A/N~ Hey Guys… I Know I'm Late. But I Have A Semi Decent Excuse… First, My Internet Has Been Messed Up Since The Weekend & I Couldn't Get Enough Internet To Even Upload The Chapter. & My Computer's Been Shutting Down My Internet Browser Like Ever 5 Minutes For Some Reason. I Finally Got It To Stop, But Now I'm Like A Day Late With This Chapter. I'm Really Sorry Guys. But Here It Is. We're Finally Getting To The Avengers. This Is Quite A Bit Longer Than The Last Chapter & I Think The Next Part's Going To Be Even LONGER. But I'm Not Done With It So Who Knows.
Also I've Got The Avenger's Movie Downloaded Onto My Computer So I Can Watch It ANYTIME I Want. & Force Other's To Watch It Too. My Brother, I'm Embarrassed To Say, Hasn't Seen It Yet, So The Next Time I See Him I'm Going To Tie Him To A Chair, Tape His Eyes Open & Force Him To Watch It. XD Anyway, ENJOY! X3
Disclaimer~ Nope, It's Definitely Not Mine.
Warning~ Uh… The Stuff From The Movie & Something I Didn't Mention For The Iron Man Movies: Spoilers For The Movie… Kind Obvious, But Some People Are That Oblivious... Personally I Find That Kind Of Cute. ;3
Ch.8
The Avengers Pt. 1
~3,363~
"I will waive my customary retainer in exchange for... a small favor. Rhodey and I, are being honored in Washington, and... we need a presenter."
"I'll see what I can do."
That agreement was the first of many, it was the beginning of a long and difficult but beneficial relationship between Tony Stark and SHIELD. It was also the beginning to the end for Tony's secrets.
Tony had just finished installing a prototype Arc Reactor and turning on his tower in Manhattan when Agent Coulson came in.
"Security breach!" Tony exclaimed and turned to Pepper. "It's on you."
"Phil! Come in." Pepper greeted the agent happily.
"Phil?" Tony said confused.
"I can't stay." Coulson said.
"Uh, his first name is Agent." Tony said like Pepper had just called the man Clark Gregg.
Tony and Pepper got up, glasses of Champaign still in their hands, to meet the agent at the stairs in front of the elevator. Tony showed his displeasure towards the agents arrival, but Coulson ignored it, in favor of instead handing over a tablet, to Pepper, who, in turn, handed it to Tony, saying he needed to look it over. Pepper made a comment about the Initiative, which she covered up terribly.
"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked and Coulson looked at her sharply. "...Which I-I know nothing about."
"Pfft. The Avengers Initiate was scrapped, I thought." Tony said as he walked down the stairs, setting up the tablet he was handed. "And I didn't even qualify."
"I didn't know that either." Pepper denied.
"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony continued, walking backwards towards his work table.
"That I did know." Pepper acknowledged with a tilt of the head and a small smile.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Coulson assured them.
"Whatever." Tony said, before calling out for Pepper, flicking his fingers in a 'come here' gesture. "Miss Potts, got a sec."
"Half a moment." She said, holing up a finger before she followed Tony, her hips swaying with each step.
Tony typed on the screen of the tablet, hooking it into his system and holographic projections.
"You know, I thought, we were having a moment."
"I was having 12% of a moment."
Tony gave her a look but she kept talking. She asked what all the information that was on the tablet was and he put the information up in holographic windows. It was indeed information on the Avengers Initiative, the actual people/Demigod/Giant Green Rage Monster who were wanted for it. Tony's eyes were glued to the footage of a large green man(Hulk) destroying military tanks. Pepper said she'd be leaving that night to DC, she gave Tony the incentive he needed to work on... whatever SHIELD wanted him to work on and a kiss, then left with Coulson while Tony got to work.
It was several hours later while Tony was sitting on the couch and reading up on Thermonuclear Astrophysics, it was a major part of Dr. Selvig's work with the Tesseract, when JARVIS informed him that he had visitors. Wondering who it could be who would visit him so late, Tony put his readings away.
"Who is it JARVIS?" Tony asked, not moving to get up off the couch.
"It is Mr. Xavier and Mrs. Grey coming up in the elevator." JARVIS answered.
Tony's eyes widened in surprise and he got up as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Jean and Charles came out, Jean behind Charles and pushing his wheel chair, even though it was the one Tony had built for him and was fully electric.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise." Tony exclaimed with a large smile on his face as he walked around the couch and came to stand in front of his long time friends who he considered family. "What are you doing here?"
Jean didn't answer as she came around the Charles's chair and gave Tony a big hug. Tony had never really liked hugs, they always reminded him of the ones he never got from his father and that he couldn't hug his mother anymore, but he had missed Jean's hugs, they were always warm and comforting, reminding him of the hugs he did get from his mother. Tony hugged her back then released her with another smile, he shook the Professor's hand, the man wasn't that fond of hugs either, he didn't want to trouble people with bending over to reach him.
"We heard you had a tower here and came for a visit when the news said you'd be in town." Jean answered as she looked around. "It's so good to see you Tony. I see your love for the glamourous hasn't quelled at all."
Tony could hear the teasing in her voice and smirked.
"Yeah well, it would have been more, but Pepper toned it down a bit." Tony sighed dramatically. "I had planned to paint the whole building red and gold, but she said no."
Jean and Charles chuckled along with Tony and he led them toward the couch and offered them drinks. Tony didn't want to leave as he enjoyed their company, so he used his telekinesis to grab two glasses of water for him and Charles, and a coke for Jean. He always felt comfortable with them, and knowing that Pepper was on a plane to another state made him even more comfortable with where he was and didn't feel the need to restrict himself with his powers.
"It is good to see you Anthony, it has been too long." Charles said taking the floating glass of water. "Thank you."
"I agree. Far too long." Tony said. "Now that we have a tower here in New York, I'll be here more often, I may even be able to visit you guys every now and then."
"Oh that would be wonderful." Charles said. "Our school has expanded quite a bit since you left all those years ago. We have many students with many varying powers. It would be a very special treat if you were to visit. Perhaps you could even teach a class or two?"
Jean chuckled. "Oh just ignore him Tony, he's been trying to get every old student to come back and teach."
"Can't fault an old man for trying." Charles smirked. "We have far too many students for the amount of teachers we have."
Tony smiled at the family like banter. He had missed this a lot. He had missed his family a lot.
"It can't be any worse than when I was there." Tony said. "We only had four teaches then. How many do you have now?"
"We have about 7 teachers now, but we have upwards of 35 students." Charles sighed. "We could really use any help we could get."
Tony's eyes widened at the number of students. That was over three times the students there had been when he was there.
"Sure sounds like it." Tony said with a whistle. "I would be honored to help out with classes whenever I'm there. Like a special guest or something."
"Oh thank you Anthony, that would be a great help." Charles said with a grateful smile.
Charles looked over to Jean with a small smirk, causing Jean rolled her eyes. There was an obvious 'I told you so' that was left unsaid between the two. Tony smiled at them, Jean obviously thought Tony would be against helping with the teaching, seeing as he had never really liked school all that much, but in truth, Tony loved to teach, he taught Pepper how to work the new Stark Phone, the Stark Tablet, and all the stark appliance he made. He was very good at teaching, in fact, more patient than most people would think.
"Unfortunately that wont be for a while though." Tony said with a sigh and a small smile. "There seems to be a crisis at the moment."
"A crisis?" Jean asked, suddenly at attention. "What's wrong?"
"Well, It's confidential..." Tony trailed off then smiled when Jean raised her eyebrow as if to say 'So?' "Have you heard of the Tesseract?"
Jean shook her head but Charles nodded.
"It was a powerful cube used in the 40s, but it was lost in the ocean." Charles says. "Why?"
"My father found it while looking for Captain America." Tony said grimly. "Now it's been stolen by an evil Demigod who's trying to take over the world."
Jean and Charles looked at each other then back at Tony, noticing how serious he was: Tony was hardly ever serious, which meant this was real and a big deal.
"And?" Jean probed for more information.
"SHIELD is putting together a team to fight this supposed God. They want Iron Man." Tony said, then smiled sarcastically. "Technically they don't want me, but apparently they changed their minds."
"And what would you like us to do?" Charles asked. "The X-Men can be mobilized and ready for battle within the hour."
"No." Tony said, sounding aloof, surprising them. "I simply want you to take your students and go on a field trip. The West Coast is nice this time of year. You can use my mansion if you want, save some money on boarding. Though If you really have 30 plus students they'll probably have to bunk up three to a room."
"By my accounts Sir, if there are 48 persons or less, then, using the pool house, they would only have to bunk two to a room." JARVIS interrupted. "And that does not count the 2 master bedrooms."
"Well, there you go!" Tony said, spreading his arms out wide with a smile. "You don't have more than 48 people do you?"
"Tony what do you mean?" Jean asked confused. "You don't want us to help?"
"No, I don't." Tony said bluntly. "You don't need to be in this fight. Exceptionally with SHIELD involved."
"And what is wrong with SHIELD?" Jean asked.
"There's too much wrong with them. Though what involves you is that I'm pretty sure they aren't mutant friendly." Tony said. "I'm sure that if they caught wind of your school, they wouldn't hesitate to raid it and capture every mutant for experimentations, not caring that some of them are confused children." Tony scowled for a second before shrugging his dislike for SHIELD off. "Luckily, I've been hiding you and the school from their director's eye. They have no clue the school even exists."
"How can you be so sure that they aren't mutant friendly?" Jean asked. "Have they shown dislike for mutants?"
"My father was an original founder of SHIELD." Tony said emotionlessly.
They were all quite for a minute as that sunk in. Both Charles and Jean knew of Howard's opinions about mutants, and it wasn't pretty. They couldn't blame Tony for wanting them as far away from SHIELD as possible.
"All right, we'll set up a field trip. When do you think we should leave?" Charles agreed.
"As soon as possible." Tony said. "You can use my jets to get there and I'll arrange for cars to pick you up."
"Oh now, you can't do everything for us." Charles said with a smirk. "You already give us so much with that $10,000 donation each month."
Tony blushed a bit. He did, in fact, donate 10k every month to the institute under a false name. He'd never thought they'd realize it was from him, then again, he should have realized that Charles would have figured it out.
"Yeah well..." Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand with a small smile. "It's the least I can do for my family."
"Sir, I hate to interrupt, but You have a message from Director Fury." JARVIS said apologetically. "Loki has been spotted in Germany. SHIELD is already on their way there."
"All right." Tony said to the ceiling the turned to his company. "Looks like Iron Man is needed."
They stood up, Tony and Jean hugged again, and he and Charles shook hands again as well.
"It was really good seeing you Tony." Jean said, planting a kiss on Tony's cheek.
"I agree. I will definitely come and visit you once this is all over." Tony smiled and saw them to the elevator.
"Take care of yourself Anthony." Charles spoke up, just before the door closed. "We will meet again."
Tony nodded at them and once the doors closed he sighed.
"JARVIS, see to it that the jets are prepared for take off and the Malibu house is cleaned and ready for their arrival. And that there are cars there to pick them up when they leave." He paused for a second, contemplating something. "Make the rides limos, let the kids ride in style and enjoy themselves."
"Of course Sir." JARVIS replied softly. "Sir, it seems that the Fury has sent only a single SHIELD Quinjet to deal with the Loki incident."
"That's probably got Captain America and Black Widow on it. I doubt they'd send someone like Dr. Banner into that heavily populated area."
"I agree Sir." JARVIS said. "Perhaps and intervention from Iron Man would be called for?" Tony could practically hear the smirk in JARVIS's tone.
"I love the way you think JARVIS." Tony said as he walked to the arming platform. "Okay then, lets see what this Loki has up his sleeves."
The suit formed around him as he walked and he took off in the direction of Berlin. When he arrived a few hours later (god he loved how fast his suit could travel), he saw that the good old Captain America was having a bit of trouble. Hijacking the Quinjets' stereo systems, Tony blasted music though the speakers and took down Loki in one blast, effectively forcing Loki(Tony likes Reindeer Games better) to surrender.
The transport back to SHIELD HQ was going smoothly until the Quinjet was rocked by a sudden storm. Loki talked for the first time since being capture.
"Scared of a little lightening?"
"I'm not overly fond of what follows."
Then the Asgardian Thor came and took Loki. Tony charged after them, with Captain America right on his heals.
"I'd sit this one out Cap."
"I don't see how I can."
"These guys come from legend, they're basically Gods."
"There's only one God ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."
Tony tackled Thor into the forest and they battled. Tony practically roared in exhilaration when Thor hit him with lightening. He channeled the electricity to his gauntlets and attacked.
"Power at 400% capacity."
"How 'bout that."
Tony blasted Thor with the collected energy. They fought a relatively even battle, and Tony was even having a bit of fun: he hardly ever fought someone that was his equal. Then good ol' Captain America showed up and put a stop to it. They made nice and headed back to SHIELD HQ, Loki a prisoner once again.
The first thing Tony did when he got on the Helicarrier was run directly into Agent Coulson. He was pulled off the side to be brought up to snuff on the situation, since he technically hadn't been called in, though Tony knew everything there was to know on what was going on.
"You hacked us... again." It wasn't a question, Coulson knew better than that.
"I wouldn't call it hacking, as that implies I had to actually work to get it." Tony shrugged.
"You know what's going on then." Coulson sighed. "Saves me time explaining. Come on, everyone's on the deck."
They started walking down the halls, Tony following the agent, because if he was being honest with himself, even he got lost in the maze they called HQ sometimes.
"So I heard the cellist moved back to Portland?" Tony brought up conversationally. "How you dealing with that?"
Despite everything Tony said about the Agent, he really did like him. Coulson was his official liaison with SHIELD: he was the only one Tony even remotely trusted from the spy organization. Though the man was an unknown, they were practically friends.
"I'm okay," Coulson said, not sounding convincingly at all. "She got a good offer there that she couldn't turn down."
"Are you going to visit her at all?"
"I don't know." Coulson answered with a shrug. "I might, I'd need to find some time to."
"Well, after all this is over you should request a weekend off." Tony smirked at the man.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to do that." Coulson said, then smirked himself. "Maybe I can acquisition to take a Quinjet down there and sweep her off her feet."
"I doubt Fury would condone that. Maybe you could use one of my Jets." Tony offered. "I know Pepper would be all for it."
"I don't know about that." Coulson said, but sounded like he was actually thinking the idea over.
He and Tony talked more on him visiting his lady friend down in Portland. Even though Tony always refused to be called nostalgic, he was feeling a bit nostalgic for visiting people after his surprise visit from Charles and Jean earlier that night. They were just entering the deck when Tony heard a scratchy, yet intelligent sounding voice ask what Loki could be using Iridium for.
"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said nonchalantly as he and Coulson walked in. He turned to Coulson and lowered his voice. "So I'm just saying: Take a weekend and I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive."
Tony and Coulson split up once in the room and Tony headed to the front of the room while the Agent headed to the back. Tony was talking and joking, two of his favorite past times. He joked about Fury's eye and caught someone playing video games. Classic.
"That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice... but we did."
After a few jokes Tony went back to the main subject, Loki, the Tesseract, and foiling a plan for world domination. All in a days work for one Tony Stark, however, Tony wasn't working alone on this and he knew he needed to play nice with everyone. But just because he was playing nice, didn't mean he trusted then, or SHIELD for that matter, any more than he could blast them with his repulsors. Even if he did semi-trust Coulson, SHIELD and these strangers were another story.
Tony planted a hacking bug on the deck and had JARVIS start breaking into all of SHIELD's encrypted files right away. Usually he would isolate what he needed to find and just hack that server, but now that he had the chance to, he was going to hack every one of their files and see what they were getting into. Why they had the Tesseract in the first place and what they were really using it's power for. There was no way Fury was only trying to harness it's power for a clean energy. It didn't make sense, Fury was up to something.
Tony and Dr. Banner got into a conversation on how Loki and Dr. Selvig were going to open another portal. He was a bit new to Thermonuclear Astrophysics, but had been reading up on it when Charles stopped by the night before. Sure he hadn't mastered the subject, he'd need another few nights to do that, but he had a little more than a basic understanding of it after the few hours of reading he had looked into the subject.
There he met Dr. Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, or The Other Guy, as Dr. Banner called him. Tony truly was fascinated by the man: he was a genius and a saint for all he did, but when his anger got a hold of him, you better watch out. Tony was also very interested in Hulk himself: Hulk couldn't be just anger, that would be too sad.
"It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work, on anti-electron collision is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
"...Thanks."
When Fury came in and said that Dr. Banner was only there to help find the cube Tony instantly became skeptical of the real reason Dr. Banner was really there. There was no way Fury would bring the Doctor onboard for one reason only. No. Way. Though Tony did play along and went to the lab, so he could keep an eye on the Doctor. People like them: smart, intelligent... outcasts, they needed to watch out for each other.
E/N~ So I Hope You Liked This Chapter & The Scenes I Added. I Really Feel That Tony Would Protect Those People Who Are As Close As Family, So I Hope It Wasn't Terribly OOC. & The Same Thing With Coulson, Because Even If He Doesn't Call The Man Phil, They Are Still Friends, & Tony Doesn't Have Many Of Those. X3
Also, Because This Was A Day Late, I'll Give You Guys A Sneak Peek At The Next Chapter. As A Gift From Me To You. XD
Tony couldn't take it anymore, he was about to explode, or explode something. He got up and quickly left the room. He let himself wander the helicarrier, not caring where he wound up. No one got in his way, he tried to keep his face emotionless, but he was pissed and still grieving:
'How dare Fury use Phil to try and get us riled up.' Tony thought as he walked a little faster.
After a minute of walking, Tony found himself standing in the room where Loki had been imprisoned. The room where Loki escaped. The room where Loki killed Phil. Where Phil died.
I Hope You Enjoyed This Sneak Peek Of Chapter 9: The Avengers Pt. 2, Brought To You By The Voices In My Head… They Surprisingly Sound Like JARVIS & Dummy. XD
Please Review & Tell Me What You Think! OH & I Still Have A Poll Up On My Profile About Whether Or Not Magneto Should Be In This. Loki Definitely Is, So There's An Option On There That Regards That.
