The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 19

"Grace, we got something." Steve's voice says over the P.A. in my room. I press a button on my microphone to respond.

"Alright coming up," I say and go to the elevator. I make my way to the lab once I reach that level. I walk in just as Steve does as he looks down at a tablet. He hands it to Thor.

"What's this?" He asks. I look over his shoulder and see Strucker sits dead against a wall with the word peace written in what I presume to be his blood. I try to pull my gaze away but I can't, not until Thor slams the tablet into Tony's chest. There must have been a reason Ultron killed Strucker, he must have known something that Ultron didn't want for us to know.

"Why send a message when you just gave a speech?" Natasha asks from the table.

"Strucker knew something about the scepter," I say. "It seems like a pretty good reason."

"I'm betting...." Nat mumbles. "Yep, everything we had on Strucker is gone."

"Well, not everything," Steve says before leading us to the file room. Everything we had in the documentation on the computer was printed in case we needed something. I grab a couple of boxes and bring them back out to the lab. I open the box and begin to search through it. I pull out a file with Klaw written across it and open it to a middle-aged man appears in three pictures that are spread out throughout a page.

"Wait, I know that guy," Tony says and I hand him the file. Thor takes a picture from it and observes it. "Back in the day, he operated off the African coast black arms market. There are conventions, alright?" Tony looks over at Steve who is judging him. "I didn't buy or sell anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very odd."

"What's this?" Thor asks pointing at it.

"A brand," I say before taking it over to the scanner. Bruce goes to the computer to set it up so we can find out how he got it. The computer beeps and I walk over to it to see what it has to say.

"It's a word in African dialect meaning 'thief' in a very unfriendly way," Bruce says.

"What dialect?" Steve asks.

"Wakandan," I say not taking my eyes off the computer. I've heard of that place from somewhere. I turn around to look at the rest of the team.

"What this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods," Tony says.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it," Steve says.

"The last of the known metal," I say and the rest of the team looks over at me. "I've heard of Wakanda before, I don't remember the details but I remember them emphasizing on some sort of metal."

"So what you're saying is there is more vibranium in Wakanda?" Tony asks. 

"What I'm trying to say is that there is a possibility that this Klaw guy may have the last of it." 

"Wait, what kind of metal are we talking about?" Bruce asks and we all look over at Steve's shield.

"The strongest metal on the planet," I say. "If Ultron gets his hands on that, it's going to make our jobs a hell of a lot tougher."

Tony and Steve turn to each other a glint of fear flashes between their eyes before Steve turns to us. 

"Suit up, meet in the quinjet in ten minutes." He says and we all run out of the room to prepare for the battle against Klaw and possibly Ultron. I enter my prep room to get into my suit, the feeling of the suit on me sends chills down my spine instead of the usual warmth of comfort. The article flashes across my vision and tears burn in my eyes, if I'm not the hero does that make me the villain?