Age of Ultron - 1
*3rd POV*
Natasha comes crashing through the trees on a stolen Hydra jeep surrounding the Hydra base while Clint stands up in the back, firing arrows at every agent that gets too close. Tony is flanking them in his suit, keeping the way clear for the jeep while firing his repulsion beams, just as Natasha kicks one of the agents in the face.
A second jeep pulls up behind theirs and begins to fire; Thor quickly stops it, dropping on top of the jeep and taking out the soldier before swinging his hammer to take him to the top of the lookout post. Thor takes out large groups of soldiers with only his fists as Steve rides by on his motorcycle, dragging a soldier by the leg before tossing him into another approaching one knocking them both unconscious.
He throws his shield, and it bounces off a tree and a few soldiers before he catches it again and secures it on his back; he swerves on his bike to avoid another oncoming jeep. Nikolina drops down in its path, throwing up a force field, causing it to collide head-on and flip over where the Hulk catches it and tosses it aside effortlessly before continuing on his rampage of taking out soldiers.
They all begin to advance on the barricade that is the only defense left from keeping them out of the base; Natasha swerves the truck while she and Clint jump out and over the barrier at the last second. Steve uses his bike to clear it, with Nikolina pushing herself off the back of the motorcycle. Thor, Tony, and Hulk avoid the barbed wire with ease. And for one brief moment, the Avengers are all picturesquely side by side, like in a superhero movie.
Tony flies ahead, taking out a few soldiers before heading toward the base, only to be zapped off the side when he comes in contact with a force field. "Shit!" He exclaims, righting himself.
"Language," Steve reprimands, the word slipping past his lips without him thinking about it. He speeds ahead, actively avoiding the amused glance Nikolina shoots him. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?" he questions the AI instead.
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," Jarvis responds efficiently through the communication devices. "Strucker's technology is well beyond anything of a HYDRA base we've taken."
"Loki's scepter must be here," Nikolina guesses, standing back-to-back with the Norse God as they fight off the Hydra soldiers.
"Strucker can't mount this defense without it," Thor finishes while he throws his hammer past Nikolina's head at one of the approaching soldiers, and it quickly finds its way back into Thor's hand, as always. "At long last."
Natasha throws a grenade into one of the trucks and then jumps down, taking out a pair of soldiers before it can blow. Natasha waits until she is far enough away from the truck so she won't be in the blast radius to hit the detonator; she turns back to her earpiece.
"'At long last' is lasting a little long, guys," She chimes before pulling out her gun and shooting a man in the back of another truck.
"Yeah," Clint scoffs, ducking behind a tree again to avoid a bullet. "I think we lost the element of surprise."
"Wait a minute," Tony interrupts perplexingly. "Is no one going to deal with the fact that Cap just says 'language'?"
"I know," Steve sighs, speeding head-on toward one of the remaining trucks before pulling the brakes, standing up with his hands on the handlebars, throwing the bike over his head, and watching it crash into the truck. The man sighs again and hangs his head briefly before returning to what Tony is teasing him about, "it just slipped out."
Nikolina, who stops to watch Cap throw the bike, snarks back, "Kind of like my motorcycle?"
Cap cringes slightly, "sorry," Nikolina side-eyes him before running off to take her anger out on some Hydra soldiers. "I'll buy you a new one." The super-soldier calls after her, trying to appease the fierce woman.
"You bet your ass you will," she grumbles as she stomps to the nearest Hydra soldier and begins swinging at anything that moves.
"Sir, the city, is taking fire," Jarvis informs.
"Well, we know Strucker isn't going to worry about civilian casualties," Tony responds, "Send in the Iron Legion."
While that happens and the civilians protest against the Iron Legion in their city, Clint is taking out the bunkers, constantly firing beams at the team. He shoots an arrow off and quickly ducks back behind the tree. His brow furrows when there isn't an immediate explosion, and he steps out from behind the tree again to fire another arrow, but before he can, he is knocked off his feet by a blur.
He groans, rolling over to stand up when the blur slows down to reveal a young man smirking while staring at the older man on the ground, "You didn't see that coming?" he smirks before dashing off again.
Quickly Clint gets to his feet and aims in the direction he has run off to, but he is long gone. Before he can lower his bow, there is a burning pain.
"Clint!" Natasha shouts after hearing his groan and looks over in time to see him falling to the ground and rushes over to him.
Everyone on the ground freezes when they hear Natasha's frantic shout; Steve turns to head that way when the same blur hits him. The difference is that he can adjust himself in a way that causes him to land back on his feet. "We have an enhanced in the field," He reports.
"Clint's hit," Natasha responds, sliding down through the snow to her knees to cover Clint's wound.
"Somebody wanna deal with that bunker," She calls out, and no sooner than she voices her concern, the Hulk comes roaring in and runs straight through it, destroying it. "Thank you," She chimes politely before digging into her tactical belt, pulling out a needle, and injecting the painkillers into his neck.
"Stark," Steve grunts throwing this shield, "We really need to get inside," He presses, catching the shield when it flies back to him, Nikolina landing right after and taking out another set of soldiers.
"I'm closing in," Tony responds quickly, then a few moments later, his voice happily comes through. "Drawbridge is down, people."
Thor lands nearby with a flourish of lightning that takes down the last set of soldiers for now. "The enhanced?" he questions as the three of them turn to each other.
"He's a blur," Steve reports looking around as if he expects the young man to come out of nowhere again. "With all the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."
"Clint's hit pretty back, guys," Natasha's concerned voice crackles through coms again, "We're gonna need evac."
Nikolina listens to what is being said, "You and Stark secure the scepter," she orders, nodding to Steve. "You keep it clear out here," This command to the Norse God, both men knowing it is easier to do what she says, nod in agreement.
"Copy that," Steve responds.
"Looks as if they're lining up," Thor announces curiously, tilting his head toward the approaching Hydra soldiers.
"Well, they're excited," Steve huffs, holding up his shield and bracing himself while Nikolina takes a step back when Thor brings his hammer down on the shield, where the lightning reverberates and hits the soldiers, knocking them all down.
"Awe, look at you two," Nikolina coos before cupping her cheeks with her hands, "working together, it's so cute I could throw up," At the end of her words, Nikolina's hands drop to her sides before her voice changes from high-pitched to a monotone and a deadpanned look on her face.
Both men smile fondly at the woman. "Find the scepter," Thor chimes into the coms, shaking his head in amusement before turning away and taking off again.
"And for gosh sake, watch your language," Tony exclaims sarcastically.
"That's not going away anytime soon," Steve chides, looking at the snow-covered ground.
"What do you think?" Nikolina questions rhetorically to the super soldier before chasing down an enemy soldier.
Nikolina runs to the nearest door and opens it, face to face with five soldiers. In an instant, all the guns are pointing at her, and all that Nikolina can do is let her smartass run, "You guys seem on edge."
Taking a step forward, "let me fix that," Nikolina's eyes turn black, and in a moment, she is gone, reappearing behind one soldier and snapping his neck. She grabs hold of the dead body and uses it as a shield from the incoming bullets; as she walks forward, she adjusts her grip to grasp the body's wrist. The slightest lull in the gunfire is all she needs before striking; Nikolina swings the body at the wrist, and the dead man smacks the other four soldiers, causing them all to be off balance.
With everyone disorientated, Nikolina throws the body onto the nearest soldier, "talk about dead weight," She blows a stray piece of hair out of her eyes before refocusing on the surviving men, and a smile showing sharper teeth spreads across her face.
Grabbing the closest man, Nikolina hoists him to her face and casually comments, "I hope this hurts."
The next minute is full of rapid gunfire, terrified screams, limbs flying in every direction, and blood coating each visible surface. When the dust settles, Nikolina stands in the middle of the hallway with various body parts strewn across the flat surfaces.
"We have a second enhanced female. Do not engage," Steve suddenly reports, then his voice comes back a second later. "I got Strucker."
"Yeah, I got something bigger," Tony's voice sounds distracted as he reports on his progress with the mission. "Thor, I've got eyes on the prize."
On the jet, Tony is flying it back to New York; Thor and Steve are in one corner, standing over the box the scepter is in, whispering between each other. Natasha hovers over Clint, ensuring he isn't being jostled too much during the plane ride; Nikolina is also nearby, keeping an eye on the archer. Bruce is in one of the jet's seats with his headphones on, listening to the soothing music that helps him relax after hulking out.
Nikolina stands from where she is kneeling near Clint's head; the woman leans down and pokes the archer in the cheek, "you still alive?"
"Yeah," the man playful slaps her prodding fingers away as an annoyed dad would do to their child.
Letting out a fake sigh of disappointment, "damn." A teasing smile comes on Nikolina's face, and Clint raises a middle finger good-naturedly while giving a hearty chuckle.
She copies the gesture before beginning to make her way over to her boys; as she passes by Bruce, she bumps his shoulder and gives him a blank look, but what the team knows is her concerned face. He recognizes it instantly and gives her a tight smile while shaking his head.
She approaches Thor and Steve, who immediately cease their whispering once they see her approach making her arch an eyebrow suspiciously at them, but she decides to let it slide. If it is anything worth knowing, one or both of them will tell her.
Meanwhile, Natasha sits before Bruce, making him rush to remove his headphones.
"Hey, the lullaby works better than ever," Natasha offers him a small encouraging smile, but Bruce continues to sulk.
"Just isn't expecting a code green," The doctor utters almost in a whisper.
"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties," Natasha continues, "My best friend would have been a treasured memory," she adds, glancing back at Clint.
Bruce gives her the same tight smile, not wanting to be rude, but this just isn't helping like she might have thought it is. "You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear."
Natasha's smile almost disappears as she tries to make eye contact with him. "How long before you trust me?"
Bruce studies her for a beat, "It's not you that I don't trust." He admits softly.
Natasha nods and gives him a once-over before looking down. "Thor, report on the Hulk."
"The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims," Thor proclaims, smiling and raising his fist triumphantly but dropping it when everyone but Nikolina turns to look at him in disbelief. They all know that the Norse God can have said anything other than that. Bruce puts his hands on his head and groans, thinking of the people he has probably killed in his state.
"But not the screams of the dead," Thor rushes, quickly trying to correct himself after receiving the glares of most of the team. "Of course," Bruce nods as he appreciates Thor's effort to backtrack. "No, no, wounds screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining, and tales of sprains, deltoids, and gout."
Seeing Thor trying to make Bruce feel better, Nikolina chimes in, "if it makes you feel any better, Bruce, I unnecessarily mauled half those people."
"That's horrible! Why would that make me feel better?" Bruce nearly shrieks at the dark-haired woman.
The rest of the team stares at the woman with wide eyes and mouths agape; Nikolina looks around and notices the horrified faces and shrugs. "I'm trying to make you feel better!"
"Yeah," Natasha cuts in, drawing out the word, "let's not do that again."
"Fine," Nikolina grumbles before walking around the ball of a man and heading to an open seat, "last time I try being helpful."
"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul," Tony cuts in from the cockpit. "Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"
"Yeah, she knows her way around," Bruce responds quickly.
"Thanks," Tony tells him shortly before going back to the controls on the jet.
"Tell her to prep everything. Barton's gonna need the full treatment," He mutters to Jarvis before exclaiming loudly for the team's benefit, "Jarvis, take the wheel."
"Yes, sir, the approach vector is locked," the disembodied voice responds as Tony joins the other three standing above the scepter.
"It feels good, yeah?" Tony begins placing his hand comfortably in his pockets. "I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..." he trails off.
"But this, this brings it to a close," Thor finishes for him, staring proudly down at the scepter.
"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for," Nikolina cuts in, looking at the scepter curiously.
Steve also stares down at the spear with a furrowed brow, "We don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"
"Banner and I will give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard," Tony assures, looking at the scepter and then back at the Gods on the team. "Is that cool with you two?" He asks to make sure. "Just a few days till the farewell party," hoping to coax them, "You're staying, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course," He looks back to the scepter, placing one of his hands on the box with a smile. "A victory should be honored with revels."
"Yeah, who doesn't love revels?" Tony speaks lightly. "Captain?" he asks, looking past Thor to the super-soldier and Nikolina.
"Hopefully, this puts an end to the Chitahuri and Hydra, so, yes, revels," Steve replies, turning his head to the side to stare at the dark-haired Russian expectantly.
"Who can pass up the chance to party with old men?"
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"Are you still meeting with a realtor tomorrow to discuss that place in Brooklyn?" Nikolina asks, moving around the kitchen of Steve's apartment.
Since the Avengers has reformed officially, Tony has done a bit of renovating in the tower. Each Avenger has their personal floor, and the top floor is assigned to Thor, just short of the landing pad allowing him to travel via Bifrost without killing nature.
The next floor down is Clint's because he can't have the very top floor, and he "sees better from a distance." Nikolina thinks Clint doesn't like saying he is "channeling his inner pigeon," but whatever.
Under Clint is Nikolina, the entire floor decorated with shades of gray and black. She made the theme of her home screams horror movies and Halloween, with all the weapons lying around and various decorations from Halloween movies to match her dark and horrifying mind.
Steve's floor is next; as Captain and team leader, he wants to be in the middle of his team; it also happens to have the best view in the whole tower, making the artist in him very happy. The Manhattan skyline is pretty decent, too.
Tony's floor is next, which he shares with Pepper; since he's given up the penthouse for the comfort of the God of Thunder, he still wants to be as close to the middle of his friends as he can and be the center of attention.
Natasha's floor is close to the ground while still being close to the others; the spy has easy access to most of the building's entry points. Natasha consistently uses her floor to keep her skills sharp and her fellow spies on their feet.
Finally, after the Helicarrier incident, Bruce wants to be as close to the ground as he can get for fear of another "breaking Harlem" incident.
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"Do I really have to do this?" Nikolina whines while sitting on a chair in Natasha's room, getting ready for the party tonight. "Ow!"
The brunette exclaims while holding a hand to her forehead, "You just hit me with a hot curling iron! What was that for?"
"Whoops, didn't see you there," Natasha quips at the younger female while holding the curling iron close to Nikolina's head.
"Bullshit! You always tell me to move my 'big ass head!'" The girl yells back at the woman holding the burning hot torture device.
Rolling her eyes at the response, Natasha tugs lightly on Nikolina's hair, "whatever, but yes, you really do have to do this."
Nikolina pouts in defeat before grabbing the nearest makeup palette and looking at all the shades.
"So, what is happening between you, Steve, and Thor?"
Chuckling at the older woman, Nikolina shuts the palette. "Nothing, and what makes you think anything is happening between either of them?"
"You're joking, right?" Natasha looks at Nikolina with wide eyes, unable to comprehend the words coming from the other woman's mouth.
"No..." Nikolina drawls out the word in uncertainty, "ow!"
Natasha moves to hit the girl for the third time until Nikolina reaches up and grabs her hand, "Natasha, I swear to god, if you hit me with this curling iron one more time, I will throw it out the goddamn window."
"Fine, but I have seen how those two look at you. You can't possibly tell me you don't have feelings for either of them."
"I'm not telling you anything; I am just saying that things are not that simple."
"What do you mean?"
"Uh-uh, my turn," Nikolina says, cutting her off before she can open her mouth again; Natasha nearly pouts before nodding. "You and Bruce? What's going on there?"
"Nothing," The redhead scoffs at the question.
Nikolina scoffs at the response before drawing out an "okay." It is silent for a moment before Nikolina cries out, "Ow! Natasha, you're burning my scalp!"
"Shut up."
With that, Natasha finishes curling the last piece of Nikolina's hair before letting it bounce down her shoulders. Natasha slips on a lovely black and white dress that flares out over her hips down to her knees and black heels on her feet. Nikolina wears a two-piece dress, a black spaghetti strap mid-drift, and a plunging neckline, leaving only a band secure around her upper stomach. The bottom half of the dress rises above the belly button with a pair of black bikini-style covers, while a sheer black skirt is on top with a slit cutting to the top. A couple of strappy heels complete the look.
Both women finish their ensembles with smoky eye makeup, bright red lips, and jewelry. Natasha with a necklace, and Nikolina chooses multiple rings to adorn her hands and earrings, littering both women's ears.
"You ready?" Natasha questions the woman.
"For social interaction? Never."
As they descend to the floor where the party is being held, Nikolina can hear James Rhodes telling a story.
"Well, you know, the suit can take the weight, right? So, I take the tank, fly it right up to the General's palace, drop it at his feet, I'm like, "Boom! Are you looking for this? Boom! Are you looking..." Why do I even talk to you guys? Everywhere else that story kills." At the end of the story, Natasha and Nikolina stop on the floor connected above and begin heading to the stairs, which allows Nikolina to see the blank looks that Stark and Thor are giving Rhodey.
Thor is the first to break the silence, "that's the whole story?" Nikolina chuckles inwardly at the question.
Rhodey gets an offended look before he answers the Norse God, "Yeah, it's a War Machine story."
"Well, it's very good then. It's impressive." Thor gives a half-laugh, trying to provide some form of validation to the man.
"Mm. Quality save." Rhodey then diverts the attention to the flop that is his story to Tony. "So, no Pepper? She's not coming?"
"No." Tony is quick to deny the presence of the woman.
"Hey, what about Jane? Where are the ladies, gentlemen?" Maria interrogates the group of men in front of her.
Tony first responds, trying to boast about his girlfriend, "well, Miss Potts has a company to run."
"Yes, I'm not even sure what country Jane's in. Her work on the convergence has made her the world's foremost astronomer." Thor states to the people, trying not to boast about her achievements so subtly.
Tony, never one to let another one up him, jumps in, "and the company that Pepper runs is the largest tech conglomerate on earth. It's pretty exciting."
"There's even talk of Jane getting a... um, uh... Nobel prize."
"Yeah, they..." Maria stutters slightly, trying to figure out how to finish the sentence, "they must be busy because they'd hate missing you guys get together. Testosterone! Oh, excuse me." At the same time, faking a cough, trying to get away from the competing men.
James Rhodes says, "Want a lozenge?"
"Um-hmm." Maria quickly agrees, but she sees something out of the corner of her eye.
"Let's go." Rhodey tries to get Maria to walk off with him, and they only take a few steps before Colonel realizes Maria isn't paying attention. He follows her line of sight to find Natasha and Nikolina beginning the trek down the stairs.
"But Jane's better." Thor tries to get the last word in, but Tony and Thor see the other two staring off, causing both men to look over their shoulders.
Nikolina and Natasha are at the last step; the dress slit gives everyone watching the two women, which is everyone at this point, a nice view of her toned leg, calf muscles flexing with every movement of her legs. The two women make it to the bar, where their teammates look at them in awe.
Stark is the first to recover, "ladies, you look lovely."
"Gentlemen," the Russian women greet their teammates; the brunette is the one to take the lead, "what are we discussing?"
Knowing the topic of their argument well over which of their partners is better. "Yes, gentlemen, please enlighten your teammates about your conversation," Hill incites to the other two men.
"Well, I- I-! don't think we must continue that conversation."
The two female Avengers share looks with each other. "This should be good." Nikolina breaks away, moves behind the bar, and looks over the various bottles calling her.
Thor ducks his head slightly before answering some of the most formidable women he has ever encountered, "we were discussing who is better."
"Who is better? Between whom and whom?"
"Jane and Pepper," Tony is the one to answer the expectant eyebrow.
Nikolina raises her chin at that answer, "You are comparing two women who A." Nikolina points to Tony, "cannot handle anything to do with fighting, living off a company that your father created because you didn't want to run it, and is giving no help whatsoever to us." Thor begins snickering at Nikolina's words that are belittling the other woman.
"And B." Thor's smile instantly disappears as Nikolina points to him. "A woman who was so desperate not to be lonely that she not only traveled the whole world but also awoken an ancient alien race and released an ancient deadly power. Not to mention plunging Asgard into a war, destroying a part of London, and killing numerous people, some of whom were beyond important to you. That was in a matter of fewer than two weeks."
Natasha, not surprised by Nikolina's behavior, presses her lips together to stop herself from laughing at the younger woman's brutal analysis of the two women. People who do not know Nikolina could claim she is jealous of either or both women. In actuality, this is Nikolina's way to bring people down to size and face the "ego" that is technically a lie, which is what she just completed.
Meanwhile, the two men whose girlfriends are, figuratively, torn to pieces duck their heads in response to hide the embarrassment. The other two spectators, Rhodey and Maria, bite hard on their lips to not show any outward emotion; as they continue to stand there, both people begin to feel their faces break into laughter and swiftly move away from the group.
"Well," Nikolina chimes happily, ignoring the two blushing men, "I can definitely say that with all this hard work of taking down Hydra agents and girlfriends, I need a drink."
Nikki removes herself from Natasha's side to walk around the side of the bar to where the liquor is begging to be consumed. Tapping away at each bottle top, Nikki hums to herself while reading the different labels, only to stop at the end of the line, and her shoulders slump in disappointment.
"Nikki?" Natasha questions the younger female, who responds by only shooting the redhead a slight pout. Taking that as her sign, Natasha walks behind the bar and looks over the bottles before stopping, now understanding the disappointment the younger female displays.
Natasha turns to Thor and Tony and demands, "where is the vodka?"
Before either man can answer, Nikolina screams triumphantly and shouts gleefully, "found it!"
Without hesitation, Nikolina hands one bottle to Natasha, who takes it with a grateful nod before grabbing two more bottles and holding them like a prize. Nikolina and Natasha cheer and take a swig in unison with their vodka bottles.
"Taking that one to Barton?" Tony questions while motioning to the entire bottle in Nikolina's other hand, with Thor shifting his eyes from one bottle to the other.
In response, Nikolina raises said bottle and takes three large gulps before lowering it. She smiles at her teammates with a drop of alcohol dangling from her bottom lip before she licks it away and grabs a waiting beer.
"This," she lifts the beer bottle, "is for Barton."
With two vodka bottles in one hand and a beer in the other, Nikki shoots them a blinding smile before ducking out from behind the bar to find her pigeon friend. Both men stare after the small girl, carrying the vodka like a child.
"Should we be concerned, Stark?" Thor questions the other man, who shrugs, not knowing the answer himself.
"As long as she doesn't use her powers or stab anyone, everything should be all right."
They are wrong.
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"Can someone please tell me why Nikolina is throwing peanuts at vodka bottles lined up on the balcony?" Steve interrogates his surrounding team members while watching the woman throw food hard enough to shatter glass.
After a moment's pause, Natasha is the first to answer, "well, Tony took all her knives away when she tried to stab someone who was annoying her, and Thor made her promise not to use her powers after cheating in a game they were playing. So, in her boredom, she has resulted to that."
Natasha motions to the woman with frequent violent tendencies and tends to act on them rather than not.
"She is going to break something or hit someone," Steve points out to the other teammates.
Clint is the one to answer the soldier, "Do you want to go over there and take it away?"
There is silence from all six Avengers while they steal glances at the, no doubt, most violent person on the team, who is currently chucking peanuts with incredible strength and knocking items to the ground.
"Nope."
"Nah."
"No."
"I'm good."
The four males, except for Clint, answer over each other, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the small girl's wrath. The team of superheroes continues to watch their team member throw a couple more nuts until she finally throws one hard enough to shatter a vodka bottle.
Thor takes a deep breath at the glass bursting before deciding to intervene. He grabs an extra glass and heads to Nikolina, "here."
Nikolina grabs the glass and looks at Thor with confusion, "thank you?"
The Norse god chuckles before sitting beside her and pulling a flask from his jacket.
"What is this?" Nikolina questions when Thor fills his glass about a quarter full of liquor.
"A drink that is too strong for you," he adds, smiling mischievously at the girl who sends him an indignant look.
"A drink too strong? For me?" Nikolina questions slowly and points to her chest, and Thor nods in agreement. "Obviously, you have never drank with a Russian. Bring it, blondie."
Smiling at Nikolina taking the bait, Thor shrugs reluctantly for the sake of the show before pouring a hefty amount of alcohol into her glass.
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*With Steve*
"Sounds like a hell of a fight," Sam says as he and Steve climb the stairs to the catwalk, taking the opportunity to check out a passing blonde as he does. "Sorry, I missed it."
"If I had known it was gonna be a firefight, I absolutely would have called," Steve replies, only to humor his friend.
"No, no. I'm not actually sorry," Sam admits, earning an amused look from Steve. "I'm just trying to sound tough. I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our missing person's case," He adds, shooting the man a glance and ensuring he understands what he is getting at.
"Avenging is your world," The two of them stop at the catwalk, looking out over the large crowd, both of their gazes landing on Thor, entertaining a few war vets with his stories. "Your world is crazy." Both sets of eyes travel along the floor to where a pool table stands, with Nikolina leaning over to line up her shot, exposing her bare back. When no one is looking, a dark smokey-looking tentacle slithers along the table in the shadows and knocks a ball into a hole, causing a smile to grace Nikolina's face.
"Be it ever so humble," replies Steve, eyes never straying from the girl who has captured his attention from the first meeting.
"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam questions taking a sip of the drink in his hand and glancing at the blonde man who sighs.
"I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn."
"Well... Home is home, you know?"
"Yeah, I do," Steve agrees with a contemplative look at him, then back down at Nikolina, whom he has been watching for the entire night but never gaining the courage to approach.
"Why haven't you asked her out yet?" Sam prods Steve.
"It's complicated," Steve responds. Sam is one of the few people who know of his feelings, and the other is Natasha; both people can deduce that Nikolina and Steve have feelings toward each other simply by watching their interactions.
Sam looks at the Captain wide-eyed before switching to the Russian, who is still cheating at the pool game. "Steve, everything about that woman is complicated, and I suggest not waiting for the complicated things to go away and allowing yourself to be happy."
Finally, Steve has made his way to Nikolina's side, who, after winning her pool game, migrated to stand at the bar with Thor and the handful of war veterans. "I gotta have me some of that," One of the men exclaims, seeing Thor pull the flask from his inner jacket pocket.
"Oh no, you see, this is aged for thousands of years in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunnhilde's fleet," Thor informs the older men as he hands a glass to Steve before refilling his own, then the Russians. Steve gives the drink a curious look and takes a whiff; it has a pleasant enough smell, and he takes solace in the fact that Nikolina has been sipping on it.
"It's not meant for mortal men," Nikolina warns mockingly.
"Neither is Omaha beach blondies," The small man on the couch informs. "Stop tryin' to scare us."
Thor looks at Nikolina, and she shrugs; it isn't their fault that the veterans insist on drinking Asgardian alcohol. "All right," He relents, then pours only a drop into each man's glass, if even that much.
"This should be good," Nikolina mumbles as she raises the glass to her lips. Steve nudges her slightly with an amused look but quietly chastises her.
"Sam had to head out," Steve tells her once they come to a stop. "Says he's sorry he missed you."
"No, he didn't," Nikolina chuckles at Steve's words while he flashes her a grin. "Good effort, though; I think he is still upset that I called him a giant pigeon."
"Well, that certainly doesn't help the situation."
Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, "whatever. He is such a moody bird." Nikolina raises her glass, and Steve lifts his own to meet hers.
"Cheers," The duo chime together before raising the glass to their lips and taking a sip. She lets the alcohol sit in her mouth and appreciates the taste and craftsmanship.
"Do you like it?" Thor's voice makes her attention snap from the glass to his figure standing before her and the super soldier.
Steve nods wordlessly while starting to feel the effects of alcohol for the first time in over 80 years. Nikolina, on the other hand, takes another step and allows the warmth to spread through her, not affecting her as much as Steve, but enough to know that the alcohol is coursing through her body.
"I don't know who Brunnhilde is, but her ship makes some good ass alcohol," the remark from the Russian woman causes the two men to chuckle in amusement and awe, wondering how she can still stand after tasting Asgardian ale. "Imma need you to get me some more of this."
With her final words, Nikolina kicks back the rest of the alcohol in the glass in one gulp before holding it expectantly to Thor. The eyes on the Norse God grow to be the size of golf balls and almost pop out of his head while moving his eyes from her eyes to the cup.
"What?" Nikolina stares at him with confusion, not understanding his look. She quickly thinks back to when she sees Thor do something he likes. "Oh," her eyes flash in recognition; she raises her arm and throws the glass to the ground, shattering it into a million pieces, "another!"
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When the partygoers begin to filter out later in the evening, all that is left are the Avengers, along with Maria Hill, Rhodey, and Helen Cho, all spread out across several couches and chairs.
Nikolina, Steve, and Thor sit on one couch though she is leaning more into the couch's side with one of her legs crossed on top of the other; the toe of her heel barely grazes his shin. Steve doesn't mind one bit with his free arm resting along the back of the couch with his fingers touching her shoulder.
In her left hand is a new crystal glass carrying her signature drink, vodka. While lounging back against the couch, Nikolina takes stock of her surrounding teammates.
"It's a trick," Clint's loud voice interrupts before their lips can touch. He is referring to the famous hammer, which is innocently placed on the table, minding its own business, in the middle of the group, sparking a conversation about its properties and the worthiness someone has to achieve to wield it.
"No, it is much more than that, my friend," Thor informs with a chuckle before sitting comfortably in his spot.
"'Whosoever be worthy shall haveth the power,'" Clint mocks in a deep voice gesturing to the hammer. "Whatever, man, it's a trick," He says in his normal voice, shrugging.
"Well, please be my guest," Thor says, extending an inviting hand to his hammer.
"Really?" Clint questions excitedly at Thor's nod; he springs up from his spot on the floor but calmly approaches the hammer, not wanting to seem overly eager. Nikolina raises an eyebrow at the god, but he only shrugs, bringing his glass to his lips.
"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey teases, setting down his cards to watch.
"Clint, it's been a tough week; we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony jokes from his spot on the other couch.
"You two know I've seen this before, right?" Clint points out, reminding the three of them of the first time they met,
"And you think you would have learned something from then," Nikolina taunts, making everyone laugh as Clint wraps his hand around the hammer's handle and pulls; nothing happens.
"I still don't know how you do it," He says, releasing the hammer with a laugh.
"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony continues to jab.
"Oh, it's not silent," Nikolina tags along to Tony's jab, "would like an epic with that fail?" Everyone chuckles at her words while Clint smiles and flips her off, which widens her smile.
"Please, Stark, by all means," Clint says, waving a hand toward the hammer.
"Here we go," Rhodey pipes up as Tony stands unbuttoning his suit jacket with a flourish.
"I think I just threw up in my mouth," all the other Avengers laugh at Nikolina's jab at Tony.
"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge. It's physics."
"Physics," Bruce repeats, knowing it is anything but a science subject that gives high school students headaches and stress.
"So, if I lift it, do I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course," Thor responds quickly.
"I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta," Tony says, slipping his wrist through the leather strap.
"I'd like to see you try," Nikolina comments.
Tony grunts, pulling on the hammer, but it doesn't move like they all knew it wouldn't. "Be right back," Tony says quickly, leaving the room and pulling off his jacket.
When he returns, he has his shirt sleeves rolled up and a detached Iron Man gauntlet in his hand. He grips the hammer again and pulls, even engaging the thrusters, but still nothing. He coaxes Rhodey into helping him with his War Machine gauntlet, but even with both thrusters fully engaged, they can't do it.
"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey snaps, panting.
"You on my team?" Tony shoots back.
"Just represent pull."
"All right, let's go."
Finally, they give up. "Banner, you want a piece?" Tony asks on his way back to his seat.
Bruce rises to the challenge but takes it much less seriously than his teammates, pulling on the hammer with all his might and pretending to Hulk out, only to meet awkward and pained looks.
"Nothing?" He questions awkwardly, shuffling back to his seat, missing Natasha's fond little smile along the way and the wiggle of Nikolina's eyebrows at the redhead.
"Cap?" Hill questions, seeing as he is the only man who has yet to try lifting the hammer.
Nikolina shrugs when he looks to her for approval, so he sighs and places down his beer getting up to try his hand anyway.
"C'mon, Cap."
"No pressure."
Steve rolls up his shirt sleeves, succeeding in nearly making Nikolina drool when his thick forearms are revealed, and sends a determined look at the hammer before wrapping both hands around the handle and beginning to pull. Silence falls when there is a squeak, and the hammer moves slightly.
Nikolina's mouth drops open, and she casts a quick look at Thor, whose playful smile has been completely wiped off and is now staring intently at his hammer. Nikolina raises her hand to cover her mouth to keep her from bursting out laughing at Thor's horribly hidden panic. Then Steve readjusts his grip on the hammer and pulls again, gritting his teeth; when nothing happens, he releases his hands in surrender.
"Nothing," Thor says, hoping to mask his relief to the team; he knows he has already failed with Nikolina, who lets out a snort.
"I saw that," Nikolina leans up from her reclined position to whisper into Steve's ear when he retakes his seat.
"Saw what?" He shoots back innocently, and Nikolina rolls her eyes which he returns with a look daring her to continue. Clint throws a peanut at her, and she moves her head to face him while going back to her original position.
"And?" Tony is the one who speaks up. "Ladies?"
"Yeah, that's not a question I need to be answered," Natasha says, also refusing the challenge. "Nikolina?"
Sitting up straighter, Nikolina rises in a swift but graceful motion; her heels hitting the tile is the only sound that can be heard as everyone's eyes track the woman. With powerful strides, the dark-haired assassin struts over to the hammer of legends, standing in front of it. She leans back to stare at the hammer, causing the dress slit to expose her leg more; she returns to an upright position and quirks an eyebrow, running amused eyes over everyone watching. Leaning forward and over the hammer, the dress' sweetheart neckline shows more of her chest, but Nikolina ignores it, her lengthy hair falling forward, creating a curtain from the team's eyes and the hammer.
All the members begin sharing a look, the excitement rising with each passing second. Everyone watches her tattooed arms move under her, Nikolina's shoulders flex with each person on the edge of their seats. Her arms reveal an entire bottle of vodka from under the table.
Nikolina raises the bottle to her lips with a broad smile as she takes a huge gulp from the bottle. Raising the bottle in the air teasingly, Nikolina flips her hair that has fallen in her face over her shoulder.
"This is the only thing I need to be worthy," she jokes, and everyone stares in various states of amusement and disbelief before they all begin booing. Clint throws a piece of popcorn at her, which she catches between her teeth and wiggles her eyebrows teasingly at the archer.
"All deference to the man who wouldn't be King, but it's rigged," Tony says, bringing the attention to him as he gets up to retrieve another beer.
"You bet your ass," Clint says, patting Tony on the back as he moves past him to get more beer.
"Steve, he said a bad language word," Maria says, her voice taking on a mocking tone and pointing at Clint innocently.
"Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve asks, looking at Tony, who ignores him.
"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. Whosoever's carrying Thor's fingerprint is, I think, the literal translation," Tony finishes voicing his theory as to why he failed.
"Yeah, that's it, Tony. You go, Tony." Nikolina mocks Tony.
"I have a simpler one," Thor finishes getting up off the couch and quickly picking up his hammer, giving it a little toss in the air before adding teasingly, "You're all not worthy."
Everyone begins to protest in jest when a loud screeching noise causes them to cringe before an intense voice speaks from seemingly out of nowhere.
"Worthy?" It drawls out, and the group sees a mangled, half-destroyed Iron Legion bot standing there. "No, how can you be worthy? You're all killers," the bot says, gesturing to the group, who rises at the statement.
"Stark?" Steve questions tensely, instinctively raising his arm protectively in front of Nikolina while Thor begins inching to her. In response, Tony takes out his handholds device and starts messing around with it.
"Jarvis?" Tony questions aloud when he gets no responses.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was a dream?" the robot continues speaking, tilting its head as if trying to recall a memory.
"Robot, legionnaire, we got a buggy suit," Tony says, continuing to poke at his device.
"There was a terrible noise, and I was tangled in strings," The robot looks down at its mangled body, wire dangling uselessly. "I had to kill the other guy; he was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve snaps.
"Wouldn't have been my first call," it says, almost shrugging, "but down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor questions with authority.
"I see a suit of armor around the world," The robot responds with a recording of Tony's voice.
"Ultron," Bruce summarizes with a horrified look.
"In the flesh," The robot 'Ultron' tries to stand tall but fails. "Or no, not yet. Not this chrysalis," It says, looking down at its body again. "But I'm ready; I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Nikolina questions though she knows the answer.
"Peace in our time," Ultron says, tilting its head at her, the wall behind it bursts open, and at least six more legionnaires fly out.
Everyone springs into action, Maria ducking beneath the couch and firing at the robots. At the same time, Steve kicks up the coffee table for protection while Nikolina runs straight for the nearest robot and jumps on it, both crashing to the floor.
Nikolina rises to see Thor taking care of one of the robots with his hammer, Natasha running up a set of stairs with Bruce while firing at a robot just before Tony comes out of nowhere and jumps on the back of it, trying to jam a metal skewer into its neck.
There is a crashing sound, and she spins around to see Steve falling to the ground after being slammed into the wall. While Steve is winded, the robot holds out its hand, ready to fire a repulsion blast, but Nikolina launches a metal serving tray and it slices the robot through the neck. As she is momentarily distracted, a legionnaire flies from under the stairs and collides with her stomach.
There is one remaining legionnaire that Natasha is continuously firing at but is running out of ammo. Tony crash-lands hard after disabling the robot he is working on simultaneously; Clint throws Steve his shield while yelling out for him; Steve catches it and spins around, throwing it into the last robot, destroying it.
"That is dramatic," Ultron comments, still standing but swaying from side to side. "I'm sorry; I know you mean well; you just don't think it through. You want to protect the world but don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to change? With these?" It questions, reaching down to pick up one of the legionnaire's disembodied heads, "These puppets?" it crushed its hand around the legionnaire's head, destroying it even further. "No. There's only one path to peace, the Avenger's extinction."
Thor has heard enough as he throws his hammer with enough force that it bursts through the middle of the robot. Steve looks at him in disbelief, but Thor ignores it calling his hammer back into his hand.
But Ultron isn't done yet; before it powers down completely, the profoundly unsettling voice speaks again.
"I had strings, but now I'm free."
Nikolina doesn't flinch when Thor calls his hammer back, and it flies by her face with only a couple of millimeters to spare. She ignores the stares on her back as she moves forward to the lumps of metal; once in front of the deformed body, she stares before bringing her foot back and kicking what she assumes is the leg.
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"It's going around," Clint comments calmly.
"All right, c'mon," Tony chokes out uselessly, trying to pry off Thor's hand to no avail; the Norse God's grip is unrelenting. "Use your words, buddy."
"We have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor sneers at the billionaire.
"Thor," Steve snaps sharply, making Thor drops Tony. "The legionnaire?"
"The trail goes cold about 100 miles north of here," Thor answers. "And it has the scepter, which means we have to retrieve it," Nikolina adds.
"Again," Thor adds, darkly glaring at Tony.
"Genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron," Natasha surmises, crossing her arms over her chest, looking as unimpressed in Tony and Bruce's actions as everyone feels.
"I don't get it," Helen Cho mumbles, staring at a dismantled legionnaire. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"
To everyone's disbelief and further ire, Tony starts laughing.
"Uh-uh," Banner says, shaking his head at Tony, telling him this is no laughing matter.
"You think this is funny?" Thor questions in the same tone, moving toward Tony again, but Nikolina holds him back.
"No?" Tony answers, turning to face the group, trying and failing to look serious and stop his chuckles from escaping. It doesn't work. "It's probably not, right? Is this so terrible? Is this very terrible? Is it so, is it so?" He laughs again. "It is; it's so terrible."
"This could have been avoided had you not played with something you don't understand," Nikolina says, trying to get him to see the logic, but Tony doesn't have it.
They hadn't seen what he's seen.
"No, no, I'm sorry," Tony interrupts though it is unclear if he is apologizing for the interruption or for creating Ultron. "It is funny. It's a hoot why you don't get why we need this."
"Tony, maybe this isn't the time-" Bruce starts to warn, only for Tony to cut him off.
"Really? That's it for you? You just roll over and show your belly every time somebody snarls?"
"Only when I've created a murder bot."
"We didn't," Tony stresses, nearly begging. "We weren't even close. Are we close to an interface?" Bruce shrugs, nodding to say that they are close enough.
"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here," Steve pipes up, glowering at Tony. "The Avengers are supposed to be different from SHIELD."
"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony says, changing the subject instead of an actual response and raising his hand.
"Nope, it's never come up," Rhodey sarcastically responds to his best friend while everyone groans or rolls their eyes.
"Saved New York?"
"Never heard that."
"Sounds made up," Nikolina gives her two cents on the conversation.
"Recall that? A hostile alien army comes charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but that up there?" Tony tries to get the team to see his side of things without them ever knowing what he's actually seen as his voice turns softer. "That's, that's the end game. How are you guys planning on beating that?"
"Together," Steve tells him, his voice a lot less cold than it was a moment ago.
"We'll lose," he says, moving closer to the soldier and looking at him sadly.
"Then we'll do that together, too," Steve says, determined but assured. "Thor and Nikolina are 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."
"Well, if that's happening, I am changing into sweats."
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Nikolina stomps up the stairs and to the undamaged elevator, waiting for the doors to open when she feels a hand on her shoulder. Not bothering to look who it was, she strides into the elevator and turns around to make contact with blue eyes.
"You okay?"
A humorless grin crosses Nikolina's face, "He made me drop my vodka, and I am hungry. So, no, I am not okay."
"I meant injury-wise or mentally."
"Oh," silence takes the air with the occasional beep and numbers changing as they pass floors, "I want pizza."
"Okay. I will order some pizza."
"Deep-dish?"
Sighing in defeat, he nods, "yes, we can get a deep dish."
"Yay," silence again; when the doors open, Nikolina walks out with Steve next to her, "make sure to get Mountain Dew."
Those words said, Nikolina feels accomplished and strides out of the room with a sense of victory around her as she returns to the bedroom. She fumbles around with the dress, cursing in 5 different languages about zippers, how they are the bane of her existence, and how everything should be Velcro. Ripping the dress from her body, Nikki throws it to the ground, glaring at it as if waiting for it to burst into flames from the heat of her glare.
She grabs her sweatpants and shorts, fuzzy socks, a sports bra, tank top, and hoodie and rushes into the bathroom, eager to get the sweat, dirt, makeup, and social interaction off her. Using almost all the hot water, Nikki steps out of the shower into a thick steam. After dressing and throwing her hair into a messy bun, she returns to the elevator to see Steve and Maria.
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The elevator doors open with a ding; Steve, Nikolina, and Maria exiting. Having just been informed that the team is meeting in the lab, Hill catches them boarding the elevator and decides to give them a report on what she has found out about Ultron, following them upstairs as she did.
"He's all over the globe. Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs. Reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place."
"Fatalities?" asks Steve.
"Only when engaged," replies Hill, beginning to type on her tablet while she continues to talk. "Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, things moving on their own, and 'something too fast to see.'"
"Maximoff's," Nikolina concludes.
"That makes sense he'd go to them. They have someone in common," Steve says, nodding as they reach the top of the stairs.
"Not anymore," Maria replies, handing the tablet to the Captain. On it is a picture of Strucker lying on his bed in his cell, dead. The word 'peace' is painted in blood on the wall behind him.
Nikolina sighs, looking at the message, "let us know if anything else comes up."
"Got it," Maria nods as they go their separate ways.
Then they both hear Clint talking on the phone to someone, apparently someone with authority.
"Barton," Steve calls, redirecting the conversation. "We might have something."
"Yeah," says Clint absentmindedly before hanging up.
"Who's that?"
"Uh, girlfriend," Clint shrugs, putting his phone away before he follows the duo inside the labs where the rest of the Avengers are all seated.
As they walk in, Nikolina hands the tablet to Thor, who glares down at the offending item and the picture it is displaying—Natasha motions for Nikki to sit next to her, which she does.
Natasha takes the opportunity to say, "you look like a drowned raccoon," while motioning to Nikki's wet hair, mascara, and eyeliner that has left residue no matter how hard she scrubbed.
Without skipping a beat, Nikki glares at the older woman, "I will punch you in the tit."
"Nik," Steve's voice calls out, and she turns to stare at him, but when she sees what he is carrying, her eyes widen, and a smile breaks across her face. Her pizza and Mountain Dew.
She hops off the chair, sliding all over the floor in her haste to get to the food, and almost crashes to the ground if it weren't for the super soldier catching her. Before Steve even knows what happened besides him catching Nikolina, the pizza, and pop are out of his hands, and the small girl, who nearly bowled him over, is sitting cross-legged on the chair with the food in front of her and sipping from the 2-liter bottle.
"What's this?" Tony asks, moving to get a closer look only to have the still-annoyed God slap the tablet into his chest.
"Pizza," comes the muffled reply, and everyone turns to see two pieces of an 8 square already gone and the third slice shoved into Nikolina's mouth.
"A message," Steve replies. "Ultron killed Strucker." Steve ignores the millions of questions he wants to ask the girl and stays on track.
"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," Tony says sarcastically, waving the tablet.
"This is a smoke screen," points to the picture. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"
"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Nikolina suggests.
"I bet he-" Natasha mumbles, searching for something on the computers. "Yeah, everything we had on Strucker's been erased."
"Not everything," Tony says quickly, a thought coming to him.
Moments later, they are all in a room where most files are kept. They pull the boxes containing information on Strucker, which seems to be most of them.
"Known associates," Steve says, reading the label on his box. "Well, Strucker has a lot of friends."
"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce comments, digging through his own box.
"Wait," Tony says, pointing to Thor's flipping through the file. "I know that guy from back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms," At Steve's glare, he rushes to explain himself, "There are conventions. All right? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything. He is talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab," he concludes.
"This?" Thor questions, pointing toward one of the pictures of the man Tony has found.
"Uh, it's a tattoo; I don't think he had it."
"Those are tattoos; this is a brand," Nikolina corrects, pointing toward a spot on the man's neck right underneath his left ear, which is a mark that has been burned there as it still looks red and raw in the picture.
"Yeah," says Bruce as he places himself in front of the computer, quickly searching for what the mark means. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief.' In a much less friendly way."
"What dialect?" Steve asks.
"Uh, Wak-ann-ada, Wa, Wa – Wakanda," Bruce says, jumbling the pronunciation a few times before getting it right.
"You wanna butcher the name some more?" Nikolina snarks to the doctor, who proceeds to give her a dead look.
"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trace goods," Tony mumbles to Steve, both looking slightly distressed at the thought. Nikolina ignores the two semi-panicking men as a hand tries to claim a slice of her pizza; her hand swats at the invader with malice and hunches over the food protectively.
"Mine." The young Russian woman mutters and refuses to move while shoveling food into her mouth.
"Nikolina, you got an 8-square; you can give me one piece." Clint scolds her like a dad, and she is a child.
"You have two balls, you can give me one, and we call it an even trade."
"No, that is not an even trade. It's not fair; you aren't even sharing. I am hungry too, you know."
"You know what you need to do," Nikolina starts; Clint interjects, "what?" Nikki smiles with a mouth full of food, "get over it." Before turning her focus back on the two men having a crisis over metal.
"I thought your father said he got the last of it."
"I don't follow," Bruce interjects. "What comes out of Wakanda?"
Steve and Tony share a look before Steve stands to the side and gestures to his shield. "The strongest metal on Earth."
"Where is this guy now?"
"I can take my food, right?"