Tony woke up to his phone ringing.
"Hello?" He asked still half asleep.
"Tony, the council wants you to return to the den as soon as you can." Fane said.
"Why?"
"They've been thinking of filling the empty council seat. I think they mean to make you a council member." Tony could almost hear the grin on Fane's face.
"Are you serious?" To any asked.
"I'm not sure, but all things point towards your promotion." Fane said.
"OK, I'll clear my schedule."
"OK, and Tony? Their allowing you to bring one outsider." Fane said, just as the claxon began to ring. "What's that Tony?" Fane asked as he heard the bell.
"Thats the bell alerting us to assemble. I've got to go, I'll call you back when I can." Tony said as he got out of bed and pulled on some clothes.
"Be safe, Tony." Fane advised as he hung up.
Then he made his way down to the suit up room, running into Natasha on his way.
"What's the threat?" Tony asked.
"The Brotherhood are terrorizing Manhattan. The X-Men asked for our help." Natasha said. "And you look far too cheerful for 7am." She noted.
"I just got off the phone with Fane, he thinks I'm going to be made a council member." Tony stated as he reached for his avengers uniform.
"No you're not going as an avenger today." She said as she stopped him. " Charles requested that you put on the X-Men uniform. He wants you to fight with your fellow mutants." She added, before she broke into a smile and said, " Congratulations. When do you leave?" She asked, as she got into her uniform.
"As soon as I can get away. Fane said I could bring an outsider with me." Tony said with a smile, as he donned the leather uniform.
"Who are you going to bring?" She asked.
"I don't know yet. It's going to be a tough decision though." He said as he removed his black shield mask to put on his cowl for the X-Men uniform, before the others who were still navigating their way to the room.
"What's with the leather?" Clint asked as he saw Tony in the distinct black leather uniform accented with yellow, with a hugh X on his chest.
"Magneto and the Brotherhood, are terrorizing Manhattan. The X-Men have called me in to help. They also called you guys in too...I would bring the plastic arrows and bow I made for the instance of this happening." He warned Clint, as he got on his set of plastic knives.
"You're an X-Man too?" Steve said, thinking about the group of mutant warriors that he had just been briefed about several weeks before.
"I'm confused, what is this X-Man you talk about?" Thor said, obviously not getting the same briefing Steve had received.
"Well I'm a really powerful mutant, my skills as an assassin actually come from my mutant abilities. I belong to a team made up of mutants like myself, but I'm a Dolofóni first, an Avenger second and a X-Man third. I split my time between the three." He explained in layman's terms for the two.
" How powerful are you?" Steve asked, slightly wary of his mysterious friend.
"I'm a six," Tony said with a smirk, " on a scale of five. Which means that I'm one of the most powerful mutants on this planet, at least that we know about." Tony explained at the sight of Steve, Thor and Bruce's faces.
"I knew you had some loyalty to the X-Men, but I didn't realize you were that powerful." Bruce stated, still shocked. Then Tony gave a quick demonstration.
"You see, I kept this a slight secret because I didn't wish for Shields enemies and the mutant enemies to team up to try to stop me. Didn't mean to not tell you." Tony told the three telepathically. "And thats not the only skills I have, you'll probably see the others in the fight." Tony said, almost bragging, with a smile. "Now Cap, you might not want to use your shield. This Magneto guy can control metal, so it might be compromised. If you want you can choose a plastified weapon." Tony said pointing to a cabinet that was lined with top of the line plastic weapons. "Thor I'm pretty sure you can still use your hammer, since it has otherworldly qualities that allow for only you to pick it up." Steve picked up a plastic gun for emergencies, but kept his shield.
"Oh and one more thing, try not to kill the mutants. Charles hates for any mutant blood to be spilled so just aim to incapacitate. I designed the weapons to be non-lethal." He told them.
"Sounds good." Steve said and then they boarded the jet.
...
Steve's POV
"Samael!" A feminine voice cried out and a flash of white flew by and nearly tackled Samael to the ground.
"Ororo!" His teammate called back, embracing the woman in a deep hug.
"It's been too long Samael." She said in a scolding tone.
"I know, I've been swamped lately with the Dolofóni and Avengers. But I do have some good news." He said in a guilty tone.
"What is it?" She asked with a smile.
"I might be getting put on the Council of Masters!" He said enthusiastically. Steve made a mental note that he should probably ask him about that later, and perhaps celebrate.
"At your age?!"
"Yep." He said smiling. Then he turned to his fellow teammates, "Come on, I'll introduce you to the team." He told them and gestured for them to follow him to where the rest of the X-Men were waiting, and he was greeted with a bunch of hugs and a chorus of hellos, Steve expected the kid to be popular, but not to this extent.
"OK so X-Men, meet the Avengers. This is Captain America, a supersoldier and also the leader of our team," Steve nodded his head in greeting.
" Thor, an Asgardian prince, also fond of thunder and his hammer," Who had a welcoming look on his face.
"Black Widow, super stealthy assassin could probably could kill you in a hundred ways before you even notice her move," She held a straight look on her face, which slightly scared the newer X-Men, before she broke into a soft smile.
" Hawkeye, expert marksman, who could give me a run for my money, also fond of sneaking through vents and hiding in tall places," Who nodded his greeting.
" and Dr. Banner, brilliant physicist, who happens to turn into a green rage monster when he gets angry." Dr. Banner nervously greeted the X-Men.
" Avengers meet the X-Men. This is Wolverine, his skeleton has adamantium fused to it and he has 6 metal claws, sharper than any of my blades, along with regeneration properties that rival yours Cap," he said pointing a large man who demonstrated his power by unleashing his claws and crossing them in an X across his chest.
"This is Storm, she can control the weather," he pointed to the woman with white hair, who had hugged him earlier, and she demonstrated her power by causing the sky to become darker and levitating.
"This is Rouge, she can take on the powers of others if she touched them," he said pointing to a young brunette with a white strip in her hair, who nodded her greeting.
"This is Jean, she's a telekinetic and a telepath," he said pointing towards a red headed woman, who demonstrated her power by making several objects around her float.
"This is Bobby, the Iceman. His name kinda tells you what he can do, " he said as he pointed to a young man who made a floating ball of ice to show off.
" And finally Cyclops, he shoots photo optic lasers out of his eyes and is the leader of the group. " he said pointing to a man with a visor over his eyes, who shot the laser towards a small pile of leaves that combusted on impact.
"So now that you guys know each other, what's the plan?" He asked.
"Well I was thinking of splitting us up. One team, the stealth team, will sneak behind the brotherhood and silently wait until the second team, the heavy hitters, draws them out to fight." Cyclops explained.
"So who are the teams?" Steve asked.
"Stealth team will have Samael, Jean, Storm, Rouge, Hawkeye and Black Widow, while the heavy hitters will have Me, The Hulk, Bobby, Captain America, Thor and Wolverine. Jean will be the leader of the Stealth team and I will lead the heavy hitters." Cyclops said.
"OK sounds like a plan, let's go."
...
Natasha's POV.
They were crouched behind several cars waiting for the sound of attack signaling the heavy hitters arrival. Then they heard the roar of the hulk come closer, and prepared to fight. They split into two smaller groups, since they had two telepaths who could enable silent communication, between the teams. Jean, Hawkeye and Storm were on one team, and she, Samael and Rouge on the other. Then they split off.
" OK, so we're going to slip behind some of the brother and knock them out. Rouge, you remember that sleeper hold I taught you a few months ago?" Samael asked.
"Yes." The girl replied in a slight southern drawl.
"Well use it, we have to be as quiet as possible, I don't want to notify them of our arrival too soon. Let's go." He whispered as they made their way towards the cars. Samael crept ahead, scoping out the scene, and motioning them to follow him when the coast was clear. The process was slow, but it proved helpful as the amount of passed out mutants, who were left hogtied and gagged, increased. They were soon among the fighting mutants and superheroes.
"Well it looks like the party's begun without us." Samael said laughingly before he joined the fights. She couldn't laughing at the casualness of his statement.
"Well I guess that that's the signal for us to join in." She said as she turned towards Rouge, who looked a little more than eager to join the fight, then they started attacking the closet brotherhood mutants they could find.
...15 minutes later...
"Has anyone seen Samael?" She asked the group, after they had taken down the majority of the brotherhood.
"He's missing?" Clint asked.
"Yeah we got separated, as soon as we started our side of the attack." She said starting to get worried.
"Come to think of it, Magneto disappeared early on in the fight too." Cyclops stated.
" Magneto could be trying to recruit Samael again." Jean announced.
"Again?" Steve wondered.
"Yeah Magnetos into trying to gather all of the powerful mutants onto his side. He's tried to turn us all at one point or another." Jean informed them.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Clint stated. Then the Hulk who hadn't shifted back to Banner yet got a curious look on his face.
"Little mask man in trouble." The giant green monster stated in a sad tone.
"Little mask man? What does he mean?" Storm wondered with a confused look on her face.
"Thats his nickname for Samael. Hulk, go find Samael." She stated and the Hulk ran off. And she pulled out a tracking device.
"What's that for?" Rouge asked.
"Its to track the Hulk. Samael and the Hulk have a sort of connection, so the Hulk will find him, and we're going to follow him.
...
Tony's POV
" We meet again, Samael." Magneto said.
"Spare me the evil monologue." He said sarcastically, as he prepared to face Magneto.
"I can't tell if you're brave or incredibly stupid. Do you honestly think I don't noticed your metal arm, and is that an arc reactor in your chest. Not many people running with those in their chests, I can only think of one." Magneto stated as he began to levitate off the ground.
"Honestly, a little of both. So are we going to fight or are we going to stay here and talk about the weather?" He said pulling out a few knives, and rushed the aging villain, who in turn sent a heavy metal object on a collision course to Samael, who pushed it away at the last moment. Soon they were in the throes of battle, with each of them getting in some good hits but nothing serious yet. Then Magneto tired of toying around and bent Samael's prosthetic arm. Samael couldn't help but let a scream of agony as magneto tried to wrench the arm, which was connect to major nerve endings, from his body. Samael heard a feminine voice cry out in Russian, and he knew the avengers were watching, but he couldn't pull his arm free of the madman, so he pretended to pass out from the pain of the arm. Magneto took advantage of his prone position, and started his rant.
"How many of you are eager to see the man behind the mask. Yes I know who Samael truly is, but I bet that many of you do not, so why don't I enlighten you?" Magneto stated as he pulled Samael closer to him, and lifted off the mask that he constantly wore. "You see Samael is truly Tony Stark. And it's common knowledge that Tony Stark has a piece of technology in his chest that keeps him alive. So I'll make you a deal. Return my fighters and I'll give you your precious teammate back. Or don't, and I'll remove the arc reactor from his chest." Magneto said, finishing his demandes.
"Guys don't do it, I'm not worth it." Samael muttered through waves of pain. He knew that he didn't have much time left before he became completely useless due to the extreme pain going through his body, so he pulled free a knife that he had hidden on his body and threw it at magnetos chest.
"So be it then." Magneto stated, oblivious to the knife headed his way, and pulled out the reactor that came out with a sickening pop, and dropped Samael, who lost consciousness before he even hit the ground with a harsh thud.
...
Steve's POV
They stumbled into the field where the tracker had led them. The first thing Steve saw was the man he assumed was Magneto drag Samael up by an unknown force, until they were both levitating 100 ft off the ground. A gut-wrenching scream pierced the air and he saw Samael's left arm twist in an ungodly shape as though it was trying to free itself from Samael.
He heard Natasha scream out angry swear words in Russian. He saw a look of fury cross the faces of the X-Men and Avengers alike, as Samael had been like a brother to all who were witnessing his hideous torture. Samael screamed for what seemed like forever before he finally fell limp, having most likely passed out from the pain of his arm that was now dangling loosely from his body.
"How many of you are eager to see the man behind the mask." He heard Magneto ask. Yes Steve wanted to know the identity of the man he had grown to care about, but not in this way.
"Yes I know who Samael truly is, but I bet that many of you do not, so why don't I enlighten you?" Magneto stated as he pulled Samael closer to him, and lifted off the mask that he constantly wore. Steve couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the pain wrecked face that lay behind the mask.
"You see Samael is truly Tony Stark. And it's common knowledge that Tony Stark has a piece of technology in his chest that keeps him alive. So I'll make you a deal. Return my fighters and I'll give you your precious teammate back. Or don't, and I'll remove the arc reactor from his chest." Magneto said. Steve couldn't believe what the crazed man wanted to do the brilliant and bold hero. He had to stop it, and he was about to issue Hawkeye to shoot Magneto down when they heard a pain filled voice break the silence.
""Guys don't do it, I'm not worth it." They heard Samael mutter. Steve didn't know what to do anymore, how could he let the young man before him sacrifice himself like that, but before he could even escape from his stupor, he heard the madman mutter "So be it then." Then a sickening sound filled the air, the sound of the reactor being released, and then Samael hit the ground with a harsh thud, and Magneto followed shortly after, with a plastic knife sticking out of his gut.
The group ran toward in a crazed stupor with Cyclops issuing orders for Rouge and Clint to bring the jets. Then they finally surveyed the damage. Samael, no Tony, was lying in a broken heap, breathing faint raspy breaths.
"We need to get him an Arc Reactor, asap. Or he's not going to survive much longer." Jean said, then she gently examined Tony's arm, which was barely connected to his body, she could barely touch it as even the lightest touch caused Tony to moan in agony. "No one touch the arm, I have no idea what damages have been done to the stump. We need to get him to medical attention as fast as we can, I have no idea what a fall like that could've done to him." She announced gravely as she place a hand gently on his forehead.
"Magnetos fine, good thing Tony knows how to aim, he hit none of the vital organs and the wounds clean. Magneto's fall was a lot less harsh than Tony's, so I don't even think he has a broken bone." He heard a recently dehulked Banner's voice tell everyone.
"Great, so we can throw him in jail faster." Wolverines gruff voice muttered.
Steve couldn't believe that no one was reacting to the big reveal.
"Who all knew?" Steve asked, everyones eyes looked up at him.
"We all did, well except for you, Banner and Thor." Natasha stated.
"Why didn't he tell us?" Steve asked, worried that he did something wrong.
"Because he didn't trust you, well at first, then he couldn't find the right time to reveal his secret." Natasha explained.
" I kinda thought that Tony and Samael were one and the same, they both were super smart, plus the Other Guy was really attached to both." Banner stated.
"And you Thor? Why are you so accepting of our teammate who lied to us for the past year."
"Both Tony and Samael are worthy shield brothers that I am proud to fight with, Now that they are one and the same, I find him an even worthier friend, as he is now both sides of the coin that he truly is." Thor announced proudly. Steve didn't know how to react to this information. On one hand he loved the sacrificial kid to pieces but on the other he was still disappointed in Tony for not telling the truth. It was a good thing he didn't have to ponder this for long as the two jets landed, and Clint came running out with the spare arc reactor and a stretcher.
" How is he?" Clint asked after they replaced the reactor, Tony's complexion and breathing improved dramatically.
" He's got a lot of broken bones. But he's survived worse, he's strong." Natasha said, then Clint and Steve gently lifted Tony's prone body onto the stretcher, and both teams got on their respective jets, with Jean calling after them, "Call us when you know more!".
" Let's get out of here." Clint said, as they made their way to the helicarrier. He knew that none of them would receive any sleep that night.