Rise (An Avengers Story)

Chapter 9.

"Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch." Bruce explains to the team. "He's been in everything. Files, surveillance, probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodes asks us rhetorically, already knowing the answer. I knew exactly what he was referring to. "Nuclear codes." Nat was confused. "Nukes? He said he wanted us dead." Steve interjected quickly, "He also said he killed somebody."

"There wasn't anybody else in the building." Hill pipes in, and she made me more confused. " "What did he mean then?" I question out loud. "I wonder who he could have killed." Stark walks into the middle of the room, looking upset. "Yes, there was." He taps on something, and I didn't understand what it was that popped up on the screen. Bruce walked up to it looking shocked. "This is insane."

"JARVIS was the first line of defense." Why would Ultron go after JARVIS? "He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense." Doctor Cho walks into the room.

"No. Ultron could have assimilated JARVIS. This isn't a strategy. This is rage." Thor and Loki walk into the room...not looking happy at all. Thor marches up to Tony and lifts himself in the air by his throat.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" "It's going around." Steve and Clint said at the same time. The rest of us just watch Thor see if he continues.

"Come on, use your words, buddy." Tony says, voice straining from lack of air. Thor says his piece. "I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."

"Thor. The Legionnaire." Thor lets go of Tony after Steve says something that doesn't make sense. "Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed North. And it has the scepter."

"Now, we have to retrieve it again." Natasha chimed in, " Genie's out of the bottle."

The doctor decides to speak. "I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Tony chuckles at her statement. Everyone looks at him like he is crazy. "You think this is funny?" Loki asks him with a menacing tone in his voice.

"No. It's probably not, right?" Tony responds nervously. " This is very terrible. Is it so.." He laughs. "Is it so... It is. It's terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor scolds Tony. "No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time." Bruce tries to reason with him. "Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?" I couldn't stand any more of this. I left and decided to continue my painting. I fell asleep an hour after I finished the painting.

The next morning I got dressed (in the outfit above). The team was called into the lab, "What's this?" Stark asks nobody in particular. "A message. Ultron killed Strucker." Steve answers Tony's question. "This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech? " Nat asks somewhat rhetorical. "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss."

"Yeah, I bet he...yeah. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything." Steve replied. we had to do this the old-fashioned way, paper documents. "Known associates. Baron Strucker had a lot of friends. " I thought out loud. "Well, these people are horrible." Banner says. "Wait. I know that guy." Stark says after one look at the files. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black Market arms." Everyone looks at him with judgment and curiosity after learning this information. "There are conventions. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all over Ahab."

"This?" Thor asks, pointing at something in a picture. "It's a tattoo. I don't think he had it." Tony answers him.

"Those aren't tattoos; this is a brand." Bruce looks it up. "Oh, yeah. It's a word in African dialect meaning 'thief.' In a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Steve and I ask at the same time. "Wakanda." Bruce answers and corrects himself. "Wakanda."

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their goods..." Loki says out loud.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it." I interjected after a while of silence. "I don't follow," Bruce says, confused. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

"The strongest metal on Earth." I answer quickly. "Where is this guy now?" Steve asks Tony.

A/N I am sorry for not updating for a while. I did not want to update until I got all of the Age of Ultron parts done and released all at once, but when I decided to update, I was juggling school, visiting family, got distracted, and got sick. The next chapter will be up soon, hopefully.