Spirit - Steve Rogers Story

- 8 -

Rei woke up at the same time that she usually did. She huffed, hoping to get more sleep. But her body was energized, almost relieved at the weight that left her chest. She went to the restroom, freely using her water bending and air bending to bring things to her. Getting ready in a record time, Rei left her room.

After making break feast for herself, she brought the team some extra french toast she made. She had passed Steve and Clint speaking to each other. Steve had worn a tight gray shirt, Rei sneakily glanced her eyes over his appearance. 

Clint had just gotten off the phone, "Who was that?" Steve asked.

"Girlfriend." Clint answered, making eye contact with Rei. Rei held herself back from snickering. 

The three joined the rest of the team in the conference room. Thor gave Rei a hug, taking a few pieces of toast off of the plate. The rest of the team grabbed their own slices, forgetting to eat breakfast. 

Steve had pulled up a picture of a man named Strucker's, who was dead. It had peace written in blood on the wall.

Rei had taken a seat next to where Steve stood. Thor, Tony, and Bruce also stood. Natasha sat in front of the computer while Clint stood on the side. 

"What's this?" Tony asked, attempting to looking over Thor's shoulder. Thor took the tablet and pushed it into Tony's chest, clearly still angry. Bruce was able to look at the photo over Tony's shoulder.

" A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Steve answered.

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

Natasha looked up at everyone, "This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

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

" Yeah, I bet he..." Natasha looked up the files on the computer in front of her. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased." 

Rei leaned over, noticing the screen said that the records were deleted.

Tony sighed, "Not everything."

The team ended up moving into one of Tony's offices, paper files littered around them. They spent a couple hours going through the files. The team only took breaks when they needed to use the restroom. Rei used her breaks to bring the team food and glasses of water. She was confused how they never seemed to eat. The team was spread out, taking their own corners. Thor lazily would throw files around, Tony had given up trying to stop him.

"Not another box." Rei groaned. Natasha chuckled at her childness.

"Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve pointed out.

Sitting next to Rei, Bruce pointed looked at the files of 'friends',  "Well, these people are all horrible."

Tony seemed to recognize one, pointing at the file Banner had. "Wait. I know that guy." Banner gave him the file. 

"From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve glared at Tony. 

Tony attempted to defend himself, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything."

"He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very "Ahab."" Tony remembered. Thor stared down his photo, noticing something. 

Thor pointed to the scar on his neck, "What's this?"

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..." Tony stumbled.