Avengers: Age of Ultron | Saviors | Sending a Message After Giving a Speech?
The next day everyone is more or less rested up, each made sure to at least get some sleep and a nice warm shower before really getting to work this morning.
Today, after the disastrous after-party yesterday and the event 'kill Tony with words,' the Avengers are going to plan their next move. Just like Bucky and Steve said; they need to figure out what Ultron is up to - and make their plans to stop him as soon as possible.
Ava sits beside Natasha, skimming through a laptop Tony has stashed in a closet for personal security - he figures that if something were to happen to his technology, he'll need something to rely on in his time of need. While Ava searches through this computer, looking for any possible tracks, Natasha is doing almost the exact same thing but just going through different records to see if any has been changed in any way since last night. The two want to figure out what Ultron is more interested in during his path to destruction.
Tony is fiddling with things around his secondary lab area, not allowed to touch his computer due to Ava's request. She doesn't think he can be trusted after yesterday, and it's going to take a lot more than a damn apology to take that ban away. Bruce is staying away with him, honestly just not wanting to screw anything else up.
Thor is pacing around, waiting patiently until someone can find something for him to go on. He's a fighter, a warrior - it's beginning to be slightly irritating that he can't really do anything other than watch idly with nothing to do.
Bucky isn't doing much either, just sitting perched beside Avery in a chair - his head leans against the palm of his hand, his focus drifting between he screens Avery keeps flicking through, and her. Unfortunately for his male mind, she's certainly out of the party clothes but is now wearing some black pants, a white tank top, and her usual black jacket. She doesn't seem to notice the constant glances Bucky throws at her, being completely indulged into the computer in front. Avery Rogers has always been okay when it comes to technology, but Winter is better with it.
Suddenly, Steve waltzes into the room having been the last to arrive - Clint follows closely behind. Steve has a tablet in his hand, something that Agent Hill would usually pass over if anything pertinent is on there. Everyone else looks up as the two enter, but they are more focused on the tablet he holds. Steve hands it over to Thor who looks down at it with a stare of confusion - wondering what could be on there.
But on the screen is something none of them could have surely predicted. It's Strucker; dead. He's splayed against his cot but leaning against the concrete wall. There's a large sprayed spot of dark pooling blood stained against the wall behind him, as well as the very large hole in his chest - the man has been shot with a very high caliber gun of some kind. Next to his body, the word, 'PEACE' is written in what appears to be his own blood. This is a message.
"What's that?" Stark inquires, a frown on his lips.
Steve sighs when Thor slaps the tablet against Tony's chest; everyone is still a little on edge around the guy. "A message," he replies. "Ultron killed Strucker."
Tony looks down to the tablet before giving a small sarcastic snort. "And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Bruce peers over his shoulder, frowning at the picture - Natasha too is a little confused as to why Ultron would do this.
Natasha slowly shakes her head, not understanding. "This is a smoke screen," she says, taking the tablet before holding it up for everyone to see - to prove her point. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"
There's a moment of silence before Bucky speaks up. "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," he murmurs in realization.
Ava lets out a sigh, bending her neck to the side to let out a satisfying crack. "Yeah…all the files we had on Strucker have been erased," she tells them, leaning back in her chair before crossing her arms over her chest.
"Not everything, though," Steve shakes his head, an idea coming to mind. "There must be written copies of everything; a failsafe just in case something like this ever happened."
Tony's eyes light up with his usual smirk forming on his lips. "And I know just how to get them."
….
Not even an hour later, everyone is digging into a dozen or so banker's boxes, all full to the brim of papers and files. They are looking through the files to find anything suspicious, but going through all this, it really makes you appreciate the beauty of modern technology.
"Known associates," Tony mumbles to himself, throwing another file that can possibly mean something to them on the table. He shakes his head, looking at how thick the file looks - at least 5-7 inches from what he can see. "Baron Strucker sure had a lot of friends." Not good ones either.
Bruce can't help but comment. "Well, these people are all horrible," he mentions, looking through a file he too has found. It has even more 'friends' inside this one that loved to get cozy with the man.
Steve suddenly looks up, realizing something that was said in the past. He can't believe he just remembered it now. "Avery," he calls over to his sister, walking in with another box in his hands. He moves closer to everyone so he can be heard.
Ava looks up to him, creasing her eyebrows with confusion. There's a tone in his voice that she recognizes as remembering something. "What is it, Steve?"
"Is there anything you can remember on Strucker?" He inquires. Remembering back in the hallway when she practically threatened Agent Hill, how she mentioned Strucker and the twins. That she was the one to recruit Wanda and Pietro into the experiments that really did change them in the end. "You recruited the twins, is there anything that might be helpful?"
Ava has been going through her own box, completely filled to the brim of anything personal related to Baron Strucker. When Steve asks, she sighs with great defeat, running a hand through her hair before shaking her head from side to side. "No," she says. It isn't that she can't remember, it's the fact that she has only seen the man twice. Her work mostly ran through Hydra and she just went where they needed her to go. "I was only to recruit two people with a great thirst for revenge; I wasn't allowed to question anything." Her eyes flicker over to Natasha; it was nearly the same with her, but this time, the twins wanted to fight. She feels a great pit of sadness and hatred for herself build up - how could she have done that? She manipulated two children into Strucker's life-threatening experiments. How could she have done something like that and ruin two children's lives forever?
There's a moment of awkward silence; all the Avengers know that Ava's past is both complicated and sometimes horrific. Even if they don't know to the full extent when it comes to the dark side of her - but right now, they just can't picture her actually trying to bring two young people into being like her. A weapon. They also can't help but let a small build of curiosity churn inside of them when it comes to her past - what kind of things was she forced to do during her years in the dark?
Tony is about to ask something, but something else catches his eye instead. A file that Bruce is flipping through. "Wait!" He calls over to Bruce, wanting the man to halt before he throws the file away to the side. "I know that guy," he realizes, looking over to the familiar face. One that he hasn't actually seen for a while; it's just one of those faces you really can't forget.
Everyone stops to stare at him, all wondering how Tony would know someone out of all these criminals. None of Strucker's acquaintances were good, only bad. Tony reaches over and grabs the file from Bruce, taking a closer look to make sure his eyes aren't playing tricks on him.
"From back in the day. He operates off the African Coast. Black Market arms," Tony glances up for a moment, feeling someone staring at him with something other than curiosity. It's Steve; looking at him with question - pretty much asking with his eyes 'Why the hell do you know someone in the Black Market?" Tony suddenly gets defensive from the look. "Hey, there are conventions. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything," he promises. He would never do something like that!
Ava moves over to see what the man looks like, and a slight flutter of recognition floods her but she can't quite grab a hold of why or how she knows him. She frowns with a crease in her brow. "I've seen him before," she notes that he looks a little different from the picture in her mind, the man was younger and very cocky. She can feel everyone's gaze on her but her head shakes slowly from side to side. "I can't remember where or why, though-" She may have all her memories back, but there are two lives worth in this head of hers and over 80 years of them. "But I can tell it's not good."
"He was talking about finding something new," Tony continues for her, deciding to take the unwanted attention away. He can tell she's starting to struggle, memory-wise. Even after the harsh words that were spoken yesterday, he can understand everything she said - all the truth she told him. Last night gave him a good amount of time to really relay everything she spoke.
He can understand that there are going to be quite a few blanks in her memory even after her episode of most/all of them returning. Her memory recall is still trying to balance itself and again, he completely understands just like Steve and Bucky do. "A game changer. It was all very…Ahab."
Thor squints his eyes, noticing something in the picture given to him. "This," he points it out - a burn pattern on the back of the man's neck. An engraving of sorts.
Tony glances over. "Ah, it's a tattoo," he explains. "I don't think he had it."
He shakes his head at what Tony is referring to. "Those are tattoos," he agrees, pointing to the dark black lines covering the neck and arms of the arms dealer. He points to the burn mark that looks to be a wonky rectangle with two curvy hooks either side. "This is a brand."
….
Everyone is crowding around the computer while Bruce searches up the meaning of the brand. The computer itself does most of the work; cross-matching everything in its database with a cropped photo of the mark to begin with. Not even a couple of minutes in, a result pops up.
Result: Thief.
"Oh, yeah," Bruce nods, narrowing his eyes before reading the passage quickly in his head about the mark. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief.'" He turns back to everyone with a cringe. "In a much less friendly way."
Steve frowns curiously. "What dialect?" He questions.
Bruce turns back to the screen. "Wak-Wek-Wakam-" He really can't pronounce it correctly, nothing sounds right through his voice.
"Wakanda," Ava guesses without him even finishing the struggling word, seeing the written words on the screen. She leans against the table next to Bucky, her arms crossed against her chest with her head lowered. She shakes her head, running a hand through her hair with a tightened fist - how could she have forgotten? Everything about the man starts coming back to her.
No one else seems to see the different shifts in Ava's emotional state - they don't realize she has started staring out into space.
Tony is looking over to Steve and Bucky, and they are looking to him. Bucky's vision instead catches Ava, though, his eyes start to fiddle with concern. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some other trade goods," Tony starts, his tone suggestive and not in a good sense.
"I thought your father got the last of it?" Steve says, looking confused but understands what Tony is insinuating. Clearly remembering Howard Stark stating that the last of the Vibranium went into both his and Bucky's shields - leaving nothing left, not even scraps.
Bruce is looking at them with confusion written in his features, clearly not understanding a word they're talking about. Everyone is pretty much mirroring that apart from bucky and Ava. "I don't follow," he stands up from the computer chair. "What comes out of Wakanda?"
Ava finally grits her teeth angrily at herself, her hands tensing over her arms - the pressure getting tighter by the second. "Vibranium. The strongest metal on earth," she replies without looking over to them, her voice turns almost emotionless. She glances down at her own arm, and the red star posted on it practically stares at her. "It's what the shields are made of…it's what my arm is made of," she pauses, now feeling everyone's gaze on her. "Ulysses Klaue. Hydra didn't want my arm to be damaged in any way or to rust every time I came out of cryo…so they ordered me to assist him in getting the Vibranium. Gaining just enough to make my new arm."
Bucky blinks, shocked. "How much was there?" He takes another glimpse at her arm but for a really good inspection this time. Glancing at his shield sitting over to the side, it looks exactly the same. The same shine to it and at the same shade of pencil gray added to it. How did they not realize it earlier?
"More than enough," she finally looks up to them. There's no way they could afford Ultron getting that Vibranium, it would be a disaster after another. They need to get that stuff first and away from his metal, destructive hands as soon as possible.
"And I know exactly how to find him."