𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 ━ steve rogers

chapter fifty

Grace sighed. "Have at him," she told Thor, walking back to Steve and Adelaide. "He makes my job too hard."

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor said in frustration.

"No, I'm sorry," Tony said, trying to stop laughing and his aunt pinched the bridge of her nose. "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 to—"

"Really?!" Tony exclaimed, interrupting Bruce. "You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls?"

He nodded. "Only when I've created a murder bot!" he retorted.

"We didn't," Tony argued. "We weren't even close. We were close to an interface?"

Grace sighed and rubbed her temple in frustration. "Tony, will you get it through your delusional mind?" she groaned. "Whether you meant to do it or not, you did something and you don't seem to have an ounce of regret about it."

"The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD," Steve added, his arms still crossed across his chest.

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked making Adelaide roll her eyes and Rhodey shook his head.

"No," he replied. "It's never come up."

"Saved New York?"

Adelaide shrugged. "I've never heard that before," she added sarcastically, sharing a teasing smile with Rhodey. "Then again, it wouldn't be like you to brag about that every chance you got."

"Recall that?" Tony asked while Grace let out a breath. "A hostile army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that up there? That's... that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together."

Tony looked at Steve and shook his head. "We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too," Steve said, pushing himself off the table. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

Grace clapped her hands together and smiled. "Finally. Something that I can do." She grabbed Steve's arm. "Come on, muscle man, you need to help me." She looked back at Thor. "You, too."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

"𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 globe," Maria said as Grace sat on the floor sorting through boxes. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."

"Fatalities?" Steve asked.

She shook her head. "Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see."

"Maximoffs," Steve said and Grace looked up at them. "Well, that makes sense. He'd go to them. They have someone in common."

"Not anymore," Adelaide told him, handing him a tablet. Grace looked over his shoulder at the photo of Strucker's dead body with 'PEACE' written in blood on the wall behind him.

Grace sighed and took her hair out of the claw clip. "Well that's lovely..." she muttered, turning away from the sight. Steve went and gathered the rest of the team while Grace picked up the boxes from the floor.

"Why do you think he's doing this?" Adelaide asked and Grace looked over at the blonde before shrugging.

"He wants the Avengers extinct," she replied quietly. "He wants to draw them out, and killing Strucker is sending a message."