Chapter 5
"What do you mean you lost the bug!"
"I'm sorry, sir," Joseph said, standing tall as he tried to not run away from the enraged scientist.
The man in the lab coat was storming around the lab, throwing papers and the occasional glass beaker or test tube to the floor. This was the worst the henchman had ever seen his boss. Sure there were the moments where he got mad when something didn't go right with an experiment. But this? This was beyond those usual moments. This was him furious – and it wasn't the best thing to happen around the lab.
"How could you lose it?" the scientist yelled, turning to face his man. "How could you let the one important thing to further my plan get away? You had one job! And it was to make sure that bug didn't get away!"
"I know, sir, and I'm sorry," the man said, standing still as he waited for his boss to calm down. Which he knew wouldn't happen any time soon.
"Who?" he shouted, slamming a pile of papers onto his table. "Who has the bug?"
"I'm not sure who he was," the henchman explained. "He looked like a new member of the Avengers."
"The Avengers?" he shouted. In two strides he was in front of the other man, his hand wrapped tight around his throat. "My robot is in the hands of the one group who can thwart my plans?"
"I-I'm sorry, sir," the man gasped as he slowly lost air.
"Sorry isn't going to bring my robot back!" he hissed, his grip tightening. "Who is the Avenger?"
"He's a new one," Joseph gasped.
"A new Avenger? Which one? If you haven't noticed, they have a few new members!"
"I'm not sure who he is, bu-but I was able to get a picture of him," he coughed. He gasped as his boss suddenly let go of his throat.
"Give me the photo," he said, striding over to his table where the remaining robot bugs were spread out. He snatched the photo from the henchman's hand, not even bothering to look up at him. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the photo of the young man as he fought the super soldier. The man's eyes widened as he stared at him and he quickly went over to a filling cabinet where he pulled out a folder. As he rummaged through the new file he came upon another photo. Slowly a wicked smile grew on his lips. "Oh this is perfect…" He turned back to his henchman who continued to stand off to the side, eyes slightly wide as he waited for whatever punishment he believed he would receive. The scientist only smiled. "You're mess up has just helped furthered my plans. Fantastic job, Joseph."
"Uh…sir?" Joseph said, his face scrunching up in confusion. "I don't understand…"
"You will," the scientist grinned as he tossed the file onto the table towards his assistant.
Joseph stared down at the file and spotted a photo of a family of four. Underneath them were individual photos of each member. His eyes widened when he saw the Avenger in one. "Who are they sir?"
"The Madison twins," the scientist said. "I need you to track down her," he said, pointing to a picture of a young blonde woman. "We're going to need her if we want to continue with the plan."
ooOOoo
Tracey giggled as she and Bucky watched Steve stare at the keypad next to the lab doors. The super soldier's lips were pursed as he stared. He punched in some numbers only to get a buzz signaling it was incorrect. Looking through the glass window next to the door she could see Bruce walking over to one of the many tables carrying a tablet in hand. The scientist caught her eyes and shifted them over to the blonde super soldier, who was now glaring at the keypad, and the metal armed super soldier, who was laughing at his best friend. Bruce raised a brow at Tracey as he had an amused smile on his face that matched the blonde woman's, only smaller. He raised a hand, pointing to the door as in asking if he wanted to let them in. Tracey shook her head, holding back a laugh as Steve cursed at the keypad. She rolled her eyes and punched in the numbers for him.
"What the hell," the super soldier exclaimed. "When did they change the code?"
"Tony did and it was a couple days ago," the hacker announced as the doors whooshed open. "I think it had something to do with him and that 'super-secret' experiment of his," she said, using air quotes with a laugh.
"Ah," Bucky said, a small smirk on his face as Steve rolled his eyes. "Of course he did. What is he doing anyways?"
"Not sure. He still won't tell anyone. Not even Bruce." She looked up at Bruce. "Anything yet?" Tracey asked as she and Steve walked into the lab. She looked at the scientist as he looked up from his work that sat on his table.
The curly haired scientist pursed his lips as he turned his head to look towards the other end of the lab where Black Sabbath was playing loudly. He turned back to the blonde hacker and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, Trace, I'm not sure. We looked at it earlier today, but Tony's been working on his own experiment all day. I'm not sure if he's even looked at the bug yet."
"That's bullshit!" Tony exclaimed as he stormed out of his little room. "I have looked at the bug and have been working on my project. I've been going back and forth, but," he said, stopping in front of the two. He pointed a finger at the scientist and the hacker. "I'm still trying to figure out who the tech belongs to. I can say that yes, it is a copy of the super soldier formula, but it's been altered."
"Altered?" Steve said, brow furrowing. "What do you mean altered?"
"I mean it's not the same formula they used on you, Captain Grandpa," Tony said, ignoring the eye roll from the super soldier. "The chemical formula has been enhanced. Well attempted to be enhanced. We already know the side effects of what happens after it's out of the soldier's systems."
"They forget what after they were injected with it," Tracey stated, nodding her head slowly. "But what do you mean it's been attempted to be enhanced?"
"Bruce and I had looked at the formula from the bug and compared it to the formula from the forties when they put it in Cap," Tony explained.
"And?" Steve urged, raising a brow in question as he crossed his arms.
"There's a few minor tweaks here and there, other than that it's the same thing, but I'm not sure why whoever is doing this changed it," Bruce answered.
"The original formula was fine the way it is, this guy clearly wants to play God and wants to improve it somehow and most likely make an army of super soldiers," Tony added, looking at the tablet Bruce had. "His problem is he's failing at improving it. He's making it worse – which we can see alone by the memory loss of his guinea pigs."
"Yeah, but you have to think about it," Tracey said, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned back on one leg. "I mean, sure the guys don't remember anything while they are under the influence of the formula, but they are still super soldiers. His plan of making them into super soldiers is working and we have to consider that the memory loss might be intentional."
"Tracey's got a point," Bucky nodded. "For all we know this guy made sure that the men he is experimenting on don't remember anything so nothing is traced back to him."
"Yeah, well he did a shitty job since Barry was able to steal the bug off his Capsicle and Bucksicle wannabe," the billionaire scoffed. "And I highly doubt that that was intentional."
"Probably not," Bruce said with a small laugh. "His mess up is our advantage."
Steve placed his hands on his hips as he stared at the bug before turning to the rest of his team. "We also can't procrastinate this. We need to figure out who is making these bugs."
"So you didn't find who the design belongs to?" Tracey asked, looking to Tony.
He shook his head. "Nothing. And it's still nothing I've seen before. As we've said repeatedly: this is a new threat."
"New or not, it still means we can't make light of this," the super soldier stated. "We need to expect anything from this guy. He'll most likely either come after us for the bug or just send out more soldiers." He looked to Tracey. "Is there any way you can trace the bug to the original owner?"
Tracey chewed her cheek as she stared at the bug Tony had placed onto the table next to the other Science Bro. She pursed her lips and sighed. "I can try," she said, shaking her head, "but I'm not experienced in the field of robotics and I'm not sure if it will have some piece to it that can allow me to track its origins."
"Don't sweat it, Picassa," Tony said, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "That's why you have me." He grinned at her, giving her arms a squeeze before letting her go.
Tracey laughed, smiling up at the older man. "Gee thanks, Tony. I can always count on you. I'm sure I'll be able to understand every word you say to me."
"Which is why I'll be giving you a full on seminar," the billionaire grinned.
"Great," Tracey said, elongating the word as she rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Have fun with that," Steve laughed, patting the hacker's shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir," JARVIS spoke out.
Tony groaned. "If it's another meeting, tell Pepper I can't make it. We're busy working on this case," the scientist billionaire said with an eye roll.
"We have some people wishing to land on the landing strip on top of the tower," the AI announced.
"Who are they? If it's a client I don't get why they didn't arrive at the airport," Tony said making a face.
"They aren't clients, sir," JARVIS said. "And I think you will want to meet them."
"What the… Who the hell is landing on my tower?" Tony asked, storming to the elevator.
The remaining four looked at each other with puzzled expressions before making their way to the elevators. The ride up was silent except for the few questions of who the people could be. They made their way up to the loading dock where the quinjet was parked. The group spotted a new jet parked right next to it and stared questioningly as the bay to it opened up.
"Mr. Stark," came a voice as a figure walked down. "Long time no see."
Tony's whole being froze as he stared at the person in front of him. His eyes were wide and his mouth might as well have hit the floor. "Holy shit…"
ooOOoo
And here's chapter five! Sorry I don't really have a lot to say in this author's note, but I hope you liked the chapter. I'd love to hear what you guys think so far because I've been hesitant about this story since day one. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts and comments on it so far!
Again sorry for a short chapter. I'm trying my best to make them just as long as Winter is Ending chapters, but I liked how this one ended up when I finished. However, I was able to add a bit more in the second half of this chapter. Anyways, I hope you liked it!
If you'd like to ask the Avengers, Madison twins, and anyone else in the tower any questions, feel free to leave a message on my tumblr. If you have any prompts you'd like to see me write for my oneshot series Life at the Tower, leave a message on my tumblr, PM me here, or leave it in a review.
You can find me on tumblr at winter-is-ending
I'm still worried about how well this story is going and I'd really appreciate reviews. Whether it's helpful criticism or comments about your favorite part I'd really love to hear what you guys think. I'm really nervous about this story so I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts. Thank you.
Thank you for all of your support! I still am questioning why you people keep on reading because – I'm not kidding – I've never seen myself as a great writer. But I guess it's good because I'm thinking about changing my minor to Journalism to go with my major. So again thank you all for the support!