"What's this?" Stark said gesturing to the tablet Steve handed Thor.
"A message. Ultron killed Strucker."
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us."
"This is a smoke screen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" My mom spoke up.
"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve said
"Yeah, I bet he... Yeah. Everything we had on Strucker's been erased." I said looking at the words 'records deleted' on the computer in front of me.
"Not everything."
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A few minutes later we were all looking through paper files Stark had saved in case something like these ever happened.
"Known associates." Steve muttered, "Baron Strucker had a lot of friends."
"Well, these people are all horrible."
"Wait. I know that guy." Tony said moving next to Bruce, "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." As he said that Steve gave him a dirty look, " There are conventions. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab."
I moved next to Thor to get a closer look at the pictures Steve handed him, "This?" Thor asked, looking at a brand on the guys neck.
"It's a tattoo, I don't think he had it."
"Those are tattoos, this is a brand." I spoke up.
"Oh, Yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning "thief." In a much less friendly way." Bruce said from over by one of the computers
"What dialect?"
"Wakanada. Wakanda."
"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony said to Steve
"I thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve responded
"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Bruce broke in.
"The strongest metal on Earth." Steve said, looking at his shield, "Where is this guy now?"
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"I'm sorry. I'm... I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark!" We heard Ultron speak as we crept closer to the small group. I was above them on a walkway hidden in the shadows with my eyes on Wanda as I was the only one who could over power her. My eyes flickered to the person beside her for a quick moment and I felt weird. Fuzzy? Warm? I ignored the feeling and focused on Wanda and Ultron. "It's a thing with me. Stark is... He's a sickness!"
"Aw, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart." Tony said, landing in front of him as Thor and Steve walked up beside him.
"If I have to." Ultron said, turning towards Tony. The enhanced stood behind him, glaring daggers at Tony. I don't blame them.
"Nobody has to break anything." Thor spoke up
"Clearly you've never made an omelet."
"He beat me by one second."
"Yes. He's funny. Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro said walking forward, gesturing to bombs below.
"This was never my life."
"You two can still walk away from this." Steve said stepping forward.
"Oh, We will." Wanda spoke up, with a sort of babying face.
"I know you've suffered."
"Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..." Ultron broke in.
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor said.
"I think you're confusing "peace" with "quiet.""
"Yuh huh, what's the Vibranium for?" Tony spoke up, clearly annoyed with their chit chat.
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron said. All of a sudden Tony was pulled towards Ultron and two robots jumped down in front of Thor and Steve as all hell broke loose. The two enhanced jumped in and I knew I had to stop Wanda before she did some serious damage. I jumped down in front of her and sent her flying into the wall behind her. She looked at me clearly confused as to who the hell I was. I messed with her mind making her confused as to where she was and what she was doing. Nothing big just scrambling her thoughts. Something grabbed me and slammed me against the wall once I had turned away from Wanda. I closed my eyes upon impact and opened them only to come face to face with a certain quick bastard.
"What did you do to her?" He asked, getting increasingly closer to my face making butterflies form in my stomach and a deep blush spread across my cheeks.
"Nothing that will harm her."
"How do i know that?"
"Cause i don't like to harm good people, now move out of my way before you make me hurt you. And trust me I don't want to."
"We're not done here." He said with a smirk.
"Yes we are." I said blasting him backwards. He went flying over the rail into a pile of boxes. I bent over the rail and blew him a kiss before walking away to help my friends. I ran to where Clint was and took out the bots that were coming up behind him. I stood beside Clint and looked down to see Wanda had broken free of my tricks. Unfortunately I was ambushed by more bots and couldn't warn my friends in time.
"Thor, status." Cap said
"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." Thor replied. I sighed, feeling like I'd failed. I watched as Pietro sent Cap flying and Wanda warped his mind as well. My mom was probably next.
"Mom she'll probably come after you next! Thor and Steve are down."
"I'll be fine Karli, I'm an ex-assassin. I think I can take-"
"Mom? Hello?! Shit. Clint mom's down." I said as he continued to shoot more robots down. I realized the Maximoff's were no longer in sight and figured they'd come for Clint. I hid nearby and waited for Wanda to come up behind him. Soon after Wanda crept up behind him but before she could do anything Clint turned and stuck an electric arrow on her forehead. I took my chance and ran up behind her, warping her mind like I did before.
"I've done the whole mind control thing. Not a fan." Clint said and I nodded in agreement. Suddenly Clint and I went flying into the glass window beside us and I watched as Pietro grabbed Wanda and ran.
"Yeah, you better run." I muttered
"Who's ever standing, we got to move! Guys?" Clint said and I went to find my mom knowing she probably had it worse. I found her walking down the steps and stopped her, making her sit down so I could tap into her mind.
"Again." a voice said. I looked around and saw ballerinas in a room a few feet away. I felt everything my mom felt, saw everything she saw. She walked towards the group and paused in front of the glass window.
"You'll break them." My mom spoke.
"Only the breakable ones." A woman with a slight Russian accent spoke from beside my mom. "You're made of marble. We'll celebrate after the graduation ceremony." Suddenly I was seeing a young version of my mom shooting a target, not missing her shots. The target turned into a real person and I saw no hesitation in her eyes.
"What if I fail?" She asked
"You never fail." The woman replied. "Madame B." my mom's voice rang through my head. The scene changed with a bang and now my mom was sparring with two men. She was caught in a choke hold, trying to get out but complied and tapped out.
"Sloppy." Madame B said. "Pretending to fail. The ceremony is necessary... for you to take your place in the world."
"I have no place in the world." she replied looking drained. The scene changed again to when she was escaping. She ran for miles before finally stopping at an abandoned house. The scene changed a few more times; her running from HYDRA and Red Room agents, me being born, moving from house to house, my mom telling me to hide in the closet while she took care of the bad men, and the day I was taken. It was way more intense than I thought. I've never felt so much sorrow.
I pulled out as my head filled with pressure and fell against the rail. I was flashing through everyone's minds including Wanda's. I held my head and tried to calm down so I could control what I was seeing.
"What can I do?" I heard Pietro speak. I was looking through Wanda's eyes.
"It hurts."
"I'm going to kill them. I'll be right back."
"No. I'm all right."
"I want... I want to finish the plan. I want the big one." she said.
"Shit." I muttered. "Tony she's going for Dr. Banner. Bruce, do you copy?" I waited a minute before asking again, "Bruce! Do you copy?" All I heard in response was a loud roar.
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"Natasha, I could really use a lullaby."
"That's not gonna happen." I said, trying to help Clint get the others to the jet. "Not for a while."
"The whole team is down. You got no backup here." Clint said.
"Tony I might be able to do something but you're gonna have to keep him occupied until i can get to you." I said as I guided Thor to the jet.
"I'm calling in Veronica." He said.
"Clint, take me to the edge of the city. I'm gonna see if i can pull Banner out of his trance." I said setting my mom down as he set Cap down. He nodded in response and took the pilot seat. A few minutes later we landed and I raced out of the jet towards the middle of the city where Banner and Tony were. I stopped a little ways away and watched him get trapped in a cage. That's definitely not gonna hold him. "Get back!" I yelled to nearby citizens, ushering them behind me. The police began to move towards the cage and I knew that none of this was going to be good. "Stand down." I said walking forward, my hands and eyes glowing. "Your guns aren't gonna stop him." The ground began to shake as the cage sunk down again. "Tony? You there?"
"Just a minute, Romanoff." Banner jumped up through the ground a few feet away and began attacking a car that still had a woman inside it. I was about to shock wave Bruce when I heard metal clanking. I looked over to see Tony in a huge Iron man suit.
"All right, everybody, stand down! Will you listen to me? That little witch is messing with your mind. You're stronger than her. You're smarter than her. You're Bruce Banner." I heard Tony say. The hulk roared at the mention of Banner.
"Right, right, right, don't mention puny Banner." The Hulk threw a car at Tony, but Tony caught it. The hulk smashed into Tony sending him flying back. Tony flew at the hulk and choke slammed him into the pavement dragging him along underneath him. Hulk managed to kick Tony off of him and Tony went tumbling forward. They continued on fighting while I made sure the civilians were safe and out of the way.
"In the back? Dick move, Banner." Tony said and I turned to see the Hulk on top of Tony with a poll stuck in the mechanical arm. The hulk began tearing at his back so Tony rotated his arm around and punched Banner in the face, sending him flying. "Shit." I muttered and ran towards where the Hulk was, knowing there were still people over there. "Veronica, give me a hand." I ran towards the Hulk as he ran at me. I stopped in my tracks and propelled him over my head towards Tony. He used his other arm to shoot blasts of energy at Banner while his arm assembled and I ran towards the people who Banner had nearly crushed, helping them to safety. I looked at Tony just in time to see Hulk and Tony both throw a punch, their fist meeting with enough power to send nearby pedestrians flying. I ran towards two kids who almost got squashed by the Hulk and checked them over before carrying them to safety.
"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep." I looked over to see Tony repeatedly punch Banner in the face only making him angrier. The Hulk caught his fist, but only for the suit to lock around his arm. He began thrashing around and Tony started flying.
"Okay, pal, we're gonna get you out of town." The Hulk suddenly pushed Tony a different way from where he was heading and I sighed. God this job was exhausting. I flew up to the top of a building and followed them, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Tony smashed into a building and I watched as an elevator began falling with people still inside it. I jumped down and caught it just before it hit the ground
"Everybody, out!" I yelled. As the last person got out, Tony grabbed the wire and I let go taking cover as Hulk came flying out of the building.
"Going down?" Tony yelled and smashed the elevator over Hulk. Hulk went to get up but Tony sent a punch at him. For a second Hulk didn't move but then he turned his head towards Tony and spit out a few teeth. If looks could kill...
"I'm sorry." Tony muttered. Then went off fighting again as I tried to follow them. "How quickly can we buy this building? Karli! Get to the construction building and contain the damage!"
"Got it!" I said as I stopped in front of the half built building. As Banner hit the building and it came tumbling down I worked on creating a force field to contain the damage.
"Move! Get out of the way!" I yelled at the bystanders. It was getting harder to hold but the hulk had finally stopped falling so all I had to do was make the dust disappear. I manage to bring the dust into a small ball, making it dissipate into thin air. I made eye contact with the hulk and quickly brought him out of his trance. He looked around at all the police and pedestrians that were fleeing. The police pointed their guns at him. He got ready to launch at them but a metal arm knocked him out.
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"The news is loving you guys." Maria's voice came from the small tablet in front of Tony. Clint was in the pilot's seat and Tony sat behind him. The others were scattered around lost in thought, staring at the ground or wall. I sat beside Bruce sorting through the last of his mind. He was curled up in front of me with a blanket but he was sweating bullets.
"Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest but it's in the air." I looked up at this and Bruce looked slightly panicked. I drew his focus back to me, keeping that thought away for now.
"The Stark Relief Foundation?"
"Already on the scene. How's the team?"
"Everyone's..." Tony said looking over to where I was sitting. "We took a hit. We'll shake it off."
"Well, for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here."
"So, run and hide?"
"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."
"Neither do we." Tony switched off the tablet and moved to the front.
"Hey, you wanna switch out?" He asked Clint.
"No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time because we're still a few hours out." He answered and I smiled immediately knowing where we were going.
"Few hours from where?"
"A safe house." I finished up with Banner and sent him a kind smile, standing up and walking over to my mom. She slowly looked over at me and tried to smile. "Ready?" I asked her, getting comfortable. She nodded her head and I got to work.
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