Prologue: The Video
It looked like the inside of a warehouse. Completely painted over white and clean. Twenty hospital beds were lined up against the long stark wall. Seventeen of them occupied by men and women in thin hospital gowns. None of them looked any older than their mid-twenties, and there even appeared to be a couple of teenagers. Most had cuts and bruises on their faces and limbs. They were all strapped down, dark thick collars around their necks, and each hooked up to at least four different I.V. bags. They were conscious, but obviously sedated.
Tony Stark's jaw tightened as he watched the video playing on the holoscreen intercepted by S.H.I.E.L.D. The whole scene looked ominous, and Tony was only thirty seconds into it. Of course he knew whatever was on this video wasn't going to be good with S.H.I.E.L.D. coming to him for help to track its location of origin. Tony already had his systems on it at their request, and now he was getting the firsthand look as to why their request for aid was so urgent.
The video cut to two "patients" now each inside an upright open cylinder containment pod, locked in by metal clamps around their necks, waists, wrists, and ankles. Watched as a man in a lab coat —face covered with a white surgical mask— jabbed their arms with a needle and injected them with an unknown pink drug. Instantly they were brought out of their sedation. They were alert and struggled and screamed. The glass fronts of the pods closed, cutting off the sounds of their yelled begging. And then the pods were suddenly filled with fire —orange and yellow and angry— swirling inside the pods like small cyclones. It went on for precisely forty-five agonizing seconds, then the fires were out. All that was left of the man in the right pod were unrecognizable charged remains. The woman in the left pod, however, her form endured. She breathed heavily, terrified, and once again a fire started. But this time it originated from her body. Her whole self engulf in radiating flames, her skin unharmed.
A clapping of applause was heard off camera, followed by a voice. "Serum test Lambda Beta on Male Subject 0027: Failure. Serum test Lambda Beta on female Subject 0018: Success. This is the second trial of male failure and female success. Third trial will be slated to conclude serum correlation with sex. Success subject will be primed and ready for shipping within two weeks. Next, Serum Lambda Delta should prove promising results to..."
"I've seen enough," Tony swiped the video off the screen. His insides felt sick from what he just witnessed. He focused his gaze then on Maria Hill's picture on the teleconference.
"We got a hit running a still of the woman through facial recognition," Maria spoke. "Her name's Melanie Michaels. Just a humdrum civilian from Columbus, Ohio. No criminal record. She was reported missing by her landlord two months ago. I think abduction is safe to assume here, along with every other shackled person in that video. I'm sending you all our other intel as we speak," Maria went on. "What we can gather is, is this...testing is being done for sale. They're making human weapons, Stark. It's looking more like they're trying to create a variety and not just an army of 'Human Torches'."
"So this is some sick Weapon X revival? A copy-cat venture?"
"Short answer we don't know either way, but-"
"Location secured." Jarvis interrupted.
"I don't think it matters either way." Tony's eyes peered decisively at the marker on the projected map. "We're shutting them down. You came to me for help so I'm taking the lead on this, no question —especially with this is happening in my own back yard. Have a team ready to depart in five. We're going to New Jersey."