[221B Bleecker St.]

Eddard was working when Sophie entered the room, he looked at her and deadpanned, "You and Harry should keep your hands to yourselves when I ask him to do a job, don't give me that shocked look Sophie, your bloody lipstick is smudged. Or if you have to be smart about it, use smudgeproof lipstick to begin with. I don't know what would happen to you if I was any other employer. Now tell me, how's Rebirth 2.0 going?"

"The trials on those criminals went well. Draco and Stormi will soon join the ranks of super soldier class combatants. So are you sure about giving the sword to Stormi?"

"I am not a melee fighter, Sophie, I have said this enough times, the ring has made them prodigious by human standards, but I can assure you that we aren't competing against beings on human standards. The serum will break the physical limits of the body so that the ring can push them above it. Soon all of you will be the strongest super soldiers to exist."

She nodded, "So will they all be getting their own weapons?"

"Yes, Jayden and Kayneth have been working on a suit using vibranium and transformium alloy. They will be provided to everybody on the order."

She smiled, "Harry would be happy to know that. By the way, how is Project Treasury going?"

"It actually is complete, but the Treasury is completely empty, I will soon start designing weapons en masse."

"Eddard, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you so laid back? You told us that a massive war is approaching, you don't know who we will be fighting but we will be fighting. You still don't use object permeation to its full capacity."

"Sophie, I do not know whether you have heard this or not but we never use our muscles at full strength, our brains restrict the strength we can use. Do you know why? Because as nice as 'going beyond your limits' sounds, it leaves a miserable aftermath for the body.

My powers manipulate reality at a very intimate level, which while I can manipulate, I have no deeper understanding than abstract knowledge of, its understanding while imperative is an hazard in itself.

So to answer your question, the things I know I have no talent or understanding of, I leave them be. The mistakes I can make using my abilities the wrong way would have consequences of unknown proportion."

"So you don't use powers more carelessly because your carelessness could lead to massive catastrophes. But can't it be said that your inaction still leads to catastrophes." She asked thoughtfully.

"But I do in fact take action, I just don't gamble with either my sanity or life. You think I don't think of creating weapons that could kill everything on earth through a superdisease. I have a lot of ideas, very few of them ever make the work table, because quite a few of them are too destructive in their application with a lot of backlash potential. AI, Transformers, Weather manipulators, Reality warpers, etc." he stated morosely.

She nodded, "All I will say is that I think you fear your power too much."

"And I say, you don't fear power enough."

Sophie left the room after that, Eddard knew she was annoyed, but he also understood she was annoyed because she cared.

He turned to his work which was again interrupted by Harry who came in the office and asked him to move to the meeting hall as there was something he needed to see.

As Eddard entered the room, he heard the news reporter's voice, " Tony Stark's Malibu Mansion of which he shared the address in his threat against has been bombed by the organisation known as 'The Ten Rings'. His home was attacked by low flying civilian helicopters that had been upgraded to carry missiles. In the following battle, Tony Stark has taken out three of these helicopter before the explosion from his own arc reactors took him out.

The department of damage control has been working constantly to clear wreckage to find Mr Stark's body who has been presumed dead. The USAF has said all the helicopters wreckage they found are 'supposedly' loaned helicopters, that were given to the Pakistani Government."

It continued on to rattle all the facts about the ten rings that were already well known.

Eddard said calmly, "Harry, get Jacob on call my friend, do it as fast as possible. Ask him to contact the actress that we met, Natalie Davies." Harry walked to the corner of the room and immediately started calling Jacob.

Eddard picked his phone up and phoned Natasha Romanoff.

Natasha said in a groggy voice, "Hello? Clarke?"

"Have you seen the news?"

"No, I am out of the country."

"Stark's MIA." he stated bluntly.

"Wait a minute-" he heard her knocking on a door, "Captain! Rogers! Steve!"

"Romanoff?" He heard Roger's voice.

"Stark's MIA." she stated in a plain voice.

"What?!"

"I have Clarke on line, I thought you would like to know what happened."

"Good to hear, that the de-facto military experts of the Avengers are out of the nation. What are you doing? Running errands for SHIELD, Rogers?"

"Stop with the stupid attitude Clarke and tell us what happened."

"Stark went ahead and issued a threat to some new terrorist group known as The Ten Rings. Now, unlike what the man had apparently thought, they took the threat seriously enough to bring American Democracy to his home. The man was caught unaware." Eddard chuckled.

"Stark's dead and you are laughing Clarke?"

"He isn't dead, most probably faked his death."

"And how do you know that?"

"Mate, his armour is capable of getting hit by tank shells and surviving. Unless he was hit directly, the missiles wouldn't have done much damage either. Stark isn't a glass cannon. The only reason I am even calling you is about what is going to be our response to this, as in the Avengers and what about SHIELD?"

"Well, Captain and me are out of order, Barton is on a personal errand, Bruce really isn't a good option, Thor is out on Asgard, which leaves only you." Natasha said simply.

"So whatever I want to do, I can do?" Eddard asked.

"Yes, but please do it to a reasonable degree, DC and some in SHIELD even, are not happy with you directly insulting the Senate." Steve said in a tired voice.

"Of course, that was personal business, this will be official Avenegrs business, can't be seen lacking here."

"Thank you." There was a pause after which Captain added, "If Stark is dead, avenge him."

"That is in the name, Cap." Eddard laughed and cut the call.

He turned to Harry who passed him another phone, "Hello?"

"Ed?" Jacob's voice rang out.

"Jacob, remember the actress we met back immediately after the war who gave us tickets to her movie, do you have her number?"

"Yes?" Jacob sounded shifty.

"No need to worry, I am asking because I would like her to join the order, is she still here?"

"Yes, she lives in Manhattan, I can get her to agree." Jacob sounded awfully happy.

Eddard smiled and said, "Tell her I was looking for a spokesperson that could make statements on my behalf to the public, I thought it would be a good idea to get your girlfriend. I will also say that if you ever used, ' Eddard's my friend' card to pull any other woman, I will castrate you."

".….yes." sighed Jacob from the other side.

[23rd December, 2012.]

[Harley Keener's POV]

Harley Keener was watching the news about Tony Stark dying when the reporter said that a statement on the behalf of the Avengers had been made.

The scene on the screen changed, showing a woman who seemed to be the spokesperson of the Avengers saying, " Tony Stark, a member of the Avengers Initiative, was killed by a United Nations recognised terror group known as 'The Ten Rings'.

He was attacked at his Malibu Mansion on the morning of 23rd December after he issued a threat to said group due to his emotions clouding his judgement, Tony's close friend and security head had been a victim of the bombing at TCL Chinese Theatre.

The Avengers are a global peacekeeping force formed to protect Earth from threats of extraterrestrial nature. We were never truly made to deal with internal conflicts, but the circumstances have forced our hand.

Eddard Clarke, another member of the initiative has been tasked with dismantling 'The Ten Rings' and to either capture or kill its members.

He has stated, "Tony Stark will be avenged, by violence if need be.The Avengers do not care for ideological conflicts but we very much care about our members dying. The members are vital for a response team made out of talented people facing extraterrestrial threats for Earth.

Tony Stark, is also the man, who despite his many faults, carried a nuclear missile into space to protect eight million people. He was never a perfect man, he made many mistakes, he regretted making weapons of war. Yes, he is a man with a huge ego but what he isn't, is an evil man."

I will not be taking any questions, Thank you."

AN:

A glimpse into why the other avengers never moved into each others' affairs.

A perfect reply to what happened at the Malibu Mansion by the Avengers, showcasing the words, "If they kill you, one of the big ones will come."