Sorry for the short chapter and long wait time, I've been working on other projects as well.
To answer Nji, he would take off his mask in front a man who's about to die because there's nobody he can tell. The nearest people are on the ground, so what does it matter if he takes off the mask for thirty seconds?
"What good is it?" Pepper asked. Her tears had dried and anger grew in their wake.
"What good is what?" Natasha asked in returned. It was their first time alone together in a long time, and despite their close friendship it was still awkward to not have Tony with them.
"I'm the CEO of the most powerful company in the world, you're an Avenger feared by the entire western world and at least one alien civilization. What good is all that if we still can't protect the people we love?"
"We can avenge them," Natasha promised her with an assuring nudge.
They were in the basement, surrounded by pieces of technology and experimental weapons that S.H.I.E.L.D. gave them after it disbanded.
"Pepper, what are we doing here?"
"Tony kept lots of things down here," she explained. "Things that can help us. Weapons from the Chitauri and Dark Elves. Vibranium. Tesserract weapons from World War II. Rising Tide, they didn't even get half of what we're hiding. But there's one thing in particular that I think can help."
"And what's that?" Natasha asked as Pepper pulled out a syringe. It had an amber colored liquid inside.
"It's called Extremis. You've heard of it. This is its only stable form, delivered by S.H.I.E.L.D. One of their agents found a way to make it so that it doesn't kill the user."
"You aren't seriously considering using that," Natasha interjected. She could have taken the syringe if she wanted to, but she couldn't afford to antagonize her only friend. "It almost killed you last time."
"But this time it won't," she replied. "S.H.I.E.L.D. made sure of that. Besides, what would Tony do? I was always telling him not to take risks and he'd end up saving the world. Then when he finally gave up the suits and the risks and the fighting, he wound up dead. So maybe I need to take a risk for once. Maybe I need to fight."
"Do you really think he would have wanted you in harms way, Pepper? Do you honestly think he wanted you at risk?"
"No, but like you said, I can avenge him."
Meanwhile, in the Penthouse, the newest Avengers got acquainted.
"So what happened to the Iron Patriot?" Spiderman asked.
"Well after I saved the world, they let me go back to War Machine," Rhodie replied.
"That's a shame," he replied. "We could have matched."
"Guys," Ella interrupted. "Pay attention. Like I was saying, they probably didn't take the tech out of the city. If I had to guess, they loaded it into getaway cars, met up with other vehicles, transferred the gear, and headed to base. Now we just need to find a way into that base."
"And that base is where exactly?" Rhodie asked.
They were all sitting around a hologram projector that was creating a 3D model of New York City. The map zoomed in on one building on Manhattan.
"Here," Ella said. "Grand Central Station."
"Grand Central Station?" Spiderman asked.
"Well, underneath it if you want to get specific," she explained.
"And how do you intend to break in?" Rhodie asked.
"Well, the doors are a solid titanium, no alloys. If I recall, they're about three feet thick. There are three of them, each with passwords that change every twelve hours so we'll need to either find a way to bust them down or hack the network."
"I can get them down," a voice interrupted.
Pepper stood in the doorway, orange lights flickering in her veins. Romanoff stood to her left, giving nothing away to what she meant.
"Is that Extremis?" Rhodie asked.
"That's Extremis," Pepper confirmed.
Spiderman raised his hand. "What's Extremis?"
Pepper demonstrated by casually melting a lamp.
"Pepper can get the doors down," Ella replied, returning to her plan. "After that we have plenty more to deal with."
"Tell me," Romanoff ordered as she and Pepper sat down.
"Close to fifty hired guns on the first level. They won't be too much of a problem, but the second level is gonna be tough."
"Why's that?" Spiderman asked.
"The Gifted are there."
"Gifted?" he asked.
"People with remarkable powers or skills," Romanoff explained. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had a database of them, though I assume Rising Tide got a hold of it."
"Exactly, and while most of them aren't members, those that are can be very dangerous. Abner Croit, Donald Gill, Emil Blonksy, and my father are the most dangerous ones."
"Well this is going to be interesting," Natasha commented.
"I have absolutely no idea who any of those people are," Spiderman stated.
"Well they're pretty interesting, any one of them is a force to be reckoned with," Ella explained. "Croit can manipulate Darkforce, which drains all kinds of energy and is highly lethal. Gill can create and manipulate ice. Blonsky can turn into a creature as powerful as the Hulk. And you know what my father can do. I don't know what other Gifted might be there, if any other Gifted are even there."
"How do we fight them?" Natasha asked as she devised a dozen ways to defeat any of them.
"The same way Loki fought the Avengers," Ella replied with a smile. "Divide and conquer."
