Iron Woman - (Fem Iron man X Pepper)

Chapter 44 - Veronica

After changing I walk down to see the team gathering. "What's this?" I ask.

"A message." Thor slaps the tablet onto my chest, "Ultron killed Strucker." Steve says as I look down to see the photo.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." I say.

"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Nat asks.

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve says.

"Yeah, I bet he..." Nat pauses and types, "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything." I say.

We pull out boxes of files, Thor was being very messy with them. "Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve says.

"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce says, I stare down at his paper.

"Wait. I know that guy." I point. Bruce passes me the photo he was looking at. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve gives me an accusing look. "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." I sigh. "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very Ahab." I nod.

"What's this?" Thor points on Klaue's neck.

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..." I shake my head.

"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand."

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way." Bruce says.

"What dialect?" Steve asks.

Bruce look at the computer. "Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda."

I turn to Steve. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." I whisper.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve asks.

"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce asks.

I stare over at Steve's shield. "The strongest metal on earth." I nod.

"Where is this guy now?"

Thor and Steve follow me into the shipyard to see Ultron had upgraded. "I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark! It's a thing with me. Stark is, she's a sickness!"

"Ahh, Junior. You're gonna break your old woman's heart." I smirk.

"If I have to."

"We don't have to break anything." Thor says.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet."

"He beat me by one second." I chuckle.

"Ah, this is funny, Miss Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" A kid, Pietro says.

"This was never my life." I shake my head.

"You two can still walk away from this." Steve nods.

Wanda smiles, "Oh, we will."

Steve steps forward, "I know you've suffered."

"Uuughh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor says.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet."

"Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?" I ask.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan-"

Suddenly the Bots come out, aileron starts pulling me in and then blasts me back. I fly up to him, punching him and he throws me into the wall. He blasts me and throws debris at me as I lunge at him.

I flip back and fly into him, throwing him into the wall. We crash outside into the air, I continued to blast him and shoot missiles at him until he falls against a ship.

"Ah, the Vibranium's getting away." Upfront says as I aim a missile at him.

"And you're not going anywhere." I say.

"Of course not, I'm already there. You'll catch on. But first, you might need to catch Dr. Banner."

I shoot Ultron, destroying his suit and flying up. "News or footage, keyword: Hulk." As I fly I see all kinds of footage.
"Natasha, I could really use a lullaby." I say.

"Well, that's not gonna happen. Not for a while. The whole team is down, you got no back up here." Clint says.

"I'm calling in Veronica." I say. I fly down towards the city, The large armor placing around my mine. I land down in front of Hulk. "Alright everybody, stand down!" I look at Hulk. "You listening? That little witch is messing with your mind. You're stronger than her, you're smarter than her, you're Bruce Banner." Hulk roars in anger. "Right, right, right! Don't mention puny Banner." Hulk throws a car at me, I catch it as he punches me through it. "Okay." I fly forward and grab his face, dragging him through the street. He kicks me off and sends me flipping forward. I get back up as he charges me, I throw him aside and blast him. As I walk forward he hips me with a pole, sending me flying into a building. As I go to fly back he jumps on my back and stabs my shoulder with the pole. "In the back? Dick move, Banner." I roll my eyes as he tries to destroy the suit, my hand turns and I punch him far back.

"Veronica, gimme a hand." I shed off my broken arm, I blast Hulk back as. The new arm forms, creating a large beam as he charges. Just as my fist connects, our fists collide, breaking glass around us. I flip him and repeatedly punch him, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep!" He grabs my fist and I lock his hand in it, flying up with him. "Okay, pal, we're gonna get you out of town." He starts to move towards a building, "No, not that way, not that way!" I yell as we crash through the building. He lands on top of me, I jump up and pin him to the wall, "Come on, Bruce! You gotta work with me!" I try to spray him but he kicks me off into the elevator. I grab the wire as it almost falls, "Everybody out!" I say as Hulk jumps over me. Once they are out of the elevator I swing it over and smash it on Hulk, "Going to get ugly!" I fly down and punch him, Hulk tunes and spits a tooth out. "I'm sorry." He punches me, dragging me up a building as I fly, "Damage report." My screen starts to buzz, "That's comprehensive. Show me something." Hulk breaks the part flying to me, I look up to see a building was clear. "How quickly can we buy this building?" I ask, grabbing Hulk and dropping him into the building still getting built. I push him harder into its frame, he lands hard on the ground, shaking his head and looking around him.

I quickly punch him, knocking him out.

When he went back to normal, I carried him to the Jet, wrapping him in a blanket as Clint started to fly. Bruce had woken up...he looked scared and ashamed.

"The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air." Maria says.

"Stark Relief Foundation?" I ask.

"Already on the scene. How's the team?"

"Everyone's...we took a hit. We'll shake it off." I sigh.

"Well for now I'd stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here."

"So, run and hide?" I ask.

"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."

"Neither do we." I end the call. I walk to Clint, "Hey, you wanna switch out?" I ask.

"No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time, cause we're still a few hours out."

"A few hours from where?" I ask.

"A safe house."