Rapid Love | P. MAXIMOFF

[4] tongue tied

"He's all over the globe," Maria announced as she addressed Steve and Beatrix as they made their way to everyone else. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."

"Fatalities?" Steve asked.

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

"Maximoffs," he concluded with a sigh, his gaze flickering over to Beatrix who immediately looked away, "Well, that makes sense he'd go to them, they have someone in common."

"Not anymore," she stated as she handed Steve the tablet. Beatrix looked over and saw that it was an image of Strucker's dead body with the word 'PEACE' written on the wall next to him in blood.

Steve huffed before he turned to Beatrix, "Let's go get everyone."

"That's a negative," Clint spoke into his phone as they approached him. "I answer to you. Yes, ma'am."

"Barton," Steve interrupted, "We might have something."

"Gotta go," Clint told the person on the other line before hanging up.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"Girlfriend," he waved off before the three found the rest of the team.

He showed the group the photo of Strucker's body as soon as everyone was in the room.

"What's this?" Tony asked.

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

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

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

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

"Yeah, I bet he..." she trailed off as she typed something on the computer. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything," Beatrix replied before she walked over to the computer. She swiftly hopped onto her own network and reuploaded all the files she had on Strucker. She turned to face the group, "Between that and what we have in the physical files, we're not empty handed."

Tony retrieved the physical files and each of them grabbed something to search through, Beatrix opting to just search through her own digital copies.

"Known associates," Steve read aloud, "Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce pointed out.

"Wait. I know that guy," Tony spoke up and Bruce passed him the photo he had been looking at. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve shot him an accusatory glance, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." He looked back down at the photo, "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very 'Ahab.'"

Thor pointed at the scar on the back of the man's neck, "This."

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

"No, those are tattoos," he pointed at the man's arm before pointing back up at his neck, "This is a brand."

"Let me see," Beatrix requested as she hopped up from where she sat. She scanned the photo quickly, zooming in on the branding mark, "It's African dialect. Essentially it means thief."

"What dialect?" Steve asked.

"Er..." she trailed off. Her eyes squinting slightly as she tried to read the word, "Wakanda?"

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

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

"What comes out of Wakanda?" Beatrix inquired.

Tony and Steve looked at Steve's shield, the former speaking up, "The strongest metal on earth."

Steve addressed Tony, "Where is this guy now?"

The group departed for a moment so everyone could get ready. Tony pulled Beatrix to the side, informing her that he had some upgrades for her.

"If you're suddenly so adamant to actually be out there and fighting, you may as well be able to protect yourself," he informed her and she remained silent as he set to work. "You're pissed at me," he concluded as he pulled her old computer chip out. Her AI side shut down for a brief moment as he replaced it with the new one.

"Was I being that obvious?" she inquired as he placed the cover on and sealed it back into place. She turned around in the chair to face him, "How could you do something so ridiculously careless?"

He removed the gloves he was wearing and placed them on the table. He leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest, "It wasn't careless."

"It was," she countered. "How do you expect for everyone to be a team when you pull shit like this?"

"I needed the scepter," he explained. "I had a short window to get what I needed done and I didn't have time to listen to everyone argue against it."

"Shouldn't the fact that everyone would have disagreed with you have been enough to at least give you pause?" she asked him. "The scepter is alien. You know nothing about it. Don't you get that?" He remained silent, "You messed with something you didn't fully grasp because you were trigger happy."

"I just want the world to be at peace."

"I know," she nodded with a sigh. "But a shield of armor around the world?" she asked. "While in theory, it's a great idea, what about those aliens who aren't evil and out to destroy the world?"

"One outweighs the other," he informed her.

She sighed again, "I don't disagree with you but this was not the way to do it."

"Remind me why I keep you around again?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Want me to test my new upgrades on you?"

He put his hands up in surrender before gesturing for her to follow him, "This way." She got up from her chair and followed him to a training room. "Bombs away."

She huffed as she aimed for the dummy that was a few feet ahead of her. She sent the laser toward it and sliced it's head off. It's head fell off and bounced as it hit the floor. Her eyebrows shot up, "Efficient."

"At least this way, when you get out there and are rusty beyond measure you won't be a dead man, or women-" he corrected with a wave of his hand, "-walking."

"Your faith in me is astounding."

"It has been, what, six years now?" His eyebrows furrowed in thought, "How old are you now?"

"Twenty four," she answered and his eyes widened.

"Already?"

"Feel old yet?" she asked and he shook his head slightly.

"I'm basically immortal," he brushed off, "Age is just a number."

She snorted, "Yeah, right."

He narrowed his eyes, "We've got a lot of work to do."