━we'll shake it off

If we're caught in a wave,

I will carry you over.

came into view as they landed. Everyone got out of the Quinjet not daring to disrupt the silence that had been lingering in the air during the whole flight. Clint led the way to the safe house while helping Nat walk properly. Tony and Arabella were right behind them walking side to side. Thor, Steve, and Bruce followed closely behind. They stepped in the porch and climbed the three stairs to enter the house.

"What is this place?" Thor turned his attention to Tony. "A safe house?" Tony shrugged.

Clint opened the door and the shaken-up heroes walked inside the house. Arabella's blue eyes roamed around the house with a frown set upon her face. She spotted a few family pictures hung on the wall and as she moved forward, her boot-clad foot crashed a Lego. Then realization hit her; Clint had a family.

"Honey!" Clint called out for whom Arabella guessed was his partner. A brunette, undoubtedly pregnant woman stepped out of the kitchen holding some drawings in her hand. "Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."

"Hey." The woman greeted Clint with a peck on the lips.

Tony frowned at the PDA and arched a brow. "This is an agent of some kind."

"Gentleman, Bella. This is Laura." The archer introduced his wife.

The woman, Laura, waved at them. "I know all your names." No one said anything back, they just stared dumbfounded, except for the Starks who waved at her awkwardly.

"Oh, incoming." Clint walked past Laura and opened his arms to receive a little girl and a boy. He picked up the girl and embraced the boy. "Hi, sweetheart! Hey, buddy! How you are guys doing?"

"These are... smaller agents," Tony reassured the rest of the team.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" A small, sweet voice asked. Nat's head instantly turned around and her lips formed a smile. "Why don't you hug her and find out?" The little girl rushed to her and jumped in the red head's arms.

"Sorry for barging into you." Steve apologized to the couple, more specifically, Laura.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Arabella softly nudged Tony's arm, widening her blue eyes. A whispered 'what?' was his response.

"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined." Clint wrapped an arm around Laura and his son. "He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."

"Never thought you were a family guy. It suits you, though." Arabella looked up at Clint, a small smile resting on her lips as one of his own formed on the archer.

A cracking noise came from Arabella's right and when she turned to see, Thor was hiding some broken Lego pieces under a chair. The girl softly chuckled and stopped when someone tugged her hand. She glanced down to find Clint's daughter looking between Thor and her. She offered a smile to the little girl, not sure how to interact with children. The sound of a toaster popping up startled Thor, causing him to frown and exit the house.

"I'll get him," Cap told the girl and went outside behind Thor.

Another tug made the girl look down and her eyes met with the little girl again. "Hi," The girl waved her small hand. "I'm Lila."

"Hey," Arabella bent down so they could be the same height. "I'm Arabella." She offered another smile to Lila.

"Daddy called you Bella, can I call you that too?" Lila tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah, sure." Arabella shrugged. "Everybody calls me Bella anyway."

Lila's smile grew wider and her brows shot up, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Do you like cookies, Bella?"

"I love them," The older girl smirked. "Especially chocolate chip cookies."

Lila let out a small excited shriek and clapped her small hands together. "Those are my favorite too!" She exclaimed. "Mommy said we could bake cookies today. Do you want to bake cookies with us?" Lila didn't wait for a response, though, and was quick to rush to her mom. "Mom! Mom! Can Bella bake cookies with us?"

"Sure, sweetie. I don't see why not." Laura answered to her overexcited daughter and shared a laugh with Arabella.

"Bella!" Big, purple hands grabbed her by the neck.

Arabella gasped and stumbled back grabbing a hold of the nearest thing she had, that being her father's arm, and shut her eyes while gasping for air.

"Woah!" Tony exclaimed as he caught his daughter. "Belles, you okay?"

Snap.

Her knees got weak and she stumbled back again, gripping Tony's arm tightly. He pulled a chair over and sat her on it. She coughed and blinked a couple of times before rubbing her eyes roughly. Her neck felt tight and the pressure of the hands still lingered around it. Purple hands, she thought. Purple hands that surely belonged to that purple creature she had seen on her vision.

"Hey, Belles," Tony cupped her face with his rough hand, bringing it up at his eye level. "Look at me." Dazed eyes meet Tony's, but they weren't really looking at him, they seemed distant. "Bella!"

"I'm cool," She blurted out, repeatedly nodding her head. She looked at Tony and more reassuringly said, "I'm fine."

Clint hurried to the kitchen and brought the girl a glass of water. "Here." He handed it to the girl with a small, sympathetic smile.

"Thanks," Arabella took the glass and slowly took a sip. The water felt cool as it flowed through her throat and landed in her empty stomach.

"You can take a shower if you want." Laura offered her as Arabella handed the empty glass back to Clint. "I have some clothes that could fit you." Her voice was ever so soft, as if afraid that if she spoke too loud the girl would break.

Arabella stood up with a sigh, the last thing she wanted was to be a burden or scare everyone, and apparently that's exactly what she did. "That'll be nice. Thank you."

"No need to, honey." Laura smiled and placed a delicate hand on the girl's back. "Come on. I'll show you the way."

The pair walked through a hall and up the stairs to the guest's room. Laura opened the door and Arabella followed her inside.

Laura walked up to another door and pushed it open. "This is the bathroom. I'm going to leave some clothes on the bed."

"Thank you, Miss Barton." Arabella gratefully smiled at her.

"Oh no, Laura is fine." Laura gently gave her a small hug, only being able to wrap her arms around the girl halfway because of her bump. "Go shower. It'll make you feel better."

Arabella nodded and walked into the bathroom, locking the door. She leaned on the white vanity sink and stared at the mirror with her head hung low. Uneven breaths escaped her mouth as she did her best to stabilize her shaking arms. She looked like hell. Tired eyes with dark bags underneath. Dry, chapped lips that were one step away from cracking and bleeding. Knotted hair tied up in a messy ponytail. And sanity, well, too far gone.

She sighed, stripped from her suit, and hopped in the shower. Turning it on, she let the water soak her hair and body. Her eyes closed, as she tried to relax, hoping the vision would wash away with the dirt.

startled Arabella when she was combing her wet hair. She was now wearing a pair of denim shorts and a t-shirt from Laura. She felt fresh and clean, yet she didn't feel comfortable. There was still something bothering her, making her feel uneasy. Her bare feet carried her to the door and turned the knob.

Tony stood outside the room, holding a pair of sneakers. "I, uh, I found these on the Quinjet." He lifted the pair of grey shoes and swung them forward for Arabella to take them. "How come you have spare shoes and not spare clothes?" He lifted a brow, mildly curious.

Arabella let out a humorless laugh and simply shrugged. "Can't walk around with just one shoe."

"That totally doesn't make sense." Tony shook his head letting out a humorless chuckle that matched the girl's. He watched as Arabella crouched down to put on her shoes. "Look, kid, I-"

"Bella!" Lila came shouting from the stairs, hurrying up to get to the older girl. "Mommy said we can bake the cookies now! Come on!"

Tony sighed, he was hoping to talk to his daughter alone. But obviously, that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Arabella chuckled as she finished tying her sneakers. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

"Belles," Tony placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, worried brown eyes met deep blue ones. "You alright?"

Arabella flashed a bright smile that could fool anyone. Anyone but Tony.

"Always."

on the porch, eyes fixed on the grass in front. A hand placed itself on her shoulder, she looked up and saw Bella. Nat offered a smile that didn't quite match her face's saddened expression. The girl returned the gesture and sat down next to her.

"How are you, kid?" Nat was the first to speak.

"Eh, could be better." She shrugged. "How 'bout you?"

"I'm good." Natasha lied through her teeth. Anyone would've believed, she was trained to lie after all. However, she happened to have lied to the girl who was trained to lie as well.

"Good lie, but I'm not buying it," Arabella smirked at the woman, turning her head to look forward. "I think I know what you saw, Nat."

The spy hummed in response, not really wanting to talk about what the witch had made her see.

"You saw it, didn't you?" Bella once again stared at Nat, who had now moved her gaze to the grass once again.

"You did too?" Her voice was flat, monotonous.

Bella shook her head, intertwining her fingers and fidgeting with her thumbs. "I saw something else."

"What?"

"I . . . don't know." The statement left her mouth as a question. "It wasn't pretty."

"Yeah," Nat hummed once again. "Mine neither." She turned to look at the girl, green eyes digging into blue ones. "We both know the Red Room wasn't pretty." With that, she stood up and left.

folks, out of play to buy himself time." Nick Fury was now standing in the kitchen, Tony had brought him to the house and after they had dinner, they gathered to discuss the Ultron thing. "My contacts all say he's building something."

Arabella chewed another one of the chocolate chip cookies that she had baked before with Lila and Laura. She rested her elbow on the table as she damped the half-eaten cookie on the warm glass of milk.

"The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing." Fury grabbed a glass and dried it with a towel.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve leaned on the wall and crossed his arms, keeping a stern look on his face like he did most of the time.

"He's easy to track. He's everywhere." Fury nonchalantly said. "The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit." Arabella made a grimace, not knowing if she found what he said funny or disgusting. "It still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

Lila walked to Arabella, giving her a drawing of a red flower. "Thanks, Lila." She whispered and grabbed the artwork. "Night." Lila waved back and ran to her mother.

"Is he still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, shooting another dart at the target.

"Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway."

Arabella bit a piece of the remaining cookie on her plate and swallowed it with a gulp of warm milk, tired eyes staring at the wooden table.

"I cracked the Pentagon firewall in high school on a dare." Tony shrugged.

"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that." Nick split in half the cookie Arabella had given him and took a bite. "Tastes good." He complimented the girl who smiled in return.

"Nexus?" Steve looked confused and Arabella made a mental note to help Sam to put the super-soldier up to date.

"It's the, uh, world Internet hub in Oslo," Arabella explained to him, receiving a small nod.

"Every byte of data flows through there," Bruce added from next to the girl. "Fastest access on Earth."

"So what did they say?" Clint pipped in the conversation and asked Nick while examining a dart

"He's fixed on the missiles, but codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony furrowed and just as he asked that, a dart flew millimeters from his face. He turned his head to Clint and the archer friendly shrugged.

"Parties unknown." Fury took another bite of the cookie.

"Do we have an ally?" Nat spoke for the first time.

"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing." Fury argued with another cookie in his hand. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo and find our unknown," Tony informed, exhaustion lingering in his voice.

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, " Nat turned to Fury and leaned back on her chair. "You'd have more than that."

"I do." He started as if it were an obvious thing. "I have you."

Arabella smiled at his weird kind of optimism, but couldn't help but frown at what he said too. They were his only hope. The Avengers were the only ones that could defeat Ultron, or at least come close to.

"Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up." Fury recalled those times. Times Arabella didn't get to experience. "Now, here we all are. Back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world."

Save the world. Now, those were big words. Arabella couldn't help but feel anxious about this all, yet she had a smirk plastered on her face.

"Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether he admits it or not, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave."

Arabella's stomach churned and suddenly she felt like throwing up the cookies she had eaten. But it brought a certain type of motivation, Fury sure knew how to do that.

"So stand." Fury demanded. "Outwit that platinum bastard."

Arabella slightly shook her head. "Cap doesn't like that kind of language." She smirked and heard her dad's laugh from the other side of the room.

Steve softly scoffed and raised his eyebrows. "You know what, Stark." He playfully glared a the younger girl.

"So," Fury caught their attention back again. "What does he want?"

"To become better. Better than us." Steve's stern look back on his face. "He keeps building bodies."

"Human bodies."

"The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking." Tony stepped closer to the group. "We're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race," Nat looked between Tony and Bruce. "You amazingly failed."

Bruce seemed to be analyzing the drawing Lila had given Nat, a butterfly. "They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?"

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

!

Hi! Thank you, again, for taking the time to read this and waiting for my lazy ass to update. Let me know what you think about the book so far, it's always nice to read your comments. I hope you stick around!

love, lili