Chapter 6: tower of p(A.I)n

That same day early in the morning Chun Li was maneuvering down the hallways of the government building, passing by several weary officers who replied to her cheerful good mornings with exhausted nods. The Interpol agent had offered to help out the NYPD root out the rest of the zombie problem, but Mike had been adamant she stay in a spare room for a day or so in order to recover her strength. He had blathered over her, along with Logan and Laura, thanking them heartily for their help; obviously it had been awhile since he had gotten more than three hours of sleep at a shot, if his sporadic behavior was any measure. Grudgingly Logan had also accepted a room from Mike before disappearing into it for the rest of the day. Laura had spent most of her night out and about, much to the consternation of her father. Their subsequent screaming match at three in the morning woke up everyone in the building save Mike who was completely out of it.

Chun was fairly surprised at seeing the mayor in his office looking perfectly fine after sheltering several days of zombie invasion. He was drinking a cup of coffee behind his desk smiling widely at her when she entered the room. "Chun, you look so much better this morning" he greeted gesturing for her to sit down "How are you friends doing?" Chun hesitated for a second, mentally tripping over the word friend "They're both alright, I haven't seen them since yesterday though." "They deserve their rest after all the work they've done." He replied "Of course if you want a few more days off as well I don't have any problem with that." Chun shook her head "I thank you for the offer Mike but I get restless when I'm not doing anything." He gave a rich laugh "You are truly a gem. In that case I wanted you to check up on that second issue I talked to you about." "I'm sorry, I haven't gotten anything concrete on that end yet save…" Mike's eyebrow quirked but he politely said nothing, allowing Chun to iron out the words herself.

"I called headquarters to report about the Avengers, this is the Chinese branch mind you." Chun hesitated again "It was just like you said sir. It was like I didn't know anything." Mike laid back in his chair, hands clasped, with a troubled look on his face "Like you didn't know the colors of the American flag…" he muttered reflecting for a second "I hate to say this Chun but I'm glad this happened. It's selfish but I'm glad I don't have to do this alone." He suddenly launched forward pounding his fist onto his desk "Don't you worry Chun. We'll figure out what the devil is happening here." She nodded enthusiastically "That's what I do best Mike." "Excellent, now are you ready for your mission" he asked her "I manage to procure for you a visit to Stark Tower, head quarters for this 'Avenger' group. The property owner is a man named Tony Stark, here's his dossier." He reached into his desk withdrawing a manila folder "I want you to get a feel for these guys; it'll help us decide exactly what to do next." Chun picked up the file, it had a decent weight, quite impressive for Mike especially since he managed to compile this while dealing with the invasion. Tucking it into her satchel Chun rose up from her chair and gave Mike a bow. "I'll be back as soon as I can." "Be careful Chun" M\he cautioned her "I doubt they're prone to impulsive violence but you'll be walking in blindly." Chun gave a dismissive wave "I've been through worse."

She headed down the hallway to the front entrance when she was accosted by someone to her left. "Damn girl, I didn't think you'd make it." It was the commanding officer who had been holding the police barrier lending Chun use of that denim jacket. "All thanks to you and your advice" Chun replied happily removing the coat from her shoulders "This saved my life more than a single time. You have my deepest gratitude." "Ain't no thing honey" the woman replied taking her coat back "Anyway if you'll excuse me, gotta go report in." Waving good bye Chun left the building breathing in the humid summer air with relish. On the opposing side walk a familiar figure hunched by a nearby building lighting up a cigarette. "Logan" Chun greeted "Good morning." He grunted in reply taking the smoldering stick out of his mouth and crushing it under foot. "What are your plans?" she asked innocently her nose wrinkling from the hazy smoke. "I gotta go see someone" he replied huskily his voice raw from the effects of the smoke "Something doesn't feel right…" He turned to her lowering the full power of his intensive gaze at her "Be careful around Tony Stark, he's a lech through and through." Chun drew back amazed "Were you eavesdropping?" He gave his barking laugh "Can't help it, when you got hearing as good as mine you hear tons of crap, some good some useless."

"Do you think we're crazy" Chun asked setting her gaze astride "for not knowing about the Avengers I mean." "Normally if some average Joe claimed to never have heard of the Avengers I'd say he was crazy or stupid or both." "Normally…" Chun said looking up at him. He paused for a moment before waving his hand dismissively "Forget it" Instead he raised his right hand in front of Chun revealing his claws with a snikt "I'm guessing if you don't have a clue in hell what the Avengers are I guess you don't know what a mutant is either." Chun shook her head "Are they rare or something?" Another barking laugh "Somewhat, they're humans born with extraordinary genes. Most people hate them." Chun cupped her chin with her hand "I guess that explains the claws, the hearing and the fact you could take zombie bites without turning into one." 'And the behavior' she thought darkly but didn't mention it.

"Yeah advanced healing as well as boosted senses." He finished "Me in a nutshell. You're a tough broad to have seen what I can do and still work with me." "I've seen worse" she replied completely honest "Much worse" Logan grunted then turned around stalking off down the street "By the way, I used to be an Avenger. Buncha squabbling pansies, I got out as quick as I could. When you see Stark tell him to go to hell." Chun quirked a smile at his goodbye before heading down the next street, parked next to the far curb was a sleek black limo courtesy of Mike. Stepping in she briefly wondered where Laura had been, perhaps she was getting them a vehicle? The journey to Stark Tower took a mere hour, a miracle for New York City road ways, made possible thanks to the zombie invasion. Nobody had the courage to venture outside for extended periods of time, meaning that the roads were completely clear. The ride was completely uneventful, allowing Chun to look over Tony's dossier. Apparently, before he became a hero and household name seven years ago, Tony Stark was best known for his brilliant mind which combined uneasily with his playboy habits. He had inherited his company from his equally brilliant father; the two of them were responsible for the majority of modern day technology in this world. After a nebulous close call with death via the hands of foreign terrorists he had designed the Iron Man suit as well as coming into a sudden change of heart toward social responsibility. As Iron Man he roamed the skies foiling multiple plots of villainy great and small while his company fought a pitched battle with the timeless evils of the world like hunger and disease.

About five years ago after a particularly hard fought battle that had sketchy details at best, he had initiated the Avengers program seeking several partners to aid him in global safe keeping. Four other members answered his call creating the largest tangible threat to evil the world had ever seen. They were celebrities around the world, beloved by all; even those who hated America revered the group. From the dossier alone it seemed like a fool's errand to scout out their intentions, but Chun knew better than to take something at face value. Tony Stark alone had the power, money, and resources to cause serious problems to the world; this went quadruple for each member of his group. Mike had put more effort into Stark but the others were touched upon briefly in the dossier. Two of them, Captain America and Hawkeye were normal people bolstered by either fantastic training or incredible elixirs. Captain America had been modified with a serum from World War 2; the recipe had been lost to the mists of time, who had been fighting crime since then. Hawkeye had no special powers but the info claimed he was a peerless marksman who had the physique of three athletes in their prime. The other two were the most abnormal which made them the higher priority in Chun's eyes. First there was a man called Thor who could summon lightning with a gesture wielding a mystic hammer only he could wield. The other was a giant, green man who used his incredible strength to rip through opponents with ease; his mind was unstable making him prone to rages. If his behavior was even the smallest bit similar to Logan's, Chun would urge Mike to restrain it immediately if it was possible.

As the limo rolled into the valet parking of the building, Chun checked her appearance in the tinted windows briefly before stepping out. A small, red headed woman greeted her at the entrance of the building. "Hello, I'm Pepper Potts, personal secretary to Mr. Stark, I take it that you are Ms. Li?" she asked in a friendly manner. Chun nodded "That's me alright" she handed over here Interpol ID in formality; Pepper glanced over it briefly before handing the card back to her. "Right this way please, Mr. Stark is awaiting your arrival." Hastily she led Chun through the lobby into a huge glass elevator with the professional bustle of a woman who had been working her job for years. Ignoring the buttons posting the floor numbers Pepper opted to slide her card through a reader on the left side of the elevator opposite the button panel. Without so much as a lurch the machine boosted them quickly into the air allowing Chun to marvel at the amazing view in front of her. The buildings of New York shrunk with each fleeting moment, offering a new, beautiful perspective of the city with each blink of an eye; every second was postcard perfect.

Smoothly the elevator stopped at the very top of the building "This is Mr. Stark's private office" Pepper informed her as the pair stepped out into the anteroom. Directly across from them lay a pair of heavy looking mahogany doors with another card reader positioned slightly to the left of them. Sliding her card through again there was a mechanical click as the doors opened without a sound. "Mr. Stark is expecting you within" the secretary stated gesturing at the room inside. Thanking Pepper for her help Chun stepped inside, the doors closed gently behind her. Chun couldn't help but gape at the room, for an office it was on the cutting edge of interior design. Along with a very expensive looking desk painstakingly carved from rosewood there was a large monitor set up with several screens that informed anyone paying attention to a myriad of things like the stock market, C-SPAN, the news, plus many more channels. The ceiling was clear allowing Chun to gaze up at the blue afternoon sky as well as the wispy clouds trawling about in a westerly direction

While Chun was being escorted through the tower a few buildings away a small spider robot lay hidden under the gutters of a medium sized skyscraper. It could have easily fit into the palm of a human's hand; its mid-section was composed of a shallow glass dome that flashed periodically. From miles away M.O.D.O.K sat comfortably in a hidden base, his face illumined by the large screen that swapped occasionally from the spider's point of view to an overhead view. Carefully M.O.D.O.K maneuvered the spider closer and closer to the Stark Tower. He quickly checked for any surveillance coming from the tower, JARVIS could detect even minute threats coming from miles away. Clacking loudly on his transparent computer screen he opened some codes emanating from the tower and subtly glitched, them allowing his spider to get into prime position. With lightning quick reflexes, M.O.D.O.K jacked into JARVIS' mainframe.

If he wanted to so much as place his pinky into Stark's home he was going to have to bypass his cybernetic guard dog and that was going to prove to be a delightful challenge. Barraging the mainframe with a bevy of viruses M.O.D.O.K found himself holding his breath, he had to stop JARVIS before he alerted Tony that there was an intruder. The killing machine rammed the barrier with every single byte he could process calculating he had about a 64 percent chance of managing to gag JARVIS. Not an optimal chance by any account but being forbidden to go in hands on forced it to be risky. The brute force method worked to a point, JARVIS' main frame had been impaired to an extent, allowing access to the inside of Stark Tower. It had even deleted the memory of the recent hacking attempt from memory saving M.O.D.O.K's bacon. On the other hand JARVIS still had all of its interior surveillance on line while any hacking attempt from the outside had been rendered impossible due to a failsafe barrier falling into place.

"Touché Stark, even I, the ultimate computer, must applaud your genius, intentional or otherwise." The killing machine said with a giggle as he surveyed the locked cybernetic door in front of him "Don't disappoint me now." With flicks of his controllers he sent his robot jumping forth among the rooftops of the ceiling headed toward the tower. Since the memory was fragmented JARVIS wouldn't even realized he had no control of the exterior surveillance, a thought that made M.O.D.O.K laugh with guilty pleasure.

At the lower left hand side of the room was a lounge type area with several sheik seats as well as a lovely white couch. A small coffee table crafted of stained glass sat in the middle of it allowing anyone who might have taken a drink from the nearby wet bar to conveniently place it upon its rainbow surface. The room however paled to the occupants within its walls, the words beautiful elite seemed to have been crafted with their looks in mind. First and foremost was the man, most likely her host, who was dressed impeccably in a gorgeous Italian suit which he wore with a kind of causal, laid back attitude. He had black hair and a matching goatee which curled upward as he flashed his guest a dazzling smile. His companion was probably Aphrodite herself, her beauty seemed to fill every nook of the room with radiance. Her mid-length hair was a fiery sheen of red which brought out her emerald colored eyes. She wore odd attire made of a green and gold spandex suit which fit her perfectly showing off her formidable curves.

"Ms. Chun I presume" the man asked walking toward her with a hand stretched before him "I am Tony Stark; it's an honor to meet you." It took Chun a second longer to react then she would have liked but eventually she shook out of her stupor in order to grasp the man's hand in a friendly shake. "You as well Mr. Stark, I hope I'm not interrupting anything" she replied feeling a bit cowed by them, her own humble origins uncharacteristically made her feel inferior in their presence. "Not at all, I was just leaving" the woman said nodding at Tony "If you'll excuse me." With grace she walked past the pair of them exiting the room through the mahogany doors which opened without her having to press anything. Once she was gone Tony gestured at the seat she had been reclining in earlier "Please, won't you sit down, Ms. Li?" Chun parked herself in the chair while Tony sauntered over to the wet bar "Can I get you anything to drink" he asked. "I would love some tea if you have it" Chun replied demurely.

Once the pair had tasted their drinks Tony crossed his legs and shot her another knee weakening smile "I hear you've come here on behalf of the mayor's office Ms. Li." She nodded placing her cup down on the coffee table "Yes, Mayor Haggar sends his deepest regrets that he is not able to come personally." The superhero waved a hand dismissively "I'm much happier with you here anyways. Let's get down to business shall we?" "The mayor wanted to know if the Avengers had found out whom or what caused this attack in the first place." Chun said "The fact that no one has stepped forward to claim responsibility for this attack worries him greatly." An unreadable emotion passed over his continuously congenial features but it flashed by too quickly for Chun to even begin to guess what it might have been. Stark stood up "Unfortunately a zombie attack isn't one of the signature mark of any major villain we've catalogued in the last decade or so. I have a few guesses as to who it might be but they're mere speculation for now and even then my gut tells me I'm wrong." Walking over to his computer he tapped a few buttons getting the machinery to release a small disk which Stark handed to her. "It's not conclusive yet, I'll still need much more tome to gather data and hunt for clues before I can be sure, but on that disk is a list of super villains who have the skills to try something like that invasion."

Chun pocketed the disk inside her qipao "That's unfortunate but understandable, the mayor is more than willing to provide whatever resources you require to help your search." Tony nodded in thanks before fixing her with a firm stare "If you don't mind me asking, how did an Interpol agent, like yourself, come to work for our honorable mayor in the first place?" "It's a temporary thing "Chun explained "He called me in to help with the zombie invasion, I'll be sticking around for while just in case more start popping up." "That's very noble of you Ms. Li" he commented "I feel safer knowing you're here to protect me." From anyone else's mouth t would have sounded factual, from Tony's mouth it sounded downright lustful. . Blushing for no reason Chun decided to change subjects "The mayor would also like to collaborate with Stark Industries to help rebuild the city." "That's a wonderful idea" Tony replied taking another sip of his beverage "What did he have in mind then?"

M.O.D.O.K had managed to maneuver his robot onto the walls of the Stark Tower scaling it quickly in order to avoid the gazes of anyone on the floors inside. His goal was the roof which would bring him mere feet away from JARVIS' mainframe giving him the best possible position to hack the supercomputer save for actually being directly underneath it. While his hacking spider ascended the building M.O.D.O.K started to corral his other forces, he had brought a small army with him but after running his calculations the predicted outcome was 15:85 in Stark's favor. It annoyed him to know that Doom had specifically forbidden him from tweaking the odds in his favor. His leader seemed adamant that the success of the mission lay solely on if M.O.D.O.K managed to extract the target unseen. Before the super computer got too pissed off, the robot had perched itself at the perfect spot, allowing M.O.D.O.K to reopen JARVIS command prompt again.

The massive amount of data interacted lightly with M.O.D.O.K's servers allowing him to scan for any weaknesses in the script. Targeting several lines of codes the killing machine attacked ruthlessly aiming to silence the computer before it could alert its master. For a few brief seconds, the probabilities shot up and down by the millisecond condemning M.O.D.O.K's attempt to hell then assuring the supercomputer it had a one hundred percent chance of victory. But it had crunched the numbers, twice, and a seventy nine percent chance would be the true likelihood of cracking JARVIS no matter what. The coding finished with a dearth of silence leaving the outcome undecided for a minute. The fact that the weapons system hadn't come online was proof enough, JARVIS had been paralyzed, and the rest would be considerably easier. Throwing in a few more fork bombs for good measure M.O.D.O.K laughed uncontrollably at the victory he had obtained ordering his horde into the unguarded Stark Tower.

Unbeknownst to Chun the mysterious red headed woman had not gone very far when she had left. Leaning up against the wall right next to the card reader she bent her head reaching out with her telepathic powers in order to dive right into the agent's memories. 'Interesting' she thought strolling the through the memories of the recent past 'both her and the mayor are like us, displaced in this most basic of worlds.' Then she got a glimpse of the short, dark stranger who had accompanied her on her journey. She physically flinched, forcing herself to disconnect abruptly as the Phoenix Force inside of her roiled about like a waking predator."Logan" she breathed fighting back the emotions stimulating the beast within her psyche. It was just her luck that the man who could make her lose control would appear here. Grimacing she dove again into the memories doing her utmost to flit about Logan as she pieced together what the Interpol agent knew.

When she submerged, having fully gathered everything she was looking for, she mused over it in her mind. 'Apparently Logan has a child' she thought not at all surprised, her former team mate was hardly the picture of celibacy 'although, her powers are a little too similar to be simple genetics.' Putting that one in the back of her mind she focused on the more relevant parts, the machine Chun had accessed as well as the weird voice that claimed to be independent A.I. 'Unfortunately this doesn't tell us which villains have also been placed here' she pondered 'Perhaps Tony recognizes the tech better than I do." Her reverie was interrupted by the opening of the mahogany doors, the girl Tony had been conversing with looking a bit dumbstruck. "How did it go" she asked the agent causing her to whirl around startled. "Oh…uh….it went well" the girl replied looking a bit sheepish "Is Mr. Stark always so…" The red head gave an understanding smile "He has that effect on every woman, you get used to it eventually."

Giving a grateful smile Chun stuck her hand out "I'm Chun Li; it's nice to meet you." "I'm Jean Grey" the woman replied shaking her hand "It was nice to meet you, Ms. Li." With that Jean returned to Stark's private office as the doors shut behind her with a click. The only other occupant in the room looked t her with a gaze of intrigue "Got anything interesting" Tony asked finishing his drink in one gulp. "You were right about the mayor, he's also from another world just like that girl you just met with." She replied reclaiming her seat. "The mayor is suspicious about what the Avengers are, hence the reason he sent Ms. Li over here." Tony chuckled at that piece of information "If I were in his shoes I'd be surprised too." "There's more" she said waiting for Tony to settle down a bit before placing a hand on his head "These parts in particular should interest you." Psychically she showed him the memories she had copied from the agent's psyche causing Tony to grunt from interest. "That machine…" he commented before trailing off "I've seen designs similar to that before"

"Can you figure out who's responsible" she asked retracting her hand breaking the connection. "It'll take some time but I might be able to narrow it down to few suspects" Tony replied rubbing his temples "That voice on the other hand is completely alien to me. It's probably like JARVIS, independent A.I." Mischievously he glanced up at her from his position on the chair "I think I saw your lover boy in a couple of those scenes." Jean said nothing choosing to wander over to the east window comprised entirely out of glass presenting a fabulous view of New York City. "I never want to see him again" she stated softly, looking down amongst the skyscrapers. Getting up off his chair he stood behind her needling her back with a gaze "Why do you want to go back" he asked "If you go back you'll be dead again, don't you want to be with that mangy old lover boy?" Jean didn't rise to his provocation "Have you ever carried a burden that was so heavy it could crush you at any second? Have you ever had to guard something so diligently you were afraid to sleep for even a minute?"

"The Phoenix Force wants to wake, to fly, to conquer, to destroy everything" shep laced a hand on her head "In our world I failed to notice the corruption spreading through it, the Phoenix Force became so powerful I was unable to contain it and it ripped through my body like wildfire, engulfing all in its wake. Had my companions not defeated it the entire universe would have been turned to ash. If I allow my mental acuity to weaken for a mere second it could be free once more and this time we might not be so lucky. Thousands died because of my weakness" Behind her Tony put a hand on her shoulders "Living is always better than dying, believe me." Jean shook her head "Even death won't stop it, should I perish it would wrench free of my soul and storm about in my corpse uncontained." She turned to look at him her emerald eyes glittering in determination "I must return unto death via going back to my world, anything less is irresponsible of me."

"I'm guessing that Wolverine would be a pretty nasty mental trigger then" Tony predicted "I didn't even know you before you died but even I can tell there's some killer chemistry between you two." "Purely physical I assure you, I made my choice long ago" she replied which only caused him to smile pervertedly. "My favorite kind of chemistry is purely physical" he joked unaffected by her dour gaze. Before she could chide him something chrome suddenly jerked itself in front of the window, there was a brief second before either of them could move then the thing began to shoot at them. The glass shattered threatening to lacerate the both of them while white hot laser blasts streaked about them seeking to disintegrate them upon purchase. Jean reacted quickly, a quick psy wave rent the air knocking the chrome shooter down so it's shots smashed into the floor below them while pushing the glass away from them. Behind her Tony had rushed over to his computer "What the hell are you doing JARVIS?" he asked tapping the computer a few times. The screen booted up out of screen saver revealing a script taking up the full length of the screen with large lines of complex codes being run through it.

It took the genius a few seconds to realize what was going on "Damn" he muttered before yelling over to Jean "We're being hacked, JARVIS is down!" The psychic nodded at him before returning her attention back to the window. The chrome thing had stabilized its flight raising itself back up to its previous height giving the pair an eyeful of it. It was clearly a robot of some kind, a small rectangular thing no bigger than a suitcase with several pistols attached to its side which were beginning to glow from the photon collection. Its barrage of light, however, froze in the air a few feet from it, the laser blasts looked like stars suspended in the night sky. With little more than a shrug Jean reversed their direction sending them back at the robot frying it into silver little pools of melted circuitry. "Jean" tony called out behind her trying to yank his neck free of the new robots that appeared behind them.

These ones were clearly built for melee; their long lanky forms resembled humans slightly. They were also chrome colored from head to foot with no faces giving them a very liquid like look. They had wicked looking claws along with wicked looking blades for elbows. One robot had its clawed hands around Tony's neck threatening to cut through it like cheese if Jean so much as twitched. Dipping into a smidge of Phoenix Force power she empowered her telekinesis enough to grab control of one of the robots. Simultaneously the one she controlled stabbed the one holding Tony who was hoisted into the air via telepathy. "Send me out the window" the CEO cried as the attack bots began to advance on their position. "Hurry back; I don't know how much longer I can keep it contained" she instructed him before chucking him outside.

As he tumbled through the air Tony grabbed his phone hitting a series of buttons to activate part of Stark Tower. Different sections of his Iron Man suit flew out of cracks and crevices of the building, a special deployment system that used tubes located in the exterior walls to shuttle his suit outside just in case he wasn't able to get inside to obtain it. With each floor a new piece attached itself to descending millionaire until the entire outfit was primed for flight just before Stark fell below the fifth floor of Stark Tower. Activating his jets he boosted himself back up skimming the surface of his building in his haste. However, whoever had shut down JARVIS had also taken control of Stark Tower's defensive programs. He raced against the building as an army's worth of weapons began to deploy from every feasible surface.

His determined push to get back to Jean was interrupted by a volley of every conceivable type of ammunition known to mankind. Flipping about in midair Iron Man planted his feet on the walls of Stark Tower than pushed the acceleration to its highest output. Like a crimson shot he was away allowing the volley to pierce empty air and fall down into the empty street below. Tony swung about in a U-turn to continue his flight back to his comrade only to spot a multitude of metal flying toward him. Cursing vividly Stark sent a small volley of uni-beams at the formation knowing full well what sort of trouble he was in. When he built the Tower's defensive measures he had, in a perceived fit of brilliance, decided to add a small retinue of Iron Man suits which would act as unmanned guards in case some idiot super villain got the bright idea to attack his home while he was away. Never had it entered the genius' mind that the same system designed to be visual middle finger for the poor bastard trespassing on his doorstep could possibly used to be a major pain in ass for him.

Before he engaged in aerial combat with his mechanical doppelgangers he glanced up at the penthouse suite anxiously. The air surrounding the top of Stark Tower had begun to gleam and shimmer the same way the summer sun creates invisible waves off of asphalt. 'Shit' was his last thought as a uni-beam screamed by him. Even with all his technological prowess there were certain laws of nature Tony couldn't overcome, G-Force was one of those problems. A human body could only take so much of the force before being turned into jelly; unmanned drones had no such limitations. Twisting about the air Tony banked sharply to avoid a group of uni-beams sending off a few of his own. The formation of Iron Man drones scattered in perfect synchronization to dodge his scatter shot attacks before reconfiguring into a tight V shaped group which scorched an entire plane of air with a carpet of lasers.

Unable to dodge in time Iron Man settled for turning about in midair so he was facing the drones summoning the biggest, strongest energy shield he had equipped on this particular suit. Knocked into a nearby skyscraper Tony grimaced as the heat of the two energies colliding overpowered his cooling systems threatening to cook him alive in his suit. Activating his foot blasters he shot backwards into the building carving a path of destruction through the interior until he smashed through the other side of the wall. Landing on the concrete below he took a second to groan in pain from the first degree burns accumulating on his body. Heaving a sigh he got back onto his feet activating his shoulder rockets which circled the building looking for targets.

The minute a drone appeared destroying the missile with a uni-beam Iron Man shot forward grabbing the troublesome empty suit's head. A quick laser to the head melted its circuitry; it was a small victory almost meaningless by itself. It had taken way too much ammo to destroy this thing; while his lasers ran off his arc reactor; his missiles were not as easily replenished. Above him the drones had destroyed the rest of his missiles and converging once again on his position. As he flew off once again he noted that the guard drones were missing one, the "captain" of their little fleet so to say. Hoping it wouldn't be making an appearance any time soon Iron Man set his sights on the stratosphere with the entire retinue of suits in hot pursuit.

Below him within Stark Tower's lobby Chun had just jumped down from a nearby rafter, the elevator had gotten stuck when the robots had attacked. In front of her the Stark tower employees were scattered about willy-nilly screaming in sheer tower as a monstrous mass of metal rampaged through in their midst. With a jerk of its head it stared at her for a second before releasing a volley of flares at her. Reflexively Chun shot a blast of Kikoken at the incoming projectiles before cartwheeling her way behind a nearby overturned desk. Whatever wasn't extinguished by the Chi blasted harmlessly against the sturdy granite surface of the desk she had ducked behind. "What the hell is that thing" Chun asked peeking over the top, luckily the metal thing had set its sights in other things to smash. "That's Proto Merkabah" a voice quivered beside her. "Pepper" Chun exclaimed, the poor personal secretary looked terrified at what was going on around her.

"It's a relief to see that you're alright Ms. Li" Pepper said "I don't suppose you can get us out of this situation?" "Depends" Chun replied glancing back at the robot "What exactly is a Proto Merkabah?" "It's a special unmanned Iron Man built by Mr. Stark to defend Stark Tower, usually it's accompanied by a retinue of smaller Iron Man units." Pepper said "The only real weakness I remember it having is the fact it can't shoot uni-beams thanks to the huge amount of energy it draws from its Arc reactor to power itself." That did little to encourage Chun who was trying to look for some sort of weak spot on its shiny alloy body. "Here's the plan, when I attack it, you and the other employees should evacuate out the front door as fast as you can" Chun explained "What about you" Pepper asked "I don't doubt your abilities at all but there's no way you'll be able to so much as dent it using blunt force alone." Chun shrugged nonchalantly "I'll think of something when you guys are a safe distance away." Hunkering down she glanced at Pepper who took a deep breath to calm her nerves before nodding in preparation for what was to go down.

Jumping out from behind her cover Chun charged the machine from behind sending all nine feet of it down on the ground with a spectacular roundhouse kick. Pounding its back with a barrage of Kikoken Chun couldn't help but feel a swell of confidence at how easily it went down, perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as she thought. Naturally the moment she began to feel good about this fight it all went to pot, the robot shot a foot out knocking her down before whipping a metal wrist at her sending the poor agent tumbling a few feet away. Completely unaffected by her little assault on his behind Proto Merkabah stood back up and turned to his opponent. Aiming his fingers he placed a small red laser onto his target's head which was all the warning she got before he fired nasty looking tranquilizer darts at her.

With a cry of surprise she rolled away from the attack watching the darts shatter on the ground where they began to leak their noxious liquids. Finding cover behind a column Chun played a brief game of cat and mouse with the metal titan exchanging projectiles with him for a second until he ran out of tranqs. Undeterred Proto Merkabah shattered the column with one punch sending Chun skittering away from him through the rubble. A small space of about ten feet lay between the two opponents giving Chun a second to look around for Pepper. The red haired secretary was helping an injured employee out of the building while several more escaped of their own volition but Chun couldn't rest yet, more heads popping out from behind random points of cover gave her a rough estimate of how many employees were still in trouble.

Both machine and woman began round two in a much more traditional fashion. Like many fights she had been in before Chun knew the basic steps of this initial dance, move forward cautiously with slight steps ready to strike at any second. Mincing her way forward she watched as the robot did the same, Stark really was quite brilliant if he could get this jerky pile of scrap to mirror the grace and beauty of a skilled martial artist. The machine put its hands up as it circled about her before it lunged forward with a ground shattering haymaker. Side-stepping it effortlessly Chun stepped forward but retreated jerking up her knee every now and then if she were about to strike. The robot pulled its fist out of the marble floor before mirroring her attitude, to the ignorant it looked like a boring dance of some kind. In reality it was much more akin to two chess masters trying to predict the next move, where to strike, what the opponent's goal is, and making sure their flank was guarded from surprise attacks. All these questions swam through Chun's mind as she stalled for time trying to draw this confrontation out as long as she could.

Proto Merkabah stepped forward bringing the pace of the battle up a notch circling her with short fast footsteps while feinting with his fists. The Interpol agent matched him feint for feint, her own shuffle using aggressive steps to force him back while twirling about ready to dodge a jab at any second. Finally Proto Merkabah saw an opening and shot his hand forward aiming for her solar plexus with a palm thrust that would have shattered her ribs if it connected. Swaying back, Chun dodged it effortlessly, sending a blast of Kikoken to stun it for quick second, allowing her to back off just enough to hit him with kick to the middle. She followed it up with a combination of high to low attacks her shoes ringing with each blow that found purchase on the metal casing. A powerful roundhouse knocked him back a few feet giving her room to flip forward smashing his head in with a heel drop. Taking a small cue from Zangief she straddled his head to hold him steady with her thighs as she launched a second barrage of Kikoken straight down hoping to blast his circuitry wide open.

The machinery whined a bit but still managed to buck her off its neck sending her onto her ass behind him as he stood up ready to pay her back two fold. Lightning fast jabs rained down around her forcing the Interpol agent to twist about wildly to dodge and even then several blows managed to graze her body. A desperate blast of Kikoken allowed her to get back onto her feet but Chun was forced onto the back foot as the suit advanced with mechanically precise jabs. Wading in aggressively the robot used a nasty hook to open her right side long enough for him to sucker punch her. Taking the blow with gnashing teeth Chun answered back with an arcing kick to the head which resounded with a clang before ducking low to try and sweep him. The robot hopped over her foot clasping both hands to try and splatter her with a pound which she dodged by swinging her own body up into a handstand mere inches away from the crater he made. In a perfect position she launched straight into her signature attack, the Spinning Bird Kick, which smashed against his head raising an awful cacophony.

She landed on one hand still upside down allowing her slam her left heel into its neck which did not snap back like she had planned. Chun's reliance on that cost her dearly as the robot grabbed her foot lifting her up. Repetitively he hammered her rib cage without a trace of mercy no doubt breaking a fair amount of them before slamming her down on the ground. Giving a screech of pain Chun tried to wriggle out of his grasp only to get slammed once again which nearly made her faint from the brutal wave of pain that blossomed within her thoracic cavity. While this brutal beat down was going on Pepper was scurrying around the room making sure everyone got out of the building. Satisfied everyone was safe she turned her attention to Proto Merkabah which was laying into Chun, how would she free the poor agent? Anxiously she bit her lip bringing up her phone; the screen confirmed she was still locked out of command prompt. Another meaty thump alerted her to the tragedy going on in front of her making her pull her crimson locks in frustration.

'C'mon Potts think, think' she grimaced 'You know Stark tech better than most people…wait!' Turning her phone around she took the battery cover off and opened up the circuitry board voiding her warranty instantly but gave her access to the battery output prongs. Unbidden, a memory of Stark appeared in her head reciting a brief rant he had given her when she had complained about how quickly her phone drained its charge. Recalling it perfectly she broke it down into mental bullet points that helped her jerry rig the device. Grabbing a nearby battery from a discarded cell phone she pulled out a couple of wires which sparked a bit. Stalking forward behind the machine Pepper poised her arm ready to strike the minute she got into range. The moment the machine slammed the agent into the ground the fearless secretary lunged forward stabbing the end of her phone into the back of Proto Merkabah sending tens of thousands of volts into the suit.

The titanium titan froze up for a bit giving Pepper the few precious seconds she needed to haul Chun away from the security drone. The stun bolt would only last for a few minutes at best hastening the secretary's steps as she tugged at the agent. The pair was just over the threshold of the building when Pepper heard the suit stir back to life with a hiss alerting her that it had taken mere milliseconds for the machine to recover. Her stomach lurched as she stutter-stepped into the street looking for some kind of cover, where the hell was Iron Man when she needed him? A sudden explosion from atop the tower caused her to scream in fright as large plumes of violent orange flames bathed the building. Her horror was cut short by a metallic footstep; Proto Merkabah was operational once again and headed straight for them. Fumbling with her phone she tried to prep it for another shock only to find that the last one had fried the device entirely, it was no more than a smoking pile of plastic.

Futilely she continued dragging the agent across the street as the security suit stalked them praying for a miracle. Pepper Potts was many things, bright, beautiful, competent, and many more but first and foremost she was lucky. She had been born under a lucky star and said luck continued to surface at critical junctures of her life. Meeting Tony Stark had been one of those lucky moments, as well as meeting her former lover Harry, and now just before she was being splattered by sinister machinery a red and blue saucer slammed into the suits head tearing its attention away from her. "Pepper, where is Stark" Captain America asked grabbing his shield out of the air. "I don't know" she replied watching Proto Merkabah turn to face his new opponent "I'm going to take Ms. Li to safety, please be careful." "You too Ms. Potts" the super hero said tossing his shield at empty Iron Man suit. The machine fell back a bit as it the weapon smashed against its chest before charging forward, attempting to squash the Avenger into gummy paste.

While they fought the Hulk landed on the top of Stark Tower looking around for the source of the fire. His feet moved unaffected by the extreme heat given off by the melted metallic parts covering the floor adding to the retina searing light filling the place. "Hulk no like this" the green beast muttered getting a bad feeling in the base of his stomach. A vague silhouette suddenly materialized in the middle of the room but because of the shimmer of the air the green Avenger couldn't tell who it was. "Who you" he barked shading his eyes with his palm "Need help?" A nasty cackle ripped through the air "I am I and I shall consume all!" With a bird shriek it flew past Hulk in an inferno out into the sky where it began to scatter fireballs the size of automobiles down upon the city. "Hulk no like puzzles" it screamed following the flame into the air knocking it into a building with a backhand. The flames cooled long enough for Hulk to get a glimpse of the fiery figure, it was a girl with dark red tresses and an evil smile that could kill orphans. "Pitiful beast, to lay a hand upon this radiance" she chided him before slamming into his torso sending the pair of them hurtling to the ground.

"Prepare they mind, mortal scum, to be filled with the hell of a thousand suns" she screeched trying to telepathically destroy his psyche. Unfortunately this was the Hulk she was trying to mentally erase, the big brute didn't have a whole lot going on upstairs beside the switch for his two modes, angry and pissed angry. "That tickles" he commented grinning at her "time to sleep" The look of surprise on her face could only be rivaled by the intense look of hatred she leveled him with when she realized she couldn't find any sort of purchase for her attack. The Hulk tapped her lightly on the head with just enough force to knock her out and the minute she was unconscious the flames around her body as well as those burning away at the building extinguished. Right before he landed on the road Captain America grabbed Proto Merkabah spinning him about several times before sending him tumbling along the ground. It creaked as it began to get up but the weight of the Hulk and his passenger proved to be the breaking point. Scratching off the heap of scrap metal molded about his feet Hulk handed the mysterious burning lady over to Captain America.

"Good job" the American hero remarked gazing in puzzlement at her face "I feel like I know who this is…"Before he could reflect much more on the beauty in his arms Thor touched down with a mini earthquake supporting a weary Iron Man on one shoulder. "My mission has been most successful mine boon companions" he told them hoisting his hammer in the air "Took not more than a moment to clear the skies of such bloodless villains. Forsooth had I been but a hair longer Iron Man would breathe no more upon this mortal plane." "Put a sock in it Shakespeare, I was doing fine without you" Stark grumbled as he staggered onto his own two feet "What the hell are you guys doing here anyway?" "Forgive us Stark for doing our jobs" Captain America said dryly "We heard over the police scanners that there were explosions sighted around your home so we figured you might need a hand." "It was being handled Steve" Tony snapped back "Ah yes, how could I not miss your expert handling skills" Captain America gestured to the destruction surrounding Stark Tower from the large pieces of rubble to the thick veil of smoke ascending t the atmosphere.

Unable to come up with any sort of rebuttal Iron Man settled for reclaiming his mutant companion from his former friends "Get out" he hissed. "Not without helping out those injured" Captain America replied coolly before turning to talk to his Avengers "Thor take the left, Hulk start carting as many as you can carry to the nearest hospital, I'll take the right." The trio dispersed without a word leaving a fuming Iron Man alone to curse their existence before getting retreating back into the Tower to tend to Jean. While Tony licked his wounds Captain America had spotted a familiar shock of red hair "Ms. Potts, are you alright?" The secretary breathed a sigh of relief as the flag clad hero stomped over to her "Is it over" she asked looking up at him. She was kneeling over an Oriental woman who was writhing in pain from the large dark bruises forming everywhere on her body. "Ms. Li needs to get to a hospital quickly; she was the one fighting Proto Merkabah before the Avengers showed up." Carefully the super soldier examined poor woman checking for head, neck or back injuries "I hate to say this but we'll have to wait an ambulance."

"Will she be ok" the secretary whimpered remembering how much she and the other employees owed her for saving their lives. "With some time to recuperate she'll make a full recovery" Potts sighed in relief "Thank goodness, and thank you Captain America for helping us." The man just gave a hearty chuckle "I do this every day Potts, the real hero here is you. You could have run away and leave this woman to her fate but you risked your own safety." The secretary blushed and waved a hand dismissively "I'm just another civilian Captain America, you and Ms. Li beat Proto Merkabah off." The thought of the unmanned Iron Man suit suddenly made her jerk her head up searching the area frantically "Have you seen Mr. Stark? I don't know where he was while this attack was happening." Had she been looking at Captain America's face she would have noticed his usually stoic mug darken at Tony's name "Ms. Potts, may I ask you a…strange question?"

The personal secretary pursed her lips for a bit "Sure, what is it you want to know?" "Do you know the name of that strange lady clad in green and gold" Captain America asked "I feel like I've seen her somewhere before." "That would be Ms. Grey" Pepper informed him "She requested an appointment with Mr. Stark yesterday and they've been holed up in the penthouse ever since." "I see…so it's just Stark's business as usual, huh?" Pepper shook her head "I'm not so sure that's the case, she's extremely attractive but I'm just not getting that vibe between the two of them. I think it might be something else…I…I…" she trailed off as a sudden well of emotion began to burn in her chest. She suddenly looked up and needled the super hero with a clear gaze "For the first time since I began my job here I'm not sure what's going on in Tony's mind. He's been really distant lately, I rarely see him anymore other to bring him stuff. I know this might sound crazy to you but something is just…wrong…out of sync somehow. Not just with Tony but with Ms. Grey as well, the looks she gives me…it's like she's dead or something."

Out of sync, dead or something these words resonated inside Captain America drawing forth a memory of long ago. It was before the Avengers had assembled, shortly after he had been revived by S.H.I.E.L.D, a huge event had happened that had set the super hero community abuzz with anxiety. Cap hadn't really been paying attention then, the trauma of being displaced in time by a period about sixty decades had numbed him towards anything else that didn't concern the forties. Yet even while he had been locked away in his little angst shell this event had been so monumental even he hadn't been able to escape from hearing about it. The memory was a bit fuzzy but two particular elements of it stood out, the first was the name Jean Grey and the second was the extreme grief behind the declaration that she was dead. Dead like he had been. "Ms. Potts, can you wait here for the ambulance with Ms, Li. I need to meet Ms. Grey as soon as I can." A quick flash of something passed by Pepper's face but even with his incredible eyesight Cap couldn't even begin to guess what it was "Of course Captain America, you go ahead and deal with your duties."

Biding goodbye to the redhead Captain America began to scout for his former friend, he had taken Ms, Grey so he was probably in an empty room somewhere doing typical Tony stuff. Heading into Stark Tower he began to question the employees cleaning up inside if they had seen their boss. Naturally they had seen him or more accurately the red head he been carting around the Tower, even Captain America had to admit that Ms. Grey was stunning beyond belief. Eventually he tracked the pair to a spare bedroom on the thirtieth floor, grabbing the door knob he mentally prepared himself for walking in on the two doing the horizontal tango. Instead he found Tony tending to Ms. Grey's wounds and he did not look happy that the super soldier had found him. "I thought I told you to get the hell out of here" he muttered placing a cold wet rag on the woman's head before grabbing a nearby tablet. "There's something going on here Tony, and I want to get to the bottom of it."

"What makes you think anything is going on?" Tony asked logging onto the computer, endless streams of codes blocked the genius' way making him frown. "Ms. Grey, was it? I believe she was supposed to be dead much like I was." "A miracle I suppose" the CEO said dismissively "After all you're here standing in front of me too." "Ah yes, odd how you have no doubts that Ms. Grey is the genuine article despite the fact only a few days ago you claimed could be nothing more than an imposter." "I still believe you are an imposter, Steve" Tony replied dryly brining up his left hand, it was still encased in the Iron Man armor "If this is the part about where you shed your silly little disguise and try to assassinate me I'll disintegrate you." Captain America rolled his eyes "I thought you were above such games Stark." "No game Steve, I don't know what you're talking about" Realizing how futile this scouting mission was going to be Captain America decided to leave, he would have to find the answers on his own.

"I'll leave you two alone for now" he announced moving quickly before Tony could bite back "But know this Stark; I don't care what you're hiding, if it is going to endanger the earth I will stop it." Tony didn't bother to reply, he knew Cap was on one of those more- hero-than-thou rants per the status quo of the first Avenger. Once Captain America was gone Tony turned his full attention to the screen in front of him, during the conversation he had managed to break up whatever was blocking him from accessing the command prompt of JARVIS' internet connections that controlled the majority of the tower. Tony had been fully confident that his own master password would allow him to regain the control of JARVIS; the surprise on his face was earthshaking when he found that he was denied at every turn when he input his master password. 'Whoever hacked JARVIS was beyond genius' he thought as his password was rejected yet again 'It's a blessing in disguise really, this narrows down the list of suspects quite a bit.' Still his victory was Pyrrhic at best, his system would be down for quite awhile as he would have to reconstruct the code from scratch, delete and replace the corrupted data, along with malware protection, and the list went on and on.

While Tony tapped fruitlessly at his computer screen the one who had so flawlessly hacked him was making his way back to the main hideout having successfully completed his mission. Had any unfortunate sewer repair man been down in the sewers leading between the Stark Tower and Chelsea he would have been rammed into the shit by M.O.D.O.K who was beating a solo hasty retreat carrying something in his lap. He was giggling like a maniac, as per the status quo, at the theory he had begun to construct in his mind about why exactly Doom had wanted this piece of technology and if he was right then it was truly diabolical. Along with the tech and the theory he had also gathered a plethora of data on the Avengers as well as several individuals who had grabbed his attention. First and foremost was the woman his databanks had revealed as the infamous Phoenix, destroyer of stars and creator of lusty love triangles.

Despite the fact this particular mutant was supposed to be dead, largely thanks to a massive task force of heroes who had fought the cosmic horror, the red haired wench had been revived by the forces that be and had cottoned on to the situation going down in this world. M.O.D.O.K shivered with excitement, should he tell their esteemed leader that phase three was likely going to happen a lot faster than he predicted or keep it under his monitor until it blew up in Doom's face? Laughably the answer was obvious; he was going to use this little crinkle in the plan to further his own ends. While poor old Doom struggled to keep his plan together the super computer would make his move, clearly this particular dimension was devoid of most of the obstacles that had prevented him from accomplishing his goals in the past. The first order of business would be to rebuild A.I.M; even though he could handle anything himself it was nice to be able to delegate the more insignificant tasks to hapless interns. Hopefully Wesker would yield to his superiority choosing work under him as yet another faceless mook getting him battery fuel but in the highly likely case the egomaniac was too high minded to grovel before him M.O.D.O.K was highly inclined to vaporize him. After all the ambitious blond had given him such a nice zombie making formula that he deserved a quick splattery death as thanks.

A little upgrade here and there plus boring sneaky stuff would finally get him to his favorite part, the part he had been painstakingly crafting since he had met Earth's super heroes: the part where he brutally killed each and every one of them. He almost drooled as he played back the high resolution simulation he had created of him bashing Captain America's head in with his iconic shield which came right before he reassembled Dr. Doom into a lava lamp for his private office. His reverie was stopped by the beeping of his chair's monitor which alerted him that they were nearing the entrance to his top secret lair. Typing in a long symbol of words and numbers the killing machine opened a secret passage from the sewers into the foyer of his lab which was fairly empty of experiments. Carefully he unloaded the technology he had stolen onto one of the surgical tables lying about the room, time to see what exactly this thing was capable of.

The device was a long cylinder about ten times the width of a man's arm made of space worthy alloy which gleamed dully. A myriad of panels lay were embedded about the thing from tip to top offering a wide array of choices when it came to doing whatever this thing did. The bottom was round and riveted with a very big electrical cord coming out if which was clearly designed to plugged into something. Whatever that something was it could not be socket, that was for sure, the top of the device had a small radio dish with an accompanying computer screen that branched off the device to make it easy to access as well as an Arc Reactor which had been carefully welded underneath the dish in order to power the device. Being the mechanical genius he was, M.O.D.O.K in instantly recognized what sort of device this was and how well made it had was. This was a variant of a machine called the Radiant Energy Gathering and Storage Unit (or REG-SU in shorthand) which A.I.M had used for centuries to obtain samples of immaterial energy which required special methods to store. From gamma rays to photons to the energies given off by black holes the REG-SU had been a useful urn whenever M.O.D.O.K had needed to upgrade his chair. This particular version was not to be used to capture any old kind of energy, it was specially built for one specific kind which was notoriously hard to siphon from its source.

As he tapped away at the REG-SU's computer module the killing machine's smile continued to widen until it threatened to split his face in two with every inquiry he made. After a few breathless moments he turned away jittery from the three emotions pounding away inside his frame. First and foremost there was the conflicting emotion of respect and hatred for his former colleague for thinking up this fiendishly clever idea. Then there was the small, unwanted kudos to Tony Stark for coming up with this invention whose design had eluded his vastly superior mind for the past half-decade or so. Finally there was the excitement of building upon his plan, screw settling for ripping everyone he hated a new one, why not simply place them in an eternal hell of his own design which would repeatedly enact horrors upon their bodies and minds until the end of time? Such power was now in his grasp with this device and there was no way in the cosmos he was simply going to hand it over to Dr. Doom like an obedient school boy.

With some pep in his propulsion M.O.D.O.K began to wheel about the room grabbing several tools with the grace of someone who had done this before. Quickly he scanned the device then rolled out a bundle of space alloy which matched its exact specifications to the letter. Throughout the night the killing machine worked tirelessly to replicate the device he had stolen, an easy feat for one such as him but the work had to be flawless or Doom would get suspicious. The wee hours of the morning came and went before the machine grew close to completion, all it needed now was flaw that would prevent it from being able to draw 75% of the power it normally could. It took some jiggering with the computer module as well as some inferior quality wire for the interior but eventually a copy of the REG-SU stood next to the original which had a completely inextinguishable façade.

Carefully M.O.D.O.K packaged the fake into his chair to present to Doom while hiding the original within his lab. It bummed him out somewhat that it would be awhile before he could start using it for his own purposes. Exiting out of his lab he placed it under heavy lockdown while concealing any sensory evidence that it was even there in the first place, the killing machine took off for the rendezvous point glad it wouldn't be Doom meeting him there, Super Skrull would be responsible for the pickup and no doubt the alien would be fuming mad at how late the super computer was. As he hovered on M.O.D.O.K contemplated what sort of lie he would have to tell the guys when he returned.