the War Machine armour, and probably even more advanced given that it was their own personal armour and not something built for someone else.

"Yeah, me, dad, probably Rhodey, and you." Morgan said with a grin as Jules stared at her with wide eyes. "It's just a start for now, but putting together a proper team to respond to threats and stuff like that, it's been something we've been talking about for a while."

Jules just nodded along automatically, her brain spiralling as she tried to picture Archangel being spoken about alongside Iron Man and War Machine... and Iron Maiden. It would be huge, internationally huge if it meant working through the UN... and would be a HUGE deal for the Air Force in publicity and proper public visibility.

It just felt... HUGE... Iron Man was a larger than life figure on his own, and she could easily see Morgan's Iron Maiden being exactly the same. Colonel Rhodes as War Machine was already building up his own following through servicemen who still stared in awe every time he walked past in the armour, and she knew the Air Force were pushing to use him and the War Machine armour for publicity and recruitment.

Compared to that team of armoured behemoths, where she couldn't even imagine the capabilities of Doctor Stark or Morgan's armoured suits... Archangel felt a bit small somehow in comparison.

"I was just wondering if anyone had talked about it yet, figured I'd see what you thought since nobody had said anything." Morgan asked with a shrug. "Think you'd be up for it?" She asked.

Jules barely hesitated before nodding in agreement. "I'd be honoured." She admitted, feeling the truth of it. "I don't know how it'd work with my current deployment, but getting out there and making a difference is what I signed up for. If I can make a bigger difference, help more people by signing up with you as well, you can count me in."

"Great," Morgan beamed happily at that. "Seriously, I was really hoping you would be on board. Doing this with just my dad and Rhodey and whoever else they dragged into it, I'm betting it'd pretty quickly turn into a boys only club and I'd be left cleaning up after their mess." She said with a laugh, causing Jules to laugh along with her.

"That wouldn't surprise me," Jules grinned at her. "You'd have to talk to The General first, he'd have to float it up to the brass and see what was said. I think they'd go for it though, people have been talking about the UN being toothless for ages now, working with them to put a strike force together for rapid response would get a lot of people talking."

"It'd be a good cause, there's going to be more crazy stuff around the world soon enough, putting together a team to help stop it before it gets out of hand is just the smart thing to do." Morgan explained.

"No arguments from me there," Jules nodded firmly in agreement with that. "I was in Afghanistan, I saw the crap The Ten Rings pulled over there before Doctor Stark blew them all to high heaven, the cheering in the bases around there could be heard for miles across the desert every time he blew one those bastards to kingdom come."

Of course, nobody had known it had actually been Doctor Stark's Iron Man attacking the terrorists at the time, they all knew someone or something was attacking the Ten Ring's bases and blowing them sky high, but it wasn't until after everything had calmed down and intelligence had actually got video footage of the Iron Man suit blowing up one of their weapons reserves that people had realised it had been him all along.

After that, Doctor Stark had earned a hell of a lot of currency back from the armed forces, and then with the whole War Machine thing, the Army and Air Force were back behind him one hundred percent and celebrating him as one of their own again.

"That's the sort of thing I'm talking about," Morgan nodded. "We could go in, take care of terrorists without a huge army presence or anything. Get in, get the job done, and get out quickly and be home in time for dinner." She added the last with a laugh.

"It does sound like a good idea," Jules admitted. "I should probably get back to the tables though, I was on a break when I saw you come through, thought I'd head you off before you got mobbed by the crowd out there."

"Thanks," Morgan smirked over. "Yeah, I'll be around, definitely be here Friday though."

"See you then," Jules nodded before she turned and headed off back into the main hall, knowing the thought of actually being on a team with Iron Man, War Machine and Iron Maiden would be running through her head all day now.

In a year or so, would people be saying Archangel the same way they said Iron Man right now? Would there be posters and news footage of her in the same way? When she'd accepted the suit and the project lead, she'd just assumed it was a normal Air Force deployment, new technology sure, a different way of fighting, but she was still just a soldier at the end of the day.

But what Morgan had talked about didn't sound like a soldier's position at all, it sounded like putting together a team like Captain America and his stuff back in the world war two days, not just a soldier, but a hero... a super hero.

Was she actually ready for that kind of job?

She would definitely have to talk to General Baur and find out exactly what people were thinking about this first before she put anymore thought into it, but the prospect was exciting, if terrifying in the same way.

HYDRA Research Base
Urdu-Flavantuch mountain range
Sokovia

The sun had set a few hours ago now, and on the cliffs hidden by snowy outcroppings and scattered forest, Nat nodded as Clint moved into position and readied his bow.

They'd watched the base for a full day and night now, getting good looks at the patrols and weapons they were carrying, the defences of the research base and had discussed several times the best method of covert entry down into the base.

They'd all agreed that the best way in without being detected was from above and from a cliff face further across the mountain from where they'd been camping. A zip line down to the roof of the base would get them all down to the base silently and without raising an alarm, and from there they would be able to enter the base from the roof and work their way through the facility.

With Clint's usual unerring accuracy he let the arrow fly, watching as it sailed down and struck the target perfectly, grappling onto the stone chimney and burrowing in deep with the specialised head that was designed for this exact situation.

He waited a brief moment for the head of the arrow to activate and flick it's prongs out, securing it even further, before he tugged on the line to test it's security and moved back to the tree, nodding to Nat as she pulled the loop through the complicated knot she'd already looped around the nearest tree, pulling the line taught before she tied it off and secured the slack.

"Patrols?" Nat asked, looking to the side where Melina was knelt on the cliff face, using her scope to stare down at the base and check to ensure there weren't any patrols near their target site.

"Nothing." Melina answered without looking away from her scope. "Go." She said sharply.

Nat simply nodded at that, grabbing one of the zip line tethers from the ground and connecting it to the line before she simply ran towards the cliff face, jumping into the air and letting the zip line carry her down at breakneck speeds.

Yelena followed barely a breath behind her, clad in her own Black Widow suit tonight that blended in with the night perfectly, with only her blonde hair being illuminated by the moonlight.

"Go." Melina said after a beat, signalling for Alexei to follow one she was sure that Nat and Yelena had made it to the roof safely and were securing the landing site for the rest of them.

Alexei followed on, and Clint very subtly kept watch on the zip line tethers and the knots around the tree as his extra weight and bulk pulled the zip line tight as he flew down even faster than Nat and Yelena had, his extra weight giving him a lot more momentum than either of The Widows had.

"Go." Melina said again, and Clint didn't need to be told twice, he swung his bow around and felt it latch on securely to his quivers before he grabbed a tether and followed everyone else down, taking a deep breath as he jumped off the cliff and swung silently around on the line while zipping down over the forest and mountain lands towards the HYDRA base.

He landed on the roof, dropping into a roll to bleed off his momentum and was actually thankful when Alexei reached out a hand and grabbed him, steadying him and holding him solid on the roof top where he'd been about to overshoot his mark.

"You are not used to snow, double the length of your landings or the cold will not be forgiving." Alexei explained quietly as he moved Clint aside.

Clint simply nodded as he un-clipped his tether, he hadn't really fought in cold climates much, SHIELD never really had missions out there, and the few he did have in cold conditions were all over-watch and security, not actually zipping into combat and fighting on snow and ice.

Clearly The Widows and Alexei had much more rounded training than SHIELD ever gave him, well, The Widows definitely, Alexei was probably used to the snow and the cold far more than he was.

Melina followed down the zip line moments after Clint had landed, un-clipping her tether mid flight and falling down into a roll on the roof before she came to a stop mere feet away from where they were all gathered.

He didn't need to say anything as Nat gestured towards him, using their usual signs as she pointed towards the end of the roof where it split left and right into smaller sections and gave a vantage point down into the courtyard and towards the main guarded entrance to the facility.

Melina nodded as well, but headed off in the other direction, retrieving her sniper rifle from her back and snapping it together and she moved off, making good speed over the snow topped roof with sure footing that Clint was damn sure he wouldn't be able to replicate.

Alexei, Yelena and Nat moved off together, tightening up as a unit without a word passing between them as they walked down the slope of the roof towards where a single outcropped window was jutting out, clearly a vantage point for a guard or something similar to watch over the slope leading up from the lower facility to the main base itself.

He watched for a second as he started heading over towards his intended perch, bringing out his bow with a practised flick of his wrist to snap the folded sections out and into place where he knew the small motor inside would already be working to taughten the draw string to it's best pull weight.

Four steps later and he had an arrow in his hand as he crouched down, moving towards the vantage point slowly and closer to the ground to avoid being seen. In his experience people rarely looked up, especially onto the roof, but there was no point in risking anything.

He stayed low as he got into position, his eyes already tracking a patrol that was making their way around the perimeter of the facility.

AK-47's he noted with a wry smirk. Cheap, easily purchased and pretty much untrackable. The go-to rifle of choice for insurgents who want to buy in bulk and don't care about reliability or solid accuracy, and overly popular with people who didn't know much about rifles at all.

That told him enough about the state of the guards around the facility, and the way they were moving, bored and with barely any unit cohesion or signs of discipline, told him they were likely volunteers from around Sokovia somewhere who had joined HYDRA for some reason or another, and had worked their way up to guard status.

HYDRA probably wasn't putting much stock in this facility at all just yet, not for a couple of years according to the Stark's history files. Right now it was a research facility in the ass end of nowhere, in a country nobody really cared about.

HYDRA was probably using it solely to stoke the fires of the Sokovian Civil war, keep the region unstable and politically charged, and recruit idiots and bastards from the population to join their cause.

It wouldn't be until four or five years or so that this base actually turned into somewhere of note for HYDRA to start funnelling resources into, well, in the future Stark's wacky history anyway. The base wasn't going to be around in four years time if he had anything to say about it.

A brief glance over to the mirroring rooftop showed Melina had got into position as well now and was crouched against the black of a chimney, he could only make out the barest if silhouette and only because he knew what he was looking for. She was in position and using her rifle to scan around, and had likely already come to the same conclusion about the guard patrol that he had.

The vantage points the two of them had gave them a great angle down to see the main entrance where patrols outside of the base would be returning through, and down into the central court yard where the fortress itself looped around like horse shoe, giving a central area around the entrance way that would act as a kill zone if they set up gunnery placements or riflemen in the windows overlooking it.

There were no gun placements or riflemen that he could see though. HYDRA were clearly using their secrecy and anonymity as the best kind of shield here and not expecting any sort of real attack. The only possible threat came from any Sokovian natives in the area who might notice the fortress and decide to investigate, but the patrols and regular HYDRA goons would be more than a match for farmers or the random evacuee who was running from the war and had come to the mountains for safety.

Scanning across the courtyard one more time he made himself comfortable as he adjusted his position, getting onto one knee to brace himself in the thin snow as he settled in for the moment. Between Nat and Yelena, they could probably work through most of the facility without being seen, killing their way through efficiently and as silent as shadows.

He didn't know about Alexei though, and couldn't really judge his fighting style or how good he was at stealth. Nat trusted him to have her back during the infiltration though, so that said a lot. He would just watch, wait, and break comm silence only if something drastically changed.

For now, it was Nat, Yelena and Alexei's move, and until they broke silence or anything changed, he was just to watch and keep an eye on things from a distance, exactly what he was good at.

Flushing Meadows
Queens
New York

Standing back stage at the variable gravity hall, Pepper watched with a fond smile as Tony and Morgan stood on stage and gave a presentation about what the gravity generator thing could actually do for research laboratories, facilities, and the future of space exploration.

She would say it was pure science fiction if she hadn't seen it working for herself, and as Tony and Morgan strode about on the stage talking about the possibilities of larger more comfortable satellites in orbit, space stations between here and the moon, and actual moon bases, she shook her head in amusement and focused herself on going through her e-mails and marking off important ones that needed a reply tonight when she got back to the hotel and her laptop.

The whole Expo so far had been a resounding success, this was the second full day of it being open, and figures put visitors at double what she'd actually been expecting, with on the day ticket sales being through the roof.

Apparently the news coverage of SI's big technology push and the exclusivity of the new Stark phones and laptops here was bringing people in from all over the country, wanting to get their hands on the latest and greatest technology before anyone else.

It was definitely a good sign for how the week would play out, and if figures stayed this high for the entire week and into next week, then she could definitely see the Expo breaking even very quickly, and moving into a profitable venture soon.

The SI board would likely already be celebrating, the news of SI stock reaching astronomical new heights was on every financial newspaper and media outlet around. Even she'd been surprised by how well the world had reacted to The Expo, the announcements made by Tony and Morgan, and Morgan's appearance herself.

"Excuse me, Miss Potts?"

Pepper turned automatically, a professional smile on her face as she slid her phone away so she could talk to whoever it was that was looking for her.

"Yes?" Pepper asked, turning around and facing the person that spoke, noting it was a single older man in a suit, backed up by three others that she was pretty sure were either high price guards, or lawyers. The suits could be either really, but either way it emphasised this was not just a random person from around the Expo. "Can I help you, Mr..." She trailed off, leaving the opening for an introduction.

"Duesmann, Markus Duesmann." The man introduced himself with an equally professional smile.

"How can I help you Mr Deusmann?" Pepper repeated herself, seeing no need to introduce herself as the man clearly knew who she was already, which meant this was either business, politics, or legal.

"I was hoping to arrange a meeting with Doctor Stark, his announcements of the new Stark battery technologies and the mention of electronic cars during his keynote speech in the opening Gala has had quite the galvanising effect, and interest in the idea and possibly a partnership deal has been broached, leading to me looking to arrange an official meeting." Mr Deusmann explained.

"I see," Pepper nodded along. "And you work for..."

"Ah, my apologies. I am chairman of the board of management for Audi Forum, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group."

Pepper blinked at that before ensuring her professional smile was kept in place. "Of course Mr Deusmann, I can have something put on the books for you. Things are quite busy at the moment, I'm sure you can understand."

"Of course," Mr Duesmann chuckled at that, clearly seeing the blatant simplification of how busy and chaotic the week must be for Tony Stark. "As soon as possible, at Doctor Stark's convenience of course." He said with an understanding nod.

"Of course," Pepper smiled back, bringing out her phone again and tapping a few icons to bring up Tony's calendar so she could look through it and make an official note. "And this is about a deal regarding the electronic cars?" She double checked.

"Yes." Mr Duesmann confirmed. "I'm sure you are aware we already announced and publicised our showcase e-tron at this years Detroit show, but advances in battery technology and Doctor Stark's new technologies have brought things to a head quite sooner than the original development schedule was planned for."

"I see," Pepper nodded. She certainly hadn't known Audi had been working on their own electric car, and definitely didn't know it had already been showcased earlier this year at a car show, but she wasn't going to let Mr Duesmann know that of course.

"Doctor Stark mentioned in his keynote speech about the Stark International's new eco branding and push for a greener future," Mr Duesmann continued on. "This is something Audi is in full agreement with, and would like to have brought up for discussion as well."

"Of course, I'll make sure Doctor Stark knows it is on the agenda," Pepper nodded as she typed in the details and made sure it was added to the calendar note. "Are you available for next week? The thirtieth, in seven days time?"

"That sounds acceptable to me," Mr Duesmann nodded.

"I'll have it noted then and added to Doctor Stark's calendar," Pepper smiled as she confirmed the calendar booking, knowing JARVIS and FRIDAY would take it from there and ensure it was added to the relevant SI calendars. "I will speak to Doctor Stark and ensure we have a suitable place for the meeting. Right now it's likely that he will still be in New York for next week, but if anything changes do you have a way we can get in touch."

"Certainly," Mr Duesmann nodded, bringing out a business card from his pocket and handing it over with a smile. "New York is fine, I was planning on staying in the city for the first two weeks of the event and overseeing the announcements from the company myself, so I can be contacted at the number there, or at the Audi presentation hall."

"Of course," Pepper nodded, keeping the card in hand as she took a quick photo of it with her phone camera, watching as the phone automatically digitised the information and added it to the calendar booking as well as adding it to her own contact files. "I'll have confirmation of the meeting e-mailed over to you once Doctor Stark has informed me of his plans, then I'll be able to have a definitive time and location for you."

"I look forward to it," Mr Duesmann smiled happily at that, clearly eager to be the first car manufacturer to get on the ground floor with Stark International and hopefully ensure an exclusive contract with them. "Thank you for your time."

"Thank you," Pepper smiled back, watching as Mr Duesmann left with his guards slash lawyers, stopping momentarily by the back stage area that led out onto the stage to look out and take note of what Tony and Morgan were saying on stage.

She had to admit that she hadn't actually expected that. She'd assumed that Tony and Morgan's talk about electric cars and fanciful things like that was going to be a far off project that wouldn't see fruit for a couple more years.

But to actually have a luxury brand like Audi approaching them with what looked like a serious commitment to a meeting and perhaps a deal that would see production start far sooner than she'd anticipated.

It was good news as far as she was concerned, and would mean that they could push forwards with Arc awareness and the Stark Eco branding launch sooner than expected.

Flicking her eyes towards the clock for a second she noted that Tony and Morgan still officially had ten minutes of stage time left, they would likely run over in the excitement and scientific jargon they were lecturing the audience with, but since they both seemed to be having fun and enjoying themselves, she was content to let them carry on for as long as they wanted.

Bringing up the SOS browser on her phone she quickly typed in 'Audi electric car Detroit car show' and hit the search button, it only took a brief moment for the browser to bring up a slew of articles about the Audi E-Tron show car that had debuted in January.

Apparently Mr Duesmann was underselling Audi's commitment to the electronic car market, as the article pointed out that Audi had already shown off another electronic car last year based on the Audi R8 at one of the German car shows.

That meant that they had at least had a few years worth of development and design put into the idea already, and since they'd produced two show cars to show off at events, they looked pretty serious about the idea and technology too.

That was definitely a good thing and boded well for the possibility of a future deal.

The article went on to list the specifications of the Audi E-Tron, most of which she didn't pay much attention to, but knew Tony would likely understand and probably be either horrified, or disdainful about the numbers being presented to her.

The bits she did understand were the parts of the article mentioning it being based of two electric motors and lithium-ion batteries.

She knew right there that Morgan would be snorting with laughter at that, and probably be making some mocking comments about ancient technology and archaic batteries that went the way of the dodo and were phased out when she was just a child or something.

It was telling that she could already hear the comments both Tony and Morgan would likely make, and their derisive tones as they saw the nought to sixty miles an hour in six seconds listed proudly.

She'd seen Tony's electric Mustang do a hell of a lot more than that, probably due to Morgan's Arc powered technology they'd put inside it, or the future engine tech that Morgan had put together to drive it, or god knows what else Tony and Morgan had done to that poor car.

The silver car in the article that Audi were showing off though looked nothing like Tony's old Mustang that they'd converted. It was silver, sleek and modern, and looked impressive to her eyes, and probably very expensive.

"Mom?"

Pepper looked up from where she'd been reading through the article and flicking through other articles about Audi and their commitment to alternative fuel sources for cars. It was actually interesting reading, and emphasised that Mr Duesmann had been saying about Audi's interest in the idea.

"You two finished then?" Pepper asked with a smile, looking on as Tony and Morgan walked towards her from the stage exit where they'd apparently just finished their gravity field speeches and explanations.

"Yup," Tony grinned, popping the 'p' as he spoke. "What's got you so engrossed? Something interesting?"

"Actually, yes." Pepper admitted with a small laugh. "While you two were on stage, I was approached by someone from Audi looking to set up a meeting." She explained. "They're apparently interested in a deal to start working on the electric car idea."

"Audi?" Tony asked in surprise. "Huh, didn't know they were even interested in that sort of thing." He mused, ruffling his hair in surprise as he thought about it.

"They've shown off two electric cars currently, one last year, and one earlier this year in Detroit. From what I'm reading, they're actually leaning very heavily into the concept and development of alternative fuels." Pepper explained. "I've added them to the calendar for next Friday, I said you were likely still going to be in New York by then, so I can arrange the meeting wherever's best."

"Here works," Tony shrugged. They were going to be around The Expo most of next week anyway for the Air Force presentation and then everything afterwards as the opening week settled down. Once next week was over, then The Expo would basically run itself for the next year, and he would only have to appear now and again for big presentations or if he and Morgan came up with something big to show off.

"The hotel?" Pepper asked. "They have business suites and conference rooms available, it's a suitable location that would be easy for us and the people from Audi."

"Sounds good, set it up and I'll be there." Tony nodded. "You in kiddo?" He asked, flicking his attention over to Morgan. "They'll probably want the ins and outs of the battery tech, you can give them all the details better than I can."

"Sure," Morgan shrugged in agreement. It wasn't anything hugely important realistically, not compared to her plans to ensure the end of the world didn't happen, her parents didn't die, and they had enough tech and power to fend off Thanos and anyone else that came to Earth looking for a fight, but it could be interesting enough, and she knew the eco and green stuff was her mom's big thing, so if she could help make Stark Eco a thing two decades early in this timeline, she would.

"I need to swing by Culver tomorrow," Tony said, seemingly reminding himself of something. "Banner and Ross finally got back to me, they want to talk some more but it sounds like they're on board."

"Both of them?" Morgan asked curiously, her dad had told her about Bruce Banner and his apparent girlfriend, something she hadn't known was even a thing. As far as she knew, the only woman in The Hulk's history files was Natasha, and that had been a pretty toxic relationship from what she could read between the lines.

She definitely didn't know that big and green had had a girlfriend before the invasion and the whole Avengers thing, and it made her curious to wonder what happened to her originally and why they'd broken up so Bruce could end up with Romanoff.

It was interesting in a purely theoretical sense, and led her through a few thought exercises about whether it was something she'd changed specifically in the timeline, a ripple effect of one of her changes, or just something that had happened originally and just wasn't noted in the history files.

After all, Banner's history files were pretty spotty to say the least. Most of them came from SHIELD, and they were only vaguely accurate with him going missing for months at a time before they caught up to him again, and the others came from The Army, and were about as trustworthy as the average tabloid newspaper as far as she was concerned.

"I'll swing by, see what they want, dangle a hook and see if I can reel them in." Tony said with a smirk. "Would be good to have some more high IQ's around the compound before I start going through the online applications. Can farm a lot of those out between Selvig, Foster, Banner and Ross. Let them take care of the astrophysics, biology and squishy stuff, they'll end up running the departments anyway, so they can take care of the applications as well."

"Fair," Morgan nodded. "We haven't got anything on for the weekend right?"

"Nope," Tony shook his head. "I kept the weekend free, downtime to chill. Air Force on Monday, main stage for that one. Got another stage show on Wednesday, close up the opening week. Bands will be starting their gigs tonight, then over the weekend and next week, so night times are going to be pretty bad-ass around here." He explained with a grin. "You fancy coming to meet angry Yoda?"

"I'll pass," Morgan smirked back. "I've got some stuff to do anyway."

"Are you spending the weekend at the Albany compound?" Pepper asked curiously. "I'm just asking." She said quickly when Morgan shot her a curious look. "I was thinking of coming up so I could meet this Darcy character."

"Nope." Morgan shook her head quickly at that. "She's still only just getting over the whole I'm a Stark thing. I completely spaced about springing that on her. She's going to be crazy enough getting used to seeing dad walk around the place, I don't need her panicking about meeting you as well." She said firmly.

"Well I do want to meet her, especially if this actually turns into something serious." Pepper said, not giving an inch.

"Yeah yeah, just... see how it goes alright, me and serious relationships... not exactly had the best history." Morgan admitted with a grimace. "Maybe it'll pan out with Darcy, if it does... then... I don't know, dinner maybe, something?" She asked with a shrug. "But later, like months later." She said firmly. "I don't want anything scaring her off or sending her into crazy panic mode when she's still trying to get used to the whole Morgan Stark thing."

"Alright, but I do want to know how it's going," Pepper said with a small smile. "You can talk to me you know, about these things."

"Yeah, I know." Morgan grinned. "We did you know, before... we talked about girls and stuff and relationships and everything." She explained with a fond smile towards her mom. "It's just a bit weird now... getting back into feeling that way, I haven't even had a decent relationship in ages, and having you back... and dad... it's just going to take me a bit to get my head around it all."

"That's fine honey," Pepper smiled at that. "Just... we're here, if you need to talk or want advice or anything, I'm always here." She offered sincerely, happy that there was actually an opening for her to start a proper mother-daughter bond with Morgan about things like this.

"Yeah, with Pep... me, can we stick to science and tech and stuff like that?" Tony asked flippantly with a smirk to show he was kidding. "No offence, but the touchy feely stuff is going to break me out in hives or give me IBS or something."

Morgan did snort at that, but shot her dad a grateful grin for breaking up the serious and odd feeling conversation about relationships and Darcy. "Deal dad." She smiled at him. "No touchy feely stuff until you've got that junk out of your heart and can actually commit to emotions properly without getting gas." She shot back with a grin.

"First, hey... you updated this tech, so if it's junk, it's your fault." Tony smirked at winning that one. "Second... OK, point, emotions give me gas." He admitted with a shrug. "So, we done here, because I'm craving pizza for lunch right now and could really do with getting out of here to wind down for the weekend."

"Oh god yes, a proper deep pan?" Morgan asked hopefully. "Meatfeast right?"

"A girl after my own heart," Tony grinned happily, slinging his arm around Morgan's shoulder and leading her off towards the exit, Pepper following alongside with a fond smile on her face as she watched the pair.

Yes, things were definitely coming together nicely. It might still be a bit weird from time to time, but it felt right, and right now, both Morgan and Tony had wormed their way into Pepper's heart and found their own places there, and she wouldn't change that for the world.

HYDRA Research Base
Urdu-Flavantuch mountain range
Sokovia

Both Nat and Yelena knew the plan for subtlety and infiltration wouldn't last the entire mission, the fact that it lasted twenty three minutes while they worked their way through the top floor, killing over thirty HYDRA guards and what she was guessing were researchers or scientists of some sort, was a miracle in itself.

The plan for keeping things quiet officially ended when they entered a room with seven armed HYDRA guards, all seven carrying weapons that were definitely superior to the guards and patrols they'd seen outside and patrolling the fortress itself, and they were actually alert and worked as a cohesive group.

"Romanoff."

Natasha blinked at that as she fired her Stark pistol, watching out of the corner of her eye as the blue energy hit the guard who'd said her name while she used her other silenced gun to target another guard with a more lethal response.

Yelena was moving directly into hand to hand combat, using her batons with deadly effective results, while Alexei charged into the group and focused on using his superior strength to throw the HYDRA members around and keep their attention focused on him as the primary threat while Nat and Yelena took them out.

It was a good plan until Alexei kicked one of the guards with enough force that he went clear through a plasterboard wall behind him and sailed through, smashing through a window behind the wall and falling through to his death.

"So much for subtlety," Nat commented with a wry smirk as she fired a single shot down into the head of one of the guards that Alexei had disabled, killing him outright to ensure they weren't leaving any armed attackers at their flank while they moved on.

"No plan survives contact with the enemy Natalia, you know this, da?" Alexei asked with a wide smile, clearly enjoying the thrill of the battle against targets he could unleash his full strength on without being ordered to hold back or restrain himself.

"Good plans do." Natasha countered, moving back over to the guard she'd hit with Stark's energy gun and checking his uniform and weapon.

"He recognised you," Yelena commented, nodding in acceptance when Natasha tossed over his side arm for her to check and arm herself with.

"He's SHIELD," Natasha growled, finding proper SHIELD identification as she rummaged through the guard's pockets. "They have more people in SHIELD than I thought."

"Bah, one evil secret organisation or another, they are the same." Alexei said dismissively.

Natasha couldn't really argue with that, the fact that HYDRA had been part of SHIELD literally since it first begun meant that they'd had a big hand in shaping SHIELD's methodology, their practices and morality, and their intelligence.

"Someone will have heard that," Natasha said simply, looking to the large hole in the plasterboard wall where Alexei had kicked the guard through and out of the following window. "Or seen it." She added after a beat before reaching up and tapping her ear piece to activate voice communications. "Top level's clear, we're blown. Quiet time's over, join the party." She said simply.

"On my way," Clint's voice came through. "Melina's already making her way down to you."

Natasha nodded automatically at that, Melina would have known the game was up as soon as the window smashed.

"Next floor down, north quarter has stairs. Meet there." Natasha ordered as she stood up, tossing the HYDRA guard's SHIELD identification down onto the ground disdainfully. "We work our way down, I'm not seeing labs or anything in the fortress, they've probably secured them in the sub levels."

Yelena nodded in agreement at that, it made sense and meant that anyone attacking the fortress itself would be waylaid by the guards and searching the actual fortress above while leaving time for the scientists and leaders in the sub levels to destroy their data and get out while the attackers were dealing with the guards in the main fortress.

"We head down then," Alexei said simply. "We do not risk others alerting the men down there to our presence."

Natasha paused before nodding sharply in agreement. Ideally she would prefer to sweep the main facility first and clear it out, purely to make sure they didn't end up with a firefight on both sides of them, cutting off their escape if they should need it, but getting to the sub levels and securing them while they still had some semblance of secrecy working for them was a priority now, and securing the sub levels would give them the best place to defend while securing whatever HYDRA was working on down there.

With nothing else to say the three moved off, heading out of the rooms they'd cleared so far and north through the fortress corridors back to the main stairwell that they'd found earlier in the centre of the facility's bridging levels between the two wings of the fortress.

She had no idea how long their luck would hold out for, but finding a way down to the sub levels was the priority for the mission now, and finding out what HYDRA was doing here before evacuating and setting the base for demolition.

Alexei's backpack was carrying enough explosives to make some serious headway into the foundations of the fortress, and she was betting they'd be able to enhance those with whatever HYDRA was working on here, or by securing them into the gas lines of the fortress and supplementing the explosives that way.

Either way, she was going to see this fortress destroyed, one way or another.

Flushing Meadows
Queens
New York

Standing on the balcony of their hotel suite, Morgan was definitely happy to be back in her comfortable clothes. Jeans, t-shirt and cowboy boots were much more preferable to pant suits, blouses and dress shoes in her opinion.

It was early evening now, the Expo had wound down for the night with the stores and main halls closing up an hour or so ago, while the first gig from the bands was already in high gear and playing to a huge sea of people down below.

Even from her vantage point on one of the top floors of the hotel she could see the massive crowd around the main hall where they'd opened up the roof and the huge hanger style doors at the front of the auditorium to open it up to the grounds outside, and the truly impressive crowd had practically flooded around the stage and hall to watch the first gig.

AC/DC was on stage tonight apparently, and for the last twenty minutes she'd been serenaded by 'Rock 'N Roll Train', 'Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be', 'Back in Black' and 'Big Jack', and was more than happy to just stand here on the balcony and enjoy the music as 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' floated up from the Expo grounds into the night air.

It was a damn good night as far as she was concerned, relaxing and chilling to kick ass music was always a great way to unwind, and as a start for the weekend is boded good things to come.

Her mom and dad were out on an official dinner date thing, both of them had dressed up properly and had gone out for a romantic meal or something. She hadn't pressed, but had definitely enjoyed the sight of seeing her mom smiling and looking practically giddily happy in an evening dress as they left.

It was still a bit strange, seeing her mom young and nervous like this, watching the formative years of her parents relationship and how they were evolving into becoming the parents that she knew and remembered.

It was good though. She was going to ensure there weren't any problems or interruptions to their relationship like there had been last time. Her mom wasn't going to get attacked by Killian and his Extremis stupidity, her dad wasn't going to be suffering through years of gas-lighting and stupidity from SHIELD and The Avengers, and they weren't going to suffer the horrors that were ancient history to her and everyone else where she came from.

There wasn't going to be an Ultron this time around, there wasn't even going to be an Avengers group if she had anything to say about it. No blow up Civil War stupidity as the media called it, no SHIELD helicarriers crashing down around Washington DC and all the chaos that fell out from there, and no Ross using the formative Sokovia Accords for his own agenda to try and wrestle control over The Avengers and any enhanced person who had the misfortune of being born in America.

No, everything was going to be different this time around, she was going to make sure of it.

She'd already been working on a copy of the UN SHRA from her era, the future of the accords that her mom had had a heavy presence in putting together along with the Stark International legal team, and had created them in her dad's name to ensure the horrors that he fought against would never come to pass again.

She had been tweaking bits and pieces here and there to make it more suitable and palatable for this era, adding exclusions and security for any enhanced that came forward to work with the UN and provide services in exchange for funding, international recognition and back up from other enhanced people that worked with them.

It was a good carrot that worked well in her era, building a community out of the legality of it and helping foster communication and team work amongst the enhanced people by having an amendment that basically stated that any registered enhanced person could come to another for assistance, or call on them for help sheltering them from persecution or attack.

The SHRA in her time wasn't mandatory, and was far more carrot than stick. Instead of forcing registration, it offered benefits and a community for enhanced people to be part of. Somewhere where they could be welcomed and talk to other enhanced people that understood them and could share experiences and talk things out.

The benefits to registering with the UN included legal teams to help them if they needed it, funded by Stark International, back up whenever they needed it, proper intelligence and medical support to help them if they were injured at any point.

In return, enhanced people supported the UN and joined one of their international enhanced peacekeeping teams to help deal with enhanced threats, alien problems, or terrorist agendas that the normal police and armies around the world were ill-equipped to handle.

The only countries that constantly spoke out against the UN SHRA were America, who refused to sign and had implemented their own forceful registration act, backed by SWORD and mandated by the government and Army, Wakanda who had withdrawn from the UN and wasn't a part of international politics at all any more, and some countries in the middle east where they wanted their own enhanced cells and groups to further their own agendas.

On the whole though, the UN SHRA worked far better than any other registration law around the world. It was based on civil liberties and protection, building communities and offering bonuses and rewards for registration and help, rather than control and restrictions.

That was what had made it so successful, the fact that it wasn't a boot to grind down the enhanced of the world or a leash to control them, but a law to protect and help them instead, as long as they worked within the countries individual laws and with the governments of the world, instead of on their own agendas as vigilantes and outside of the law.

She knew it was going to be slow going to get any sort of traction towards putting it before the UN in this era, but building up the first UN enhanced team would be a huge first step towards it, and would put them front and centre to show than people with enhanced technology and powers could work within the system and for the benefit of everyone, not just their own agendas.

She was still musing on the ideas when her watched beeped, drawing her thoughts out as she leaned down on the balcony rails and swiped her fingers over the watch's holographic interface, bringing up the message and seeing that it was a selfie from Darcy with a message attached.

'Hey gorgeous. Hope you had a good day down there. We still on for the weekend? Let me know. X'

The photo attached was Darcy lazing back on one of the couches in the community area of the R 'n' D compound, clearly relaxing and probably watching TV or something. Though she looked good and was wearing a silky red blouse thing that matched her lipstick and enhanced her dark eye shadow.

Saving the picture for now she quickly started tapping out a reply, humming along as the band below in the Expo grounds started playing 'Thunderstruck'.

'Definitely, need a weekend away from all the crazy. Date out in the city or Albany or something, or want to go somewhere else? Anything's game, I'm up for whatever you want. X'

Sending the message through the smiled at the thought of spending the weekend with Darcy, it would definitely be nice to have some time to relax properly after the hectic week of getting The Expo ready, and then the opening night and everything else.

Everyone deserved a weekend after that, and she knew her mom and dad were equally worn out and looking forward to some downtime where they could relax. Though knowing her mom, she would still keep her phone on her and be working through it, just at a more sedate pace and on easier things rather than the hectic slew of emails and chaos that had been constant all week so far.

Next week would start quietening down anyway. They had the War Machine and Angels announcement, and then the closing speeches for the opening week, but that was a snooze fest really and could easily be ignored.

Aside from that, and the new meeting her mom was setting up with the Audi people, next week it was back to normal back at the R 'n' D compound where she could start focusing on working on the next generation of processors and building up the technology to actually re-invent her dad's first generation nanotechnology.

She still had all of his original research and development that led to it, so it should be pretty easy to figure out what she needed and to create the proper machinery and coding to help develop it. In all likelihood they might even be able to skip first or second generation stuff and skip right down to third generation nanotech, which would mean she could actually start helping to finally upgrade her dad's Iron Man suit and repopulate the nanite clusters.

Getting his suit actually up to spec properly would take a while, probably at least a year or two until they were down to proper subatomic nanotech, but once they were there, the Iron Man suit would be equal to her own Iron Maiden suit, or in the range as well as by then she would likely already have a whole slew of upgrades and enhancements planned and ready to implement once they'd caught up to the necessary level of technology.

It was just a waiting and grinding game now, pushing twenty ten technology forwards at a breakneck pace so she could actually get back to what she considered modern and acceptable technology to work on.

They would be ready by twenty twelve though. Two years time, she was certain of it.

HYDRA Research Base
Urdu-Flavantuch mountain range
Sokovia

Clint scowled as he let another arrow fly, this one with an explosive tip that arced down the hallway to their left where the HYDRA soldiers were shooting from, exploding with devastating effect only moments later.

He only looked around when the gunfire from the corridor stopped, letting him know he'd been successful in clearing out that particular HYDRA nest.

Nat and Yelena were off to one side, both shooting over towards where they had several guards pinned down in a laboratory ahead, along with who he was pretty sure was Doctor List, though he hadn't been able to get a proper look to match the face with the pictures on Stark's files that he'd memorised.

Even Melina and Alexei had been... he didn't know if shaken was the right word given how stoic both had been, and he didn't understand enough Russian to know what they'd said, but from the tone and the way the words had been spat out, he was betting they were curse words or profanity, and well deserved at that.

They'd found one of List's laboratories, maybe workshops might have been a better word, slaughter houses or atrocities both also fit really. It had been filled with operating tables and corpses, horrific and twisted operations where List had been trying to fit robot parts and metal bits onto humans and keep them alive.

At least from what he had seen, none of them had survived List's atrocities, and honestly that was probably for the best from the abominations of metal, flesh and wires that he had seen. Bodies dying with their last horrific moments etched plainly on their faces, and he knew from seeing their frozen expressions that their deaths had not been nice or quick.

He definitely didn't know enough about robotics or fancy machines to understand exactly what List and HYDRA were doing here, but common sense was enough to tell him that grafting and attaching robot limbs to human bodies, with guns and other weird glowing weapons that he didn't recognise, wasn't going to lead to anything good.

Half of him wished Stark, the future Stark, was here with them. At least she'd be able to look through all of this twisted HYDRA crap and understand it, maybe make sense of exactly what sort of stuff they were doing here. But on the other hand, maybe it was better that she wasn't and he could live mostly in ignorance of the true horrors that HYDRA had committed here.

Some things he just didn't want to know.

Clint's thoughts were interrupted by an angry roar, his attention snapping around immediately as he saw Alexei holding up a giant gas canister thing and throwing it towards the laboratory where List and the soldiers were cornered and holding ground.

He didn't need any instructions when he saw both Nat, Melina and Yelena all turning their targets onto the flying gas canister, all three opening fire at once.

He ducked instantly, barely a moment before the bullets impacted and the canister exploded, rocking the laboratories and sub basement of the fortress, and turning their entire world into ringing noise, glowing fire and a rush of heat that felt like it was singing the hair right off of his head.

He was up again a moment later when he was sure there wasn't going to be any more subsequent explosions, and a quick glance around told him that everyone else was alright, and had had better reactions than him.

"Check he's dead." Melina said firmly, disdain dripping from her words as she scowled towards the destroyed laboratory. "It was a quicker death than one like him deserves."

Clint couldn't argue with that, so he simply kept watch and scouted around the area while Nat and Yelena headed through the carnage and into the laboratory to ensure List had died in the fiery explosion.

He'd lost count of how many HYDRA scientists and soldiers they'd killed while working their way down here. He wasn't counting, but he knew Nat and Yelena had killed the most, Alexei and Melina were more subtle, and only charged in when they were sure of entering into close hand to hand combat, where as Nat and Yelena were both happy to stride through the corridors and whipping off shots with their pistols, wiping out entire garrisons together.

"Over here," Alexei's voice boomed out from where he'd been scouting out the surrounding laboratories as well. "This is important, da?" He asked as Clint ran over to see what Alexei was shouting for.

"Probably," Clint admitted, looking at the rather large computer system that looked to take up nearly an entire wall, with dozens of monitors, data banks, and angled plates with wires and cables coming off that were hanging around loosely and apparently ready for something... or some one... to connect to.

"Looks like the fortress' main system." Natasha said calmly as she came over. "List is dead. A chunk of metal to the chest. It was quick."

"Quicker than he deserved." Melina growled out, summing up the thoughts they were all having.

"I'll have a look," Yelena said, moving towards the computer system and tapping away at the keyboard, watching as the monitors came to life and started showing various systems and control networks.

"Looks familiar," Clint mused, frowning at the various monitors and trying to figure out why HYDRA's computers would look familiar to him.

"It's the same system SHIELD uses." Natasha said simply, stepping in to stand beside Yelena and help her navigate through HYDRA's computer. "They probably stole it from SHIELD, or developed it for SHIELD so they could have a back door in whenever they wanted."

Clint nodded automatically that, it made sense and was just another harrowing realisation of how SHIELD and HYDRA were basically the same thing right now.

"Keep watch," Melina ordered, looking to Clint as she spoke. "We'll check for any more HYDRA scientists or soldiers." She said, gesturing for Alexei to follow her as they moved off to head further through the laboratories, leaving Clint to stand around awkwardly while Nat and Yelena continued to scour through HYDRA's computer systems.

Personally he didn't think there were any soldiers or brave scientists left, they all would have heard the explosion and fighting by now, and if they hadn't converged down here and come to join in the battle, then they'd likely fled the fortress into the mountains or down towards Novi Grad.

Either way they wouldn't be a problem for them anymore.

He did as ordered though, finding a good vantage point where he could keep watch on all three directions that led through to where the HYDRA computer systems were, so he could keep an eye on Nat and Yelena, and keep watch at the same time to ensure nobody was coming down to surprise them.

It was good to keep his mind active and on the mission, focusing on keeping watch and making sure Nat and Yelena had the time to do whatever it was they were doing.

It kept his mind off of thinking about what HYDRA had been doing here, and how many people had died in their horrific experiments. He didn't even know if they were Sokovians or just people HYDRA had kidnapped and forced into their experiments, either way they wouldn't likely know the truth now.

"боже мой!"

Clint turned in surprise at hearing Nat curse. He recognised that phrase and it was only something Nat muttered from time to time when she'd been actually surprised by something, a rare and noteworthy occurrence.

"What? You recognise it?"

Clint raised his eyebrow at Yelena's question, wondering what they were both talking about.

"Last year, a mission in Odessa," Nat explained.

Clint raised another eyebrow at that, slowly moving over towards the computer systems to see what they were both looking at. He remembered the mission Nat was talking about, it had been one of her very rare mission failures at SHIELD.

She was supposed to be extracting a nuclear engineer from Odessa in Ukraine, someone who was defecting to America and apparently had intelligence about a new nuclear technology that was going to end the arms race for good.

She'd ended up having to get extracted from the borders, bleeding from a gunshot to the gut, and the nuclear engineer had been assassinated. Killed with violent prejudice from the mission reports he'd seen.

"It was him!" Nat spat out, glaring at the monitor that was showing a single man with long shaggy hair, strapped into some sort of chair. The silver metal arm with a red star on the shoulder was pretty unique, and she would recognise it anywhere.

"Солдат," Yelena frowned, moving aside as Natasha took control of the computer system. "Проект Зимний Солдат, The Winter Soldier?"

"I thought he was supposed to be a myth?" Clint asked, recognising the name clearly enough.

He knew most high ups in SHIELD had heard stories about The Winter Soldier, but he was a ghost story, a spook that never left any evidence or intel to follow him. Even SHIELD didn't believe he actually existed, and they'd believed in some pretty crazy shit over the years.

"They built his arm here," Natasha spat out, going through the computer files and narrowing her eyes. "Upgraded, a new arm. His third according to these files."

"So... robot arms aren't a new thing then," Clint grimaced at that thought, looking around the burning laboratory. It was a good thing they were going to blow this place sky high, it was a well deserved end as far as he was concerned.

"A list of his targets..." Natasha trailed off as she opened the file then simply stared, eyes wide at the list that came up.

Yelena actually whistled, long and low as she stared at the extremely long list. "These are... this is everyone he's killed?"

"Successful mission reports," Natasha nodded, her eyes flicking down a few names on the list that she did recognise. "Some of these dates though..." She frowned, scrolling to the earliest mission report on the list and opening the file. "Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, assassinated by sniper in his presidency campaign. He was going to clean up the Colombian drug cartels.

"Wait, that was decades ago..." Clint frowned as he thought about it.

"April ninth, nineteen forty eight." Yelena read off the file. "It can't be the same person."

"It is." Natasha frowned, flicking back to the Project Winter Soldier file and reopening it to get a better look at all the information. "Cryogenics, they kept him frozen between missions..." She explained with a frown. "This... they gave him a super-soldier serum, that's how he got the best of me in Odessa." She said with a scowl.

"So... oh hell, this is the guy Morgan told us about." Clint whispered, finally putting two and two together as Nat looked over at him. "Bucky Barnes, Rogers old friend. The HYDRA assassin." He explained.

"боже мой," Nat repeated in a hiss, glaring at the project file on the monitor. So HYDRA had kidnapped Barnes, twisted and warped him, defiled him and grafted some sort of robot arm onto him, and had been using him as their assassin for the last seventy years.

"Go back to the missions list, maybe he's got one currently we can get a lead on." Yelena suggested.

Natasha nodded at that, reopening the missions file and scrolling down it.

The list of successful assassinations was... prolific to say the least. Barnes was probably the worlds most prolific mass murderer purely in assassinations. She did note a few names on the list that were certainly of interest, John F. Kennedy was definitely noteworthy. Martin Luther King Jr and Jean de Broglie stood out equally as well, and Alfred Herrhausen would explain a lot.

Her eyes scanned down the list until she froze, her eyes widening as her fingers refused to move on the keyboard, an action noticed by Yelena who stared at her.

"What is it?" Yelena asked, seeing her sister's clearly wary expression.

"December sixteenth, nineteen ninety one." Natasha whispered, her voice flat and clamped down tightly.

"A mission?" Clint asked wearily, not liking how Nat had clamped down on herself like that.

"He killed Howard and Maria Stark." Natasha whispered, a voice settling in the burning laboratory like a tomb that chilled both her and Clint's spine.

"Shit," Clint whispered, looking between Nat and the computer screen that was showing Howard Stark's name clearly enough, with a big red 'target eliminated' tag marked next to it. "Does... do you think she knows, he knows?"

"I don't know." Natasha said quietly, not looking away from the computer screen. "You've got their phone."

Clint grimaced at that, suddenly feeling like the Stark phone in his pocket was a bomb waiting to go off. "I'm no good at this sort of thing."

"And I am?" Nat countered, not even looking at him as she spoke. "We have to tell them, find out if they know. If they don't, and we don't tell them..."

"Yeah, I'd rather not have two pissed Stark's coming after me," Clint admitted with a grimace, certainly not wanting to get on either Stark's bad side and have their future tech weapons aimed his way. "This is going to suck." He muttered, sliding the fancy Stark phone out of his pocket and powering it on by pressing his thumb over the side button.

The phone turned on and was ready on it's home screen practically instantly, leaving Clint to hesitate as he tapped his thumb over the call history icon and found the one incoming call the phone had received so far.

Taking a deep breath he held it in for a moment before tapping the call button, lifting the phone up to his ear as it rang.

"Mr Barton. How may I assist you?"

Clint actually let out a breath of relief when Stark's weird robot voice thing answered. The Irish one that he'd dealt with before, that was much better than either Stark answering the phone.

"I need to talk to Morgan. It's... it's important." Clint bit out, trying to keep his tone as level as possible.

"Connecting you now Mr Barton." The Irish voice announced before the phone went quiet again.

He barely had time to think about what to say before the line was picked up again barely a few seconds later.

"Hey, what's up? FRIDAY said you needed to talk?" Morgan's voice came over the line.

"Uh, yeah." Clint answered awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck as he stared at the HYDRA computer and not really sure how to approach this conversation. "You know that... uh, the Russian assassin guy, Barnes?"

"Rogers old BFF?" Morgan's voice came back. "Yeah, you run into him?" She asked, sounding concerned. "He's still HYDRA's bitch boy right now, if you've seen him..."

"No, we... we haven't seen him." Clint answered before taking a breath. "Did you know he was an assassin?" He asked.

"Rumours mostly, heard a few things about him, never really spoke to him so I can't confirm anything." Morgan replied, a shrug coming across clearly in her voice. "You found something?" She asked, her voice piqued with interest.

"You could say that," Clint whispered awkwardly. "You didn't know then... about... about him killing..."

"I knew he was HYDRA's bitch, I didn't think they kept him around for cuddles and sleep overs." Morgan shot back with a snort of laughter.

Clint didn't laugh though, he simply stared ahead at the HYDRA computers and took a deep breath. "What do you know about Howard Stark?" He asked quietly.

"What?" Morgan's voice came back cold, biting and demanding information. Clearly she'd been able to put the two together quickly enough and had come to the right conclusion. "You're sure?" She demanded.

"I'm looking at his mission reports now." Clint admitted. "He... he did it." He said quietly. "You didn't know?"

"No." Morgan replied, her voice practically arctic over the line. "I'm tracing the call, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"We're in Sokovia, the HYDRA base." Clint explained, he might as well save her some time. "We've got a list here of everyone he's killed since HYDRA took him in. They were doing some pretty nasty crap here, weird experiments, robot stuff like the arms and stuff."

"I'm getting my dad, we'll be out of New York as soon as I hang up." Morgan answered in clipped tones.

"We'll be here." Clint said with a grimace as Morgan hung up the line without saying anything more.

"She didn't know." Natasha said calmly.

"No." Clint explained. "She's grabbing Stark and they're on their way. Probably be a few hours from New York."

Natasha nodded at that, that was a good nine hour flight, maybe seven or eight in Stark's fancy jet, but either way they wouldn't be here anytime soon.

"Secure the fortress, make sure we're alone here. Keep that computer safe." Natasha said, ordering Clint to stay here. "We'll do a sweep and make sure we haven't missed any stragglers or patrols."

Clint simply nodded, moving into position again where he could guard the computer and keep watch over anyone approaching the laboratories.

He didn't say anything else as Natasha and Yelena moved off silently, both intent on scouring the base and ensuring it was safe enough for them to camp out and wait for Stark to arrive.

This was going to be a complete shit show, he knew it.

It was bad enough that Howard Stark had been killed by Rogers' best friend, but being killed by a super-soldier as well, that was just an insult on top. Neither Stark would be willing to let this go, and right now, he couldn't blame them in the least.

AN: and that brings this update to a close... sorry it took so long, but at 92,239 words over five chapters, I hope it was worth it lol

This batch seriously got away from me while writing... but now we're into the really fun stuff where I can really start building things up... hope you all enjoyed it :D