16

Chapter 16: Code Purplenurbles

Notes:

I describe borsht as delicious in this chapter. I've had the misfortune of eating it once, it was terrible. But I was at a friends house, and her Russian mom was very excited about the homemade Russian food. So I ate that whole damn bowl with a smile on my face. I still twitch at the thought of that god forsaken soup.

Chapter Text

Tony hovered above the SHIELD headquarters. The smoke, blown hole in the side of the base, the complete lack of movement. Something had gone really, really wrong here. And what was this, two for three on his kids calling him in too late for giant disasters? He didn't deserve this.

Lowering into what had to be the hanger he scanned the destruction. He frowned, someone had blown the quinjets. "FRIDAY what are you getting?"

-"Highly dissipated knock out gas. Explosive residue is from c4. I'm reading twenty connective ports in the containment box twenty feet to your right."-

Tony sent out two of his drones. They'd scan the rest of the base while he investigated here. But he had a horrible tickling sensation, saying the danger here had passed. Which meant his kid was very much not here. He opened up the door of the containment unit. "Fuck."

It was rows of identical replicas of Jeffory Mace, SHIELD Director. That was a very, very bad sign. He shot one through the chest. "FRIDAY scan the LMDs."

-"Life signs detected inside the Playground sir."- FRIDAY spoke. -"I have located twenty two heat signatures inside the base. They all seem to be unconscious."-

Tony left the containment box and made his way into the base. It was...well an hour of sweeping rooms and he knew whatever had happened was bad. The robot stabbinated to death in the labs, that was a lot of blood. Because of course once activated these robots bled. Fun. Faint blood trail from there to the boiler room. Then the shattered and broken robot remains radiating outwards from the boiler room. He called Hill.

-"Stark what do you have? Since the order to go dark signal went out there's been nothing from the Playground."-

He pulled up the simulation he was running on the SHIELD holotable of what he was fairly sure what had happened. "It's a guess, but my guesses are other people's facts. There are twenty two unconscious agents in the base. Looks like the LMDs got brought in while several models were attempting to replace the higher ranking agents."

"One of the scientists seems to have got wise. There's an LMD in the labs that was stabbed a half dozen times. Surviving scientist made it to the boiler room. There they met up with Quake. They gassed the base with knock out gas. Then Quake fought a path of mass destruction through the base."

Tony swallowed, his voice feeling tight as he saw the blood stains in the upper lab he was in. FRIDAY's scans confirmed it was blood with a high degree of commonality with his own. "Quake was shot in the upper labs, at least twice. From there the scientist and Quake dosed a couple of agents and took a quinjet. There's one missing and there was a blood trail. They sabotaged the other quinjets and went who the fuck knows where. I think it was them who sent out the 'go dark' signal."

-"Get what evidence you can, I've contacted a team that can collect the agents who are unconscious."-

Tony looked at the blood splatter. "I have FRIDAY seeing what she can do about tracing these LMDs. Do you have anything on Radcliffe? I believe I should pay him a visit." And kick his stupid ass.

Tony was halfway to his Malibu home when he got a message in his internal system. He came to an abrupt stop, as a video feed request popped up in the corner of his helmet. Landing he stepped out of the suit, his suit projecting the video feed. "Is Quake alright?" He demanded immediately. Because nobody would have managed to link a communication to FRIDAY, a direct video link directly into the suit except for her.

-"Holy shit you're Tony Stark."- The woman with short hair gaped as she stared at him.

He noted at least two people behind her. "Great observational skills. Really, I can see why SHIELD hired you. Now is Quake alright?"

-"She's alive."- A different woman spoke up, her face coming into focus over the first woman's shoulder.- "My name is Elena and Quake said to contact you as soon as she and Jemma went under."-

Tony did not like the implication there."So why don't you explain to me sweetheart what Quake just went under for?"

-"We'll send you our coordinates. And I'm not your sweetheart Stark."-

////

Darcy was shaking with rage. "I'm going to buy a sledgehammer. Take that sledgehammer and break this piece of extremely shitty plywood bullshit designed for torture. And then I'm going to put on some groovy tunes and forget this pain."

"Uh… I mean we can still figure it out. I think we need to attach L-1 to P-2...or P-3?" Peter winced from where he was hanging from the ceiling and reading the instructions.

She ran a hand through her hair. "I have a doctorate. This swedish crap is some alien plot to destroy brain cells."

"No it's P-2. Can you pass the two sided screw?" Peter's face was scrunched up as he held the instructions in one hand, the other rubbing at his jaw.

Darcy let out a low cackle. "No, I'll make a flamethrower. Burn it to ash." She absently passed the aforementioned screw to Peter. "I have some hair spray we could use as an accelerant."

"We're grounded, remember?" Peter dropped from the ceiling and started trying to fit two pieces together. "Besides, Aunt May really liked these ones."

Darcy groaned. "Fine." She bit back a laugh as one of the boards snapped in Pete's hands. "Or we could order an already built one and hide our shame in the neighbor's trash bin?"

"We could have Hunter pick it up?" Peter suggested.

She ruffled his hair. "Penance bookshelf here we come." Darcy slid her phone out. Some unknown number had texted her. "Telemarketers are the wor…." She trailed off as she read the text. It should have been nonsense. -Code Purplenurbles, Poprocks Incoming. Tremors in Operation Red Pill.-

"Darcy?" Peter looked up at her with a frown.

Darcy swallowed. "Sweet Thor." She ran through the single dumbest code they'd set up. "Peter put your suit on under your clothing. Then go get May right now."

"No way, no suit while we're grounded." Peter hopped to his feet. "What's going on?"

She held out the phone showing the text. "Daisy just announced Purplenurbles."

"Terminators enforcing the Matrix? That's ridiculous. I mean those aren't even from the same franchise the chances of…." Peter's eyes widened as he read the text. "I'll go get Aunt May."

Darcy yanked her hair back into a ponytail. "I'll get the gobags ready. We'll be safer in the tower with Wanda than on the run."

Darcy had a really bad feeling when she saw the Ironman suit waiting for her in the tower. "So… how about the killer robots Poprocks?"

-"I'm not really here."- The suit said in his voice. Which cool interface. -"I've located Daisy. She's plugged herself into a something called the Framework."-

Yuppers, that was shitty news. "Correct me if I'm wrong but the Framework wouldn't happen to basically be the Matrix being run by terminators in a plot to conquer the world?"

-"She told you what was happening and then still did it?!"- Despite the robotics his voice screeched slightly.

Darcy rolled her eyes. "I got unreplyable text from a burner phone. I'm guessing you need me?"

-"I'll be there in an hour. Then we're going to an oil rig. We don't have long so I'm going to need your help or anyone who dies in the Framework is going to die here too."-

Her hands shook slightly as she tipped her chin up. "Got it, I'll grab your portable tool kit."

Darcy stayed firmly behind Tony's armored back. "So, not that I'm not loving the father daughter bonding trip to the robot infested oil rig. But uh...I'm too young and hot to die by sexy terminator."

"Two more left Spawn, and here I was thinking you were getting into the whole shootout thing. I seem to remember in Michigan you playing at seal team 8."

Darcy winced as Tony blasted a hole through a person. The robot man twitched, sparks flickering from the chest cavity and his eyes. And then the LMD collapsed like a doll. Her nose wrinkled up. "Isn't that like a fourth copy of the Watchdog leader?"

"Oh good my spawn can count." Tony tapped his shoulder, a small drone detaching from his shoulder piece and flying down a hallway. "Alright Spawn, once we get to the central hub you just start getting the Framework eggs or pods or whatever the agents are in separated. Ignore everything else, I'll take care of it."

Darcy gave a salute. "Gotcha Poprocks."

They came round a corner, Tony blasting the door open and then...nothing?

She peeked around his shoulder and huh...just six people in what basically looked like low budget borge charging stations. "Uh...very Star Trek." Darcy stepped around her dad and started prying the metal siding off one. Time to see what she was dealing with.

"Huh, I get it." Tony's face mask popped off, and then he was stepping out of his suit. He marched straight to the computer bank and plugged in a hard connection for FRIDAY.

Darcy bit at her lower lip while following the cords to see what plugged in where. "Whaddya get?"

"Evil terminator is hot. If you're into evil robots." Tony started pulling up information on the computer bank.

She gave him a look. "Really? How many corporate spies managed to get into SI by flashing some boob?" Darcy yanked out a green wire. Huh, that was sloppy wiring. Someone did this on a timetable.

Tony just chuckled. "Getting in doesn't mean they got anything. Well, that I didn't give them."

"So gross old man." Darcy pulled out a pocket knife and moved to the next piece of paneling to pry off. "Right, this 'they die in the matrix they die for realsies sitch.' I think I can get us into the system. If you can get the disconnect from the Framework slower so they have a chance to get a dreamy edge they might survive?"

Tony frowned as he started to type, the suit raising its arm towards the lady on the far end who was totally one of the terminators. "Give me an hour."

"I can cut it down to one connection per borg charger/Framework hookup." Darcy groaned at the mess of wires… "It's going to take a while though."

"Well let's hope Quaker Shaker can keep them alive in there, till we can get some safety wheels on this set up. Or get them out. That'd make things easier." Tony clapped his hands together, a manic light in his eye.

////

Daisy's eyes snapped open as she sucked in a desperate gasp of air. She was half way up and off the flat medical table before hissing and stilling. "Darcy?"

"Hey sis." Darcy caught her gently. "Breathe, evil terminator bots dead."

Daisy looked to Jemma who was crying silently. "Jemma?"

"We have to find Fitz." Her voice cracked as she whipped at her face. "But he came through? He came through."

Daisy nodded. "He came through. We just have to get to the oil rig."

"Fun fact, we're already there." Darcy had a hand on her shoulder keeping her from standing up immediately. "Aida and her weird eastern european Watchdog robots are totes dust. Tony's good at KOing LMDs. You're good dude..and also have two bullet holes and look like you just went ten rounds with the Rock."

She couldn't. "The Framework?"

"FRIDAY is connected to it." Darcy gently, painfully gently really, pushed at her shoulder. "No running off to fight terminators while stuck in the fucking matrix by yourself. It took Tony and I like three hours to track you and then the oil rig down. Then had to blow up some crazy evil robots. And changing the rigging of the Framework set up so we could get you fucks out, even if you died in there."

Daisy huffed, her heart filling with relief. She was home. Not the sick world where Hydra ruled. Where everyone she cared for was dead or some sick twisted version of themselves. She leaned in, letting her head fall on Darcy's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Duh. Barely got Mace out." Darcy huffed. "Nearly gave me a heart attack when everything started beeping like that."

Jemma stiffened. "Mace is alive?"

"Wicked hangover and was having an existential crisis while guarding the others on the rig, but yeah." Darcy shrugged.

Daisy let out a sigh of relief. They hadn't lost him. She slid to her feet, easily slipping out of Darcy's grip. "They're here?"

"Yup." Darcy gestured to the exit.

Jemma was sprinting out to find Fitz.

Daisy limped, her leg burned, getting shot in the leg hurt, who knew. As she came down the ramp she saw Coulson and May. She didn't care about the pain moving caused, she just flung herself at them. "You made it!"

"Daisy!" Coulson hugged her tightly.

She could see over his shoulder, Tony was watching. His suit was half on and he had the oddest expression on his face. Daisy's smile felt tremulous. She still felt shaken and just..hurt by just everything. But the fight was done. They were allowed to actually feel their pains. And she was so grateful that that was the case. She'd come out ready to fight Aida. She mouthed the words 'Thank you' to Tony.

He seemed to still and then a smug smirk transformed his face and he winked at her.

Daisy closed her eyes and then let go of Coulson and May. She looked around, wincing slightly at the shaking wreck that was Fitz, but then swallowed thickly as she saw Mack still plugged in. "Is there any way to get him out?"

"He'll survive the Framework failing, or dying in there. But it won't be pretty." Tony replied easily.

Daisy stayed focused on her former partner. "He won't come out till the end then."

"There's nothing else you could have done." Coulson laid a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

Daisy nodded as she turned, she saw the quiet conversation between May and Mace in one corner. That was...good. May hadn't killed him. Not permanently at least. Well...Daisy could see the shakes Mace had, the way he was holding himself. "Is the damage permanent?"

"I don't know." Coulson set his shoulders. "But we'll take care of him."

Daisy leaned ever so slightly against Coulson. "I'm not coming back."

"I know." Coulson smiled tightly at her. It was probably as genuinely as any of them were going to be able to smile for a while after the nightmare of the Framework.

She took his hand and squeezed it. "What's the plan?"

"Do a head check, make sure no LMDs survived. Destroy the darkholme." Coulson seemed to come alive ever so slightly as he started thinking through the project that lay ahead.

Daisy winced as she shifted. "Physical therapy is going to suck. I haven't missed it."

////

Pietro walked, stiffly but he was walking without the damn walker, out of the quinjet. He beamed as he saw Wanda exactly where he'd known she'd be. "Hey sis."

"Pietro!" Wanda's feet barely touched the ground as she flung her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly.

He wrapped his arms around her. "I missed you." Pietro felt the need to say it, even as he felt her power settling into him once more, their familier link settling back to how it was. He didn't question that she was clearly feeling for his pain and any hurts he still had. He'd have done the same if he had her powers. Even without controlling their link he could feel an echo of her.

The relief they both felt at being reunited was dizzying. His eyes were wet as they clung to each other. "Never again."

"Never." She agreed, her agreement bone deep as it reverberated between them.

Clint's warm chuckles came from inside the jet as he loped out with his easy baring. He had both of their bags slung over one shoulder. "So we go away for a few months and this happens."

"Eight months." Wanda countered as she released him, but stayed near him.

Pietro gently mirrored her, their simple ease returning as if they'd never been separated. "So you promised terrible american junk food."

"If it still exists." Wanda rolled her eyes, but her emotions were fond. "We have unexpected company."

He concentrated on her, but there was no sign or feel of her being upset by that. "Your new friends?"

"The Parkers are staying till a disaster of some kind is handled. Apparently I'm the scariest person they trust to watch out for them." And there was a thread of affection and pride there.

Pietro leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her hair. "Good, you are terrifying and good."

"Any details on that disaster?" Clint asked, his face still at ease, but there was a tension there.

Wanda let out the most beleaguered sigh. "Whatever code Purplenurbles is. I believe they think I know what that means. Whatever it is Stark took Darcy with him for 'mechanical assistance' and Rhodey went to 'blow some LMDs up'."

"Well, then I leave you two to get settled in." Clint traipsed to the tower entrance, though his movements had purpose.

Pietro let her feel his exasperation as Wanda used her powers to snag his bag from him. "I could have carried that."

"You have an appointment with Dr Cho tomorrow. No heavy lifting until you are cleared for it." She replied without so much as batting an eyelash.

He huffed as he followed behind her. His movements still stiff, and she did walk slower for him, but he enjoyed walking beside her. "So is it just Ms Parker and Peter?"

"Darcy's bodyguard Hunter was pouting in the kitchen for a while. But then his 'Hellbeast of Beauty and Perfection' called and he went rushing out." Wanda was...she was good.

Pietro's eyes crinkled around the edges. "I'm surprised, living in the tower has been good for you."

"Not at first." Wanda corrected gently as the elevator doors closed. "Did you bring the photos from the farm?"

He smiled. "Of course, I've promised to call and read bedtime stories."

"We should hang some of them. The apartment is very….large." Wanda finally settled on.

Pietro whistled. "That is an understatement from the videos you've shared."

"Stark has been very generous." Her eyes narrowed. "When he isn't keeping me locked inside."

He felt his body vibrate so fast his edges surely blurred to anyone watching. The fury he felt was… but she did not need him to rage. "I may accept Stark intends to help. Is willing to die to protect. But I do not like him."

"I agree. But it was not without reason." Wanda's feelings were confused, wavering as they brushed against him.

Wanda's red powers opened the door for them. And then a teenage boy zipped out, eagerly grabbing Pietro's bag. "Hey Mr Pietro! How you run so fast is super cool. And I've heard so much about you. It's really good to meet you!"

"Which means you must be Peter." Pietro held out his hand, smiling as he shook the kid's hand. "Thank you for being kind to my sister."

Peter bounced backwards, bag slung over his shoulder. "Of course, sorry we're hiding out in your apartment right now. There's a thing with terminators and the matrix so ya know." He shrugged as if 'what can you do' and any of that made sense.

"The soup is simmering just fine dear." A woman who must be the infamous May Parker bustled forward and immediately hugged Wanda. She looked at him and oh. Her face was warm and welcoming and so painfully 'mom'. "It's lovely to meet you young man."

Pietro understood what he'd begun to suspect while talking with Wanda recently. She hadn't been befriended by Quake, Darcy and Peter so much as dragged into this small family. He could feel Wanda's affection for these people, and for that alone he would have loved them. But as he was bustled in and herded to the couch by May, while Peter started pestering Wanda and him with excited questions, he was sure he would love them for themselves.

Pietro hummed in delight as he took his first bite of borscht. "I've missed this. We should make duruny."

"Only if you help." Wanda's lips twitched up as she handed a bowl to Peter.

Peter perked up. "I can help too?"

"No Starks in my kitchen without supervision except for Darcy." Wanda replied without blinking.

Pietro grinned as he looked at the kid. "You want to learn how to make Sokovian food?"

"Why not?" Peter's head tilted slightly.

He laughed. "Of course you can help us then. I've missed the food from our home while I've been at the farm."

"My brother is partial to duruny. I could always bribe him when we were younger with them." Wanda teased lightly.

Peter's eyes brightened as he took a bite of the borscht. He then dug in with enthusiasm. May gave Peter a fond look. She smiled at Wanda. "What is duruny?"

"They are savory potato pancakes. Our mother made it to go with dinner and then we would eat the leftovers for breakfast the next day." Pietro explained happily, he was going to gorge himself on them if he was going to make them.

Wanda let out a light laugh. "Leftover duruny while you were in the house? We remember that very differently brother."

"I am wounded, you would say lies like that." Pietro laughed, this was good. It felt like it would be home.

Wanda stilled mid movement. And then she was turning towards the door. "Daisy's back." Her magic lit up around her fingers as she used her abilities to open the door. And there in the now open door were who had to be Daisy and Darcy.

Of the two girls the one wearing an outfit complete with colorful scarf and oversized knit sweater had to be Darcy. Besides she didn't look dangerous, which according to Wanda meant she was the most dangerous of the siblings. One arm over Darcy's shoulders and leaning fairly heavily on her was who must be Daisy. Daisy was wearing some sort of dirty oversized black ops pants, a tank top and a SHIELD black ops jacket. Also she had two facial cuts that looked like they needed stitches but had been taped shut. Darcy raised a hand, voice shockingly perky. "Sup! I bringeth the prodigal daughter home once more."

"Hey!" Daisy grumbled as they limped, and it was very clear Daisy wasn't putting much weight on one leg, into the apartment. Pietro felt a wave of worry from Wanda.

The kid, Peter half launched himself across the room, half ran to them. He actually slid the last few inches as he seemed to realize tackling them was a terrible idea. "You're Back!!" He chirped excitedly

"Come here kid." Daisy's arm moved slightly awkwardly, but she pulled him into a loose hug.

Darcy looked up over Peter's shoulder at Wanda, a smug grin on her face. "I've got an idiot to join your idiot in physical therapy."

"What happened to you!" May bustled forward and dragged Daisy to the couch where she and Darcy promptly dropped her. It was eerily familiar to his own reception earlier.

Daisy winced. "I may have been shot a couple of times." She held up a hand and grinned. "But good news, the world isn't going to be conquered by humanoid robots."

Pietro paused as he processed that. "Someone made Ultron…..again?"