Flame

Chapter 17

"All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch." Bruce explains to us as we sit in the lab and I clean up the cut on my arm.

"Ultron." Steve mutters from beside me as I rest my head on his shoulder 

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Nat says to us with worry laced in her tone and I don't blame her for being worried, I am too.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodey asks us

"Nuclear codes." Maria states

"Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." Rhodey tells us

"Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." I remind them

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct." Steve corrects me

"He also said he killed somebody." Clint reminds us

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building." Maria says with confusion

"Yes there was." Tony says as he brings up the now destroyed 3D image of JARVIS

"This is insane." I mutter

"JARVIS was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense." Steve says putting an arm around me

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage." Bruce says as suddenly, Thor storms in and grabs hold of Tony by his throat and holds him up, making me step forward

"Woah, woah, woah! It's going around." Clint says

"Come on. Use your words, buddy." Tony tells Thor

" I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor snarls at Tony

"Thor! The Legionnaire"Steve says walking forwards and Thor lets go of Tony

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again." Thor says angrily

"The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Nat mutters

"I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Cho asks us as Tony starts laughing and Bruce subtly shakes his head at him to get him to stop

"You think this is funny?" Thor asks Tony annoyed

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible." Tony says still laughing

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor tells Tony

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this." Tony says turning to face him

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to..." I warn him

"Really?! That's it? You two just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls." Tony asks me and Bruce

"Only when we've created a murder bot." Bruce tells him

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Tony asks us

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD." Steve says to Tony

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asks making me scoff in annoyance, of course he brings New York up

"No, it's never come up." Rhodey says sarcastically

"Saved New York?" Tony asks

"Never heard that" Rhodey jokes

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's...that's the End Games. How were you guys planning on beating that?" Tony asks looking at us all

"Together." Steve tells him lacing our hands together

"We'll lose." Tony tells him

"Then we'll do that together, too." I tell Tony with a smile

"Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller." Steve says to everyone

"He's all over the globe. Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place." Hill says to me and Steve as we walk up the steps, heading back towards the lab

"Fatalities?" Steve asks her

"Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see." Maria says as I look at the screen in my hands

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

"Not anymore." Hill says swiping across on the tablet showing photo of Strucker's dead body with the word PEACE written in blood on the wall next to him.

"Lovely" I mutter and me and Steve walk along the corridor where we see Clint on the phone

"Barton, we might have something" Steve says making Clint face us and he hangs up the phone before walking over to us "Who was that?" Steve asks

"Girlfriend." Clint replies making me smile at his answer

"What's this?" Tony asks as I hand him the picture of Strucker with Steve right behind me,

"A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Steve says as Tony hands the tablet to Nat

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

"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Nat questions us

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." I say to them

"Yeah, I bet he..." Nat days before she looks at the computer monitor "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything" Tony says as he goes and pulls out some boxes that contain files of people including Strucker

"Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve says reading through the file

"Well, these people are all horrible." I mutter looking st the photos

"Wait. I know that guy." Tony says and I pass him the photo i was looking at "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms. 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 explains to us, there's a reason I never wanted to go to the conventions

"This." Thor says pointing to a mark on his neck

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

"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand." Thor corrects him as Bruce identifies the brand on Klaue's neck on the computer

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way." Bruce explains to us

"What dialect?" Steve asks

"Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda." Bruce corrects making me glance up at Steve

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."Tony mutters

"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve asks looking between me and Tony

"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce asks as I looking at Steve's shield that sits on the side

"The strongest metal on earth." Tony answers

"Where is this guy now?"