Hammer Industries experimental sciences lab - location undisclosed. Five minutes before...
The flat steel walls were smooth and polished, very nicely maintained despite their lack of taste in favour of industrial stability. Everything about the hallway was crisp and clean, looking pristine and in perfect order. And for good reason.
A tall, stately man, wearing a freshly pressed grey suit, silver cuff links and shiny black shoes strode down the hallway, flanked by two female aides in black dress jackets and pencil skirts, their brown hair done up in perfect buns. Approaching a door at the end of the hall, the entrance slid open automatically, revealing a small crowd of men in women in business attire. They stood in a small room with a wide window facing a laboratory below them. They turned to see who'd arrived and quietly murmured to themselves, recognizing the grey-haired arrival. A short man wearing a lab coat and carrying a clipboard, quickly rounded the crowd and made to greet him.
"Mister Hammer! So pleased to see you've made it." He said, adjusting his glasses.
"I wouldn't miss a demonstration." Justin Hammer replied in a crisp English accent, adjusting his tie ever so slightly. "It looks like we're ready to begin... Mister Christopher, why don't you tell the ladies and gentlemen what we're doing today and who will be involved." He suggested, ordering with his calm and clipped english accent.
"Yes, of course, Mister Hammer." The assistant turned to the people assembled. "Down on the floor we have our lead scientist, Dr. Roland Reeves overseeing the team. With him are his close associate Dr. Haley Harding, chief engineer Mark Moran, our resident technician Derrick Sullivan, mechanical engineer Connor Peterson and electrical engineer Shauna Bell." He recited, listing off the crew in the lab below them. "Today, we will be going ahead with Project Zeus; an experimental power generation system which, as our numbers put it, will surpass the power output of Stark Industries' notorious ARC energy power generator,"
"Which, as I'm sure you all know, is the same energy powering the reactor in Tony Stark's chest." Hammer interjected.
"Yes. Mister Stark is not very discreet about such matters." The aide agreed.
"Regardless of such trivial matters, today is the day Stark falls behind and Hammer Industries takes its rightful place as a leading figure in the tech world." Hammer proudly said in an even tone, not one to be too boastful or too showy. That was Tony Stark's nature, the nature of a young and foolish billionaire boy with no respect for a gentleman's business.
Down on the lab floor, the team of six worked carefully in a coordinated effort to put the electro-fusion generator into action, a first time after months of tests and practices with scaled-down equipment.
"Current fusion energy readings look good." The blonde-haired Haley declared.
"Electrical levels are equally green. No fluxes." Shauna added, a twinkle in her green eyes as she adjusted her glasses.
"So far so good." Roland murmured, scribbling notes on his memo pad. He cast a brief glance up at the observation deck noting all the board members, investors and higher ups watching their every move. "Sullivan, what's our status on phase one?"
"Tech is geared up and ready to go, just waiting on our resident engineers to greenlight the next move." The dark-haired technician of European decent remarked, glancing over to Mark and Connor as the former helped strap a pair of gauntlets to the latter. Each was an original Hammer Industries heavy-duty magnet harness designed to do the work of a forklift without the expensive machinery, which also allowed Connor to move objects without having to physically touch them.
"You ready, Peterson?" Roland inquired.
"I've done this fifty times before, Doc. More than ready to do it for the fifty-first time." The dark-haired young man responded. His hair black and his eyes brown, Connor was certainly good looking for a man of his profession. He claimed to have played sports in high school and college, which might've lent to his lean physique, several of his colleagues quietly believing he really didn't look the part of a man who got down and dirty with tech all day.
"Harness is clear. You're up, Connor. Try not to muck this up." Mark stated, clapping him on the shoulder as he stepped away.
"Right, right." Connor retorted with a roll of his eyes. Flexing his hands he reached out for a nearby container, the magnetic forces casting from his hands reaching out to encircle and lift a glowing control rod. Purple in color and thrumming with powerful potential, it floated through the air, guided only by Connor's hand. "Okay, I have control over the plasma rod. Moving it into position." He stated, stepping towards the large generator already brimming with electrical energy. A plasma additive would incite the fusion process, hopefully combining the two forces to unleash power that could light up a dozen city blocks for ages. Adding his other hand to the mix, Connor tilted and adjusted the rod with simple movements from a distance. The tub flipped end over end, pausing in a horizontal position, primed to be placed within the generator. "Preparing for insertion." Connor announced. "Ready in three... two... one..."
And there came a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes were united against a common threat. On that day, they became THE AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES.