Cosmic [s.r.]

2:6

Steve and Maria walked into the lounge room. I tucked away my cell phone and wrapped the lounge-room blanket around my shoulders.

"He's all over the globe." She spoke out. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs. Reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."

"How many casualties?" I asked out.

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

"Maximoff's." Steve acknowledged. "That makes sense he's going to them. They have someone in common."

"Not anymore." Maria shook her head as she showed us a tablet with a picture of Strucker shot in the head and his blood painting "PEACE" on the wall. I dropped the blanket as they left the lounge room, me joining them.

"Barton might have something," Steve said as we walked past Clint who was on the phone.

"I gotta go." He mumbled before hanging up the phone.

"Who's that?" Steve asked.

"Girlfriend."

Steve and I joined the other Avengers in the lab, passing the tablet with the same picture of Strucker on it from earlier.

"What's this?" Tony asked, motioning to the tablet.

"A message," Steve answered. "Ultron killed Strucker." Thor passed the tablet over to a curious Tony.

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

"This is a smoke screen," Nat said as she looked over Tony's shoulder to get a better view of the picture. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve explained as he crossed his arms while Nat turned to the desktop computer.

"Yeah, I bet he...Yeah." She muttered out scanning the contents. "Everything we had on Strucker's been erased."

"Not everything," Steve smirked.

We all pulled out boxes of physical files and scanned through the contents hoping to find something that was useful to us.

"Known associates. Baron Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve told us as he placed another box on the table that read "KNOWN ASSOCIATES" across the label in black sharpie. Bruce searched through and grabbed some files.

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce said as he leafed through some of the folders. Tony looked over Bruce's shoulder, stopping him when he recognized someone.

"Wait, I know that guy." He pointed to a photo in the file. Bruce handed the file over to Tony who read it carefully. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." He explained before passing the pages around for all of us to read. But Tony's comment earned a look from Steve. "There are conventions, all right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything." Tony defended himself from the accusing looks. "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. It was all very Ahab."

"This?" Thor showed Tony a picture, confused.

"It's a tattoo, I don't think he had it." Tony shrugged.

"Those are tattoos, this is a brand." Thor pointed to the back of the neck of the guy.

Bruce went over to the computer and began to look it up. He pointed to the screen for us to see.
"Yeah, it's a word in African dialect meaning thief." Bruce read out to us. "In a much less friendly way.

"What dialect?" I asked out.

"Wakanada?" Bruce answered, unsure of the pronunciation.

"You mean Wakanda?" I asked, somehow recognizing the name.

"If he got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony trailed off, not wanting to finish his thought.

"Wait, I thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve piped up.

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

"Vibranium," I told the crew, remembering it from the files I read earlier. "Steve I wouldn't be too surprised if scientists didn't rest until they found another source.

"Where's this guy now?" Steve asked Tony.