It was only barely half of a week since the news hit and it seemed that the world was ablaze with the news which was sent to every news outlook in the world making it impossible for Stark Industries to bury even if they knew in advance that it was being spread out. The report contained videos of the newly gathered Avengers and a statement from them.
The videos, documents and files were thorough showing decades of collateral damage incident and dirty work undertaken by Stark Industries and the US government with superheroes incuding some false flag operations. There were many superheroes who were horrified by what they were reading and saw and quit in protest but that could only do so much against scrutiny in an anti-superhero movement that was gaining ground.
Some out of there conspiracy theorist outlooks felt vindicated and were smug about it while deciding to double down on their outlandish and downright rediculous theories.
Stark Industries stock were dropping down with them trying to come up with a statement or scapegoat; all of the employees were working overdrive trying to see about salvaging this. Protests and blacklists around the world with many those who had deals with Stark Industries ending their deals as well as blacklisting superheroes who had very damning evidence against them. Charges were starting to be filled and the heroes still sticking with stark were fuming about their sponsorship deals, shows and movie offers being pulled from them.
He fumed at a resignation notice from Maria Hill bluntly calling the company and the Squadron Supreme a sinking ship and will take her chances surrendering to an investigation and interrorgations.
He fumed at the picture of the assembled heroes.
Ant Man and the Wasp; a thief and Pym's daughter who played him like a fool. Arranging for her father's technology to be stolen... His tech was better off in his hands and the world was better with superheroes protecting it than what Hank proposed for Ultron; there was too much at stake and if anyone was going to privatise world peace then it should be him..
Rhodey... That traitor... He gave him a suit and helped him become a superhero... Partner to Hyperion himself and this is how he repays him?
Zarda... So hot, sexy and beautiful... She was always hard to handle and never fully resigned to what Stark Industries wanted from her and never was a big fan of him but for her to go this far... She was lucky that Stark Industries and the Squadron allowed her to remain relevant.
Captain America... The photo matched some old ones and Burnside was long taken care off... By all accounts he could be him... The man his father never shut up about... A relic that he helped reinvent... How could he have remained hidden from them all in the ice considering what else was found when searching?
The Black Panther... A small African nation and all this time their kings were acting as cat themed superheroes? Just what were they hiding behind their isolationist policies...
Spider-Man... That brat... He had so much plans for him... Practically gave him the tools to succeed and be the world's biggest superhero star... And this is how he shows his gratitude? If it wasn't for him he would still be stuck rescuing cats from trees. By the time he is done; he is gonna ruin him and that aunt of his. Where that FEAST shelter stands will soon be a Starkbucks...
Then entered Ledger in his Spectrum suit who was staying loyal and was probably Stark's best friend at the moment; sticking with them as there was some damning reports of Ledger actually mocking people complaining about their destroyed homes or businesses in the aftermath of his rescues and what he and Hyperion did overseas... Plus the news hit on the premiere of his new movie and the box office now... The movie stood to make Waterworld look like James Cameron's Avatar by comparison.
"Mr Stark... Tony... We have a problem..." Ledger muttered motioning for him to follow him as Stark raised his eyebrows and got up.
"We have nothing but problems at the moment..." Stark muttered as Ledger showed him to a news report where J. Jonah Jameson was seen at a podium with his son John as Colonel Jupiter next to him.
"Good evening members of the public... I am J. Jonah Jameson the Press Secretary of the United States here with my son space hero Colonel John Jameson who has been acting as the great superhero Colonel Jupiter and he has showed all of our disgust at the shocking revelations by resigning from Stark Industries. I am here to inform you that President Robert Kelly and Vice President Obadiah Stane will be looking to take all of Stark's menaces under custody and freeze all of Stark's assets and claim them to fix the world that was broken. Secretary of the State Wilson Fisk and Secretary of Defence Thaddeus Ross will be looking to be working together to find the fugitives calling themselves 'the Avengers' to answer for what they know and how involved those that were part of the Squadron Supreme were. All those involved in this administration are horrified about what had been going on behind our backs and be looking to find those helping Stark... Even I who have made no mistake of my distaste of the masked menaces had no clue how deep this rabbit hole went..." Jameson said as Stark's mouth fell wide open before he became furious.
He then reached out his mind and then called forward his nanites from his lab that flew all the way to him and formed an armoured silver suit around him with Ledger taking a step back. "Have the Warren clones send in the new Hyperion... Send a message to all loyal heroes sticking with us... Have them on standby... Time for a change in leadership..." Stark then said as Ledger blinked but nodded.
"...Ben and I always knew that you were destined for great things and I knew that upon hearing the news that you would be joining the Squadron Supreme that you would be doing big things... but all this... Helping to expose a huge conspiracy with your new Avenger friends..." May was telling Peter as he had called her in his temporary quarters for his stay here.
"I don't think that Stark and those getting the most negative affect will go down without a fight and we will have a road ahead of us to help the world trust heroes again..." Peter told her finishing up with his web cartridges to put into his web-shooters.
"I know you all can do it but good luck Peter..." May said and the call ended as Peter then saw enter the room much to his shock was Zarda smiling as she was wearing a purple version of her leotard as well as purple boots while having the rest of her regalia.
"I asked if they have any spare purple fabric to put this together... If we do this then I wanted to go with my old look before I went with black upon deciding that I had sold out... I wanted to feel like the woman that I was before again..." Zarda told him as Peter smiled.
"You look better in purple and the classic vintage look suits you..." Peter said as Zarda then motioned for her to follow him.
"If you are ready then Steve wants us heading out... Be ready for anything and also because he wants to go and meet someone..." Zarda told him and Peter then followed her.
The Oval Office in the White House and President Kelly was with most if not all key members of his administration with him as he sat at his desk. "...High time we did something... Stane; you are to use all information that you have from your time as vice president of the Stark company to uncover all of the secrets and we can spin it to defect suspicion... Make us seem as uninvolved with all of us as we can appear but ready to react to the reports..." Kelly ordered as Stane didn't hesitate to nod but sighed all the same.
"We shall be rounding up all the super freaks as we should have a long time ago; registered... Locked up and to be used at our beck and call... To be used to protect the humans that their existence endangered... Can I trust you to organise them into an army and have Stark's tech used to support our finest?" Kelly asked Ross and he nodded grinning.
"What about hunting down the Avengers who have no doubt seeked refuge in Wakanda?" Fisk asked as Kelly sorted out his papers.
"Be ready to declare war and have our soon to be superhuman army there to claim the fugitives and force them to surrender... We have the might of the greatest country on our side and they will surrender and hand over the fugitives and what secrets that they have if they know what's good for them..." Kelly then said with John Jameson as Colonel Jupiter becoming more and more uncomfortable about the talk of forcibly conscripting superhumans as well as starting a war and was about to speak up.
But before he could the door opened up and Stark barged in with Ledger with the security outside knocked out and the security already in the room aiming their weapons at them.
"Winchester Bob; you have made a great big error with that statement you have made and you have one chance to send out an apology, stop all investigations and retract your statement." Stark then said with a weird calm voice causing glares to be sent his way.
"Please don't embarrass yourself Tony and make this harder than it needs to be..." Obadiah sighed as Ross then looked at Ledger.
"Colonel Ledger; escort Mr Stark to a holding cell now." Ross said as Ledger stayed put as eyes were on him.
"Mr Stark is going to take over as the new President and make the world strong with a US controlled regime that will soon be a galactic superpower..." Ledger then retorted as they looked at him as if he was out of his mind.
"John my boy... Take care of Stark and Spectrum..." Jameson ordered as John close to his father went to do that when Stark had his nanites form his armor and using repulsor blasts then ended Jameson, Stane and Fisk as well as the security detail before they even knew what was happening.
John was taken aback and horrified; especially at his father's desk as he lunged at Stark only for a figure to fly through the walls at great speed and he was now being held by the throat of Cyborg Hyperion in the US themed suit that was originally designed for the true Hyperion.
Cyborg Hyperion then tossed him outside as Kelly ran for his life terrified; Atomic Vision from Cyborg Hyperion ended his life. "These powers will take some getting used to... Thank you Mr Stark for giving me this chance... Hyperion cut my family down when we only wanted to use the cosmic energy for good... I shall make the world afraid of him and not love him anymore..." Cyborg Hyperion then said as Ledger looked at him.
"No hard feelings Richards for what happened on the shuttle before you were transformed..." Ledger asked Cyborg Hyperion as it was the melted down Reed Richards whose brainwaves were copied to the Cyborg Hyperion clone and thus his personality and memories twisted by the transformation and anger at Hyperion controlling the body.
John got up and ran away to make a strategic retreat and Stark then had Ledger and Richards let him as he couldn't do anything. "You won't get away with his..." John yelled at them as Ledger laughed.
"Off course we can... We can do whatever the hell we want now that we run the country now..." Ledger retorted mockingly.
Isaiah's home in Baltimore and Isaiah was there to see the Avengers there in their suits sitting in his living room as they had gone through a discussion; the Wakandan jet in the air cloaked above the house.
"Isaiah... What you went through was inexcusable and highly disgusting... All done to recreate what I have did... I would never have stood for it if I wasn't frozen and I had a clue..." Steve said as Isaiah then put his hand up.
"I don't need to hear apologises from you Rogers... To have you here in my house... All those stories I read and seen on you... I was a fan of your radio show that they kept playing in tribute... They told us that we were volunteering to be the next you but it turns out we were guinea pigs..." Isaiah then said as he looked at Zarda and T'Challa who had the nanites of his mask down. "Power Princess... The one who was hidden while the world changed and when she made herself known... Ended up becoming part of the machine... Plus from what you told me; Wakanda has had all this technology and resources and yet you stood by and hidden all of this time while the rest of the black people suffered and what was happening in your neighbours..." Isaiah then said frowning as Zarda and T'Challa had their heads down.
"I am guilty of inaction and losing my spirit... Blindly trusting an old friend but I will not rest until I make it right... For what it's worth; if I had known then I would have pushed my feelings aside to do the right thing..." Zarda then told him.
"I admit that all this time Wakanda had been confident that we can just stay hidden in plain sight and let the affairs of the outside world stay out of our borders... I promise you that we we will strive to do better and share our breakthroughs and advances with the world... Together we will make sure that your suffering won't go unavenged..." T'Challa then said as Isaiah then looked at them.
"As long as you show that with your actions and you Spider-Man..." Isaiah then said as he started laughing and clapping his hands much to their shock. "I have to hand it to you... When you were last here I bluntly told you that I didn't think you had any chance of success in your mission and I was thinking that you would either die trying to be another cog who plays balls... Boy; have you proved me wrong..." Isaiah then said as Peter then nodded with a smile as Eli came down the stairs.
"Grandpa... Avengers... You might want to see this..." Eli said as he put on the TV to the news.
The Stark loyalist heroes were gathered in a mob in front of the White House where there was the hole with TV crews there at a safe distance while authorities were being called.
"Dealing with this drama again..." Black Archer the former Golden Archer muttered in his black and yellow suit and a black domino mask and had a goatee.
"All those years bringing law and order to the neighbourhood and now I am being vilified for this..." muttered Nightstick a vigilante hero in a set of black police styed body armor and helmet.
"Vilifying my late grandfather... After all he had done fighting Nazis in the Golden Agency..." thundered out Blue Eagle forgetting or ignoring that American Eagle had sold out his old teammates who fought the Axis Powers with him.
Through the hole in the White House; flew out Richards, Spectrum and Stark in his armor who placed what remained of Kelly on the ground as he had his faceplate lifted up much to their shock. "President Kelly and his administration is dead... I am declaring myself his successor. The senate and congress has less than 12 hours to accept this and any move against me will result in retaliation. I want all of these brave heroes who have had a rough couple of days to help me in bringing world peace around the globe. I am Tony Stark and after all these years working with superheroes; I have now become one." Stark then said as the assembled heroes were taken aback.
"Listen... I have protected this country and globe for years as a solo hero and then as a long standing founding member of the Squadron Supreme as in the world's greatest heroes... For far too long we have bowed to the whims of pencil pushers and laws getting in the way of us doing our jobs most affectively... We are superheroes; the ones putting our necks on the line protecting the humans who are now scorning us. We are doing all of this for them and they want to feel safe and want us all to protect them but when they learn what that entails... It's like how they love bacon and sausages but don't want to see how it's made... They have now turned our backs on us now that they have seen how the sausage is made but it's time that we stand up for ourselves and do this... We have been protecting them and know the best way to do it; we shall lead this country to bringing liberty and freedom around the world... No crime shall go unanswered and no shady lawyer making consequences go away... Once they see that then the sponsors and studios who turned their back on us will go come back begging on their knees... We will show the world true justice!" Ledger then said as the assembled mob of heroes digested this and started to speak positively of this and started cheering.
The heroes who had quit Stark Industries in protest upon hearing this news had their jaws wide open and were afraid and disgusted; thankfully the overworked crew at the Rocket Central had enough upon seeing this and contacted the heroes who quit. Offering to have them teleported to Washington, DC to help fix this mess and make sure that Stark's rule over the country didn't last a day.
Back at Isaiah's house they were taking what they had just watched in; "Well if we needed a sign that Stark truly lost if in reacting to his whole world crumbling down..." Scott muttered at the TV as they started glaring at this and wondering how many of the so called 'heroes' were won over by bringing up bringing their deals back.
"I knew that Ledger had joked before about bringing liberty to the world by starting a dictatorship but I truly underestimated how bad he truly was..." Zarda thundered wanting to punch the screen.
"That Hyperion... Not THE one and I know that suit... That was what the government and Howard Stark wanted him to have..." Rhodes then said.
"I think that's our cue to leave for the final battle..." Steve then said as they got up but Isaiah then caught Steve's arm.
"Let me change into my body armor that I got... Fits right underneath my old service uniform..." Isaiah then said as they blinked at that.
"Grandpa; you are in no shape to fight against a superhuman army at the White House... Plus you haven't really fought since before your 3 decades in captivity..." Eli said as Isaiah then shook his head as they all stared at him.
"I haven't taken all those self defence lessons for nothing Eli... I was getting myself ready for when Stark found me again but I get to put them to a better use..." Isaiah then said as Peter was about to to argue but Isaiah looked serious.
"Listen here good everyone... I lost a chunk of my life including not being able to be with my darling wife for the last part of her life or see our only son grow up... He was an adult when I met him for the first time... All those years that I suffered and the rest of those involved in that project... Grant me this; be apart of the day that the Stark empire crumbles... If I have to fight all of you and get onto whatever jet you used to come here then I will..." Isaiah then said as he smirked at the speechless Peter. "Webhead... I did tell you that I wouldn't sign up to help fight this if there wasn't a good a chance that you will succeed Well after what you pulled then I am feeling the optimism that I haven't felt in a long time..." Isaiah then told him as they ended up relenting.
"Get ready Isaiah and let's get ready to avenge the world..." Steve told him as Isaiah then ran upstairs. He soon went down looking not bad in his old uniform as Steve faced them ll and said "Avengers... Assemble!"
The actual premise for the Boys comics and show didn't last that long in this fic as it shifted to Spidey helping to take another option and be part of something to replace the corrupted superhero community with a better new start at a heroic age. Plus we have now gotten to the point where the show hasn't gotten to yet: the full blown coup orchestrated by the corrupt superheroes. Spoiler alert: there will be no anti-Supe missiles to make it easy and diminish the threat of the Supes more than they have already.
Yep Cyborg Hyperion has the mind of Reed Richards which is what the mention of what happened to them right after their origin in this universe would be leading up to. I don't think many know this but Hank Henshaw started off with his crew as a dark spin on the origin of the Fantastic Four with them being villains for Superman to fight. How Henshaw started out before he got revamped into Cyborg Superman. Plus Nightstick was a member of the Upward Path; a group of heroes from the 20th century that due to time travel I think encountered the Runaways and the kids of a cabal of villains saw that they were actually a bunch of bigots.