The Whatnot of TJ

The last time Maria had seen the upstate Avengers facility, it had looked...rather less busy than this.

“Well, they’ve certainly been productive,” she murmured as the chopper circled the facility, giving them a good look at the trimmed-back exercise areas, and the live-fire range. The tarmac looked freshly painted, the building looked freshly cleaned, and someone had planted begonias along the southern line of the downstairs patio.

“You’d be amazed at what the Wakandans can put together on short notice,” Barnes remarked as the pilot took them down. “Also, looks like someone’s recently had a fight. Hulk, maybe?”

The great furrow of dirt ploughing deeply into the field suggested that someone had felt the need for an urgent throwdown. The fact that Maria was now being surprised by it suggested that it was recent enough that neither Steve, nor Rhodey, nor Tony, nor Nat had felt it warranted her immediate attention while she was in transit from Birnan Zana over to upstate New York.

“Banner’s supposed to be up north,” she said, frowning a little as she looked over to where it looked like a few people were assembling on the helipad. “What’s this?”

“Looks like a greeting party,” the Wakandan pilot commented with a smirk. “They roll out the red carpet, everyone claps. That’s how it goes here in America, yes?”

“When you’re someone important,” Maria said dryly. “It’s not like any of the Avengers haven’t already met me before. And I’m hardly the President.”