TONY STARK
Just as he finished working on the last batch of nanites, the sound of a glass breaking caught his attention. Turning to find the reason behind the disturbance, he came upon a frequently happening scene for the past 5 months.
In her lab, Nela was once again building a robotic toy for Morgan, this time a cat, with Penny's help. Although how the 11-year-old was helping the 19-year-old, he had no idea. He could see Ben getting up from his seat to remove the broken glass, while Penny and Morgan flailed around Nela.
He hadn't exactly kept a count, but he was sure that the robotic cat had been their 9th attempt at making a toy pet for Morgan. The previous eight either didn't work, or were vetoed by him, Pepper, Betty, Rhodey or even Natasha.
Shaking his head, he focused back on the nanites starting a one last system check, before he added them to the Mark 47. He asked JARVIS to go through the software, while he handled the hardware part. It was a time-consuming process, but an hour after that, all the nanites were ready to be added to the nanite reserve on Mark 47.
15 minutes later, he stepped back from the raised platform and observed the final configuration of suits that would be facing the Chitauri. Each suit had changed a lot from the ones FRIDAY had shown them all those months ago. Even Nela's suit was different from its initial design.
The outer plates had been modified in some places to act as a hard point to attach external modules, as necessary, mini-missile launchers designed by Nela had replaced many of the suit's weapons and finally, the ace in his and Nela's suits, the nanites.
Since their Starkanium production capacity was lower than FRIDAY had planned for, they knew they won't be able to manufacture enough nanites needed to make a fully functional Mark L(he had freaked out when he saw it's details for the first time). So with the help of JARVIS and FRIDAY, he had modified the mark 47 and Nela's suit to have a nanite reserve. He had wanted to do the same to Rhodey's suit too. But FRIDAY had objected and argued against it strongly. Her point that the nanite technology was too dangerous, and doing so may lead to the military getting their hands on them. When Rhodey himself had agreed to her point, he had no choice but to accept it. Now the nanites, instead of forming the suit, would be used to repair their suits in mid-battle or make weapons or tools as needed.
A notification from JARVIS caught his attention. The message was from FRIDAY and one which he had been waiting for a long time, 4 months 29 days to be exact. It had started the day after Barton arrived at the mansion.
His meeting with the President and COS had started on a good note, with them thanking him for the 'War Machine' armor, and congratulating for the new element. There had been a small air of disappointment when he had told that he was not there for sharing more of his technology, but that had gone as soon as he had stated about knowing where Steve Roger's body was. He knew The President was a Captain America's fan, and the armed forces had never quite given up their search for the Valkyrie. So their excitement, even though irritating, was understandable. The news that SHIELD had been holding his body for the past months and ha not informed everybody, brought the reaction he and FRIDAY had been hoping for. The President had thanked him for help and gave him the leave. Later during the dinner, FRIDAY had hacked in white house servers, and everyone had been treated with the scene of The President coming down hard on Fury. When the COS had finally threatened to leak this information the press, only then fury had accepted the fact. Even after then, it had taken more than an hour of negotiation, before he had agreed to transfer Roger's still comatose body in the Army's care.
FRIDAY
Dr. Banner had brought up a point which even she had failed to consider. If SHIELD was a US government department, then there would have been no need for negotiation. The observation had drained the amusement from the room. No-one had any idea who controlled the organization. The WSC was not the answer as they were not recognized by any government organization. FRIDAY was in process of digging through SHIELD's file later the next day when Nela had remarked something. In her dimension, SHIELD was still known as SSR. So FRIDAY had decided to check every document from SHIELD's inception. It had taken her and JARVIS a few days, but they hit the paydirt in the archive section.
SHIELD was never formed as a new organization, rather the SSR after the world war had changed its name into SHIELD, with Agent Carter, Colonel Philips, and Mr. Howard Stark felicitating the process. The smile on Mr. Stark's face when FRIDAY had informed him about this, had left Morgan terrified. While Colonel Rhodes, Boss and Boss lady wanted to inform the government about this, FRIDAY knew that this was the right time. The arguments went on for more than an hour and only ended when Ms. Romanova arrived at the mansion.
"SHIELD is useful for now. No point attacking them so directly. Hold on for it, and use it when they cross the line."
FRIDAY had to face another round of arguments when JARVIS found out the reasons behind the still in coma status of Steve Rogers. SHIELD it seemed had taken the army's demand as a personal insult. There was nothing big, a faulty medicine here, a corrupted machinery there, everything with genuine reasons. But cumulatively, they had kept Rogers sleeping in army's care.
But not any more. It seems that the army had got wise about SHIELD's actions. Because 29 days before Loki's arrival on earth, Steve Rogers has woken up from his decades-long sleep.
(STEVE ROGERS POV)
The army generals had decided to add a female psychologist to the roster of people who would be in the room when Steve Rogers would finally wake up. So when his eyes opened after 70 years, the first thing he saw was not a 70-year-old medical room look alike, but an aged woman who was smiling, a man who he was sure a doctor, given something like a stethoscope, was around his neck, and a young lady in a dress.
He lifted his hands to remove the wires attached to his body, but a smaller hand stopped it.
"Please don't remove these lines, Mr. Rogers. They are showing the vitals of your body, nothing else." The woman said, pointing towards some machines beside his bed.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Jennifer Moren, Mr. Rogers. We are present at the US army base in Fort Sam Houston, Texas."
There were a lot of questions that he wanted to ask, but he asked the most important one only.
"How do I know you are not HYDRA?"
She smiled like she knew he would be asking this question. She asked the young lady to open the windows next to his bed, while pointed her hand towards his right.
"Because HYDRA would not have left you with that, Mr. Rogers."
He turned to see where she was pointing, and a sense of relief went through him. His shield was laid flat on the table next to him. The sound of marching caught his attention, and he turned to face the window. The view outside made him relax a little more. He stood up from his bed to step up to the window. The advanced vehicles and weapons in the marching soldier's hand would have made him suspicious, if not for the multiple slightly different flags of United States flowing around. He also recognized the sign on one of the vehicles. The sign of Army medical service was easily recognizable.
The woman's voice broke him out of his musings.
"You have been sleeping for 70 years, Captain.
Welcome back to the living."
He said the one thing that was going on in his mind.
"I had a date."
(3 hours later)
The doctors had left him alone after that, giving him some time alone. After spending some time freaking out, he had decided to ask for some clothes. He had taken a long hot shower, trying to center his mind, just to have any sort of stability. He received it as soon as left his allotted room. A smiling face from his past, on a much older man, was waiting for him in the room.
"Gabe."
"Captain"
The man tried to gather him in a hug, bet he saw the effort it took on his body. He brought both of them to the couch.
"You are alive, Steve. It has been so long."
"Yes. You have changed a lot."
"I have Cap. I have."
A few minutes after enquiring about everything, he asked what he really wanted to know.
"Is anybody else..?"
"No cap. I and Peg are the last of the group still breathing. Everyone else is under the earth now."
His heart lurched.
"Peggy is alive."
There was something in Gabe's face that he couldn't recognize.
"She is cap. But she is old now, and lives with her grandchildren in New York."
He didn't say anything, as his mind started to come to terms with everything. 15 mins later, the nurse arrived once again. Gabe left with her, promising to come back again soon, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
The next two days passed in a blur, as he was given an update on everything, and he started to understand how much the things had changed. On the morning of the third day, he had been going through the files of Nuremberg trials, when six people entered the room. Three were in black suits, while the other three were in army fatigues. His body tensed, as he noted they were all armed. Before he could decide anything, another person entered the room. He immediately relaxed, as he had seen the pictures of President Matthew Ellis the day before.
"Mr. President."
"Mr. Rogers. It's an honor to meet you."
"The honor is mine Mr. President."
The rest of the conversation went easily, with The president enquiring about his health and any problems he was facing. It was at the end a question was asked, that he had been wondering on since meeting Gabe.
"What are your plans now captain? Do you want to stay in the army or do you want to leave?"
He took his time before answering.
"I have no idea, Mr. President. The army was all I knew before I went under the ice, and the world outside is too different from what I knew. I have not yet decided anything."
He saw the President look at the other gentleman in the room, and give a small nod.
"Mr. Rogers, My name is Jonathan Samuels. I am the current Chief of Staff of the US armed forces. I have a suggestion that you may be agreeable to."
"yes, Sir."
"First some hard facts Mr. Rogers. Your rank as a Captain was purely ceremonial, and was never confirmed by the army before you went under."
He felt a surge of anger at that. The COS must have seen it because he lifted his hand in a stop motion.
" Since you never completed the boot camp, we have created a fast-paced program, especially for you. This program while bringing your knowledge about the world to the required level would also train you in everything required to promote you to the rank of Captain. I would suggest you go through it and receive your rank in real.
As his mind was busy pondering on the suggestion, he never noticed the COS trading a glance with the same woman, who had been there when he woke up.
Seeing no problem with the offer, he agreed to it, not knowing his life would turn into hell for the next three weeks.
(18 days later, 8 days from Loki's arrival)
FRIDAY waited until everyone had finished with their dinner before she addressed them.
"The second week's report of Mr. Rogers has been prepared. Would you like me to present it."
"Go ahead, FRIDAY."
FRIDAY projected the detailed report through the holograph machine, highlighting the parts she found interesting. Dr. Banner was the one who summarized it.
"So Mr. Rogers has stopped acting as obstinate, has been confirmed as having dormant T.B. inside him, has gone through multiple punishments in the two weeks duration, is being forced to attend multiple sessions with a psychologist, and has asked to meet Tony. Is there anything I missed?"
"Yes Dr. Banner. The unofficial suggestion of Mrs. Moren is that even though Mr. Roger's behaviour has improved, she had recommended against him leaving the army, for now."
Boss stated the same thought she had.
"Oh Goody."
After a few minutes of silence, Mordo spoke up.
"I have a question FRIDAY. If you could answer it, I would be grateful."
"I will try my best Mordo."
Ignoring Boss muttering about her not calling him by his name, he continued.
"The loss in terms of life and money would be astronomical due to the invasion. And you know what will happen. Could you stop the invasion before it starts?"
FRIDAY had hoped that this topic would not come up.
"Yes, Mordo I could."
"Then why aren't you?"
Everyone looked interested in her answer.
"Because even if this attempt is stopped before the portal opens, Thanos would try again. But when he makes the second attempt, he would also be present for it. And the earth would not be ready for it. Nobody will believe any claim about an alien invasion until they see it happening. The New York attack could be stopped, we all know that. But if it fails, there is no guarantee the world will survive the next one. And that is not acceptable."
Boss was going to say something, but Mordo interrupted him.
"You are following the policy of greater good. Sacrificing a few for the life of many."
"In simpler terms, yes Mordo."
"Hmm, Thank you for answering that."
There was a heavy silence on the table after that. Boss addressed her soon after.
"How many we can save, even if we let the invasion happen? Could you calculate that?"
She had already done so, so there was no delay in her answer.
"The number of casualties in my old dimension was calculated at 348 dead, 1178 seriously injured, and more than 2000 with light injuries. If we use the Hulk buster armor and alert the US military beforehand, we could reduce the number by more than 90%."
"I am sensing a 'but' in your answer."
"Yes, Ms. Potts. The Hulk buster armor had technology that won't be invented for at least a decade in the future. It's weapon systems are powerful enough to destroy the area as large as New York in a matter of minutes. Unveiling it now will bring too much attention to Mr. Stark, and even more questions. The world will also know about VERONICA's module's existence, which is something I do not want. The army would want to know how we knew about invasion happening if we inform them beforehand, and that has the possibility of making things very difficult."
Once again the silence spread across the table. Colonel Rhodes spoke after a few moments.
"How much time will we have between the confirmation of the invasion's location and the start of the attack."
"2 hours 4 minutes, Colonel."
"That's enough, leave the matter of army to me. I will make sure that the required units are available, somehow."
"Sure, Colonel."
Boss addressed her immediately after.
"Can we bring the hulk buster armor down before, and modify it to use the same weapons Mark 47 uses?"
"It is possible, Mr. Stark. But at least 2 weeks are needed for that process, as the armor does not use the same design technique as other armors. Rather than being based on a framework, it is designed as different modules, which fit together to form the suit. Modifying each of them is a time-consuming process."
No one had any questions after that, and after a light discussion, everyone left the room.