Ultimate Genesis Avengers #1 "Drawn In"
Written By Mick Edwards
Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov had no idea why they were summoned by Tony Stark to the main headquarters of Stark International in Los Angles. Both of them were experienced combat veterans, Clint happened to be the world's greatest marksman, outclassing all others with his near unerring accuracy. Natasha was known for her ability to get inside anywhere with little difficulty, trained by the legendary Alexi Shostakov, the former Soviet Unions greatest spy. Since it seemed to be just a casual meeting, they dressed casually. They entered Tony Stark's main office, Tony sat in his chair behind his desk. He looked up at them, smiling. Tony wore a white button up shirt, black slacks with a black belt, and nice black dress shoes.
"Glad you both could make it," Tony said. He stood up and shook Clint's hand, but Natasha's hand he kissed.
"Cut the charm," said Natasha. "Why are we here?"
Tony's face became serious. He walked over to his square desk, picked up a small remote off it and used it to close the shades to his office. "You ever hear of the accident I had in Afghanistan?"
"Yeah," said Clint. "What about it?"
Tony's eyes narrowed. "It was no accident."
Clint looked at Natasha before he turned his attention back to Tony.
"What do you mean?"
"Some one tried to assassinate me," said Tony. "More precisely a group of some ones."
"You are not making any sense, Tony, dear."
"Have you ever heard of the Hellfire Club?"
Natasha took a seat at the leather chair in front of Tony's desk. She crossed her legs and leaned back looking every-bit as seductive as Tony imagined.
"Yes," said Natasha. "They are a club that consists of some of the most wealthy socialites in the world."
"What about them?" asked Clint.
"I used to have a membership in the club, back when the war started I learned that the Hellfire Club's legacy spanned all the way back to the creation of this country..."
"What are you trying to say, Tony?"
"The Hellfire Club were very much behind the idea of our revolution from England, they orchestrated the resentment against the king."
Clint shook his head. "That's not how it went, Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson were the ones behind the revolution."
"They were pawns of the Hellfire Club's founders," said Tony. "Tools to create a new country from which the Hellfire Club could rule."
"This is nonsense, why doesn't SHIELD, or any one else know of this?"
"Because Natasha," said Tony. "I helped create and finance SHIELD, my company is a weapons developer, and most of all my ancestor was a founding member of the Hellfire Club."
Tony walked to the windows with shades down, the only light in the room was from the lights in his office.
"The Hellfire Club has controlled every aspect of our nation since the beginning, through their watchful eyes, we became the great nation we are."
"They have kept their existence secret to keep prying eyes out of their business." He added.
"However, during the Reagan era, some bad decisions were made."
"The Hellfire Club had formed an Inner Circle that comprises the descendents of the founding fathers, the Inner Circle wields all the power."
"This sounds like a bad conspiracy theory, Tony."
"I agree with Clint, in all my years I have never heard of any of this."
"I figured you wouldn't," said Tony. "But let me finish...please."
Tony took a deep breath, prepping himself to recount something painful.
"My father disagreed with the new direction that the Inner Circle made, since the costly war in Vietnam ended in failure, they believed all the money in the nation should remain in their pockets."
"My father believed that such a decision would destroy this nation and everything the Hellfire Club had worked for."
Tony turned to Natasha and Clint, a sad look on his face. "When they were sure my father was alone, they executed him, but left me alive because they believed I could be turned to see their way."
Clint sat down in the identical leather chair next to Natasha, he ran his hands across his face. "You're serious about this, I'd almost think you were nuts."
Tony started unbuttoning his shirt, they saw a device implanted in the middle of his chest. Natasha and Clint were shocked by what they saw. It was circular and glowed yellow in the center.
"This is the beta-particle generator my father had been developing, with the help of a friend, I converted the designs into a pace maker to keep my heart beating."
Tony buttoned his shirt back up. "The Inner Circle saw that my genius exceeded my father's own, they felt I would be a goldmine for them to exploit, when I learned of their duplicity, they tried to have me killed in Afghanistan with a road side bomb."
"The shrapnel pierced my chest, I was captured by Al Qaeda sympathizers."
Tony looked up after he finished re-buttoning his shirt. "They wanted me to build a bomb using my father's beta-ray particle technology, a weapon more powerful than any nuclear device."
"Instead," Tony continued. "Professor Ho Yinsen helped me build this pace maker and a means of escape."
"Wait," said Clint, he realized what Tony implied. "You're Iron Man?"
Tony nodded.
Natasha lowered her head. "SHIELD had been searching for the identity of Iron Man, this whole time it would be SHIELD's principal founder."
"The Irontech Yinsen and I developed has been used to defend myself from the Inner Circle, this beta-particle generator is a third redesign of the original that Yinsen implanted in my chest."
"I have realized in the past ten years that even with my wealth exceeding the members of the Inner Circle, I could not fight them alone because their influence is far-reaching."
Tony pressed another button on his small remote, a holographic A appeared from a projector on the roof.
"That is why I have decided to form an organization to combat the Inner Circle, made up of specialists that could help me shut them down."
Clint steepled his hands, leaning forward in his chair. "You want me and Natasha to be apart of this organization."
"Yes, but there will be others I will be recruiting."
"Why us?" asked Natasha.
"I have detailed files of every agent in SHIELD, you two were of special interest," said Tony. "For your unwavering loyalty and your particular skills."
"You need people you can trust, da?"
"Yes Natasha, I think given what General Fury's impressions of you are, I can trust you both."
"Does General Fury know about what you are planning?" asked Clint.
"No, and I rather it stay that way."
"Why?"
"SHIELD has spies with in it that could let the Inner Circle know of my plans, I may trust General Fury inexplicably, but I can't let this plan be compromised."
"You're asking us to lie to our boss," said Clint. "General Fury is a man I owe my life to."
"General Fury helped me as well."
Tony sat the small remote on his desk, he sat down in the plush chair behind his desk.
"I need the both of you," said Tony. "I'm not asking you to betray General Fury, just keep him out of the loop for now."
Clint and Natasha looked at one another. They got up to go, but Natasha turned with a question in mind.
"What is the A for?" she asked.
"The Avengers."
"The Avengers," Natasha said thoughtfully. "A fitting name."
An hour after they left, Tony rode an elevator down into the secret sub-basement level of Stark Industries. In a energy barrier cell sat a man with an enlarged green brain. Tony walked up to the energy barrier and looked in on his prisoner.
"So, Banner, how do you find your new home?"
The mutated Doctor Banner sat up, looking at Tony contemptuously. "Modest compare to what I am used to."
"Get used to it," said Tony. "Because of you, Lieutenant Blonksy is now a rampaging Hulkish brute."
The mutated Doctor Banner shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't invite him into my experiment, he should have kept his nose out of it."
"Your experiment released a force that could be as destructive as the Inner Circle."
The mutated Doctor Banner smiled, but said nothing.
"Don't expect to get out of here, Banner, not until I figure out what to do with you."
Tony went into the elevator, heading back up to the top floor of Stark International. The mutated Doctor Banner removed his hands from behind his back, a small device held in them.
"Oh, I expect to do more than escape, Anthony, and when we meet again, you will acknowledge me as your Leader."
Clint and Natasha returned to their apartments rented by a dummy corporation set up by Tony. Clint spoke with his wife and children. Natasha looked at the picture of her father figure, Alexi. She lie on the bed and held it close to her chest.
"For you, Oteų"
Blonsky roamed around the Rockies, looking for water and food. His massive green muscles tensed, his eyes glowing green. He leaped down from the mountain he stood on into the valley below, toppling trees over. A deer came by, he snatched it out of the air and bite down on its head. Blood splashing on his neck upon the first bite. He ate the deer whole, and walked down to a pond where he took several big handfuls of water. Soon, he relaxed and transformed back into his human form. Emil felt the blood on his neck, he wiped it off, and examined it. He remembered nothing expect he was in unfamiliar terrain and worst of all. He had no idea how he got there. He washed the blood off the best he could, he could not be certain where the blood came from. Emil didn't want to attract any undue attention when he came upon a town.
He hiked for several days before he reached the closest town, from there he stole some clothes and disappeared among the people.
Sebastian Shaw played with his glass of wine, he wore a sharp black business suit with a matching color tie. Donald Pierce sat across from him flexing his hand wearing a white sharp business suit with a black tie. A beautiful blonde haired woman dressed in a white business suit came in catching both their attentions, Sebastian sat down his drink. Donald stood up.
"Is it time?" asked Sebastian.
"It is."
Donald looked at Sebastian with a smile. "Let's see Stark contend with us now."
End Chapter 1
Next Chapter 2: Ultron Affair