"Good morning New York. This is K92 with your morning update. And if you are just getting up now, you are in luck! Rebecca and I were playing a little game of sex, marry kill with our favourite Avengers and what do you know, Rebecca picked the fantastic Steve Rogers, or as he's usually known as, Captain America!"
The policeman smirked a little at the overenthusiastic presenter he teased his co-host. It had only been a year since the group saved New York and the public still couldn't stop talking about them, completely disregarding the everyday fire fighters, police officers and paramedics who fought everyday to keep the city safe. But the officer wasn't too angry with that. They could do things that most people couldn't dream of.
"So as well all know the rumours that Captain Rogers enjoys the single life, Rebecca," the male announcer laughed and the gruff officer laughed along, "Now this is despite the fact that his hero status keeps rising since the defeat of Loki and other lesser known villains in the last year. "
"I didn't say I wanted to have him as a husband," the female host, Rebecca laughed. "Just hang out a little,"
"O wow!" the man chided. "Well maybe if you hunted down Loki, you'd have a chance. Everyone is still wondering what happened to that criminal…"
Officer Howard sighed; turning off the radio as he reached in the back for those disgustingly healthy snacks his wife had packed in the hopes of him losing weight. She could never stop the doughnut runs though but Howard thought he should humour her by eating a couple. Besides, it might help his boredom during this early morning patrol. It was better than listening to another radio station talking about how Loki deserved justice the human way. Some of the caller's ideas really made his stomach churn.
He was just digging in to a shiny red apple when his partner suddenly appeared at Howard's window, making him jump a foot in the air.
"Geez James," he said, rolling down the glass. "You didn't have to spook me. Now what's the big emergency?" Howard tried really hard to keep the doubt out of his voice. James Crossman joined the force three months ago and Howard's boss wanted Howard to "teach him the ropes" or in other words "babysit the kid." And what a job it was. Crossman had the tendency to turn ordinary occurrences into a violent crime waiting to happen.
"There's a man," Crossman breathed out. "On that bench over at the far end. He's not…dead…I found a faint…but he's close. It's…it's bad."
Although Crossman sounded more terrified than ever, Howard still was skeptical. He stepped out of the cruiser though and took off down the park trail.
"Ok are you sure he's not just drunk?"
"No!" Crossman insisted. "I even radioed for extra help."
And in an instant, Howard knew why and instantly gripped his stomach to stop his Monday morning coffee from coming up. Crossman was right. So right. This was bad.
"Rise and shine Tony!" Pepper chirped, pulling back the curtains.
"Pepper, not now!" Tony groaned. "I was up until four working."
"Working is when you develop new gadgets. No, you were drunk dialing clients with Clint. And to make up for that, I scheduled a clean energy lunch in two hours."
"You've been doing all that this early?" Tony said, slowly sitting up in bed.
"Yep and instead of sleeping in and playing video games like a teenager, you are actually going to work today," Pepper finished, throwing a folder at Tony. "Now I'll meet you downstairs in an hour?"
"Can't you just go?" Tony put on his most award-winning smile not fooling his girlfriend one bit.
"An hour," she smiled, giving him a quick peck. "Can't wait to see the mature man I know downstairs."
Tony rolled his eyes. That man wasn't making an appearance anytime today.
There was proof of that within ten minutes he was arguing with Steve to turn off the blender that was not helping a hangover in the slightest. Steve argued back that healthy eating was key and maybe if he stopped drinking so much, he'd have time to focus on that. Tony responded by throwing fruit loops at his friend's head repeatedly.
A loud ring interrupted the two.
"Did Bruce go for a morning walk again? He knows there's eye recognition installed by now." Tony said, walking toward the doorway.
"I'm right here!" Bruce popped into the kitchen. "I really do think you need to set that to silent. Doesn't help with meditating and you do have JARVIS after all."
"I like to give Sparkly Spandex a chance to remember the doorbells of old," Tony replied. "But you have a good point. Jarvis who is at the door?"
"A police officer," Jarvis stated, running a quick scan well Tony descended down the elevator. "An Officer Matthew Howard sir. Good man, not a threat."
"Probably looking for pointers," mumbled Tony. He'd lost count of the number of fan boys who kept arriving at his door. "Or an autograph seeker. Or wants help with a clearly easy job."
"May I remind you that Miss Potts would want you on your best behavior sir?"
"And may I remind you that I can program you to be mute?" Tony snarkily replied but nevertheless he opened the door with a smile.
"You know what, I've donated so much for those snazzy hats you all wear this year so thank you," Well it was nice sarcasm.
He tried to close the door immediately until Steve's voice startled him.
"I think you should listen to what the man has to say."
"He's right," Officer Howard stated, regarding the other two behind Tony as well. "In fact you all should. You are Tony Stark correct?"
Tony looked at him in disbelief. The officer did realize what tower he was at, didn't he?
"Uh yeah? What exactly do you need? I could probably catch your most wanted criminal in about ten minutes but I'm a little slow this morning so putting on the suit might take a few and…"
"We took a man to the hospital today in bad shape," Howard cut the billionaire off. "He doesn't have emergency contact obviously but I believe you might know him. We'd like someone to come down."
He handed over the pictures that had been taken for evidence. He could hear Bruce's gasp and Steve's "wow" but Tony was silent as his eyes went wide.
"This isn't a man," Tony choked out. "It's Loki!"