Unloved - (Fem Reader X Bucky Barnes)

Chapter 21 - Research

I had been sitting down with my head in my hand, trying to think about what just happened as Bruce and Tony search through the lab.

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch." Bruce starts.

Steve shakes his head. "Ultron."

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Nat nods.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey asks.

"Nuclear codes."

"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." Rhodey nods.

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." Nat says.

Steve sighs, "He didn't say dead. He said extinct."

"He also said he killed somebody." Clint nods.

Maria shakes her head, "But there wasn't anyone else in the building."

Tony walks up. "Yes there was." He brings up the now-destroyed 3D image of Jarvis' consciousness.

"This is insane." I say in shock.

"Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense." Steve nods.

Bruce shakes his head, "No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage."

Thor suddenly barges in and grabs hold of Tony by his throat, holding him up. "Woah, woah, woah! It's going around!"

"Come on. Use your words, buddy." Tony struggles.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."

"Thor! The Legionnaire." Steve steps in.

Thor drops Tony. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Nat crosses her arms.

"I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony starts laughing, Bruce subtly shakes his head at him to get him to stop. "You think this is funny?" I ask.

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so... is it so... it is. It's so terrible."

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor points.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

Bruce steps up, "Tony, maybe this might not be the time to-"

"Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

"Only when I've created a murder bot." Bruce shakes his head.

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield." Steve nods.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asks.

"No, it's never come up."

"Saved New York?" He turns to all of us.

"Never heard that."

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's... that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony asks.

"Together." Steve nods.

"We'll lose"

"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve nods. Tony looks at him for a moment before turning away. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

I change out of my dress and meet up with Maria and Steve, "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."

"Fatalities?" Steve asks.

"Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see."

"Maximoffs. Well, that makes sense he'd go to them, they have someone in common." Steve nods.

"Not anymore." She hands Steve a tablet showing us a photo of Strucker's dead body with the word 'peace' written in blood on the wall next to him.

I look up at Steve as we walk, "Maximoff?"

"Wanda and Pietro. Twins who volunteered for Strucker's experiment. The was the girl who knocked us down."

"I knew them...." I shake my head.

"Barton, we might have something." Steve stops as we see Clint.

"Gotta go." He says into his phone.

"Who was that?" I ask with a smile.

"Girlfriend."

Tony walks up to us, "What's this?"

Thor smacks the tablet unit Tony's chest. "A message. Ultron killed Strucker." I say.

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

"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." I say.

"Yeah, I bet he..." Nat turns and looks at the computer monitor. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything....."

I sit down and lean my head on my hand as we spend the next hour reading through files. "Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." I sigh.

"Well, these people are all horrible."

"Wait. I know that guy." Tony points. Bruce passes him the photo he was looking at. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve and I give him an accusing look. "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." I lean forward to see the photo is of a man named Ulysses Klaue. "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very Ahab."

Thor points 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 says.

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

"What dialect?"

"Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda." He looks up.

Tony turns to Steve, "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."

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

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

"The strongest metal on earth." They look at Steve's shield n

"Where is this guy now?"