Solaris ⋯ Steve Rogers|Marvel Cinematic Universe

[chapter 68]

"Yes, we're fine." Evelyn mumbled into the phone seeing Steve walk up the stairs. "Take care." She handed the phone back to Clint and met Steve halfway. "Anything?"

"Maximoffs are with Ultron." Steve replied showing her the photo on the tablet. Evelyn grimaced at Strucker's dead body with the word peace written in blood on the wall next to him. "Great."

"Yes, ma'am." Clint mumbled into the phone as Steve walked ahead.

"Barton, we might have something."

"Gotta go." Clint quickly hung up, reaching them.

"Who was that?" Steve questioned having heard a part of the conversation.

"Girlfriend." Clint shrugged and walked to the lab with Steve and Evelyn.

"We're getting access to on all basic information streams." Natasha spoke and Evelyn walked up seeing as Rhodey was on the other end. He had been sent to the Pentagon to try and calm things down there as the Armed Forces were aware of Ultron's attempt at trying to access their nuclear codes.

"Yeah, well you guys are definitely off the Pentagon's Christmas list." Rhodey replied. "Every country with a nuke is fighting a cyber attack. War machine is being deployed to the Middle East for peace talks incase certain people start blaming each other instead of you."

"Okay well, hold that thought and let me overwrite you a new encryption drive for your suit incase Ultron wants in." Tony walked to the camera, his phone in his hand.

"Got you, thanks." Rhodey gratefully nodded.

"You hear something, we need to hear it too." Evelyn leaned over Natasha.

"Hey, that goes both ways." Rhodey stated. "Watch your six."

"You too." Natasha replied and closed the call.

"Any help from Asgard?" Steve asked Thor who walked in the lab.

"Heimdall's either away from his post or he's been ordered not to answer." Thor shook his head. "Ultron can't hide forever, we'll find him."

"Well..." Steve sighed handing Thor the tablet. "He's not exactly hiding."

"What's this?" Tony asked as Thor glanced at the tablet, slamming it to Tony's chest.

"A message." Steve replied. "Ultron killed Strucker."

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

"This is good." Natasha stated looking at the screen.

"No." Bruce shook his head with a whine. "It's definitely not good."

"He's showing us his hand." Evelyn agreed with Natasha, a frown on her face. "This isn't his pattern."

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

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve stated as Evelyn walked over to the computer to type it up.

"I'll bet- yeah." Evelyn looked up from the monitor with a groan. "Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything." Tony stated shooting a look at Evelyn. "A hand?"

"I knew all those paperwork would come in handy." Evelyn mumbled as she got up and followed Tony to the archives. "And you said to recycle them."

"I, uh..." Tony rubbed his face as they got into the elevator. "I screwed up."

"You did." Evelyn replied as Tony shot her an incredulous look. "But you were trying to do something good."

"So you agree?" Tony asked hoping at least someone on the team was on his side.

"I don't know, Tony." Evelyn shook her head. "I don't want something up there that could be a threat. That's why we took down Insight..."

"I'm sensing there's a but."

"But we don't know what else is out there." Evelyn sighed, resting her back. "The Chitauri was one thing. What if next time we're not enough?"

"We'll lose together." Tony mocked Steve but Evelyn lightly slapped his shoulder. "What if us losing means a whole lot of people dying?"

"I don't know Tony." Evelyn mumbled. "But we can't just give up everyone's freedom like that. That's not up to us to decide."

"I hate it when you're right."

"Known associates." Steve spoke as the team went through the files they had on Strucker. "Well, Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce said looking through the files as Evelyn leaned against Natasha, her eyes burning from the lack of sleep and reading.

"Wait. I know that guy." Tony spoke up as they all got on their feet. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve gave him an accusing look but Tony defended himself. "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." Evelyn glanced at the file that said Ulysses Klaue. "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very Ahab."

"This." Thor pointed at a scar on the man's neck.

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

"No, those are tattoos, this is a brand." Thor argued and Bruce took the file from them, scanning it on the computer.

"Oh, yeah." Bruce leaned towards the screen. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Steve asked as Bruce turned back to the screen.

"Wakanada..?" Bruce stumbled over the word. "Wa...Wa...Wakanda."

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony looked at Steve and Evelyn with a frown.

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

"I don't follow." Bruce interjected, out of the loop. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

"The strongest metal on earth." Tony replied looking at Steve's shield.

"If Ultron gets ahold of Vibranium..." Evelyn didn't want to think what the murder-bot had in mind.

"Where is this guy now?" Steve asked as Evelyn went back to the computer to look him up.

"Salvage Yard." She turned back reading the results. "Coast of Africa."

"Well..." Steve sighed, looking at the whole team. "Suit up."