I just wanted to thank every single person who reviewed, followed or favorited. The response to this story has BLOWN me away into the winds of Antarctica! Sorry, that was dumb. :)
This will be my last update before school starts. My updates will definitely get slower, but that does not under any circumstances mean that I have abandoned this story.
Remember to review please! :) I'll miss you guys!
REPLY TO REVIEW:
Penguin357: Okay, you will not be able to believe how happy your reviews make me! :) Thank you for the cookies, I have happily feasted on them. And in return, I dedicate this chapter to you for being so damn awesome. :) You'll see what happens to them in this chapter *tries to smile mysteriously but fails so utterly miserably that she stops this weird reply* okay, bye now. :) Thank you for reading, you've been awesome.
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Enjoy!
Tony hovered in the air by the quinjet being flown by Clint and Natasha. It was carrying Rogers (fully dressed up) and Banner (who was trying to calm the Hulk down).
"Alright, there it is," Tony said, pointing towards the massive helicarrrier. They had used it as their base even after the whole Tesseract issue.
Tony sighed as he entered through the quinjet area. The suit immediately began deconstructing itself into a suitcase. He smirked and turned to face an irate director.
"Well, you look furious." Tony commented seriously. The director's piercing eyes narrowed.
"This isn't funny, Stark. Come to the debriefing room right now." As soon as Fury's back was turned, Clint cracked a smile.
"Wow, it's really got his Nick-ers in a twist, hasn't it?" Tony held up his hands for a high-five, because seriously? That was a classic. Natasha rolled her eyes and muttered something like, 'boys' before stalking off in Fury's direction. Steve rolled his eyes before following, while Banner just smiled and waited for Tony and Clint.
"Look, Avengers. We have another idiot who decided to recreate the super-serum. He's a cross between Banner and Steve. He's a human hopped up on about 20 steroids. Very hard to kill, but not impossible. He's got an army too. Smaller than him, but not as hard to destroy. They can be killed like a normal human, it just takes a lot more force. I want you to kill the army but bring back the scientist." Fury looked each of them in the eye, and Tony felt his mouth open before he registered the words he was speaking.
"Why him?" Fury sighed and reached into his desk drawer. He drew out some case-thing that was black and shiny. Tony held up his hands in half-fear and half-amusement.
He knew the Director would love to shoot him (he wasn't the only one), but he liked to think that he was needed for the Avengers, at least.
"Woah, Fury. Calm your t- I mean," Tony hastily changed his word choice, "calm down. I just wanted to know if there was any reason. Don't bring out your gun." Fury looked at the object and almost smiled.
But he didn't, because he was Nick Fury and he'd be damned if Tony Stark would not get the best of him. Even if Stark was dashing, intelligent, and pretty fucking hot.
Well, that's Tony's philosophy. But he might be a bit biased.
Fury sighed, and Tony mentally pats himself on the back for getting on the Director's nerves once again.
Not that he has to try that hard anyway. Fury's irritation is practically tied to Tony's existence.
"Relax, Stark. This is a medical canister. It has my aspirins in it. You do that to my mental health. Anyway, we need the scientist because he used to be one of us. He was a SHIELD scientist before he went rogue. We also want to make sure he cannot pass along the information to any other person. He came the closest to recreating the formula; he could be useful on our side." Tony nodded.
People still haven't given up on recreating the formula for Rogers and even Banner's. If anything, the New York incident had only added the metaphorical fuel to the metaphorical fire.
"Got it, Toothless." Fury turned his angry one-eye glare on him and went dangerously silent.
"Excuse me?" Tony just smirked and began to explain himself.
"You've seen 'How to Train Your Dragon, yes? So the dragon toothless is called Night Fury. I thought it made sense." Clint and Banner laughed openly while Natasha fought back a smile. Tony mentally pat himself on the back. Making the super-spider smile wasn't an easy feat.
Steve, however, looked disapproving and confused. Whatever. The captain had a stick so far up his ass that it practically fell out of his mouth. Tony shuddered at that mental image.
And Fury? For the second time in the day, he almost smiles. But then again, Tony reasoned, he probably remembered how much respect he would lose and that's why he chose to scowl at him.
"Whatever, Stark. Just go do your job." Tony gave him a mocking salute.
"Aye Aye, Captain." Fury brought out the canister again.
"Alright, I'll fly ahead to scout the area. Then you guys can catch up," Tony instructed, preparing the thrusters. He saw Bruce pacing through the windows of the quinjet.
"I don't know, Tony. Maybe you shouldn't go by yourself. It might be really dangerous. Why don't you take Thor? He can fly and he'll scout with you." Tony would never admit it, but he was a little touched by his friend's concern. Not many people genuinely cared for him and his well-being.
"Yes, Friend Stark. I would be honored to fly with you and your armor of iron." Tony rolled his eyes and smirked.
"You know, Hammertime, I think I can handle this. Thanks man." And with that, he powered the thrusters and shot off.
Tony neared the location, a deserted town in Nevada, and made JARVIS scan the entire area for signs of life.
"Sir, there is supernatural activity about 1.25 miles from this area. The signals are strange; they are not quite human, but they are not quite beasts. Shall I set a course for there, sir?" Tony nodded.
"Hurry, JARVIS. We're the scouts; these little mutants don't seem to be easily distracted." JARVIS set a flight path and they flew on discretely.
He ended up hovering above a building and looking down onto the destroyed streets. He suppressed a shudder of revulsion at the sight of the army.
They were vaguely humanoid, except they were like the hulk in muscle and size. 'And probably the brain department too,' Tony thought wryly. The Hulk usually only had one thing on his mind: smash. The monsters were frothing at the mouth and hunching over themselves, snarling loudly. Tony swore softly.
"Alright, Black Widow, I don't know if your guns will be able to touch them. They're like human hulks. Bring lots of ammo. You'll need it. Hawkeye, bring explosive arrows. Lots of them. Banner, get ready to suit up. The Hulk's got playmates. We'll need everyone on the job. Hurry. I'll be looking for the psycho doctor." He heard Natasha draw in a sharp breath.
"Alright, Stark. We're coming in. Don't engage without us; this could get messy." Tony voiced his affirmation and scanned the area for the doctor.
He didn't find any signals of the Doctor. There were about 100 of the human steroids, he noted. But there was no distinguishable difference between any of them. In fact, there was no difference at all…
Tony cursed and almost blasted himself for being so idiotic.
"WIDOW! These, these human steroids. This isn't an army of test subjects; it's an army of clones. The scientist must have injected himself with the serum and then found a way to clone himself." He heard Natasha groan a few curse words in Russian.
"So what now?" He asked, waiting for her instructions. He felt a pause before he heard Steve's voice.
"Just wait. We'll have to track down the original and stop him from making more copies. Then we can contain the clones they already have."
"Right," replied Tony before he flew off. He flew high up, hoping to get a wider range for scan.
"JARVIS, scan the area again. Look for the original. Try to see where most of them are appearing." He said briskly, using his sensors to help his AI along.
"Sir, they seem to be appearing about 1 mile from here." Tony nodded and set off in the direction. When he arrived, he groaned. He could clearly see the scientist surrounded by many of the weird 'soldiers'. He saw him move a lever on a strange machine and another clone pop out. Tony nearly snorted because of the simplicity and the way the process seemed like one similar to a movie, not real life.
"Right, inform me when you guys are nearing the area. I'll take out his copy machine then," Tony said after relaying the process to the team. He heard Clint chuckle disbelievingly before he inched closer to the group. He knew he would have a clear shot when he chose to shoot.
Now all he could do was wait.
"Alright, we'll be there in two minutes, Stark. Go ahead and blast the machine." Steve's voice rang through Tony's suit. He smirked gleefully and powered his thruster, aiming carefully at the machine. But wait! He needed a statement. He racked his brain for a few seconds.
"Don't you think one of you is enough of a nightmare for the world, Doctor?" Tony let his automated voice ring through the relatively quiet area. The giant scientist turned back to him, shock written all over his features. They finally settled into a knowing smirk.
"Ahh, hello, Mr. Iron Man. It's quite an honor to meet you, despite the circumstances. I suppose you're here to stop me?" He asked, chuckling lightly. Tony snorted quietly.
"Yeah, no hard feelings, Dr. Maniac. Gotta do what you gotta do, right? Don't worry, I'll pay you another visit in your cell and we can exchange the pleasantries then. Now, if you'll excuse me," Tony replied, firing up his thrusters, "I have a machine to destroy." He aimed at the machine again and let out a powerful blast. He was shocked when he saw the machine simply absorb the blast and spit out another clone. The crazy doctor laughed, his black beady eyes gleaming.
"Well, I should have told you that it wouldn't work out for everyone if you had done that. But fortunately for me-and rather unfortunately for you- I created the machine to absorb any source of energy and you just helped me create a rather powerful soldier. One, I may add, that will now kill you, Mr. Stark. So I guess we'll have to cancel our prison date. It was a pleasure." The scientist swiftly leaped out of the way and shouted orders at the rising soldier that was created from his blast of energy.
It lunged, flying at the building he was flying above. He shot another beam of energy at the monster, slowing it down. Tony quickly took off, yelling at his teammates to hurry the fuck up.
The monster, or Blasty, as he had christened it, had roared angrily (sounding eerily similar to the Hulk) when Tony had shot out of his reach. Tony resorted to just flying around, waiting for the rest of his team to come and help him. He blasted the creature constantly, looking for a weak chink in their armor of human flesh and muscles.
He nearly fell out of the sky in relief when he heard a distant roar and a blot of green that was consistently getting larger and larger.
"Thanks, Banner. It took you all long enough," he said, blasting the creepy clone in the face. It scrabbled around blindly and Tony aimed another blast at it's heart.
Bingo. It fell like a stone, finally still and silent. Tony smirked to himself. Victory.
He flew around, looking for the doctor. Maybe he had blasted the wrong object. Next time, he would aim his repulsors at the sick fuck who made him leave his lab.
"Guys, you handle the clones. Thor, I need you to come with me. You seem to be particularly talented in destroying delicate things; I need you and your hammer." He heard a roar (coming from a demi-god, not a rage monster) and saw a flash of red flying straight toward him.
It didn't take them very long to find the scientist cowering behind many of his 'guards'. Thor swung his hammer and took out almost half of them while Tony just blasted at their faces and chests. They finally reached the scientist and his machine, leaving behind a pile of 'dead' clones.
"Thor, take care of the machine. I'll get the man." And without waiting for an affirmative, Tony blasted at the scientist.
The blast was aimed at his stomach, something that would injure, not kill. The scientist doubled over but swung a fist at Tony, almost reaching his faceplate.
He heard multiple clangs and found Thor hacking away at the machine with his hammer. While the object was built to withstand energy blasts, it wasn't holding up well against Thor's mighty hammer and impressive brawn.
"Well, now that we got that taken care of," Tony said, turning back to the doubled over scientist, "you're kind of under arrest for being a nuisance. And because you really annoyed me. So yeah, come quietly or I'll set the Hulk on you. And I can't guarantee there would even be enough left of you after that." Tony went to grab the man, but the scientist was suddenly extremely quick. He grabbed Iron Man's hand and pressed it into his chest. The emergency control kicked in and the weapon fired, tearing through the monster's body.
The scientist-hopped-up-on-steroids suddenly became the scientist-hopped-up-on-steroids-with-a-hole-in-his -chest. Tony hadn't even processed it yet. Why would the man kill himself? With his blasters?
Thor turned around at exactly the wrong moment. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in the scene.
"But Man of Iron," he began, surveying the damage to the body, "we were to keep the scientist alive. What have you done?"
Thor had told everyone what had happened with Tony and the scientist.
Or rather, his version of what happened. According to him, Tony found the man defenseless and immediately fired at his chest.
Nobody believed that the man had done it, not him. But they didn't mind too much.
Natasha and Clint just shrugged. They had missions go wrong once in a while. It happened. No use crying over it.
Bruce was sporting a giant headache and wasn't really in the mood to talk until he found clothes. And even then, he wasn't really into choosing sides.
Thor got over it eventually, declaring that he too had gone against orders many times. But Steve- Steve was catatonic.
'What a whiny bitch,' Tony thought irritably as Captain America began his rant.
"Stark! How can you mess up that simple order?! We were supposed to bring him in, not put a hole in the man's chest! You had one job, Stark! One! And that was to be the scout! I didn't think that even you could mess up a mission so badly. Even the Hulk follows orders better than you. STARK! Are you even paying attention to me?"
Tony had turned away from him mid-lecture, choosing to treat his minimal wounds. There were a few bumps and bruises from where the supersoldiers had landed a hit.
"Shut up Rogers. The man pointed it at himself and my automatic controls fired. It wasn't my fault," Tony insisted.
"Seriously?! Who would believe that cock-and-bull story? Does anyone here believe that?" Steve raged. Tony had never seen him this mad. It was just a mission!
"Just a mission? Just a mission?!" Steve practically shouted. He must have said that out loud.
"This isn't just about the damn mission, Stark. This is about your selfishness and how you can never follow your orders. This is a team. You only look out for yourself. That's not what the Avengers is." Tony felt his blood run cold and his hackles rise.
"What are you saying? That I don't belong on this team? That the Avengers would be better off without me?" Tony gave a humorless laugh and looked around, staring each of them in the eye.
"Is that what you all think? That I'm selfish and don't belong on this team?" Clint and Bruce shook their head. Thor held up his hands in surrender.
"I do not want to be involved in your petty Midgardian arguments. I have no reason to criticize any member of this team." Natasha, however, remained silent and impassive. Bruce spoke first.
"Steve, think about what you're saying. He flew a nuke into space. He was prepared to die for all of us. Is that selfish?" Steve snorted.
"Anyone would have done that. I'm not belittling it. But everyone would agree that the life of one man in exchange for millions is rather reasonable, yes? Whatever," he suddenly cut himself off, "This is not the time for this. We have to go report to Fury that we botched a mission just because someone can't control their machinery. Or themselves." Tony glared and opened his mouth to respond, but Natasha cut him off.
"Enough, you two," She said sharply. "We need to fix things with Fury and then you two can kill each other, I don't care. But just control yourselves for 10 minutes and then you can do whatever the hell you want. Am I understood?" Steve nodded politely, still looking angry. Tony, on the other hand, barely jerked his head. He was still seething.
How dare Rogers imply that he wasn't good enough for this team. He gave them practically everything; money, shelter, food, and even enhanced weapons.
What did Steve offer them? A fat mouth that loved to boss people around?
Steve Rogers would pay for that.
He would pay big-time.
Yeah, the team fell apart. Again. But Steve and Tony will not like each other for a long time. It was obvious they had issues (conflicting personalities don't go well together, obviously) and it's not realistic that they immediately become a perfect family.
Sorry if that's what you expected. :)
Yeah. So until next time! :)
Remember to leave a nice little review! :)