Steve could not believe his luck. Stark had gotten them on the SWAT team responsible for busting Iron Man's Base of Operations. He was giddy, excited and a little terrified about what they would find. Years of work came down to this moment. This moment in time that determined whether or not they got him or not. Steve did not know how Stark did it but one thing was for sure, Steve was taking his job offer. He cared not for what Bucky said about the man Steve was going to work for him. It made a lot more sense and he would be more in control of what happens, how it happens, and who he assigns to get things done. He liked the idea of being team leader and supervisor even if Stark was his 'boss'.
Steve shook his head and pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. Right now, he needed to follow Bucky's orders because he was the new leader of the unit. It filled Steve with pride and sorrow that Bucky has his job but no matter the circumstances Steve was happy for him. He heard Stark over the radio flirtily tell Bucky to keep him up to date and tell him any and all details of the tech they find. Steve wanted to growl into the comms for Stark not to flirt with his boyfriend but bit his tongue in fear of losing the job he hasn't even gotten yet.
"Alright, Avenger Alpha Team One," It's was the core members of the team's name, "move in."
"We're going in," Steve said over the comms making sure that the message went back to Stark that they were making a move. He knew Stark was their greatest asset to catch Ironman and keeping him informed is very important.
With that Steve began to move. He stalked the outer wall of the warehouse slowly trying to make sure that everyone followed his speed. He knew Bucky was in charge but he was the tactician of the team so even when someone else was in the lead they relied on him to get them from point A to point B. But if Buck had a problem with him taking the reigns he would gladly back off but his boyfriend said nothing and followed behind him willingly.
Steve tried the first door he found and it was surprisingly open. He pulled the metal door and rushed back in case anything detonated. He would not put it past Ironman to set traps all around his hide out. After waiting a few seconds Steve spoke into the comms, "Clear." And they were on the move again. Once they entered the building they moved diligently and slowly making sure that the team does not land themselves in a trap. Steve kept his eye out for anything suspicious. Then they finally made it to the center and largest room. The moment Steve past the threshold the lights turned on and Steve just stared in awe.
The room was completely lit up in fluorescent light with machines, tables, tools and computers galore. Steve felt like a child who just found his favorite toy after losing it. He let himself smile for a second before schooling his features. He could be excited later once they actually found something. "We are in," Steve heard Bucky speak up through the coms. Instantly, Steve began to assess everything and began to document in his mind for later because if he was going to do a job he needs to gather as much intel as possible.
"Hey," Clint came over and whispered into Steve's ear, "we should take notes and gather some evidence of our own."
"So you're taking the job?" Steve asked back in a whisper.
"Yeah, I can tell you are going to do it and like I said: 'wherever you go I go'," Clint cracked a smile moving past Steve like an excited child.
"Alright! No one touch anything that may look like it can explode," Bucky half-heartedly warned. Steve knew that none of them would risk it but it had to be said anyway.
Steve walked around the room pulling out a small notebook and pencil and began to write things down. Anything and everything he thought was interesting without touching. He did not want to put anyone in danger until they got the clear to touch stuff. Then Steve noticed something odd in the corner of the room. He treaded closer to it slowly raising his gun to eye level cautiously. Once he got to the strange object's location, Steve noticed that it was a robot. A one-clawed machine that hung low as if it was asleep. Steve dumbly reached out and touched it causing it to awaken. It made a beeping noise before charging him forcing Steve to take several steps back and hitting a table causing some things on it to fall. Steve steadied himself on the table while still holding the gun to the robot. There was silence in the room and Steve avoided looking around to see the angry faces of the other agents who have joined them soon after their discovery.
The robot whirled towards him beeping excitedly. It kept shaking it's arm up and down without pause. Steve put his finger to his ear to open the comms to ask Stark if he knew how to turn off a rogue robot.
"R-r-rogue robot?" Stark stutterd which Steve thought was odd, "he probably thinks you're invading his master's lair, which you are, and is on attack mode."
"So how do you turn it off?" Steve growled.
"Does it beep or screech at you?" Stark asked uselessly.
Steve paused looking confused as he continued to back away from the charging robot, "uh it beeps."
"Dummy…" was all Steve heard before the robot came bounding towards him. It clawed at his safety jacket a few times before yanking Steve to the ground. Steve raised his gun to shoot as the clawed robot raised its claw to strike when suddenly stopped and lowered itself to sleeping position.
"What did you do?" Steve asked as he scrambled to his feet. Everyone around him looked like they wanted to both laugh and lecture him all at once. This is by far the weirdest lab bust Steve has encountered. Ever. Plus, why did no one else bother to come to his rescue?
"I was able to remotely send a disarming signal to get it to turn off," Stark replied, "standard protocol. Now, please don't hurt it. Just bring it in for me." Stark sounded desperate and scared but Steve just shrugged it off. Stark was probably worried that the robot had information and did not want it damaged.
"Ugh! Nothing I put in here is working," the man at one of the computers says loudly raising his hands in frustration.
"Maybe you shouldn't keep trying unless you permanently lock us out and activate his fail-safe protocol," Bucky growled indicating with his hands for the agent to leave the computers alone. Steve looked at the screen and was intrigued. The screen read:
Welcome Back,
Logging in as Captain Handsome
Password….
Enter
Not you? Click here.
Captain Handsome...it was something Ironman called him once when the hacker left a message to the team a few years ago. Why would the username on the screen be the very same nickname?
Steve did not know what came over him but he found himself typing in his name as a password and hit enter. Suddenly the screen goes black making Steve curse. He stared at the screen angrily because he just ruined all their chances-
Wait? Something was happening. The screen turned back on and opened to a desktop that was neither Windows or IOS. It was not familiar to Steve at all but it looked easy enough to understand. Quickly took out a storage device and moved as many files as he could onto the storage drive before turning off the screen in an attempt to prolong the discovery. Steve was now working for a different team so he would not have access to the information if he did not access it in some way.
Stepping away from the 'broken' computers, Steve moved around the lab continuing taking notes of what he saw and what he read. Clint was buzzing around taking pictures of everything. This place was neat, too neat if you ask Steve. It was a meticulous kind that points to OCD. Everything was in it's place. Steve wrote that observation down.
Steve was constantly watching and observing as the other teams came in to gather intel and evidence after Bucky's team cleared the area and taken down notes of their own.
It just dawned on Steve as he watched people move around that he was finally close to closing in on Ironman. He was going to finally put an end to his reign.
Steve was dressed in a suit carrying a shoulder bag full of the evidence he collected and the notes he took of the Ironman's base of operations. Steve felt a bit nervous but knew it was alright when Clint came up next to him wearing a purple suit. He looked at his friend and shook his head at his antics; only Clint would wear a ridiculous colored suit on his first day at their new job.
"Couldn't you wear something more...appropriate?" Steve eyed Clint wearily. He did not want to lose their chances with Stark because Clint decided to dress it up.
"What! I dress to impress!" Clint exclaimed.
"Impress who? The circus?" Steve snickered while Clint just gaped at him looking a bit insulted.
They began to bicker a bit as they stood in the lobby of Stark Tower waiting for the woman at the front desk to finish her phone call. She seemed to be taking her time which was stressing Steve out a bit but the bickering helped calm his nerves.
"You actually came!" Stark came bounding out of the elevator farthest from the rest of them. It seemed like it was a personal elevator but that was expected Steve guessed.
"We did," Clint responded standing up straighter. Stark just smiled widely expanding his arms out in greeting. He then guided them towards the elevator he came from. Steve began shooting off questions at Stark about the job details and other amenities.
"So what's this about living spaces?" Clint asked cutting off Steve's next question. Stark blinked at them both before clicking the second to top floor.
"Well, the top nine floors of the tower are living spaces. If you want you can each have your own," Stark replied.
"A whole floor?" Clint's eyes widened in surprise. Steve felt like they were bugging out of his head.
"Yes?" Stark answered with tone of uncertainty. Steve raised an eyebrow at him and just got a blush in response. That surprised Steve but he found that he did not mind it. He actually thought it was...aesthetically pleasing look on Stark's face.
"Wow," Clint just continued to hop around the elevator excitedly. Steve had to thump Clint on the head to get his friend in check. Stark just chuckled softly at their antics.
Stark looked at them with soft eyes when he thought neither of them were looking but Steve noticed. He felt weird seeing that look but did not bring attention to it. He was already on a bad foot with Stark and he did not want to make it worse.
The doors opened and Stark lead them around the floor indicating that every floor except for the penthouse is designed almost exactly the same way. Each floor had two bedrooms with their own bathrooms and closet space as well as a living room and a kitchenette. Stark also mentioned that middle floor was built to be a common room for everyone to use and meet up at if they so pleased.
"When can we move in?" Clint asked obnoxiously.
Stark replied, "after a week if you want. Gives you time to come to a decision about it. You can also tell Romanov and Barnes that they are welcome to come stay here too. I know those two go wherever you do."
"Cool cool...so...you find anything about the, uh, person I asked you to look for?" Clint looked at his feet shyly making Steve wondered who this person was.
"I have nothing yet but I am zeroing in on him," Stark replied, "J, send me all you have on case A.G.3.N.T."
"My pleasure sir," a british voice spoke up making both Steve and Clint jump.
"Who's that?" Clint asked looking up at the ceiling.
"Uh," Stark seemed to look wide eyed as if he had not meant to let that slip, "my PA."
"Isn't Ms. Potts your PA?" Steve asked getting a glare from Stark. The man did not elaborate. He just walked past them and entered the opening elevator doors. Stark leaned on the metal wall looking at Steve and Clint expectantly. Steve dropped the subject fast and climbed into the elevator quickly followed along by Clint who seemed to be afraid of being left behind in an empty apartment floor.
Steve stayed silent throughout the rest of the tour taking everything in. He followed Stark past a bunch of empty desks where he said will be filled up by members of the team Steve picks out if they get the Stark approval which Steve did not think would be too hard to get.
"You already have three people on your team," Stark said as they lead them into a large office space with only one desk sitting in the center. Steve knew this was meant to be his office but he does not see himself spending a lot of time in here unless the rest of his team were to be there with him.
"Bruce is downstairs in the R&D Department, the second is a surprise but you know him very well, and the third well...he's wearing purple so he is kind of hard to miss," Stark gave Clint a half smile before waving goodbye at them and leaving them alone in a large office space too big for the both of them.
"Well, I guess it's time to get a team together," Clint whispered taking off to find a desk he liked in the common space.
"Yeah," Steve whispered back a little too late. He dropped his bag and began to pull everything out. He needed to get started on recruiting as well as start on the evidence and information he and Clint collected while at the Ironman base.
"You know what we should call ourselves?" Clint came bounding in again looking pleased with himself and no longer wearing his jacket. He must have already picked a seat.
"No I don't," Steve played along knowing Clint was going to come up with something tacky.
"Well I was thinking, that we actually take on the name Avengers but dress it up a bit," Clint responds, "We should call ourselves The Ultimate Avengers or Ults for short."
"Ults?" Steve raised an eyebrow. He liked the idea of adopting the nickname that the FBI gave his original team and taking it a step further. It was not necessarily creative but it had a nice ring to it but he was definitely ditching the Ults nicknames. No one would go for that.
The Ultimate Avengers, huh? This was going to lead to something good. Steve could feel it.
