Poisoned Freedom

#04

"He's all over the globe," Maria informs Steve as they walk together through corridors in the Avengers tower. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."

"Fatalities?" Steve asks, unsure if he wants to know the answer.

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

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

"Not anymore," the Agent hands Steve a tablet, showing him a photo of a dead body- Strucker's- with the word 'peace' bloodily written in block capitals on the wall next to the corpse. The Captain shudders discretely, returning the tablet to Maria.

The pair come across Barton, leaning over a railing on the phone. "That's a negative. I answer to you. Yes, ma'am," he smiles absent-mindedly.

Steve heads towards Clint, quietly interrupting his call. "Barton, we might have something."

"Gotta go," Clint says to the speaker, hanging up.

"Who was that?"

"Girlfriend," the Archer smirks, following the Captain into the lab. Steve chuckles drily, knowing the archer doesn't have a girlfriend, but between them they group together the rest of the Avengers, as well as Maria and Katarina, in the laboratory.

"What's this?" Tony asks as Maria shows them all the image of Strucker's murder scene. Kat steps back, averting her gaze; she can't look at the face of the man who tortured her for years, dead nor alive. Iron Man places a gentle hand on her shoulder as she draws herself back in.

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

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

"This is a smokescreen," Natasha states. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve figures.

"Yeah, I bet he..." the woman looks at one of many computer monitors, scowling slightly. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything," Tony muses, remembering the old files. Boxes and boxes of files, overflowing with loose paper, are slammed onto the main glass table and together the team go through the physical files they have on Baron Strucker.

"Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends," Steve says, holding up a specific file.

"Sí, demasiados, si me preguntas," Kat mutters under her breath.

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce skims over a page, shuddering.

"Just like the hijo de puta himself."

"Wait. I know that guy," Tony takes the photo the scientist was looking at, scrutinising it closely. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve gives him an accusing look. "What? 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'." The file has the name 'Ulysses Klaue', not a name designed to instil fear into his enemies.

Thor points to the scar on the back of Klaue's neck, "This."

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..." Tony trials off, taking the symbol on again.

"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand," Thor states; Bruce starts up a computer and starts identifying the brand on Klaue's neck.

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way," Bruce explains, looking it up on a desktop.