Chapter Three: Boiling Point

Abandoned Safe House (Undisclosed Location)

Tony and Roman sat across from each other on a large oval table, they were staring at several holograms in the center of the table. The holograms displayed information on Ulysses and several events since his appearance. Among the holograms, there were also several graphs and data curves. The frustration was apparent in Roman's face. He took a deep breath, while grabbing the bridge of his nose.

"This is a very bad idea. You basically want to go poke the dragon in the face… Who am I kidding? Nothing is gonna stop you, might as well just make sure the data is air tight."

Tony gave an impressed nod, he enjoyed watching Roman state a problem and realizing the results all within the same sentence. Then he returned his attention to the holograms.

"Don't worry about it kid, worst case scenario here is that I end up having to repair a couple holes in the roof. You can even wear that new shield belt of yours if it makes you feel safer."

"Wear it? I haven't taken it off since you told me about this meeting idea."

Tony gave a light chuckled, he found Roman's anxiety amusing. Roman may have grown accustomed to working with Tony, but he preferred staying in the background rather than being involved with the rest of the superhuman community.

"Okay Mr. Stark, I think this data is as air tight as it's gonna get. What now?"

"Well Roman, now we wait for the rest of the people to arrive. I want you to have copy of the data ready for Hank, he's obviously going to check it himself. Other than that, you can sit quietly and answer anything they ask you. Try not to stuttered when they ask your name. I'll handle the rest"

"O-Okay Mr. Stark."

Several minutes later T'Challa, Steve Roger, Queen Medusa, Stephen Strange, Black Bolt and Hank Mccoy entered the room with ominous looks. Steve was the first to approach Tony.

"Nice to see you Tony."

"Nice to see you too, Cap. I thought Carol was going to arrive with you?"

"Seems she's running a bit late…"

Not too long after, Carol stepped through the door. Her face reflected a combination of anger and annoyance. She knew what Tony wanted to talk about and she wanted none of it. Her eyes scanned the room; recognizing all but one of the faces, it was Roman's. Carol quickly moved towards Roman and dryly asked:

"Who are you?"

Tony did not allow Roman to respond, he intervened turning everyone's attention towards him.

"That's Roman, he's my… what's your official title again?"

"I-I'm your technical research assistant."

"Right! Well you heard him, he helps me with research."

Carol crossed her arms, she clearly disapproved of him being there.

"And what is he doing here?"

"Well Carol, for any results to be scientifically valid they need to be verified by peers and Roman is my peer; my anxiety riddled, millennial peer."

As Tony said this he stepped over towards Roman and put his arm around his neck. Roman was a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting. Carol's eyes were almost trying to pierce through him. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, Steve broke the silence by approaching Roman and shaking his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Roman. You must be very smart for Tony to give such praise. I welcome whatever input you may have to offer."

"Thank you sir and the pleasure is all mine."

Carol took a deep breath, loosened her posture a bit and began walking towards a nearby counter to leaned on it.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

Everybody else went for a chair, except for Tony, they all took seats. Meanwhile, Roman quickly handed Hank a tablet with the copy of the data they had analyzed.

"Doctor Mccoy, this is a copy of the data Mr. Stark and I worked on for your personal review."

"Thank you, I will look at it immediately"

Hank gave a sympathetic smile, then Roman went to his chair. Tony then began explaining the findings on Ulysses' power and the severe complexity upon which they operate; not to mention, the dangers of their use. The entire room remained quiet, attentively listening to his words. As his explanation went on, Tony seem more heavy hearted and emotional. The wounds from losing Rhodey and Banner were still fresh and the implications to Ulysses' power were so immense.

'So there it is… You tell me… You tell me I'm crazy. You tell me I'm wrong. You tell me and I'll swear I'll give up. If you tell me to stop… I will. Because I've finally learned, after all these years… I'm going to listen to Steve Rogers."

His eyes met Steve's and a solemn silence took over the room. Steve crossed his hand and began pondering.

"Tony, are you absolutely one hundred percent sure about all of this?"

"Would I call us together like this if I wasn't? Do you think I want to be in a room with 'Big Hair' after what her people did to my life? But, and here's the thing Steve, the last time there was such a strong moral line between us… you and I… I don't want to do anything like that again. Not with you, not with her, not with anybody. But…"

At this moment Stephen Strange turned his head towards Carol and interjected.

"She's forcing your hand."

"The FACTS are forcing my hand!"

Tony exclaimed as he threw his arms in the air. Sensing the growing tension, Steve stood up and walked towards Carol.

"Carol?"

"I would like Doctor Mccoy to look at your new work on this, Stark."

Tony was irritated by Carol's response. He walked towards her and glared directly into her eyes.

"What will that do?"

"Make me trust it"

Before their conversation could continue, Hank interrupted Carol.

"I already have. It's… not wrong."

Both Tony and Roman felt a certain degree of satisfaction. For different reasons, of course, for Roman it was the satisfaction that another of the world's smartest minds agreed with his results and for Tony it was the satisfaction of somebody who opposes him came to the same conclusion he did. Tony, now validated by Hank, approached Carol with certainty and calmness.

"So… In front of all of us, knowing what you now know… Carol… What are you going to do?"

The attention of every person in the room now shifted towards Carol.

"What am I going to do? A person comes up to you and says: That a guy over there has a gun and he said that he's about to open fire. Do you go check it out or do you say to yourself: Well, I'll wait until he opens fire to see if the first guy was right?"

The discussion was clearly getting heated; Carol began rolling her eyes and Tony was getting irritated by her stubbornness. Roman was perplexed by Carol's unwillingness to yield to facts; he took a deep breath and began speaking to Carol.

"Eighty? Sixty? Forty?

"Forty what kid?"

"Ma'am, what would be the probability percentage need to be that's acceptable for you to act on these visions of the future? What if we told you there was only a ten percent chance the vision was right?"

"Are you asking me: what if there was only a ten percent chance Thanos was going to get his hands on the cosmic cube before we stopped him? That's more than enough for me."

Tony and Steve were surprised by her blunt statement. Steve just quietly stared while Tony decided to speak.

"Really? These visions are not what you thought they were and still?"

"And Rhodey would agree."

"Well I would ask him, but…"

"Okay I'm done. Tony Back off. I don't know how many other ways to say it. Captain…"

The Carol launched herself straight up, flying through the ceiling. The loud crashing noise startled everyone present. Pieces of rubble began piling on the floor underneath the hole Carol left. Tony put his hands on his hips and began admiring the hole then addressed Roman.

"I knew the probability of her doing that. Thanks for jumping in there Roman, not to be ungrateful but I really didn't think you had it in you to confront Carol."

"Yeah, well everyone could tell that things were going nowhere so I thought to myself: What would be the Tony Stark approach for this situation?"

Steve walked behind Roman and placed his hand on one of his shoulders, while warmly smiling.

"A lot of people consider the Tony Stark approach very hazardous for personal health. Not a lot of people would've confronted Carol that way; you are one brave soldier.

"Thank you, sir"

"Tony are you okay?"

Tony began scratching his head, trying to make sense of the entire situation.

Cap, am I nuts about this?"

"Not entirely."

"But it's not her call, right?"

Right at that moment Hank interjected into the conversation as he walked towards Steve and Tony.

"Is it yours? She's hurting over Rhodey, too, you know?"

Tony pondered on Hank's words, then he began walking towards the oval table to address the rest of the group present. He placed his hands on the table and began speaking with a solemn tone.

"After what happened to Banner? I'm going to have to go public with this. I'm going to have to let people know what she is up to and what this is."

Queen Medusa began thinking of the ramifications of Tony's actions. She leaned forward and addressed Tony.

"You 'Have' to…"

Triskelion (One day later)

After clearing her head from her heated encounter with Tony Stark, Carol felt anxious to get back to the work protecting people. Her first priority was determining what was the creature inside the meteor? And Where did it come from? Something about the creature bothered her, more than the usual alien in a meteor would normally do. But it took some time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to move all the fragments and the creature and set them up properly in the Triskelion for study.

But after several days, Carol received the call that the, for lack of a better term, autopsy of the creature was begin. Finally, Carol would get her answers. She diligently walked towards the lab located near the Wakandan embassy. As she entered the observation area; Carol noticed the only three people present were the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Maria Hill, T'Challa and Philippe Beaulieu the Canadian government representative for the Alpha Flight program. Carol expected the formers, but she was surprised by the latter.

"Mister Beaulieu, I didn't know you were on campus."

"Oh Captain Marvel, nice to see you again. Yes, well I was interested in seeing the creature in person after I read the reports. It's quite impressive isn't? All the energy it took and it's completely undamaged."

"It's something alright. Director Hill, are they all ready in there?"

Carol walked up to Maria and T'Challa who were standing by a glass wall overlooking the room where two individuals covered in hazmat suits, surrounded by monitors and tools walked around the creature's body. Maria nodded to respond to Carol's question then proceeded to talk to the people in the room.

"Doctor Simmons you may begin the autopsy."

"Yes Director Hill. Prince T'Challa, let me thank you again for supplying us with the high frequency vibranium cutter."

It was a female voice that responded to Maria; then they began moving a machine with a large segmented arm that ended in a dark metallic blade. The doctor and, what looked to be, her assistant placed the blade in the middle of the creature's sternum. Meanwhile, Carol turned to T'Challa with intrigued.

"Why did they need you to supply them with equipment?"

"Every other tool utilized failed to penetrate the fragments from the meteor even energy cutters failed, it seems to absorb energy like a sponge, and the creature's skin seems to be made of the same material…"

"That would explain why we blasted that thing with enough energy to wipeout a city and it barely flinched."

"Exactly Captain. Therefore, I supplied Doctor Simmons with a high frequency vibranium cutter created by my people. It proved successful in cutting shards of the meteor, so it should work on the creature."

As Carol and T'Challa finished talking, the Doctor fired up the vibranium cutter. Doctor Simmons began looking at a monitor that showed a readout of the creature's body.

"Commencing initial incision of subject's sternum. Initial readouts show the vibranuim cutter is working within normal parameters. Increasing blade frequency."

As the blade sank cutting bits of the sternum, cracks began spreading from the cutting area. It was not a minute after the cutting began that the cracks spread throughout the whole creature and, before anyone could react, a pulse of energy exploded from the creature. The energy pulse traveled through the floor and across the walls end culminated in the ceiling.

As it traveled, it fired any electrical equipment it touched. Then the creature's crystalline skin burst and evaporated. No longer did it have four arms, only two, it segmented tail vanished. After it all vanished, what was left was a human.

A man, he laid there, with long black hair and a beard that made him look like a man who had not seen a barber in years. His body, on the other hand, looked like the years he spent away from the barber were spent training and exercising. The man's body was covered in strange small, symmetrical lines; they gave the impression of union marks as if the skin would have been artificially joined at those marks.

Everybody was in shock by what happened. They were trying to process the events that unfolded. Carol leaned on the glass, as she looked at the man's face the familiar feeling from before returned.

"JACK! That's Jack."

Carol recognized the man as a fallen avenger. She turned to T'Challa looking her face reflected disbelief. T'Challa took a closer look to confirm Carol's statement.

"I believe you are right, Captain."

"Yeah, it's a little hard to tell with the beard and the hair but it's him."

At this point Maria interjected into the conversation. She needed clarification on a very important question.

"Didn't Jack Creswell die during the dark energy singularity contingency four years ago?"

"I saw him sacrifice himself to keep the Void away with my own eyes."

"And you are sure that the man on the slab is him? The same man who less than a minute ago we thought was an alien creature that fell in a meteor?"

"I'm positive."

"What is it with you people? Can any of you actually stay dead? If it isn't that one of you heroes is coming back from the grave, it's a criminal that's doing it; either that or the helicarrier is getting shot down."

Then she turned away from Carol and towards the glass and tapped on it to get Doctor Simmons attention.

"Doctor, are you and your assistant okay?"

"Yes. We were just startled. Although, the pulse fried all the equipment. I have to say ma'am; I did not expect that to happen…"

As Doctor Simmons spoke, the marks on Jack's body began pulsating crimson. The flow of crimson emanated from his chest outwards. The pulses were quickening until all the marks were lit crimson. T'Challa was the first one to notice and he swiftly called attention to it.

"I believe there might be another pulse about to happen Doctor."

As T'Challa spoke, another energy pulse launched from Jack's body. This pulse was much stronger than the first, this one busted through the glass wall and continued its way across the entire Triskelion.

Menawhile at The Ultimates resting area, the younger members of the team were leisurely relaxing. Eldritch sat in a corner reading a book. America stood by a counter next to a skinny, pale young man with light auburn hair as they watch TV. The young man grabbed a rag of the counter then playfully threw it at Eldritch.

"Hey little-bro are you gonna keep reading or are you gonna go to the movies with Ame and me?"

"I'm good Drake. I'm just gonna stay here and keep reading my book; you two have fun."

America directed her attention to Eldritch and addressed him.

"Are you still mad that I tapped you on the head a few days ago?"

"No Ame, I'm pissed that you bitch-slapped across a rooftop."

"Come on, it worked, didn't it? You saved everybody from…"

America was interrupted by the energy pulse barreling through the room and shutting off the the room. The trio looked at each other, but Drake was the first to react.

"What the hell was that!?"

Back at the lab, everyone had been knocked to the ground by the pulse. Philippe was the first one to react, he looked around and addressed the group.

"Is everyone alright?"

The first person to respond was Carol; she stood up, helped Philippe to his feet and then T'Challa.

"Yeah I think everybody is alright. Philippe, are you okay?"

"I'm alright Carol, thanks for asking."

Maria was both confused and irritated by what happened. She stood up while grabbing her head and questioned Doctor Simmons.

"What the hell was that!?"

Doctor Simmons was slow to her feet; she then helped her assistant up and then she took off her hazmat helmet. Once her helmet was off, her alabaster skin and brown hair were showing.

"Well, Director Hill, it seems the subject emitted another pulse of energy. This one was definitely bigger than the last one."

"No kidding… Any way we can tell when the next one might happen? And more importantly, any way to keep it contained?"

At this point in the conversation T'Challa interjected to bring forth a plan.

"Director Hill, I noticed that the markings on Jack's body pulsated crimson before the pulse was emitted; I believe this would be the key. As for how to keep the pulse contained, we'll need an isolation and containment chamber. Unfortunately, the Triskelion containment chamber is currently in use."

Carol was well aware why the chamber was unavailable; she felt disgust and anger at the pit of her stomach.

"Thanos…"

"Indeed Captain, we can have one here in a day; but we'll run the risk of another pulse hitting."

"No need T'Challa, there is another isolation chamber in the Alpha Flight station. We can take Jack there until we figure out what's going on. We'll need a transport pod."

Maria Hill jumped in the discussion, a thought had occurred to her and she felt that a certain course of action needed to be taken.

"This matter needs to be kept completely confidential. We have enough problems with Ulysses without adding this to the mix. Until this matter is resolved Jack Creswell's body is still considered remnants from the meteor. Are we clear?"

Everybody present agreed with Maria's assessment of the situation and followed her commands. Afterwards, they quickly placed Jack's body in a transport pod and relocated it to the containment chamber located in the Alpha Flight station.

The containment chamber was a room with a round, glass cell with a metallic base at the top and bottom. The top base had two giant wires coming from the top of the room; the bottom plate was in a steel strut that allowed access to the underneath of the containment chamber and at the center was Jack' transport pod kept floating above the floor.

The only two people near the chamber were T'Challa and Carol, they were standing next to each other as they looked at the floating pod.

"I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad one, T'Challa."

"Only time can tell, Captain. But, for now, we can say that an Avenger has returned."

Stark Tower

A couple of days have passed since the meeting; Tony took this time to let the rest of the superhuman community know about his findings. The first ones to joined his side were the X-men, well not all but a majority did, they already held a grudge with the Inhumans. The Avengers backed him once they saw the data, Captain America himself also joined Tony. Doctor Strange and several street level heroes also joined in.

"Hey Friday, are you sure this is all the data we could get from the Triskelion defenses?"

Tony was reviewing information regarding the Triskelion. He was in deep thought, after enough heroes rallied to his side he knew it was time to act.

"Well, Boss, this is as much data as we can get without getting in deep trouble."

"We are gonna get in big trouble anyway, so let's push the envelope. I want to make sure we cover all our bases before we go in there."

"You are the Boss. By the way, Steve Rogers is here to see you."

"Thanks Friday."

Tony quickly walked towards the elevator on his penthouse to welcome Steve. By the time he got to the door Steve was already stepping out of the elevator.

"Hey Tony."

"Hey Cap. You ready for this?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be. What's the plan?"

"I figured we just knocked on the front door. Loudly. No point in beating around the bush, we tried to avoid this. You know we did, I sure as hell didn't want it to come to this; not after the last time."

"I know, Tony. But some things are unavoidable. We can only do what we think is right."

"Yeah… well at least this time we are on the same side. Thank you for having my back Steve."

"Of course. Walk me through the plan again, but this time in detail."

Then Tony and Steve continue to work on their plans for the attack on the Triskelion. Hoping that they could change things before things got too bloody.

Triskelion

An emergency alarm blared as Carol, T'Challa and Maria diligently walked to the outside of the Triskelion. They were mobilizing personnel and heroes to engage Tony who, just moments before, fired the proverbial first shot by having the X-men Nightcrawler extract one of Carol's prisoners. Carol was livid with Tony and she began venting to T'Challa.

"I'm arresting Tony Stark."

"You'll need to find him first."

Whilst the two spoke, Maria was handling logistics from the holograms projected by her gauntlet. These holograms clued her to a detail that would solve the issue of locating Tony for Carol.

"Um… No, you won't."

"He's here?"

"Rooftop."

"Well, we were ready for this."

"Not for this."

Carol was surprised to hear Maria say she that they weren't prepared. This double her resolved to put an end to the situation quickly before things got too out of hand. Once the group reached the outside of the Triskelion, Carol took point to confront Tony. Then she saw it, the reason Maria said that they weren't prepared, Tony was not alone. He stood there fully armored and was flanked by a legion of heroes and superhumans.

"Tony you f ck! This is not happening!"

"Sure it is. I warned you. We all warned you. Over and over…"

"You're under arrest Tony Stark!"

"Good luck with that. When the public sees what you've been up to, Captain, you're going to have your hands…"

"What I've been up to!? You just broke into…"

"Meanwhile, I don't mean to tell you how to run your business, because you clearly thought you were ready for this. But, from where I'm standing, you're a little out-powered today. Do the math and stand down."

As the two of them spoke, Carol's forces rallied behind her. Her team consisted of The Ultimates, Alpha Flight and S.H.I.E.L.D. troops. A few X-men, most noticeable; Jean Grey, Magik and Storm. But Carol wasn't done, she still had one more Ace up her sleeve.

"Out-powered? Hardly."

Out of nowhere a space ship appeared and from it The Guardians of Galaxy came jumping out. The team's roster had upgraded over the years; this iteration was composed of Groot, Gamora, Drax, Star-Lord, Kitty Pride, Agent Venom, Angela, Ben Grimm and Rocket.

As they dropped in, Carol look Tony straight in the eye stated.

"I have friends all over the place."