At Avengers tower, the next day, Steve climbs the stairs to the lab with Hill. "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 reports.
"Fatalities?"
"Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see."
"Maximoffs. Well, it makes sense he'd go to them, they have someone in common."
"Not anymore." Hill passes a tablet to Steve, showing Strucker dead in a cell. The word peace is inscribed above him.
Clint's talking on the phone outside of the lab. "That's a negative. I answer to you. Yes, ma'am."
"Barton," Steve calls. Clint turns to him. "We might have something."
"Gotta go."
"Who was that?"
"A girlfriend."
"What's this?" Thor asks.
"A message," Steve answers. Thor shoves the tablet into Tony. "Ultron killed Strucker."
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," Tony says.
"This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Natasha answers.
"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve concludes.
"Yeah, I bet he. Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."
"Not everything," Tony says. The pull out boxes full of files and start looking through them.
"Know associates. Strucker had a lot of friends," Steve sums up.
Bruce opens a new file. "Well, these people are all horrible."
"Wait," Tony says. Bruce looks at him. "I know that guy. From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve stares at Tony, annoyed and disappointed. "There are convention, all right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very Ahab."
"This," Thor points out.
"Uh, it's a tattoo, I don't think he had it."
"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand."
"Oh, yeah," Bruce interjects. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief. In a much less friendly way."
"What dialect?" Steve asks.
"Wakanada? W-, Wa-, Wakanda."
"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods," Tony whispers to Steve.
"I thought your father said he got the last of it?"
"I don't follow," Bruce says. "What comes out of Wakanda?"
"The strongest metal on Earth," Tony says. Steve looks at his shield.
"Where is this guy now?" Steve asks.
The Avengers head off to a ship yard for old, broken down transport vessels.
Inside one of the boats, African natives work on building items.
"Don't tell me your men swindled you, I sent you six short range heat seekers and got a boat full of rusted parts," A man in a room says. "Now, you will make it right, or the next missile I send you will come very much faster." The man changes the line. "Now, minister, where were we?" The lights turn out across the factory and the workers become agitated. The man reaches for a gun slowly. He gets one bullet out before Pietro zips in, unloads the gun and holds his hands behind his back. The bullet wobble a bit before standing straight. "Yeah, the enhanced. Strucker's prized pupils. Want a candy? Oh, sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create. Human life. Not a growth market. You, you didn't' know? Is this your first time? Intimidating someone? I'm afraid that I'm not that afraid." The twins and Annabelle still stare at him.
"Everybody's afraid of something," Wanda says.
"Cuttlefish. Deep sea fish. They make lights. Disco lights. Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! To hypnotize their prey, then they Whoom! I saw documentary, it was terrifying." Pietro runs forward and grabs a piece of candy. He passes another one to Annabelle. The man stares at him, impressed. "So if you're going to fiddle with my brain, and make me see a giant cuttlefish, then I know you don't do business, and I know you're not in charge, and I only deal with the man in charge." Ultron flies up behind them. He breaks the glass, shoving the man to the ground.
"There is no man in charge," Ultron says. "Let's talk business." The man opens up a door, showing shelves of tied down toxic waste. He hits a switch and rows of Vibranium are shown. "Upon this rock I will build my church." He hands the vibranium to Ultron. "Vibranium." He tosses it to Pietro.
"You know, it came at great personal cost. It's worth billions." He puts a hand over his brand.
Ultron laughs and does some calculations, putting money into the man's bank account. "Now, so are you. It's all under your, dummy holdings? Finances, so weird." An assistant pulls out a pager and shows his boss the number. "But I always say, 'keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which.'"
They both look away from the pager, staring at Ultron. "Stark."
"What?"
"Tony Stark used to say that. To me. You're one of his?"
"What? I'm not, I," He grabs the man's arm and Wanda keeps the assistant at bay. "I'm not. You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!" he hits the man's arm, cutting it off. "I'm sorry, I'm s- oh. I'm sure that's gonna be okay, I'm sorry, it's just, I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!" he shoves the man down the stairs. "It's a thing with me. Stark is, he's a sickness!"
"Ah, junior," Tony lands behind them, Thor and Captain America at his sides. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."
"If I have to."
Clint and Natasha move in at the sides.
"We don't have to break anything," Thor reasons.
"Clearly you've never made an omelet."
"He beat me by one second," Tony says.
"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable?" Pietro asks. He glares at the bombs below him. "Like old times?"
"This was never my life," Tony says.
Captain America steps up. "You three can still walk away from this."
"Oh we will," Wanda says, sarcastic.
"I know you've suffered."
"Blah! Heh, heh, Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but."
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor says.
"I think you're confusing peace with quiet."
"Yuh-huh. What's the vibranium for?"
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan!" He shoots a blast at Tony and they ram into each other, fighting above everyone. Thor sends a robot over the balcony, sending it to pieces while Captain America takes on one of his own. Wanda uses her powers to distract Steve and knock him down.
"Shoot them!" the man says.
"Which ones?"
"All of them!"
"Move, move, move!"
The men move in on Natasha and she takes them down one at a time. Clint stands on a balcony, trying to shoot Ultron and his helpers. Everyone's fighting as Pietro zips through underneath and punches Steve. Annabelle ices him to the floor but he breaks the ice. Mjolnir flies towards him and Pietro tries to grab it but it throws him into the floor. Ultron gets away from Stark, flying through the roof and away from the fight. Steve's shield flies around and he catches it in time to hit Pietro, flinging him into the wall of crates behind him. "Stay down, kid," Steve warns.
Ultron uses his robots to talk to Wanda. "It's time for some mind games." Wanda disappears.
"Guys?" Bruce asks from the jet. "Is this a code green?"
"Yes," someone says through garbled feedback. Bruce turns to the door and hesitantly exits.
Thor walks through a hallway and Wanda appears next to him. She uses her powers and he sees her. "Thor! Status?"
"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." He walks into an Asgardian party where a young Heimdall is. Dancers surround the room.
Steve keeps fighting, and Pietro flings him into a wall. Wanda comes up and plays with his mind. He cringes, trying to fight it. Wanda moves to Natasha next.
"This is going very well," Ultron says.
Clint continues to shoot arrows at Ultron. Wanda comes up behind Clint but he realizes. He gabs an arrow and puts it on her forehead. It sticks and shocks her. "I've done the whole mind control thing. Not a fan." He is about to remove the arrow when Pietro slams into him, pushing him over the bar.
"No!" Pietro cries. He tears the arrow off and picks Wanda up.
Pietro looks at Annabelle. "Go, I'll join you outside!" she shouts he nods and they rush outside. Annabelle runs towards Clint and tries to knock him out but gets caught by a shocker arrow. It hits her on her forehead and she convulses. She falls to the ground, shaking, and Clint takes the arrow off before administrating a sedative.
"Yeah, you better run," Clint mumbles. "Whoever's standing, we gotta move." Natasha stumbles over her feet around the ship. "Guys?"
Her hands move to a railing. She sees an ornate, wooden handle. Ballerina's practice their dance. She stands before a window. "Again." A man says.
"You'll break them," Natasha says.
"Only the breakable ones," a woman replies. Six girls are revealed to be sitting there, watching the dance. "You are made of marble. We'll celebrate after the graduation ceremony." Natasha sees herself on a medical table for a moment.
"What if I fail?" She starts by shooting a paper, then a firing range page, then a real man. Her shots being more accurate each time.
"You never fail."
Steve stands in his old army uniform at a dance bar. People from the forty's dance and celebrate around him. Old cameras flash around him as people laugh and smile. A fight starts to one side. A pair of men sit on the ground, laughing as one cleans off the others stained shirt. Peggy stands behind him. "Are you ready for our dance?" Steve stares shocked at her.
Dancers encircle the room around Thor. Cloaked men walk through the room. "Is it him?" Heimdall asks. His eyes are entirely white. "Is that the first son of Odin?"
"Heimdall, your eyes?!"
"Oh, they see everything." Heimdall holds Thor's face. "They see you leading us to Hel. Wake up!" So much is happening around it's almost too much.
Steve has his back to Peggy. "The wars over, Steve. We can go home! Imagine it!" The room clears out, leaving Steve instantly alone. All is quiet. Then some are back. They come in flashes between blank and Peggy dancing before him.
"I can still save you," Thor insists.
"We are all dead. Can you not see?" Thor breaks Heimdall's hands from his neck. Lightning surges through Thor's body, shooting off at random. "You're a destroyer, Odinson. See where your power leads."
Natasha fights a man, training before a table of weapons not to be touched. He wraps her in a headlock and she can't get out. She hits his arm twice and he releases. "Sloppy," a woman says. "Pretending to fail. The ceremony is necessary." Ballerinas dance. Natasha is wheeled down a hall. "For you to talk your place in the world."
"I have no place in the world," Natasha says, blankly.
"Exactly."
She sees mouthless girls as she is wheeled through the hall. She remembers the squeaky wheel and the lights overhead.
"What can I do?" Pietro asks Wanda as they sit outside.
"Ah, it hurts."
"I'm gonna kill him and get Annabelle. She should've been here by now. I'll be right back."
"No. I'm over it. I want, I want to finish the plan. I want the big one. We'll get Annabelle after." Bruce looks over the muck.
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