Disclaimer: I do not create or own Godzilla as well as the Avengers franchise and "Earth's Mightiest Hero" belongs to TheWabbaJackX.
Chapter 3: The man who lost his beloved.
"Commander on deck," a voice called out. SHIELD agents stood at attention as the chopper descended before them. Doctor Serizawa and Professor Graham were standing alongside Natasha and Clint, waiting on the passengers to exit the vehicle. They had spent the majority of the day filling out paperwork and organizing for supplies to be transported to and from the quarry.
Nick Fury climbed out of the helicopter, his black trenchcoat flowing in the wind from the spinning propellers. A woman with short hair and wearing a tight form fitting blue jumpsuit followed him out.
Eyebrows raised and facial expression loosened, Nick Fury and Maria Hill were now the ones to be surprised as he saw themselves…on an alien movie screen.
"Well…now I know how you and Barton felt seeing your future selves up there." He voiced out to Natasha and Clint as he scratched his beard. "I gotta say I don't look half bad for my age." He said as if he was looking at himself for the first time.
It was surreal because they can't remember the last Nick and Maria saw themselves displayed through a video media, much less from camera photos. Now the two were depicted in a movie point of view and looked quite badass as they got both out of the SHIELD helicopter.
"Yea…this is quite a trip…" Hill uttered as she watched her future self accompany the future Nick Fury.
"At ease," Fury said with a wave of his hand. The agents continued on their ways. "Doctor Serizawa. Doctor Graham. I hope everything here is to your liking. I know it's not the hole in the ground you're used to back in the Philippines, but I hope you're comfortable. You both remember Agent Maria Hill, I hope?" Serizawa bowed respectfully, and Vivienne nodded, which Agent Hill returned. "Where is Agent Coulson?"
"He's up in the main facility," Serizawa stated. "Looking over everything alongside Professor Selvig. We haven't had the chance to head up ourselves."
"Looks like it's your turn Phil." Hill said as she nudged her knuckles on Coulson's shoulder."
He only shrugged. "I guess so because at this rate, I think we're going to see the entire team of the Avengers as well."
"Lots of paperwork to fill," Vivienne added. Fury scoffed.
"Bureaucratic nonsense," he said. "But now that I'm here, we can finally figure out why the MUTO's gotten chatty."
"Chatty?" Vivienne asked.
'Chatty?' Bruce pondered on what Fury said. Chatty? Either he was hearing this wrong but were they implying that this MUTO is an actual living creature or some kind of sentient machine?
Bruce had no idea how much the former was to be more correct answer as he started to connect Fury's connection with Monarch at the moment. So far he is still confused what the MUTO has to do with Fury and SHIELD as the organization itself is a military that has established itself to be America's greatest defense force so what are dealing with something that environmental activist organization like Monarch is hiding?
"Coulson will explain," Fury said. "Barton. Romanoff. You two as well. I know you've just been spinning your wheels here and want to know the deal."
"Damn right we are…" Clint whispered quietly out of Fury's hearing range as he and Natasha started to feel even more anxious if their boss deemed the situation problematic enough to involve other organizations outside of SHIELD
"I don't like being kept in the dark," Natasha said.
'Damn right I don't…' She thought as she agreed with the future version of herself, her eyes and ears alert for any miss-able clues.
"I'm well aware," Fury replied. The seven of them made their way inside the facility hidden deep in the ruins of the power plant.
"Interesting choice of camouflage," Clint said, noting the ruins. "A whole city to hide whatever you have out here."
"Extreme but necessary," Agent Hill said.
"My sentiments exactly," Fury said.
"Exactly what is it about this MUTO that's got SHIELD on high alert?" Natasha asked.
Everybody leaned forward for their unanswered questions about the mysterious "MUTO" including Fury who's wondering if they found anything new about it.
"Can't tell you that exactly," Fury said.
Everybody slumped back groaning and disappointed.
"Mostly because we're not entirely sure ourselves," Vivienne said.
"But we can show you it," Fury said.
Suddenly Tony stood up, pulled out his wallet and took out of what seems to be at least ten or even twelve freshly made hundred dollar bills.
"Alright, before we all see what this MUTO is, let's make a bet to see if this thing is alien related or not so I call dibs that it's not from Earth." He said and continued.
"Since I only brought around-almost twelve thousand dollars of cash in my wallet and obviously the rest of my billions on my credit card…I say I'll lose like-how many of you guys are there besides me…eleven out of twelve?" He said as he started calculating until he realized Fury, Hill and Coulson so that makes nine...
"Everyone except Fury, Hill and Coulson because they seem know what this thing is exactly so you three don't get to vote." He said rudely as he eyed at the three disgruntled, top SHIELD agents.
"Not alien to me, I have a feeling about this…call it soldier instinct."
"Bring it on Captain Ice-Cube."
"Alright Tony, I'm betting it's not alien and if you win..." Clint grimaced at the thought of losing to Tony. "I'll…I'll eat my bow…"
"SOLD!" Tony said exuberantly as he's always wanted to knock down Steve and Clint a peg or two. "How about you Widow? Got the guts to make a bet?"
"I think it could be an extraterrestrial…" Natasha thought for a few seconds. "But I can be wrong so I'll go with Clint and Steve on this one."
"Has to be from space, I mean they make it sound like they're keeping some kind of living specimen so what else could it be?" Pepper suggested.
"Darn, I don't have my purse with me when the orb teleported all of us…" Jane said frustratingly as she looked around for her expensive leather purse.
"I'm with ya Tony so I'll vote alien." – Rhodey.
"I have to reject your challenge friend Tony as for I have no knowledge of how mortal currency works….also do I have any of it which means I have nothing to lose even if I lose your bet." - Thor.
"Same, I kinda left my wallet in my bag during the party." – Bruce.
While the Avengers and friends bickering about bets, Fury and his lieutenants were shaking their heads.
"Great…" Thought Fury as he was tempted to rub his temple from their annoying chatter and watch what is happening without any further interruptions. "Now we got Team Iron Man vs Team Captain America...this should be fun…"
(On the betting side of "MUTO being Alien" related were Tony, Rhodey and Pepper who shares her bank with Tony due to being CEO of Stark Industries)
(The ones who are betting that the "MUTO not Aliens" were Steve, Clint and Natasha)
(Fury, Hill and Coulson are barred from this bet because they know the status of the MUTO)
(Meanwhile Bruce and Thor backed out because the two were hilariously penniless while Jane who wanted to choose "MUTO is extraterrestrial" but her purse is still within Stark's tower so she didn't make a vote in case she lost)
A huge metal door slid open, leading into a large open chamber with an exposed roof. Long cables crossed over the opening like a spider web. Large towers stood tall and high with huge floodlights illuminating the center. A large electric fence surrounded a peculiar object in the center. Clint and Natasha stared up at the object in amazement. It was a large black rocky construct that curled downwards at the top. The underside of it glowed red. "THAT is MUTO."
The moment the MUTO finally appeared; Tony stood up and pointed his finger at Fury in an accusing manner.
"A-ha! Called it! I freakin called it because it's too damn obvious-oh and we win by the way so pay up guys!" Tony exclaimed in anger and excitement, anger at Fury for secretly holding some kind of giant, freaky alien weapon and mild excitement for supposedly winning the "Alien or not" bet against Steve and Clint.
"I should've known Fury that you-" He pointed at the MUTO. "-were harborin, uh…some kind of glowing, alien weapon…" His angry citation against the SHIELD director faltered as he tried to theorize what the chamber held. "I mean, it's some kind of giant, ominously glowing alien…rock…as a weapon…right?"
He finished lamely and stood silently for a few more seconds until the billionaire waved his hands in defeat and looking back at Fury in the eye again.
"Ok, Alright I give up Fury, what is that exactly, and PLEASE don't tell me it's not extraterrestrial object because there is NO WAY that thing is from Earth." He pointed at the MUTO again.
Nick just casually waved his hand nonchalantly at his direction, although his eyes and angry frown told a different story.
"To tell you the truth Stark, I don't even know if it truly if is from Earth, Mars or is it even a weapon at all, all that I know what I'm doing with the MUTO is to contain it in case does something that will forces us to retaliate." He said, obviously keeping calm from the billionaire's accusing tone.
"Bullshit Fury because I swear, if this is like the Tesseract weapons again -"
"That's ENOUGH" He thundered as he stood up tall, effectively silencing Tony's angry retort. "I get where you're going with this Stark and I understand that it's hard to believe that I'm actually denying about not creating weapons, especially after the failure of phase two from the former Avengers initiative a few years ago. But-" He started breathing hard from the oncoming stress of Tony's accusations before Hill stepped up and placed comforting hand on her boss's heaving shoulders.
"Look Tony..." She said. "I know this is hard to believe but you'll have to trust us on this because he IS telling the truth everybody and I know this because Coulson and I were also all in together about the MUTO confinement since its discovery, ever since than we had been monitoring it for any dangerous activity for years and nothing yet has happened." Hill said as she pleaded for Nick's defense.
"We're just going to have to see so just cool your jets down for now Tony." Coulson said and Tony reluctantly backed down Phil's attempt of peacemaking, much to Fury's delight.
"Thanks agent Coulson."
Phil simply nodded. "All in a days work sir."
"What is it?" Natasha asked.
"An alien preserved in rock or just an alien Rock." Tony said adamantly.
"Not an alien."
"What made you an expert cap-sicle?"
"Nor an alien rock."
"Bite me hawk poop."
"Can't tell you that, either," Fury said.
"What CAN you tell us?" Clint asked. Fury looked to Vivenne.
"I'll answer what I can," she said.
"Is it alien?" Clint asked. Vivienne looked over to Fury who gave her a calm nod.
At this moment everybody except Fury, Hill and Coulson leaned forward from their seats (especially Steve, Clint, and Rhodey who gripped their money harder) at the revelation.
Alien or not alien and who will win the bet? Team Iron Man or Team Cap?
"No," she said. "It's native to this planet. A large prehistoric… thing."
"REALLY!? OH COME ON!" A disappointed groan came from an outraged Tony.
"No!" Cried Rhodey. "I was saving that for a date tonight!"
'Phew.' Jane thought as she held her hand against her chest with no small amount of relief as she sees Tony and Rhodey lose it. 'Glad I didn't have my purse with me…'
"Woo, you lose so pay up Stark, come to papa Hawkeye."
"Pft, Whatever bird-eyes oh and by the way, since I'm so rich, I usually just wipe my ass with these hundred bills so here my dirty money for you all…" He irritably said to a smirking Hawkeye, Black Widow and an astonished Steve Rogers as he separated his and Pepper's money to the winning contestants.
"Unbelievable…Just unbelievable, how is that thing not from outer-space? I mean it even got that whole alien movie clichés and vibes all over it…there goes my date money…"Rhodey moodily complained as he also handed out his equal amount of money to Clint, Natasha and Steve from losing the bet.
"Hard to believe right?" Fury said which gain the attention of nearly everyone. "Believe me when I say this, I also had the same idea when I saw this thing with my own eyes back in 1999 after the Janjira incident but with the two most prolific scientists of Monarch were adamant about it being from Earth." Nick called out while rubbing his head.
"As unbelievable as it seems people, that…thing you all see is actually born or made on Earth…and here's the other kicking fact…" He said seriously.
"That 'rock' as you put it Tony, is actually in fact a living biological specimen."
'What!?'
"That huge thing is actually alive!?" Clint panicked as he asked what almost everyone else had in mind and Nick nodded grimly.
"Terrifying isn't it? Something that big is and so far I had been told that we're still only halfway the iceberg on what this thing is..." He said ominously giving nearly everyone the chills.
"Like that dinosaur skeleton you found?" Natasha asked.
"Yes," Serizawa said.
"We will discuss the nature of the MUTO later," Fury said. "For now, I need the both of you to be on lookout. Barton, climb up one of those towers and keep your arrows primed. Romanoff, I want you to patrol the outer reaches."
"We expecting somebody?" Clint asked.
"Hopefully not," Fury replied. The two agents went their separate ways while Fury led the two scientists to the observation platform where Agent Coulson was waiting. The elevator that took them up opened, revealing a room bathed in red fluorescent lighting. Phil Coulson and Doctor Erik Selvig were in the room.
"SELVIG!" Thor throatily cheered with his arms up in the as one of the first mortals he befriended on Earth has appeared on screen. "Jane! Jane! Look it's our dear friend Selvig!" He exclaimed as he once again forgot about what his godly strength would do to a normal human being and unintentionally throttled his girlfriend's shoulders to gain her attention.
"Yes yes I know Thor now please loosen those godly arms of yours!" Jane heaved for air as Thor apologetically let her go with a quick "s'rry"
"Doctor Serizawa," he said, shaking the Japanese man's hand. "It has certainly been a while." He turned to see Vivienne smiling at him. "Hello, Vivienne."
"H-hello, Phillip," she said shyly. Selvig grasped Serizawa's hand and shook it firmly.
"Doctor Serizawa," he said eagerly. "This is TRULY an honor, sir. The research Monarch has produced in environmental science is absolutely remarkable. And Doctor Graham." He shook her hand eagerly as well. "You are such an inspiration. My colleague Jane Foster is an absolute fan of yours."
"Ooooh." Jane squealed in appreciation for Selvig as he introduced her existence to THE one and only Vivienne Graham.
"You really admire this woman don't you Jane?" Thor said as he was amused by the adoration his girlfriend was giving to the female on screen.
"That-" She pointed at the said woman. "-is the one and only, Doctor Vivienne Graham, a brilliant female scientist and her near limitless knowledge for her study of chemistry and the environment is only second to the Monarch director Serizawa despite the latter is more claimed on Paleontology." She gushed out her admiration for the fellow female scientist.
"At these days and age, she is an inspiration for female scientists even though our fields of scientific studies were worlds apart because of my research is through Astrophysics while hers is environmental and chemical research but she was already an incredibly accomplished and capable scientist back in my University days and one of the reasons that and inspired me to become a scientist." She explained to him.
She leaned away and sighed as she rested on her seat. Once this is over she's going to buy Selvig one the best planetary set she can find after she accidentally broke his old one…by knocking it over the table during one of her few naughty rendezvous moments with Thor.
"Oh," Vivienne said in genuine surprised. "Well, thank you. Tell her that I am honored."
"Not to damper this little parade, but I do believe we have a MUTO to discuss," Fury interrupted.
"Right," Coulson said. "I'll try to debrief you both as simply as possible. Approximately twenty four hours ago, the MUTO suddenly began acting up. We have no idea why. Up until that point, it has provided us with absolutely no problems. Then, it began to give off a seismic reading that began to disrupt our systems."
"You think it's connected to the Tesseract?" Hill asked.
Thor perked up at the mention of the artifact as well as the rest of the Avengers.
"What do you mean?" He asked Fury who started to look uncomfortable. "How is this MUTO and the Tesseract be connected at all?"
Fury and the other two grimaced as they were hoping in vain that the Asgardian wouldn't find out that a few weeks ago Monarch requested for the powerful artifact to be used temporarily, possibly for the MUTO and he has yet to respond whether or not he for the Asgardian to question him again.
Looking at the SHIELD director's face, Thor is already forming multiple conclusions in his head. "You-You're…actually going to use the Tesseract for this MUTO?" He said incredulously. "I know this has not happened yet, but I still have to warn you Nick Fury that any direct attempt to siphon the energies from the Tesseract is beyond dangerous and reckless, you can lure Loki who will eventually track down it's location!" He said feeling betrayed that SHIELD will eventually have the Tesseract to be used again and not guarded as promised.
Nick only raised his hands to declare any resolution about the cube's status.
"For now neither SHEILD nor I have broken our agreement to you about guarding the Tesseract Thor." He spoke calmly which only eased the demigod slightly but still tense.
"It might be," Coulson said.
"The Tesseract?" Vivienne asked.
"I assume you're both familiar with it," Fury said. The two nodded.
"I thought that the Avenger Thor had taken it with him back to his home realm," Vivienne said.
"He did," Fury said. "And then brought it back. Thor believes that his father Odin's council has been infiltrated."
"By Loki?" Vivienne asked.
"Might be," Fury said.
"He stole the Tesseract and handed it over to us here at SHIELD," Coulson continued. "We told him we'd take good care of it until this mystery was solved. This MUTO needs to consume a lot of radiation and energy in order to stay alive. Our facilities aren't well equipped enough to compensate for its needs. So I poured as much of our available resources as I could into building a device that would use the Tesseract as a power source. Instant problem solver. However, the Tesseract began having random high energy spikes, and this has gotten our MUTO talking." Fury pulled up a holographic representation of the seismic signal the MUTO made. It was the same pattern over and over. "The MUTO will periodically act up from time to time. It's always the same signal."
"It's a pattern," Serizawa said, noticing the signal shape and the intervals it occurred. "I cannot say for the certain that the MUTO and the Tesseract are connected. I will need to proceed with my research before I can accurately say."
"Any ideas what those signals mean?" Fury called out to Tony and Bruce in wonder the strange seismic signals that the MUTO was emitting.
Tony and Bruce only shrugged since neither of them were experts of Seismology.
Seeing neither of them had any clue, Nick sat back into his seat again with a huff.
"It may be a while before you can analyze the Tesseract," Coulson said. "Although it does provide a clean, cheap, and renewable energy resource, the device to maintain and limit its power outputs gets worn down quick. It'll need to be replaced before it will be safe to study."
"How long?" Vivienne asked.
"About a week," Coulson said.
Tony Stark sat at his desk-
"Yea! See that everybody? That is a very handsome man sitting behind that desk-OW!"
"Sorry, please ignore Narcissus over here…" Pepper said as Tony gingerly rubbed his bruising bicep.
-his head lying back on his chair. All the information he had pulled up on Janjira was starting to rehash itself. He was close to calling it a night but was determined to get one more clue before hitting it. And then he saw it.
An article about Monarch's research into genetic mutations caused by nuclear radiation and their instability. The three names of the scientists involved were ones Stark was very familiar with. Doctor Ishiro Serizawa was Monarch's head researcher and an absolute genius. He seemed a bit of an odd choice for Monarch, considering that his field of specialty was paleontology. Doctor Vivienne Graham was Serizawa's assistant and was one of the most prominent female scientific figures of the modern times. But the name that was the most noticeable was that of his friend, Bruce Banner.
"Hmm," he said to himself.
"An idea, sir?" JARVIS asked.
"Call up Bruce, will you?" he asked.
"Me?" Bruce said with surprise marring his face until he realized Tony must have decided to ask him about Monarch.
He rubbed his neck wondering how they would react that he was there for awhile…
…and allowed himself to be experimented on in a desperate attempt for a cure…
"Certainly, sir," the AI replied. A dial tone rang out for a minute before a voice spoke.
"Stark?" a voice asked.
"Hey, buddy," Tony said. "Sorry if it's a little late."
"No, it's fine," Bruce said. "Didn't expect to hear from you, honestly. Something up?"
"Actually, yeah," Tony said. "I'm doing some independent research, and I came across a study you did with Monarch."
"Oh, that thing?" Bruce asked. "What's so special about that?"
"Well, what exactly did they do?"
"They studied the genetic changes and radiation putout that occurs when I become…. well, you know. Big, mean, and green."
"Oh, so you'll Hulk out for them but not for me when somebody parks in my spot," Tony said.
Pepper looked disapprovingly at her boyfriend. "Really Tony?"
"What? That's what's friends are for Pepper."
"Gee, glad to hear that too Tony, now you're really close to making me angry…"
Bruce's attention was shifted from a bickering Tony to a concerned Natasha who was tapping his shoulder.
"They didn't do anything…suspicious to you did they Bruce?" She asked with genuine worry in her voice.
"Sorry for being blunt like this but even if they are an organization dedicated to protect the environment, there could've been a chance for them to drug you and taken you prisoner for experiments." She finished with her mind flooding with dark images of a terrified Bruce shackled and forced to hulk out against his will while faceless doctors and scientists look on with greedy fascination.
Bruce just shook his head to deject her claims.
"I thought so too but they didn't seem that fascinated about my…condition because during my time in Monarch lab because they always seemed to be interested in something else and when they were done they let me go without a fuss." He admitted. "I could always hear Graham and Serizawa whispering but it would always rarely be about me and I obviously didn't want to bother whatever they had their eyes on so I left."
"Really, something even bigger than you?" Tony said sarcastically but his eyes were wide that any organization would pass over the idea of containing the scientific marvel inside Hulk of all things.
"It has to be the "MUTO." Steve said as his suspicion for the supposedly harmless organization grew.
"Without a doubt since it all makes sense to me now." Bruce nodded in agreement.
"That was for science," Bruce said.
"We could've done something scientific with that car."
"Why are you so interested in Monarch?" Bruce asked. "They don't exactly seem like your style."
"Well, Natasha came by the office today and told me SHIELD had her doing a mission for them."
"Really?" Bruce asked. "That doesn't seem like their style either."
"Not unless they can get something out of it," Tony said.
"What are you getting at?"
"You remember that big earthquake that hit Janjira back in '99, right?" Tony asked.
"Yeah…I remember" Bruce slumped sadly against his seat.
"Oooh, How bad was it?" Steve asked worriedly since the disaster happened during his icy, sleeping beauty days so he hoped the casualty count wasn't too bad.
"Yeah," Bruce replied. "They evacuated the whole city and quarantined it because of all the fallout."
"Oh I guess that's good then."
Bruce shook his head joylessly. "Well no, I-I mean not without a few dozen casualties, I heard there was a breach of nuclear contamination after the quake so they were forced to engage emergency locks to prevent any from escaping any further…" He sighed.
"There were lot of workers who worked at plant were sacrificed because they couldn't escape in time…must've been a tough call."
"They saved as much as they could…" Steve said sadly as he lamented for the victims who were failed to be evacuated from the disaster.
"Well, Monarch has been stationed there for years, and they haven't produced any sort of research findings," Tony said. "No environmental studies. No cleanup progress. Nothing." Bruce was silent for a minute.
"That's definitely odd," he said. "But what are you saying?"
"I think Monarch is hiding something, and SHIELD is in on it," he said.
"Yeah a giant prehistoric glowing, living ROCK from Earth which we don't know what it can do yet."
"Thanks Tony…glad to hear something we already know…"
"Well what can I say; I'm a helpful people person Coulson."
"Okay, now you sound like one of those conspiracy nuts, Tony. Next you're gonna tell me you have newspaper clipping all over your wall." Tony slowly glanced over at the wall with all the articles pinned on it.
"Give me some credit, Bruce," he said. "Well, fine, then. Guess I'm the tinfoil hat guy, huh?"
"Well, I will admit that your evidence is hard to ignore. You ever consider just contacting Nick Fury?"
"Bruce, you're a man of science, and you know good and well that was a stupid question to ask," Tony said.
"I'm being facetious, Tony," he said with a laugh. "But I'll tell you what. If it'll make you feel better, I'll do some research of my own. That work?"
"Not sure that you'll find anything that I haven't, but give it a try," Tony said. "Send me anything unusual that you find."
"You mean besides a guy in a robot suit that hangs out with a viking?" Bruce asked.
"Or a man who can turn into a muscular, jolly green giant with anger issues?"
"Oh ha-ha, very funny Tin-man, you know that snarky comeback of yours is going to make me mad…"
"Good night, Bruce." The phone clicked, and silence filled the room once more. Tony continued to scan over all that he had gathered before JARVIS interrupted him once more.
"Sir, I found something that may be of interest to you," he said.
"Let's have it," Tony replied. A picture of a middle aged man with a square head was projected in front of him. Pictures of the Janjira ruins appeared beside him.
"This man is Joseph Brody," JARVIS stated. "Member of the Rising Tide. He is a registered physicist that had been employed at the Janjira Power Plan in 1999 when it collapsed. His wife, Sandra Brody, was a casualty of the accident. He has a son, Ford Brody. A lieutenant and EOD Technician in the United States Navy. Married to Elle Brody, registered nurse at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital. One son. Sam Brody."
"JARVIS, focus," Tony pleaded.
"Joe Brody was arrested by Japanese police yesterday for attempting to break into the quarantine zone." Tony stared deeply at the picture of Joe Brody.
"Oh that poor man" Jane as well as Pepper whispered while they leaned on Thor's/Tony's shoulders respectively as they remembered the victims Bruce was talking about earlier. "He must be searching for his wife's body within those quarantine zones…"
"Well, that IS interesting," he said. He rose from his chair and went for his suit. "Is he still in custody?"
"Correct, sir," JARVIS said.
"Looks like visiting hours are now, JARVIS," Tony said. "Pay his bail and have his kept until I arrive."
"Going to get hands on, sir?"
"You betcha," he said with a smirk.
Everybody looked at Tony incredulously about his generous offer to pay bail for a man he never met before. Even the billionaire himself seemed surprised that he would be so big hearted for helping a man after hearing his sad story.
"Wow, I have to admit that was quite nice of you to do that for a man..." Clint said but obviously not finished. "But if i had to guess, you're only doing it because you think he knows something, not because of you feel bad for him."
Tony snapped out of his stupor as he registered what Barton said and rubbed his neck nervously.
"Y-ea-" He started to say until the image of his mother floated in his mind. "-NO" He said with such resolve that took everyone by surprise. "...While the information he might have is a bonus, I still would've bailed him out because I REALLY do feel bad for the guy, not only he lost the woman he loved...that and his kid had to grow up without his mother...he was forced to raise his kid alone..." He admitted, his eyes misted as he reminiscences about his own mother, Maria Stark.
He slightly jumped as a slender hand touched his shoulder and looked upon an awed and teary eyed Pepper.
"You might not have done it yet, but thank you for being such a sweet man." She whispered as she kisses his bearded cheek.
Tony gave her a slightly watery grin as the "movie" went on.
The door rattled open, and Joe led Tony inside. Joe's house looked like every cliched obsessed conspiracy theorist's house was. Magazine and graph clippings pinned onto the wall. Piles of books stacked in the corner. Garbage bags and dirty dishes littering the room.
Seeing this made Pepper, Jane, Hill and even Natasha cringe seeing all those garbage bags occupying more or less than half the room itself. Everyone including Clint with his amazing eyesight didn't even have to squint to see the few multiple trails of ants crawling from windows and other excesses from the outside to feed off of Joe Brody's trash.
"All that…" Bruce uttered sadly as he looked around every belongings of Brody's house. "Look at him, the poor guy…then look at his house and belongings…the way it's placed, how un-hygienic he let it be as well as himself…this is definitely all the traits of a person who is so consumed by grief to the point he doesn't even take care of himself anymore..."
Everybody sat in sad silence for the man as they watch him interact with Tony.
"Please excuse the mess, Mr. Stark," he said. "I wasn't expecting company." Tony merely chuckled.
"Hey, I've lived like this before," he said. "Not a big surprise."
"Please," Joe said. "Make yourself at home." Tony took a seat on the couch. Joe pulled up a chair and sat down, looking at the billionaire with uncertainty. "Mr. Stark, I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," Tony said. "You're not in the loop." Joe looked bewildered.
"Loop?" he asked. "What loop? I'm just a physicist. Or I was."
"Was," Tony said. "That's the key word."
"What do you mean?"
"This isn't the first time this has happened," Tony said. Joe didn't respond. "You've been arrested before. For-"
"Breaking into the quarantine zone," Joe said flatly and then sighed. He looked down at the dusty floor in silence. "Does my son know?"
"No," Tony said. "I had this kept a secret."
"Thank God," Joe said with relief. The last thing he wanted was to disappoint his son again. "But why, though? What about me has gotten the interest of the Avengers?"
Everybody wondered why Joe was relieved about not having his son know about his whereabouts but if they had to guess from his profile, the man wanted to avoid embarrassing his only son and in-laws if they found out about his law breaking activities.
"Not the Avengers," Tony said. "Just me. I'm doing a little private investigation."
"Into what?"
"Janjira." Joe stared at Tony in silence, unsure of what to make of him.
"...Why?"
"A man on the inside told me that SHIELD's involved," he said.
"Man on the inside?"
Tony just shrugged. "Maybe I wanted to keep your identity a secret, you know, he doesn't have to know you're a female which can keep you out of trouble I guess."
Natasha closed her mouth and nodded at his direction with approval and gratitude.
"The agent codenamed "Black Widow" told me about something called "MUTO".
"Tony…"
"Uh yeaaa, I should've known I would've blurted out your codename at least once, but hey, at least I'm not using you're real name Natasha Romanoff."
She shook her head irritably. "Still…I should've known that I thanked you too soon…especially you and your history of loose lips."
"…Now, Black Widow isn't the type of lady to stumble in the dark. She came to me for answers, hoping I'd find something. I think I might have. You."
"Me?" Joe asked.
"I wanted to ask you about what happened that day," Tony said. "Nobody else has any clue, and any attempts to reach out to Monarch for info get me nothing. Same for SHIELD. You're my best bet."
"This MUTO," Joe said. "Could it be a superweapon?"
"Let's hope not," Tony said somberly. "What happened that day?" Joe sighed.
"It was my birthday," he started. "My wife and I, Sandra, had gone to work. There were seismic anomalies emanating from beneath. I sent her down to investigate them. To see if the plant is damaged. There was a hull breach. To prevent contamination, I had to activate the emergency lock. Her team... didn't make it."
"Oh god." Jane and Pepper said as breathed heavily after hearing Joe's broken voice. One thing to hear about a man talking about his tragedies but it was a whole other world when watching it and they are all seeing it right now as Joe's face says it all.
Tony placed his hand gently on Joe's shoulder.
"I'm sorry to make you relive that," he said calmly. "But it's important that I know everything if I'm to find the truth."
"The truth," Joe repeated. "You don't believe them either, do you?"
"Never accept the official story," Tony said. "Especially when SHIELD's involved."
"You don't think I'm crazy," Joe said.
"Not at all." Joe let out a heavy sigh, like a weight had been lifted off of his back. "What else do you know?" Joe quickly rose from his chair and gathered papers from his desk. They were graph readouts of some kind. He plopped a book on echolocation down beside them.
"Echolocation," he said, looking down at the book.
"Yeah," Tony said. "Bats and whales and stuff." Joe pointed at the fluctuations on the paper.
"These," he said, pointing at them. "Communication. These match the exact same ones from fifteen years ago. Something's talking. Calling out. And I've got it here!"
"So... you think some sort of animal is calling out," Tony said. "And it caused the Janjira plant collapse all those years ago."
After hearing this, Fury and the others couldn't help but to feel their face whiten with a bit of fear. Now that not only there's a possibility the MUTO is truly more than some kind of living organism but the last time it was active, it somehow been able to produce some kind of energy of seismic activity strong enough to the point where it can collapse an entire nuclear plant!
Nick rubbed his hand against his face as he realized right now the MUTO is still located smack dab in the middle of Janjira ruins and there is a chance it can cause of another magnitude of destructive seismic levels to decimate the entire base built along with hundreds of both Monarch workers and SHIELD agents assigned there!
Fury groaned at the thought while Steve quickly rose from his seat to address himself to the SHIELD director.
"Fury you got to warn them now, this MUTO is going to act up soon and it's not going to be safe for anyone on that island anymore!"
Tony also stood up after Steve's claims. "I agree with Rogers, (wow I can't believe I said that, that was such a bad taste in my mouth) we got to evacuate everyone until that thing could cause another quake just like before!"
"What do you think I'm doing while you all were sitting there with your mouths open- damn it…" He said as he showed everyone his cell phone that clearly says no signal. "…Should've known I wouldn't get a signal since we're all light-years away from Earth and the bad news is that until this prophecy ball is finished, we're all stuck here."
He sighed as he pocketed his phone and slumped back into his seat. "But the good news is that this all seems to take place possibly months from now and the Tesseract is still being watched within SHIELDs HQ, which means we all still have more than plenty of time to plan a mass evacuation in case the MUTO starts another round of earthquake mayhem."
But despite feeling relieved that the possible disaster won't occur so soon, everyone felt like something was missing from the conversation…
Thor's face was distorted as if he was wrapped in a rather deep thought.
"Does anyone think that the MUTO itself…is talking?" He said and every head in the room whipped at his direction.
Bruce smacked his head. "How can I not think of that before!?" He exclaimed to himself. "If that thing is talking, that means…there's another-"
"Yes…there's another MUTO…" Nick finished for him and everyone started to get cold sweats of the revelation.
Tony blew out a breath of how air as he massaged his forehead. "That's the only explanation, the damn thing is communicating another one just like it buried somewhere around the world and it is literally shaking the Earth to talk..."
Fury and Hill looked at each other with worry. They instantly thought about the second and even larger one being secured in Yucca Mountain. A mountain chock full of nuclear waste.
…Undisturbed…
…Yet incredibly disastrous if it produce seismic activities….
Fury clutched his fist as it itches to make a phone call to the U.S army.
'If that thing makes an Earthquake…I can't imagine the damage pouring from all those radioactive waste bring stored in there…'
"I'm not saying that exactly, but it's not far off..." Tony began to have second thoughts on this.
"Well," he said, rising to his feet. "Thank you, Mr. Brody, but it's time I continue my investigation."
"Wait! No!" Joe said, grabbing Tony's arm. "Don't leave! You've gotta believe me!"
"I didn't say I didn't," Tony said.
"You think I'm crazy," Joe said. "I'm NOT crazy."
"I believe you," Tony said with the utmost sincerity. "But I need more to go off of than what you have." Joe let go of Tony's arm and scratched his head. "The tapes!"
"Tapes?"
"Yes!" Joe said. "Tapes! Dozens of them. At my house in the quarantine zone!"
"Is that what you broke in to get?" Tony asked.
"Exactly. If I can get them, then-"
"Mr. Brody," Tony said, placing his hands on Joe's shoulders. "I need you to calm down. And listen. Listen carefully." Joe nodded. "Let me handle this. Don't go after those tapes."
"I-I can't do that," Joe said, shaking him off. "My wife is still in those ruins. I need to-I can't let this go."
Jane and Pepper could help but to cry after hearing Brody's grieving voice. Everyone couldn't help but it as they felt their emotional heartstrings tugging out for the poor man's desperate actions for closure.
"You have to," Tony pleaded.
"No, I can't! I just-"
"Listen to me, goddammit!" Tony shouted, shaking Joe violently. Joe's breathing got silent. "I'm Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and superhero. You're Joe Brody. A former physicist. You've got nothing. I've got money, power, and technology."
"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed angrily at his future self for ruthlessly bragging his accomplishments over Brody. "He lost his wife for God sakes, no need to shove your wealth and power all over his face!"
"Look, I'm your best friend an all, but dude…that man is grieving, no need to brag about facts of your money, ego and walking tin man creations." Said Rhodey who was shaking his head at his best friend's insensitive moment of self-pride.
Tony felt stiffly dampened and mildly hurt as looked around the few angry faces before defending himself.
"Woah hey hey hey, before you all get angry this…-" He pointed at the screen. "-is future me, and not present me right now and you all know that I'm not that type of man you all see up there-" He paused for a few seconds.
"-Well, ok I was like that before, 'WAS'" He stressed out. "Besides, maybe I got something nice to say after so don't judge me in one little scene ka'pesh!?" He said as he heatedly slumped deep into his seat secretly hoping that his future self won't act like an asshole.
'Oh God please don't act like an asshole, please please please.'
"What are you saying?" Joe asked.
"I'm saying you can't get in too deep," Tony said. "I can't protect you from this happening every time. If you try this again, they might not let you go. Especially when SHIELD's involved and if you've found something. They can't touch me, but they can erase you. They've done it before." Joe looked down at his boots, defeated.
"I'm trying to protect you. You deserve the truth, but let me investigate and find this out. This is what I do. I'm an Avenger. I'm not SHIELD. I'm not gonna cover this up. I'm not that guy anymore." Joe nodded slowly, coming to terms with what Tony said. Tony reached into his coat pocket and removed an envelope.
"Here's some money. Enough to keep you set for a long time. Go home. To your family. Your son and grandson. Your daughter in law." Joe looked at him with surprise. "I looked them up. Nice people. You deserve to be a part of their lives. I never had that opportunity with my father. Don't lose this. Let this go, and let me handle it." Tony shook his hand and left Joe to his thoughts. The shaken old man stared at the envelope in his hand, completely unaware that Tony had left. There was enough money to buy a plane ticket to San Francisco. To buy a house. He had a chance to make things right.
"Wow, t-that's…really deep of you Tony…"
"Congrats man, my respect for you just raised a little."
"Aw, that's so sweet, never knew you had such a big heart until seeing it with my own eyes."
"Nice to see you play well with others Stark."
"Never doubted you for even a second Tony." Rhodey said clapping him softly on the back quite enthusiastically as if he forgotten he was against him earlier and calling him a 'Tin Man'. "There's a reason why I'm proud to have to as my best friend." Tony just rolled his eyes.
"Riiiight Rhodey…you're just saying that so I won't take War Machine from you…"
"Oh Tony…" Pepper laid her head on his shoulder while looking at his eyes with her apologetic ones. "You know seeing you do that for a man just turns me on Tony…Listen I'm sorry of accusing you earlier." She said kissing his cheek, jaw and down to his neck made him squirm in delight
"Ok, Ok, apologies accepted everyone; now let's continue on what's happening right now shall we?"
-Omake-
"Oh Tony…" Pepper laid her head on his shoulder while looking at his eyes with her apologetic ones. "You know seeing you do that for a man just turns me on Tony…Listen I'm sorry of accusing you earlier." She said kissing his cheek, jaw and down to his neck made him squirm in delight before stoning his facial features, although he was having trouble keeping his face from breaking into a grin.
"Apologies not accepted." Taken back she snap her head back to look at his amused sullen face with mild shock in her eyes.
Tony sighed in a exaggerated manner
.
"I mean if you REALLY want me to forgive you…than I want a cheeseburger after this, American." He said, counting a mental list in his head.
"…with you dressed in a cute bunny costume giving it to me, is that alright with you?" He finished with a lecherous grin, one that she knows far too well.
"…" Was all she said and for a moment Tony thought she was going slap him until she sultrily moved close to his neck again and whispered into his ear.
"The one you gave me for my last birthday?" She said with a frown and Tony nodded, a little afraid of what she might say next but instead she grinned as whispered into his ear again.
"The one I wore in college is still in my closet somewhere…and unlike the one you got for me, this has…"
Thankfully nobody else heard what Pepper Potts whispered except "…have…this…that…" because whatever she said has shocked even Tony before he instantly grabbed her face to his and the two began making out furiously.
"JUST GET A ROOM YOU TWO!"
-Author Notes-
There it is, the official chapter three for the story so please read and hopefully enjoy.
P.S, I revised chapter 2 a little because I realized Jane Foster (in the story) is a fan of Vivienne Graham so I added of bit of her reaction during Monarch introduction.
Also please, PLEASE review and give me any feedback on anything I gotten wrong.
Have a good day/night!