XAVIER'S SCHOOL, GENOSHA, JUNE 16, 4:00 AM UTC
"We look good."
"Shhhhhhhh!" Jane, Jessica, Sofia, and Jimmy quickly shushed their teammate. Jimmy glared at him and pointed to his temple.
"Right!" Michael whispered before speaking into his mind "We look good." This time the other members could appreciate Michael's comment since it was in the safe confines of their collective minds.
"We do, don't we? Blue Team for the win!" Jessica said ecstatically. The team individually spent some time admiring themselves in the mirror. It was a simple black and blue get up, with blue X's going across their jackets, or sweaters, or whatever they chose to wear when being X-Men. "3..2..1...Strike a pose!" Michael called emphatically and to his joy his entire team did as he told them, though they struggled to keep their giggles in afterwards
The group were very appreciative of their uniforms, but Jimmy wanted to keep things moving.
"Come on guys. We are not done in the slightest." Jimmy urged them on "We've still got some time to go. We all know the plan, it's time to execute."
The others looked around at each determinedly before running off to do their jobs. For Sofia and Jimmy they were leading the frontlines, they had the teams duffle bags, filled with gear and whatever else they thought they might need for the missions.
Jimmy and Sofia had the task of pushing the Blackbird out of the hangar quickly and quietly which the two heroes were managing fairly well. Jane, Jessica, and Michael had the hardest job of them all, and that was sneaking into the X-Men's private meeting room and stealing the Cerebro helmet.
As it stood, Michael had used his copycat powers to switch enough of his DNA to Beast's to unlock the door code, and currently Jessica and Jane were using their combined telepathic power to unlock the helmet from it's locker.
Once they got it the three mutants returned everything back to normal. And made a dash towards the Blackbird which was fired up and ready to go.
"Thank god for silent jet engines." Michael told them as they entered the ship, what they had deemed as the safe-zone.
"Come on guys hurry up, strap in!" Jimmy called from the cockpit. "Jessica help Jane get that helmet on her head and you guys do your thing."
"Right!" They both answered at the sametime.
"Michael, Sof, keep watch." He continued ordering around. "I'm about to take to the skies."
"Already on it."
Jimmy nodded, and quickly began flipping switches and watched the blackbird begin to rise up in the air. Personally he knew they could easily get caught, but if they did, he wanted to at least make it off the Island first.
"All clear Jimbo, get us out of here!" Michael called out to Jimmy. It was all he needed to hit the jets and speed out of Genoshan airspace.
"We made it out!" Sofia cheered.
"We haven't done anything special yet." Michael uncharacteristically tempered expectations "Our telepaths need to pull through, you okay Jane?"
"I'm fine…" Jane said with a groan. She was currently in the process of Using Cerebro, and it was safe to say that this wasn't something she really wanted to do again anytime soon. The pressure it was putting on her was immense, she didn't want to crack under pressure, as the illusion she was throwing up was a big reason they were able to leave so easily.
"Don't worry Jane, I've got you." Jessica insisted "Just lean on me, I can shoulder some of the power.
"R-right." Jane nodded, grabbing Jessica's hand who instantly began feeling the effects of simply being associated with Cerebro. Jessica was a Telepath but she was raw and not as strong as Megan or Jane. her Telekinesis was more of her strong suit.
Still the two heroes managed to weather the storm and get the powers under control "Alright Jimmy. What do I look for, how do we narrow this down."
"Look for truth, justice, and the American way. That should find us Captain America." Michael offered.
"While I don't doubt that wouldn't work. We should look for Azari. Storm's son. He should be the easiest to find considering he's a mutant with a signature you've encountered before."
"Right…" Jane agreed, "Attempting to lock on to the target." In her mind Jane was flying. She was moving from country to country, city to city, alley to alley, at what felt like near lightspeed searching for one mutant. There weren't even that many mutants anymore but being a novice user, this was a little hard.
Eventually though with Jessica's help, they located a signature in the Arctic. And the non-human signatures around it gave them some faith that they had found the right people. "Head for the Arctic Circle."
"Uhmmm, Are you sure?" This was the first time Jimmy truly found himself questioning his telepathic friends.
Jane pulled the Cerebro off of her head, and smirked "I've never been so sure of something in my life."
"Well alright then." Jimmy gave in and began to plug the coordinates in for the Arctic "The Avengers here we come."
"Hope you guys are ready." Michael said as he kicked his feet up onto the Blackbird's dash. "After this, life will never be the same again."
ARCTIC CIRCLE, BIODOME, JUNE 16, 6:00 AM UTC
Lightning crashed from the sky and James barely avoided the blow, but the casual way he did it, you wouldn't believe he had just avoided certain death by mutant lightning.
"You've got the advantage, Azari. Push!" Torunn called from the sideline. The mutant did as he was told and pushed forward attempting to strike the speedy super-soldier, but to his annoyance he couldn't land a blow.
James was faster than he remembered. It was crazy because Azari knew that he himself was faster as well.
James ducked a fist and began to try and press an offensive advantage, using his shield-fighting skills to make Azari a little worried and he might have had the man on the ropes if it weren't for his sudden flight to the skies..
"Smart evade!" Torunn praised. "Now-
BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!
Her instructions were quickly cut off by the sound of the alarm blaring throughout the entire Biodome. Immediately training was stopped as they all recognized the alarm as something they had only heard once or twice since they had been in the Biodome.
The intruder alarm. Once accidentally triggered by Vision when he was getting chased by Ultron, and when Ultron had actually come to visit, which hadn't been fun. But that was over two years ago.
The only threat who would try this now was the Masters of Evil. But it was still confusing. They understood the thinking behind Madripoor. But you had to be downright stupid to think you could actually get to the Arctic Circle after getting near their borders.
"Come on, we know the drill. Get ready and hit the meeting room." James snapped everyone out of it. For the five Avengers despite it being so early in the morning they weren't phased. This was just another long day.
Getting to the meeting room, Riri and Pym had clearly been pulling an all-nighter. They didn't look worried in the slightest and that was interesting to the heroes.
"This is the footage we pulled from the Aircraft that had invaded our airspace before retreating a little bit." Riri told them right as they entered the room.
The footage was of a sleek black jet that Torunn, James, and Azari instantly recognized as the X-Men's Blackbird. Genosha had been a unique experience and not one you forget.
"It's the Blackbird...There's probably X-Men in there." James told them, amazed at the current development.
"You think it's the kids you guys were talking to?" Francis asked curiously, he hadn't had a chance to see any of the X-Men since he hadn't gone to Genosha.
"Maybe, I'd like to think it's them, they looked a little more receptive to our pleas than the older ones. This is what I was hoping for, but I don't know." James told them honestly "I think our best option is for Torunn to head out and make contact with the Blackbird before bringing them out here."
"Is that okay Tony?" Torunn asked the Inventor for permission and the man could only nod. He couldn't help but feel a little worried. If it was the older X-Men the chances they would hate him were high, and if it was the younger ones...How could he let them around without telling the X-Men. It would be so unethical.
He couldn't imagine how annoyed and angry he'd be if the X-Men knew where the Avengers were and didn't tell him.
"Yeah, go check it out and we will just wait around here." Tony gave her the go ahead. Torunn called Arnbjorg to her location and flew off leaving the others in total anticipation for who she was going to bring back to the Biodome.
"Pym, you don't seem all that excited." Francis called out their Pixie friend, The boy simply raised an eyebrow before uncharacteristically shrinking and flying away.
"Huh, he isn't the biggest morning person." Francis assured Amadeus and Riri who were confused at seeing the usually optimistic hero like that.
For Azari however he couldn't keep the frown off his face. These past few weeks with Pym had probably been the most annoyed he had ever been with him in years, and he was sure the feelings were mutual. The difference was Azari still had no clue why he was mad, and he felt like he and maybe James were the only ones who saw that.
The first assumption had been Torunn. He usually needed her to talk to every once in a while, but this wasn't that. He had been acting weird before Torunn actually left for Asgard. Besides she had been back for 3 whole days, this should have been solved by now.
Things were going pretty decent for the heroes so it was just really confusing for Azari to see Pym so...distraught. What could possibly be making him like this?
Pym was closing in on 14 so Azari assumed it might just be puberty, but to be honest, he was just 15 and going through that himself. He doubted it could have been that. His mind raced around for a while attempting to figure out why exactly Pym was so angry, when he didn't have to be anymore.
His thoughts were cut short as Torunn radioed in, she was arriving with their guests. "Let's head to the main floor." James commanded the group and the excitement of the entire situation was beginning to show itself. X-Men? Here? In 2010? It felt insane, truly a new era.
They all waited near the compound doors, as the X-Men began to come out of their jet once in a while responding to whatever it seemed Torunn was asking them. It was cool, but for James and Azari as they watched them come near they both were shocked as these were not the mutants they talked to.
"Wow, mutants definitely let you know they're different." Francis whistled as he saw Jessica, chalk white skin and a black circle over her eye, it was sooo different from what he was used to and honestly it was refreshing. "These are the guys you talked to?"
"No actually, I never saw them. But I don't think that matters." James said with a shrug, Torunn and the others finally entered the building.
"Here they are," Torunn presented them dramatically with a bow. "The X-Men."
The five heroes were standing very close to one another, one might even suggest they were posing, as they had various looks of seriousness on their face, whilst also looking picture perfect. James was the first to move to the new heroes and introduce himself.
"James Rogers," he shook the blonde with wild hair's hand first. After the Savage Land mission it wasn't hard to tell who he might be related to. "You may know me better as-
"Captain America!" The one with purple hair burst out, causing her teammates to look at her with varying degrees of surprise finding her outburst funny. The others in the room weren't even phased, they had seen it too many times with the world's most popular superhero. "I-uh...I love your work."
"I appreciate it." James moved on continuing the introductions "As I was saying you guys know me, Over there's Francis aka Hawkeye, he needs no introduction."
"Hey." Francis greeted and flashed a little grin
"That's Azari or Black Panther, our very own resident mutant."
"Pleasure to meet you guys."
"You already met Torunn." James moved on, and Torunn simply gave a nod, "And this is Henry, but we just call him Pym. Also known as the Wasp."
The boy didn't bother saying anything to the guests, and James simply sighed "Yeah, he's not exactly the happiest camper at the moment. Lastly is Tony who I'm sure you all know as well. Those are all the people you should know. The new additions start with Amadeus. He's really smart."
"I can't wait to study you!" Amadeus greeted excitedly, but quickly backed down at their stares "Uh, joke."
"Hope so." Was all Jimmy told him, and the others couldn't help but laugh "Alright that's Riri. She's new as well, super smart, and has started coming on missions with us as Ironheart."
"Hello." She greeted quietly
"Daisy's the last one. She leads our group of Scavengers, you might have heard of them."
"Really?" Jessica questioned excitedly looking towards Daisy "You lead the world's best strike team!?"
"Heh, yeah I guess I do." Daisy told her proudly.
"So cool."
"Yeah and other than Daisy, there's Bruce, Vision, the longest active Avenger, Jocasta and that's it for the most part." James ended, wondering if he should talk about the recently acquired relic of time.
"Well I guess we should introduce ourselves." Sofia spoke up for the team.
"Yeah, and a little demonstration of what you can do." Francis added.
"Alright, I'll go first." Jimmy started, "My name's Jimmy Hudson." SNIKT!
"The Wolverine. I think the name speaks for itself."
"Very, uhm, very nice demonstration." Francis said whilst slowly backing away from the clawed man.
"I'll go next. Sofia Da Costa." The latina girl told them confidently before floating in the air and lighting on fire for a brief moment "They call me Solstice. The sun is my best friend."
"Hot. I meant literally of course." Francis corrected after a stare down from Torunn.
"Next?" Azari tried to move things along.
"Oh me, me, me for sure!" Michael spoke up. He had a gun on his hip that he pulled out and span on his finger like an old western movie star "Some call me Salvo, One-shot kid, Never Miss Boy, etc, etc. But that's not my real power."
Instantly he shapeshifted into Jimmy right beside him, looking just like his friend "I can shapeshift to look like anyone, down to the genetic level. I'm Copycat" he told them before quickly shifting back.
"Seriously?" Pym spoke for the first time "That's incredible. You have no limits."
"Well, shifting that far can affect me, because then I've effectively become another person. Memories and all, if I do it too much or for too long, it can be hard to remember who I actually am."
"Interesting."
"I'm Jane Braddock." She told them plainly "They call me Psylocke, like my mother. I'm a pretty good telepath, and a powerful telekinetic and psychic fighter." To prove her point she showed off a purple psychic knife before putting away "I'm the one who got us here."
"Rude taking all the credit." Jessica playfully shoved her "My name's Jessica Thurman, They call me Cascade. I've got some luck powers from my Mom. and some TK from my dad. Unlike Jane, my telepathy isn't very good at all, but I can help the others out when they need it."
"And that's our team basically. The X-Men Blue Team." Michael gave the final introduction.
"Cool."
"What made you guys want to come over here?" Azari questioned.
"You probably didn't see us, as we were hiding around when you arrived the first time, but we heard you talking to the X-Men. We think we have the abilities to help, and even if the X-Men don't want to do anything, we've come here to help in their place." Jimmy explained.
"Well that's amazing." James told them with a smile "The team is very happy to have you. We can get you set up and briefed on the current situation we are in."
"Sounds good."
"It does." Tony interrupted "And I do appreciate the lengths you've all gone to come and lend a helping hand. But...As a guardian, I can't knowingly have you guys here and not let the X-Men know about it."
"Awww, please don't tell the X-Men. They'll kill us and take us back!" Michael exclaimed
"I'll do my best to make sure everything goes well, but I just can't do that to them." Tony admits "Don't worry It's gonna be fine."
Tony then left the room, having every intention of finding a way to contact the X-Men who were all the way in Genosha.
The Blue Team members looked at each other shocked that their plan had crumbled so quickly. They had never expected to get ratted out when they left. And by Tony Stark of all people.
"Welp." Michael looked at the team, who still seemed to be shocked at the sudden turn of events "We are screwed. Say your prayers folks, because the X-Men are going to skin us alive."
"Relax." James insisted "Tony wants to do right by the X-Men and I understand it as the relationship between us isn't exactly great at the moment, but things are going to be fine. It's way too late for things to backfire now, You guys are here and it really gives the X-Men no choice but to come over here and work things out with us. Either way it's a win."
"If you're sure." Jane told him, but even the reassurance of Captain America was doing little to soothe the minds of the young X-Men. "Alright, come on." Francis said suddenly "Let's take a tour of the place. We'll show you where you're staying."
The Avengers shuffled the X-Men out of the room very quickly hoping to take their minds off of the possible punishments they'd be getting when the X-Men got back. However as everyone left, the tiniest member of the Avengers stayed behind, fury still written all over his face. Pym was not happy.
Not in the slightest. After finally having the heart to pick up his parents journals again things simply went from bad to worse but...he was dealing with it. Getting over it even. But the delve deeper into his father's work allowed him to find some very concerning things. Things of the Ultron kind that just blew his mind.
He was going to be waiting for Tony, and whether the inventor wanted to talk or not he was going to.
THE VAULT, COLORADO, JUNE 16, 7:00 UTC
The Vault was really looking great. Well as great as a prison could look. But still for Daisy it was impressive the way her Scavengers were handling things, and it was nice being outside the Biodome even if it was to do checkups on the Prison.
Her and Eli had been put in charge of a lot of the operations for the Vault. The cleaning up and restoration, and the moving of the villains from the Biodome to the prison. They had already moved Radioactive Man, and Crossfire first as they were the ones to watch out for, the chances they could have been plotting were small but significant enough that getting them into cells was the top priority.
And now the two agents of the Masters of Evil found themselves behind bars in maybe the toughest supermax facility in the world. Daisy liked to believe that even 15 years ago it would still be one of the best.
After those two however they took their time with the last one. Omega Red. The first villain caught since Ultron's demise. In a way he kind of kick started everything. After that the Savage Land mission for the Avengers. Things weren't really the same. From finding the X-Men, to going to California, to this entire mess with the Masters of Evil. It was pretty wild. She had freaking powers now!
"Daisy come in." Her comm unit rang out, Daisy stopped her trot through the halls of the prison and responded to Eli's voice "Daisy here, what's up Eli."
"Omega Red's transport has landed. We are ready for your orders and to take him to his cell."
"Alright, perfect." Daisy called "Start wheeling him in, I'll get some of the others and meet you at the main entrance."
"Gotcha. Eli out."
Everything was right on time. Daisy corralled a couple of the other Scavengers and they met up with Eli and two of the other Scavengers who were wheeling Omega Red into the facility. He was in a huge containment cell that Tony and Bruce had designed. The life stealing mutant was probably going to be locked up for the rest of his natural life.
It was interesting to Daisy because for a lot of these villains returning from "the grave" they might have been accepted back into society with open arms had they simply stopped being jerks. But apparently even after what was nearly the end of the world they couldn't help but also be assholes.
What was that saying: A tiger can't change it's stripes? It seemed like they were learning that alot this year. But she guessed it was better now than later.
The group of Scavengers all helped get Omega Red into his cell, it was a fairly easy task, and it was cool to be considered the big gun in this situation if a fight broke out. Everything went smoothly however, and so there was no longer anything to do. So with a couple of hours left on Daisy's shift, she headed for her office.
When Daisy finally got to her rather large office, she hadn't expected to see anyone there. No less a man sitting in her chair. And so immediately she was on edge.
She entered her office quickly, shutting the door fast hoping no one noticed, she thrust her hands up in the air, and was ready to blast the man if he made any sudden movements "Get up quietly don't make any moves, and maybe I'll go easy on you."
The man didn't do anything but put his hands up slowly "Relax, this isn't what you think it is."
Now that things had slowed down a bit she had time to really analyze the person in front of her. He was a dark skinned man, similar in complexion to Eli. He was bald, clean shaven, probably around the ages of 25-35, and he wore all black military like clothes with a trench coat. But the most interesting thing was the eyepatch over his left eye. And Daisy was pretty sure it wasn't for show.
"Who are you?" Daisy questioned, she was a little less sure of herself now that she had really took the man in. She didn't necessarily find him to have a threatening demeanor.
"Just relax, I'll explain everything so just...put the hands down." He told her in a bit of a joking manner but it was clear he meant business. And despite how horribly wrong this could go. Daisy did as she was told.
"So who are you?"
"Marcus. Marcus Johnson." He hesitated before speaking, "Tell me Daisy. How do you feel about the state of the world?"
It wasn't what she expected but the question did make her feel at ease about putting her guard down "It's not...bad. I'd say we might actually be in a good place, better than we've ever been."
"Even with the current...international distractions? This Masters of Evil?"
"No one's called them that." Daisy pointed out.
"No but I'm sure you, the other Scavengers, and the Avengers call them that fairly regularly. That's who we're dealing with right?"
"What do you know?"
"There's a timeline for our world. Right now is going to be the most influential time in our entire history. No moment in the world's history matters more than this one. And that's because we can actually change things. But I'm sure you know that already."
"Of course and I think we are doing a pretty good job. The Avengers have done a great job of getting things done."
"The Avengers are a problem." Marcus told her plainly.
"Wha?" Was all she could manage.
"The Avengers do great work. Amazing work even. They are the world's leading force in World's Security. Without them Ultron would most definitely still be ruling over the planet. But they are a problem because this isn't an effective way to run the world."
"What makes you say that? You just admitted they are effective."
"And they probably always will be." Marcus didn't back down. "But when the entire world is consistently dependent on 5 teenagers to be the protectors of the planet 24/7, 365 you're simply setting yourself up for failure."
And she could see the logic in his thinking. Even at the moment restoration efforts had to be slowed because of the Masters of Evil. It was only recently they had started it up again. If somebody else popped up and was a problem, was something like this going to happen again? It was a question rightly asked, and needed an honest answer.
"And I'm guessing you have a plan?" Daisy assumed.
"Yes you…And well me."
"Explain."
"You are perfect for the job. I and many others think so. I've watched you from afar and your skills are nearly unmatched by anyone who isn't an Avenger. Your previous experience would obviously be a big help."
"Wha-what job?"
"Like I said in due time. You and the other Avengers just make sure you keep Valerie safe. When she's safe and she's won. I'll explain everything." Marcus told her, and he began to get up seemingly ready to leave.
"And so I'm just supposed to wait until then?"
"Don't worry I'll keep in touch." And with a nod before he exited he was gone. She was in shock for a few seconds but she quickly ran for the door and looked outside only to see that he was nowhere to be found.
"What the heck..." Daisy whispered to herself. She was somewhat amazed by the tricks of Marcus Johnson and found herself entirely intrigued with everything that was going on. Somehow Daisy was sure that life had just gotten weirder.
ARCTIC CIRCLE, BIODOME, JUNE 16, 7:30 AM UTC
"Pym just...calm down." Tony told the young superhero, he backed away hesitantly, and was worried as he increasingly lost control of the situation.
"NO! I'm not just gonna calm down Tony! This is my parents we're talking about! MY LEGACY!" Pym yelled at the inventor absolutely fuming at everything that had been unfolding over the past weeks.
What he had learned about his Mom and his Dad over the past couple of weeks had been draining, and just an all around horrifying experience. And couple that with the fact that it seemed like Pym was learning about something new that Tony had hid from them every week was making him so angry.
His father and mother might have been the most dysfunctional couple in the world. Certainly the most dysfunctional of their era, and in the superhero community. That was something that Tony kept from him.
His father was basically a crazy person, who hit his mom and tried to attack the Avengers multiple times, and despite that Tony never said a thing.
And of course the worst offence of all. The fact that his father created Ultron and Tony hadn't ever thought to tell him. No one thought to tell him. Not Bruce, or Jocasta, or Vision. He couldn't even blame the team as they probably believed that Tony created the AI like he told them.
Instead it was his father who had nearly doomed the world and had gotten hundreds of millions of people killed. And for some reason Tony didn't think this was information he deserved to know? How could he?
Didn't he understand how much Pym adored the man? How he took his word as gospel? So why were there so many lies?
"Pym please. I'll answer everything but you need to calm down." Tony maintained once again, Pym couldn't help but gnash his teeth, but eventually he managed to take a deep breath and somewhat calm down.
"Why did you never tell me about how my parents lived? Why wouldn't you tell me that my Father created Ultron?" Pym questioned emotionally.
"Henry, you have to understand. It's not an easy thing to tell. All of this stuff. It happened decades ago. There was never any point in rehashing old Avenger issues. It wasn't relevant."
"Clearly it was relevant enough if you lied about it!"
"It wasn't a lie!" Tony shot back, raising his voice at his young protege. Now Pym was more confused than ever, and confused and angry did not make a good mix. Pym was ready to yell back when the rest of the Avengers scampered into the room looking more worried than ever.
The members of the so-called "Blue Team" followed in afterwards. It was almost comical as they tried to slink back into the background and not be seen but it was quite obvious they were there and listening.
"Pym, Tony...What in the world is going on?" James asked, looking very annoyed. He made some subtle eye movements to their guests, and then pointedly looked at the bickering duo.
But Pym was mad and way past subtleties. "TONY'S AN ASSHOLE AND DIDN'T TELL ME THAT MY PARENTS WERE CRAZY AND THAT My DAD CREATED ULTRON!"
"Pym!" Torunn immediately chided because of the language. But the rest of Avengers, Pym, Riri, and the newly arrived X-Men were in shock, none knowing what to say.
"Wait." Francis was the first to speak up "Run that by me again?"
"My parents are crazy. But most importantly. My father was the real creator of Ultron. And Tony never thought to tell me."
"Tony...is this true?" Azari asked the Inventor calmly. If it was true he wasn't exactly sure how he felt about it.
"It's...not as simple as Pym is making it sound." Tony finally spoke up for himself. The Inventor seemed to be struggling with everything happening so fast. Luckily for him Banner and Vision entered the foyer, it seemed the whole gang was here. In reality these 3 and Jocasta were the only ones who could ever know the truth about the entire situation.
"But it's true! Which means you lied, lied for years!" Pym accused him
"Pym just calm down alright?" James started "Let's take a breath, and relax. We can figure every-
"No I'm not just going to relax James." Pym interrupted and seemed to regret just a little bit when the Super-Soldier's eyes narrowed "None of you would if this was your parents."
"Wait so...How exactly did Ultron come to be then. And you guys might as well tell the truth." Francis tried to bring the conversation back.
"I was never told by Tony that he didn't create Ultron." Bruce was the one who started "I figured it out on my own. When I was...soul searching. I had a lot of time to think about Ultron and what he did to the world. And while I wouldn't have been surprised if Stark had managed to do something that stupid. I was also hesitant to believe it was all him after remembering what Ultron told the Hulk."
"What did he say?"
"He had told the Hulk that the Avengers had always thought of me as an outcast. An even bigger outcast than his creator. And while Tony could be annoying. There was no doubt that he was a huge piece of our team. He was never an outcast. Pym's father however-
"He became one. After all that Yellowjacket stuff, right?"
"Yes...exactly." Bruce admitted, just a bit shocked at Pym's knowledge "Now at the time the Hulk was in and out of the Avengers but still you hear things, and it became quite the story in the Superhero community. Regardless after hearing Ultron's words. I knew that there was more to it than Tony was admitting, I just never really saw a need to address it."
"Pym how do you know all these things?" Azari probed, hoping he didn't set off the ticking time bomb that was Pym right now.
"The journals Amadeus gave us. Both of my parents were very detailed. My Mother's was...revealing. And my father's outright talks about building Ultron. Tony I know you didn't make it so why did you lie all this time!"
"It wasn't a lie. Not exactly." Tony told them, sighing. When did things suddenly get so crazy? "I did contribute in creating Ultron. I put the ideas in Hank's head. Ideas about World Security, and World Peace, an almost all knowing sentient robot that was a force for good. A peacekeeping force. Ultron we named it."
"Hank and I were hellbent on getting this to work but if you know me, at times a more interesting project can be capable of swaying my attention. The Ultron idea seemed like a good one but a flawed one. And for me I never made it past the blueprints. I never added AI or coding. Ultron was just words...I told Hank I was scrapping the project. He didn't like it. For once it seemed like we were getting along again and I was killing it off. It was 1993 Francis had just been born, the Avengers had been planning out retirement for months now and the world was safe. Because the world was safe I reasoned we didn't need to go any further with Ultron. The Avengers could retire and even if another threat appeared there would still be heroes like Spider-Man ready to stop it. We were fine."
"This never stopped Hank who had his own copy of schematics. And his own personal drive to do something...Something to redeem himself in the eyes of the Avengers, the eyes of his peers, The eyes of his friends, and most importantly Janet. A couple of months later. Ultron is born, a few weeks after that he defects from his programming. A couple of months later he created Vision and Jocasta who both almost instantly defect from their programming. And weeks after that the Avengers scramble together one last time to fight one last baddie and officially retire. Defeating Ultron 'for good.' So yes I did help create Ultron. Without me there is no Ultron. I didn't lie."
Everyone in the room was tense as Tony finished retelling the story. It really was something they should have already known. For Azari, James, and Francis they were all thinking similar things. This was information that could have benefitted them in so many ways, but it wasn't really the end of the world, and they weren't so sure Pym should have been going crazy about it.
"Tony a lie of omission is still a lie." Torunn finally told the retired hero "I think it's quite obvious you meant well but-
"How can you decide what's important to me!?" Pym exploded once again "This is information I need to know. My entire life is a lie."
"I mean call me crazy but...I think your being a little dramatic Pym." Francis admitted "So what Tony didn't create Ultron who cares, It just makes the fact he let us all think he did more...meaningful. He shouldered the blame for the end of the world. It's going to be hard for me to be mad at him for that."
"Of course you'd say that, you can't ever understand."
"But what is your problem Pym?" Azari asked the young genius "It sounds like you're mad at Tony for lying to you about things and I get that but...I thought we all recognized there was always going to be things that Tony hid from us and it was just for the good of the team."
"How is me not knowing this for the good of the team!? Huh? How does this benefit anybody?"
"It stops freakouts like this." Francis muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. But before Pym could retort James was already jumping in.
"Tony probably shouldn't have kept this from us, as the information is kind of vital." James tried to take Pym's side a bit "I'm pretty sure the government and others believe that Tony had a major role in creating Ultron but no one can blame you for making blueprints. Our movement has been restricted because of this so maybe you should have told us. But also I can understand why you wouldn't say anything."
"How could you understand something like that?"
"Well because you're already freaking out." Francis interjected "I get why you're mad at Tony, and your Mom and your Dad, and blah blah blah, but it's not that big of a deal. Who cares if your Dad created Ultron."
"Who cares, that's my Legacy. Of course I care!"
"Really so I'm guessing that the entire time we thought Tony created Ultron it made us all think differently of him right?" Francis questioned.
"I get what Francis is saying." Azari added on, "You seem to think your life is over now or you have to be a certain way because of something your father did. Life isn't like that. We aren't just what our parents are, and whatever you've learned about your family shouldn't make you think differently of them."
"Oh really? We aren't just copies of our parents? James doesn't wear stars or have a shield because of his Dad? Azari isn't the Black Panther, or the coming King of Wakanda because of his lineage? Torunn doesn't wander around trying to be as Asgardian as possible because she's an Alien? Francis, you use a bow and arrow for what reason? There's only one, and it's because your father used one. We are what our parents leave us. This was their legacy that we all adopted and now I'm learning that my family isn't what I thought it was."
"If I may...interject." Vision spoke up for the first time "Pym you are clearly the most angry at Tony's deception, and that I don't think I can help with. But the idea that you have to be something because of your parents...Ultron was my creator. And I'd like to think I've done a good job at distancing myself from his...legacy. You don't have to be anything you don't want to be."
"It's not the same."
"But isn't it?" James insisted "Pym you're justified in your anger but you're being unreasonable. Just because your parents made a mistake doesn't mean you have to. That's not how life works. You don't have to emulate everything they do."
"Yeah well-
"Sorry to interrupt." Amadeus told them suddenly "But, I have an incoming transmission, and it's not even encrypted. Supposedly...it's from Taskmaster. Do I pick it up?"
This new and random knowledge quickly changed the situation. One moment, everyone was focused on Pym and his issue, the next moment. It was like no one could care any less.
"Head to the meeting room, there's better protection from over there." Tony told Amadeus quickly.
"Team suit up just in case." James got back into leader mode "Blue Team...head to the meeting room, you probably won't be able to do anything, but you can watch."
The five heroes wasted no time scampering out of there, and the rest began to make themselves scarce also. Vision phased through the ground, and Banner simply left without a word following Amadeus and Riri.
"So that's it huh? No one cares anymore?" Pym questioned angrily as the OGs got ready to leave the room.
"It's not like that Pym." Azari tried, but he wasn't having it.
"No, I get it. You have time for everything else, but not me. Or any of my problems…Tony can just lie about everything and no one cares. That's just great. And you know what that just shows-
"Pym, please just shut up!" James told the boy angrily, "We are dealing with the Masters of Evil and Taskmaster just called our freaking base of operations. We don't have time to deal with all of this. There are quite frankly more important things at stake here so if you can't be mature at the moment. Just go to your room."
The young hero took one look at each of the heroes with tears seemingly brimming in his eyes before shrinking and flying off, clearly not planning to join the others in the meeting room.
"Really James? You couldn't have been nicer?" Torunn asked frustrated with the other's behaviour "You know if this was any of you three you would be this upset too."
They didn't have time to retort as she flew off in search of their small friend. And with everything happening so fast Francis couldn't help but laugh.
"You know I'll always find it funny to see you get humbled but, Pym is being way too soft. It shouldn't matter if his father created Ultron. We thought Tony had and it never ever made us think of him differently. He's being a baby."
"Yes, but maybe you were harsh." Azari admitted "You aren't wrong Francis he is being immature but he's only 13. He's never met his real parents before and only knows what we've told him, which is that they are good people, but clearly they had some problems we never knew about. I think it's fair for him to be acting the way he is, even if it is pretty immature."
James sighed, getting mad at himself for exploding at his young teammate as Azari was right "I'll apologize to him when we have time, right now we have a collect call from one of the most dangerous men in the world. Let's deal with that first."
The three heroes left for the meeting room, and that left Tony all alone to process this whole mess. It already felt like the heroes were growing up too fast for his liking this past year. But for Torunn, James, Francis, and Azari he could stomach it a bit better.
But with Pym. No ifs, ands or buts, he had raised him since he was just a baby. He had taken the blame as he genuinely did believe things were his fault at the time, and to save Pym the knowledge of his father being responsible for the deaths of millions. But he never expected Amadeus could find books that proved his words false, and that in the end Pym would end up hating him, and his real parents.
As Tony shook himself out of it, and headed for the meeting room, he could only hope that things would work out. He couldn't deal with the group splintering. Especially not now. It was far too early for these problems. "Onto the next."