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

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Part 3

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Disney and Stark Industries are competing in negotiations to buy Lucas Films and the rights over the Star Wars franchise!

Financial Times

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SHIELD facility White
location classified

"Mr. Stark, was this the best way to approach the situation? It was certainly amusing to watch, however…." Romanoff trailed off and looked pointedly at me.

We were in a nearby mess hall, where she dragged me to after I had stormed out of the medbay. We sat nursing coffees at one of the tables while the security gave us some space to talk.

"Those idiots brought back some memories. It doesn't help that I've got a bit of history with Doom. Pepper has been doing her best to ensure we wouldn't run into each other for years now for a reason."

After becoming Tony Stark, I thought I'd left this kind of kriffing shit behind me.

"Do you care to elaborate, Tony?" Romanoff prodded.

"No, 'Mr. Stark'?"

"It doesn't seem appropriate right now." Natasha's lips rose into a ghost of a smile.

"I spent the first ten years after receiving basic training in how to utilize my abilities, hunting down people like me who went rogue. Many of them were the same bastards I used to train with. I was unfortunate enough to get my training at a time two galactic powers fought to a standstill. Both sides needed warm bodies to throw into the fire to break the stalemate in a desperate bid to win the war. Instead, mutual exhaustion forced our governments to sign a bitter cease-fire." I sipped my coffee while memories that had no reason to feel so fresh flashed in front of my mind.

"The training wasn't all it was cracked up to be, was it?" Natasha asked shrewdly.

"It was quick and dirty. We were meant to be blunt instruments to throw where the fighting was fiercest. Instead, the war just came to a screeching halt. The war broke thousands with abilities like mine on both sides. Many of us fresh trainees couldn't handle the strain of the training or the allure of our abilities' power. I spent the next decade hunting those like me who went insane. That expertise ensured that for the fifty years after that, I would be one of the experts in dealing with adepts who went rogue." I chuckled bitterly. "And here we are, a hundred years later, and I am still stuck dealing with the same shit. Doom, in particular, has a toxic combination of skill, dedication, and arrogance that might let him go far. At the same time, those traits make him that much more likely to let the power go on to the deep end."

"Tony, are you sure you aren't talking about yourself as well?"

"In some regards, I was no different. I walked into it with wide-open eyes, thinking I knew what I was getting into."

"That wasn't the case, was it?"

I looked at my coffee cup and willed it to rise in between us.

"It's one thing to read about these abilities, to know the dangers associated and the price you might have to pay for power. It's completely different to experience and feel your power changing you. You need the right mindset to master this power fully, and the closer you get to doing so, the more your power influences you in return to becoming perfect-wielded. It's a part of nature. It doesn't care about such inconsequential things as human morals or restrictions. You can lose yourself if you aren't careful, vigilant, and lucky enough. Your morals, restrictions and much of what makes you the person you are instead of a dark reflection can easily blur and stop matter. That was what trainers encouraged as long as we remained loyal. It made for better, ruthless weapons. The kind of weapons that would fight to the bitter end because defeat would mean annihilation."

I slowly lowered the cup until it was back on the table.

"That doesn't sound like something particularly nice people would do." Natasha pointed out.

"It was a near-total war for the control of the galaxy. A thousand years earlier, the 'good guys' did their best to exterminate my kind because we were a credible threat to their galactic hegemony. Of course, they wrote history books and painted us as evil incarnate. When we returned to the galaxy at large after rebuilding, many became precisely what the enemy accused us of being in a bid for vengeance…." I shook my head. "But that's ancient history." I drank some more of my lukewarm coffee. "The issue with those five is that they now have access to too much power without the training and experience to handle it. We control it with our minds, and emotions matter. Without sufficient experience and training, using emotions to get in the mindset to manipulate energy more effectively can be a useful shortcut."

"They already have abilities." Natasha thought aloud. "Emotional outbursts aren't just helping them use them."

"Whatever happened gave them extreme affinity in a narrow discipline." I elaborated. "Yet, they can't control it properly. When their emotions spike, when they have outbursts, incidents happen."

"So they need the training to be safe for themselves and others."

"Our power doesn't come with a fail-safe built in. As I said, it is the manipulation of energy. A failure might be frustrating and tiring, depending on what you're doing. It could also be fatal. Storm should be all right if all she got were the ability to become invisible. The only danger there is if she runs into traffic or something. With telekinesis and lack of control, Richard's a problem."

"Richards can be a menace." Romanoff agreed. "Agent Grimm?"

"He's likely the safest to others of the bunch. Depending on how he gets tougher, he might be completely safe to himself as well, or he might kill himself."

"How so?"

"There's a technique that could make us nearly invincible for a brief time. However, it's not just fuelled by the energy we're manipulating. It draws all the energy within our cells to protect us on all levels. Using it literally drains the life out of us and, if maintained for too long or used too often, can kill us. It's hard to achieve in the first place and harder to master. The same goes for what each of them is doing. Storm's brother? That ability is practically legendary for how rare it is."

"Doom managed to partially fry his hands when his temper got the best of him." Natasha finished. "Agent Storm is a fire hazard to himself and everyone around."

"Thus his minders."

"What are your recommendations, Tony? Will you try to handle them more softly?"

"First, separate Richards from the others. They blame him for what happened, and with a good reason. That's an explosive mixture we don't need on top of everything else."

"After seeing them interact in person, I will gladly back this recommendation," Natasha spoke firmly.

"You should be able to initially handle your two Agents by making certain types of training mandatory while keeping them under observation for medical and security reasons. Storm, the younger, should get through his head that an outburst can severely injure a bystander without him meaning it or having control over it."

"The kid's a young firebrand." Natasha chuckled. "I pity whoever has to corral him."

"The two lovebirds are going to be an issue. 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 St


orm 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."

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Part 4

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SHIELD facility White
location classified

Victor looked suspiciously at the nurse, who held a cup with pills and one with water in front of him.

"Mr. von Doom, if you want to negotiate an arrangement about your situation today, you will drink the relaxants and wait forty minutes for them to kick in." The nurse patiently explained.

"This is Stark's fault, isn't it?" Viktor grumbled.

"Wasn't he one of the few people you actually respect?" Sue shot at him.

"That lasts for as long as he opens his mouth in my presence. Or until I see how he wastes his potential in the news." He grumbled and kept glaring at the cups.

The nurse didn't seem perturbed. She just raised an eyebrow and stared back.

"Victor, do you want to risk losing your hands?" Sue huffed in frustration.

He clenched his fingers in irritation at the reminder and fought to keep a wince of pain off his face. It was frustration and anger at Richard's blithe comments that made him furious in a way he had seldom experienced. The next thing Victor knew, lighting cracked over his fingers and exploded in an arc that crackled over a nearby beframe, lighting the covers and mattress on fire. The sheer shock of what happened ensured he had no control over the lighting, and it arced between his hands just as he felt something within him drain.

He was lucky—just first and second-degree burns. With therapy and a potential visit to the best doctors money could buy, he should recover the full motion of his fingers.

The thought of going to Stark groveling and asking for training burned and infuriated him. Victor closed his eyes, took a series of deep breaths, and then slowly exhaled. Sue's hand gripping his shoulder in reassurance helped him restore his composure.

"I'll listen to what Stark has to say." He bit off.

"That's how negotiations start," Sue pointed out.

If Victor had his way, he would always negotiate from a position of strength. That was one of the things that irked him the first time he met Stark in person. The bastard acted as a typical rich playboy with no care about anything in the world, yet controlled arguably the most powerful corporation Earth has ever seen. Any talk between them, any negotiation, wouldn't have been one among peers. Then Stark opened his mouth, and it was as if he was doing his best to rile him up. Victor knew he was a prideful man, and on that day, he couldn't help himself.

It was petty, it was stupid, and it might have meant the ruin of his company if Stark didn't just get drunk and then slept with his latest conquest. That should have been a moment to bring relief to Victor. Instead, the sheer indifference Stark's inaction implied that hurt. It was like neither Victor nor his company mattered at all.

In some ways, that was worse to his pride than if Stark tried and even perhaps succeeded in ruining von Doom industries, forcing Victor to start from square one.

Now, Stark again held Victor's fate in his hands and…

The nurse cleared her throat and shoved the cup with drugs in front of his face. He rolled his eyes but opened his mouth, took in the damned pills, and then washed them with the offered water.

"Hey, what about us?" Reed had to open his stupid mouth.

"I have drugs for you, too, Mr. Richards," the Nurse stated calmly.

Victor had to give it to her. She was perhaps the only person in the room who could ignore Richards' antics as if they didn't matter.

"At least we'll get out of here and be away from Reed for a bit." Sue patted his shoulder in encouragement.

There were moments Victor wasn't sure what he might do if she wasn't here to help keep him grounded. He might have already fried Richards. Not that would be a bad thing…


=SI=

A guard let them to the nearby mess hall, where stark sat on a table in the corner, fiddling with a phone. He had a steaming cup of coffee on an otherwise empty table. Sue squeezed Victor's arm above the bandages, and he could swear he could feel a wave of reassurance wash over him.

"I'll behave," He muttered and escorted his girlfriend to meet with Stark. If nothing else, Victor was curious to hear about what memories that device gave the irritating man.

As they approached, Victor focused on Stark, trying to look at him the way he looked at Sue earlier when she went invisible. He got the vague impression of a solid wall of darkness shaped like a human sitting across the table. At the same time, Sue shone with bright, warm light. Victor shook his head, and the world came back into focus.

"Mr. Stark," Sue offered in greeting.

"Stark." Doom something managed to make the name sound neutral.

"Ms. Storm, Doom," Stark noted and put his phone away.

"It's von Doom, as you well know, Stark."

"Then it's Mr. Stark to you, von Doom."

"Boys, that's enough dick measuring." The redhead who arrived with Stark came from behind, carrying a fresh cup of coffee. She sat beside him and gave him a pointed look.

"I'll behave if von Doom finds it in him to do the same."

Victor stared at Stark until Sue poked him in the ribs with her elbow.

"I'll try my best to remain civil." He bit off.

"Richards' stunt made the five of you a problem I frankly don't have the time to deal with." Stark began.

The sheer arrogance was unsurprising, yet it stoked Victor's temper. If it wasn't for the drugs, he was sure he would be quickly getting angry right now.

"How much do the two of you know about our situation?" Stark looked tiredly at them.

That was new, Victor noted.

"From what I know, they didn't get a full briefing and haven't signed the relevant NDAs." The redhead explained.

"There's more to finding a random piece of alien technology?" Sue sounded less than impressed. "Who would have thought."

"In eighty-nine, a small alien commando team took out a US Air Force base seeking some alien artifact. In the mid-nineties, another group of aliens, shapeshifters this time, attempted infiltration and subversion of multiple global governments. We aren't alone. At least two species we're sharing this galaxy with are hostile." The redhead woman explained. "That's where Mr. Stark and the memories the device gave him come in."

Victor's mind ran with the provided information. If it was true, what happened to them implied it might be… He thought about everything that had happened over the months since Stark came back from Afghanistan. The investigation that should have crippled SI if not been the end of it, the sudden influx of new military contracts, Stark's fusion tech…

"You're uplifting Earth with government backing. Not just the US, the world." Victor declared as the pieces fell into place in his head. SI's new contracts in Europe, even with China, all pointed to the same conclusion.

"Yes, and thus I don't have the time to deal with five fledgling Acolytes who don't know the first thing about their power. I'm already swarmed, and the moment the foundation is in place, I'll be busier than ever."

This was different. There was no trace of the Stark he had met before. Hell, this wasn't even the man he met earlier today, or perhaps was, and Victor's own bias made him misread the situation poorly.

"You've got access to alien technology. How much? What kind?" Sue vibrated in excitement.

"I know what's possible. I have a century of experience working with alien technology and a few degrees in fusion and other useful tech. Sadly, I don't have actual alien technology to reverse engineer directly. That might significantly speed things up. There are huge gaps in my knowledge. I wasn't a scientist then, and even if I were, I still wouldn't be able to recreate a technology base thousands of years more advanced by myself."

"Supporting technologies, fields, and equipment that we now take for granted." Victor nodded along. Suppose he found himself a few hundred years in the past. In that case, Victor could do much, but getting anywhere near modern technology would be the work of a lifetime, if not longer. That would be especially true if he wanted to spread it worldwide quickly. The gap would be too big. Too many missing pieces would have to be reinvented, even if he could otherwise rapidly improve the world.

"Fusion will eventually mean practically unlimited power. That by itself will have a great positive effect on the economy and environment." Sue nodded rapidly, making connections as well.

"Metallurgy. The building materials you patented in such quick succession. It all makes sense." Victor nodded. "Where does that leave us?"

"You get training and work with me to make up for the time I need to dedicate to train you."

"Victor, this is an opportunity to work on technology and theories that are literally out of this world!" Sue shook with excitement. Despite the drugs, she shimmered out of existence and gasped.

Stark sighed and rubbed his temples. "Now imagine this was you, accidentally throwing lighting all around." He nodded at Sue.

Victor glared at Stark but then looked at his aching hands, then at Sue, who slowly became visible. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her by accident.

"Let's talk details, Stark."


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