Disclaimer: I do not own any movies set up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars movies, cartoons, games, books, or comics. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with a commercial aim. It is not for sale or rent.


Phase 6: Fantastic headaches

=SI=

Part 1

=SI=


Stark Industries and Chinese Starlight Consortium sign up an unprecedented deal! Stark licenses fusion technology and the production of civilian exoskeletons to Chinese manufacturers!

Forbes magazine

Conservative politicians accuse Stark of selling out American advantages and lack of patriotism!

Fox News

US government refuses to comment on China deal!

USA Today

A high level US government official rumored to be part of the negotiations between Starlight Consortium and Stark Industries. What does it mean if true?

New York Times

Protesters attempt to block roads leading to experimental fusion facility on the outskirts of New York. Riot Police out in force clashes with rioters! Vice-Governor Lombardi condemns the protest!

New York Times


=SI=

SHIELD facility White

location classified

"This thing is fascinating! Just look at those readings!" Reed Richards exclaimed.

"Sis, why is your ex here?" Johnatan Storm asked again. "What about you, Ben? Any ideas?"

"I'm just a guard here." Grimm shrugged. "You have a higher clearance than me."

"I still don't know how you got involved with SHIELD, brother mine!" Susan exclaimed. "Besides, you're the one working here! How the hell would I know why

Reed's here?!

"The world wept." Victor groaned.

"Shut up, Doom!" Richards and Johnathan shouted at the same time.

"Jonathan!"

Damn, Sue was magnificent when riled up! Victor briefly smiled until his gaze briefly flashed over Richards. The presence of that fool was anything but amusing.

"You don't have the necessary clearance to know." Sue's brother sounded honest.

"I like this less and less!"

"Hey, I'm

just here to guide you, you two lovebirds. I have work to do. Ben will be the one babysitting you. Try not to piss him off." Jonathan pointed a thumb at the small mountain of a man wearing a plain SHIELD uniform that did nothing to hide his muscles.

"Perish the thought," Victor muttered. The only one present he wanted to piss off was Richards, anyway. All he wanted from Sue's brother was for the young man to shut up as long as he didn't have something constructive to say.

"Reed, what are you doing?" Sue demanded in a sharp tone that made Doom perk up.

His gaze went to the offending man. Richards had his hands stuck in a pair of protective gloves connected to the containment case holding the artifact they were here to examine.

"He's doing something foolish, like always, Sue." Doom walked around his girlfriend and looked at the case.

"Ben, try to keep them from each other's throats, will you? I'll owe you one."

"More than one," Grimm grumbled grimly. "These two looks like cocks ready to tear each other apart." He snorted and glanced at Johnny's sister. "Not that I can blame them." He added quietly.

"Oi, that's my sister!"

"I've said nothin'!" Grimm shrugged.

"Richards, do you poke every piece of alien technology you run into?" Doom demanded.

"This is the first piece of alien technology I've ever seen. I'll poke at it until I know everything about it!"

"Oh, get off your high horses, you two!" Susan snapped in frustration.

"Huh, did that gem just blink? Richards, don't poke it! You don't know what…." Victor trailed off. "Is it me, or did it just get cold?"

"The hell are you talking about, Doom? This facility has a proper climate control…." Grimm demanded. "Damn, it's a bit chilly."

Jonathan turned away from the sealed door of the

laboratory and walked back to the container.

"What did you do?" He demanded as well.

"I just…" Richards pressed the gem on the top of the cube.

"Why did you do that?!" Doom demanded.

"Everyone, calm down, now!" Susan snapped and shuddered. It was suddenly damn cold.

The cube shifted and opened like a metal flower, revealing a shattered crystal core. The fragments pulsed with soothing bright energy, followed by darkness so deep it devoured the light. That made it look like a gaping void in the middle of the containment chamber.

Richards struggled to get his hands away from the thick gloves.

"Sue, get away!" Doom briskly moved to the side and pulled his girlfriend away from the case. It was frosting over as if someone pumped it with super-cooled gas.

"This is Grimm. We've got a situation in the laboratory…."

A loud crack echoed throughout the room. The case shattered. A wave of chilling darkness erupted from the breached containment vessel. Victor felt as if his blood froze in his veins. He couldn't move! Sue felt like an icicle in his hands!

Blinding yet soft and soothing light chased away the chill.

Victor's mind drifted, carried on the surface of a slow stream of pure energy. Light and darkness shimmered in its depths, chasing each other. Without thinking, he stretched his fingers and touched the surface.

This was amazing! This was power!

That very thought burned within his mind. Doom raised his hand and pulled the river's energy within himself. He could feel it wash throughout his body, changing, reshaping him. He wanted more. He needed more!

Suddenly, the surface below Victor could no longer support him. He fell into the energy river and felt like drowning.

Victor screamed even as energy flowed within him. Lighting cracked, and he knew no more.


=SI=

Disneyland
California, US

"Romanoff, what did those idiots do?" Stark demanded after watching a muted security recording from a laboratory's camera.

"That's what we hoped you could tell us."

"That teaching device shouldn't have been able to do that even if it failed catastrophically. Of course, it shouldn't have been able to do what it did the last time either." Stark grumbled. He shook his head and gave her back the tablet.

Stark looked away from Natasha and looked at the nearby building, where his daughter hopefully enjoyed the famous Captain America ride.

"What's their status?" Stark returned his attention to Natasha.

When she didn't immediately answer, he raised an eyebrow at her. Fury wouldn't have dispatched her to get Stark for a consultation if they were merely dead or fine.

"They've demonstrated certain abilities like yours." Natasha allowed.

"Did they get memories too?"

"If they did, they're hiding it much better than you, Mr. Stark. We haven't noticed any particular changes in personality besides what can be accounted for by extreme stress."

"What can they do?" Stark demanded. "The status of the device?"

"Whatever Richards caused destroyed it. We were able to recover only fragments."

"Unless you shoot it with a particle beam, that shouldn't have happened either!" Stark grumbled. "Now spill. It's not like you to dance around the topic."

Natasha snorted. It wasn't like he knew her!

"Invisibility, telekinesis, pyrokinesis… control of lighting, and perhaps being tough or able to resist lighting and fire. There were incidents." Natasha told Stark what she knew.

"Like this?" He raised his open palm, and suddenly purple lighting danced between his fingers.

Natasha blinked, and it was still there. Stark clenched his fist, and the lightning vanished.

"Just like this, yes." So much for Stark merely being a telekinetic. Whatever his powers were, they were oddly versatile.

"Depending on what those idiots did to themselves, they might need training." Stark groaned. "Like I didn't have more than enough work already."

"Training?"

"What, did you think I got born knowing how to use telekinesis or become invisible?" He scoffed.

When he put it that way… Then again, it wasn't like Stark bothered to explain to anyone exactly what his powers were, just some of what he could do.

"Are you willing to assist us, Mr. Stark?"

"After we're done here, and Hannah is safely on the way back home. Call whoever is looking after those five and tell their minder to keep them calm. Spiking emotions can make it harder to control such abilities." Stark explained.

It was Natasha's turn to grimace. From what she saw and heard, those five were anything but calm and collected.


=SI=

Part 2

=SI=


CEO of Doom Industries, Victor von Doom missing!

New York Times


=SI=

SHIELD facility White

location classified

Intelligence agencies still loved their underground facilities. A flight to a small airfield nested in the Rockies, then a ride on a Blackhawk got us to where SHIELD contained my new set of potential fantastic headaches.

Most of the names sounded familiar. Von Doom was an industrialist, scientist, and CEO of Von Doom industries. Now that was a proper Sith name. I recall meeting the bastard a few times. Considering how big SI was, he wasn't exactly a happy camper. It might have been envy, and it might have been worry that I could use SI's advantages to fuck over his company. That wasn't a unique sentiment. Things might have turned up differently if it wasn't for Doom being arrogant. Then I opened my mouth, and things went south. We made the papers, of course. Since then, Pepper made sure we wouldn't run into each other again if possible.

There was something more to the name, yet it remained elusive no matter how much I tried to remember it.

Reed Richards – is a decent physicist with some weird theories. The last I heard of him was the news of his bankruptcy before he vanished from the radar. SHIELD probably paid his debts and stuck him in a lab.

Dr. Susan Storm. The image of a pretty younger blond flashed in front of my eyes. For once, she wasn't someone Tony slept with, which would be awkward. From what I recall, I saw her during some symposium I was supposed to give a lecture. All I could correctly remember from that time was awakening two days later with Christine in my bed and Pepper frowning with disapproval at us both. I think that was the first time I slept with that particular reporter, but far from the last.

The other two people exposed to my Holocron were boring in comparison. Storm's younger brother was a SHIELD agent and the one to lead her and Doom to the laboratory in question. Grimm – was a SHIELD agent as well. He was a part of the facility's security detail. On the face of it, nothing was interesting about those two until a few days ago.

Woods and a handful of my private security with higher clearance than most jumped out of the helicopter after it landed, followed by Romanoff. A small group of security wearing soft vests and dark blue armor waited for us near an entrance dug into the side of the mountain.

The redhead led us deep within the facility while the SHIELD guards provided an escort.

I could feel five bright signatures in the Force. Compared to everyone else I met since Afghanistan, they burned brightly in my perception.

"This is going to be a potential issue, all right."

"Stark?"

"I can sense them from here, Romanoff. They can manipulate the same energy that I use. Barring a miracle, they'll need the training to use their abilities safely."

Romanoff looked curiously at me.

"What? I'm sure you've seen my medical scans. I don't have a fusion reactor up my ass, and I certainly don't draw energy from this one." I tapped the Arc reactor in my chest.

"Energy manipulation? That makes a disturbing amount of sense. "

"This training on how to use it to get all kinds of effects safely," I noted.

We reached a medical bay hidden behind a massive armored door a few minutes later. Romanoff nodded at the security team stationed in front of the entrance. One of them went to a control panel. He swiped a key card through it, then entered a long code.

The door slowly opened with a hydraulic hiss. I could see five hospital beds inside and a lot of equipment, some of which were not medical. A doctor and two nurses were chatting near a desk to the right while a pair of guards holding fire extinguishes glared at a tall young man.

Susan and Doom sat on the door closest to the door and whispered, now and then glaring at Richards. He paid them no attention and was busy playing with a rubber ball using telekinesis. A large man sat on the bed across from the couple, slowly typing on a laptop.

As soon as the door opened, five heads snapped in my direction.

"He's glowing, but not?" Susan looked at me in confusion.

"Stark!? What the hell are you doing here?!" Doom exclaimed in disbelief at my arrival.

"I'm here because you children fucked up."

"It was Reed's fault!" Susan spat.

"Yes, it's all on Richards. He kept poking what shouldn't be poked!" Doom was happy to announce.

That got him an elbow in the side.

"I'm right, as you just said, Sue!"

"You don't have to be so smug about it!" Doom looked back at me. "What do you have to do with any of this, Stark? Why are you…." He trailed off and stared at me.

I raised a hand and channeled the Force. Lighting sparked between my fingers.

Doom looked at his hands, which I now noted were both bandaged, then at my display.

"Holy cow, you're like us!" The tall youngster exclaimed.

"You're now like me." I corrected him. "Lighting, I nodded to Doom. "Telekinesis." I glanced at Richards. "Psychokinesis," The people with the fire extinguishers were a dead giveaway. "What about the rest of you?"

Susan stared at me, her face scrunched in an effort, and she shimmered out of existence.

"Shadow cloak." I nodded. "A bit of advice, don't try this against someone who with the eyes to see, Ms. Storm. Unless you know what you're doing, merely vanishing from sight makes you glow even brighter to other senses."

The blond gasped and shimmered back into view. I looked at the man with the laptop.

"I'm tougher now, as long as I have the energy for it."

"It's like a spring filling you up. Using the energy drains what the energy your body can contain, yet the spring is too slow and shallow to keep up?"

"How do you know that, dude?" Storm's brother demanded.

"That device Richards was poking? It gave me access to this power, which shouldn't have been possible but a hundred or so years of memories, including how to use it. I recommend you start practicing meditation and other mental exercises to help keep your emotions in check. Raging emotions can make it harder to control your powers and lead to unfortunate incidents." I looked pointedly at Doom's hands.

"I didn't know I could do a passable imitation of Palpatine now!" Doom snapped at me. "Though the idea of frying a few Board members has merit."

"As long as you don't turn into a shivered evil prune…." Storm hummed. "I will draw the line at frying actual people instead of corporate vampires."

Doom opened his mouth to say something, then wisely closed it.

"Good boy," Susan cooed.

"She's got you well trained, Victor." I couldn't help myself.

"Fuck you, Stark!" Doom gave me his best sneer. It was almost impressive.

"You're not my type, sorry. So what are we going to do with you?"

"I have a company to run!" Doom grumbled. "You can't keep me here indefinitely!"

"You'll find that the reach of our friends is rather long, Doom."

"And you, of all people, don't find that disturbing?" Doom shot back.

"A hundred years of memories gave me perspective." I turned to Romanoff, who was watching the show with an amused smirk. "I've seen enough. Those idiots need training before safely letting them back into civilized society. Their emotions are all over the place. Without training and enough experience to handle their emotions and abilities, that's a recipe for disaster."

"Do you feel like having some house guests, Mr. Stark?" Romanoff asked.

"There's no way I'm letting them near my daughter until they know control."

"That's fucked up! I didn't sign up to be stuck in the Bat Cave's poor cousin!" Storm's brother exclaimed. His resentment and frustration spiked. The air around him distorted from heat and burst into flame. "God damn it!" The young man cursed a moment before the SHIELD agents covered him with fire-retardant foam.

"Johnny!" Susan exclaimed worriedly.

"Sorry, love, but I wouldn't let your brother anywhere, he might end up burning the place, either." Doom grimaced. "I certainly don't feel like dealing with the fallout of accidentally frying someone."

"Victor, you're not helping!" Storm glowered at Doom.

"I recall promising not to lie to you if possible," Doom explained while struggling to maintain his composure. "I'm pointedly not lying to you, Sue."

"Damn it all, and damn you, Reed!" Storm hissed and shimmered out of existence.

Doom intently stared at where she sat. "Huh, Stark's right. I can kind of sense you here. There's this shimmering energy roughly in your shape…." He slowly poked her.

"See! You can't help yourself and just have to poke anything curious!" Richards exclaimed in frustration.

"Shut up, Reed!" Doom and Storm snapped at him at the same time.

"Is this how they've been since the incident?" I asked Romanoff.

She looked at the Doctor and Nurses, who were now watching the show.

"Like that, with more fire, lighting, and flying equipment." The Doctor spoke in a dry English accent.

"Give them something to help keep them calm, then books and perhaps a trainer to get them started on meditation. Get someone to teach them exercises that people with anger issues do to help maintain their composure. Get them to a training room and let them trash it to get it out of their system if the pressure becomes too much. Those are the absolute basics. When they have them covered, and if they haven't killed each other, we can find a way for me to train them." I glared at four of the five people. "You're going to make it up for wasting my precious time. Three of you are supposed to be competent scientists, and you will prove it."

"You think about conscripting them?" Romanoff chortled at the very idea.

"You know what I'm busy with. They'll be making up for the waste of time."

"We can figure it out by ourselves, Stark," Doom sneered.

"I always knew you were an arrogant ass, Doom! Yet, until now, I had the vague recollection you had a few more brain cells to rub together than the average dimwit!" Doom glared at me at that. "It took thousands of years and countless generations building upon the knowledge and training of those who came before them for people to be able to do more than the odd parlor trick. That device gave you the aptitude to use a single ability exceptionally. Besides that, you aren't scratching the surface of what's possible, much less have any idea of the danger involved." As I lectured them, I drew on the Dark Side, and the shadows in the room came to life around me. "I've put down more than enough mad dogs who let their arrogance get the better of them, Victor von Doom! Don't become the next one!" I spat and let go of the Dark Side.

The shadows settled down, and the chill in the air quickly vanished.

"Holy shit! Did you see that! That was some Dark Lord shit right there!" Susan's brother gleefully exclaimed.

"That sounds like Doom, all right." Richards snorted.

Doom quietly cursed Reed as he left the medical center.

My earlier assessment was sadly accurate. Those five were going to be a fantastic pain in my ass, damn them.

"Storm might be the only thing that keeps Doom from eventually letting his power control him. Arrogance like his, or like what mine was without extensive training and experience, are toxic and extremely dangerous when combined with our kind of power manipulation."

"She would be what, his emotional anchor?" Natasha asked.

"Perhaps his conscience too. It can work."

"You sound like you're talking from experience."

"I do. Please arrange that Storm and Doom get something to keep them calm, then bring them so we can talk without Richards edging them on. We need to figure out an acceptable compromise."


=SI=

If you want to support my writing or discuss this story, google the following places:

Pat re on: Delkatar's writing corner

the space battles forums - this is where most discussion over my stories takes place

the sufficient velocity forums

archive of our own

the alternative history forums