Before We Rise

Chapter 7

I stared outside with my arms crossed. The sun had just came up about an hour ago and everyone was already at work. I shifted from my right leg to my left leg and a piece of glass broke under my heel. I moved my foot and looked down at the broken glass. I heard the elevator open and Maria's voice.

"He's all over the globe. Robotic labs, weapons facilities, geopolitics labs. Reports of a metal and or men coming and emptying the place." Maria said.

"Fatalities?" Steve asked.

"Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fluke, going on about old memories, worst fears and something moving to fast to see." Maria added.

"Maximoffs. That makes sense he'll go to them. They have someone in common." Steve's voice got closer. I turned and saw them behind me.

"Not anymore." I walked over and glanced down at the IPad that Maria handed to Steve. I shook my head at it and went to where I left the rest of the team. I sat down across from them and picked up a few files. I heard Steve walk in but I didn't look up.

"What's this?" Tony asked as I heard something hard slap against something.

"A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Steve told him. Another body added to the non-body count.

"And he did a bracey crime scene. Just for us." Tony said.

"This is Smoke Screen. Why send a message when you've just givin a speech?" Nat asked us.

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve told her.

"I bet he- yep, everything we had on Strucker is erased." Nat told him.

"Not everything." Tony walked over to me and yanked the files out of my hands. I huffed before grabbing another stack. The team started to look through them also. I scanned them then tossed them away from me. I looked up and saw Tony giving me a look from across the room. Just to anger him more, I chucked another one away from me. The papers scattered along the floor, right to his feet.

"Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve said, going through a file.

"Well all these people are all horrible." Banner said.

"Wait, I know that guy. Back in the day, he operated off the African Coast, the black market arms." I saw Steve give Tony a look. "There are conventions, alright. Meet people but I didn't sell them. He was talking about finding something." I took the photo and looked at it.

"This?" I looked at where Thor was pointing.

"Uhh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it" Tony barely looked at where Thor's finger was pointing.

"No, these are tattoos." Thor pointed at the tattoo. I rolled my eyes at Tony.

"He means the branding, Tony." I pointed at it.

"Uh yeah. It's from an African dialectic. Meaning thief, in a much less friendly way." Banner said, looking away from the computer.

"What dialectic?" Steve asked.

"Wakcanda. Wa-""Wakanda." I interrupted and corrected Banner. Everyone turned to me. "What? I've done business there."

"What's this guy getting out of Wakanda? Other trade goods?" Tony asked.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve said. Tony looked at Steve, who was standing next to him.

"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Banner asked. I glanced at Steve's shield.

"The strongest metal on Earth." I answered. Steve glanced at me before turning back to Tony.

"Where's this guy now?"