warning : mentions of blood and torture and violence, enjoy!

╔═━────━▒ ۞ ▒━────━═╗
CHAPTER THREE
haunted by the past
╚═━────━▒ ۞ ▒━────━═╝

────━▒ ۞ ▒━────

AS THE PARTY went on, Diana found herself clinging to either Thors or Bruce's side as she continued to down more drinks. She found herself smiling more genuinely than she did in three months. She felt light as she danced along to the music that played through the sound system of a billionaire. She soon stopped through as her glass ran empty and the guests left. The music eventually was stopped by Tony, who was immediately heckled by Diana after, making her tired feet walk over to the couch where her team was, Helen and Maria were still with them and it made Diana smile some more.

Diana found herself sitting at Thor's side, leaning into her friend as they continued to converse. Over the noise, Diana's eyes locked onto Steve. He was wearing a blue button-up, cuffed at the sleeves.

"You know Steve," Diana spoke up, a smile on her face as he brought his attention to her, "that's a good look on you." - she waved a finger to gesture to the outfit- "very hot."

There was some laughter at Diana's easy-go-lucky manner as her real honesty was at its full force. Mjolnir was on display on the coffee table at the center of all of them to comment about, until the whole conversation was about the unliftable hammer.

"But, it's a trick!" Clint yelled out, twirling drumsticks between his fingers, making Diana furrow her eyebrows; where the hell did he get those?

"Oh, no." Thor denied, waving his hand that was attached to the arm that was around Diana's shoulders, "It's much more than that."

"Uh, 'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!'" Clint bellowed in a low, but righteous voice that clearly was in a mocking manner to the Nord's, "Whatever man! It's a trick."

"Well please, be my guest." Thor gestured to the hammer with his other hand, making Diana's eyes widen with her smile. She straightened up slightly as she watched the scene unfold before her.

"Really?" Clint asked, his eyebrows lifting in disbelief.

"Yeah!" Thor shrugged in his response. He and Diana shared a playful look as Clint got up to walk around the table.

"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey spoke up, making Clint scoff as he walked past them.

"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony spoke up to add onto Rhodey's joke.

Diana and the rest of the group couldn't help the laugh at Tony's words. Clint brushed it off as he positioned himself before the hammer, staring at the handle before looking over at Thor and Diana.

"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint referred to the first time he ever saw Thor, when Thor was banished to earth and his hammer sat in the ground, unmovable until he was finally worthy of it again, Clint grabbed Thor's hammer and couldn't lift it, his grunts proving the task was impossible for him. Clint looked to Thor again after he failed to lift the hammer, "I still don't know how you do it."

"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony asked, making Diana and Clint scoff at the same time.

If Diana could come up with a least worthy Avenger, it tied with her and Tony. He had his redeeming qualities, his big heart being one of them, but after three years of knowing the man, she knew that he was far from worthy.

"Please, Stark, by all means." Clint gestured to the hammer as he stepped away.

Diana couldn't help the giggle that left her mouth as she sat up fully straight, leaving Thor's embrace as she clutched onto her refilled glass. Tony got up, a disinterested look adorned his face but they all knew that it was for show as he loosened the button of his blazer, revealing the shirt underneath.

"Oh, here we go." Natasha heckled, a few others joining in.

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony started to the group as he made his way over to where Clint just was.

"Get after it." Clint joked as he returned to his previous spot.

"It's physics." Tony shrugged, a glance at Diana to see her shit-eating grin.

There was no way Tony was picking up that hammer. He grasped onto the handle, pausing, he looked at Thor, a questioning look expressed upon his face.

"Right, so, if I lift it, I...I then rule Asgard?" Tony asked, pointing at the hammer.

"Yes, of course."

"I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta." Diana cringed at the idea of it but confirmed to watch on, Tony tried to lift the hammer but had the same results as Clint, but there was something in the way she reacted, Diana could tell by the look on his face that he had an idea and he was gonna act on it, "I'll be right back."

It was like he had extra Iron-Man hands lying around the tower because it took Tony less than a minute before he was wearing his armored hand, he tried to lift the hammer again and still had the same results as before.

It wasn't long after that that Tony had convinced Rhodey to find another spare hand and now everyone was amused as the two men stood at the handle, each with a tight grip, desperate to pull the hammer off the table.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asked, which caused Tony to glance over his shoulder at his best friend.

"Are you on my team?" Tony asked, making Rhodey's eyes go wide.

"Just represent!" He spat out, frustrated with the man, "Pull!"

"Alright, let's go!" Together, they both pulled as hard as they could, but the hammer still remained in the same spot.

They eventually gave up and soon, Bruce decided to take a crack at it, Diana vaguely remembers Thor telling her how the Hulk wasn't able to lift the hammer when the two fought on the helicarrier in 2012. This would be good to see.

Bruce tried to lift the hammer, his grip was tight because Diana could see the whites of his knuckles, he roared as though he pretended to change into the Hulk. An awkward silence fell over the group, some of them eyed him warily, others like Diana and Natasha gave a sympathetic "you tried" smile to the man as he looked around.

"Huh?" Bruce shrugged as he went back to his seat, ready to watch the next person get a crack at it.

Diana watched as Steve got up to try, loosening the slight nerves from his shoulders as he shook them.

"Let's go, Steve, no pressure." Tony put out, obviously trying to push some pressure on Steve.

"Come on, Cap," Rhodey spoke up.

Steve wrapped both hands around the handle, his muscles began to bulge out of his shirt as he pulled on the hammer. It was what happened when he tried that made Diana's jaw drop. The hammer began to squeak as it rubbed against the table. The hammer was moving ever so slightly. Steve still stopped trying, raising his hands in defeat.

Diana swilled her head to look at throws face that seemed to drop in relief. The nervous laugh that left Thor told Diana that she didn't imagine that in her drunken state. The group began to turn their heads to look at Diana, her face flushing at the attention. She stood up, setting her glass on the table, a foot away from the hammer. She stepped over Thor's legs, stumbling a bit as she tried to find footing.

"Oh this will be good," Maria said.

Diana laughed at the comment and found her grip on the handle.

"I just wanna say, because of Tony's prima nocta comment, he's not allowed to any of my Asgardian parties," Diana remarked, she looked up at Tony who had his hands up in confusion, "but you should make sure Pepper gets my invitation."

The rest of the group lit up in laughter and whistles as Diana looked down at the hammer. She was already slightly dizzy when she grabbed the handle, but she was sure that her unsteady footing was the reason why she found herself on the ground after pulling on the handle. She couldn't help the cackling laughter that left her body as she used the steadiness of the hammer to pull herself back off the ground.

"I guess you won't be hosting any Asgardian parties," Tony smirked, making Diana shrug.

"Prima Nocta was so gross though," Diana replied, she leaned over and grabbed her glass, taking another drink before they all looked to Natasha, who was quietly sipping her beer.

"And?" Tony asked, his eyes averting to the redhead.

"Widow?" Bruce asked, making Natasha shake her head as she realized what they were wanting her to do.

"Oh, no-no." Natasha responded, leaning back in her chair, "That's not a question I need answered."

"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king," Tony spoke up as he stood up from his spot, he looked back at Thor, "but it's rigged."

"You bet your ass." Clint agreed, he was also standing up, stretching out his legs as he did so.

Immediately Maria lit up in a smile and looked to Steve, pointing to Clint with her own beer in hand.

"Steve, he said a bad language word." Maria pointed out, making Diana laugh, she heard about what Steve said when they were rescuing her, Tony mentioned it to everyone he could for the past three days.

"Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve asked with a smile, shaking his head as he did so. Tony disregarded the question as he looked at Thor again, a big smile spread across his face.

"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony asked, "Like a security code. "Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints" is, I think, the literal translation?"

"Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." Thor stood up. Diana stepped aside as he did as he reached for his hammer and picked it up, flipping it after he did. "You're all not worthy."

This time, Diana joined in with the group, adding to the chorus of disagreement from the others. That was quickly cut off as a ringing slammed into Diana's ears, and she wasn't the only one who heard it as she noticed the others had similar reactions. When the noise that sounded like microphone feedback faded, Diana released her ears, looking around for the source. One of the Iron Legion suits, heavily damaged and mangled, stumbled into the room similar to how Diana stumbled to the hammer.

"Worthy..." it hissed out in a low voice, a cold, sinking feeling fell down around Diana, sending chills down her spine as the hairs on her arms raised, there was something seriously wrong with this robot, it's was as if she could tell it was more than a simple programming issue, "No, how could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark." Steve's stern voice set the tone for how the rest of the conversation went.

Diana glanced over at the man Steve addressed to see him furiously tapping away at she didn't even see him pull out, probably since her drunken attention was on the leaking robot that spilled oil on the floor as he made his way in.

"JARVIS," Tony mumbled as he nervously glanced at the robot, his attention focused on the screen still.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep." The robot spoke, it tilted its metalhead, or... I was a-dream?"

"Reboot, Legionnaire OS," Tony was trying to command his AI to do its job without alarming the robot as best as possible, "we got a buggy suit."

"There was a terrible noise... and I was tangled in... in... strings." The robot lifted its arms to show the mess of wires that connect the miscellaneous body parts, "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

Diana's heart dropped with his words, her grip on the glass in her hand tightened, threatening to break it.

"You killed someone?" Steve asked, Diana tried to remember if anyone might have lingered, but even Tony mentioned earlier that everyone cleared out, but Diana remembers getting lost in the towers sometimes.

If someone took the wrong turn once and met a defective machine...

"Wouldn't have been my first call." The robot seemed to imitate a shrug, "But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor asked.

Diana would have asked herself, but as of right now, she's desperately trying to sober up as she glanced down at the table, looking for something that she could change into a weapon.

When she locked her eyes onto a remote for the music Tony had paused earlier, she knew she found her weapon for when things escalate, because knowing her life, they always do.

"I see a suit of armor around the world." The voice of Tony played out of the robot, Diana furrowed her brows in confusion and slight anger.

What the hell was Tony and Bruce doing in that lab for three days?

"Ultron!" Bruce recognized the robot, at last, making Diana's gaze fall on the man.

"You know this bitch?" Diana asked, pulling Bruce's attention to her as she pointed at the sinister robot, "that's what you made?"

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this... chrysalis." Ultron seemed to disregard Diana as he looked down at his body, "But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha asked.

Diana wondered if maybe this robot was stalling if this AI made itself a body... she grabbed the remote, and she took one last swig of her drink like it was a shot. She was nowhere near ready for a fight but she had to be now. If only she could see straight.

"Peace in our time."

On cue, the walls exploded, and several Iron Legion bots barged into the room. In an instant, the fight started. Diana had to dive out of the way when a boy flew over her and into the coffee table that Steve kicked up. Both the man and the table were knocked back by the robot but it only pissed Diana off.

She found herself jumping over the couch, using the cushions as a means to do so as she landed behind it. The remote was turned into the cement-filled pipe Diana once loved to use on HYDRA agents and Bucky, so she hoped that it would knock a few robot heads off their shoulders if she hit them in the right spot.

She managed to do that to one, but instantly after, a robotic arm wrapped itself around Diana, making her spin around for a moment before she found herself flying backward while being sideways. She didn't stop until her back collided with the wall, sending shooting pain all over her body.

When Diana finally opened her eyes, the cold feeling of dread and fear settled onto her bones and set her heart right to something faster than humanly possible.

Baron Strucker stood before her, his menacing gaze stared Diana down as she did everything she could to back away further into the wall. Hysterical, she didn't even think before her hand was raised, she willed her body to send the yellow energy blasts into him, the holes in his body didn't stop him for a few seconds until he fell to his knees, blood leaking through his clothes from where Diana sent her energy blasts. She watched the blood leak on the floor until it met Diana's hands.

She could barely see through her tears at this point as she looked at her now crimson-coated hands, her heavy breathing getting worse. She was a murderer. She let all those people die in New York, all those good shield agents died when she and Steve took down the whole organization with Sam and Nat.

She murdered Strucker. She murdered him. Diana murdered him-

"That was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" It was Ultron's voice that pulled Diana to reality, Strucker's body was gone, there was no blood on her hands or the floor. He picked up one of the dismembered Iron Legion bots, "With these? These puppets?" -he crushed the Iron Legion bot's head- "There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."

Diana watched Mjolnirs hammer fly through Ultron's body, parts of him flying everywhere as the rest lodged into the wall behind him.

She couldn't take her eyes off the robot as Bruce ran to her side, he hesitantly took her hands, helping her up. Diana looked back for Strucker's body, but what she saw made her confused. The holes in the armchair that Diana was thrown behind revealed the internal structure of it, the frame of the chair, and the seared and smoldering stuffing inside.

"But he was there," Diana pointed to the chair in her confusion, "he was right there and I killed him, his blood was on my hands." She looked down at her hands again, it had to be there.

Her clean hands told a different story.

"Who?" Bruce asked, pulling Diana's attention away from the chair and missing body.

The realization set in that Strucker was never there, she lost control on a chair and now it was destroyed. What if she did that to an actual person.

"I'm dangerous, I lost control, I haven't lost control in years," the panic set in, how could Diana be trusted with anyone? A blurry haze set in her vision as tears burned her eyes.

Bruce gave a deadly squeeze on Diana's hand, he had a stern yet sympathetic expression on his face, Diana wasn't sure how he managed to do that but it was like a Bruce exclusive expression.

"You're overthinking this, Di," Bruce shook his head, he released her hand and placed his own on her forearm, "you were able to learn control once before, you can do it again."

Diana had shocked herself into silence, only allowing her head to nod that she understood his words. She looked down at her shoes, her gaze avoiding the chair. The other avengers began to clear out, probably to head to the lab to see what the hell just happened. Diana and Bruce followed, leaving the mess behind them to throw themselves into another one.

While they headed to the lab, Thor had gone out and tried following one of the Ultron bots, apparently, they stole the scepter. Although Diana is glad that its presence is gone from the building, she wished it was destroyed instead of stolen by a murderous robot.

The air was chillier than the last time Diana was in the lab, maybe because no one was working there for a few hours. Diana wasn't really interested in finding out why, so she grabbed a piece of spare Ultron and turned it into a jacket to put on.

Tony and Bruce began looking through their research logged into their data banks. Diana decided to hop onto a computer herself and look through everything, she was alarmed to see that nothing pulled up, absolutely nothing from the past three days. Ultron wasn't dead, his digital consciousness left the building, Diana has no idea where he could be now, she has nothing to trace.

"All our work is gone." Bruce spoke as Diana slumped in her chair in defeat, "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron." Steve scoffed at the name, looking at Tony and shaking his head.

"He's been in everything." Diana spoke up, wrapping the jacket around her tighter, "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

"He's in your files, he's in the internet." Rhodey intervened, "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

It was like a puzzle piece went into place for Maria judging by the look on her face.

"Nuclear codes."

"Nuclear codes." Rhodey confirmed, "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Natasha asked, "He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say dead." Steve pointed out, "He said extinct."

Diana couldn't bring herself to speak anymore, she only watched as her friends assessed the situation. She had just left a shitty situation, but now she has to dive headfirst into a new one and clean up a mess Tony and Bruce have made.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint recalled, referring to when Ultron first began to introduce himself.

"But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Maria replied.

"Yes, there was." With Tony's words, a hologram was pulled up, Diana wasn't sure what she was looking at, but Bruce seemed to know by the look on his face. Seemingly, Steve had a similar look.

Bruce walked over to the hologram display of what looked to be broken pieces, his hands out as he looked down at it, pure shock written all over his face.

"This is insane," Bruce spoke to himself.

"JARVIS was the first line of defense." Steve spoke up, catching Diana up on what the hologram was, her jaw slightly dropping in her shock, "He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense."

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis." Bruce replied, he gestured over the mess of the destroyed A.I, "This isn't strategy, this is...rage."

It was like he was summoned, Thor barged in and grabbed hold of Tony by his throat, pushing the man back into a wall.

"It's going around." Clint pointed out, not helping the situation but adding on.

"Come on." Tony choked out as Thor held him up, "Use your words, buddy."

Watching Tony being held up by the throat brought flashbacks of Bucky holding Diana over the bridge by her throat. She averted her gaze from the two men, trying to push the memory aside as she fiddled with her fingers.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor sounded murderous, and rightfully so considering what everyone had to go through to get the damn scepter.

"Thor!" Steve called out, trying to get the god to focus, "The Legionnaire."

Diana knew Thor released Tony when she heard his shoes hit the floor, she looked up to see Thor turning away from Tony, he was in full armor since he was ready to fight the robot to get the scepter back. Tony was running his neck where Thor's grip held him up.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter." Thor explained, he glared at Tony once more as he spoke, "Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"The genie's out of that bottle." Natasha spoke up, crossing her arms as she did so, "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand." Helen furrowed her eyebrows, she looked to Bruce and Tony who stood in close proximity now, "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Diana knew that nobody on the Avengers team would be fully, mentally stable, but she never thought that she would see the Billionaire of the team cracking up in laughter as the team looked at him. Diana crossed her arms now as well, tilting her head, she would love to know why he thought this was so funny. Beyond Tony, she could see an alarmed look on Bruce's face as he subtly shook his head at him to get him to stop.

"You think this is funny?" Thor's grip on his hammer tightened in anger as Tony continued to chuckle away.

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible?" Tony asked, "Is it so... is it so... it is. It's so terrible."

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor pointed a finger at the man.

His anger was justified in Diana's eyes, if she was in a different mindset, she probably would've punched Tony herself.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny." Tony stopped his laughter, how tone matching Steves, looking around, he made eye contact with everyone in the room, "It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time to-"

"Really?" Tony interrupted Bruce's attempt to make him back down, "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

"Only when I've created a murder bot." At least Bruce wasn't doubling down like Tony.

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

"Well, you did something right." Steve said though Diana would consider it debatable, "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Diana groaned at Tony's words, he pointed up at the roof though he meant the sky.

"No, it's never come up." Rhodey had the same idea ask Diana, though he voiced it.

"Saved New York?" Tony tried.

"Never heard that." Rhodey was doing his best to humble the man before him though they all knew it would have to take more than that.

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it." As Tony continued, Diana could slightly begin to see where he was coming from, she may be biased on her stance considering his robot threw her into a wall but she wasn't sure, "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but, that up there? That's... that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together."

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve and Tony shared a look for a moment before Tony looked away, "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."

────━▒ ۞ ▒━────

EVERYTHING SEEMED TO be too bright for Diana as she pushed her sunglasses further up her face, wanting to block the world from her vision as best as she could. She was currently sitting at her cup of coffee and staring, willing it to cool down to a drinkable temperature. Diana eventually gave up on waiting and was surprised at her first sip not being scalding. She had to hold herself back from chugging her coffee or else she would have trouble with shaking hands later and she didn't need that on top of the issues that started the night before.

In her hazy memory, Strucker's face was seared in her mind. Diana couldn't remove it, she couldn't divert her attention away from it, everywhere she looked now, he was in her peripherals, lurking in dark corners, breathing down her neck, constantly keeping her on edge.

All she could do was push her glasses further up her face and stare at the wall before her, zoning in and out as she slowly woke up with her caffeinated drink.

"Hey, you ready to huddle up?" Steve's loud voice pulled her attention.

Diana glared at the source of the loud voice, Steve and Maria stood side by side, a sea of broken glass and torn furniture separated Diana from the two. She spun around on the barstool, her mug clutched tightly in her palms, warmth seeping into her frigid fingers.

She was glad she wore her slippers today, she didn't feel like picking glass out of her feet. Diana crossed the mess, shuffling tiredly as she winced at the sunlight that peeked through the top of her glass and she made her way to them.

She eyes up at Steve and Maria, Steve who wore a tight runners shirt and cargo pants while Maria was in a pencil skirt with a button up and blazer, her hair tied back in a low bun. Diana didn't feel dressed for the job, she wore a white camisole with a fluffy cream cardigan over it, her bright blue pajama pants with little white snowflakes patterned upon the fabric standing out over her white crew socks.

She joined the two as they made their way towards the rest of the team that Diana figured Steve called for. He had a lead for them on the case but from the nervous looks the team shared, Diana knew she would have to strong-arm one of them for a look at the screen.

When Thor got a look, his face hardened into an angry state, slapping the screen against Tony's chest.

"What's this?" Tony asked as he furrowed his eyebrows and looked. His expression quickly changed as he also took a worried glance at Diana.

She got fed up, not knowing what was going on. Diana grabbed the screen before Tony could think to pull it away and what she saw before her, she regretted being so eager to take the screen.

Baron Strucker's bloody body laid limp against his prison wall. Written with his blood, "PEACE" stained the wall next to him. Just above the slumped body, was a splatter of blood. Either a gunshot from a high-caliber bullet or a blast from Ultron himself. It didn't matter in the end because he was dead and they all knew who did it.

"A message." Steve answered as Diana handed the screen over to Natasha, "Ultron killed Strucker."

Diana didn't know how she felt, maybe she wasn't processing it just yet. She didn't feel happy like most people would, but she certainly felt sad or angry either. Diana took a seat and sipped at her coffee, staring blankly at the table. She was sure she'd feel something at some point, she just didn't know when.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," Tony spoke, nervously eyeing Diana but still trying to keep the mood light, unknowing of what she might do if they dwelled too much on Strucker at all.

"This is a smokescreen." Natasha didn't seem to regard it at all, and it was probably for the best, Diana had a feeling that in the room, Natasha might be the only one who understands, "why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." Steve pieced together.

Natasha was already typing away at the computer, Diana watched, hoping desperately that it didn't mean what she thought it meant.

"Yeah, I bet he..." Natasha stopped typing, "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

Diana slumped in her chair, finishing her coffee and setting the mug aside where it would be out of the way, resorting to crossing her arms. She glared at the table, racking her brain, trying to remember all the intel she got in the time she was in captivity.

Then she remembered the man.

"I remember overhearing that a deal was going to go down between Strucker and some other guy, he had an accent and smelled like rum, if I saw his name or a photo of him I could point him out to you," Diana spoke up pulling the attention of her team, "but of course, everything's gone now."

"Not everything," Tony spoke up, making Diana straighten up in her seat. Tony had grabbed Diana's mug, making the table a bit more clear.

Diana looked to Natasha, the redhead locked home yes with her, and a twitch of a smile shot up on Natasha's face.

"Natasha, have I told you how pretty you are recently?" Diana asked, "I felt like I should tell you since I haven't been able to for a while." Diana chuckled at her own words, trying to ignore the bloody Baron behind the woman, blood was dripping on the floor but she knew that it wasn't real.

She was going to crack, Diana knew it would be soon, but she couldn't focus on that right now. Not when a murderous robot is on the loose threatening her friends and potentially the Earth. She needs a vacation.

Tony had returned with two giant boxes, Bruce had gone with Tony and Diana didn't even notice until she saw him trailing behind Tony with physical files as well. The boxes were labeled as Strucker's Associates. Diana groaned as the boxes were set on the table, lids discarded and a stack of files set in front of her.

"Known associates." Steve readout, "Well, Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Yeah he really had to get around," Diana flipped through files, scanning for names and analyzing the photos, searching for a familiar face.

"Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce spoke up, unceremoniously tossing aside other files after Diana shook her head no at its familiarity.

Then he picked another up before Bruce could show Diana, Tony's eye caught sight of a photo, his face contorting into recognition.

"Wait. I know that guy." Bruce passed him the photo he was looking at, "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Diana watched Steve give him an accusing look that Tony caught, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." -Diana stood up and stepped over, she squinted at the photo, it was the first familiar face she saw in the mess of Strucker's friends, she looked at the file Bruce picked up, looking for his name to find Ulysses Klaue- "He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer, it was all very Ahab."

"What's this?" Thor pointed to something on the photo for Tony to squint at.

"Uh, it's a tattoo." Tony dismissed, looking around at the file, "don't think he had it..."

"No, those are tattoos," Thor pointed out even more in the photo, "this is a brand."

While Diana was preoccupied with searching through the file, Bruce walked over to the computer to scan the photo and look for the source of the brand.

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way." Bruce answered, turning back to face them with his answers.

This compelled Diana to stop searching and made her way over to the computer, squatting a bit to get closer to the screen Klaus was faced away from the camera, allowing the shot of his neck to be seen. Great for her team, but Diana knew that Klaue would soon find himself in a fight if they could find him.

"What dialect?" Steve asked. Diana stood up and backed away so Bruce could read the screen. She stepped back into the warmth that Steve emanated.

Steve seemed to understand what Diana was trying to do and stepped forward so she could lean against him. Her headaches from the brainpower this required, but she knew a quick fix to her hangover that always worked for her before, she would have to use it before they left today, she knew that they would be leaving soon when Tony can lock in on some coordinates.

"Wakanada...?" Diana furrowed her eyebrows at Bruce's pronunciation of the name, "Wa...Wa...Wakanda."

The name of the country seemed to strike something in Steve and Tony as they looked at each other. The name sounded familiar, she knew it had to be important with the way that Steve and Tony's slightly panicked faces shared an understanding.

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony trailed out, being violently cryptic, far too much for Diana's taste.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve replied.

"I don't follow." Bruce butted in, making Diana relieved that she wasn't the only one confused by what was going on, "What comes out of Wakanda?"

Tony looked over at Steve's shield behind him, making Diana's jaw drop in the realization of what Klaue wanted. And it made sense now when Diana asked for a shield of her own three years ago and was regrettably informed that it was one of a kind. And it would explain why she was never able to replicate exactly before.

"The strongest metal on earth." Tony finally answered.

It seemed that everyone's mind was collectively made up as Diana straightened up and curled up her arms again, looking at the file open on the table next to her.

"Where is this guy now?"

────━▒ ۞ ▒━────

6.1k words

It's a long one ! but since i'm going to be on hiatus for a bit until my life settles a bit, i thought i'd give y'all a longer chapter to digest!! poor diana is breaking.

and i for one can't wait for her to actually lose control.

give your theories on when you'll think that will happen and let me know what interactions you want to see next!!

again, it'll be a while before i update again so trust me, it'll mean if you give a suggestion for interaction, you'll probably see it come up in some way in the book.

thank you all for reading and i'll see you guys at the next update, whenever that may be!

love u all!
-greta