Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, there was one small research facility owned by Horizons Lab. There was a small research team who were uneasy about it all. One man was working quietly by himself, Tony Stark. He was deep in his work, trying to solve every world problem he could. He spent little time on himself, and more time on his inventions. From the door to his lab, was Pepper Potts, holding two cups of coffee. She walks in and places one in front of Tony.
"Getting used to your new surroundings?" said Pepper.
"Kind of. Considering they are working with a Regime Criminal, I don't blame them."
"Former Regime Criminal. Give them time, they'll come around like I did." Pepper said with a smile to reassure him that everything will be okay. "You got the comms working? Everything went down all of a sudden."
"That should be a quick fix." Tony goes over to the radio and rewires it. Soon static was coming out, and voice was coming out.
"Anyone out there?" said the panicked voice.
"Pepper here, what's going on?"
"There's spaceships flying in, robots coming down and attacking Manhattan. Everyone is getting killed! I don't-'' The feed gets cut off, both Pepper and Tony feared the worst.
"Tony, how fast can you get to Manhattan?" asked Pepper. Tony looked at her thinking what was she thinking. She should be contacting Peter, he should have a better handle of the situation and was the go to person for all World Threatening events. Plus he hasn't been Iron Man since the fall of the Regime.
"I...I can't. My pardon agreement was very clear. No Iron Man."
"Tony, people are dying out there, do you think anyone will care?" Pepper knew for a while Tony wasn't trying to avoid the responsibility because of the pardon. She felt Tony's immense guilt for his role he played in building up the Regime, she wasn't going to let him stay feeling sorry for himself forever. "Tony, you helped bring down the Regime. That's why Peter was able to convince the government to pardon you on the condition you stay with me. If Peter thinks you can have a second chance, so do I." She gave an affectionate and reassuring hug to Tony, "Be the hero I know you still are." He thought about what Pepper said, and he knew she was right. The world was in danger, and the Avengers were needed now more than ever. He quickly dons on his Mark VI Iron Man armor. The world would witness the return of Iron-Man.
-Manhattan-
Hydra soldiers and the army of Robots were rounding up the citizens. The Hydra soldiers were instructed to capture the citizens, the robots on the other hand were killing them. Some of the soldiers hesitated, but did not stop it as they feared for their lives as well. One robot was prepared to kill a civilian, until there was a loud AC/DC music blasting and in came Iron Man flew and took out all of the robots and Hydra Soldiers, freeing the civilians.
-Elsewhere-
Red Skull was watching the attack in New York City happen, he saw Iron Man fighting off the army alone.
"Looks like Stark has returned. Just as you predicted." He then turns to look at his secret partner, Kang the Conquerer.
"He is none of our concerns. He will fall like the others will."
"My task force is ready and will enjoy taking out Stark." Skull smiled knowing everything is going to plan. Kang on the other hand was not. He was not concerned, but he also knew the Red Skull's arrogance would be his downfall so he chose not to feed into it.
-Manhattan-
Taskmaster took aim at Iron Man flying in the air. Iron Man was too preoccupied to notice Taskmaster with an RPG, and then Taskmaster fires and the rockets took him down from the skies. He falls down hard, and was a bit dazed. The first thing he saw was the feet of Flint Marko.
"Look at that Stark fell from his Ivory tower to be like us normal humans." said Sandman.
"Listen sandbox, look around what's going on!"
"Yeah crazy day isn't it? Just like the day Cap went nuts, and you went along with him."
"Is this what's this all about revenge? Punish me later, the innocent people need help!"
"Innocent people? The same innocent people who cheered when Captain America rounded up the so called traitors who refused to obey his law and executed my friends? My Family?" The memory of his family came to Sandman. He had just renounced his criminal ways in order to keep his family safe. But it wasn't enough. The Regime didn't care that he gave up crime, they cared about justice being served. He had heard from his neighbors that the Regime demanded his family to know where he was, but they refused to talk. Sandman's family suffered the same fate that all of those who disobeyed the Regime.
"I'm sorry. But Peter told me about you. You stood by a code, and you would never hurt civilians." Said Iron Man, trying to appeal to his humanity. Sandman was too far gone, and created a giant hammer and smack Iron Man away.
"Yeah well, neither were the Avengers..."
Fight one: Iron Man vs. Sandman
Iron-Man fires multiple missiles at Sandman, hitting him and knocking him back. Sandman breaks down and appears behind Iron man to knock Iron Man across the road. Sandman gets close, and Iron man lifts a truck and slams it down on Sandman. Sandman gets up and launches his fists at Iron Man, Iron Man blocks it with his energy shield. He then counter attacks him by throwing him up in the air and jumps up and throws him back down. As comes down he fires two smart bombs out of his shoulder and hits Sandman. He lands and Sandman pushes him back and the two come together to clash
"I'm billing you for sand in my suit" said Iron man
"I'll blame the bank I'll rob on you." said Sandman. Iron-man flys backwards and fires multiple blasts at him knocking him back. Sandman gets back up and flies towards him and drags him across the floor, and knocks out Flint Marko.
"Stick to the sandbox." Tony scans the area for any of the robots that have been taking in civilians. He found a group marching and he wanted to follow him.
"Mr. Stark," said Jarvis, "There is someone approaching you."
"I'll take care of it Jarvis." He turns and sees Taskmaster wielding his sword and shield.
"Running on fumes Tin head?" mocked Taskmaster as he pointed his sword at Iron Man.
"Well when you're as rich and retired as me there's very little need to go out." He quickly fires his repulsors and Taskmaster easily dodges them.
"Too slow. And you have to stop firing with your left gauntlet first." He pulls out his sword and shield, and circles around Iron Man, like a lion stalks its prey.
"How much did Hydra pay you?" said Iron-Man, "We don't have time to fight, innocent people are dying."
"Nothing. Your pals, the Avengers implanted nano bombs into my brain if I ever went rogue. Your clumsy security let the detonator slip now Hydra has it. If I don't listen my brain will be all over your suit." He gets into his fighting stance, "But that doesn't matter, not like you ever cared."
Fight 2: Iron-Man vs Taskmaster
Taskmaster throws his shield like Captain America would and it hits Iron-man in the face. Taskmaster fires a grappling hook and swing kicks Tony like Spider-man knocking him back. He then gets up and fires an energy blast and hits Taskmaster. When Taskmaster got back up, Iron-man dashes forward and grabs him to slam his face into a nearby car and throws him. He then goes in for another attack, but is stopped by Taskmaster.
"Didn't realize you memorized your ass getting kicked." joked Iron-Man
"I don't need to memorize, you're too predictable." said Taskmaster. Iron-man flys backwards and fires multiple blasts at him knocking him back. He gets back up and then Iron-man grabs hold of him and fires a couple of blasts from his gauntlets and then finishes it with a slightly larger blast from both his gauntlets, knocking out Taskmaster.
"I care a lot more than you realize." Iron-man's sensors detected an incoming attack and dodged an incoming energy attack. More and more came raining down and it was too much for Iron-man and got pummeled, giving Taskmaster time to escape. After the Energy rain down Iron-man looked around to see where it came from and who it was. The sound of thud was heard, and Iron-man slowly turned around to see who it was.
"Of all people...Bishop?"
"Surprised to see me Traitor? Skull did say you couldn't ignore a crisis." said Bishop angrily and he then fires another blast which Iron-man easily dodges.
"Why are you fighting for Skull of all people?"
"Humans are the enemy." he said bitterly, "I thought you and your Avengers were going to protect everyone and keep people safe." His hands glows and he punches Iron-Man.
"You are wrong, I was wrong. The Avengers were dictators, they protected no one!" Bishop punches him more.
"YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT!? The battle in New York, where the Avengers and the other Avengers fought. You killed my ancestors, and if it wasn't for the band I'm wearing I'd cease to exist."
"Bishop I...I'm sorry. I'll fix this, I'll find a way to make everything up."
"Don't you get it!? You can't fix everything. I can't go back home!" His eyes start to glow as does his fists, "I can at least hurt you!"
Fight 3: Iron-man vs Bishop
Iron-man fires a unibeam at Bishop and while it does hit him, he absorbs the energy and starts to glow. He continues to fire energy blasts at Bishop, and Bishop continues to get hit and glows more. Bishop then uses the energy stored to fire an energy beam at Iron-man dealing more damage than it normally would. Iron-man gets back and he then enters energy overload mode. His suit is electrified making all of his physical hits have extra electric damage. He then fires a small electric ball and the static shock causes Bishop to be left wide open for Iron-man to pummel him with his fists. Iron-Man then kicks him in the air, he then flies and throws him back down to the ground. Bishop was able to push him back slightly and they both collided
"I can take everything you give." said Bishop
"Uh, phrasing." said Iron-man and Iron-man flew backwards and fired multiple blasts at him knocking him back. Bishop gets back coming in for another attack, however Iron-man fires a short but powerful energy burst that sends him flying towards the above ground subway train and gets hit by the trains. He then gets launched into a nearby helicopter and they both crash down nearby, knocking him out.
"Don't know how many reunions I can take." In the skies, clouds start to form and the rumblings of thunder could be heard. Slowly descending before Tony was the God of Thunder himself Thor wielding the mighty Mjolnir.
"I guess I can come back later," said Thor.
"No, no. Not today Thor."
"It's good to see you again Stark."
"How did you trick Odin into thinking you're one of the good guys?"
"You know that's not how Mjolnir works. Mjolnir deemed me worthy."
"After you betrayed your friends, sided with your brother?"
"Odin locked me up. Trained me to overcome my rage. I earned the second chance."
"Yeah well Odin made a huge mistake"
Fight 4 : Iron-man vs Thor
Iron-man quickly fires an energy blast at Thor that hits him in the chest. Iron-man comes in and does a combination where he ends the combo by slamming Thor's face into a cement truck and tosses him to the side. Thor gets back and slams his hammer to the ground and it causes a small tremor that knocks Iron-man off his feet. He gets up and fires a missile from his shoulder, Thor leaps over the missile, but Iron-Man anticipated this and fires a repulsor blast at his own gauntlets to create a way to knock Thor down. Iron Man then grabs Thor and smashes his head against a truck and throws him away. Iron Man chases him down just for Thor to push him back so the two can collide.
"Hammer getting heavy for you?" joked Iron-Man.
"I'll rip that helmet right off of you." said Thor. Iron-man flew backwards and fired multiple blasts at him knocking him back. Iron-Man then moved forward and needed to end this now. He fires a spark at Thor, temporarily blinding him. He then calls in a legion of Iron-Man armor and each suit attack Thor with bombs, missiles, and lasers. Then the legion all surround Thor and fire one last Unibeam at Thor, knocking him out.
"You were holding back weren't you?" Said Iron-man as he approached him and helped him up.
"I told you, I'm trying to make things right. I betrayed All Father, Asgard, Midgard, and my friends. And that's the worst part." Tony could only sympathize with Thor. He too had been living with this guilt of betraying his friends and his world. Despite seeing the errors of his ways much sooner, it wasn't soon enough.
"I've been reminded all day how much I failed. How hard it's going to be for the world to trust me. Guess we are both on that same path."
"We have a long way to go, Stark. But the journey would be easier if we did it together." Thor stuck his hand out as a sign of peace. Tony had his reservations. Was Thor really reformed? Could he trust Thor? His gut told him not to. But he wanted others to trust him, and wanted to show everyone he too is here to help protect the world. He accepted his handshake, and both made their way to where Spider-man was, and help prepare to stop the invasion.