Tony sighed, his vacation was officially no longer a vacation. He'd have to plan another one for his return to Stark Tower. Maybe Tahiti, he'd heard it was nice this time of year.
Hydra was annoying him like a bug that had somehow made it into his tower, that was the worst. The whole team was so gushy about the thing, he didn't understand, just get rid of it and you'd never have to talk about it again.
He walked back through the compound on his way to his lab to examine this gel matrix thing that had a dead person in it. He sighed again. It was almost four o'clock, what if he'd had plans? Fury would have ruined them all. He really didn't have plans, but it gave him an excuse to be angry.
He entered his lab, and opened one of the containers. A small amount of yellow smoke smelling of burning plastic rose from the container. He wrinkled his nose, really Hydra?
He pulled on a thin nearly indestructible glove and scooped up a handful of the goop. It oozed through his fingers slowly as he put it under his microscope to let F.R.I.D.A.Y analyze it before he did. He hoped this goop had a purpose, otherwise he was going to be seriously put out. At least it would be something to throw in Rogers' face when he was annoying.
F.R.I.D.A.Y's results were actually quite interesting. The gel had the capability to preserve a living person, keeping them alive but unconscious, it was an ultimate containment.
Wanda walked into the room.
"Come to see the fascinating goop?" Tony asked, pretty sure she still hated him.
"Stark."
Yep, she still hated him. It was a shame too, she was pretty, Tony didn't like it when pretty girls hated him. It hurt his ego.
"You should do a blood test," she said, glaring at him and sweeping out of the room again.
"How about please?" he called after with no response.
Just what he needed to feel more popular. He ran the blood test, then he ran them again, and then he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to run them again.
"They'll be the same, boss," she informed him.
He knew that, but he wanted it to be different, the scared little boy in him needed it to be different. The DNA was alien, not foreign, but actually alien. Not exactly Chitari, but in the same playing field. Some guy was trying to make something from an alien, that couldn't be good. The guy wasn't completely alien, he was part human too. Urg, life was so complicated. Tony especially didn't like things he couldn't understand, like aliens.
F.R.I.D.A.Y alerted him, "Boss, the results from the tracer you ran before you left are back, you might not be happy about it."
"Well, there's a lot I'm not happy about right now, so you can just add it to the list." Tony reclined in his seat.
"Another S.H.I.E.L.D base is back online," F.R.I.D.A.Y said.
"Know anything about who's inside?"
"No, only that the base has been fully operational since two days after S.H.I.E.L.D fell," she said.
"So," Tony summed hopefully. "Like a safe house?"
"They've been too active to be a safe house. In fact, their activity looks similar to that of a S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. They've been running missions for a while now. Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D this base could be a very large threat." Tony leaned forward.
"How come I'm just learning about this now?" he asked.
"Someone's been keeping off our radar, sorry Boss, that's all I know."