Double-Edged Sword ─ age of ultron ✓

seven

SEVERAL hours later, shortly after the sun rose, everyone reconvened at Stark Tower, Sasha and Alex included. Steve still looked a little sulky to Sasha, who knew exactly why. After she gathered her sanity and forced herself to finish eating earlier, she found several texts from Alex, all ranting about how Steve didn't want Alex to come. Sasha offered some advice: "just ignore him and follow. Go around. He acts tough, but he's a pushover. He won't be able to stop you if you really stand your ground. Or knock him out with his shield and take a train." But luckily for Alex, she didn't need to do any of that. Steve cracked and let her come.

In the time since Ultron escaped, he'd killed Strucker, made a very public display to prove it, and erased every ounce of data on him the Avengers had in their system. Sasha tried to recover it, but she'd been right; trying to beat Ultron on his own turf was like sending someone into a warzone with a Nerf gun. The only chance they had of figuring out what Strucker knew that got him killed was digging through a mountain of paper files for any lead they could find.

"Too bad it's the weekend, because I'd much rather be in school," Sasha muttered, rifling through a box of dusty files. She picked up a folder labeled, "Known Associates" and began flipping through it. "Jesus, this man was a fucking lunatic." She looked up. "Oh, sorry, Steve. Want me to go wash my mouth out with soap?"

Alex stifled a laugh. She was already pushing her luck just by being here, so it was best not to poke the bear.

"Really?" Steve rolled his eyes. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Not a chance." Sasha tossed the folder onto the ground. "This is useless. These people are shitty, but they aren't masterminds. None of them are smart enough or valuable enough to be the reason Ultron used Strucker's blood as spray paint."

"Thank you for that visual." Steve put the folder he was holding down on the table. Sasha winked.

"These people are all horrible," Bruce said as he examined some papers.

"Wait!" Tony pointed to the folder in his hands. "I know that guy." Bruce handed him the file, and he flipped through it. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms."

"And you know this man, why?" Sasha stood up and walked over. "I never took you for a black market weapons kind of guy. Didn't think you had it in you to join the dark side."

"There are conventions, Anya, you meet people." Tony glared at her. "I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab."

"Ulysses?" Sasha peered over his shoulder at the file, raising an eyebrow. "He's a shady, hardcore illegal weapons dealer, and his name is Ulysses? That's...unfortunate."

"This?" Thor ignored her, showing Tony a picture of Ulysses Klaue.

"Ah, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it."

"Those are tattoos, this is a brand." Thor pointed to a mark on Ulysses' neck.

"What does it mean?" Alex piped up suddenly, instantly regretting opening her mouth. She felt out of her element here, something she hadn't expected. She'd been to so many briefings, so many missions, so many gatherings of intimidating men who didn't scare her at all, and yet this situation, where she was by her own choice and surrounded by a team of heroes, was the one that flustered her. She thought she would fit right in, but she ended up sticking out like a sore thumb. And it wasn't because she was young. Sasha fit right in, conversing and mouthing off like it was nothing. She belonged here more than she did anywhere else, Alex could tell. Alex, meanwhile, was Pluto. Still orbiting the sun, but way out in space, forgotten. She had nothing to offer unless they needed a fighter.