Quick public service announcement: Recently, a troll has been stirring up trouble under a number of guises, claiming to be my friend and demanding reviews for my work under threat of flaming/reporting. It's shit-stirring, nothing more. Someone trying to start a fight and, I don't know, get the attention that mummy and daddy never gave them? Something like that. It usually is.

Anyway, those threats of reporting are empty. FFN's sluggish admins hardly respond to real problems, let alone fake ones. As for flaming, just block the little fucker, delete any relevant anon reviews, and move on with your life.

Now, back to your irregularly scheduled story.

Okay, so this one is a little different. It's set more or less in line with Harry's time-travelling at the start of Phoenix and the Serpent, but the fine details don't really matter beyond that. True to the mission statement of this little series of one-shots, is in many ways an exposition dump that wouldn't really fit neatly in the main series. Is any of it critical to know? Possibly not, and what is, will be explained in the main text in due time. However, it does flesh a few things out, and explain one or two hanging plot threads. And honestly? It was fun.

Regarding the next chapter of Phoenix and the Serpent? My muse has been a pain, but I am working on it, and I have most of it put together. I'm just stitching the first scene of it together. It's the Reveal chapter, I want to get it right.

Now, I hope you appreciate the product of my insomnia. Enjoy.

"The Red Room, as it turns out, weren't just intending to rely on superpowered bruisers and a hidden base to keep their empire together," Coulson said. "They knew that in the short term, it would work, but in the medium to long term, it would be untenable. Even Lukin was aware of that, before he fell prey to mental instability brought on by a mixture of acquired situational narcissism, driven by his acquisition of Harry, and his use of their variant on the super soldier serum. Like the Red Skull and Emil Blonsky, the so-called 'Abomination', before him, it amplified his ego, paranoia, and an underlying obsession with power. Just because the results were not visibly monstrous does not mean they were any less so."

"That explains a few things," Clint remarked. "Starting with how someone with that many screws loose got to the top of the Red Room and held onto it for as long as he did."

"'Good becomes great, bad becomes worse'," Steve said quietly. "The serum amplifies everything. It makes sense. Their next step was the Red Army."

"Pre-programmed and weaponised clones of selected superhumans," Coulson confirmed. "Meant as a brute force solution to the immediate problem of the Avengers, and according to their notes, Asgard." He smiled wryly. "Somehow, I doubt that would have gone the way they were hoping."

"Your doubts are well-founded," Thor said darkly.

Coulson nodded. "And some level, it seems they knew that as well. Their next step was to carve out another kind of power," he said. "The ability, in theory, to contend with the likes of Asgard on even footing. To this end, they were pouring resources into two projects."

He brought up a schematic.

"The first is the Tarasova Tesseract," he said. "Which, to pre-empt your questions, is meant to be related to the Tesseract. It was intended as a replica."

"Impossible," Thor said bluntly.

"A perfect replica is impossible," Loki corrected, thoughtfully. "An imperfect replica, lesser but still potent, with not necessarily all of the functions, but enough… now that is entirely possible. It has been done before." He nodded at the schematic. "That looks to me very much like a preliminary design for one of the so-called 'Cosmic Cubes'."

"What is that, exactly?" Steve asked.

"A siphon and container for cosmic energy," Loki replied. "The Tesseract – the Tesseract, I should say – is a container for the Space Stone, which, among other things, is a nexus for cosmic energy. By its very function, it generates that power to an effectively infinite degree. The Cosmic Cubes are designed to replicate that as closely as possible. They act as siphons, drawing in that energy and containing it. Not simply as a cosmic battery, more like a reservoir, collecting vast amounts of that power in one easily portable place and placing it at the command of whoever wields the Cosmic Cube. After that, in theory, it is as simple as wishing for whatever you want."

"Theory is a long way from fact," Tony pointed out.

"Yeah, this sounds kind of like a Monkey's Paw situation," Bruce said, a touch uneasily.

"An apt comparison," Loki agreed. "Firstly, initiating any permanent change in local reality is extremely difficult. The subconscious remembers what it was like before, and in many users, it will register what is changed as an illusion, and compensate accordingly. Secondly, that assumes that one has the strength of will, and focus, to clearly express a particular desire or 'wish'. Thirdly, like all artefacts of power, the cubes develop minds of their own. Sometimes, they do so entirely independently. Not infrequently, however, those minds are developed based upon subconscious imprints by their creators and their wielders. Even when the results are at their most innocent, the results are… rarely pleasant."

"Imagine an infant or a toddler, learning about the world through play," Thor put in. "Then give them the power to 'play' with the fabric of reality itself. Within a small area, perhaps, but that 'small' can be a solar system. The power of a demiurge, without the maturity to use it wisely, the focus to keep track of what they have done, or the empathy to understand that the fact that they are enjoying themselves does not mean that others are as well."

There was a pause, as all present did exactly that.

"I've seen that before," Steve said. "Nimue, at the Battle of New Orleans." His jaw clenched. "As I recall, she liked playing with others. And she didn't like it when someone interrupted her game."

Thor gripped his shoulder, both a silent gesture of support and an acknowledgement that he really did not want to talk about it right now, thank you very much.

"That is a good comparison, Steve," Loki said quietly. "As while it was modelled off the Green Lantern, 'Pandora's Box' was effectively a prototypical Cosmic Cube. The only difference is that explicitly drew on magical energy, from a specific source – namely, the rift in Project Pegasus."

"Wait, you're saying that these things can all be as ridiculously powerful as that lunatic was?" Clint demanded.

"Some of them, yes," Loki replied. "Not many – Earth, due to its nature as a dimensional nexus, is an extremely potent source of magic, one of the strongest in the universe, and 'Pandora's Box' was not just a general reservoir of cosmic energy, as most Cubes are, but a direct tap into that power source. Additionally, that rift was pouring out magic beyond what it was feeding Nimue, and Carol for that matter. If a Cosmic Cube is a carefully designed reservoir, fed by rain and rivers, Pandora's Box ripped open a canal and let entire oceans pour through. It is a testament to the engineering of their conduits, as well as their remarkable physical, and far more remarkable metaphysical, durability that both Nimue and Carol were not incinerated, even erased, by the power they channelled. In Carol's case, it is also quite remarkable, even considering the design of the All-Weapon she wielded it through, that she retained her metaphorical marbles in the process. Something which, by all accounts, could not be said for Nimue."

He smiled thinly.

"In any case, Clint. I think we can all agree that they are quite bad enough."

Clint's grimace spoke volumes. Or, at least, several expletive fuelled paragraphs.

"Was the Tarasova Tesseract close to viability?" Steve asked. "I assume it wasn't entirely viable, or they'd have used it."

"Loki could give you a better breakdown of the ins and outs, by we believe it was close enough to get some use out of it," Coulson said. "Enough to start experimenting with siphoned cosmic energy on technology. And people."

Natasha nodded, as if this was not a surprise, and it probably wasn't.

"What was the second?" she asked.

"They wanted to face Asgard on equal footing," Coulson replied. "Not just with the weapons of gods, but as gods."

"Ascension," Loki said.

"Like that Darkhallow crap in Chicago?" Tony asked.

"Exactly like," Thor replied darkly.

"The Red Room identified what you might call a power vacuum in divine geopolitics," Coulson said. "Specifically, what they thought was a missing pantheon – the Slavic Pantheon, to be exact. The idea that this pantheon was either dead or inactive was bolstered by the fact that apparently, after Dracula fought Thor in the fifteenth century and lost, he specifically hunted down another thunder god to prove that he wasn't going soft. That thunder god was the Slavic thunder god, Perun. They reasoned that if Dracula's action had gone without response for so long, the Slavic pantheon was either unable to retaliate, or unaware that there was something to retaliate to."

"And while the ban of the Celestials was something of a limitation in divine activities on Earth at the time, such retaliation was entirely possible," Loki put in.

"Right. They also noticed that other beings had usurped divinities before. Notably, the Red Court of Vampires, which eventually managed to usurp at least some of the divine power of the Meso-American pantheons. Not quite enough to get noticed by the original owners, especially after the conquest of the Americas and the resulting purge of pre-existing religious texts, knowledge, and worship by the Spanish limited the ability of those original owners to exert power on the mortal plane – which apparently depends on, if not faith, then knowledge, to create what you might call elbow room."

"I hate this metaphysical crap," Tony muttered.

"It's real, Tony," Bruce pointed out. "Even if it is hard to quantify."

"That's exactly why I hate it."

"Imagine it as being akin to logistics when entering a new market," Loki put in. "The fewer reliable transport links you have, the more limited your range is. The more links you have established, the further you can spread whatever you wish."

"Still too metaphorical for my taste, but I get it, fine," Tony said, waving it away.

"In this case," Coulson continued, with saintly patience. "Those logistical links were not enough to surpass their vampiric limitations, and they got cut, hard, post conquest. But they were still enough to carry a bit of an extra metaphysical wallop."

"Until Strange killed them all," Steve commented.

"Until that, yes."

"So, the Red Room wanted to replace the Slavic pantheon," Steve continued. "How were they planning on doing that, exactly?"

"We're not sure," Coulson replied plainly. "We think that was part of why they were in the Dreaming, however. Not only did it make them much harder to find, it's also apparently convenient back way into various divine realms, and a source of mantles of divinity. From what Loki retrieved, though, and what we've turned up, they were planning first finding the mantle of Perun, then grafting it onto Lukin – who, unsurprisingly, had a god complex. After that, they intended to either steal the power source of the Slavic pantheon, or use the Red Army to overpower them and sacrifice them one by one, grafting mantles onto suitable candidates. This was one purpose of the Winter Guard."

"Didn't they consider how that would change them?" Thor demanded, aghast and outraged. "Did they imagine it would be free of consequence?"

"They seemed to think that was a problem with a solution," Coulson replied evenly. "Another direction they were pursuing was Essex's studies of Harry and clones they made of him. One particular matter of interest for Essex, and latterly Lukin, was Harry's reflection of the transition from humanity to divinity. If they could replicate that, then they could achieve a 'basic' divinity on their own, retaining their identities before they assumed the Slavic pantheon's mantles of power – if they even needed them. One theory that they were exploring was that once they had achieved this 'basic' divinity, they would, or could, develop their own mantles, mantles that could be fed in the quickest, easiest, and most traditional way."

"Blood sacrifice," Loki said softly. "Preferably of either a human, or a being with power in their own right."

"The Red Room didn't exactly place a premium on human life," Coulson agreed. "While they did that, they planned to use the Red Son to telepathically embed an awareness of, and the kernels of faith in, this new pantheon. Along with absolute control over state broadcasting, and a telepath to control everyone else, in print, radio, on television, or online, it would take very little time to carve out the requisite space to exert maximum divine power on the mortal plane."

"So, they were going to bootstrap their way to godhood," Clint summarised. "No wonder Lukin lost his mind the moment he took the serum – there wasn't much to start with."

"Is there anyone left with the knowledge to pursue this project?" Steve asked levelly.

"No."

This came from Loki and Natasha in unison.

It did not take a genius to work out why.

"We have reason to believe there isn't," Coulson said after a moment.

Steve nodded slowly. "Anything else from the Red Room at the moment?" he asked.

"Their remains are being picked over by vultures from all over the world, but to the best of our knowledge, those remains were cleared of anything seriously dangerous," Coulson said. "The main issues are the schematics for their bootleg Dynamo armours and replications of their version of the serum, and we're working on those."

Steve nodded again. "Okay, then we can table that for now," he said. "What else do we have?"

"HYDRA," Coulson said. "They're not a problem in themselves, but they can be a problem via somebody else, which is what we're concerned about. Overlord wiped out the majority of its physical assets, and the Battle of London lost it practically all of the rest. The leadership was also cut down: Strucker was murdered by Malfoy to seize power, and of Malfoy's lieutenants, the Winter Soldier was taken and restored to his original personality by Doctor Strange, Zola was wiped out when Magneto destroyed the Dreadnaught, and Gravemoss was first body-jacked by Chthon, then his body was obliterated by Jean-Paul Beaubier. Now, given his power as a necromancer, and his Alfar physiology, it is possible – not likely, but possible – that he survived. However, if he did somehow survive, he is in an extremely diminished state, and in no position to cause any trouble any time soon."

"I can confirm that," Loki put in, as Tony was about to pipe up sceptically. "Jean-Paul struck him on more levels than the physical. Far more. His physical form was disintegrated, and his spiritual body was, based on the forensics we found, ripped to shreds. That forensic evidence, by the way, was drifting past Jupiter. Whatever is left of him, if anything is, is not going to be able to reconstitute itself into anything remotely coherent for a long time without outside assistance – and there are few with the ability, much less with both the ability and the inclination. And that would require them to be looking for him, in order to find him."

He grimaced.

"Truthfully, I would be looking much harder for him, to ensure that particular excrescence was erased permanently. However… events have overtaken us."

The subtext, that Surtur was the lead priority now, with secondary priorities being the likes of the Red Room and Voldemort, and tertiary ones, such as Dracula, coming next. In other words, there were a number of possible threats and problems, and inevitably, a necromancer who had lost the vast majority of his power along with his physical form and possibly also his sentience, and had been previously a skulker in the shadows with the independent planning ability of a lemming even when he had had said physical form, fell right to the bottom of the order of operations.

"The only lieutenant Malfoy had left when he escaped was Zemo," Coulson picked up. "Before anyone asks, we're not sure why Malfoy is even alive. We know he encountered Strange in London, and we know that he is not one of the very few people who can hide from Strange. Strange has done extremely unpleasant things to people who have offended him far less than Malfoy did, yet, physically at least, Malfoy escaped unscathed."

"It could be his sadistic streak," Clint suggested. "Malfoy was, is, a big league schemer. Bucky said something about how Strange told Malfoy that he had only ever been a piece in Strange's game, and the way Malfoy reacted to that…"

"It's a possibility," Natasha agreed. "Malfoy's a control freak, and Strange targeted that perfectly, while everything he had built was falling apart without him. It's possible that he wanted him to run and panic. If he'd been taken down, or out, Zemo would have ended up in charge, and panic is one thing Zemo doesn't do. He has his own limitations, but he's methodical and he's got nerves of steel. Malfoy's exceptionally clever, but he doesn't do well under pressure – and by stating that he was playing Malfoy from the start, Strange will have made him paranoid about everything he's done next."

"I find that quite likely," Coulson remarked. "HYDRA have largely gone to ground, with Malfoy retreating to Madripoor, accepting the patronage of its current ruler: Nicodemus Archleone."

Thor let out a heartfelt curse, and Steve straightened up.

"I know that name," he said, frowning.

"He's the leader of the Knights of the Blackened Denarius," Coulson replied. "A human collaborating with a Fallen Angel – in this case, Anduriel, Lucifer's own spymaster. He's two thousand years old, very intelligent, very patient, and set on starting the apocalypse by one means or another. While he didn't necessarily start the majority of historical plagues or conflicts, he and his fellow Denarians made many of them a great deal worse. He's also functionally invulnerable."

"Wanda dropped a satellite on him once," Clint put in conversationally. "He just seemed pissed that it ruined his suit."

Coulson nodded. "More significant is how well-informed he is, which is extremely," he said. "And the fact that he controls Madripoor. That by itself means he controls the narcotics trade throughout the Indian Ocean, and a lot of sway over any shadow fleets operating between Asia, Africa, and Oceania, among other things. We're working on how to get him out, but in some ways, it'll be harder than ejecting Magneto was in the 80s. Nicodemus is infinitely less personally powerful, but he's also far better at integrating with mundane power structures, legitimate and illegitimate alike, leveraging influence, information, and wealth to gain allies, of convenience if nothing else. If ejecting Magneto was like the Battle of London, this would be like invading Afghanistan."

"In summation, tracking him down and hitting him very hard in the face would not be the problem," Loki sighed. "In fact, it would be the easy part."

Coulson nodded. "Especially as there are a lot of people who don't want him to leave," he said. "As far as they're concerned, like Magneto, he's brought relative stability to a constant problem in their backyard, and unlike Magneto, he hasn't shown any inclination to flex his muscles for breathing room. Even if they know what he is, many of them will consider a deal with the devil acceptable, at least as a stopgap."

"Well, that's never gone sideways," Tony snarked. "Don't these supernatural types usually have an opposite number? Who's squaring off against Hells Angels?"

"The Knights of the Cross," Coulson replied. "However, their remit is specifically when supernatural beings meddle with human free will. A possession, for instance. If people are working with Nicodemus – who, for all his buddy riding shotgun, is still human – of their own free will, then their hands are largely tied. The only upside is that this is restricting Nicodemus' activities somewhat, minimising his use of supernatural power, and he's been careful to avoid directly antagonising the Avengers."

"Then why's he hosting HYDRA?" Steve asked.

"Either because it benefits him, or because they have something he wants," Coulson replied. "He might be banking on Earth politics to make going after him in Madripoor less attractive, and possibly inter-pantheon politics to make matters complicated if Thor and Loki go after him."

This was said with a raised set of eyebrows at the two in question, who exchanged a look.

"Difficult to say, but unlikely," Loki said eventually. "As you say, Nicodemus is still mortal, he is still human, as are his fellow Denarians. In theory, Lucifer could respond if we permanently incapacitated the Fallen within the coins, but if we simply defeated, imprisoned, or even destroyed the hosts, then a response would be exceedingly unlikely."

"Most likely, he would feel that Nicodemus had reaped what he had sown," Thor rumbled.

"Then it's Earth politics," Steve said. "How much pushback would we face if we went in?"

"Considerable," Coulson said. "While we don't know what precisely Nicodemus wants from HYDRA, Madripoor is a – if not the – centre of the arms trade in the southern hemisphere. HYDRA had some of the best technology, including Destroyer-based weaponry, and from what we know, he's both outfitting his troops with it and distributing it."

"Maybe that's what he wants," Tony said suddenly. "Let's say that Madripoor is armed to the teeth, which it was anyway, but now with weaponry that'll make even our daring duo flinch. He wants an apocalypse? He's already got a massive narcotics supply chain, if he starts throwing in weapons that powerful in for affordable prices, he'll escalate conflicts all over the globe. The vast majority of police forces and militaries will be hilariously outgunned, without even considering the ones that were already."

"Wouldn't that just make him more trouble than he's worth?" Steve countered. "It would make a lot of people a lot more willing to see him taken out if dealing with the devil was hitting them where it hurt."

"You assume they wouldn't be buying," Natasha murmured. "Tony's right, Steve. And another factor is that he might want a conflict. When we took out Magneto, it was messy, but only up to a point. His control was strong, but it was brittle: once he was taken down, individually, and his Acolytes were taken down or out, his regime was gone. It was a Tsardom, he just assumed control of the existing power structures and dictated from the top down. Nicodemus' regime is more like a weed, with a deep and intricate root system. He has his people, and people he owns, embedded deep into what passes for a government and civil society in Madripoor, not to mention the private sector and criminal underworld."

"Because in Madripoor, they're all basically the same thing," Clint quipped, and Natasha's snort indicated the truth of this.

"Beyond that, he has people embedded across the Indian Ocean, South and East Asia, East Africa, the Pacific coast of the Americas, and the Middle East," she said. "And I'd be extremely surprised if he wasn't making inroads into Russia and around it." At a couple of startled looks, she shrugged. "He's stayed under the radar, he's been careful not to use too much supernatural strong-arming, and for the most part, he hasn't needed to. With the mess that HYDRA left behind, and the Red Room, plus Strange's genocide of the Red Court, he's been able to extend tendrils everywhere."

"Which, like HYDRA, like the Red Room, makes him a bigger target," Steve pointed out, then exhaled. "… except he's practically immortal, and his goal is global chaos. If everything falls apart, he can take as long as he likes building it back up. In the meantime, the side-effects give him exactly what he wants."

"This criminal empire is just a means to an end for him," Loki agreed. "It is not his first, and unless he is killed, it is very unlikely to be his last." He drummed his fingers. "Another problem is that if one takes down Nicodemus, which would be easier said than done – as I rather suspect he would avoid a straight fight with us at all costs and instead leave us to be bogged down in armies of heavily armed cannon fodder – is that it would invite either a takeover by HYDRA or of another group that he has been dealing with: Yami No Te."

Natasha looked up sharply. "The Hand."

"The Hand," Loki agreed. "Or more properly, the Hand of Darkness. The eldest are at least as old as Nicodemus is, perhaps older. They are exiles from K'un L'un, necromancers, solely concerned with their own aggrandisement and immortality. Normally, they are a matter of some concern, but only some – they are powerful enough, certainly, and dangerous. I have reason to believe that Kemmler learned something from them, and his legacy has proven dangerous enough. Voldemort, likewise. But they are countered by others in their sphere, and they tend to move relatively carefully. For one thing, the White Council has a tendency to kill them whenever they lay hands on any of them. Thoroughly."

"What's changed?" Coulson asked.

Loki smiled thinly. "Are you familiar with the means of their immortality, Agent Coulson?" he asked.

"An alchemical substance," Coulson replied. "Derived from… dragon bones."

"Specifically, the bones of an Elder Wyrm," Loki said. "And to a fair degree, 'you are what you eat'."

"Meaning that one of the oldest and most powerful criminal organisations and cults in the world is under the control of Surtur," Coulson concluded with admirable calm.

Thor grimaced, in a way that said this was not a total surprise.

"Not yet directly, but yes," Loki replied. "The Black Captain has the Five Fingers firmly under his thumb – though I say 'his', I still have not the faintest idea which body he is using these days. And that assumes he's even restricting himself to just the one…"

"And according to Charles, he's also performing a hostile takeover of the Hellfire Club," Tony remarked. "Busy little bastard, isn't he?"

"No rest for the wicked," Natasha said, with dark humour.

"Which means we can't let them out work us," Steve replied. "Coulson, HYDRA sounds pretty incidental in all this. I take it you have reason to suggest otherwise?"

"They're not a power player again, yet," Coulson confirmed. "A base in Madripoor, the logistical advantages that affords them, and the time to catch a breather that the Red Room's empire building and everything since gave them, has all done them favours they did not deserve. As far as we can tell, Malfoy's reverted to type: shady dealings and backroom or underworld manoeuvring, rather than overt attempts to take power anywhere. He overplayed his hand and he knows it. And frankly, I think what Strange said made him retreat into his shell. We're seeing HYDRA fronts in the corporate world, and infiltrators turning existing companies, usually smaller ones, into HYDRA fronts, but usually at arm's length. He doesn't want to commit or attract too much attention; this is more money laundering and fundraising than it is any grand scale attempt at disruption, and it's relatively easy to manage. However, it is still an issue, and they're making inroads in trouble spots. Despite what happened in London – and given the decimation of HYDRA's leadership, there and among their infiltrators within SHIELD and other organisations, partly because of it – Malfoy is still who he is, and he has Zemo's support. Between those two things, he has an iron grip on HYDRA. However, London and his encounter with Strange comprehensively beat any ambition out of him beyond staying alive and perhaps feathering his nest in exile on the side."

"Which would explain why Strange left him alive," Natasha observed.

"That's what we believe," Coulson said. "Though as we all know, Strange usually has multiple reasons for doing anything. One of them, in this case, is probably simple sadism – nervous exile, with the world against him, all his allies willing to stab him in the back or throw him under the bus at a moment's notice, and, crucially, something still to lose, is in some ways far worse than either the peace of death or the security of prison with three squares a day and hot and cold running interrogators to play with."

"He's playing with him," Steve said grimly, unable to conceal a hint of disgust.

"Strange holds grudges, Steve," Loki reminded him. "And while much of what Malfoy did played into his design, it also resulted in unleashing Chthon. For that matter, it endangered the children. Repeatedly. That is not something Strange forgives, or forgets."

"It's also practical," Natasha put in. "Cats don't play with their prey for the fun of it, they do it to tire it out, to weaken it, and make it easier to kill, at minimal risk to themselves. Toying with Malfoy, and HYDRA by proxy, serves a purpose. Removing him risks the same result as when HYDRA demolished MI13 – the old hierarchy was wiped away, allowing someone young, hungry, and extremely ambitious to take charge and reshape it to their design. As it is, simply playing with him leaves HYDRA weakened and in limbo under a leader whose methods are familiar and who's currently scared of his own shadow."

Steve grimaced, but did not disagree.

"This is not about what they're doing as an organisation," Natasha continued. "This is about what they have."

"Extremis," Bruce said quietly, speaking up for the first time. "This is about Extremis, isn't it?"

"It is."

"That super serum HYDRA were using?" Clint asked, eyebrow raised.

"Not exactly a serum, but yes," Bruce said. "Its potential is massive, exponentially greater than the serum, because it works differently, it's programmable. However, it's also unstable. Going by the data that was recovered after the Battle of London, HYDRA managed to partially refine Extremis, but they could only refine it into several different strains. Programs, essentially, doses of Extremis that gave the subject specific power-sets. None of them earth-shaking, on a superhuman scale, none of them even approaching what it's theoretically capable of, but all of them bad."

"How bad?" Steve asked.

"In the case of the most powerful one, singlehandedly-take-Fallujah bad," Tony said seriously. "Though that's assuming use of traditional munitions and the highest performance predictions. Even still, one of their freaks of mad science, an outlying experiment designed to see how far they could push the shapeshifting aspects, managed to tangle with Rhodey. All of which is still vastly underperforming its potential."

"How much did they get away with?" Steve asked grimly.

"No active doses," Coulson said. "All of them were destroyed, and all the existing enhanced were killed. However, they do have the base data that Zola was using. It's also the biggest card Malfoy has to play. He's not going to use it himself, he's terrified of getting bushwhacked again, but he's more than willing to sell it. That includes to people who are, scientifically, much smarter than he is, who can figure out how to use it to its potential."

"Which would be bad," Bruce said. "Apocalyptically bad."

"Hence Nicodemus," Steve sighed. "So, what's so special about it?"

"The short version?" Bruce asked rhetorically. "It's a virus, and it doesn't just edit DNA, it rewrites it. And yes, it works on adults too. HYDRA weren't shy of cloning people to supplement their manpower, but they didn't need to – it was plug and play. There are definite restrictions, but not as many as you'd think." He shook his head. "It's a game-changer, Steve, the way Iron Man was, if not more so. HYDRA have proved it can be made to work before, and they stole it to begin with. Its original inventor is close to proving it again, meaning that it's not just reliant on Zola's work. And once she does, the rate of development in what it can do will be exponential."

"Which means that, like my suits, everyone and their extended family is going to want a piece of the pie," Tony finished.

Steve absorbed this, then nodded. "All right," he said. "Who is this inventor? Can she tell us anything?"

"Maya Hansen," Coulson said, gaining a look of recognition from Natasha, and an unsurprised one from Loki, that said they both already knew. "And yes, she could. She hasn't talked to SHIELD, for various reasons –"

"Good ones," Bruce murmured.

Coulson eyed him, but didn't argue. "– but she might talk to you. She's already been talking to Doctor Banner, and she has a history with Mister Stark."

"Well," Steve said, standing up. "That sounds like our next stop."

Yes, this one has a sequel hook, featuring Maya Hansen – who will, in time, be of some importance.