Into the Unknown || A Captain America Love Story

43

Tori

     "He's all over the globe," Maria informs Steve and me, stepping out of the elevator. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs. Reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."
     The three of us begin to walk up the staircase, around the shards of glass.
     "Fatalities?" Steve questions.
     "Only when engaged," Agent Hill replies. "Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and 'something too fast to see'."
     "Maximoffs," I state. "That makes sense he'd go to them, they have someone in common."
     "Not anymore," Maria sighs.
     She hands me a tablet showing a photo of a stone room. On the left side of the screen, there is a dead man on a white bed with "PEACE" written on the wall next to him in blood. There is a close shot of the man's face in black and white which is labeled above as 'STRUCKER, BARON VON' and 'DECEASED' underneath in red letters. I cringe.

•••

     The Avengers huddle around a table, glancing at the tablet that I hand to Thor.
     "What's this?" the god asks.
     "A message," I respond.
     "Ultron killed Strucker." Steve adds as Thor gives the tablet to Tony.
     "And he did a Banksy at the crime scene," Tony says. "For us."
     "This is a smoke screen," Natasha spits. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"
     "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," I say.
     "I bet he...yeah," Natasha says, clicking through the computer. "Everything we've had on Strucker's been erased."
     "Not everything," Steve mumbles.
     Soon enough, we are searching through S.H.I.E.L.D. files that are on paper.
     "Known associates," Steve mumbles, setting a box on the table. "Baron Strucker had a lot of friends."
     "Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce states, flipping through papers.
     I pick a few files out of the new box and begin to sort through them. Before I can even glance at the first one, I am stopped.
     "Wait," Tony says, pointing to one of my files. "I know that guy."
     I raise an eyebrow, but I hand him the file.
     "From back in the day," Tony begins. "He operates off the African coast. Black market arms."
     Steve and I glare at him, not even wanting to know how my brother knows a man that is associated with Strucker.
     "There are conventions, alright?" Tony snarls to Steve. "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 asks, holding another paper on the man. He shows it to Steve and me, pointing to a photo of the man with black ink on his chest going under his shirt.
     "Ah, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it." Tony says.
     "Those are tattoos," Thor retorts, moving his finger to another photo. "This is a brand."
     There is a red tattoo-like symbol near the corner of his jawline. Bruce searches it on a computer, quickly finding something.
     "Oh yeah," Bruce says. "It's a word in African dialect meaning 'thief' in a much less friendly way."
     "What dialect?" Steve asks.
     "Wakanada," Bruce answers, but he corrects himself. "W-W-Wakanda."
     "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods—" Tony says in a low voice to Steve.
     "I thought your father said that he got the last of it," Steve replies.
     My eyes widen. I know exactly what Wakanda's trade goods are.
     "I don't follow," Bruce says. "What comes out of Wakanda?"
     Everyone is silent, turning around to face the red, white, and blue circle on the floor.
     "The strongest metal on Earth," I say.
     "Where is this guy now?" Steve asks Tony.