Green Beret | MCU (On Hold)

💣CHAPTER 38💣

Avengers Tower

After resting for the night, Steve had called a meeting in the early hours of the morning as something had come up with the Ultron situation which needed addressing so everyone had gathered in the lab with Natasha sitting in front of a computer which she must have sat in front of for a few hours now considering that when Troy woke up, she wasn't lying next to him as she had been after the steamy shower they had.

Steve handed Thor the tablet showing the news he wanted everyone to see.

"What's this?" Tony inquired as he walked closer to Thor and across from Steve and Troy.

Steve sighed, "A message. Ultron killed Strucker." 

Obviously, Thor didn't take to the news very well as he only looked at the picture for a second before slamming the device into Tony's chest, still very much annoyed at the billionaire. Troy smirked at the passive aggressiveness from Thor as Tony grabbed the tablet.

Troy also didn't know whether Tony looked impressed by Ultron's piece of art as he looked t the tablet, Troy also doing so himself as he moved from standing beside Steve, to stand between Tony and Natasha, "Damn. And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us."

Even though Troy was happy with Strucker being dead, he was very much disgusted by the scene on the tablet. He could tell by just looking at the device and that one photo, that Ultron didn't care how he made his point, quite frankly, Ultron was enjoying it. That was obvious with just the word; peace was written on the wall above Strucker.

"This is a smokescreen." Natasha glanced between the group, gaining their attention, "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "To reiterate the point of his speech. To keep our attention for as long as it takes. He wants an audience." Troy paused before turning to Tony and smirking, "You really do have a lot in common."

Tony deadpanned, "Real funny."

"Guys." Steve brought the attention back to the situation at hand, "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss."

"Yeah, I bet he..." Natasha started typing again on the computer to confirm whether Steve was right, "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything," Steve replied.

-

The team find all the physical files they have to find the physical files they should have on Strucker and his known associates. Troy had groaned at the idea of searching through all of the files but nonetheless had sat down beside Natasha at the table with a few files in front of him to look through.

Troy skipped over page after page, hoping for Strucker's name to come up so they can get this over and done with as soon as possible. He could also feel and see Thor's annoyance as the Asgardian was scanning pages of files impatiently and ripping the lids of boxes. 

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce spoke as he flipped through a file.  He said it as if it wasn't known news. Strucker was HYDRA, of course, his known associates will be sketchy too. 

"Wait." Tony stopped Banner from flipping the page of the file in his hand as he pointed to it making Troy perk up from where he slouched in his chair, "I know that guy." Banner passes Stark the SHIELD file he was looking at, "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve gave him an accusing look and Tony rolled his eyes, going to defend himself, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." Troy stood and walked over to Tony at the head of the table, looking over his shoulder at the file to see a photo of a guy named Ulysses Klaue, "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very "Ahab."

Tony then passed the photo to Thor who looked at the photo of the man before pointing to the markings on his neck, "This?"

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..." Tony trailed before Troy interrupted him with a shake of his head, disagreeing with the Stark man.

"No, this is a tattoo." Troy pointed to the tattoo on another part of Klaue's body from the picture, "What Thor was pointing to was a brand." Thor was pointing to the dark markings on the man's neck and head, travelling over his skin like branches of a tree. 

"How'd you know?" Tony asked in an intrigued way.

"We had to know the difference in the Army to distinguish different types of gangs and such."

Banner immediately began typing on the computer in the corner just slightly away from the group before he identifies the brand, turning around in his chair to face the group, "Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Troy asked as he moved to stand beside a sitting Natasha.

"Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda." Bruce stuttered over the pronunciation of the word as he turned back to the monitor.

Tony and Steve looked at each other knowingly, alarmed with dread on their faces, muttering softly, however, the whole group could hear, "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."

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

The others followed the conversation in confusion, not knowing yet what kind of threat they were under if Ultron got his metal hands on the piece of highly dangerous equipment in wrong hands, but Banner was the one to speak up for them, Barton not having said a word this whole time, "I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?"

Tony and Steve glanced at each other again before they both looked down at Steve's shield, "The strongest metal on earth." 

"Where is this guy now?" Steve spoke to Stark.

"Best bet is somewhere in Africa." Troy spoke up before Tony could making the whole team look at him confused, "What? Banner literally said five minutes ago that the brand was in an African dialect meaning thief. Thieves commonly go to places which they know best whether that's to hide or steal, possibly both. Now can you all stop looking at me like I've grown two heads?"

There was a moment of silence before Tony coughed awkwardly, "TK is right. There's a salvage yard on the African coast that is a possibility."

Steve nodded, "It's all we have right now." He looked around at the group, "Suit up."