Doctor Reed Richards of Empire State University, working out of the Baxter Building New York wasn't at home. He was visiting Stark International's Headquarters in Manhattan. Reed sat to the right of large display, the monitor was coupled to a powerful combination microscope, although he used the more traditional ocular lenses to peer at the presented blood sample under high magnification. Howard Stark stood looking over his shoulder at the revealed image on the display to his left. Stark's hair was surprisingly still strong and dark, he was a striking figure of a man in his later sixties, and cut a dashing figure in his very expensive suit, wearing a signature pencil moustache. They said he was stone cold in business, and Reed bore this reputation in mind. It wasn't the first time their paths had crossed, and on each occasion Stark had attempted to recruit him. Richards had declined every time, but their conversations had always been interesting.

Reed by comparison was young, tall and lanky, and although still in his twenties grey hairs already flecked his temples, giving him – he was told, a distinguished look, which amused him because he usually had 99 problems, all expressed across several chalkboards in the form of mathematical equations, but a social life wasn't one of them. Reed tried to be affable when necessary, but he just didn't have the time. Despite this he was regarded as a latter day renaissance man. He'd put aside success in track and field so that he could pursue multiple degrees at university at an age when his peers were still in High School. Reed Richards was a renowned polymath; and his licensed patents had made him a rich man, though not in the same league as the super-wealthy Stark or Wayne. Richards held several doctorates, but he didn't seek wealth or fame, but was troubled by a little of both as a by-product of his research.

"Fascinating." Reed said. "But what possessed you Howard, to make the leap into human trials?"

It was a loaded question. Richards wasn't going to get himself involved in a rogue project operating outside of the law. He was sure Stark knew that, there was something else going on here, and Reed had his suspicions.

"Necessity." Stark replied, and gestured to the main display.

Blood platelets, danced across the screen, recognisable at once by their signature shape, like discus pinched in the middle by a finger and thumb, red due to the iron content of the oxygen carrying haemoglobin. That was all normal enough, but alongside them like tiny bi-planes buzzing a great Zeppelin airship were golden mesh frames. These weren't normal, and they were clearly artificial. Nature abhors a straight line, but these tiny mechanisms were constructed in angular patterns.

Reed concluded gold had been chosen because it was non-reactive and highly reliable and dependable conductor. He frowned and asked the all-important question. "So whose blood am I looking at?"

"Tony's" Howard replied. "As you see we kept this in the family."

"A child can hardly volunteer." Reed replied.

"As his guardian I consented to this experimental procedure."

Reed frowned. He had suspected this much. "I heard your son was injured in Angola by a land mine, but this choice of treatment suggests," he paused, reaching a logical conclusion, given the facts; and breathed deeply, "that his injuries were mortal."

Stark's shoulders folded forward as he leant on the console. "Reed, Tony would have died there and then if it wasn't for the rapid intervention of a crack medical team, but even with their help, he only had hours – at best."

In this moment Howard looked his full age, a teenager in World War II, as he talked, confessed to Reed his desperate gambit, the older man seemed to carry the weight of these passing years and more. "I couldn't let that happen, not when there was a chance that nanotechnology could…"

Stark paused, and with this hesitation, Reed felt he must interrupt before the old man's voice cracked. "Keep him alive, but that's all that is happening isn't it?" Reed knew it was hard question to pose, but if he was going to help the young Tony Stark, and his own values of justice and mercy compelled him to do so, he needed to know what he was getting himself into.

Howard nodded. "There's speculation in the scandal sheets that Tony is dead or on life support and or comatose, and for once they're mostly right. The experimental nanites saved him, and they're all that's keeping my boy alive.

"Brain activity?" Reed asked.

"There's enough to be optimistic." Stark said as he turned to one side, quickly typing on a keyboard causing another monitor to switch across to a view of hospital bed surrounded by racks of equipment, and in midst of it all a comatose Tony Stark."

Reed noted the extent of the visible damage to the teenager. "It looks like Tony has lost almost half his body mass."

Stark nodded with a grim nod, all the concern of a worried father expressed in his face.

"So internal life support." Reed said more to himself staring at the blood sample magnified on the first display. "From the specs you sent over with your invitation, based on your small mammal trials, I'm assuming your Nano-tech is being applied to oxygenation, toxin removal, bacterial and viral cleansing."

Stark nodded. "The nanites are augmenting Tony's basic functions, liver and kidneys, the former is showing excellent regrowth."

Reed nodded. "The liver naturally possesses impressive regenerative capability."

"One kidney remains, but with very limited function," Stark continued, "there is nanite macro-construct alongside his heart working as pump, because of extensive damage to the heart-muscle. In short Reed he's alive, but only just."

"And naturally you want more for him."

"Of course I want the world for my son." The older man replied, crossing his arms. "And I have several fortunes and conglomerate of high tech industries I can press to deliver it."

"So you came to me because of my work in nanotechnology." Reed stated shaking his head. He felt conflicted. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved with a multi-national and the politics that involved, but that was equally true that his first instinct was to be compassionate – to help the injured teenager. "Thing is I don't know how this would work Howard. I've already turned a contract with Stark Industries down, more than once."

"We can work out the details, but rest assured Reed you'll get full autonomy, intellectual property rights, and an unlimited budget."

"Perhaps, it could work." He admitted. "Do you have any thoughts as how to proceed?"

"Right now the nanites require mains power to function. So mobility is an issue, which brings me to the work you did as a student at Empire State, on a compact power source, the collaborative project with Susan Storm and Victor Latimer." Stark replied as he pressed am intercom buzzer switch next to the computer.

Reed Richard's face darkened with both anger and anguish. He felt like he'd been punched in the gut, twice. "Low blow Howard." He said in a hoarse whisper. "We are colleagues and scientists, but I know you have the resources at your disposal to understand why bringing that project up does nothing at all to help your son's cause." He stood up and in that moment he resolved to leave. Reed saw in Stark a desperate father would go to any lengths, justify crossing moral and legal boundaries - as the man who had called himself Victor Latimer had done, and Reed was certain Stark would know who Latimer really was. This was a step too far for Richards.

Stark nodded clearly unsurprised by the scientist's reaction. "You are of course acquainted with Miss Storm." Howard gestured to the door.

Reed was given reason to pause once more, because Susan Storm walked into the laboratory. She was accompanied by a tall man with military bearing. "And this John Stewart." Stark introduced this stranger, but Reed only had eyes for Miss Storm. "Susan, I didn't expect… err… what are doing… err… I mean what are you working on?"

"Same old same old Reed, optical vortexes to move individual particles using beams of light, but with application to liquids, repulsing particles and creating stable energy fields."

"Of course." He mumbled. Then smiling. "Amazing progress by the way." He added, rubbing the back of neck. "I read your last paper. It was fantastic – I didn't know you were in New York. I didn't know you were working for Stark Industries, I…"

Susan shook her head and laughed interrupting him. "Reed truth is today I'm just a kid playing in a sand box."

"You're a genius Susan." Reed replied, not certain what she meant by that last remark.

Richards looked at Stark, the old man's face was impassive, and he wasn't giving anything away now. Had it all been a game, Reed wondered, emotional father one moment, poker faced stone cold business man the next, and with Susan Storm as his trump card. Reed realised he had forgotten just how much he loved Sue, and how much love hurt in a glorious exciting life affirming way.

Reed wondered what Stark had that could have bought Susan's interest?

"You really need to see this." Susan answered his unspoken question with a bright and broad smile, it was infectious and heart-warming, and very genuine, she was excited, and Reed felt the anguish of knowing it wasn't about him. "Show him John." She said to Stewart.

Reed broke away from her face, to look at the other man in the room. John Stewart raised his hand, and a flash of green erupted from his finger, specifically an emerald like ring, it snaked forward taking the form and shape of oversized human hand.

Reed was stunned. He immediately saw how Susan, whose passions was energy, given form and purpose, who had joked about Star Trek like Force Field Shields, was now so excited. The hand manipulated an office chair, but it was made of green light, light that had form and shape. "How is this possible?" He asked.

"Alien technology." John Stewart replied, replacing the chair neatly under the desk, and shutting down his energy construct. "Currently it's mapped to me, and only me, for reasons unknown."

"Where did it come from?"

"Sorry Doctor Richards. I have no idea." Stewart replied.

"Must be a hell of story." Reed observed.

Stewart nodded. "Sure is, and I'll tell you about, when you join the team."

Reed noted Stewart was loyal to Stark. Howard inspired that kind of affection from his people.

"Thing is Reed," Susan interjected, "we're learning a great deal, okay we're just scratching the surface – but we're still leaping forward, making advances than I never dreamt possible."

Richards considered the myriad of applications, idea after idea flowed from his mind. "Can you contain a vacuum?" He asked Stewart.

Stewart smiled and nodded. "And then some." He replied.

Susan expanded on his answer. Her eyes twinkled as she did so. "We haven't found anything that John's constructs are pervious too, even high energy radiation can't penetrate the shield."

Reed smiled as wide as she did, because now he knew exactly where he wanted to be, and damn the consequences.

"Okay Howard, you've finally got my attention." Reed stated. He looked to Susan. "Sue you realise if Stewart's energy shielding is effective as you're telling me, then the engine you and I developed with Victor might actually be practical."

"Absolutely." Howard said. "Which is why I took the risk of bringing that err… difficult time to your attention. I wanted to be honest with you Reed from the start. We can all benefit personally from collaboration, further our own hopes and dreams, but more importantly we could solve the biggest problem facing humanity in the coming century, clean abundant power."

The image of Tony Stark was still on the other screen. Richards guessed why Howard Stark needed a new reliable compact energy source, but he couldn't help wondering would it end there? "Good, but before we go any further I have to be sure that the door is closed, locked and bolted, on using this technology as a weapon." Reed held up his hand in apology adding. "I have to say that. You are Howard Stark after all, the biggest military contractor there is."

"There's something else you need to know about the arc reactor concept." The older man replied. "I built one with my father, we got it working in 1954, admittedly it was the size of bus, but the short story is we ran into exactly the same problems as you did."

Reed frowned, Stark's reply carried a clear although unspoken conclusion, Stark Industries had already passed on the opportunity to weaponise this technology; a working arc reactor was in effect just an unexploded bomb, if Reed could accept Stark's claim at face value. "Well I'm glad you didn't crack the world in twain." Reed said as he swallowed his bruised pride, admitting that much to himself. He found he was staring at Susan - the only girl he'd ever loved, however Susan Storm seemed as clueless as he. This was news to them both. 1954 he thought, running his hand through his hair, Einstein's beard, he'd thought his work four decades later with Sue and Victor had been cutting edge. It begged the question how was it possible? Stark wasn't the kind of man to make bold claims without them being true.

Stark lent back perching himself on the computer console, his arms crossed. "Victor Von Doom, well you know that he lied about being the poor Latverian gypsy Victor Latimer on a scholarship to Empire State, but he also lied about the origin of the research that you and he used as a basis for your prototype engine. The theory wasn't developed by his father, but rather those equations were stolen from Nazi Germany at the end of World War II."

"How do you know this…?" Reed started to ask, but then he realised the truth, he remembered Howard Stark Seniors role in the Second World War, that and an obscure historical detail. "Operation Paperclip."

Stark nodded.

"You father, Howard Senior. He was involved in the business of co-opting Nazi Scientists and secrets after World War II."

"You'd be surprised how much is still classified." Stark confirmed. "By 1945 I was working along with dad as his assistant, and he was part of a team that raided a secret installation outside of Prague. We brought back several prototypes in various states of disassembly. At that stage the Nazi engineers were cannibalising everything at hand for parts."

"Prototype what?"

"Flying Saucers." Stark said with absolute seriousness. "Most relied on imaginative use of jet and rocket engines and rotating aerofoils to create lift. There was one experimental vehicle that was radically different. Using what we'd recognise as a prototype arc reactor, though at the time it was mostly burnt out."

"They almost always do." Reed observed.

Howard continued saying. "This aircraft used the reactors power to generate magnetic lift, for flight."

Reed frowned deeply, and Stark laughed saying. "Yes Doctor Richards, what most folks would call anti-gravity." The older man adopted a more serious tone. "It's maybe a good thing most people don't know how close the Nazi's came to turning back the allied advances on the ground in 1945, if any one of a dozen or more projects had come to fruition sooner, by a matter of months maybe even weeks, then the outcome of that conflict could have been very different."

Reed sat back extending his long legs and arms in wide stance. "You can say that again." He said letting out a heavy sigh. "Of course it's why I've kept everything Sue and I did with Victor secret, burnt my notes, and erased the project from existence. Without proper containment the arc reactor concept isn't a generator, it's a potential super bomb, a bomb that makes today's nukes look like fire crackers."

"True." Stark agreed. "But it hasn't it always been so? Fire is terrible master, but a very useful slave."

The older man offered his hand.

Reed took it. "Okay I'm in." He said. "But Howard let's be very careful, lest we burn your house down and the world with it."