CHAPTER FOUR
1003 hours
Landing Strip
Norway
Blonsky held the tracker Stark planted on him. It had been part of Zeke's plan, getting Stark to plant the tracker on him. Just being in proximity of the plane had deactivated it, thanks to the jamming field the plane gave off. Blonsky flipped it like a coin and stuffed it back in his pocket. He climbed the steps back into the plane and found Boomerang sitting in the nearest seat, wearing nothing but her undergarments.
She stood up and walked over to him, slipped her slender handsd into his pocket, and pulled the tracker out to see it herself. "You did just fine, Emil," she said, her voice taking on a seductive tone.
"Yes," Zeke said. Blonsky looked around for him, and suddenly, a hologram appeared in front of them. "You've done extremely well, as a matter of fact."
Blonsky gently pushed Boomerang away. "If I did so well, why is it you stopped me from killing Stark?"
Zeke smiled. "You were losing quite badly to Stark, Emil, I'm sorry to say." He held up his holo-hand and a smaller hologram appeared in it, of the fight between the Abomination and Stark's suit of armor. "He would have killed you if I hadn't told you to leave." He closed his hand and the smaller hologram disappeared. "Besides, I need Stark alive." He turned to Boomerang. "You have the Extremis?"
She nodded. "Of course. Stark thinks he destroyed it, but I switched the real vial with the fake while the incompetant agents were out of the room. It shouldn't take long to modify it for your purposes."
"Good," Zeke chuckled for a second, "then we can begin phase two. I want that tracker here, as soon as possible. Once it's here, we can truly begin."
"Begin what?" Blonsky asked.
Zeke smiled again. "Stealing stuff."
1014 hours
SHIELD Secure Laboratory
Norway
Fury's face on the screen looked about as angry as one could look. Tony didn't really care, because he didn't answer to Fury directly. He was sorry for Clint, though. "You mean to tell me that, not only did your little tracker fail, but that Australian woman got away with the only vial of Extremis that we had on that base?" Fury slammed his hands on his desk and stood up. "Do you have any idea how bad that is, Stark?"
"Really, really, really. But I want to know why you had a sample of Extremis in the first place. That stuff's just as dangerous as gamma and just as tough to deal with. Especially if a guy's got a whole army of Extremis-suckers coming after you."
Fury sighed. "I know. Just ask... never mind. Look, Stark, do you have any idea where Blonsky's going?"
"Nope. Not at all. The tracker cut out about a mile and a half away from the city. We don't know where he is, or even what their plan is. The only thing we know is that they have what they wanted from Norway."
Fury turned his head a little. "Agent Barton, what's your assessment?"
Clint stepped forward. "Director Fury, the woman was extremely impressive, Serum or not. She'd clearly studied Agent Romanoff's file. I personally trained Natasha some of the moves I saw the woman use on our agents. She's not someone to underestimate, and I recommend extreme caution to any more agents you send after her."
Fury leaned back in his seat. "All right. I want you two in Virginia, soon as possible. I've already set up a meeting between you and someone who's already chased down a gamma monster before. He should be able to help with the search for Blonsky." He tapped a button on the armrest of his chair. "Fury, out." And with that, the image disappeared.
Clint looked at Tony. "Someone with experience chasing gamma monsters?"
Tony wanted to punch something. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
1613 hours
Pentagon
Langley, Virginia
"Stark, if you're not out of my office in five seconds, I'll have you thrown out!" Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross shouted at them. Clint couldn't even understand why Ross was shouting at him, he'd never even met the man. "If Fury thinks he can get me to help him, after he forced me off of Banner, he's got the patch on the wrong eye, then."
Tony propped his feet up on Ross's desk. "So, you're saying we should see the scarred up hole instead of the eye?"
"I'm saying I want you and your friend here the hell out of my office."
Clint stepped forward. "Sir, Director Fury sent us here for anything you can give us on Captain Emil Blonsky. Including your help finding him."
"Blonsky? What does he have to do with this? Fury had him picked up and taken to Alaska, he's in cryostorage."
Tony laughed. "That what Fury told you? He was broken out early this morning by an Australian ninja babe and whoever the hell it is she's working for."
"And Fury thinks I can tell you where he is? I gave up on that abomination when he started tearing up Harlem and killed Samuel Sterns."
Clint managed to stifle a laugh. Sterns was in a cryotube at SHIELD HQ, under the codename Project Mr. Blue. Natasha had taken him in right after Blonsky wrecked his lab and quite a few New York city streets. Of course, Director Fury had taken great steps to make sure Ross didn't know that, it made quite a bit of sense for him to assume that Sterns was dead.
"Sir," Clint began, "Director Fury didn't send us here to ask, he sent us here to get whatever we could from you."
Ross stepped toward him. "Is that a threat, Agent Barton?" He smiled, chuckled a bit. "Thought I didn't know who you were? The reputation of the Avengers traveled pretty far after the Battle of New York. You, Stark, the Super Soldier, a god, and the Hulk. I spend five years chasing him down, then Fury goes behind my back to the World Security Council and gets them to pull my funding. All so that freak could save the world!" Ross took a drink from the glass Tony had poured himself. "My contributions to any gamma hunting are over. Tell Fury that."
Tony stood up. "That's okay, General." He looked down at the laptop on the desk. "Jarvis, everything downloaded?"
Suddenly, the very British voice of Tony's AI chimed in. "Yes, sir. Miss Potts is already receiving it at the Nevada facility."
"Pepp?"
Over the vid-link, Pepper said, "We've got the info, Tony."
"All right." Tony looked back at Ross. "That about covers everything."
"What are you talking about, Stark?" Ross asked.
Tony pointed at the laptop. "You just so happened to be carrying everything relating to Hulk catching on this one laptop. Guess that mandatory 'base uplink' thing that every other branch of the military enforces didn't apply to one mustachioed man with a grudged against a green guy, huh?" Tony walked past him and patted him on the back. "Nice workin' with you, General. See you on Groundhog Day."
Clint smiled and followed Tony out of the general's office, leaving Ross so angry he was almost turning red.
1650 hours
Stark Industries Iron Tech Lab
50 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada
Pepper Potts sipped at her coffee, mentally complaining for the eighth or nineth time that it wasn't hot enough. She regulated the heat in her hand and warmed it up again, but that didn't last all that long. She couldn't get it too hot, or she'd melt the cup. Just another thing to worry about, on top of being the managerial component to Stark Industries. She was just grateful that Tony was the public face, because she didn't like talking to people. Just another disadvantage of the Extremis serum coursing through her veins. She didn't want to literally blow up on someone at a press conference.
At Tony's insistance, Jarvis was running an HU1K armor, providing defense. The suit clomped around, usually sending a pen off the desk because of the vibrations. Once, it had caused her coffee to spill, but that had, luckily, been the sixth cup that hadn't been hot enough, she'd just gotten another. How Tony had ever stayed up so many days was beyond her, she could barely stay awake one full day.
"Miss Potts," Jarvis said, the HU1K standing before her, "the second sensor sweep in this half hour has produced the same results: the facility is totally secure."
Pepper took another sip. "Thank you, Jarvis. I hope Tony is overreacting about all of this."
"I do as well, ma'am."
As if on cue, the front door burst off its hinges and knocked the HU1K out. A large, humanoid monster walked into the facility, a woman with long brown hair and a man in a business suit behind it. The monster grabbed the HU1K's head and pulled it off, finding that no one was inside. "Damn it. I was hoping Stark would be inside."
"Please, Emil," the man said, patting the monster on the arm, "don't damage anything more." He walked up to Pepper. "The famous Pepper Potts, Tony's glorified secretary." He took her hand and kissed it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zeke. Ezekial, if you'd like." He waved his hand to the woman and the monster. "These are my friends, Emil Blonsky and Boomerang."
Pepper could feel her skin starting to heat up. "What do you want?"
He walked over to the Mark XII hanging on chains beside Pepper's desk. "Oh, I ordered something online earlier, came to pick it up." He snapped his fingers at Boomerang. "This one'll do. Grab one of the data drives as well."
Blonsky touched Pepper's chin with his oversized index finger. "You're quite beautiful. Did Stark buy you?" Pepper punched him, knocking him back several feet. There was a small burn mark on his right cheek, but he was otherwise unaffected. "Quite the fighter, aren't you?"
"Emil!" Zeke shouted, "Leave her alone. If Stark's to know where we're going, she needs to be alive. Besides, the Extremis in her bloodstream makes her more than capable of matching you in a fight." Zeke took her by the hand and led her away from Blonsky. "I'm sorry. He's a little eccentric. They don't make gamma-powered super soldiers like they used to, huh?" He smiled. "Tell me, how long until Tony gets here?"
Once again, almost on cue, an HU1K flew through the open door and knocked Blonsky down, right onto the other, damaged HU1K. Tony planted his foot on Blonsky's chest to keep him down. "You owe me a door, buddy."
Zeke laughed, then clapped his hands. "Tony Stark." He pressed the button on the side of the Mark XII that opened it. "It's been a few years since we met." He stepped into the Mark XII, then closed the armor up. "You probably don't even remember me, do you?"
Tony kept his foot on Blonsky, but moved forward an inch or two. "Please, I don't remember what I had for—nope, I used that line last time. Who are you, again?"
Pepper saw a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye, in the girders above them. She smiled.
1710 hours
Stark Industries Iron Tech Lab
50 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada
Clint kept his balance very well, thanks to Tony using very oversized girders and support beams. It was almost like walking on a catwalk, they were so large. The Abomination was under control, with Tony's foot keeping him down. The leader had put himself in one of Tony's extra suits. The woman was just standing there, almost like she was waiting for someone to give her an order. Clint drew a flash arrow and waited for Tony's call.
"I was maybe fifteen years old," the young man said, "trying to steal my father's spotlight away from, well, none other than you."
Tony asked, "I knew your father?"
"Knew him? You killed him, Tony. Three and a half years ago, in the Arc Reactor facility." The young man raised his hand and fired off a repulsor blast. The blast knocked Tony off of the Abomination, allowing the beast to stand up again. "How's that for a blast from the past, Tony?"
1714 hours
Stark Industries Iron Tech Lab
50 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada
The blast had hit him right in the Arc Reactor, sending the energy distribution system haywire. "Jarvis, work around, now!" Tony shouted, then keyed up the suit's speaker system. That 'blast from the past' had done its job well. "Ezekial, right?" He stood up. "Ezekial Stane."
If he could see inside the Mark XII, Zeke would probably be smiling. "Oh! You are good, Tony! No wonder my dad always thought of you as the son he never had."
"Is that was this is about? I killed your father, now you want revenge?"
"Revenge? Nah. I hated that son of a bitch, and I'm so very grateful you killed him that I'd shake your hand if I wasn't about to kill you." He turned to the Abomination. "Emil, please keep an eye on Mr. Stark, see to it that he doesn't pull any tricks out of that iron sleeve of his." Zeke walked closer to Tony. "No, I'm here because a few of my buyers have asked for a very... how do I say it... special, product." He turned to the woman. "You have the data drive?"
She held up the hard drive. "Right here, boss."
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse us, Tony, we have to go. If you want to find us, look through your databases. There's an old facility you haven't used in some time, and it's where Stane International has decided to set up shop."
Tony chuckled. "So, out in a flash, huh?" And with that, Clint loosed his flash arrow, blinding everyone but Tony and Stane. Tony pushed the Abomination out of his way and ran toward Stane, throwing a punch that knocked the kid flat on his back. "Get out of my suit, kid!"
Stane had to be smiling again. "Nope." Stane let out his chaffing flares, blinding Tony. The irony of it wasn't lost on him: three and half years ago, Tony had been in a similar situation with Obadiah Stane, and he'd fired off flares to get out of the older man's grip. Now, their places were reversed, with Tony in the larger suit and Stane in the smaller one. Tony stood up and backed away, waiting for his HUD to come back up.
Something grabbed him by the head. Abomination, Tony thought as he detatched the head. He ducked underneath the large swinging yellow-green arm of the Hulk-sized monster. "Now would be a good time for another arrow, Hawkeye!" Tony shouted upward. Suddenly, three arrows stuck themselves in the Abomination's back. Electricity coursed through Blonsky's body, causing him to shift back into his human form and knocking him unconscious.
Sadly, Stane wasn't just standing still. Once again, in a stunning reversal of Iron Man Vs. Iron Monger, Stane jumped onto Tony's back and ripped out the suit's targeting system, just as Tony had done to Obadiah Stan years before. Tony opened the helmet and fired off a repulsor blast at the Mark XII, but Stane had moved out of the way, and was ready to counter with a blast of his own, from the unibeam. The blast knocked off the midsection panel of the HU1K, exposing Tony's stomach. Stane then leapt up and brought his fist down on the left shoulder housing, knocking it clean off. A second punch tore off half of the chest armor, while a kick brought Tony to his knees and ripped off a piece of the right leg.
Stane pointed his hand repulsor at Tony's face. "I'd like to kill you now, but then you'll never see the genious piece of art that I'm going to make out of this suit. I'm not my father's revenge tool, Tony, but you did take away any and all chance I had at showing him I was his son. That's why you're going to die." He turned to his cohorts—the woman had, at some point, gone up to the rafters and grabbed Clint, Tony hadn't even noticed—and addressed them. "Blonsky, Boomerang! Leave these three, we're heading back to home base." He turned back to Tony. "See ya around, Tony. Remember where I said I worked." With that, he kicked Tony in the face, knocking him out immediately.