TITLE: Iron Maiden - Days of Future Past
DISCLAIMER: The Marvel Cinematic Universe characters and everything from Earth-199999 belongs to Marvel under the umbrella of The Mouse of Doom, ahem, sorry, Disney... anything from other Marvel Universes / dimensions / timelines belong to their respective comic creators… basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic SHIELD on me, I'm just here for the fun.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
February 20th, 2010
"Dad, you want to see this."
Tony looked up from his new workshop bench where JARVIS was scrolling through the recommended surgeons to perform the life saving surgery and extract the shrapnel fragments from his chest.
It would be an extremely long and delicate surgery, and the plastic surgery and cosmetics afterwards to restructure and cover up the gaping hole in his chest would take even longer, but it would definitely be worth it in the end not to have to rely on the admittedly advanced piece of technology in his chest.
"Yeah?" Tony asked, looking around to see Morgan storming into the workshop, clad in her usual jeans, cowboy boots, and a Meatloaf 'Bat Out of Hell' t-shirt this time. "What you got there?" He asked, eyeing the small holographic tablet thing that he knew she still preferred to use compared to the twenty ten technology he was stuck with most of the time.
"Think one of our allies just made the first move," Morgan said, handing over the tablet.
Tony accepted the tablet automatically, still amused that his brain had apparently classified Morgan as 'safe' and was willing to accept things from her without question. The first time it had happened Pepper had smirked in amusement, and it had taken him a moment to figure out why.
He was still working on building up to that level of trust with Pepper, but knew he would get there sooner or later.
"Thaddeus Ross?" Tony read off the headline, remembering he was one of Morgan's 'top asshole' list members, somewhere in the top three he thought. "Poisoned in Cairo?" He raised an eyebrow at that, flicking down the news article in surprise. "What happened?"
"No idea," Morgan admitted. "It wasn't me." She said, shaking her head.
"Didn't think it was," Tony countered. "You're a Stark, if you want someone dead, you make sure to destroy everything around them as well." He commented, reading through the article. "Suspicious links to Iraq, mentions of unspecified poisons?" He read aloud. "JARVIS, anything online about this?" He asked aloud.
"Nothing more specific sir," JARVIS' voice responded, the upgrades from Morgan's code making him sound even more lifelike and sentient than he ever had before. "There are several sources reporting on anonymous tips linking the general to covert military groups in Iraq and the bordering regions, but nothing conclusive."
"Anything that actually specifies anything more on the cause of death?" Tony asked curiously.
"No sir, investigation has been handed off to the CIA working in conjunction with the army investigative services." JARVIS explained. "I have no direct links to their sources, but there are several reports hinting that the poison was sourced from the western Asia region."
"Well that's going to be a shit storm." Tony commented with a raised eyebrow. "What are you thinking?" He asked, looking to Morgan again.
"I wasn't going to actually meet them until after the Expo. One of them was supposed to come to us first." Morgan admitted.
"Who's them?" Tony asked curiously.
"Back in my time, Clint... Clint Barton." Morgan explained. "He's the one that helped me come back here."
"To twenty ten, you knew him in the future." Tony clarified with a nod. "Alright, who's he?"
"Right now? A SHIELD agent as far as I know." Morgan shrugged. "He had a video to pass on, one for him and one for his partner. They're both pretty dark, even for SHIELD, they used to work with you, or were part of The Avengers anyway. He turned into an asshole, and she's a Russian assassin."
"Nice company you're keeping there kiddo," Tony smirked, rolling his eyes at the thought. "And you thought we could trust these two?"
"I watched their videos, cut out anything about me and time travel." Morgan waved that worry off. "In the future he was adamant about fixing his screw ups and protecting his family, without him I wouldn't have been able to come back here, so I owe him that at least."
"Alright, show me." Tony nodded, handing back the tablet as he stood up.
"FAITH?" Morgan asked, stepping away from Tony's workstation and looking around the workshop. "Bring up Clint's profile will you."
"Sure thing boss," FAITH responded, bringing up the usual full length floating screen a few feet away from where Morgan was stood.
"OK, lets see what we've got..." Tony mused, walking over to the screen and idly scratching his beard as he read off the information. "SHIELD assassin, covert ops. Bow and arrow?" He raised an eyebrow at that, flicking his eyes in amusement over to Morgan. "Not exactly high tech." He mused with a smirk.
"Knock off Robin Hood, we can upgrade arrows easily enough, a long range shooter is always handy." Morgan shrugged. "Plus he knows SHIELD's ins and outs, and has a vested interest in saving the world this time around."
"Point," Tony conceded with a nod. "Wait, are these SHIELD files?" He asked curiously, flicking through the various files in curiosity. "He got around. There's... thirty, thirty eight confirmed assassinations? Public names too." He said in surprise.
"He's an assassin," Morgan smirked. "I don't think SHIELD kept him around for that haircut."
"Don't blame them," Tony snorted, looking back to the photo of the archer, a SHIELD file photo at that. "Alright, so he was one of The Avengers, crappy name by the way, and turned into an asshole. Not a great story."
"I don't know the full story either, but he got brainwashed by Loki during the first invasion." Morgan explained, wandering over to the side of the workshop where they both kept a good stock of coffee and snacks on hand, before grabbing the box of honey nut clusters and wandering back over, fishing a hand full out to snack on. "He got 're-calibrated' by a punch to the head, then just tossed back out into business as usual." She explained, much to Tony's horror.
"Brainwashing, that's a thing?" Tony demanded, horror and disgust visible on his face.
"Oh yeah, the Scarlet Bitch was the queen of it, but she wasn't the only one." Morgan nodded, tossing a few clusters of cereal into her mouth before continuing. "Him and this scientist guy... err... FAITH? Scientist, brainwashed by Loki. Worked with something Foster on the Einstein-Rosen bridge stuff?"
"Doctor Erik Selvig boss. Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Culver University. Mentor to Jane Foster until her disappearance." FAITH reported. "Doctor Selvig was employed as a consultant for SHIELD in the summer of twenty ten, where he worked on Project Pegasus for two years until the Invasion of New York where he was brainwashed. He was subsequently released from his SHIELD contract prior to being arrested for performing unsanctioned experiments at Stone Henge in the United Kingdom in twenty thirteen. He appeared naked on several national news broadcasts while evading the authorities before he was restrained at Stone Henge and transferred to a psychiatric facility for evaluation and treatment."
"I love him already," Tony laughed, utterly amused by the report. "Streaking at Stone Henge? That's got to be one for the bucket list." He grinned in amusement. "So this Selvig got help then?"
"Indeed grand-boss," FAITH retorted, the smirk audible in her voice. "While Doctor Selvig was placed on a regime of anti-psychotics after his incarceration in a psychiatric institution to aid in his recovery, no such regime was made available to Mr Barton." She explained. "I do however preface that it was not SHIELD who made treatment available to Doctor Selvig, but the psychiatric institution in Great Britain. SHIELD offered him the same amount of treatment and assistance as they offered Mr Barton. None."
"SHIELD just tossed Barton back to work and just threw Selvig out, and shrugged off mind control like it was nothing, not a great response." Tony grimaced at the thought. "Could be why Robin Hood turned into an asshole?"
"Probably, no idea. He could just be an asshole." Morgan shrugged. "I said I'd give him a chance this time around anyway, if he turns on us again... well, bow and arrows aren't really a threat against our suits, and we can add self destruct switches to any equipment we give out."
"Sounds good," Tony nodded. "Next?"
"FAITH? Natasha Romanoff's bio please." Morgan said aloud, causing Clint's screen to vanish and another one to appear in it's place, showing a statuesque and beautiful redhead.
"OK, you have my attention," Tony smirked, admiring the picture happily.
"Ew," Morgan rolled her eyes with a shake of her head. "Black Widow." The file also gave over a dozen other names that she went by, Natalia Alianovna Romanoff, Natalia Romanova and Natalie Rushman, and other close variations were just the top few.
"And the name has me backing off already," Tony quipped, looking at the picture more warily now. "Poisonous?" He asked, remembering the newspaper article about General Ross's untimely death.
"Extremely," Morgan nodded, gesturing to the mission reports listed.
"Eighty seven confirmed assassinations," Tony blinked, rereading the report to make sure he'd got that right. "Seduction, assassination, interrogation, covert operations." He whistled appreciatively at her hand to hand combat ratings. "Thighs of death apparently." He grinned. "Reminds me of that femme fetale from the James Bond movie... Xenia something or other... Golden Eye, she was the only reason to watch that movie." He explained with a smirk.
"I don't even want to know," Morgan rolled her eyes. "She was Clint's partner, died in the last invasion. Fury basically wiped her life out, erased her from history. There's probably a dozen people around in my time that knew what happened to her, and Clint really hated Fury for everything that happened."
"Someone else the pirate dicked over then, not a surprise." Tony quipped in disgust, wondering if there was a single person alive that Fury hadn't screwed over at one point or another. "Holy crap, martial arts and a weapons specialist?" He asked, reading down the list of weapons Romanoff was apparently master at using. "No wonder SHIELD kept her on the payroll."
"Clint recommended her to take the final shot at Thanos," Morgan pointed out. "A modified rail-gun equipped for sniper style?" She commented with a shrug.
"Messy," Tony grimaced, thinking of what sort of impact even a small slug would have at that velocity. "It'd definitely do the job."
"Sniper would be a good choice, take him out before we have to get up close and personal." Morgan nodded. "I'd rather make sure he's dead and gone as soon as possible, rather than risk him getting his hands on any more of the stones."
"Think she could do it?" Tony asked, looking up at the photo again. "She's definitely got the marksmanship apparently, but working with a rail-gun?"
"I'll go over specs," Morgan said with a frown. "There's three repeaters built in to the War Machine suit, but that's braced against the armour. Actually sizing one down to a rifle size but keeping the velocity and accuracy up?"
"Sounds like a challenge," Tony grinned appreciatively. "OK, so two master assassins, that's a hell of a duet." He mused at the thought. "Think they're behind Ross?"
"I'd bet a chunk of Starkanium on it," Morgan grinned, tossing some more cereal into her mouth. "The videos to Clint and Natasha mentioned him from what I can remember, not very flattering. I don't think it was said outright, but mentioning his name to two assassins..."
"And they read between the lines," Tony nodded. "So that's one asshole down, one of the biggest on the list?"
"Not counting Stern, Fury and SHIELD?" Morgan shrugged. "Yeah, all my records show Ross was a huge pain in the ass over a lot of things, and was one of the biggest pushers for the military to simply seize all Stark tech after you died."
"I won't mourn him then," Tony shrugged. "Hold on... You said this guy had a private prison somewhere right? Something something... I was paying attention to other bits at the time."
"FAITH, Ross's prison thing?" Morgan asked.
"Facility zero eight zero. Colloquially named 'The Raft'. Built in international waters, specifically designed to imprison enhanced inmates." FAITH responded. "I don't have a list of prisoners as of this date boss, but records indicate the facility has been open for at least a decade already. It is likely there are prisoners currently being illegally held there."
"Go Skynet, hack in to whatever you need. Get a list of everyone being held there, then go public with it, post everything we've got on The Raft, General Ross, and all the prisoners there." Morgan ordered without hesitation. "Keep it away from us though, stealth protocols."
"Aye aye boss, falling to the dark side now." FAITH replied with a snarky tone before going silent again.
"Darth FAITH," Tony smirked, highly amused by the sense of humour and snark that the AI was showing. "Remind me to send flowers? Flowers? Do we send flowers to assassins?" He asked curiously. "A bouquet of knives and guns?" He mused on the thought. "Something nice for Miss Thighs over there." He waved towards the screen still showing Natasha Romanoff's records.
"Weapons sound like a good bet." Morgan laughed at the thought of her dad handing over a big bouquet of knives to the redheaded assassin. Her mom would probably kill him just for imagining it.
"Actually... Black Widow... spiders, that reminds me..." Tony frowned, moving back to his own workstation and bringing up a few files on his smaller holographic screens. "Recognise this?" He asked, pointing to the file he'd brought up. "Found it in the extremities folder. War Machine had his own, but this... I don't recognise this." He asked.
"Huh," Morgan frowned, sitting on the corner of her dad's desk as she looked over the file in question.
"It's definitely one of mine, I recognise the coding." Tony commented, pointing to a few different points. "Some heavy processing power built in, but that's definitely not for me." He quipped, eyeing the dubiously tight armour.
"Item Seventeen A, Iron Spider," Morgan read off the file name. "Mark Seventeen, looks like you did a lot of work on it." She mused aloud, reading through the specs of the armour. "Definitely designed with someone flexible in mind, no serious armour. First gen nanotech, so you designed it in the next few years... those spider legs are pretty creepy though."
"Look at this coding. Instant kill function? Automatic targeting? Night vision, infrared, radar, motion sensors. Self contained rebreather? Neural reactive interface? I haven't even figured out what some of this stuff is supposed to do. It's bullet proof, small calibre anyway, glider wings? Web missiles?" Tony rattled off. "This thing is lethal. There's coding for the suit to host an AI, but nothing attached. Think she already had one? Or I was designing one separately?" He asked. "Aside from those spider legs, no weapons, looks like there's space and power connectors on the wrists for something, but there's nothing documented. Looks to be hand to hand only, or guns, knives and anything else she could carry."
"The AI was probably something Russian," Morgan shrugged. "Definitely an assassins suit. The spider theme is pretty obvious."
"That's what I'm thinking," Tony nodded, looking at the very blatant spider design that covered the front of the suit. "Metallic navy's, reds and golds, definitely a darker look than my usual designs." He commented, eyeing the colour spectrum the nanotech was coded to replicate. "The web design is pretty bad-ass though, not sure how I feel about the eyes."
"Look like they're made for maximum peripheral vision but can be dialled down for predator focus, zoom, targeting, probably a necessity for an assassin." Morgan shrugged. "Did you ever build it?" She asked curiously.
"Says it was dispatched in twenty sixteen for a bit, then again in twenty eighteen. Linked back to the servers in twenty three, then vanished again in twenty four. Nothing else." Tony frowned.
"After you died," Morgan gave a small shrug at that. "Clint didn't mention it. She must have stored it somewhere before she died. I know you gave her a nanotech suit for time travel, Clint gave me that one back, so she must have been used to it I guess." She mused aloud, thinking back to if she recognised the design from anywhere. "The only other Spider themed guy I know was the one in New York, but he doesn't pop up for a few years. Nobody ever figured out who he was, and he stayed a loner as far as I know. Small stuff in New York, friendly neighbourhood sort of guy, nothing big."
"Huh," Tony drummed his fingers on the workshop desk as he thought about that. "Someone worth talking to?" He asked curiously.
"I never worked with him, don't know anyone that did. He stuck to New York and kept to himself. Didn't work for SHIELD or anyone, at least not that I know of." Morgan shrugged. "See when he pops up. Maybe Widow will take on an apprentice or something."
"Mama spider and her little baby, there's a terrifying thought." Tony mock shuddered at the thought.
"I only remember him because SI had a few contracts with Parker Industries. They were based out of New York, pretty small up and coming sort of company but it had a lot of promise, so I kept an eye on the news there." Morgan explained. "Blue and red shiny spandex, swings around the city on spider webs. Arachnophobiacs in the city must have nightmares about him every night."
"Blue and red spandex?" Tony shuddered in horror. "Sic Miss Thighs on him this time around, see if we can actually do something about his taste in outfits." He muttered in disgust. "Even plain black wouldn't make me want to claw out my eyes like the thought of that does."
"Spiders aside," Morgan waved the thought off, hopping down from her seat on Tony's workbench. "With Ross gone I'll have to check if that actually changes anything."
"He pushed anything big this year?" Tony asked curiously.
"FAITH?" Morgan asked aloud. "Include the death of Thaddeus Ross in projections for the next six months. Anything big?"
"Nothing that we have to account for boss," FAITH responded after a beat. "General Ross was the lead contact with the United States government in the Aerodynamic Marvel project headed by Hammer Industries."
"The what now?" Tony snorted, laughing out loud at the name.
"Hammer," Morgan rolled her eyes, gesturing for FAITH to continue.
"Reports suggest the project is on hold after the news of General Ross' death. Originally the project was shot down in Congolese airspace. Mr Stark rescued the pilot of the Aerodynamic Marvel, and the project was officially scrapped boss." FAITH reported.
"Guessing it won't be heading over to piss off the Congolese this time around," Tony chuckled. "They probably shot it down just on it's name alone, or just didn't want any Hammer tech screwing up in their airspace. Can't blame them for having common sense." He shrugged.
"Anything else?" Morgan smirked, ignoring her father's comments for now.
"A minor confrontation between Mr Stark and General Ross in Cairo, nothing of significance. General Ross was one of several names to appear in the Senate hearing organised by Senator Stern. He did not appear however." FAITH reported. "He was next posted in Rio de Janeiro, where he led a force against Dr Bruce Banner, commending Emil Blonsky in the attack. Dr Banner defeated the task force and escaped unharmed."
"Banner?" Tony quirked an eyebrow up at that one. "Big green rage monster Banner?" He asked.
"That's him grand-boss," FAITH replied. "General Thaddeus Ross was the lead in the experiment that caused Doctor Banner to turn into The Hulk. Since then he has attempted to gain control of The Hulk several times, leading to thousands of civilian deaths, millions in damages, and an increase in military funding by two point six percent."
"Huh," Tony leaned back in his chair to contemplate this. "Emil Blonsky?" He asked aloud, remembering the other name FAITH had mentioned.
"Commander Emil Blonsky. Special-Ops. Former Royal Marines." FAITH reported. "Recruited by General Ross to contain The Hulk. Injected with Dr Banner's gamma irradiated blood by Samuel Sterns after the incident at Culver University on June second, twenty ten."
"Who's stupid idea was that?" Tony rolled his eyes at the idiocy.
"Unknown." FAITH reported. "Emil Blonsky's transformation was named 'The Abomination' in both the media and SHIELD reports. He was killed by The Hulk in the ensuing battle which caused extreme damage to the Harlem district on June fourth, twenty ten."
"Something to keep an eye on then," Tony mused. "Think we can get Banner on board?"
"He was a member of The Avengers originally, but went missing half way through." Morgan shrugged. "Mom said he used to be a friend of yours, but wouldn't trust him because he never stood up for you or anything."
"Probably didn't want any conflicts, need to work on that." Tony frowned thoughtfully. "FAITH, keep an eye on military chatter. See if anyone else picks up the whole Hulk manhunt thing. If the Army keeps it up, we'll bring Banner in early and hide him away. Having a good scientist who knows biology and radiation would always be a bonus."
"Will do grand-boss." FAITH's voice came back.
"Fair enough," Morgan shrugged. "I hadn't planned on anything with The Hulk, but without Ross hunting him down, he's probably going to get a better life anyway."
"So we did something nice, or Miss Thighs did anyway," Tony shrugged. "Back to Mr Streaky. Brainwashed scientist. What did you say his thing was?"
"Astrophysics," Morgan answered after a moment's thought. "He worked with Doctor something Foster. She was brilliant apparently, working on some interplanetary transport thing. She vanished before it ever got off the ground. SHIELD confiscated everything, big hush hush cover up. It was one of the biggest conspiracies around back in my time, you know how the internet loves conspiracies and mysterious missing people."
"Huh," Tony drummed his fingers thoughtfully. "FAITH, put a watch on Mr Streaky and his pet genius. Let me know what they're up to."
"Currently Doctor Selvig and Miss Foster are residents in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico. Doctor Jane Foster is performing work she references as indications of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge in her thesis." FAITH reported. "Her work is not considered believable by many in the scientific community, and both her and Doctor Selvig have been mocked repeatedly for their work."
"Jane, Jane Foster," Morgan muttered, memorising that name so she wouldn't forget it again.
"Know the feeling," Tony quipped with a frown. "Keep an eye on them. If she's as close to a teleportation thing as the future says she is, I'd want her working for me rather than letting anyone else get their hands on that sort of thing." He ordered aloud. "Any idea where she vanished to?" He asked, looking over at Morgan again.
"Nope," Morgan shrugged, happily munching on her cereal. "There were stories she hooked up with Thor a few times when he was around, nobody believed them though. Just the hot rumours about Thor loving up some women around, the usual gossip apparently." She explained with a snort.
"God loving, not really my thing." Tony frowned, shaking his head. "Wonder what happened to her? Silenced by SHIELD? Alien abduction? Tested her teleporting thing and got lost on an alien planet?"
"Heard all those theories before," Morgan shrugged. "I'd bet SHIELD silenced her. Probably wouldn't be the first scientist they've vanished after they got too close to the truth."
"Sucker's bet," Tony nodded thoughtfully. "Keep an eye on her FAITH, we'll take a closer look at her work after the Expo." He said with a shrug, dismissing the thought for now.
"Will do grand-boss," FAITH chirped in response.
"Anyway, thinking of heading down to SI. Want to take a look at the new silicone fabs Pepper got shipped in yesterday. See if you can do anything with them?" Tony offered, looking at Morgan curiously.
"What are they rated for?" Morgan asked, tossing the last of the cereal into her mouth before returning the box to it's usual place and grabbing a can of Dr Pepper from the side fridge.
"Eight nanometer," Tony explained. "I know, I know." He held up his hands at the face of disgust Morgan pulled at that. "It's the best on the market right now. Even TSMC aren't down that far yet, these are literally years ahead of anything other fabs are pushing out right now."
"Ultraviolet?" Morgan asked hopefully.
"Yeah," Tony nodded. "Think you can do anything with them?"
"Hopefully," Morgan groaned. "Eight nanometer, jeez." She groaned in disgust. "Would be better if you could have one shipped up here."
"Yeah, not going to happen." Tony shook his head at that. "I can't be bothered making a clean room space for the damn thing. It's SI or nothing."
"Fine," Morgan shrugged, making sure she had her nanite reactor core set on her chest ready to use for sensor readings and FAITH's input on the ancient technology.
"You can drive," Tony grinned, walking over to one of his fancy cars, knowing the keys would be in the ignition as always.
"Not on your life," Morgan scoffed at him, darting around to the passengers seat. "Cars just aren't my thing. Motorbike, fine, but cars are an emergency only transport. Like if I can't take a bike, fly my suit, or just walk."
"Heresy!" Tony mocked, gasping as he clutched his chest but walked around to the drivers side anyway. "You got your own bike then, or had one in the future? Going to get another one now?" He asked as he hopped in to the side of the sixty seven Shelby Cobra that had only just been fully restored to life.
"Not worth it," Morgan shrugged as she climbed in. "I can fly anywhere I want, and I don't have to put up with traffic jams and idiots out there."
"Point," Tony grinned as he gunned the engine before driving up the ramp. "Lock up after us J. Full security."
"Of course sir," JARVIS' voice came over the car speakers. "I will inform Miss Potts that you and Miss Morgan are on your way."
"Can pop in and see your mom while we're there," Tony grinned over to Morgan as he drove around the mansion and headed off to the main road that led down into Malibu properly. "Grab something to eat tonight down in LA."
"Sounds good," Morgan smiled as she adjusted her seat, getting comfortable to laze back while Tony flicked on the radio to his usual classic rock station to enjoy as he drove down towards the city itself.
5630 Ramblin Rose Road
Colorado Springs
Colorado
Natasha grinned to herself as she drove up to the new 'Barton Farm' out on the far north of Colorado Springs. It wasn't as secluded and in the middle of nowhere as their Iowa farm was, and it wasn't technically a farm, but it was a hell of a lot easier to get to.
It hadn't taken long to make the necessary changes and create new identities for them both, both she had Clint had more than enough saved up in hidden accounts under different names. So Cliff Bixton had bought the place easily enough, and the Bixtons had moved in the following week.
Laura hadn't been impressed at first, but after seeing the new place and finding out it was closer to better schools for the kids, she was much happier with the move. Colorado Springs was a much more vibrant city than trying to find anything in Iowa, so she'd settled in nicely into the arrangement.
Finding proof of HYDRA within SHIELD's records had been tough, but she'd managed it. Going through the actual SHIELD servers was enlightening, and the fact that she'd managed to use Hill's credentials to get in had really annoyed her. HYDRA had been part of SHIELD right from the start. Dictating their decisions, their reactions, their methods of dealing with Enhanced, and their missions.
At least half of all missions weren't SHIELD per say, but were HYDRA missions. Targeting people, enhanced or otherwise, that were or could be a threat to HYDRA. Dressed up and covered up as missions to protect SHIELD and protect the world at large.
She hadn't changed allegiance to wipe out the red on her ledger, but it turned out she'd turned from the Red Room to HYDRA, and their missions had still been basically the same. Protect The Red Room, protect HYDRA. Enforce the idea of global domination, and remove all possible threats.
She was furious, both her and Clint were. This wasn't the SHIELD they'd signed up for. They both wanted to do some good, join something they believed in, and fight for the right reasons. SHIELD, with HYDRA buried so deep inside, controlling every part of the organisation, wasn't that fight.
As of right now, Clint and Natasha were officially 'dead' as far as most people knew. SHIELD and HYDRA at the very least, and likely any other agencies they actually shared their intel with, if there were any. They'd planned their deaths meticulously, and the mission they'd been on at the time with two other agents had been set up perfectly ahead of time with two bodies with their uniforms and equipment.
As far as SHIELD / HYDRA knew, it was a bomb that had gone off while they were in the building. The two other agents had escaped with minor injuries, well, one not so minor but he would live, and had reported back with the two bodies.
She'd kept watch on the agencies chatter for a while, but so far it looked like everything had worked. Officially in every report, Black Widow and Hawkeye were listed as killed in action.
She'd changed her style dramatically. Raven black short cropped hair in a pixie style cut, coloured contacts. Makeup adding a small scar to her cheek, and she now wore leather pants and a matching jacket to go with the motorbike she'd picked up.
Even Clint had said he wouldn't recognise her now. He'd changed styles as well, adopting a casual 'cowboy' style look with jeans, a flannel shirt and brown suede jacket. Both of them had entirely different identities that they'd set up and back dated ahead of time, leaving absolutely no links to their new identities whatsoever.
Pulling up outside the new house Natasha grinned as Clint came out of the house as always, casually waving to her as she pulled her motorbike around to the side where she normally parked. "I saw the news." Clint nodded in appreciation. "Methylmercury?" He asked curiously as Natasha climbed off the bike.
"Seemed fitting," Natasha smirked at him. "Scratch one off your list."
"How long did it take?" Clint asked, gesturing for her to come inside with him. "Not exactly the fastest acting one out there?"
"About four days after he first started taking it, swapped it out for his heart medication." Natasha shrugged. "It wasn't a nice death."
"Doesn't sound like it." Clint shook his head in amusement. "Nobody looking for you?" He double checked.
"Not for that," Natasha smirked as she slid onto one of the kitchen stools and helped herself to an apple, sliding out one of her knives to expertly slice off a thin piece. "I left enough evidence pointing towards some insurgents in Cairo that he'd had problems with last year. It's buried enough that they'll have to do some work to dig it up, it'll be convincing enough."
"Neatly tied up then," Clint smiled. Nat's work ethic was always the best, it was why Fury loved sending her out on assassination missions, he could always count on her professionalism and the fact that she would see the mission through to the end regardless of ethics or casualties.
"Hows your side going?" Natasha asked, aiming for casual as she looked toward Clint.
"Not as fast as yours," Clint admitted with a sigh, wishing he hadn't volunteered himself for this in exchange for Natasha taking care of Ross. "Found a few records of Yelena popping up here and there, nothing definitive." He held up his hands. "She's definitely alive, still part of the Red Room from everything I can figure out."
"Dreykov's still alive," Natasha bit out, stabbing into the apple sharply with her knife.
"Hunting down actual proof of her is being a pain," Clint admitted. "I think they're working out of Belarus, but I don't have a target yet."
"Dreykov should have been dead, I was certain of it." Natasha hissed angrily. "Budapest should have shut the Red Room down entirely."
"Looks like it's still running," Clint offered apologetically. "I've only got a handful of sources, but it looks like the Black Widow program is as strong as ever." He explained.
"чертовски дно!" Natasha cursed, slamming her knife down into Clint's worktop. "Fury swore he had proof the project was over. That's the whole reason I signed on with him!"
"He probably had every mission regarding the Red Room censored and shifted to different agents." Clint said with a calm expression, being used to Nat's anger by now. "You know Fury, he probably had a dozen different angles for keeping you on board."
"He didn't want me in the first place," Natasha growled out.
"Didn't he?" Clint asked. "That video from the future got me thinking. Maybe he knew I wouldn't kill you in Budapest, and it was a recruitment mission all along." He offered, watching as Natasha flicked her eyes up to him. "He manipulates things so it looks like I'm arguing for you, when he's getting what he wants all along, and just has to put up a token fight about it."
Natasha growled as she considered it. It wouldn't be the first time Fury had lied to her about things, and it wouldn't surprise her in the least to find out he had manipulated the entire thing in order to get her to throw her lot in with SHIELD.
"I need to get back to Belarus, see if the Academy is still there." Natasha bit out firmly.
"It's not," Clint shook his head. "First place I looked. I'm sure they're still around somewhere out there, but the old place is rubble. Looks like they wiped clean and moved on somewhere else."
"Гавно," Natasha groaned, not liking that one bit.
"I'm all for storming Belarus, but without a target..." Clint shrugged helplessly. "I've still got some eyes keeping watch for Yelena if she pops up again, but chances are if she's already got a target..."
"We won't hear about it until it's too late," Natasha nodded, knowing all too well how the Red Room worked. "Anything more in the news about Stark?" She asked curiously.
"Actually... no." Clint laughed, as if that was the surprising part. "No scandals, no escapades, nothing."
"He's still alive?" Natasha asked, honestly surprised that Stark could keep his head down if his life actually depended on it. He wasn't a low profile person, and it was honestly surprising that he hadn't been a Red Room target already.
"I guess," Clint shrugged, not knowing one way or the other. "There's still adverts and stuff about his big show in a couple of months. Supposed to be the biggest thing ever." He explained with a roll of his eyes. "You don't want tickets then?" He asked with a smirk.
"Actually thinking about it," Natasha rolled her eyes at him. "Might be a good way to get an idea of what Stark is actually up to. See what he's doing."
"Video me said we should trust him for whatever's coming," Clint pointed out. "Also, video me is a dick for not actually including proper intel."
"You said it," Natasha smirked back. "Whatever it is happens in two years, so we've got plenty of time to see what Stark's up to." She gave a casual shrug at the thought.
"He could be a help you know," Clint pointed out, coming over to the breakfast bar and leaning against it to talk to Natasha properly. "Against the Red Room?" He continued when Natasha looked at him curiously. "Wherever they've moved their academy to, it's going to be fortified. A walking tank filled with Stark's weapons would be handy to have on our side, that's all I'm saying." He said, holding up his hands when Natasha looked at him wearily. "You know Stark weapons." He pointed out.
"He's too flashy, too full of himself." Natasha shook her head.
"So, keep the Red Room focused on him attacking, we slip in the rear and take them out quietly while he's making a mess with whatever he does." Clint grinned. "Can't say that fancy suit of his isn't effective."
"No, but also, never say 'slip in the rear' to me again unless you want me to cut yours off." Natasha mock threatened with her knife.
"Noted," Clint smirked. "Look, you want intel and international contacts? I'm just saying, Stark's got everything you need to take down the Red Room and see it burn."
"I don't trust him." Natasha said firmly.
"Video me said we could." Clint pointed out. "We broke away from SHIELD on the same advice, want to second guess it now?" He asked.
"Video you was an asshole." Natasha frowned at him. "Get me tickets to the Expo, I'll see if I can get five minutes with Stark between his showboating, drinking, and hauling off women to his hotel."
"Not sure if biker girl is his usual style to pick up, never know though, those leather pants do do it for you." Clint quipped with a grin before he ducked away, avoiding Natasha's knife narrowly.
"He's not my type." Natasha said firmly. "Besides, seduction wouldn't get much out of him. We both know about his AI thing, I wouldn't be able to fool that without a SHIELD level back story, and I don't have the access to pull that sort of thing off without bartering away a few favours I'd rather not."
"Fair enough," Clint shrugged, moving back to the breakfast bar now he was certain it was safe again. "You know Fury will have people at the Expo too? Keeping an eye on Stark?"
"I assumed so," Natasha shrugged carelessly as she sliced off another bit of her apple. "It'll be low level agents there, he wouldn't waste any real talent on a big event like that. Probably treating it as undercover training one oh one."
"Coulson might tag it?" Clint ventured thoughtfully. "Fury's sent Coulson to talk to Stark before. He's probably angling for the handler position of they can wrangle Stark into cooperating with SHIELD properly."
"Never happen," Natasha snorted, shaking her head. "Coulson hates Stark. He'd be professional about it, but he'd never volunteer for a regular assignment there. He prefers staying away from the spotlight, which means away from Stark."
"Might be easier approaching him outside of the Expo, LA is probably your best bet." Clint mused aloud. "Too many cameras at the Expo, don't want to get your face out there after all the work we've done to kill you off."
"I'll be careful," Natasha smirked at him. "How's Laura and the kids settling in to mountain life anyway?" She asked curiously, smiling as Clint launched into stories about how the kids were enjoying their new school and how Laura had already got a job at one of the nurseries down in the city itself.
SHIELD Helicarrier
Location: Classified
Colonel Nicholas Fury was not having a good month, in fact, February would go down as the worst month in history according to him, and the shit storm showed no sign of ending.
First Stark had actively cut funding and cancelled all of his contracts with SHIELD. That alone had been enough to get his blood pressure to rise, it was only the fact that Stark couldn't have known it was actually SHIELD funding and SHIELD buying those designs that held his tongue. In the contracts they were just another dummy corporation that had no links that could be traced back at all. Which meant Stark had cut things unilaterally, not intentionally in an attack against SHIELD.
He'd been counting on those contracts to push through a new line of helicarriers, ones designed with Stark's fancy repulsor and Arc powered technology so they didn't have to rely on old fashioned propeller drives and nuclear engine technology.
That was a pipe dream right now, unless they could get access to repulsor technology the more old fashioned way, and break into Stark's servers.
That had been an impossible task right from the start. Apparently SI had over-gone a security upgrade, both the company and Stark's home servers. Their techs had absolutely no idea what to make of the new encryption, and even some of their more exotic technology couldn't break through the SI firewalls and gain access to the company anymore.
Stark himself was refusing meetings, and even Iron Man hadn't been seen in the media for a few weeks now. It was like the man had gone to ground entirely.
There were rumours that he'd been searching for surgeons, but none of their research team had been able to pull up any names that had been actively approached by Stark. It seemed like it was just a rumour for now, but it was something that niggled at him.
Nothing in Stark's profile suggested that he would go for help in regaining his former health. The arc reactor in his chest would keep him alive, and it served as a convenient power source for various other tools that he would keep at his disposal.
He was pretty sure he could dismiss it as just another Stark rumour, but something about it was setting him off. No, something else was going on here, he was certain of it. But without getting access to Stark's servers, or getting someone close to him, he had absolutely no idea what was going on with Stark, and it was frustrating beyond imagination not to have the information he desperately needed right now.
He did know that Senator Stern had started pushing more to have the Iron Man technology handed over to SHIELD or the Military. There hadn't been any real public push yet, but the rumours were floating around that Stern was going to actually call Stark before a Senate hearing to claim the Iron Man suits as government property.
It wouldn't work, anyone with a brain could see it turning in to a giant dumpster fire. Stark wouldn't play ball, and his lawyers would eat Stern for breakfast. It was an annoyance though, and something else he would have to keep his eye on just in case Stern pushed things too far and made an enemy of Stark in the process.
Then not two weeks ago, he'd lost two of his top agents in a SNAFU in Morocco. Romanoff and Barton had died in an explosion when they were supposed to be infiltrating a known trader who was peddling in alien technology.
The entire mission had gone FUBAR from there on, and they'd had to extract the surviving agents, both of who had had to undergo extensive operations to survive, and would likely never be field ready again.
He'd seen the bodies, confirmed that it was Romanoff and Barton himself. Their equipment, their weapons, their blood. It was them.
He'd had the entire block cordoned off and scoured over with a fine tooth comb, double checking everything about the explosion. It had been controlled, likely C-four, remote detonated and precision planned to destroy the entire building, killing anyone inside.
It had been a trap for their agents, right from the start. Romanoff and Barton were just the unlucky ones who'd been picked to secure the building first while the other agents secured the perimeter.
It was a sound plan, one he would have used himself. Barton and Romanoff were more than enough to take care of some idiots dealing with technology beyond their understanding, there shouldn't have been a problem.
Now he was down two of his best, and didn't have any real agents who were of the same calibre to replace them.
It had taken a while, but SHIELD had enough pull with Interpol and local agencies that he'd managed to wipe out Romanoff and Barton's entire existence. There wasn't anything remaining that could ever link their missions back to SHIELD or their identities. Their fingerprints, identification, any photos or footage that had been caught of them while they were on missions... everything was scrubbed.
Standard protocol for when a high level SHIELD operative gets killed. It protected them, and more importantly, protected SHIELD from retaliation, and provided perfectly neat plausible deniability if any other country tried to confront the issue of missions performed in their territories.
Officially Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton had been erased, from world records and from SHIELD records. They would be forgotten in time, and SHIELD would go on, and he would ensure it did, as always.
General Ross's death two days ago had put the shit topping on a month that had already pissed him off. Poisoned by insurgents while moving his task force through Cairo. That was just fucking fantastic.
Even the CIA were pissed at that one, and everyone had been clambering to try and figure out how the hell Ross had been poisoned without anyone noticing. The investigations were still in progress, but so far nobody had any answers, and that just pissed him off even more.
The good news was that the task force chasing Banner around the globe had been called off now. Ross's entire military career was under the microscope now, and there were a lot of black projects that the army really didn't want anyone looking too closely at.
Banner could still be a useful asset at some point, so he'd quietly make sure the Army disbanded any more task forces sent after The Hulk. It would keep civilian casualties down anyway, and save the Army a few million in the process, funding that could be nicely diverted into SHIELD's coffers with a few well placed computer experts.
No, February so far had been a complete and utter pile of shit, and things were not looking up.
Stark Industries
Los Angeles branch
By late afternoon Tony and Morgan were having the time of their lives at the extended fabrication area of SI headquarters.
Thankfully nobody had questioned anything when Tony had driven up with Morgan in tow, leading her directly in to the new building that had been set aside for the new fabricators. Everything was technically up and running and ready for production, but Pepper had kept everyone out of the building for now, despite multiple emails telling her how many millions they were wasting every day the new fabricators weren't running at full production.
The outlay had been costly, even Tony could admit that. SI had invested sixty billion in the eight new silicone fabricators and the machinery that linked them all in a production line in the new 'clean' facility at SI, it had been a budget that had made even Pepper's eyes water when she'd seen the financing costs.
That had been before Tony and Morgan had torn one apart and started working on it.
True to her word, Morgan had got the fabricator down from eight nanometer to one point six, not the one point five nanometer she was after, and it had taken a LOT of work with the lasers and some creative tweaks with her nanite suit to get the etching primer working, but they'd run a test wafer and scans had confirmed the one point six nanometer architecture was viable and stable for production.
Both Starks knew the importance of what they'd achieved here, and were set to start work on the second wafer fab tomorrow. It would take over a week to get all eight down to the one point six nanometer standard, but once they'd got it started then they would be able to design the new architecture for the silicone and start pushing out actual wafers.
It didn't take a genius to know that they were literally sitting at ground zero of what would be the biggest technical breakthrough of the last ten years. Stark Industries would be able to outsell TSMC, UMC, SMIC and anyone else in the business. Within a week of their announcement, every chip manufacturer out there would be beating down their door with contracts that would cover their investment a dozen times over in this year alone.
More importantly though, the new standard Morgan had achieved would set the pace for first generation nanotech, and soft light holographic displays. It would still be a while until he would be able to start fleshing out SI with hard light technology, but this was a first step, and it was a huge first step, a leap really, a leap nearly a dozen years ahead of anything else in the world.
"Are you two done for the day now?"
Both Morgan and Tony looked up from where they'd been laughing together, sat on the ground and leaning back up against the fabricator they'd just run a test wafer through, toasting each other with cans of Dr Pepper in amusement, high on their success and simply enjoying the challenge they'd completed.
"Hey mom," Morgan grinned up as Tony jumped up from his leaning position. "We're done, for today anyway."
"How did it go?" Pepper asked curiously, looking at Tony's self satisfied smirk. "I assume well?"
"One point six!" Tony crowed happily.
"I wanted one point five, but dad said we should quit while we were ahead," Morgan groused good naturedly.
"One point six is fine, it's over seven whole nanometers smaller than anything else on the planet right now." Tony pointed out, toasting down towards Morgan with his can of soda. "The transistor count is off the charts, seriously, I can't even imagine the tech we'll be able to get working with this sort of processing power behind it."
"I'm a perfectionist, that extra decimal matters to me." Morgan huffed. "I still say that UV laser could be better aligned, the focusing crystals are crap. It's fine for transistors, but it's throwing the etching all off at the lower nano scale." She groused, climbing up from the floor and dusting herself off.
"I assume that's a good thing?" Pepper asked, smiling as the two Starks looked at each other with identical looks of 'you explain it' before Tony huffed with a smile.
"Very good," Tony grinned at her. "Billions and billions good." He said with a grin. "We're going to have to take a day for each one, but by the end of the week SI will have the ONLY one point six nanometer fab in the world." He exclaimed proudly.
"I don't know what that means, but I'm assuming others will. Can we publicise this?" Pepper asked.
"Sure," Tony shrugged. "Morgan's already got some designs ready to push through. Phones and tablets first. Everything built in house. With the new battery tech and memory chips we can push out, and these processors... Samsung and Apple will be yesterday's news and bankrupt by summer. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia will be crying and begging for contracts with us." He grinned at the thought.
"Send the designs through to manufacturing, we can start on the housings and screen designs while you two are playing down here," Pepper smirked over at him. "I did find out three of The Board were selling their shares. Apparently the 'abandon ship' mentality that Stane pushed in the media is still affecting them, and since you haven't been in the public eye lately... it looks like they're getting scared."
"You got FAITH around in there?" Tony asked, looking to Morgan who nodded in reply. "FAITH, copy in JARVIS, I want you to buy out any of the SI shares coming on the market. Put them in Morgan's name." He said aloud.
"Sure thing grand-boss," FAITH's voice came back out of Morgan's fancy future tech watch.
"How much do you think is going?" Tony asked, looking back to Pepper now that that was sorted.
"Probably quite a few millions worth," Pepper admitted. "Stock prices are still pretty low after Stane's death, and you haven't been public lately, so the media are still pushing rumours about you suffering from PTSD after everything that happened."
"Idiots," Tony scoffed, waving that thought off. "Let me know if any more stocks come up, actually... FAITH, keep an eye out on the stocks, any SI shares come up for sale, snatch them up as quick as you can."
"I'll be watching grand-boss," FAITH chirped happily in response.
"You're already way over a majority," Pepper pointed out with a small smile.
"Yeah, but I know how big SI is going to get," Tony gave a wide grin at that. "Share prices are going to skyrocket. That one percent of yours is going to be worth billions by this time next year." He explained proudly.
"I deserve it for putting up with you two," Pepper smirked at the pair, getting mock offended looks in response. "You mentioned dinner tonight?" She prompted them, holding up her wrist so that both Tony and Morgan could see the time.
"Food, god yes!" Tony cried aloud. "What do you think about Mexican, or Cuban? I haven't had a good Cuban in ages!" He grinned, pulling Morgan close as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder happily.
"Mexican would be good, I'm always down for some spice." Morgan smiled happily, letting Tony led them out of the fabrication plant and secure the building down before the trio headed back to Tony's car to enjoy a proper meal out together as a family.