"He's all over the globe. Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place." Maria said. I just finished taking a shower and putting on new clothes:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Fatalities?" Dad asked. "Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see." Maria said.
"Maximoffs. Well, that makes sense he'd go to them, they have someone in common."
"Not anymore." I said looking at the tablet. I handed him the tablet. It showed a picture of Strucker's dead body with the word "PEACE" written in blood on the wall next to him.
Meanwhile Clint was talking to someone on his phone. "That's a negative. I answer to you. Yes, ma'am." Dad interrupted him. "Barton, we might have something."
"Gotta go." He put his phone away.
"Who was that?"
"Girlfriend." More like Wife but okay. I forgot that Clint and Lila hadn't told the rest of the team that they were father and daughter, and that he had a wife. Only Me, Barry, and Nat knew.
After the whole team came down, he showed us the photo I showed him.
"What's this?" Morgan asked. "A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Dad replied.
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Tony added.
"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Natasha questioned.
"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Dad answered.
"Yeah, I bet he... " Natasha started. She looked at the computer monitor. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased." She confirmed.
"Not everything." Tony took out a bunch of boxes..oh no.
We spent an hour or so looking through physical files we had on Strucker. "Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Dad said.
"Well, these people are all horrible." Barry added. "Wait. I know that guy." Tony said. Barry passed the photo he was looking at to Tony. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Dad gave him an accusing look. "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." We looked at a photo of a man named Ulysses Klaue. "was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very "Ahab.""
Tera pointed to the scar on the back of Klaue's neck. "What's this?"
"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..."
"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand." Thor pointed out. Bruce identified the brand on Klaue's neck. "Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way."
"What dialect?"
"Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda." Bruce tried to pronounce.
" If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony said.
"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Dad asked.
"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce questioned.
Tony looked at dads shield. "The strongest metal on earth."
"Where is this guy now?" Dad asked.
~
Third Person P.O.V.
Salvage yard, African Coast
"Don't tell me your man swindled you. I sent you six short range heat seekers and got a boat full of rusted parts. Now, you will make it right, or the next missile I send you will come very much faster." Ulysses Klaue said. He hung up the call and joined another. "Now, minister, where were we?" Suddenly, the lights went out causing a commotion in the salvage yard. A set of twins entered the office. "Yeah. The enhanced. Strucker's prize pupils." He picked up a dish of candies from his desk. "Want a candy? Oh, sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create. Human life, not a growth market." The twins looked at each other. "You...you didn't know? Is this your first time intimidating someone? I'm afraid that I'm not that afraid."
"Everybody's afraid of something." Billy said. "Cuttlefish. Deep sea fish. They make lights. disco lights. Whoom, whoom, whoom! to hypnotize their prey, then whoom! I saw a documentary, it was terrifying." Tommy sped over and grabbed all of the candies from his bowl. "So if you're going to fiddle with my brain, and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business, and I know you're not in charge, and I only deal with the man in charge."
As if on cue, Ultron and Wanda broke through the glass window and knocked Klaue down. "There is no "man" in charge. Let's talk business." Ultron suggested. Klaue gave Ultron some vibration from his stash. "Upon this rock I will build my church. Vibranium." Ultron said.
"You know, it came at great personal cost. It's worth billions." Klaue said. Ultron chuckled and remotely put money in Klaue's bank account.
"Now, so are you. It's all under your dummy holdings? Finance is so weird. But I always say, "Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which.""
"Stark." Klaue said.
"What?"
"Tony Stark used to say that...to me. You're one of his."
"What?! I'm not...!" Ultron grabbed Klaue. "I'm not. You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is [he chops off Klaue's arm] I'm sorry. I am sor-- Ooh, I'm sure that's going to be okay. I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark! It's a thing with me. Stark is, he's a sickness!"
What he didn't know was that Stark came in his Iron Man suit.
"Ahh, Junior." He landed. Tera, Thor, Steve, and Brooklyn came from behind.
"You're gonna break your old man's heart."
971 words
I'm sorry this one was shorter!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
