AN: Hello, everyone. For fans of my other frostiron story, I'm very sorry I haven't updated that one in such a long while. My life it a bit of a snag, and I got the world's worst case of writer's block. ie: about a thousand other stories were floating around in my head demanding to be written. This is one of them. I hope you all enjoy it, new readers as well as old. I hope to actually keep this updated semi-regularly, as well as picking up ILWAC again.
Another Grows Back
Prologue
It had been one year since the battle against the Chitauri and Loki, and for the most part the world had been quiet. Far too quiet for Tony's liking. The only problems the Avengers had faced had been the result of minor villains, hardly worth a single member's time let alone the entire team.
With no new evil to fight, Tony often found himself thinking back to his battle of wits with Loki. Despite the fact that he knew he should have feared and resented the god for attempting to flatten his city and conquer his planet, but somehow he only found the trickster fascinating. It was a rare person that could match his intellect, and even rarer still one who could match his wit, and yet Loki had held his own against the genius on Both accounts.
Suddenly, Tony's attention was snatched away from his memories of the god by JARVIS announcing an incoming call from Fury.
Before Tony could try and avoid the conversation, Fury's lackeys had hacked into his com system (which had to have taken them hours).
"We need you to check something out, Stark. Rogers is already on his way to the scene, but we need Iron Man as well."
"Why should I? I think I like sitting on my ass doing nothing all day. Get one of your SHIELD goons to do it," Tony replied, trying his best to sound like a petulant five year old. He might have been bored to tears, but that didn't mean he was going to be Fury's puppet. Tony still hadn't forgiven him for trying to conceal information from him.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. The rest of the Avengers are off on separate missions. I need a hero, Stark. I'm sending the coordinates to JARVIS. I expect he'll ensure you get here."
With that, The line went dead, and the silence was promptly filled by JARVIS's ever sarcastic voice.
"I have the location, sir. It appears to be at one of the warehouses on the edge of the city. Shall I deploy the Mark VII or would you prefer to sit around feeling sorry for yourself?"
"I swear, one of these days I'm going to sell your motherboard for scrap. Fine, deploy."
At the engineer's command, the Mark VII leapt from its case and enclosed itself around Tony's body, locking on to the bracelets he'd gotten into the habit of wearing at all times. You never know when you're going to be thrown from the top floor of a skyscraper by an angry god with Tony's lifestyle. Better safe than dead.
Once the suit was fully assembled his HUD flared to life and Tony launched out of a window that had automatically opened upon the Mark VII's activation and flew off.
When he arrived, Steve was already there waiting for him outside.
"Any idea what the pirate wants us here for?"
"Apparently there's so strange energy readings coming from inside. Gamma rays, among other things. I think SHIELD's worried about someone trying to make another Hulk."
"Great. Last thing I need's another green rage monster tearing apart New York."
"Sir, the energy signature is on the move. I suggest you postpone this conversation," JARVIS interrupted from the suit's external speakers.
The two men nodded to each other silently before Tony launched back into the air and Steve approached the warehouse, shield at the ready.
At the same time, Steve kicked down the rusted metal door in front of the warehouse while Tony blasted his way through the roof near the back, both of them charging in ready to take on whatever foes they found inside.
Once the dust from Tony's entrance had settled, the two Avengers found themselves all alone in the dilapidated structure, with only a few shattered crates and rusty beams for company.
Suspecting some kind of trap in the first place, Tony tentatively started moving across the room in the direction that his scanners were telling him was the source of the gamma rays. Nestled behind some rotting shards of wood, the engineer found a small, shiny metal sphere with a blue light on top.
"Tony, wait. Maybe you shouldn't just go messing with-" Steve tried to warn, but it was too late. Without a second thought Tony pressed the light and the sphere opened up, releasing a shock wave strong enough to knock both Avengers unconscious.
The last thing Tony saw through his flickering HUD was figure dressed in black and green standing over him before everything went black.
AN: aaand, that's a wrap! I'm going to be posting ch. 1 right away so you're not left with just two pages of juicy cliffhanger. Please don't forget to review, they make me happy, and happy makes me write. :) Also, if anyone has a less stupid title idea, go ahead and offer it up. Titles are not my strong suit. _