《The Futurist》


 Chapter 1

    The black flip phone on his table looked out of place next to all his hi tech devices. When Tony received the phone all he wanted to do was throw the damn thing to the ground. The urge to rip the letter to pieces was even harder to gulp down. The non-apologetic letter, how so much like Rogers.


    "FRIDAY what time is it?"


    "It is four in the morning Boss." She replied back.


    Tony sighed loudly. He really should not been spending his nights staring at those two items¡­


    Tony hated everything that occurred. He spent many hours thinking what he could have done differently. He spent many more hours on Roger¡¯s betrayal. But when he put the phone call from Ross on hold, all he felt was satisfaction. The news that the others managed to escaped from the high security prison made him laugh outright. No matter what they were still his friends.


    And this was not the time to contemplate about what had already happened. Yes the Avengers were broken but he had to look towards the future. He was alone when he started. Slowly people who were close to him gotten involved, then He made family with spies, super soldiers and aliens.


    They all made so many mistakes. Even more only few days ago trying to fix their previous mistakes. He had to find a way to make it right again.


    After all he was the mechanic.


    Slowly but surely, he will prepare for the battle, that even now, none of them were prepared for. The past mistakes they all made, he will use it to protect the future. Yes He was going to be all right. He will look forward like he has always done.


    And Tony Stark smiled.


    XXX


    Peter froze when he opened his bedroom door.


    "Yo spiderling what do you think about working with me to make a better future?" Peter once again found Mr. Stark in his bedroom tinkering with the webshooter that he had designed for the teen.


    "Uh... I would love to...?" Peter was always lost in what to say in front of his hero. Yes He, who was cracking jokes even in deadly fights, lost what to say at the mere sight of the Giant.


    "Great! I already asked permission from your Hot Aunt so pack a bag you''ll be staying with me for the summer." The teen watched the man jump up happily from his bed and disappear out the door.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "Wait... what...!?" He gaped the moment his brain decided to kick start again.


    XXX


    "Bruce. If you get this message bring your big beautiful brain of yours back to the compound. We have work to do." He sighed as he disconnected the call. Bruce Banner, the brilliant Nuclear physicist, who also had a guilty conscious higher than mount Everest, was one of the rare people Tony called friend. He definitely needed Bruce for Tony''s plan for the future.


    Tony had hoped Bruce would pop back in his life without having Tony search for him. But from the way things were going He feared a search party would be the only way for him to get back in contact with the Doctor.


    Well then Plan B it is.


    Tony hesitated just one moment as he stared at the name and number he had saved on his phone.


    "Hello is this Doctor Pym? I''m Tony Stark and I would love talk to you about a proposition I have."


    XXX


    Peter felt very out of place from the place he was silently sitting. Not only was there Tony Stark to his right, Hank Pym was on his left! Hank Pym! He didn''t know what he did correctly for this to happen, (no scratch that he knew what he did, he became Spiderman!) but he sure was living his dream!


    Well¡­ it would have been if the tension in the room wasn''t enough the suffocate him.


    Peter pursed his lips as he gave uncertain glances at the two men.


    "Um... so... should I give you two the room?" Any other time Peter would be cracking up inside from the innuendo but the second it left his mouth he felt vastly awkward. (stupid mouth stupid!) He groaned silently while he cautiously got up from his seat.


    Mr. Stark did not even look his way as he waved Peter back into his chair. "No stay. Doctor Pym I''m glad you could make it up here. I just had to talk with you when I saw one of your work walking around recently."


    Tony tried, really he did, to smile and not smirk when he saw the old man frown deeply.


    "I don''t know what your talking about."


    "I thought the Ant-man project was shut down years ago, Doctor. But color me surprised, when I witness it''s power and the shocking turn of events. There¡¯s so many different benefit to such tech, I can¡¯t help but be interested in, perhaps, researching it further..." This time Tony could not stop the smirk appearing on his face.


    The aging man slammed his hands on the desk and roared. "You stay out of my research Stark! Like Father like son. Never trust a Stark!" The old scientist growled and brashly got up from his seat. "I do not want anything to do with you or your company so if you excuse me." Why did he allow his daughter persuade him take this meeting? Ah right, the whereabouts of Scott.


    Tony stood his ground. "Doctor, if you have been following the current events and not burying yourself in your house, you would know how much this world needs us. From the words of the wise ''When you can do the things you can but you don''t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."'' Both men was startled looked towards the suddenly chocking young teen.


    "Are you ok kid?" Hank rushed to the boy and began rubbing his back to help him get back his breath.


    "I...I''m fine" Peter answered in between coughs (Tony quoted him! He called me wise!) He wasn''t sure if his face was red due to his coughing or blushing due to embarrassment. When he took a quick glance at Tony, Peter saw him smirk. Yes, he definitely is his hero.


    "Get a hold of yourself. Geez your running in the big leagues now. Stop embarrassing yourself." Tony stated even as he felt himself smile brighter at the boy.


    Hank stood once more when the boy calmed down enough. He returned his attention to Stark. "What do you mean?"


    Tony glanced at both of the people he had invited before he turned on the hologram on the desk.


    "Gentlemen I propose we use our brilliant brain together and protect the future of this Earth"


    The hologram showed multiple designs of different items.


    "What are these?" Peter asked and curiously leaned closer for a better look.


    Hank kept quiet as he also looked over the designs of neural transmitters. He frowned. Howard Stark was brilliant. But he had never considered him as his equal. But looking at these¡­ Hank glared. Tony Stark was brilliant, of that, he could not deny.


    "You want our help in stopping mind control?" Hank whipped his head towards the young boy who had exclaimed in awe. Who was this boy? Did he really just figure out what the device did by looking only at the designs? Even Pym Lab¡¯s best Scientist would have trouble figuring that out by only looking at the blueprint.


    "This is the only beginning. If we can¡¯t protect our own brain first, how can we protect the world." Tony wasn¡¯t surprised as Hank that Peter was able recognized what he had designed. After all he wouldn¡¯t have even asked the teen to come if he had thought otherwise.


    "What did you say your name was?" The old man finally asked.


    "Oh I¡¯m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My names is Peter Parker!"

 Chapter 2

    Yelling was a once a constant on the compound. But now Rhodey missed the noise as he slowly wheeled himself across the large structure. He could imagine all his friends chilling around the tv and on the sofa. His gut wrenched just thinking about the past.


    He did not regret on his decision. He believed that the Sokovian Accords were right. But sadly He also knew nothing could be the same anymore. He was a physical proof of that. Even with the help with Tony¡¯s technology it would be near impossible for him to get inside War Machine.


    The sounds of a bitter laugh bounced off the empty hall. He really had loved War Machine. He watched hours in awe when Tony first introduced Iron Man. He could still feel the excitement he had felt the first time he saw his own armor. The first time flying it. Heck he even endured jokes from Tony about his username and Password. After all that was how much he loved being War Machine.


    No he did not regret his decision. He was a soldier. He knew the risk. But Tony¡­


    Tony wasn¡¯t a soldier. He was a scientist. When he saw Tony come back from Siberia he knew something had been wrong. He had gone to the Raft so that he can help the Cap and his brainwashed Buddy. But Tony was brought back, with the help of the King of Wakanda, all battered up. He had tried to ask his best friend about it but Tony shrugged off the question like he always did.


    Rhodey knew his best friend very well.


    He really hoped Tony wasn¡¯t wallowing himself in work like he did last time. Rhodey thought all the new suits Tony built were cool. But when he had heard from Pepper he felt extremely guilty for not noticing his best friend¡¯s anxiety attacks. Tony had been smirking and being his douchey self when they met. How was he suppose to know the fear in Tony if Tony never talked about it?


    Maybe Rhodey did not know his best friend as well as he thought?


    Rhodey wheeled himself off the elevator and towards Tony¡¯s lab. He stopped when he heard the yells. Yells? Who the heck was with Tony? Vision? But that didn¡¯t make sense¡­ If it was Vision there would be no yelling. The closer he got the louder the sounds became. Realization hit him hard when he could not recognize the voices. Fearful for his best friend, Rhodey willed his wheel chair to go faster.


    But as he finally got close enough to see the mirror entrance to the lab, he was confused.


    "Stark! Are you trying to blow us all up! Get that thing away from there!" An old man, Rhodey thought kinda looked familiar, yelled at Tony and angrily waved him away from the Bunsen burner.


    "Mr. Stark! I think I got the surge in correctly!" Was that a kid inside the lab?


    "Great! Lets see!" And Tony pushed a button.


    The sound of explosion boomed through out the lab. Rhodey cringed but was very glad no one seemed hurt.


    "OMG! I¡¯m so sorry I must have done¡­"


    "Well that was no go¡­"


    "You idiot! What did you do?..."


    Rhodey watched in shock as the three people in the lab yelled and laughed at each other. Then he noticed Tony¡¯s face. He was laughing. Not smirking. Laughing.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.Rhodey smiled. Yup, He did not know his best friend at all.


    XXX


    "Your trying to make a device that will stop mind control?"


    "Why is everyone so shocked at the notion? If you can control someone¡¯s mind you can bet your ass there¡¯s a way to stop it." Tony sighed very loudly to show his fake annoyance.


    "Isn¡¯t that so cool! When I looked at the schematics for the device it seemed like a dream! I mean who knew about that blank area of the brain? That¡¯s something High School doesn¡¯t teach about."


    "Wait, hold on kid. Blank space¡­ in brain¡­ what?"


    "Aldrich Killian¡¯s research." Tony said flippantly.


    "Like a Stark to steal other¡¯s research." Hank grumbled.


    "Well would you call it stealing if I improved it when I was drunk 20 years ago? And perfected it again last year?" Tony got up from his stool to get a cup of coffee. It was only when he brought the cup to his mouth that he noticed he was smiling. When he relaxed his face muscle he realized how tired they were. How long had he been smiling? He shook his and¡­ there he goes again! He smiled.


    "Mr. Stark can I get a cup." Peter said as he looked up from the microscope he was inspecting.


    "None for you. You are way too hyper as you already are. Go get some rest boy" Hank replied for Tony.


    "But¡­"


    "Not buts. You were in the lab for 19 hours. You need food and rest. Go!" How long has it been since he mentored a kid that young? Hank felt a little twitch in his heart as he remember his formal Prot¨¦g¨¦. They were both so eager to learn. To create. To become better. Where had he gone wrong with Darren?


    Peter pouted and looked longingly at Tony in hopes he would allow him to stay longer. But he found no support from him as his hero shrugged and nodded towards the exit of the lab. The teen sighed as he went slowly out.


    As soon as Peter left an awkward silence filled the room. Hank decided to break it by asking what was in his mind until now


    "So Stark. What¡¯s next. You already had multiple design for this device. You didn¡¯t need to call me or the boy for help. You would have solved all the problems yourself." The older Scientist looked towards the younger scientist.


    Tony sighed again.


    "Well you aren¡¯t wrong about that. I would have solved it without either of you." Tony took a breath before he continued. "I need your help in stopping magic."


    While Rhodey sputtered his coffee out of his mouth, Hank silently studied the man.


    ¡°Magic¡­ What the heck do you mean?" Rhodey choked out as he wiped his mouth.


    "It¡¯s exactly what I mean. Magic. Or from what I inspected very advanced tech. When Loki attacked us He used multiple Magic like things. But when Bruce and I was able to study the Stone on the scepter it was much more like an AI. Here I have the schematics." Tony swiped his hands and the area around them lit up blue.


    "It¡¯s¡­ like a brain¡­ Is it thinking?" Hank walked around the hologram. It was beautiful. It was definitely looked like Neurons firing. But it was also not a human brain. Or any type of brain Hank had examined before.


    "Yes. This is just the recording or it. But with this, our goal was to create Ultron. An AI who could think for himself and protect peace in outer space. But you know how that turned out." Both man listening scoffed.


    "But even now, I have no idea what happened to kick start Ultron. Up until he miraculously came to life everything we did ended in failure."


    "But you created Vision¡­? Isn¡¯t he alive? How did you create him?" Rhodey asked


    "We didn¡¯t really create Vision. In the ended we just imbedded the stone directly. I believe the stone is like our brain for him. Vision is not thinking because of my programming. No it¡¯s much more closer to say the Stone itself is Vision."


    "You won¡¯t be able to replicate the experiment again." Hank stated. Something like this. It was much more advance than he would have imagined.


    "But that¡¯s not all we have to worry about. After Loki¡¯s attack I researched any other alien sighting all around the world. While many of the sightings are hoaxes some of them¡­"


    Once again the area lit up with different holograms of newspapers and clips dating all over the place. Rhodey caught of glimpse of a Missing poster of a kid name Peter Quill.


    "You mean we are behind in Technology."


    "Doctor Pym. We aren¡¯t just behind in technology. From what I witnessed we are in the stone age compare to them. Nothing in our arsenal will match up to theirs. All we have is brute strength. Even then most aliens I witness had strength that surpassed even our most strongest." The image of the aliens going hand to hand with the Cap ran through both Avengers mind¡¯s.


    Hank thought grimly of the consequences. "You are not suggesting on making more super soldiers are you?"


    "God no! All the trouble we had happened because of the super soldier program. No, what I¡¯m proposing is we make a defense system. Something that would be called the ultimate defense."


    And one last time the area lit up.


    "Are those nanobots?"


    "What¡¯s this Tony?"


    "Gentlemen this is the Extremis 2.0"

 Chapter 3

    "Yo Vision. What do you think Team Cap is doing?" Peter was gulping down the omelet Vision had made for him. It was quite delicious. Maybe not as good as his aunts but it still counted as one of the best (or maybe it''s because he had not eaten anything for almost 24 hours?'')


    "Team Cap?" Peter watched as Vision burrow his eyebrows together in confusion. Vision fascinated him. He was so much like a human. How had the android come to be? The teen had wanted to ask but he wasn''t sure if Vision might be offended by the question.


    "Yeah! We''re team Iron Man and the others that left are Team Cap! I was wonder what they were doing? So far there haven¡¯t been any news about them you know? Do they have their own secret hiding place? Wait a minute... Can Cap be called Captain America anymore? Isn''t he like number one wanted person right now?" Peter kept voicing his stream of conscious before Vision finally stopped him.


    "Peter. We are not team Iron Man or Team Cap. We are the Avengers. Both side did what they believed was right. But in the end, when the world needs us we will be united once more."


    "... But believing what you did was right does not mean you did the right thing..." An image of a robbery flashed through Peter''s head. At that moment Peter had believed what he did was right. He believed the Owner deserved it. After all he had ripped him off and was a crook. It was only after his uncle... People always made mistakes. With great power comes great responsibly. Didn''t Cap abuse his power for his own agenda? Peter thought back to all the people who were injured badly by Cap when he had tried to stop them from apprehending the Winter Soldier.


    "Yes. You are correct in that assessment. But I believe in the end the Captain will understand why we chose the way we did. All of us." Vision thought back to the moment Wanda had decided to leave the compound. Vision truly hoped that she would understand why he had made that decision for her.


    "Does it matter if Cap understands our... his decision? Would the government ever forgive him... Would Mr. Stark...?"


    XXX


    The more and more Rhodey listened to Doctor Pym and Tony talk the more he felt left out. The back and forth of ideas made his head hurt! So in the end he had decided to leave the lab at the mercy of the mad scientists.


    He smiled at the look of pure joy Tony showed as he worked with Pym. Yes, Tony was Iron Man but in the end he was an intellectual. Talking and debating with people who were closer to his intellect always made Tony open up more. It was very noticeable even as Tony hung out with the Avengers. While to Doctor Banner Tony would talk about what was in his heart, Tony always use sarcasm and jokes to the other members. Even now Rhodey was surprise to hear Tony had therapy session with Bruce.


    Thinking back to the conversation between the Scientist excited Rhodey. The world that Tony had envisioned. It was the same feeling he felt when he knew Tony was building a suit for him also. He yearned the day that future came. The day when extremis 2.0 would finally be released into the world.


    XXX


    "You want to build in a failsafe?" Hank responded in surprise.


    "I have built way too may weapons and devices for me to not think about a failsafe."


    "But you want me to have the failsafe code? Why? We barely know each other?" the older scientist wondered if the younger Stark had gone bonkers. Why would he want him to have the failsafe code?


    "Well ideally I would love to get one more person to be in the failsafe code but he won''t pick up his phone right now. So you and I will be the only ones the failsafe would be biologically linked to. When Bruce comes back I hope you are ok with him being part of the failsafe."


    "No, of course"


    Silence fell in the room as they both went back to work and both were lost in their own thoughts and memories. Hank never thought a day would come when he would have agreed with a Stark. But Extremis 2.0 had great potential. Would it really become the greatest defense for Earth and its inhabitants?


    "Hank. Why don''t you ask me about Lang?" The sudden question startled the older scientist and he dropped the pen he had been using. "I thought when you first came over that would have been the first thing you would have demanded from me." Tony continued. "But... You haven''t mentioned him at all."


    Was that guilt Hank saw on the younger Stark''s face? The more he spend time with the person he once believed to be egoistical, the more Hank was confused by him. "Why? If I asked would you have told me?" Hank questioned "After all telling me where Scott is would also let me know where all the other highly wanted fugitives are. Would you have risked that?"Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Tony gave Hank a tired smile. "I just gave you the failsafe to one of the greatest invention I have ever thought of." The more Tony interacted with people the more tiring it was. When did he even start caring so much? "I have sent you an encoded file to your private server. You''ll find all the answers you might have."


    And Hank did what he had never thought he would do. He thanked a Stark.


    XXX


    When Steve broke the others out of the Raft they unanimously decided to lay low in Wakanda for the moment. They had been grateful to King T''Challa for his assistance and help. Steve couldn''t thank him enough for helping Bucky fight his brain conditioning. Even now the brightest scientist in Wakanda were working day and night to figure out a solution.


    Others who were in Wakanda with him were beginning to get into a routine. Steve knew that others were missing home. Most of them left someone special behind. But after what the government had done to them none of them had regretted their decision. They were proven right the moment all of them were sent to the Raft without legal proceedings.


    King T''Challa had been busy recently in figuring out what was going to happen to the Sokovian Accords. Steve had not really wanted to interfere with the King''s decision but from the hushed voices in the halls, Steve knew most people in Wakanda were still very strongly for the Accords. He understood the people''s wants. After all the Accords was one of the Previous King''s legacy. And their King died for that legacy.


    When Zemo had been apprehended, Steve believed many nations would fight over who would be the one to indict him. But the opposite happened. No one wanted to acknowledge the Sokovian''s involvement in all the events that had occurred. No, all them were happy to pin everything on him and the rest of his team. So in the end Wakanda had Zemo in custody for the death of their King.


    He knew how corrupt Politics were but He had not known it could have been this blind. Steve and millions of men and women had sacrificed their life for the service of the government. He had given 70 years of his life for a cause he believed in. For the cause he thought his government believed in. But now looking back at his life, looking back at what happened to Bucky... Was it all a waste? Did they really give everything to people who were happy to throw them under the bus?


    Steve continued walking down the hall to the throne room. The guards in front announced his arrival and opened the door. The throne room was grand. From the high ceilings and the gold decorations everywhere the hall exhibited the vast wealth of Wakanda.


    He waited a moment for the King to notice him. T''Challa had been talking with several ministers in hushed voices surrounding a table full of papers. The young King soon dismissed everyone.


    Steve could feel the glares of the passing ministers. He was not an idiot. He knew many of them were against making Wakanda a safe haven for them. The only reason they were not kicked out of the country was because of T¡¯Challa. Steve walked in with his head held high.


    T''Challa looked tired. Guilt flooded Steve. He really didn''t like it when others suffered because of him.


    "I have always loathed the day I would be sitting here." T''Challa started when he got close "I knew it was my destiny but I was always more of a Warrior."


    "You are doing a great job T''Challa. You can always send us out of your country if it becomes too much for you." Steve replied quietly. "We all knew the risk. While all of us are grateful for your help, I know none of us want to bring you and your country trouble."


    "No Captain. I invited you and your friends as my own penance for being blinded by revenge. As long as I live you will have asylum here."


    "Thank you." Both men smiled.


    "Captain. I asked you to come to tell you what have been happening to the Sokovian Accords. As you know I am still for the Accords. As a leader of a country I know the safety the Accords will bring to not only my country but the world."


    "Of course I understand." Steve knew T''Challa was a good person that was willing to sacrifice himself for a cause. And Steve also knew the responsibility of a Country looking up to him. "I understand your stance. T''Challa I know you are choosing the Accords because you want to protect your people. Do not worry about me or my team."


    "But I want you to know the talks had been going strong on revising the Accords. While most people don''t like to acknowledge Zemo''s involvement they all do know what Ross did was unacceptable. Mr. Stark''s legal team had been very helpful in the revision process."


    The tiny phone in his pocket felt heavy at the mention of Tony''s name. Steve had regretted that the two of them couldn''t see eye to eye. While they did not agree in many things, Steve felt safe leaving the Avengers in Tony''s hands. After all the Avengers were more family to Tony then they were to him.


    "How is Tony?" He asked quietly.


    "I do not know"


    "What? What do you mean? Don''t you see him at the meetings?" Steve asked


    "No it seems Mr. Stark is quite busy and had not been at the meetings." T''Challa answered as he leaned back on the throne. "Mr. Stark sent his deepest apologies for his absence through his lawyers."


    Why did Tony always do this? Why did he always leave his job to others? Steve knew Tony was better than this. He knew Tony could be so much more if only he cared about others more than himself.


    T''Challa decided to change the subject when he saw the emotions on the Captain''s face. He just gotten to know the previous Avengers but from their conversations T''Challa knew many of them felt a deep resentment for Iron Man.


    "It seems like our Scientist had figured out how they might be able to help Sergeant Barnes."


    Steve perked up quickly at the news. "That''s great!"


    "One of my scientist came across a research by a man name Aldrich Killian. They believe what he had been researching might help reverse the effect of the conditioning."


    Aldrich Killian? Where had he heard that name before? "I''m so glad they found a way." Steve breathed out a shaky laugh.


    "Well we only have tiny part of the research that was published but we are getting in contact to see if we can get more in-depth research papers."


    There was finally some hope. Steve couldn''t believe it. Only a just a bit longer and Bucky will be back to who he was. Bucky could live without fear anymore.

 Chapter 4

    The lab was busy as ever. With the three scientist exchanging ideas about Extremis and working on the anti mind control device (They really need to make a name for it). Peter loved working in the lab. But He also loved being Spiderman. Knowing this Mr. Stark had FRIDAY report any activities that might need Spiderman''s help. A quiet beep meant Peter would quietly leave for whatever was needed. The 2 older scientist didn''t even look up from their work.


    Queens was his home. He loved it. If only every tv on the streets stopped playing J. Jonah Jameson.


    "He is a menace! Spiderman refuses to show his face! Every other so called Hero have revealed who they are! Why does he hide his! He should be required to take responsibility on all the property damages he caused!" Jameson continued to rant before the other show host stopped him.


    "It is well known that Tony Stark has taken as his responsibility to pay for all the damages done. He even hired cleaning crews to clean up the webs. Now If someone like Mr. Stark has shown to encourage the new vigilante as Spiderman, shouldn''t we consider him part of the Avengers?" The young woman calmly asked.


    Peter was very grateful to Mr. Stark. Truthfully Peter had not even thought about how hard it would take a regular citizen to clean the webs. No regular cleaning supplies would be enough. Mr. Stark had set up a hotline anyone could call if they had a pesky web problem. Then the cleaning crew would go and clean it all up.


    "It is Because Tony Stark started to takes responsibility for the actions of that Spider Menace that everything got worse! It started with simple damages to windows but now Spiderman thinks he can go breaking everything! Why? Because he has a sponsor that''s willing to pay for him! That Spiderling is like a Spoiled Brat only counting on Daddy''s money!"


    "Some people would be willing to argue that the increase in damage is positively correlated to the more difficult rescues Spiderman had been recently involved in. Here are some clips showing the Spiderman swinging his way in a burning building and rescuing everyone inside. Here is another of him stopping a bank robber."


    Peter winced at the last clip. Yup that event could have gone better.


    "Yes that''s a perfect example! Look! He could have perfectly stopped the robber without kicking him to a pillar of the building! The reconstruction of that building cost more than the cash the robber would have taken in the theft!"


    How was Peter suppose to know that the robber''s mechanical armor was sturdy enough to break the pillar! (Well I guess I could have stopped him without kicking him...)


    "Which Mr. Stark took care of." the host continued for Jameson


    "Yes which he took care of. But there''s going to be a moment where Daddy''s money won''t be enough."


    Peter focus changed from the tv to the sirens of the police cars. Here comes the robbers. So how should he stop this high speed chase? Hmm. Ah ha! Excellent idea if I don''t say myself Peter!


    He swung his way about four blocks ahead and set up his trap. He will use his web-shooter to make a big wall of web! Yes excellent! the car will be stuck on the web like a fly! Peter looked around calmly. Now... Would this cause any physical damages? Nah only cleaning crew needed! Chew on that J Jonah Jameson! This Spiderman was going to show you he can help people without being a menace to society!


    Yay here they come! now time to admire his work. Peter thought in glee. But... Why is that car not slowing down? Whoah! Are they speeding up? Hey dumb robbers don''t you see that giant wall of web in front of you? Shit! if they go at that speed... the web will stop them... but the car will rebound! Damn it! Stupid robbers! Peter hurried down from the side of the wall he was waiting at. He dropped to the ground the moment the car crashed into the web. And as peter predicted the car rebounded. His spider senses heightened his perception and He could see the robbers'' car was bound to crash into the police car coming to a screeching halt.


    Can he stop the free-falling car before it crashed into the police car? No... too much inertia. He would be dragged with the car. Damn it! Get the police car out of the way! Peter hurriedly got to work and shoot his web at the police car and pulled.


    Peter unknowingly closed his eyes as he heard the loud crash. He slowly opened his eyes and could not help but grimace. The police car had hit a fire hydrant and now gallons of water was flooding the street. Luckily it seemed like the policemen were not too hurt as both of them got out of the car and groaned.


    the robber''s trunk was totally destroyed as the car imbedded itself on the road and now hundred bills were floating around all of them. Peter slowly made his way to the robbers and let out a sigh of relief as he saw all the robbers in the car were wearing seatbelt and were mostly just unconscious. (yes that is why you wear seatbelt kids!)


    Peter turned around when he heard growling from behind him. One of the police officers was growling at him!


    "You! Why do you make everything worse!"This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "I...I''m so sorry! I... I thought... that the robbers would slow down..." Peter stammered.


    "Carl stop. He was only trying to help. And if he didn''t pull us out of the way we would have definitely died." The other officers said as he tried to calm his partner down. "Thanks for your help Spiderman. If you hadn''t stop the car it was bound towards a school zone. And at this time there were bound to be casualties."


    Peter was very grateful for the officer. But felt very guilty. He had not even thought about the school zone. One mistake from him and a child could have been killed. The two officers were arguing and it seemed like the nicer officers won and turned toward him.


    "Go. We''ll take care of the rest."


    "Thank you.''"Peter said as he used his web-shooter to swing upwards. Peter looked back as he swung. From a bird-eye view it was so much worse. Ugh...What a mess...


    XXX


    "You can''t go around breaking things!" As soon as he entered the compound Peter knew he would get a scolding from Mr. Rhodes.


    "Did you forget all strategy training I thought you? Look at your surroundings, consider all actions of the enemy!"


    "I''m sorry. I thought I made the safe decision trying to stop the car. I never assumed the robbers would try to crash their way through." He felt guiltier by the second. He could see Mr. Rhodes fuming. He was ''pacing'' back and forth on his wheelchair.


    "Peter this is why we don''t go head first into things!"


    "Aw give the kid a rest. I didn''t think it was such bad strategy. I would have just flown in front of the car and punched the engine but eh not everyone can have militarized suit." Tony stated as he made his way towards the two of them.


    "Tony!"


    "By the way kid. I think your web could be little more elastic. Right now it''s a little too rigid. Your plan would have worked if the web was more flexible. Let''s work on that as we work on the self dissipating web. I mean I am a billionaire but the cleaning fee is getting huge!" Mr. Stark smirked.


    "Tony!" Peter winced towards Mr. Rhodes as he looked about to explode. Peter really did try to stop the smile from appearing from his face. He really did.


    "Rhodey. You can be the nagging mom. I''m going to be the cool dad!"


    "Tony!" Mr. Rhodes finally exploded and yelled as loudly as he can.


    "Oh noes! Let get out of here before he starts chasing us on his wheelchair!" Peter followed as Mr. Stark grabbed his hands and ran away from the former War Machine.


    Peter really did love it here.


    XXX


    Wakanda was a beautiful place. The beauty was not only in the eyes but in all five senses. From the pleasing sounds of birds and water to the smell of flowers and other vegetation. Exotic fruits for your taste buds and the perfect humidity and weather. Just being there felt like you were in a masterpiece.


    Steve hated it here.


    He was a city boy. He needed smog and pollution. He needed sounds of honking and shouts of people on their commute to work. This paradise... It was not for him.


    He felt a little regret that he could not go back home.


    "I can hear your constant sigh from the inside of the palace." Steve turned as he heard Sam come near him. "What''s up? Is this little bit of paradise not doing it for you?" Sam smiled as he took a sit next to Steve.


    Steve smiled back. He had connected with Sam instantaneously. It''s been a while he was able to make friends. But Sam had understood him and was always by his side.


    "Yeah this place isn''t doing it for me either! I mean common those birds chirping every morning? I never wanted to strangle a bird more." Both men laughed as Sam pretended to wring the necks of the birds.


    "Well I hope you don''t try such a thing. Those birds are endangered and are only found in the forest of Wakanda." Steve and Sam quickly stopped laughing as T''Challa came into view.


    "Ah, Your Highness I was only joking! I would never..." Sam stopped talking when T¡¯Challa held up a hand.


    "I was also joking my friends." T''Challa smiled at the shocked faces of the two formal Avengers. "I would also love to get my hands on one of them." The three of them burst out laughing.


    This felt normal to Steve. Hanging out with his friends joking with each other. This was the one thing he had not missed about home. Because it had followed him to Wakanda.


    "But alas I come as a bearer of bad news." When Steve looked towards the king saw his face was grim.


    "What is it?" Sam asked before Steve could


    T''Challa looked silently before he started his message.


    "Captain do you remember what I told you about Aldrich Killian''s research?"


    "Yes you told me your scientist believed it could help with Bucky''s conditioning..." He really didn''t like the way the conversation was going.


    "Sadly when we received the research many parts of the study was redacted."


    "Redacted? By the military" The more they talked the more the hope Steve had of finally awaking Bucky crumbled.


    "By SHIELD." And there went his hope.


    "By SHIELD? then that means..." Sam trailed off at the implications.


    "It means Tony has the research." Steve finished for all of them.


    XXX


    "You seem to be enjoying yourself dad."


    "Of course not! How can ever think that I would find enjoyment being anywhere near a Stark! Never less working with a Stark!"


    Even as her father grumbled Hope can tell he was truly happy. She had not seen him this happy after the death of her mother. His moods had been lifted a tiny but with Scott¡¯s arrival into their family. But whatever Tony Stark had invited her father to work on had truly uplifted him.


    "So are you ever going to tell me what you two are doing?"


    "Three."


    "Excuse me?"


    "Three. There are three of us working. He really is a brilliant boy. I would say if given time he will become one of the pillars of the scientific world." Hope was confused and in shock. It took a lot for her father to acknowledge anyone. Even she herself was never praised so highly...


    "Who are you talking about?"


    Hank looked at her as he took off his jacket.


    "I''m sure you''ll hear about him soon enough. Never mind the boy, here Stark gave me this file." He rummaged inside his briefcase and handed a folder over to his daughter.


    Hope looked through the file quickly. She was very happy to find out it was about Scott.


    "Wait... Scott''s in Wakanda? Wasn''t or Isn''t King T''Challa a big Ally for the Sokovian Accords? Why would he help those who broke to accord laws?"


    "I don''t know. Sadly it seems the file does not contain an answer for that either. But lets be glad that he''s safe." Hank rubbed his tired eyes. He needed rest. He was not young enough to spend days in the lab anymore. "I''m going to go up and sleep. If you want to speak with Scott there seems to be a phone number inside."


    Hope watched her father go up to his bedroom. She saw the number her father was talking about when she came to the last page. She picked up the phone and dialed. It rang for a moment and...


    "Tony?" a sound of disbelief came from the voice on the other end.


    "No. Hello my name is Hope Pym I was told I could get in contact with Scott Lang through this number."

 Chapter 5

    Steve fumed. He wanted to be happy as he saw Scott talking with Ms. Pym. But why did Tony give this number to her? Did he give it to any other people? Was he still so angry that he might be willing to sell them out again? His stomach gripped in annoyance and fear. Annoyance, that Tony never did anything according to Steve¡¯s predictions. Fear for his team, fear that any moment there would be US government knocking on their door.


    He turned and saw how happy Scott was. No matter what intentions Tony had given the number, Steve was glad to see Scott perk up.


    "What!? Hank is working with Stark? What the heck¡­ Is he being blackmailed? Is that why? Did he have to work with Stark to get this number?"


    Steve¡¯s eyes narrowed as he overheard Scott¡¯s conversation. Tony was forcing Hank Pym to work with him?


    "He won¡¯t tell you what¡¯s going on? Are you sure Stark isn¡¯t holding you as a hostage to get Hank to work with him?" Scott sounded angry. "There''s absolutely no way Hank would willingly work with a Stark. I lived with him for a short time but I heard him ranting about lying bastards Stark are at least ten times a day!"


    Was Howard that bad? When Steve had known him, he was an intelligent man but had also been very courteous. He had felt jealousy at how close Howard and Peggy was but Steve had never thought Howard was a ¡®lying bastard¡¯. He had fun times being with Howard as much as he was with the Howling Commandos. Howard was also the one who made the shield for¡­


    An image of a bashed in face flashed in front of his eyes.


    Steve never had the chance to mourn for the lost of his friend. His friend had been murdered. His anger rose. He will avenge his friend¡¯s death. He will bring down Hydra.


    Scott ended the call with a silent I love you and for a briefest moment looked sad.


    "Here you go Captain! Thanks for arranging this for me! It really brightened my day hearing her." Scott said as he gave Steve back the phone.


    "Of course. Anytime Scott, anytime. I couldn¡¯t help but overhearing¡­ Is Doctor Pym working with Tony?"


    "Yeah apparently he is. I don¡¯t know how Stark threatened him but Hank is." Scott replied in wonder.


    Steve began planning


    XXX


    "Here try this on." Tony handed his friend a belt.


    "Uh¡­ What the heck is this?" Rhodey looked at the strange belt. It¡¯s metal gleamed harshly on the outside and near the center there was a rectangular box size of his fist.


    "Up up! It¡¯s your new leg brace." Tony exclaimed as he helped Rhodey rise. He took the belt and clamped it on.


    "Ow! Did this stupid belt just poke me?" Rhodey yelped when he felt the pinch. It hurt like crazy!


    "Don¡¯t be a baby! The belt needed to attach directly to your spine. A little pain for freedom Rhodey! Little pain for freedom! Here put this on too." And he placed a band over Rhodey¡¯s head.


    Now this seemed very familiar to Rhodes. Isn¡¯t this¡­


    "Isn¡¯t this the same control as the Mark 42!?"


    Tony smiled. "Why yes it is. But right now I need you to walk for me right now. The head band is going to read your brain waves and send the command down to this box down here and help your legs to move. Just walk like you would walk. Don¡¯t think about anything. Here boy here!" Tony stepped about ten pace away and held out his hands as if he was calling for a dog.


    Rhodey glared for a moment. He took a deep breath and took a step. He lost balanced and flailed his hands trying to catch himself. Tony caught him before he could fall. Rhodey was not going to cry. No he¡¯s not going to! He let out a frustrated breath.


    "I got you Rhodey. I got you." Rhodey felt Tony hug him.


    Bitter laugh filled the room. Tony continued to hug him. He felt the tears on his arms.


    "Rhodey. You can do it. Don¡¯t think too hard about it. Let the bands do all the work. Here." Tony helped his friend up again. This time he helped his friend by supporting him by the waist. "See that wasn¡¯t so hard."


    "Ha. Easy for you to say." Rhodey wiped his tears and swung his arms around Tony¡¯s shoulders.


    "Hey! It took me days making this! You have no idea the sleepless hours I spent." He acted hurt.


    "Whatever dude!" they chuckled. And Silently Tony supported Rhodey in walking across the compound.


    "Rhodey¡­ I don¡¯t think I have said this before. I¡¯m so glad I met you. Thank you for being with me." Tony finally broke the silence.


    Rhodey stayed silent for another moment. Tony had guided both of them to an wide window as the sun began to set. "Thank you for being my friend." Rhodey replied. "you think you¡¯re the only one who benefited from this relationship? Look at me! I have the smartest person in the world spending days figuring out how to make me walk again! Who else can have that benefit but me?" Rhodey looked back at his friend.


    "I¡¯m proud to be your friend Tony."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Thank you¡­ and I¡¯m so glad I¡¯m a genius!"


    "Wha¡­?" Rhodey was surprised by the sudden change of mood from Tony. When Tony pointed towards him he was confused for a moment. And a realization hit him hard. He was walking. Normally. Not stumbling. With no support from Tony. He was walking!


    Tony winked "I told you, you can do it"


    Rhodey felt his eyes tingle again. Ugh no¡­ he was not going to cry again!


    "Hey, hey! That¡¯s not even the best part! You can¡¯t cry right now." Tony stated as he led both of them back to the therapy room. "Say initiate and use your Old username and your password!"


    Rhodey lightly glared at his friend.


    "Initiate War Machine password Warmachinerox" And before his eyes he was back inside War Machine. "Is this¡­?"


    "Welcome to War Machine Mark 4."


    XXX


    "So...Brain Anomaly Repairing Neural Electromagnetic System is finally done?" Peter asked (He really wanted to name it Screw Mind Control Machine but that was quickly shut down by both older scientist) as he picked up the finished prototype. It was a slim band with magnetic patches.


    "Well we will know for sure if we could get a subject to test it on." Hank replied. Tony shrugged. He had someone in mind but he wouldn''t be the one to suggest it.


    "How does the thing work?" Rhodey asked as he put the band on his own head. It was very similar to the new band he was gifted by Tony just a few hours before.


    Tony raised his eyebrow. "Would you understand even if we explain it to you?" Peter stifled chuckle and yelped when Mr. Rhodes poked him hard on his side.


    "Try me." Rhodey stated. "Common I feel left out surrounded by you people!"


    Hank smiled. It was no wonder Stark was friends with Colonel Rhodes. Rhodes had shown pure interest in every topic the three genius would talk about. And was always in awe in everything they made.


    "Fine try not to lose me in the first sentence. Aldrich Killian and his think tank researchers figured out the blank area deep within the brain. An area where electrons were not firing in. Now Killian wanted to use that place to connect extremis to control pain and force the cells to rapidly grow for a healing factor. But with this device we are using that area to make a reboot."


    "Reboot?"


    "Yup a Reboot!" Peter exclaimed and continued "You see because the neurons in that area don''t fire. So even when people were being brain washed, that area would not have been affected! So give a little shock in this area and the brain should be able to reboot itself without the conditioning! The brain is an amazing organ that can tell the difference between our own will and a conditioning. A shock will kick start the brain itself to find any anomaly."


    "Yes but the opposite is also true. If we use this machine to brain wash people it will no longer be a conditioning that can be broken. But it will change the core of who they are. It is a dangerous machine." Hank finished.


    "Wait isn''t that really dangerous!?"


    Tony rubbed his eyebrows. Yes it really was a dangerous machine. He really didn''t want this tech in the hands of others. "That''s why we are never going to talk about how the machine works outside of this lab. That''s also why I redacted all of Aldrich Killian''s work. This way anyone who wants to replicate this, they will have to start from the beginning of that research which would take 10 year best and making the machine itself will also take them 15 years."


    "What? But it took you 4 month?"


    "Oh Rhodey... I don''t want to brag but... You have a group of 3 of the most smartest people in this room."


    Rhodey looked at all three of the smiling scientist. All of them were amazing. The people in this lab was going to change the world forever.


    XXX


    "So we''re going on a heist? We''re going to break into Avengers Compound? You know the last time I did that I barely got into the garage." Scott stated.


    All the previous Avengers were gathered in Steve''s room. Everyone was scowling when Steve had told them his plan.


    "Are we willing to risk going back to the compound? Just getting in the country will take some effort. At the moment we''re number one wanted in almost 120 countries." Clint stated. At the moment being able to enter the compound seemed impossible.


    "I know. That''s why I''m going to ask Hank Pym for help. Scott told me that Hank would be able to hack into Tony''s firewall and download the research we need." Steve answered.


    "Yeah. Hank will easily go through the system." Scott confirmed.


    "Why don''t you just ask Tony for the research?" Wanda finally asked.


    All the men looked back at her as if she was crazy.


    "Tony has not called me yet. From that I can only assume that he is still angry. He will not help especially when he realizes it''s to help Bucky." Steve answered her.


    "Then I''m going to make the call to Hope now." Scott took the phone from Steve''s hand and dialed.


    "Hey Hope. We need a big favor!"


    XXX


    "Scott wants me to do what?" The old man asked his daughter incredulously.


    "He wants you to steal a research file Stark apparently is keeping secret. I thought you would totally willing to do this. After all you¡¯re the one who always insisted Starks are thieves that take others work as their own."


    "Which file is it?" He asked


    "A research file by a person name Aldrich Killian."


    Hank closed his eyes and pinched his noes. So there was a reason why Stark had started this project. He wondered if Stark was ever going to mention it.


    "They only need the research files?" He asked once more.


    "Yes only the files. They are coming into the country with the help of King of Wakanda right now. I told them they could stay here." Hope replied and smiled at the thought of seeing Scott again.


    "What!? You just told the most wanted fugitives they could stay here?"


    "You let Scott and his crew stay here and they were also fugitives." Hope easily rebutted.


    Her father groaned. "Ok fine. Tell them I¡¯ll do it. But they need to tell exactly why they need Killian¡¯s research."


    "I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll agree to that." Hope Smiled.


    XXX


    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me you were making this device with a specific person in mind?" Hank demanded the next time he saw Stark.


    "What do you mean?" Hank could easily see through the fake confusion on Tony¡¯s face.


    "The Winter Soldier."


    "Ah. Did they finally ask you to steal Killian¡¯s research? I knew it was bound to happen. The moment Wakanda asked for the research it pinged my system."


    "Stark. Tell me the truth!"


    "There was no specific person in mind. Last time with Loki there was mind control going on. Then with Wanda we were also controlled. With such events I really just wanted to be safe." Tony shrugged as he tried to get back to work. Hank turned him around by the shoulders.


    "Explain the name then."


    "I named it by the function it does. It was just a coincidence that it just happened to be that." Tony stated once more as he looked at the older scientist¡¯s eyes.


    Hank could once again tell he was not telling the whole truth. But he could also tell Tony was being sincere.


    "Captain America wants the research by Killian but even with that research it¡¯s going to take the scientist in Wakanda 15 years to make the device we already have. Are you going to make him wait 15 years Stark?"


    "Maybe I want to see them suffer? Maybe I want to see them struggle as they find the cure." As Tony replied he had to make sure he didn¡¯t let his anger show through his voice.


    "You would not have named it that if you had no intention of giving it to them."


    Tony Sighed. "I guess that is true. But I do not want the device in any other researcher''s hands. You go with them to Wakanda and help them."


    "Why don¡¯t you go?"


    Tony frowned. "Because I don¡¯t want to see any of them yet. If I see them now¡­ I might never be able to forgive them. Next time I see him¡­ If he¡¯s not fully healed¡­ I won¡¯t be able to forget and forgive what he did."


    Hank saw the pain in Stark¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t know what had happened between the two groups but¡­ He could tell it wasn¡¯t something he should be pushing.


    "Please Doctor Pym. Take B.A.R.N.E.S to Barnes and help him."

 Chapter 6

    "I think we should ask Helen Cho for assistance" Mr. Stark broke the silence in the lab.


    It¡¯s been long since the lab was filled with such pressure. When Peter had entered the lab that day, the other two were already working. Peter was walking on eggshells trying to make sure he didn¡¯t say anything that might screw it up more. How long has it been since the lab felt like this? Both Mr. Stark and Doctor Pym were trying to ignore each other. Their relationship was never this bad after their first meeting. It was very awkward for the Teen. He had to constantly bite his tongue to not just spit out what he thought. He gotten so use to saying whatever he wanted, now it was so hard to make sure he didn¡¯t say anything stupid that might ignite the fuel.


    "Who¡¯s Helen Cho?" Peter asked.


    "Why do you want a geneticist for the project?" Hank asked calmly.


    Whoa! From their tone maybe they weren¡¯t mad at each other like Peter thought? But then what could have happened?


    "Geneticist?"


    "Helen Cho is the world leading geneticist in the world. She had recently created a device called the Cradle that prints out cells. She¡¯s the one who made Vision¡¯s body. And I want her help in making Extremis out of organic cells. Then we could let the bots replicate themselves like cells and that would cut down production cost and vastly push forward our timeline."


    "Hm¡­ That¡¯s not a bad idea. The scale we were thinking can be increased by this method." Hank looked thoughtful.


    "You know I was dreaming last night. How awesome would it be if we give control of extremis to people to change how their house looks like? Wouldn¡¯t that be cool? Like a touch of an app will instantly change your living space!" Peter exclaimed.


    "You want to use Extremis to play house?" Hank looked disgusted.


    Peter quickly wiped the smile off his face.


    "Why? That sounds like a good idea! I¡¯m always in to make everything look Bling." Tony looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, why not? It wouldn¡¯t be too hard to software that either."


    "Stark!" Hank growled.


    "Think of it as a generation gap old man." Tony laughed "Anyway we¡¯re still in the thinking phase so why not keep all of it open?"


    "Like a Stark to waste time on useless things!" Hank grumbled as he went back to work "Contact Helen Cho. I agree that her expertise will help."


    Tony smiled. "FRIDAY contact Helen and send her the files."


    "Sure thing Boss."


    "Now get back to work Boy! You think I haven¡¯t noticed you staring at us and didn¡¯t get a single thing done?" Hank looked at Peter.


    Peter blushed but smiled. Now this seemed like a normal day in the lab.


    XXX


    Hope was home when she heard the wings of the ants. She smiled. Of course that was how they smuggled themselves into the country. And soon five people seemed to just appear in her living room.


    "Whoa Lang! that was so cool! I mean they¡¯re freaky as hell so close to my size¡­ but man!" The man Hope knew as Falcon spoke but Scott didn¡¯t seem to be listening as he came closer to her. He seemed afraid to hug her and just opened up his arms and gave a small smile.


    "Oh come here Scott!" Hope laughed as He quickly followed her order and hugged her tightly.


    "I missed you Hope!" Scott breathed out a sigh of relief.


    "Then maybe you shouldn¡¯t have run out the second you heard Captain America needed your help?" She whispered so the other members in the room couldn¡¯t hear. Especially the one in the center


    "Hope, I needed to help." Hope sighed from the sincerity in Scott''s voice.


    "Well aren''t you going to introduce me?"


    "Oh Right! Everyone this is Hope. Cap, Sam, Clint and Wanda." The rest of the group smiled.


    "Ms. Pym. I''m so thankful to you and your father doing this for us." Steve spoke as he held out his hand.


    Hope cautiously shook his hand. "I told my father about it. But he said he will only do this if you can tell him exactly why you need the files."


    "Of course. That would be no problem."


    "Father should be back from Avengers compound soon." She looked at her watch as she saw from the peripheral Scott bouncing with questions. "What Scott?"


    "How did Hank work with Stark again? I mean are you sure he''s not being blackmailed?" Scott asked again.


    Hope groaned. "Scott you''ve been asking me that same question every time we talk. I told you he''s not being blackmailed. I never seen him get up in the morning more eagerly than now. He''s enjoying his time there."Stolen story; please report.


    "But... Why? He hates all Starks."


    "Maybe they weren''t as bad as He thought? I don''t know. But I know for sure father didn''t seem so eager in hacking Stark for the research file." Hope remembered her fathers face. The pained look he gave was as if he was betraying someone close to him.


    "If your father does not want to do this we are not forcing him for it." Clint answered "We don''t want to bring you two too much trouble. And we know how dangerous hacking Tony can be."


    "If you know how dangerous it can be, maybe you shouldn''t have asked us in the first place." Everyone turned toward the newcomer when he made his way from the open doorway.


    "Hank! Long time no see!" Scott bounced up and down once more. When he made movements to hug the older man Hank held out his hands and moved out of the way.


    "Not now Scott. I''m still very angry at you for almost letting the government have the suit." Hank stated gravely.


    "Aw Hank. I got the suit back. They only had the suit for about a week. No one could have figured out how it worked in that short time." To everyone in the room, Scott sounded liked a little kid trying to talk his way out of being punished.


    "And it was lucky Stark was not in a good relationship with the government during that time. If he had taken a look he would have figured it out within a day." Hank tiredly took off his glass. He had been doing that way too much now a days.


    "Whoa! Is Hank complimenting a Stark in his strange harsh love way?" Scott asked in shock to Hope.


    She gave him an I told you look.


    Hank answered harshly "You can''t underestimate that man. Give him a little wiggle room and he will figure everything out. You will make sure that suit stays out of anywhere near Stark. Do you understand me? I forbid you to wear it anywhere near Stark."


    Scott stayed silently for a moment "What if I have to fight him again?"


    "I forbid you to fight him ever again! At least not with MY suit!"


    The two people in the room who knew Hank well were confused. From his words it seemed like Hank wanted to protect his technology. But the tone he had spoken to Scott made it seem like he was protecting Stark?


    "Ok... I won''t..." Scott looked towards Hope and silently asked are you sure He''s not being blackmailed? She just gave him a look.


    "Doctor Pym. I''ll make sure Tony does not get your suit. But we would really appreciate your help in getting the research."


    "Yes the research from Aldrich Killian. Do you even know why it''s redacted by SHIELD?" Hank looked towards Steve Rogers and closely inspected him. This was the man Stark wanted him to help secretly. Hank had heard about him since he had become Captain America. But Hank had scoffed then. The years of research and hundreds of scientists'' work for the super soldier serum, Captain America was just a propaganda boy. When the news of his death had made way to his ears he had not given a second thought. It was only after Captain America''s revival, Hank had finally given a moments time on thinking who Steve Rogers might be. But now working with Stark... He will not help out only because Stark asked him to. He will decide if Rogers was worth his help.


    "I heard it was because Killian''s research had come across SHIELD''s data base as dangerous." Steve answered uncertainly. He heard from T''Challa very quickly why it might have been redacted but he had not really understood it.


    "Yes dangerous. If the research falls in the wrong hands Terrorist like Aldrich Killian would rise again." Hank stated


    Terrorist...? Ah now he remembered. Aldrich Killian was the person who had arranged the Mandarin and bombed multiple places. Steve had been off country and only heard of the event after Tony took cared of everything. When Steve had asked Fury about details it had been all hush hush. The only answer he received was Tony had managed to stop the terrorist. Steve had not pushed for more. If Tony had took care of it Steve had thought he had nothing more to do.


    "Then with your expertise do you believe that it might help Barnes in his conditioning from Hydra?" Scott asked this time. Hank wasn¡¯t surprised, out of this lot the only one who understood half of what Hank might say was him.


    "With my expertise... Yes Killian''s research will help Sargent Barnes."


    Steve let out a sigh of relief. There was hope!


    "But I''m not going to help you steal the research." Everyone in the room quickly turned towards the old scientist in shock.


    "Please Doctor Pym. We need all the help we could get." This time a man with bow and arrows spoke from the side of the room.


    Hank''s eyebrows rose. "And who are you?"


    Clint shut his mouth and understood what Lang might have felt talking to Tony in the Raft.


    "Doctor Pym this is Clint Barton, Sam Wilson and Wanda Maximoff." Steve hastily introduced his company.


    "I remain firm on my decision. I will not steal the research for you to hand it over to group of scientist in Wakanda. I do not trust them."


    "I''ll assure you the scientist there will not use the research the way you might fear."


    Before Steve could continue his ''assurance'' Hank stopped him.


    "Do you know all the scientist in Wakanda personally? How can you assure me in their ambitions. Just because of the King of Wakanda is helping you out are you deluded into believing every citizen of Wakanda is ''good''? I do not trust anyone but me to handle the information correctly." Hank snapped at Rogers.


    "How can we be sure you won''t use the information for your ambition?" Sam finally spoke. Falcon could feel his own anger rise. "Who''s going to keep you in you check? Like you said We don¡¯t know you personally. We only came to you for your help because of Scott." Sam ranted out.


    "Didn¡¯t you use the same reasoning to be against the Sokovian Accords? You only trusted those whom you knew personally and not the governments who might have other agendas"


    The room became silent.


    "Don¡¯t get me wrong I¡¯m against the Accords as much as you are. But that also includes my tech. I will not let anyone use my research or Tech unless I choose them personally."


    No one had anything to say.


    "Doctor Pym¡­" Wanda started. "If you are not going to help us steal the research¡­ than are you wiling to help us cure him?" she asked timidly.


    "Smart girl. I¡¯m going with you back to Wakanda. That¡¯s the only way I¡¯m willing to help." Hank left no room for arguments.


    XXX


    "Doctor Pym your going to Wakanda?" Peter asked as soon as Hank announced his short leave. "Why are you going to Wakanda? Are you going to ask King T¡¯Challa for the usage of Vibranium? Hey that¡¯s actually a good idea! That Shield of Cap¡¯s didn¡¯t follow the law of physics at all! How awesome would it be to use it for Extremis!"


    "Shush boy! Your making my headache worse!" Hank grumbled. "I¡¯ll only be gone for few weeks at best¡­ maybe couple of months. I want to be involved in Extremis progress. I better get daily mail Stark! Don¡¯t you think this will give you free reign! And boy you better not spend all your time in that red and blue suit of yours. I want to see work done even without my presence here."


    Tony gave a silent nod. When Hank looked directly at him once more he gave a nod back. Tony appreciated that Hank was going to help Barnes.


    "Of course old man. Don¡¯t be too long or I might design it however I want! Peter¡¯s on my side so I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll agree with everything I do." Tony smirked


    "Are you threatening me Stark? Don¡¯t forget I also have the Failsafe. I¡¯ll shut you down the instant I feel like your out of control!" The older Scientist spoke while he started packing his lab materials.


    "Please be safe Doctor Pym." Peter didn¡¯t really know what was going on but he could tell something more was going on than the older scientist would tell him.


    "You too Peter. You too."

 Chapter 7

    The plane, or should he call jet, was luxurious. It definitely was fit for a King. Hank was rich, but he did not waste his money on luxuries such as these.


    He tried his best to get comfortable on his seat as Hank looked around at his companions in the plane. They were all trying to awkwardly avoid him as much as possible. Scott seemed conflicted on who he should be hanging out with. Of course in the end he seemed to choose Wilson but he could not blame him. He was much too old ¡®hang¡¯ with Scott. He didn''t even know why he agree to this. He could be spending this time to work on the Extremis in the lab.


    It was when he had finally relaxed enough to think of problems and equations, the King of Wakanda decided to bother him.


    ''"octor Pym. I have heard a lot about you and Pym Technologies. I am honored to have you join us back to Wakanda." T''Challa held out his hand.


    Hank stared at his hand for a moment more than necessary before he shook his hands. ''What I''m curious about is why you are helping the Winter Soldier.'' Both men inspected each other closely.


    T''Challa smiled. "Doctor. I am only trying to help the man I had unjustly blamed for my father''s death." Hank Scoffed but T''Challa went on. "And if in the process we can acquire a way that might help us overcome Hydra''s brain conditioning then more better for our country."


    Hank glared. King T¡¯Challa couldn¡¯t even fathom how many liars Hank has met in his time as a world renown scientist.


    So Wakanda did have some other agendas. Now, what that might be, Hank would figure it out the moment he entered Wakanda.


    "Doctor Pym. Please have a pleasant trip." T''Challa left with that greetings.


    Hank looked around and saw the others in the plane were trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. When he huffed loudly they pretended to be busy in whatever they were doing.


    Imbeciles.


    XXX


    Rhodey was over the moon! He was back in his suit. Of course he was sitting on a chair in the control room. But He really felt as if he was flying the War Machine again. Peter explained to him about sound waves tricking his vestibular system into thinking his body was really moving but he really didn¡¯t listen closely. He just had been excited to be back again!


    "Earth to Rhodey. I know how awesome you think I am but get back to work." Rhodey heard Tony through the helmet.


    "Whatever man. Give me just one more minute!"


    "What did I tell you spiderling. I told you he¡¯s like a kid in that suit."


    "Colonel Rhodes! Show me trick!" Peter exclaimed while he looked at the screen showing the War machine making rounds around the compound.


    "This is for you Petes! Yahoo!" Rhodey sped up and made complex turns and tricks. He felt so alive. Was it really not that long ago he felt like this everyday? He could hear from the intercom Peter¡¯s excited yells and encouragement while Tony scoffed and told the young teen he could do cooler things.


    "You wish Tony! You wish!" Rhodey laughed and continued to make maneuvers that would impress his spectators.


    "Ok. That was enough fun. Time to get to work!"


    Rhodey slowly descended towards a pile of things that laid on the ground. He saw the different types of stone and wood.


    "All you need me to do is do my best to destroy them right?" Rhodey asked and locked on to his target.


    "Yup! Give it your best Colonel!"


    He smiled. Here he goes! Rhodey rained down his arsenal. Shots after shots made their way and landed on the different materials. He stopped shooting when the smoke from the rubble hindered his sight. There was a moment of silence from both scientist in control room. When the smoked dissipated it was clear to everyone that War Machine had absolute victory over his unsuspecting victims.


    "Well... that was a failure." Peter spoke. H stood up and inspected the screen more closely. All the materials had been completely destroyed by the Colonel.


    "Wait. Rhodey can you zoom in closer to the oak?" Tony stated suddenly. Peter followed his mentor and leaned in closer to that screen.


    "That¡¯s the one on the right?" Rhodey got closer and gasped. The splintered wood was coming back together. Not only were the splintered wood coming together the burnt parts of the wood were healing!


    "Yes! It¡¯s working!" Peter exclaimed as he watched in aw the work of Extremis.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "It definitely shows that the Extremis was created by experimenting on plants. It seems it took more liking to the organic material. Gentlemen great job. FRIDAY send the video file over to the old man. Rhodey bring back War Machine back."


    Rhodey jumped when he felt Tony clap him on his shoulder.


    Oh right he was not really flying.


    XXX


    Steve silently followed T¡¯Challa as he guided Doctor Pym to the labs where Bucky was sleeping. Doctor Pym had been very different from the many scientist Steve had gotten to know in his lifetime. Scott had tried to appease both sides but even the energetic man was having trouble asking Doctor Pym to open up to the team just a little bit. In the end everyone decided to avoid angering the Doctor by giving him space. T¡¯Challa had seemed interested in getting the Doctor to discuss Killian¡¯s research but Pym did not budge on his first statement on not sharing the contents.


    "Here we are Doctor. This will be the lab you will be using to do your research. The scientist in this lab will do everything to help you figure out a way that Aldrich Killian¡¯s research might help Sargent Barnes." T¡¯Challa started introducing his head scientist to Hank and the different parts of the lab. Steve noticed Pym was not listening but staring at the Tube in the middle of the room.


    "That¡¯s Bucky. He was brainwashed into killing innocent people for 70 years. Now he decided to go back to sleep because he was afraid of hurting more innocent people. I¡­ I just wish he can finally live the way he wanted. A Hero." Steve turned to look at the aging Scientist. "I¡¯m so grateful that you decided to help us Doctor." Steve noticed the subtle change in the constant scowl on the doctor¡¯s face.


    "Captain. I will help the Sergeant even without you trying to buttering me up." And Pym once again turned his attention to the other aspects in the Lab.


    Steve smiled. Maybe he was imagining it but Steve thought the Doctor¡¯s glare seemed to lighten.


    "So when would you like to start? I would expect that you need to rest for the rest of the day." T¡¯Challa asked when the group finished the tour. "I was also hoping you might share Killian¡¯s research to a chosen few so that they can study it in advance to be more help to you."


    "No. I will not be sharing with anyone. All I require is for everyone to vacate the Lab so that I can do my research in peace." Steve sighed. The Doctor really was stubborn.


    T¡¯Challa frowned a little. "I do hope you reconsider. Even for a genius like yourself, without the help of other researchers it would be very taxing for you to figure out the cure for the Sergeant¡¯s condition. If you share the file you took from Tony Stark, our scientist can push the cure faster than you working on it by yourself."


    "Let me rephrase. There¡¯s no way for me to share the file with the scientists in Wakanda because I did not bring the research."


    Steve went cold. In fact everyone in the lab seemed frozen.


    "Why so surprised? Did you really think anyone could sneak out a file from Tony Stark¡¯s encoded system?"


    "Doctor Pym. I thought¡­" Steve couldn¡¯t talk properly. "I thought you were going to help Bucky." He had to breath in and out slowly to not let anger rise.


    "Why did you come to Wakanda if you couldn¡¯t get the research?" T¡¯Challa also seemed shocked with anger. So did all the scientist in the lab.


    Hank closely watched the reactions of all the people¡¯s reaction. The Captains anger was explainable. But the Wakanda King¡¯s and the scientist in the lab¡­ not so much.


    "There was no need to for me to bring the research. I already have something different that might help the Sergeant." Hank easily replied.


    Hank noticed hope flicker in Steve¡¯s eyes and his shoulders relaxed just a bit. T¡¯Challa on the other hand frowned deeper and tensed.


    "Your Majesty. Why do you seem so tense? It seems you and your scientist were very eager to cure the Winter Soldier. I¡¯m sure it will please to hear that I already have something that might help. Unless, of course, the thing you had wanted was the research itself¡­?" Hank smirked at the unrest of the people around him.


    "Doctor Pym. Are you saying there is already a way to help Bucky?" Steve asked hesitantly. Hank noticed the Captain relax completely. He also noticed the unshed tears lingering.


    "I came here to cure the Winter Soldier and that¡¯s all I will do. Nothing more. Nothing less."


    "Thank you Doctor Pym. Thank you." The Captain whispered.


    T¡¯Challa remained silent.


    XXX


    "How are you old man?" Tony was alone for the first time today. He and the rest of them were busy trying out the current capacity of the Extremis. Now that FRIDAY had sent all of todays result to Hank, he had waited for the call on his comfortable chair.


    "Wakanda wants the research for a different reason." Tony sighed. Well he guessed there might have been a different reason why the people of Wakanda were helping his previous team.


    "What? No pleasantries? Straight to business as usual ey?" Hank looked tired. His shoulders shagged and had blood shot eyes. "Old man. I don¡¯t care for Wakanda¡¯s ulterior motive. As long as you don¡¯t have the files there¡¯s really nothing they can do. Get some rest. You look like shit."


    As usual of their conversation Hank replied with grunts. "I will be waking up the Winter Soldier tomorrow. We will finally see if B.A.R.N.E.S. will work."


    "Do me a favor will ya? When you trigger him can you record him acting like a ballerina? I would love to have blackmail material." Tony smiled tiredly. Man he also needed rest.


    Hank glared through the computer screen. "Like hell I¡¯ll waste my time like that." But for the first time since he arrived at Wakanda, Hank smiled back. "So I saw the test footages. Like we thought the healing properties only work on living organism."


    "It seems so for now. It¡¯s a Symbiote. Extremis needs a host to replicate. Peter and I¡¯m working to see how we can make it self sustaining."


    "Are you working on my theory on using the Extremis to create stronger molecular bonds in different materials?"


    "We¡¯re looking into that angle also." Both scientist remained quiet as they looked over the results once more.


    "Well I see Colonel Rhodes took flight today." Hank stated quietly.


    "Yeah he did. Mark 4 test went smoothly. He¡¯s been jumping up and down begging me to take him out again." Tony thought back to his best friend¡¯s reaction. It really had been a great day.


    "So is your other project going as well as the others?"


    Tony hesitated before he answered Hank. "I think I found a way for the program to relay the senses of the leg back to the brain. But for now the chip I need to implant in Rhodey¡¯s body is too large. I¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind¡­ If I could use your shrinking technology. But I¡¯ll wait until you return."


    "Stay away from my tech Stark" was Hank¡¯s instant reply but it lacked the hard edges it use to have.


    Tony laughed. "Be careful Old man. Don¡¯t push Wakanda too hard. Remember you¡¯re in their country. Just do what you need to do and come back safely."


    Hank looked thoughtful. "We¡¯ll see¡­ We¡¯ll see."

 Chapter 8

    He was getting used to the feeling of waking up. The heaviness of his body. The incompressible whispers around him. Light bleeding through his eyelids. He wondered how long it has been this time? A Year? Maybe ten? What was the last thing he remembered? Ah¡­ that¡¯s right. Steve¡­


    He can feel his eyes opening. It took a moment for his vision to clear up. Steve. He was standing there waiting for him with a smile. He tried to smiled back.


    "What a touching reunion. But please Captain move out of the way now." Bucky finally looked away from his friends to the old man standing next to him.


    "I¡¯m sorry Doctor Pym. Will it be ok if I stand over there?" Steve asked and pointed to Bucky¡¯s left.


    "Just don¡¯t get in my way." The old man grumbled as he began taking out a band of metal from a metal case.


    As he was working Steve came closer.


    "Hey Buck. How are you feeling?" He asked.


    He opened his mouth to speak but found unable and began to cough.


    "Easy. Easy. You¡¯ve been asleep for five month. That¡¯s Doctor Hank Pym. He¡¯s a renown scientist and he has something that¡¯s going to undo your conditioning." Bucky just nodded.


    "You have the worst bedside manners Captain. If a man can¡¯t speak because his throat is dry your suppose to get him an ice cube." Bucky senses must be still dulled. He had not noticed T¡¯Challa coming in from the entrance.


    "Ah! Sorry Bucky."


    "Here you go my friend." He accepted the ice cube from T''Challa with his mouth. It felt like heaven. He could already feel it soothing his throat. So he was still in Wakanda.


    "King T¡¯Challa. I asked for the labs to be vacated." The Doctor stated while he glared at the King.


    "Ah. When I heard you allowed Captain Rogers in I thought I might be able to join you here in the lab." T¡¯Challa replied.


    Bucky noticed the old man shifting his body to hide the view of the machine from the young king.


    "I don¡¯t have to worry about Captain Rogers from understanding what I¡¯m doing." Bucky felt Steve move uncomfortably and looked up to see him blushing.


    "Doctor. It¡¯s rude to call Captain Rogers slow. He is a brilliant man" T¡¯Challa icily responded.


    The old man¡¯s eyebrows rose and he smirk and stated. "I¡¯m not the one who called him slow"


    Steve squirmed more and Bucky began laughing out loud as he watched the face of his friend turned into a tomato.


    "Ow. My throat. Haha¡­ Hello Doctor Pym." All three occupants in the room stared as James Barnes spoke for the first time.


    The old man smiled. "Nice to meet you Sargent Barnes."


    XXX


    Peter was having a great day! Mr. Stark had given him a day off from the lab. (not that he didn¡¯t love every moment there). It seemed like forever since the last time he was walking about as Peter Parker. He rushed back home excitedly. He couldn¡¯t wait to tell Aunt May everything that¡¯s been going on in the Labs. (He was quite surprised when Mr. Stark allowed him to tell his Aunt everything) But the moment before he rushed into his house, his body froze. This tingling. He slowly opened the door.


    In the living room was man. And the man was pointing a gun to his Aunt¡¯s head.


    Peter stood still. He could feel the blood on his face draining. Aunt May looked frightened but gave him a small smile.


    "I don¡¯t know what you want¡­ But if you hurt even a hair on my aunt¡¯s hair your going to regret it!" Was he going to risk his identity? He really didn¡¯t want to¡­ but to save his aunt he was willing to lose everything.


    "Peter Parker. I do not want to hurt your aunt. And if you do everything I tell you, no one will get hurt." The man was tall but other than that he could not tell what he looked like with the helmet on his head.


    "Ha. Yeah right. I saw enough movies to know that¡¯s a lie." Peter secretly pushed the help button on his watch.


    "I will promise you no harm will come. All you need to do is follow exactly as I command." Ok¡­ If this man turns just a little bit to the right¡­ He could use his web-shooter to disarm him.


    "Let¡¯s first hear what you want." Peter growled.


    "I know you work for Tony Stark. I need you to copy a file for me." Peter easily caught the USB stick the man threw at him.


    "File?"


    "I need you to copy a research from a man name Aldrich Killian." Peter began thinking fast. Shit¡­ Killian¡¯s research. Why did this man want it? There would be lots of way for a criminal organization to use that research. Shit¡­The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "From the way your staying silent¡­ you know about the research don¡¯t you." The man asked menacingly.


    "You can say that. I have the whole research memorized up here." Peter tapped his head. "Let go of my aunt and I¡¯ll tell you anything you need to know." (Of course He¡¯ll only tell him the useless things).


    "No. You will copy the files. And until then your aunt stays with me." He growled and pushed the gun harder into Aunt May¡¯s head.


    Peter saw red as he watch his aunt flinch. Just one more time, man¡­ One more time and this man is going to really regret coming anywhere near his family. Screw one more time¡­ Peter was going to beat this man to a pulp.


    Peter was getting ready to fight when he noticed Vision float in. The man also noticed. He pointed his gun toward the android and shot which Vision easily stopped. In a blink of a eye Vision was on the man and the two of them began hand to hand combat.


    Peter rushed toward his Aunt and the two of them ran out of the apartment.


    "Peter you ok?" Aunt May asked him as she inspected him from head to toe.


    "I should be asking that question! Are you ok? Did that creep do anything?" Peter asked hurriedly. Aunt May seemed uninjured but you never know... "Come on we shouldn¡¯t stop here we need to get outside." Peter yelled as he pulled his Aunt harder


    The moment both of them were outside the apartment complex a black car pulled forward with a screech. Peter tensed for a moment before the door opened to show Mr. Stark.


    "Both of you in now."


    XXX


    Bucky tensed a little when Doctor Pym put the metal band on his head. It was a feeling he was used to way too much. He had to stare at Steve to stop himself from thinking back on his times in numerous Hydra bases. Steve gave him a bright smile encouraging him on.


    King T¡¯Challa had decided to listen to Doctor Pym¡¯s order and left the Lab. Just the three of them remained.


    Doctor Pym explained what he was going to do while attaching wires to the band on his head. "This machine is going to help your brain self heal. While you were being conditioned it would not have affected all the brain. So I¡¯m going to trigger you so that the machine can tell which parts were affected. Then all I¡¯m going to do is shock the area that was unaffected and let your own brain do all the work. Do you understand Sergeant?"


    Bucky nodded. Steve nodded with him.


    "Let us see what your brain looks like." Doctor Pym touched a button on his computer and the room was lit up with a blue hologram. Steve was instantly reminded of Tony¡¯s Lab.


    "You see this? This is your brain. Now¡­" Pym pinched Bucky on the arm. An area lit up blue suddenly and as quickly returned to normal. "That¡¯s how we are going to tell how your brain was affected. Understand?"


    Once again both soldiers nodded.


    "Now relax Sergeant. I¡¯m going to read the trigger words. And for heaven¡¯s sake Captain Rogers. Sergeant Barnes isn¡¯t a kid that needs his mother next to him. Move aside a bit!"


    Steve blushed once more but listened to the doctor after giving Bucky a comfortable squeeze on his shoulders.


    Pym became silent as he took the red book from the table next to him.


    "Longing" suddenly one part of the brain lit yellow. All three of them watched the rest of the brain flaring blue as if trying fight the yellow part.


    Steve watched in awe. He felt pride rise up as he watched Bucky¡¯s brain fighting the conditioning by itself.


    Pym continued. "rusted" More part of the brain lit yellow.


    "furnace" Bucky face scrunched in pain. Steve looked towards Pym in concern.


    "Sergeant Barnes you need to relax into the conditioning. You¡¯re feeling the pain because the rest of the unaffected brain is fighting back." Bucky tried. He really did. But years of experience held him back from relaxing.


    Pym continued as the unaffected part of the brain cooled down.


    "daybreak¡¯¡¯ The Doctor watched the process of the closely.


    "seventeen" now about half the brain lit up yellow. And Bucky growled as the pain became too much.


    "Doctor¡­" Steve said full of concern.


    "Five more to go Captain. From this point, with each word the Sergeant¡¯s headache will disappear due to the fact it will no longer have the capacity to fight off the conditioning and the heat will cool down."


    "benign" Steve watched as Bucky¡¯s brain started losing its battle against to Hydra¡¯s conditioning. As more parts of the brain shown yellow the remaining part of the brain flared less and less.


    "nine" with three more words to go, Steve watched his friend¡¯s face relax a little as the headache began to diminish.


    "homecoming" Bucky¡¯s whole body seemed to sag.


    "one" almost all part of the brain froze with no neurons firing.


    "freight car" Pym finished. The results were terrifying. Bucky disappeared as the Winter Soldier waited for his command.


    Hank could see on the hologram that from this point on, the Sergeant would have no control of his brain.


    "Soldier status." Hank Spoke. Both Steve and Hank watched the brain finally flare with neurons reacting to his voice.


    "Uninjured. Missing the arm from a fight with Iron Man." His brain died down again waiting once again for a command.


    Hank continued to order the Winter Soldier to do small tasks such as moving an arm or leg. He watched the brain only functioning on his command. Hank smiled when he found the place. It was exactly as He and Stark thought. In the deep core¡­ It was not firing neurons even though all the other places were.


    Now time for a command that even the Winter Soldier would have a hard time following through.


    "Soldier. Kill Steve Rogers."


    XXX


    Tony took both Peter and his aunt back to the tower. He could hear from the driver seat both people in the back seat trying to comfort each other.


    He frowned. Today had been way too close. He knew Peter could take care of himself but if his aunt was hurt¡­ It would be on him.


    As soon as they arrived Tony told Peter to take his Aunt to his room so that she can rest and told him come to the lab straight away. Peter nodded.


    "So what was it?" Rhodey asked in worry. They were together when the distress signal came from Peter¡¯s watch.


    "Some creep took his aunt as hostage. I haven¡¯t asked what he wanted. But I¡¯m sure Vision has him by now." And at that moment Vision phased in.


    "So where did you put him?" Tony asked when Vision came in empty handed.


    Vision looked trouble for a moment. "I have lost him"


    "What! You lost him?" Rhodey exclaimed. "How can you loose him?"


    "I was trying hard to capture him alive and unharmed but he was too skilled for me to hold back. And he took the moment of hesitation and ran away."


    "Shit¡­" Tony cursed. "You find out anything about him?" He asked


    "I have a recording of our fight."


    And Vision waved his hands and both Tony and Rhodey watched his fight. The man was indeed very skilled. The more Tony watched the more the dread in his stomach increased. With this man¡¯s skills even Peter would not have been able to take care of it by himself. Shit¡­ It was too close of a call. Too close.


    Rhodey stayed silent as he watched. This fighting skill. He witnessed it before.


    "This man. He¡¯s a soldier in the Wakandan Army. That fighting style is very distinct." Rhodey stated.


    Tony scrunched his eyes. "FRIDAY confirm the analysis."


    "Colonel Rhodes is correct in his analysis. It is a fighting style from Wakanda."


    Shit¡­


    Peter walked in and stated instantaneously. "That man wanted the research files of Aldrich Killian"


    Double shit¡­


    "Hank¡­"

 Chapter 9

    Captain Rogers stared dumbfounded at Hank for a moment before he was forced to defend himself from the Winter Soldier.


    "Doctor! Make him stop!" He yelled as he continued to block. Without the Soldier¡¯s left arm it was pretty easy for the Captain to defend.


    While he kept one eye on the fight Hank was focused on the brain hologram. The moment he had ordered the Soldier to kill Rogers there had been a slight delay in reaction. Even now there were tiny pulses that seemed to hinder the Soldier from fighting his best.


    "Soldier I ordered you to Kill Rogers, not to tickle him." Hank ordered once more. This time the reaction was stronger. He saw a stronger hesitation. There¡­ in the frontal lobe. He was fighting off the conditioning on his own. "Soldier! Kill Him!" Hank shouted.


    The winter soldier grabbed the first item on his right and brought it high up. The Captain looked frightened for a moment before he knocked the Soldier off balance. The two of them tumbled on the ground trying to get the upper hand against the other.


    "Captain I encourage you to keep fighting him. The Sergeant¡¯s brain is fighting off the conditioning on his own every time I order him to kill you." Hank said calmly as he saw from the corner of his eyes Rogers glaring at him.


    Rogers began to hit back. Hank looked in awe as the hesitation disappeared from the Soldier. Ah. How strange. Barnes only hesitated when Rogers were in trouble. Not when he fought back¡­ Hank decided it was enough when the sparing became too intense between the two super soldiers. He would now give the ultimatum.


    "Soldier move out of the way. I¡¯ll finish the job." Hank ordered and took out what looked like a gun and pointed at Rogers. There. The hesitation was greater. Hank pulled the trigger.


    The hologram pulsed strongly as the Sergeant put himself in front of the Captain. All three of them stood still for a moment. Hank saw the brain activity return back to normal. The Neurons were now firing according to Sergeant¡¯s wishes. His will to protect Rogers successfully fought off the conditioning.


    "Amazing."


    "What the hell was that for!" Both soldiers yelled at him while they breathed heavily from the fight.


    "Calm down you two and come sit."


    "Doctor Pym what was the thing you shot?" Barnes asked sagging on the chair he sat down on.


    "This? This is an anesthetic gun. I had with me just in case I couldn¡¯t stop the trigger. But obviously there were no shots inside. Captain Rogers stop glaring at me and come here so that I can show you the results."


    Rogers glare did not lessen but he did stand next to the Sergeant.


    "Brains are such amazing organs. Sergeant. The moment I ordered you to attack the Captain there was a slight hesitation that was not there before. You can see right here." Hank pointed to the hologram. "It was slow in firing the neurons to allow your body to move. Now right here. The hesitation disappeared. This is where the Captain began to fight back. It seems that your brain had no longer had to worry about the Captain being injured and stopped fighting the conditioning." Both Soldiers looked shocked. "This is where I took my gun and pointed at the Captain. Here." The hologram pulsed strongly as the neurons fired blue against the yellow. "You completely fought off the conditioning here and shielded the Captain from what you thought was a bullet."


    Hank watched the Soldiers exchanging looks.


    "That¡¯s why when I fought him in the Heli-carrier he fought me back¡­ But when I was about to drown he saved me?" Rogers asked.


    "That¡¯s exactly it. Sergeant Barnes¡¯s protective nature for you helped him to fight off his commands. In other words we really don¡¯t need to have any fancy tech to help Sergeant Barnes. All we need to do is keep putting you in danger when the Winter Soldier is present." Hank laughed as he explained.


    "But¡­ How much danger do we have to put Steve through?" Barnes questioned.


    "The danger we would have to put the Captain has to increase every time. That is because we would have to fool your brain to think that he is in real danger."


    "If it¡¯s to help Bucky I¡¯ll do anything." Steve stated firmly.


    "No you won¡¯t" Barnes quickly rebutted.


    Hank watched them silently argue with each other through glaring.


    "I never said that was how I¡¯m going to cure the Sergeant. Sergeant Barnes the thing on your head is called Brain Anomaly Repairing Neuro Electromagnetic System. This system is going to help shock your brain so that the neurons fire stronger to help it fight off the conditioning. This would have taken at least a month of treatment for a full recovery¡­ But now that I know your affinity to the Captain is so strong¡­ It should take much shorter. It might take less than one week for a full recovery."


    XXX


    "The boy was attacked?" Hank growled. "Was it because they found out his identity?"


    Tony looked solemn before he answered. "No. The assailant didn¡¯t know who he was. He wanted Peter to steal the Killian¡¯s research file."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Was is Wakanda?" Tony watched the old man¡¯s face turn red with anger.


    "Yes."


    "How dare they! I¡¯m going to T¡¯Challa and demand an answer!" Hank brashly got up from his chair.


    "Hank! Stop! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this but don¡¯t do anything rash." Tony yelled through the computer screen before Hank could go out the door.


    "Than what will you have me do. Just pretend nothing happened!?" He yelled.


    "Yes." Tony replied quietly. "Pretend nothing happened. We will figure out what¡¯s happening over here. You focus on helping Barnes and getting out of that country safe."


    Tony watched Hank huff and pace around his room. Tony thought it was time to change the subject.


    "By the way¡­ How was the first day of meeting Barnes go?" Hank huffed one more time before he finally took his seat again.


    "It went fine. Here I¡¯m sending today¡¯s session right now."


    "Hank I don¡¯t want to watch¡­"


    Before Tony could continue Hank cut him off. "I don¡¯t care if you watch it or not. But you and Peter also helped create B.A.R.N.E.S. You should have the files for research purposes."


    Both of them stayed silent for a moment. Tony sighed.


    "Ok. So how long do you think it¡¯s going to take? A month? Do you think with multiple sessions a day you can shorten the time period? The faster it¡¯s done the better it is for you." Tony asked.


    "My analysis is it¡¯s going take about three days."


    "What? No way. He was conditioned for 70 years. It should take longer than that¡­" He asked in disbelief. Years of conditioning did not take days to fix. No matter how awesome of a gadget he created.


    "Barnes¡¯s brain is already fighting the conditioning on its own. And even without B.A.R.N.E.S. He can fully fight off the conditioning. Having Rogers with him in the therapy is going to help a great deal." Hank watched as Stark¡¯s eyes flicker in pain.


    "They really do have a quite a bond don¡¯t they?" Tony asked.


    "Hm. It seemed to me more like a mother taking care of her child to me." The older scientist stated as he thought back at the soldiers¡¯ reactions to each other.


    "Well¡­ the faster it¡¯s done the better¡­ Be safe Hank."


    "You too Stark."


    XXX


    "So you don¡¯t have to go into cryo anymore?" Clint asked Barnes as the gang gathered around Steve¡¯s room once more.


    "No. Doctor Pym¡­ He believes I can be cure within this week." Barnes answered with a smile. One more week and he can live without the fear of not being able to control his body anymore.


    "So¡­ that old bat is amazing huh?" Clint asked as he looked toward to Scott.


    "Yup. Of course. If you can enter his lab, there are so many amazing tech! But¡­ I don¡¯t remember him creating a neuro device¡­" Scott looked thoughtful for a moment as he tried to remember all the gadgets he had saw and played with in the lab.


    "Well I¡¯m grateful that he already had something. When T¡¯Challa had mentioned Killian¡¯s research he had mentioned the timeline being something closer to 5 years." Steve breathed out a laugh.


    "What are we going to do after this week than?" Wanda asked. "We stayed to help you. But once you¡¯re cured¡­ Are we going to keep hiding here in Wakanda?"


    All the members of the previous Avengers looked towards Steve.


    "No. We will help those who are in need. We will still be the Avengers¡­ Just in secret."


    "Secret Avengers¡­ Hey I like the sound of that!" Sam exclaimed as he continue to mumble the name over and over. "The more I say it the more I like it! The Secret Avengers!"


    Clint snorted before he replied. "Stark would have burned you for how lame that name is."


    The room became silent suddenly.


    Barnes looked around the room and saw the different reactions every member in the room seemed to have.


    "So I take it that you haven¡¯t made up with Tony Stark in the last five month?" He asked.


    "I¡­ I sent a letter and a phone but at the moment it seems like Tony is not willing to speak with us just yet." Steve replied for the group.


    "I see. I¡¯m sorry¡­ I know this is my fault." Bucky said quietly.


    "What do you mean? It wasn¡¯t your fault. You were tortured and brain washed! As a person who was brain washed I know the feeling completely." Clint stated. "You have nothing to be sorry about. It was Stark¡¯s pig headedness that broke us apart. If all of us had stood united against the accords none of the event that occurred would have happened." The bowman stated angrily.


    "Buck. It¡¯s really not your fault. If anything it was more on me. I made many wrong judgement calls." Steve also replied. "None of us blame you for anything. None of us."


    Bucky smiled as he saw everyone in that room nod in agreement.


    Maybe he finally found a place he can call home?


    XXX


    "How¡¯s you aunt doing?" Rhodey asked as he saw Peter slowly coming out of his room.


    "She¡¯s fine. Just seemed really tired you know? Being held at gun point seems to have that effect on people." Peter answered with a small smirk.


    "And you? You ok?"


    Peter silently contemplated the question before answering. "Yeah¡­ actually I¡¯m ok. I always knew that being me¡­ being who I am, will bring danger to those around me you know? But when I saw that man holding my aunt¡­ I didn¡¯t really know what to do. Was I going to reveal my identity? I was hesitating on what action I was suppose to take¡­ But¡­ When Vision came in¡­ I knew we¡¯d be all right. I don¡¯t think I ever mentioned this to you or Mr. Stark¡­ But¡­ Thank you. For being there for me. And my Aunt. Without your help¡­ I¡¯ll still be an awkward teen figuring how to do the whole hero thing."


    Rhodey smiled. "You still are an awkward teen figuring out the whole hero thing. But we all had to go through that phase. Even Tony. Actually more Tony than any of us. He was in the whole limelight when he first started. Everyone knew who he was and followed everything he did and blamed him for everything too. Tony understands what you might be going through. That¡¯s why he¡¯s helping you. To let you grow into the Hero you want to be."


    Peter smiled brightly. Yes he really was grateful to Mr. Stark to Colonel Rhodes, Doctor Pym and to Vision. His whole life changed when he had met all of them.


    "So¡­ What are we doing about the Mystery man who¡¯s from Wakanda?" The teen asked curiously. "I mean¡­ My Aunt loves all the amenities here and all but she wants to go home¡­ Do you think we can go home anytime soon?"


    "For now I suggest you and your aunt stay in the Tower until we figure out why Wakanda wants the research." Rhodey answered.


    Peter nodded. "Ok."


    XXX


    T¡¯Challa was furious. He had specifically ordered him to not do anything! But now he found out he went to New York on his own!


    "How did he even leave Wakanda!?" He yelled at one of his advisors.


    "He¡­ He used a fake identity¡­ I¡¯m sorry you highness. When we took him off from the Cryostasis we did not know he would try to take action on his own." The advisor whimpered at the furious look T¡¯Challa gave.


    T¡¯Challa had to figure out how to solve this problem quickly¡­ Stupid politics! He itched to rush into New York and drag that bastard back to Wakanda. Why couldn¡¯t he just do as he ordered! If he had done anything to compromise Wakanda¡­ He would kill him himself.


    "Find out where he¡¯s at in New York. Keep a close eye on the Tower! Make sure he does not go anywhere near that building!" T¡¯Challa growled


    "Of course your highness!"


    The advisors quickly fled from his presence. T¡¯Challa growled once more before squinting his eyes in pain.


    "Are you ok your Highness?"


    T¡¯Challa looked over to one of his father¡¯s old advisors.


    "Yes K¡¯Abi. I¡¯m fine. This whole mess is just giving me a headache."


    "Please do get some rest. You have been overworking yourself the last few weeks."


    "I can¡¯t rest until I bring that bastard back! K¡¯Abi send some men to New York to stop him by force if necessary."


    "Of Course Your Highness."

 Chapter 10

    "FRIDAY any sign of our mysterious man?" Tony asked as he looked over the footage of the fight with Vision again.


    "No Boss. Nothing yet."


    "¡­ FRIDAY bring out the files on black panther¡­." Tong ordered suddenly.


    "I have already analyzed that the mystery man is indeed from Wakanda. Is there something else you have confirm Boss?" FRIDAY asked as she began to play a video clip of King T¡¯Challa.


    "FRIDAY. I want to analyze the mystery man in comparison to T¡¯Challa. Don¡¯t the two of them have a very similar fighting style? Like almost exactly the same?" He watched the clips side by side. Not only were their fighting style uncannily similar even their body types¡­


    "Analyze complete. As you have suspected there is about 94.3% chance that the two of them are indeed the same person." FRIDAY brought forth the different body ticks the two of them had in common.


    "FRIDAY call Rhodey in here will ya?"


    "Sure thing Boss."


    Tony re watched the video over and over again just to be certain of the incredulous claim he was about to make to his friend.


    "You figure something out Tones?" Rhodey came in with Peter in tow.


    "I think I know who the mystery creep is."


    Rhodey raised his eyebrows and gestured with his hand for Tony to go on. Peter was uncharacteristically quiet.


    "Our mystery guy was T¡¯Challa."


    There was silence for a second before the two other people in the room started talking over each other.


    "That¡¯s crazy! He¡¯s back in Wakanda! I just saw him on the news with Zemo¡¯s trial from yesterday! He couldn¡¯t have been here in the U.S!"


    "Does Wakanda have a teleporting machine? Wait¡­ Were they that advance in technology. I mean I knew they were far advance than the U.S. But by THAT much?!"


    Tony rolled his eyes from the two very distinct thought process of the people in front of him.


    "Boys boys! Settle down. And to answer both of you¡­ I don¡¯t know. Geez! I know I¡¯m a genius but even I don¡¯t have all the answers. Now I asked you here so that I can confirm my theory, Rhodey. And if my theory is indeed correct, Peter I¡¯ll need you help to figure out how T¡¯Challa managed such a feat."


    "Oh cool so we¡¯re the Scooby gang!" Peter exclaimed


    "Hey hey! Hold your horses spiderling. As the leader of this group I get to name us!" Tony said with an annoyed expression on his face.


    "Ah¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­" Peter mumbled.


    "And I want to call us the Scooby gang!" Tony exclaimed exactly as Peter had just moments ago.


    XXX


    Hank watched as Sergeant Barnes took off B.A.R.N.E.S. from his head.


    "How are you feeling Sergeant?" Hank asked.


    "I¡¯m feeling great. When you said this thing was going to shock me, I thought it was going to hurt." Barnes answered truthfully.


    "Well I¡¯m glad it didn¡¯t give you any discomfort." Hank replied without looking up from the results he was reading.


    "Well Doctor thank you again for today." And Hank did not watch Barnes leave the room.


    The session had gone great today. With the help of the new tech they were able to turn four trigger words off. Even if they stopped the therapy session today the Sergeant would not loose total control of his brain as he did yesterday. It truly was amazing. Even as Hank helped the Sergeant, he thought of other uses B.A.R.N.E.S. could have with a little tweak here and there.


    Hank was so focused on the results that he didn¡¯t know someone else was in the room until the moment the hand grabbed him. Hank twisted out of his grip and took out the hidden stun gun and jabbed it towards his attacker¡¯s neck.


    Barnes raised both hand in surrender. "I meant no harm Doctor."


    Hank glared for a moment before he dropped his hand. "What do you want." He growled.


    "I only wanted to ask you a question. I¡¯m sorry if I startled you¡­" Hank saw the guilt on his face.


    "It¡¯s not your fault. You just startled me." Hank should have been more aware of his surroundings.


    Barnes watched him relax and go back to reading his experiments. He just kept staring and it annoyed Hank. "What! If you want to ask something ask!"


    "Doctor¡­ I heard from the others that you were working with Tony Stark."


    "Are." Hank corrected him. "I am working with him. And what about it?"


    "I just couldn¡¯t help but notice¡­ the name of the device¡­" Barnes let his words imply what he thought.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "Yes. What about it. Your wasting my time. I have no time for people who wants to drag on the conversation." Hank sneered.


    "Did¡­ Stark make the device?"


    Hank heaved a sigh. "Yes he did. What about it." He was about done with his patience for dumb questions.


    "Why? Why did he make the device? Did he make it for me?" Hank could tell that the Sergeant was just going to ramble on with his questions so he stopped him with a hand gesture.


    "Sergeant Barnes. Do I look like a 44 years old?" Barnes looked at him confused before he shook his head no. "Then Do I look like I have a goatee? Why the hell are you asking me this questions? I¡¯m not Tony Stark nor am I his anything other than research partner. If you want any of your questions answered ask him directly!" Hank growled "Now leave and don¡¯t come back until our next session. I have too much to do!" He stated as he pointed towards the door.


    Barnes nodded silently headed towards the door. He turned back to stare at Hank.


    "Yes. What?"


    "Why didn¡¯t you tell us Stark was helping?"


    "It was irrelevant to curing you. There was no need to differentiate who had created the device. There were three of us working on it. And none of that information would have made you heal quicker. Now is that enough answer to satisfy you seemingly endless curiosity?"


    Barnes left the lab without another word.


    XXX


    "So Rhodey how likely is it that two different individuals will have the same motor tick?" Tony asked.


    Rhodey thought for a moment before he answered. "Some soldiers can learn a particular tick of their training officers so it¡¯s not too highly unlikely. What motor ticks are you talking about?"


    Rhodey watched as Tony clicked play on the fight with Vision and the mystery man. He had watched the video many times also. But he couldn¡¯t figure out how Wakanda had such a talented warrior that was not Black Panther. But now that Tony mentioned that he thought it was the King of Wakanda himself Rhodey could see the similarities.


    Tony paused at the mystery mans landing after a jump.


    "Here! When he lands. His fingers twitch in a certain way. Not matter how I try to explain it that wouldn¡¯t be a move to help balancing a landing. What does it seem like it to you?"


    Rhodey replayed the scene again. "Yup I agree. That is indeed a motor tick. It seems the mystery man does it every time he makes a landing."


    "Now here." Tony clicked on a new clip of the Black Panther. Rhodey watched as the King of Wakanda fight at the airport. And¡­ He had the same tick!


    "He does the same thing every time he lands!" Peter exclaimed while he also watched closely.


    "Is this something that can be learned? Cause to me it seems to be more of a personal tick." Tony went on. "I had FRIDAY analyze the rest of his body movement through out the fight. It almost a 95% match. And his body type is strikingly similar."


    "But¡­ How the heck can he be in Wakanda and be in the US at the same time? I definitely saw him on the News for Zemo¡¯s trial!" Rhodey exclaimed. "It has to be a different person!"


    "Maybe there is a way for King of Wakanda to be both in Wakanda and New York. The aliens had teleportation device didn¡¯t they? Maybe Wakanda was able to replicate the technology?" Peter asked.


    Tony seemed thoughtful for a moment. "I don¡¯t like acknowledging that there might be someone who could have created a teleportation device before me¡­ But that does seem like the most likely answer."


    Rhodey couldn¡¯t believe his ears! These Mad Scientists! "Listen to yourself! You really think teleportation device is more likely than the mystery man being a completely different person? How does that make sense?"


    "Ah ye of little faith in science! Peter forget about the skeptic let¡¯s figure out how to create the teleportation device to prove our theory!"


    "Yes sir!"


    These crazy people! "Fine! Go make your teleportation device! I¡¯m going to do real research and find the real attacker!" Rhodey huffed as he stomped out of the lab.


    Rhodey could already here Tony and the teen exchanging ideas as he got into the elevator. He rolled his eyes.


    These crazy scientists!


    XXX


    Hank watched from his peripheral vision T¡¯Challa coming near him. It took him all his control to not growl in anger.


    He kept pretending to do work even as the king stood in front of his desk.


    "Doctor. I heard Sergeant Barnes session is going well."


    Hank grunted in response.


    T¡¯Challa stood still for a moment waiting for Hank to look up at him. In the end T¡¯Challa lost his patience first and spoke again.


    "Doctor. I know you believe that we have another motive for wanting Aldrich Killian¡¯s research." Now that got his attention. He finally dropped his pen and looked up.


    "So. You going to tell me your ulterior motive?" Hank sneered.


    Silence filled the room. T¡¯Challa hesitated for a moment before he finally spoke again.


    "Doctor. First of all I want to ask... With Killian¡¯s research would it be possible for there to be a way to cure Brain aneurism deep within the cortex?" Hank thought for a moment. No not with that research alone. For healing properties they would have to have the research on Extremis.


    "No." Hank answered truthfully. "Not with the research you wanted. There is nothing in that research that would physically help you cure brain ailments."


    "By your response¡­ That means there is another research that might help?" T¡¯Challa pushed.


    "There might be a way¡­ But why do you need a way to cure brain aneurism?"


    T¡¯Challa looked pained for a second before he also answered truthfully.


    "There is a man that came to us about 2 years ago. He has a brain aneurism deep within his cortex. Due to the ailment he¡¯s been hallucinating and not been able to control his emotions and been acting rashly into different situations. We had him put into Cryostasis so that we might be able to prolong his life until there was a cure."


    "And why does the King of Wakanda want to help this man?" Hank also pushed.


    "Sadly Doctor that is a Country secret I can not share with you."


    Just as King T¡¯Challa finished talking Hank¡¯s computer beep with incoming transmission. Before Hank could do anything to stop the transmission Stark¡¯s face appeared on the screen.


    T¡¯Challa watched as Hank growled at Stark.


    "Stark! Why the hell are you contacting me! Didn¡¯t I tell you I¡¯ll come back when I¡¯m done with what I have to do in Wakanda! I¡¯m with someone right now so stop bothering me!" Hank made motions to turn off the transmission.


    "Wait Hank! Get out of there! The mystery man who attacked Peter was T¡¯Challa Himself! He¡¯s attacking the tower as we speak!"


    "What non sense are you talking about? T¡¯Challa is right next to me" Hank stated.


    "I¡¯m telling you T¡¯Challa is attacking right now! He even has the Wakandan army!" Tony yelled through what Hank thought sounded like gun shots.


    Hank looked over to T¡¯Challa and watched as his face turned white. "What the hell is going on?" He growled.


    T¡¯Challa took action as he pushed Hank to the side and communicated with Stark.


    "Iron Man! That man is not me. I am here in Wakanda with Doctor Pym. Please, I did not order the attack on the Tower."


    Stark stared shocked at the screen for a moment before he yelled.


    "I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on but the man shooting at me definitely looks like you! And he definitely has back up!"


    "The army is being fooled! They believe the commands are coming from me! Iron Man stop them but please don¡¯t hurt them. They are being tricked!"


    Hank watched as T¡¯Challa became desperate.


    "And the man or thing that¡¯s pretending to be you?" Hank heard Peter from the side.


    "Don¡¯t kill him too. He¡¯s sick. He needs help. Please. I¡¯ll be over there as soon as I can!"


    T¡¯Challa took off as Hank continued to watch the events unfold through the screen.


    He saw someone who ridiculously looked exactly the same as T¡¯Challa appear and knock Stark into the wall behind him.


    "If you had only given me the research I wouldn¡¯t have to hurt you!" The man growled. Hank watched in horror as the man grabbed Stark by the neck and squeezed


    It was that moment Hank heard Roger¡¯s voice behind him.


    "Tony? TONY!"

 Chapter 11

    Tony and Peter watched the footages of the alien attack on New York 2 years ago. The jewel on the scepter had opened up a portal to a distant universe. The Duo carefully observed how the jewel worked.


    "Do you think it¡¯s some sort of wave that''s resonating with the jewel?" Peter asked as he watched the machine that powered the scepter vibrate hard with every pulse of the jewel.


    "I¡¯m not sure we should be really focusing on the Jewel itself. After all we know where that jewel is." Tony replied as he inspected the machine. "But I looked over the design of the machine 2 years ago from Selvig. The machine amplified the radiation of the Jewel and it vibrated upward to make the portal in the sky. But without the Jewel¡­ It¡¯s pretty much useless." Tony sighed as he slumped on his chair. So this was no go¡­


    Peter watched as Mr. Stark sigh and rubbed his eyes. They were both inside the lab the last 24 hours looking for ways the King of Wakanda could have traveled thousands of miles in an instant. So far¡­ they couldn¡¯t find an answer. Even trying to think of new and improved technology brought by aliens didn¡¯t seem to provide any new answers.


    "Mr. Stark. What if Colonel Rhodes was right? Maybe they are two different people?" Peter stated as he too decided to slump on his chair and spin around.


    "That¡¯s what I wanted to believe also¡­ But his fighting technique is too similar and way too dangerous to not be the Black Panther himself." Tony replied. He knew that there were chances that the mystery man not being T¡¯Challa. He knew maybe he was being stubborn in thinking that it had to be him. But even Hank had told him that T¡¯Challa had special interest in the research.


    "Maybe T¡¯Challa has a clone! Like Star Wars! Maybe that¡¯s why they are so similar." Peter exclaimed.


    "Peter Peter. Why must you keep brining up Tech I haven¡¯t invented yet! Come on! All those new tech, I should be the first one to invent them!" He joked as he playfully kicked at the young teens chair. Tony watched as Peter awkwardly balance himself so that the chair wouldn¡¯t fall over. He always wondered about that. The teen¡¯s Spider sense was quite interesting. It seemed to only ¡®tingle¡¯ when there was ill intent. But how did Peter¡¯s subconscious determine what was and wasn¡¯t an ill intent?


    "Hey Peter. Have you ever wondered how your powers work?" He asked.


    Peter looked at him for a moment before he answered. "Of course I did. But I always just assumed the radiation Oscorp was working on affected my body when the spider bit me. I really had no fancy instruments to see how my body changed¡­ But now that I have access to this lab¡­ Maybe I can finally know how I changed?"


    Tony remained silent for a moment before he laughed. Peter watched in confusion. "Do you know what I believe? I vaguely remember a speech from a professor at Oxford. Maybe you already had the gene in your body for the mutation? Do you really think with that many spiders Oscorp was working on that nobody was bitten by any one of them? All these super soldier serums different nations are working on¡­ I think it had nothing to do with how perfect the formula is. The human body is a mystery¡­ Sometimes it evolves¡­ sometimes it doesn¡¯t. Which is one reason why I never enjoyed studying it. Machines on the other hand you can break it apart, fix it, and break it again."


    Peter listened to Mr. Stark¡¯s musing carefully. He had also searched up human mutations when he had first received his powers. He had read a thesis on human genome from a Professor names Charles Xavier but it had seemed like Sci-fi but now¡­ maybe not...?


    "Wait¡­ wait¡­ could it be possible for the King of Wakanda to have a genetic mutation that might allow him to teleport everywhere?" The teen saw Mr. Stark think carefully.


    "I wouldn¡¯t know if there is a way for a genetic mutation to allow teleportation. I mean what mutation in your gene can possibly help you teleport?" The older scientist pondered. But¡­ What genetic mutation allowed Peter to have almost precognition? The human body really was a mystery.


    Peter was about to ask more about what Mr. Stark thought of mutations when the alarm rang. Both men went on instant alert.


    "Peter do you have your suit?" Tony asked quickly as he himself put on his gauntlet.


    "Yup I do! What¡¯s the alarm for?"


    "There¡¯s an intruder. FRIDAY give me eyes on them!"


    Both men¡¯s jaw dropped when they saw the men barging in to the tower.


    "FRIDAY how man men are there?" Tony asked as he himself tried to quickly assess the situation.


    "Boss there are seventy men inside the building and about another sixty men outside the premise."


    "Shit¡­ Is it the Wakandan army?" Tony didn¡¯t want to be quick to judge¡­ but¡­


    "Sorry Boss there is not enough information as of yet to confirm your hypothesis. The people are indeed from Wakanda but I need more information to decide if they are indeed from the army."


    "FRIDAY do you see many many people with guns around them?" Peter heard Mr. Stark voice filled with sarcasm.


    "Yes Boss."


    "Then it¡¯s the F-ing army!"


    XXX


    Rhodey and Vision were outside the tower looking for the mystery man when they were alerted of the intrusion.


    "James. It seems there is an intrusion inside the tower." They were in Queens searching for clues as where the man had disappeared to.


    "How bad is the intrusion? Shouldn¡¯t Tony and Pete be able to handle it?" Rhodey asked as he saw people pass by them in the streets gawking at Vision.


    "FRIDAY has just notified me that Tony had mentioned it was the Wakandan Army."


    "What?! How many people are there?"


    "It is presumed to be around 130 people." Vision stated simply.


    "Shoot! Let¡¯s go Vision!" Rhodey grabbed Vision¡¯s hands as he helped them fly quickly towards the tower.


    As the two of them got closer to the Tower, Rhodey saw the people marching inside the building. Why wasn¡¯t Tony brining out his suits? Why were there no one defending it? Rhodey cringed at the possibilities and brought down his head wear to access War Machine.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Vision this is good enough place let me down!" Rhodey yelled up and dropped lightly on the ground.


    "War Machine I will go up ahead inside the building to help Tony and Peter."


    "Yeah you go ahead and do that. I¡¯ll take care of the ones out front!" Rhodey felt himself appear inside the Suit. He smiled as he made his way to where the intruders were waiting.


    "Hey Boys and girls. Want to say hello to new and improved War Machine?" Rhodey smirked as he watched the army point their guns and shoot at him. Of course nothing affected his suit. He brought out his guns and was about to shoot the enemies when he heard from Tony finally.


    "Rhodey wait! I heard they are being tricked from T¡¯Challa! Don¡¯t kill any of them. Well his exact words were don¡¯t hurt them¡­ So do your best!" Tony seemed frantic and out of breath. Rhodey could hear the faint noise of gunshots from the background.


    "Tony you ok? What¡¯s going on inside?" Rhodey asked "Vision should be there by now!"


    "Yeah he¡¯s here¡­ But even he¡¯s having a hard time fighting off the intrusion without causing too much harm on the other side." When Rhodey heard Peter¡¯s voice he felt himself relax his shoulders just a bit.


    "Good to hear from you also Pete!"


    "You too Colonel!"


    "Well I don¡¯t want to gloat but¡­ It seems I was right Tony! It was another man!" Rhodey laughed as he targeted the guns the army were holding.


    "I¡¯m not too sure about that. Because that man definitely looks like T¡¯Challa. Cross that, He sounds exactly like T¡¯Challa also." Tony was definitely out of breath as he tried his best dodging bullets.


    "Yeah¡­ Hey maybe my clone theory was right after all!" Peter said through his com.


    Rhodey heard himself groan. "Really from teleportation device you went to Cloning? Have you guys ever thought of the most logical explanation? Like Twins?"


    "Rhodey where¡¯s the fun in that?" Tony laugh though was quickly cut off.


    Rhodey felt himself grow cold as he heard Tony trying to catch his breath as he was hit and slammed into a wall. He could hear his best friend choke and also hear the perpetrator¡¯s voice.


    "If you had only given me the research I wouldn¡¯t have to hurt you!"


    XXX


    "So your saying Stark helped create the device helping you?" Scott asked when Barnes retold the conversation he had with Hank.


    Scott though for a bit and nodded. Yeah it made sense. Hank definitely did not have any neural device the last time he had saw him. And Hank did work with Stark for the last five month. That might have been enough time for the two geniuses to come up with new tech.


    "So¡­ What is it you wanted to ask me?" Scott asked uncertainly to Barnes.


    "I wanted to know¡­ How Pym feels about Tony Stark. From the way you always talked about him¡­ I had thought that maybe Pym had a hatred fro him but¡­ After talking with him. I felt as it Doctor Pym was protecting him" Barnes wanted to know. He needed to know if maybe this was all a false hope. Maybe Stark had set this all up as a revenge for him killing his parents. Maybe there were no devices that can help him. Maybe he was just a lost cause.


    "Well I thought he did. But when I talked to him recently I got the sense that Hank, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, likes Stark. I mean I heard him grumble about the Starks for hours before but now¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ He seems to enjoy working with Stark!" Scott sounded bewildered to Barnes¡¯s ears. How can Scott not be bewildered. He literally heard Hank going on hours about Stark.


    "Do you think there¡¯s a chance¡­ maybe even a little¡­ for Doctor Pym to help Tony have his revenge against me?" Bucky weakly asked.


    "What?! Hank would never do that! I mean yeah I find it strange that he¡¯s working for Stark. But Hank has way too much pride to help Stark get his revenge."


    "Revenge¡­? What are you two talking about?" Both men turned towards the newcomer in front of the kitchen doorframe.


    "Hey Cap! Barnes here thought that Hank would help Stark get his revenge! I mean how silly! Hank would never do something like that." Scott smiled brightly for a second before it turned into a frown. Steve looked absolutely livid.


    "Why do you think that?" Steve asked curtly while he glanced towards his friend.


    "The machine¡­ It was created with the help of Stark¡­ I know I don¡¯t know him as well as you but¡­ Maybe I thought that He might use this as a revenge for his parent¡¯s death." Bucky replied softly. He could tell Steve was debating himself.


    "That¡¯s why the name¡­ It spells B.A.R.N.E.S." Steve stated. He closed his eyes. Would Tony really go this far? "What did Doctor Pym say?"


    "He told me who made the machine made little difference to my therapy. And¡­ I want to believe him. I really do. He seemed sincere enough¡­ But¡­ Can Stark forgive my sins that easily?"


    Steve wondered about that too. Could Tony really forgive something so easily? From the beginning of their first meeting, Tony always had to be right. He would hold on to a grudge for days until he was able to get back at them. But could Tony really go this far for his revenge?


    "I¡¯m going to go talk with Doctor Pym." He said and he turned to leave.


    "Wait Cap! I think maybe you guys are jumping into conclusions pretty fast. The Hank I know will never allow this to happen." Scott stopped him.


    "Scott I don¡¯t think Hank has anything to do with it. I don¡¯t think Tony could do something like this either. But I just want to make sure. There is no harm in making sure right?" Steve asked.


    Scott nodded solemnly "There¡¯s no harm in asking but¡­ You look outright murderous." Scott whispered.


    Steve paused for a moment and schooled his features. "Scott I¡¯m just going to ask. I just need to know." And before Scott could stop him again Steve left.


    He quickly walked towards the Doctor Lab. He tried hard not to jump to conclusions like Scott stated. But the more he thought about it the dread in his stomach worsened. Tony would never go this far in his revenge with his teammates¡­ But to Tony, Bucky wasn¡¯t a teammate. No he was the murderer of his parents. How can anyone forgive someone who they believed killed their parents¡¯ so easily? He knew Tony would be blinded by rage. He witnessed Tony be blinded by rage in Siberia.


    As Steve walked quickly down the corridor he heard the doors of the lab slam open. It wasn¡¯t until he turned the corner he saw T¡¯Challa¡¯s back as he ran. What was going on? Steve¡¯s walk turned into a run as he made his way towards the Lab. Inside he noticed the Doctor watching the computer screen with wide eyes.


    "Doctor?" Steve called out, but the Doctor didn¡¯t seem to hear him and was too focused on what he was looking at.


    Steve walked slowly towards the Doctor to not startle him too badly. But what he saw made him pause. Tony was in his lab fighting someone.


    "Tony?"


    Then the someone who looked like T¡¯Challa began choking him.


    "Tony!"


    XXX


    Tony tried hard to get his footing. But damn that was difficult when he was trying to catch his breath! He noticed the black spots covering his vision when the T¡¯Challa look alike dropped him on the floor. Tony noticed Peter in his costume shoot more web from his shooter and pull as hard as he can. He was very happy to see the Look Alike jerk backwards on to the ground. As more and more web surrounded the intruder, Tony watched in glee as he struggle to get out. But that glee lasted way to short. Damn. Not only did the Look Alike have T¡¯Challa¡¯s strength he also had his Vibranium Claw! How the hell did T¡¯Challa want them to catch this guy without hurting him?!


    "New plan! Sorry T¡¯Challa the non violent way really doesn¡¯t seem to work at the moment!" Tony coughed out as he still rubbed his sore throat. "Vision knock him unconscious! Peter hold him down longer. FRIDAY where the heck is my suit!"


    "Eta 30 seconds left Boss."


    "Ugh! I really need to find a way for it to come faster!"


    Tony watched as Peter continually shoot more webs as the Look Alike tried his best to claw himself out. He heard the satisfying crunch as Vision punched him on the head.


    The intruder lost conscious and crumpled on the ground.


    It was then, after everything was over Tony heard his suits flying towards him.


    He really needed a quicker way to connect to his armor.


    "Tony you ok?" He heard Rhodey and was about to nod before he realized he couldn¡¯t see him


    "I¡¯m ok Rhodey. How is it going on that end?"


    "Well without the guns the peeps here really can¡¯t do anymore harm." Rhodey replied cheekily.


    "Great and FRIDAY what¡¯s the situation in other areas?"


    "The Iron amours are taking care to not harm the intruders too badly. Otherwise it is under control." The female voice replied.


    Tony sighed¡­ great now he had to figure out what the heck was going on. Who the heck was this intruder and why the HELL did he look exactly like the King of Wakanda!


    Ah right maybe Hank might have answers. Tony turned towards the communication screen and stopped.


    "Tony? Tony are you alright? What¡¯s going on? Is everything under control?" He saw Steve trying to get a better look at what occurred as much as the small screen allowed.


    And before Tony himself knew what he was doing he turned off the communication.

 Chapter 12

    Steve watched with wide eyes as Tony Shut off the communication. He hesitated just for a moment before he turned towards Hank Pym. The Doctor seemed to be in shock as much as him. But He really needed to know what was going on. To know that the left behind team members were ok.


    "Doctor. What¡¯s going on? What was happening at the tower? Was that T¡¯Challa? But I know I just saw him come out of this lab just moments ago." Steve became annoyed as the doctor seemed intent on not listening to him as he hurriedly packed his stuff.


    "Doctor! I need to know what going on!" Steve finally yelled. And for the first time he arrived in the Lab Doctor Pym acknowledged his presence by turning towards him.


    "I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on! So shut up so I can pack my things and figure that out!" Hank yelled back. He tried shoving everything on top of his desk inside his briefcase, but in the end the research papers littered the floor. As Hank made way to the floor to pick up the papers Rogers stopped him. Hank looked up to see the Previous Captain America glaring once again at him.


    "Doctor please I need to know everything you do."


    This man must be stupid! "How many times do I have to repeat myself. I don¡¯t know! I don¡¯t know what happened in the Tower. All I know is they were attacked. Now let me go!" Hank jerked his hands away and grabbed all the papers on the ground. Why was there a man that looked like the King of Wakanda there? How can that be? As far as he knows T¡¯Challa was the only child. Maybe a hidden sibling? Or just a Look Alike? From T¡¯Challa¡¯s reaction he had guessed the look alike was the man they were discussing before Stark had interrupted. Hank had to figure out what was going on in Wakanda.


    Steve didn¡¯t know what to do. The Doctor refused to talk. He needed to know what happened! He turned around when he heard footsteps coming from outside the lab. He watched as Bucky and Scott hesitantly walk in.


    "Hey Cap. Is everything ok in here?" Scott voice was weary as he spotted Hank packing everything up.


    "No. Scott gather the rest of the Team we¡¯re going back to New York." Steve answered.


    Now that got everyone¡¯s attention. Especially Hank¡¯s.


    "You are an idiotic man. You are the most wanted people in almost every country and you want to just waltz into the Tower?" Hank growled. This man was the leader of the Avengers? This man who apparently seemed to be controlled by his emotions? "Captain. Don¡¯t make this any messier than it¡¯s already going to be. The whole government is going to watch the Tower right now! Stay in Wakanda keep low!" Hank pushed past everyone in the room. He needed to make contact with Stark.


    The other occupants in the room watched the Doctor leave. Steve was seething and the other two stood still awaiting for Steve¡¯s commands.


    "So¡­ should I get the others? But what the hell is going on Cap?" The current Ant-Man looked weary once more. If Hank and Cap fought¡­ He would side with Hank. After all he was the one who gave him this second chance.


    "Someone attacked the Avenger Tower. I watched on the screen as Tony was being choked! Before I could get an answer from Tony he cut off communication. Bucky. I need to be there for him. Like I was there for you. I need to make sure He¡¯s ok¡­"


    Bucky saw the guilt on his best friend¡¯s face. He could see Steve was kicking himself for whatever had occurred at the Tower. "If that¡¯s what you want. Let¡¯s go. You all risked arrest to go to New York to help me. Let¡¯s go again and be there for your other team." He smiled. He would be there for Steve and Steve had been there for him all this time.


    Steve watched as Scott and Bucky nod in agreement. "Ok get the others. We need to go help our friends."


    "I¡¯ll get them!" Scott raised his hand as he volunteered. The two super soldiers watched as the eager man run out of the lab.


    "Thank you Bucky for understanding."


    "No problem Steve. No problem."


    XXX


    Tony and the others stared at the communication screen as it blinked with incoming transmission.


    Tony really didn¡¯t want to accept. He was almost 99.9% sure that it will be Rogers. He did not want to be caught off guard as he had been moments before. But before he could stop Vision already clicked on the transmission. He closed his eyes and tried to turn away from the screen before he heard the person.


    "Iron Man. I am on my way to New York at the moment. ETA is about 13 hours. Please connect me to the main frame of your PA system. I¡¯ll command down my soldiers. They will know that they were tricked and stand down." T¡¯Challa spoke swiftly through.


    Tony breathed in a sigh of relief and nodded. "King T¡¯Challa you are now on speaker. Go on and command your soldiers." FRIDAY connected T¡¯Challa¡¯s announcement through out the whole Tower. Tony tuned him out as he turned towards the bigger mystery that was currently unconscious on the floor of his lab.


    He waited for T¡¯Challa to be finished before he asked. "So mind telling us who he is?"


    T¡¯Challa looked hesitant "I will answer all questions when I arrive. So please be patient with me."


    "Your highness if you do not tell us who he is right now, we will treat him as a hostile that he is. So I want an answer in 3 2 1." Tony had raised his fingers as he counted down. T¡¯Challa sighed and gave in.


    "He is me from another universe." There was silence in the lab for a moment before Peter decided to break it.


    "That¡¯s so cool! Another universe? That was going to be my next guess if cloning wasn¡¯t right! Mr. Stark another universe! So that means there¡¯s another me?" Peter bounced up and down as he leaned in closer to the other T¡¯Challa.


    Tony found himself frowning. Other universes. Aliens weren¡¯t enough now he had to think about other universes! "So what he from the mirror universe and so he¡¯s the evil T¡¯Challa?" He sneered.


    "No. He¡¯s sick. I¡¯ll explain more when I get there. This is a topic that shouldn¡¯t be discussed over a hackable link. Please just be patient. I promise to tell you everything." T¡¯Challa pleaded and Tony relented and decided to show him mercy.


    "Ok. We will wait. But we will still put him in our holding area in the Tower. I can¡¯t risk anyone¡¯s life in this tower." Tony firmly stood his ground.


    "Thank you Tony Stark. See you soon."


    And the transmission disconnected.


    XXX


    Scott rushed out of the lab and ran towards Hank¡¯s room. Whatever that had happened in the Tower had greatly unsettled both Hank and the Cap. He rushed to find Hank packing up all his belongings in the room. Hank looked up from what he was doing before he promptly ignored him and went back to work.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Hank. What¡¯s going on. I heard the tower was attacked. Cap is resolute in his decision on returning."


    Hank snarled. "That idiot." Under his breath but did not stop what he was doing.


    "Hank!"


    "Scott! I need to return to the Tower now. I don¡¯t have time to baby you right now! I don¡¯t care if you follow that idiot leader to your arrest but right now I need to leave Wakanda!"


    "If only you tell me what¡¯s going on I might have a better excuse to stop the team from rushing into their doom!" Scott cried out.


    Hank heaved a sigh and scowled. "Wakanda has something they¡¯re hiding. I need to go and figure that out. T¡¯Challa was moments away from telling me but now¡­ the Wakandan army attacked the Tower. I don¡¯t know if this is insurgence or if they were tricked like T¡¯Challa stated. All I going to do right now is return back to the Lab so that the research we¡¯ve been working on does not go into the wrong hands."


    Scott looked doubtful of the older man¡¯s explanation but he really didn¡¯t expect him to tell him truthfully that he wanted to return to make sure the people, Tony, was alright.


    "Ok. Is it something that doesn¡¯t require the Secret Avenger¡¯s help?"


    The Older scientist regarded him for a moment and nodded. "The Secret Avengers aren¡¯t needed. If they arrive now it¡¯s only going to cause more trouble. Right now the Wakandan army attacked the Tower in United States¡¯ Soil. It¡¯s already a political nightmare without the highly wanted fugitives showing up."


    Hank packed quickly and was about to rush out the door before he stopped. He turned towards the younger man.


    "Here. These are new shrink serum I invented. It should help shrink not only the item but everything within it. It will come in handy for you. But please Scott don¡¯t do anything rash. Think about Hope and you daughter." And the man was out the door


    Scott nodded. He¡¯ll trust his mentor¡¯s judgement. He had to leave now and convince the others.


    XXX


    "The tower was attacked?!¡¯ Clint cried out in shock. ¡®Was anyone hurt? Do you know by who?" There was a million questions rushing past his head.


    "I don¡¯t know anything yet. I just saw Tony being choked by someone who looked like T¡¯Challa. Maybe someone tried to infiltrate by stealing his identity. But I promised Tony that I¡¯ll be there for him. And I¡¯m going to keep my promise." Steve stood firm in his decision.


    "No. I get it. No matter how much of a jerk Tony is, he¡¯s still our friend." He stood up quickly and retrieved his bow from where he had hidden it. If anyone had the galls to attack the Tower they usually had the galls to attack the world. Better to nip it at the bud.


    "I got what I need. Where¡¯s Wanda?" Clint asked trying to seek the young woman.


    "I don¡¯t know. I thought maybe you might know?" The Cap speculated.


    "I¡¯m here." Wanda entered with Scott.


    "Great! I¡¯m guessing Scott told you what we¡¯re going to do? We need to leave now." Steve smiled as he tried to push past the two newcomers in the doorway. He stopped when he spotted the frown on their faces. "What¡¯s wrong?"


    "I don¡¯t think this is a good idea." Scott replied.


    "What do you mean?" Clint asked for Steve. Bucky and the bowman came closer to the trio near the door.


    "All of this plan. It¡¯s not a good idea." Scott continued. "Cap you¡¯re letting your emotion cloud your judgement. If we enter the Avenger Tower now we will be arrested. The tower was attacked! There¡¯s bound to be people from the government trying to figure out what the heck is going on. If we go now it¡¯ll only look worse for the rest of the Avengers that was left behind."


    "So now you¡¯re being a coward? Is jail not worth it now? Our friends are in danger! We need to help if we can. Not sit on our asses." Clint scowled.


    "Clint I agree with Scott." Wanda whispered softly. "I heard the situation is under control now. How are we suppose to help when the battle is already over? I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s the point in going to the Tower."


    Steve closed his eyes when he felt the tiny bit of annoyance rise in him. "Wanda, Scott. I know you both aren¡¯t close to Tony and the others. If there¡¯s a chance that the Tower might be attacked again we need to be there for him. He is my friend."


    "I know he¡¯s your friend. But maybe that¡¯s why your judgement is clouded?" Scott¡¯s voice rose in volume. Why couldn¡¯t Cap realize there was nothing for them to help? If they tried to help now everything will be worse!


    "Lang you aren¡¯t willing because the others aren¡¯t your friend!" Clint exclaimed finally. "If this had been your family you¡¯ll be the first one to rush out this door! Well that¡¯s how we feel about the people in that Tower!"


    "You¡¯re right. If that had been my family I would have rushed out! But that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s the right call! The two of you are putting this whole team at risk because of your emotional attachment."


    "Is that what you think also Wanda?" Clint sneered at the girl as he continue to glare at Scott.


    "Yes. I don¡¯t think this is the right call for the team." Was her simple answer.


    "Fine! Steve we¡¯ll just go ourselves! We don¡¯t need these two. If they are too afraid of being sent to jail let them hide here forever!"


    Steve was silent as he tried to push his way pass but Scott once again stood in his way.


    "So are you going to break up the team again? Breaking up with the Avengers wasn¡¯t enough for you? Now your going to break up with this team?"


    Steve growled. He grabbed and slammed Scott to the wall behind them. "I¡¯m trying to fix it! If I¡¯m not there for Tony right now we¡¯ll never be able to be one team anymore! If I can¡¯t show him that he can trust me and my word how can we be a team anymore!"


    The Ant-Man barred his teeth. "I don¡¯t think Stark can ever trust you anymore. Didn¡¯t you say he cut off communication the moment he saw your face. Well Rogers wake up that relationship is already over and done with! You showing up there is not going to help Stark! It¡¯s going to make everything worse!"


    The Super Soldier hesitated before he choked out. "That¡¯s why I need to be there now¡­ That¡¯s why I need to make sure he¡¯s ok. That¡¯s why I need to go! To regain his trust!" He shouted.


    Both of them were in a gridlock. The tension in the room continued to rise. Both Clint and Barnes were getting ready to push their way out as Wanda hesitated but drew her hands out.


    "What the hell is going on here?" Sam shouted as he appeared before them all.


    XXX


    "So alternate Universe huh¡­" Rhodey uttered. "Well I guess I¡¯m still right. He¡¯s a different person."


    "What?! No way I¡¯m right! It was T¡¯Challa. Yeah maybe not the T¡¯Challa but T¡¯Challa non the less!" Tony declared. "So who was right spiderling?"


    "Uh¡­ I guess we were all right?" Peter responded timidly.


    "No! Peter you were suppose to take my side!" Tony exasperated.


    "Whatever Tones. I¡¯m right!" Rhodey became silent for a moment when the body inside the class cage stirred a little bit. "So¡­ alternate universe¡­? Really? Aliens weren¡¯t enough?"


    Tony scowled. Yes. The thought was cool. But now there was more threat in the world them he previous thought. Extremis had to be finished more quickly than he first planned.


    "Well we¡¯ll get a clearer answer when T¡¯Challa arrives. We¡¯ll just watch this dude closely but other than that we have to wait." Tony cut off when another transmission tried to connect with the Tower. Tony automatically noticed it was from Hank and answered quickly. "Hank! How are you?"


    The old man looked haggard.


    "Are you on a plane?" Peter asked in shock.


    "Peter. Glad to see you are ok. I¡¯m heading back to the tower right now. T¡¯Challa allowed me to take the second jet after his already left. So what the heck happened." Hank tiredly asked.


    "Alternate Universe Doctor Pym. Alternate Universe." Rhodey responded shaking his head.


    Hank soundlessly burrowed his eyebrows. That was not something he had been expecting. He looked towards Tony for a clearer answer.


    Tony noticed. "I don¡¯t know either. Sorry. We¡¯re all waiting for T¡¯Challa." He shrugged.


    "Speaking of T¡¯Challa¡­" Hank spoke while he disappeared from the frame. The others in the lab could tell he was rummaging through the briefcase he always took with him.


    "I found something interesting. You should take a look at it." Hank raised his hand and showed the USB he held.


    This time Tony raised his eyebrows in question.


    "You¡¯ll see what I mean when you take a look. I just sent over the file."


    Tony nodded.


    Hank sighed. He spoke once more.


    "I think Rogers is going to do something stupid. Right before I left he was trying to get the others try to come with him back to the Tower."


    "What?! Is he an idiot? Doesn¡¯t he know the whole congress and army are flooding this place right now? What does he think he¡¯ll do? Or does he not know that everything is already under control?" Rhodey inquired.


    "He¡¯s blinded by his friendship with Stark."


    Tony sighed. Stupid Rogers. This was how the first civil war started! He didn¡¯t need this right now.


    "Do you think there might be a way to stop them from leaving Wakanda?" Tony asked.


    "I called T¡¯Challa. He agrees with us. He doesn¡¯t want more attention than Wakanda already received due to this attack. He told me he¡¯s going to do his best to make sure the rest will stay over there."


    Irritation filled his head. Tony knew if Steve wanted to do something even the whole army wont stop him. Like it didn¡¯t stop him last time.


    "That won¡¯t stop him if he already set his mind on coming here¡­"


    He didn¡¯t want to¡­ But he needed to call him.

 Chapter 13

    "What the heck is going on here? What are you all going on about?" Sam asked. He was having a nice run around the gardens just moments ago. He had come back to get himself a snack when he heard all the yelling in the living room. He was surprised to see Scott and Steve in a standstill and Wanda going on the defensive with the other two occupants in the room.


    He saw Steve release his grip on Scott¡¯s clothes. And Scott took that moment to shove the Cap away from him. He watched as Scott dust off imaginary dust on his clothes and stood beside Wanda. Steve scowled and took his place beside Barnes and Barton.


    Sam waited a little bit for the two sides to collect themselves.


    "What¡¯s going on? Why were you fighting each other?" He asked once more.


    Steve spoke up first. "The tower was attacked." He growled. "Bucky, Clint and I agree that we are needed back in New York. The others might still be in danger."


    Scott scoffed before he too spoke up. "The others can take care of themselves. If we go now it¡¯s going to cause more trouble! Why don¡¯t you get that? It¡¯s not only going to put us at risk it¡¯s going to put the others in danger also."


    "If we aren¡¯t there they might be physical danger! I just witnessed Tony being strangled!"


    "Whoa whoa! Both of you down!" Sam came in-between the two before they could get into another physical altercation. "Fighting among ourselves is not going to help one bit! It seems like there are different opinions going on. Steve before we jump the gun let¡¯s see if we can get more information on the situation ok? Scott you are willing to follow Cap¡¯s lead if you agree that the other¡¯s or the world is in danger right?"


    Scott nodded while Steve shook his head. "Sam, this might be a time sensitive matter. It already takes 13 hours for us to go back to New York. If we wait longer we might not make it in time."


    Scott rolled his eyes. "Last time you thought it was time sensitive battle it turned out the whole threat were already killed and left us at the mercy of Ross."


    "You¡¯re the one who agreed to help us! We didn¡¯t force you. You decided to act as the distraction!" Clint shouted.


    "Yeah! I helped because I thought the world was in danger! But guess what? It wasn¡¯t! Now I can¡¯t see my daughter! And for what? Absolutely nothing! The Winter Soldiers were dead! If we didn¡¯t jump to conclusions this all might not have happened! I wouldn¡¯t have to be hiding half the way around the world!"


    Sam watched with dread his team, once again, started falling apart. "Stop! Yelling is not going to help. Scott I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll hurt for us to be closer to New York if things does go south. So how about he hide out somewhere closer yeah?" Sam looked over his shoulders for confirmation from Steve who nodded in agreement. Scott looked like he wanted to argue more before he was stopped by Wanda¡¯s hand on his shoulder.


    "Sam, Captain. If we agree to go closer to New York can you both promise us that we won¡¯t do anything reckless? I want to help the others as much as all of you. But I also agree with Scott that if we act reckless right now we will make everything worse."


    "We will only act when we are needed." Steve gave her his word. Scott begrudgingly backed off.


    Bucky watched the whole altercation silently. Maybe his new team wasn¡¯t united as he first believed. He understood Steve¡¯s point of view. But He also knew Lang and Maximoff was right also. If the government saw not just the fugitive Avengers but also him¡­ He knew it would be a nightmare. It would be better if¡­


    "I won¡¯t go to New York"


    Steve¡¯s reaction was instantaneous. "Bucky!"


    "If I go now¡­ and the government sees me with you all¡­ It wont be good for anyone. Besides, my trigger aren¡¯t fully healed. It would be better if I stayed." Bucky watched as his friend shook with frustration.


    "Fine stay. I don¡¯t care if none of you come with me. I¡¯m going so that I can protect my friend." Sam tried to stop Steve as he rushed out of the room. Clint glared and he too rushed out of the room.


    Sam¡¯s shoulder slouched. He almost had everything under control! He turned towards the others still in the room. "Well are you two not going to come either?"


    Scott pouted as Wanda pleaded with him with her eyes. Without a word Ant-Man made his way out with Wanda close behind him. Sam sighed as the two of them left. He turned one last time towards Barnes. Barnes nodded and Sam made his way out.


    Bucky was once again alone.


    XXX


    Hank was looking over the footages of Tony¡¯s recording of the Other T¡¯Challa. The man was awake now and was pacing in his glass cell. He watched the man as he vented his anger on the wall trying to break them. But without his vibranium suit the man was helpless inside. Hank fast forward to the marker Stark had inputted. Here the man started seizing. Hank watched Tony rush into the room and give him emergency medical care. The seizure stopped and the man was once again unconscious.


    So this man was the one who had the aneurism. Hank fast forwarded once more. This time he watched as the Other T¡¯Challa started having auditory and visual hallucination. He was talking non sense while he tried to fight off the imaginary people in his cell. The man became fearful begged fiercely to be let out. He yelled about the monster coming for him. He howled and growled and began acting like an animal and prowled around the cell on all four limbs.


    This was much worse than Hank had thought. T¡¯Challa had stated there was an aneurism in the cortex¡­ But to show this much symptom, the aneurism must be affecting the temporal lobe of the brain. Hank was pulled from his concentration when he received a call from Stark.


    "This is much worse than I thought." He answered without a greeting as usual.


    Stark was sitting in the lab looking grim. "Yeah¡­ It¡¯s pretty bad. You said T¡¯Challa told you it was aneurism? Well here are the MRI I just took." A different image filled his screen. "It¡¯s not just the aneurism. His brain is deteriorating. Almost half the area of the Frontal Lobe has already deteriorated. His temporal lobe is highly affected also. He¡¯s been having hallucination non stop after he woke up." Tony looked stressed. "This isn¡¯t my area of expertise. I¡¯m trying to help much as I can, but since T¡¯Challa asked for this to be confidential I can¡¯t bring in any doctors. What do you think?"Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Hank had similar diagnosis. No wonder Wakanda was looking for other cures. Surgery was almost impossible. "Do you think Extremis would have any effect?" Hank asked.


    "Well it was built for the healing factor¡­ I assume it might be possible. But whatever procedures he needs to go through it has to be soon. His Brain is dying in an alarming rate."


    "Do you have any Cryobeds? Wakanda had him in Cryostasis to prolong his life." He informed Stark.


    "Sadly no. I need to tell T¡¯Challa that we need a surgeon. Even if we could use the Extremis, we¡¯ve been focusing on it¡¯s properties on non living organism. It will take months before any finish product will help him. He needs surgery to relieve the pressure that¡¯s building up." Tony looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think I know someone who would be able to perform the surgery. But it needs to happen soon."


    The older scientist nodded in agreement. "When¡¯s T¡¯Challa¡¯s ETA?"


    "He should be hitting New York in 5 hours" Stark replied.


    "I¡¯ll be there in 8."


    "Ok. I¡¯ll see you soon. If any change happens I¡¯ll send you more footages."


    XXX


    When Scott and Wanda entered the Aircraft Hanger they were met with Steve¡¯s yells.


    "What do you mean we can¡¯t leave the country?"


    "I¡¯m sorry Captain Rogers. His Majesty had specifically ordered us to not allow you and your fellow comrades to not leave the palace grounds." One of the soldiers meekly replied.


    "Let me talk with T¡¯Challa then!"


    Another solider came forward. He stood tall and had a scowl as he tightened his grip on his weapon.


    "Captain Rogers, know that you are here on His Majesty¡¯s grace. If you continue to threaten we will treat you as a hostile." He stated coldly. Scott watched as Roger¡¯s face became red. He acted quickly as he got in front of the Cap and the soldier.


    "Hey! We understand. No need to be a grouchy grouch." He stated joyfully as he firmly place his hand on the soldier¡¯s shoulders. And as quickly the soldier retaliated by grabbing his hands and twisting his body. Scott let out a soft yelp from pain before he stood his ground and rotated his body to flip the towering man. The Soldier fell heavily on the ground and everyone took action instantly.


    The other Wakandan soldiers raised their weapon. Clint readied his bow and Wanda readied to fight. When the first shot was fired from one of the scared cadets, it signaled the battle. The secret Avengers pushed their way through as the army fell one by one. It was when all of them were nearly inside the Jet the reinforcement arrived. Scott watched them raised the heavy weaponry and He quickly closed the door to the Jet.


    "Ok everyone seatbelts on because we¡¯re going for a bumpy ride." Scott yelled as he brought out one of the shrinking disk he received earlier. "I never did this before so¡­ Don¡¯t blame me if we all die!" He yelled as he readied himself. Just as the soldiers outside started shooting at the jet he quickly placed the disk on the jet. Everyone inside the Jet gave a startled yelp as their surroundings began shrinking along with their bodies.


    There was chaos in the Hanger when all the soldiers witness the jet disappearing. Commanding officers were yelling orders to find the Fugitives. And through the chaos the small jet left.


    Sam was on wheel as he flew the Jet out of the Hanger and into the sky. He couldn¡¯t stop the nervous laughter that escaped him. And soon he was joined by the rest of his company.


    "I can¡¯t believe it worked!" Scott yelled he plopped down on one of the couches. ¡°I was so afraid we were just going to be crushed! When Hank told me the new disk application I was doubtful! Man that was great"


    "It was great Scott." Steve answered for the rest of the crew. The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Soon Scott smiled.


    "It was nothing Cap. Now let¡¯s go save some people!"


    XXX


    Peter watched the dying man carefully. He watched as the man yelled, kicked and tried to punch his way out. He watched as the man cried in pain from hallucinations that tormented him. He watched and watched.


    Peter watched as Mr. Stark ran around everywhere to help the man who had strangled him just hours before. He watched as he studied different medical researches. He watched as Mr. Stark tormented himself trying to find a way to help.


    He could only watch.


    He had absolutely no expertise in this area. He tried to read the things Mr. Stark had read. He tried to look at the MRI results. He tried and tried. But there was nothing he could do.


    He had not felt this helpless in a long time. He had fooled himself. He thought he was important. He thought that there was nothing he couldn¡¯t do. He thought with Mr. Stark¡¯s acknowledgment of his intellect that he could help the future. He thought with his super powers that he could help the present. But now, He couldn¡¯t do anything. He could only sit in the lab and wait.


    When he heard the transmission from the Wakandan aircraft he was eager to do something.


    "Boy. Where is Tony Stark?" T¡¯Challa asked with fury in his voice.


    "Ah, Mr. Stark is busy right now. He¡¯s been running around looking for a way to help the other you." Peter replied sharply. He was already agitated by his feeling of uselessness and allowed his emotion to show through.


    "Get him. We have a problem."


    Peter felt his irritation crawl throughout his body. He wanted to punch something badly. But instead he stomped his way through the long rout to Mr. Stark. He could have just asked FRIDAY to notify him, but he needed to do something. It was in the lab he found Mr. Stark crouching in front of his table with papers scattered all around him.


    This man was a true hero. He wasn¡¯t like him who was running around the city causing more damage. He was the one was taking responsibility for his stupid actions. He was the man that was not only helping the present with his Iron Man suit. This man was the one who was preparing for the Future. He was the genius who was able to read couple of research and thesis papers and understand them perfectly. He was the one that Peter had strived to be. But now¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure if he would ever be good enough.


    "What is it Peter?" Peter jumped a little bit when Tony Stark looked towards him.


    "King T¡¯Challa in on hold right now." He replied. Tony looked at him confused for a moment.


    "You know you could have told me that through FRIDAY right?"


    "I know. But I was feeling irritated with the Wakanda King and decided to put him on hold as long as possible." Peter answered truthfully. He expected to be scolded for his childishness but instead Mr. Stark smiled at him.


    "Ah a man after my own heart! Don¡¯t you just love the blinking red light? It really does appease a troubled heart!" The older man replied as he stretched his shoulders. "Let¡¯s go tell some bad news to the Kitty Cat." Peter¡¯s mood lifted just a bit.


    The two of them intentionally walked slower and used longer route back to the communication.


    When they finally entered the view of the camera T¡¯Challa immediately began talking.


    "We have a problem. The Avengers who were in my care left the country. I know that they will be coming here. I¡¯m already being hailed left and right from different countries about the attack. I can not have it known that I was harboring wanted fugitives in my country right now." He ranted as the two in the room just quietly listened.


    Tony had feared this. He knew this was going to happen. He was going to contact Rogers earlier but the Other T¡¯Challa¡¯s seizer had stopped him as he was about to dial.


    "I¡¯ll contact them to stand down. Don¡¯t worry about them. I¡¯ll take care of it."


    "Right now I have Sergeant Barnes in house arrest in his room."


    Tony cringed.


    "So Barnes weren¡¯t with them huh? Well don¡¯t do anything to him. You¡¯re only going to make Rogers more angry. Actually yeah don¡¯t mention the house arrest at all. But right now that¡¯s not the most important thing we need to talk about."


    T¡¯Challa looked at him for a moment before he understood his meaning.


    "Is he dying?"


    "Yes. He needs surgery right away. I know you don¡¯t want his presence known to anyone outside this wall but he needs it badly. I know I¡¯m a brilliant scientist but I¡¯m no surgeon." Tony watched as T¡¯Challa turned white. "I know someone that might be able to help. He is brilliant surgeon and I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t have any trouble keeping a secret if the price is good enough."


    "Is he trustworthy?" The King asked.


    "Stephen Strange¡­ well he¡¯s strange. His ego is bigger than mine. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be eager to perform a surgery that everyone else would say is impossible. And to him that¡¯s the best price possible."


    T¡¯Challa nodded his approval.


    Tony looked solemn and continued "Also one more thing you should know¡­"

 Chapter 14

    While Tony and the Peter were working in the lab, Rhodey was busy trying to get everything under control on the main floor. The Wakandan soldiers were confused as to what had happened and were literally all over the tower. While many of the commanding officers knew English most of them didn¡¯t. Rhodey was working hard with the officers to work with them to have them comfortable while they awaited their king. And if that was not hard enough soon the Media truck lined up on the grounds trying to understand what had occurred. While he worked to get them off the grounds for the moment the government decided to march in and make the whole situation worse!


    "General Ross. For what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked when he saw the aging man striding forward.


    "Colonel Rhodes. I need to talk with Stark." The general growled while he looked over at the Wakanda soldiers lounging on sofas.


    Rhodey wanted to tell the gramps off but he saw from the side of his eyes that the media had started listening closely with their cameras facing towards them.


    "Of Course General. Please follow me this way." Rhodes led him away from spying eyes and into one of the elevators. But instead of leading him down to the lab he led him up to the many conference rooms.


    "If you wait here I¡¯ll bring Tony." Rhodey stated as he went out of the room. "FRIDAY lock that damn door down will ya?" He mumbled under his breath and heard the satisfying click of the lock. As soon as he was back inside the elevator he heard the general start banging on the door. He laughed all the way down to the labs.


    When Rhodey was close enough to see his friend he stopped. Tony loved the unshaven look but right now he looked downright tired. He could faintly see the bruise on his neck which was bound to only get darker. Why was the world getting more complicated? Aliens, alternate Universes¡­ what was next? All those people downstairs had no idea what future lied ahead of them. Even he did not know what he should do for what was inevitably coming? He sighed. Well one step at a time he guess.


    "Tony. General Ross is here." He said as he walked inside the lab.


    "I know. By the way bold move! Asking FRIDAY to lock his door." Tony gave him a bright smiled. "Maybe all of you guys have been spending too much time with me. I swear you all becoming mini me."


    "What?"


    "Peter too. Haha. He had T¡¯Challa on hold for 20 min just to spite him."


    "That was childish thing to do! Doesn¡¯t he know how time sensitive this all is?" Rhodey exclaimed as he dropped down on the only chair without paper covering it.


    "Hey I don¡¯t think you have any right to scold him at the moment Mr. Childish." Rhodey loved it when Tony laughed. He¡¯s been doing it much more. He laughed with him.


    "So we all know why Ross is here. Why did T¡¯Challa call?"


    "The others left Wakanda. In fact they are heading this way right now. Not sure if they are going to barge in or stay hidden until coast is clear." His friend replied nonchalantly.


    Rhodey groaned. Sometimes the others were such idiots! He was running around because of this PR nightmare. Now he might have to deal with this also! He groaned loudly again.


    "Don¡¯t worry If they do decide to barge I¡¯ll take care of the media." Tony gave him a encouraging smile.


    "You¡¯re already stressing yourself on what¡¯s going on in this lab. You shouldn¡¯t have to worry about what¡¯s going on outside. Vision and I¡¯ll take care of it. You focus on saving other T¡¯Challa¡¯s life."


    "So what have you been telling others?" Tony smirked because the bastard already knew his answer.


    "Training exercise." Rhodey mumbled. He expected the roar of laughter this time.


    "When the heck are you going to tire of that excuse? I mean, you can only use it so much?"


    "Hey this time the Wakandan army actually seem to believe it! They been lounging all around and getting themselves drinks and all that! We¡¯re almost out of Vodka." He tried to explain himself. But he knew it sounded stupid even in his own ears.


    Tony smiled tiredly. "T¡¯Challa is entering US airspace as we speak. He should arrive at the tower in 30 min. Let¡¯s hope we¡¯ll have more answers then. For now we need to make sure Ross does not find out anything important. And training exercise isn¡¯t going to cut it."


    He frowned. "Yeah. But what the heck are we suppose to tell him? None of the excuses I¡¯m thinking about will fly with him."


    "We¡¯ll give him half truth. Someone in the Wakandan army decided to overthrow T¡¯Challa reign and tricked the army to attack the Tower. That way T¡¯Challa will be forced to step down from his throne in answer for the potential war he started. Or something along those lines."


    "What¡¯s going to stop Ross from brining down T¡¯Challa? I know he¡¯s not opposed to go to war with Wakanda. He wants their vibranium. What if he makes it all worse?" Rhodey knew the bastard well enough to not give him information that he will use for his benefit.


    "Right now Ross doesn¡¯t know that T¡¯Challa had the others. He believes that he can use T¡¯Challa as his ally. If we play this right Ross is going to believe that T¡¯Challa will owe him a favor for keeping this a secret. I know it¡¯s not the most ideal situation. But, it¡¯s the best we have. Unless T¡¯Challa himself can think of another one." Tony explained.


    Rhodey groaned once more. Why did everything have to be so complicated! He stood up as Tony cleaned up some of the papers he had been reading, The two of them left the lab and back up to the conference room. Rhodey felt a tiny bit of joy as he still heard the banging from the inside.


    Tony put on his best smile as strode in. Before Ross could even get in a word in Tony stopped him with a gesture to the conference table. Ross remained silent as the desk hologram lit up and Tony spoke.


    "Secretary, these are the current footages of downstairs with all the Wakanda soldiers. I know you already won¡¯t believe us if we tell you this has all been a simple training exercise. So before your face becomes any more red let me tell you the truth."


    Rhodes saw that Ross did not believe a word Tony said but the Secretary still took a seat.


    "Well go on. Why the hell did the Wakandan army attack a building in US territory. If it was any other country it would have been a declaration of war." The old general stated.


    "Because they were going to start a war." Tony continued before Ross could get in another word. "There was a man who wanted to overthrow T¡¯Challa and tricked the army downstairs that this was the wish of the King. Before anything damage could happen T¡¯Challa manage to contact us of the plot and we were able to peacefully settle the situation." Ross glared.


    "You expect me to believe this? Your telling me a man tricked the army to attack the Avenger Tower?"


    "Well let¡¯s just say this man is pretty high up. I¡¯m sure King T¡¯Challa would be very grateful if you match your story with ours." Now Rhodey could tell Ross began thinking and plotting. He could tell the man knew what he already wanted.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "King T¡¯Challa should be arriving some time soon so when he arrives you can talk with him more about what went on. But if you excuse me. I really need to take care of the media that just keeps piling up."


    "Don¡¯t you dare lock the door this time!" Ross growled before both of them made way outside.


    "We never locked the door. It must have been jammed. It does that sometimes. Rhodey remind me to get the door fix."


    Rhodey smirked and nodded.


    XXX


    Vision was waiting out on the Helipad waiting for T¡¯Challa to arrive. T¡¯Challa quickly left the helicopter and nodded in greeting towards the android.


    "Welcome to Avenger Tower your Highness." Vision stated pleasantly.


    T¡¯Challa shook the hand the other being held out.


    "I wish I could have visited under more favorable situation. But alas I¡¯m glad to be now. Where is Tony Stark? I would have expected him to be the one to welcome me." T¡¯Challa stated as looked around for the man


    "Tony is talking with Secretary Ross at the moment. I believe the conversation is about why Wakanda had attacked the Tower." T¡¯Challa couldn¡¯t tell if the android was being sincere or sarcastic.


    "I¡¯m sure they are. Well can you take me to the Other Me?" He asked as he walked towards the only entrance on the roof.


    "Of course. Please follow me this way." T¡¯Challa followed as he was led into the elevator and down.


    When the doors opened up the boy who he had spoken to hours ago stood waiting for them.


    "Your highness." The boy stated "Vision."


    "Peter will you take King T¡¯Challa to where the other him is resting? I am needed back on ground." Vision asked the boy, Peter, as he gestured towards him.


    "Of course. He¡¯s this way." T¡¯Challa looked around the labs as he was led. It was indeed a sight to behold. His palace labs were impressive but he could admire the many different equipment this lab held.


    As the two of the walked closer towards a door T¡¯Challa could already hear the groans and yells. Fear filled his stomach. He dreaded seeing the man behind that door. But it had to be done.


    Peter watched as T¡¯Challa¡¯s face turn deathly pale pushing the lab door. There within the glass cell stood the man who looked exactly like him. No not only look like him. But was him. The second their eyes met the other him began to laugh.


    "There is the King of Wakanda! I thought you wanted to leave me in here to rot!" The man¡¯s voice was filled with sarcasm. T¡¯Challa glared as he himself strove forward.


    "I told you to not do anything! Why didn¡¯t you listen? Do you know how much trouble Wakanda is in right now?" He roared and watched his other him flinch. It brought fear in him once more seeing the other him like this.


    "I¡­ I needed to live. You were taking too long. I need to live. I need to get back to my Wakanda!" This time the other him pleaded. The dread in his stomach only increased.


    "Tony Stark called upon a surgeon that might help prolong your life. So please do not do anything. Just rest." T¡¯Challa himself pleaded. When the other him began looking around and mumbling to himself T¡¯Challa knew he was having another hallucination. With a sigh he turned back and was face to face with the man he had wanted to talk to.


    "So is it unnerving to see someone with the same face act like this?" Stark asked.


    "You have no idea."


    "I know you want to talk more about what we can do for him. But right now we need to take Ross out of here. And the fastest way is for you to talk with him. I already told him the story we came up with. Ross seemed eager to get something from you. Most likely Vibranium but I¡¯m sure you can handle him yourself." Stark stated once again led him up.


    "Yes. I think I already know what I can do for Secretary Ross." T¡¯Challa replied.


    "Well he¡¯s through that door. Try not to bash his head in to the floor. Repairing floors cost me money."


    XXX


    It was only when the jet was flying over the Atlantic ocean did Scott decided to regrow the plane back to it¡¯s original size. The team had been discussing on where they can stay and talked about strategies to be able to go in to the US unnoticed.


    "Well I guess we can do the same thing as last time?" Sam asked. "We can use Scott¡¯s ants again."


    "I guess that¡¯s the easiest way to sneak in." Clint agreed. As he watched Scott command the ants put in sugar for him inside his coffee. "I know that¡¯s cool and all but man that disgusting."


    "Hey! Ants are clean. I wouldn¡¯t eat anything you touched though." Scott quipped back.


    Clint laughed. Somehow after the battle in Wakanda the group was back to their selves. Scott like this much more. But he could not let go of his doubt on Cap¡¯s leadership. He was Captain America! The hero all boys and girls his age grown up with. How can he doubt someone like him? But he did.


    Steve laughed with them. He wanted to relax the way the others seemed but he couldn¡¯t. He feared what lied ahead of them. When he had left the others he did so because he believed they could take care of themselves. But when he saw Tony being strangled¡­ He forgot Tony was just a man without his suit. He wasn¡¯t like him.


    Wanda looked over at him. Steve nodded towards her.


    "Is there something you want to tell me?" He asked.


    "When we get there¡­ What if Tony doesn¡¯t want our help?" She asked softy.


    He had debated that too. He knew their relationship was not that great at the moment. But Steve had given his word that he would be there for Tony when he was needed. He was going to keep that promise.


    "Don¡¯t worry Wanda. We won¡¯t do anything rash. We will stay hidden until the moment we are indeed needed."


    Steve saw her nod and smiled.


    XXX


    "Doctor Strange! How have you been? I¡¯ve been great. Yeah. Well you see as you might have heard from the news the Tower was attacked. But that¡¯s not the whole story. Uh huh. There¡¯s someone over here that really needs your assistance. I¡¯ll send over my helicopter. Right. See you soon." Peter watched Mr. Stark end the call.


    "So is Doctor Strange that good of a surgeon?"


    "One of the best." The older man replied. "But too prideful. Well¡­ It¡¯s a pride he deserves. He truly is an artist in the surgery room."


    Peter listened carefully. When he began working for Mr. Stark he had met so many amazing people. People who were the best in their own specialties. There were so many people who deserved to be called hero than him.


    "Why did you ask me to help you?" He asked finally. "You know so many amazing people. So why me? Both at the airport and again here? Why me?"


    Mr. Stark observed him carefully.


    "We were all young once. We weren¡¯t the best in what we did. We made tons of mistakes as we reached here. I saw greatness in you. I saw someone who can be taught. I saw me in you."


    Peter was speechless for a second. "What¡­?"


    "You¡¯re brilliant Peter. Don¡¯t ever doubt yourself. I asked you to help me because I needed you. I asked you because you were the best I needed. Still need."


    Peter was speechless. It took several moments and blinking before he spoke again. "Thank you. For everything."


    "And one more thing. I know you keep calling me Mr. Stark but can you stop now? I mean come on just call me Tony. Mr. Stark makes me sound old!"


    Peter couldn¡¯t stop himself. "You are old." He froze but began laughing with Tony.


    Yeah. He was lucky to meet Tony Stark.


    XXX


    "So how did your talk with Ross go?" Rhodey asked T¡¯Challa when they all gathered in the labs.


    "I have decided to allow his nephew to be the ambassador in Wakanda. And for him to show me around when I am here in New York." T¡¯Challa replied.


    "Ross wanted Everett as the ambassador in Wakanda?" Rhodey was surprised that he didn¡¯t ask for Vibranium.


    "I¡¯m sure he believes that with Everett Ross there that there would be greater chance to sneak out information." Tony replied for T¡¯Challa. "Well I¡¯m glad we got him out of our hair this soon. Now we really need to talk about the elephant in the room. Really? Alternate Universe?" Tony asked.


    T¡¯Challa inspected all the people in the room. He watched as they all looked expectantly at him.


    "Yes. He is me from another universe. When the aliens attacked New York 4 years ago¡­ He was transported here to this world. It seems he had wanted to find a way back home by himself. But after two years of no progress he had come to me for help."


    "And you believed him?" Peter asked this time


    "Yes. After hours of testing we found out he was indeed me."


    "So when did you know about his illness?" Vision asked.


    "After a year later. He began acting violent to the Scientist. And one day he had a seizer. When he was unconscious we tested him and found out about the aneurism."


    "So your helping him because he¡¯s you." Rhodey stated.


    T¡¯Challa remained silent for a moment. "No I¡¯m helping because I have the same illness."


    The room became silent after his confession.


    "What?" the teen in the room asked.


    "After the other me fell¡­ I took the same test. I thought it wouldn¡¯t hurt to test myself. After all he was me¡­ And sadly I was right."


    Tony grimaced. When he said what he did earlier he had not thought how truthful that statement might have been.


    "So. How come your not acting like a panther and he is?" Tony asked. As he watched carefully for other symptoms that might show itself in T¡¯Challa.


    "Because my illness is not that far gone. I found my illness quick enough that medication is holding it at bay. But it¡¯s not enough. Surgery I was told was impossible. I was hoping as I helped the Other Me that I would find a cure for myself. I am sorry for trying to trick you into handing me Killian¡¯s research." T¡¯Challa apologized and bowed his head.


    "We would have helped right away if you had told us the truth." Rhodey stated.


    Tony watched silently before he stood up.


    "Well then no time to waste let¡¯s find a cure. And I really need to call someone now. So excuse me for a moment."


    And Tony left the rest of the group in the lab and walked toward his own room.


    He picked up the cell phone that was lying on his table. He sighed once before he flipped it opened and dialed.


    It rang about 3 times before the call went through.


    "Tony?" Steve sounded relieved.


    "Yo Cap. Are you trying to make everything more complicated for me?" Tony answered back.

 Chapter 15

    "Tony." Steve was so relieved to hear his voice but scared at the same time. Was Tony calling because something occurred? Did he need his help? But they were still 7 hours out¡­


    "Yo Cap. Are trying to make everything more complicated for me?" The flippant tone of his voice startled him more than the words.


    "Tony. Are you ok? What¡¯s happening?" He asked. Everyone in the jet looked towards him curiously.


    "Cap. I don¡¯t really have time to explain things to you now, but you need to stay away from New York. I know your coming. Stay hidden and I¡¯ll talk with you later."


    Before Steve could get in another word Tony hung up on him. He closed his eyes in frustration. He looked at his phone again and dialed.


    "You can¡¯t keep hanging up on me Tony!" He said as soon as it connected.


    "And you can¡¯t keep doing things your own way!¡¯ Tony growled at him. ¡®Do you even know what¡¯s going on here? Why the hell are you forcing your way back?"


    Steve cut him off. "I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on! That¡¯s why you have to tell me! I¡¯m not a psychic. I need you to tell me the situation so that I can act accordingly!"


    "And why the hell do I have to tell you anything? You didn¡¯t last time! You thought I wasn¡¯t going to side with you and left me in the dark! I took one look at the evidence and agreed it was Zemo. But instead of telling me you ran off! And Ross gave orders to shoot on sight! If I had known I could have persuaded him and the UN differently! And don¡¯t give me bull shit of not enough time! You had time to contact Clint and Lang. You had time to contact me!" Tony yelled so loudly that the other occupants in the Jet flinched at his tone.


    Steve yelled back. "You wouldn¡¯t have agreed with me! You were so focused on passing the Accords you would have ignored the evidence!"


    "What the hell are you talking about? Me ignore the evidence? Oh my god Rogers! Who the hell do you think I am? I¡¯m not some government official that uses situation to my advantage! I came for you and Barnes in Siberia didn¡¯t I?"


    "Tony! Once you set your mind on something your immovable!" He growled. Why couldn¡¯t he see why he had to act the way he did.


    "Are you calling me stubborn? Why yes Rogers I am! But at least I have the guts to admit I am! But you know that describes you to the tee also! And guess what? I wasn¡¯t ¡®immovable¡¯ last time! I broke the accords to go help you!"


    Steve let out a frustrated breath to try to calm himself. "That¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about and you know it."


    "Are you talking to me about my parent¡¯s murder? You really want to go there?" Tony became deadly silent.


    "You would have killed him if I didn¡¯t stop you." Steve replied silently also.


    "Are you calling me stubborn for raging against the person I had just witnessed kill my parents?"


    "You weren¡¯t only raging. You were going to kill him."


    There was silence on the other line. Steve feared he might just hang up again. Damn. He had wanted to talk with Tony not fight again. Why was it so hard to just talk?


    "Tony. That¡¯s why I called. Your right. We made tons of mistake last time because there was no communication between us. I was wrong in keeping you in the dark. So let¡¯s not make the same mistake again. Let¡¯s not let our egos get in the way."


    Steve heard Tony scoff.


    "So you¡¯re admitting you have an ego you righteous bastard?" Steve really had to try hard to stop himself from snapping back.


    "Yes Tony, I am. So please tell me what¡¯s going on."


    "No. I¡¯m not going to tell you anything. You¡¯re no longer an Avenger. Actually you all are fugitives. If I see you anywhere near New York I¡¯m going to shoot on sight. Stay away Rogers. And call me once more and I¡¯m going to trace the call and send the US army your way. This is the end." And the line went dead.


    Steve crushed the phone in his hand.


    XXX


    Tony let out a long breath. He can feel the unshed tears and wiped them before they had the chance to drop. Damn him. He should not have called. He should have let them come and be caught by the authorities. He had nothing to do with them anyway.


    He couldn¡¯t stop himself this time.


    Tony threw the phone as hard as he can on the ground and loved the crushing sound it made. He had too much to do to think about the self righteous bastard! Tony turned around to leave but was startled by the person waiting for him by the doorway.


    "Hank." Tony whispered. "When did you get here?" He was shocked he had no idea the older man had entered his room.


    "From the beginning." Hank looked tired as shuffle his way inside and sat down on one of his sofas. Tony watched Hank look at the broken pieces of the phone. "You¡¯re an idiot."


    Tony sighed once more and groaned. "Not you too." He stated quietly. He didn¡¯t have the energy to this again.


    Hank looked at him. "You should have broken that thing the moment you got it."


    Tony couldn¡¯t help it. He laughed out loud. He laughed for a long five minute before he could finally control himself. Hank during the time got off the sofa and went towards his desk to look over all the research he had been doing. He calmly waited until he was able to settle down.


    "Why did my father hate you? I would have loved an uncle like you when I was younger." Tony stifled the laughter fighting its way out.


    "Oh he didn¡¯t hate me. I did. Actually I hate all Stark that includes you. So get back to work. Cause that¡¯s the only redeeming part of you." Hank said as he pushed the papers he deemed useful towards Tony. "The others are waiting. We need to figure out the situation before other things can get in the way." He headed out and paused for just a bit when Tony spoke.


    "Thank you Hank."


    XXX


    "Doctor Pym!" Peter exclaimed when he noticed the two people enter the labs.


    "Peter." Hank nodded in greeting. He looked towards T¡¯Challa and also nodded his way. "So do you know anything that might help us? The Extremis program we have been working on will not be ready in time. But maybe if we know why his brain in deteriorating so fast we might be able to find a quicker cure." Hank asked as he made his way to his chair.


    Tony made his way and opened up the current MRI. It was getting worse by the hour.


    "I don¡¯t know. The last time we had checked it was not this bad. My scientists believed it might have been something to do with the world crossing. But there was no way for us to collect any data in that area."


    "Have you ever tried contacting Eric Selvig?" Tony asked this time. "After the appearance of Thor he became the leading scientist on world crossing."


    "Yes My scientist did get in contact with him. But from what he understood the crossing of the universe he knew was only that of Yggdrasill. He had no idea of any that there might be a whole different universe from ours." T¡¯Challa answered.


    The others in the room watched the two older scientist as they silently sat to think.


    "Maybe Thor will know more? After all they are the ones who uses the Bifrost to travel to multiple worlds." Tony asked Hank.


    "Maybe. But didn¡¯t you already ask Thor about world traveling before? I remember reading it in your files."


    "I did. But Thor is not the sharpest Hammer in the world yeah? Maybe someone else in Asgard might have a different answer?"


    Rhodey groaned. "Please don¡¯t say Loki."


    "Wow you really are getting to know me really well Rhodey! Loki knew ways of traveling between worlds even Heimdall didn¡¯t know about. Who better to ask?"


    "The last I heard he was imprisoned in Asgard prison. How the hell are we suppose to ask him?" Rhodey asked once more.


    "Hey we aren¡¯t going to ask him. Thor is." Tony stated smugly.


    "Their sibling rivalry is much greater than your fight with Steve. I really don¡¯t think Loki will say a single word." When Rhodey finished talking Tony stayed silent and Hank answered for him.


    "The traveling of universes might not even be what affected the other T¡¯Challa. Let¡¯s focus on cures. Extremis is still too new for human experimentation. It¡¯s going to take at least another 10 month before any of us can deem it safe for any live organism experiment. I heard you contacted Stephen Strange. What¡¯s his ETA?"


    "Actually he should be here any moment. But even with Strange¡¯s skill we will only be able to prolong his time a little bit." Tony said as he once again looked over the test results.


    "Well we need to alleviate his brain and we will put him back into Cryostasis. And you." Hank looked towards T¡¯Challa. "You need to be constantly checked. Strange might be able to help you right now. It is in a place that¡¯s hard to operate on but maybe Strange can pull off a miracle." T¡¯Challa nodded and the look of relief was noticeable to everyone in the room.


    "Boss Doctor Strange arrived on the Helipad." FRIDAY notified them.


    "Great! Peter can you do the honors and welcome the good doctor in?" Tony asked and Peter jumped up eagerly


    "Of course!" and the teen eagerly left the room.


    XXX


    "I take it the conversation didn¡¯t go well?" Scott asked awkwardly. Clint gave him a sharp look.


    "No shit Sherlock." He quipped harshly.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Scott raised his hands in surrender. "Hey I don¡¯t know what went on in Siberia but why did Tony try to kill Barnes? He seemed awfully defensive for a person who tried to kill another person."


    Steve stood silently before he faced his team. "Tony tried to kill Bucky because he found out Bucky killed his parents when he was brainwashed."


    Everyone took a moment to comprehend the situation.


    Clint spoke first. "So Tony couldn¡¯t forgive that Barnes was brainwashed to kill his parents?"


    "¡­He couldn¡¯t forgive that I didn¡¯t tell him." He answered truthfully.


    Wanda frowned. "You knew Barnes killed Stark¡¯s parents? And you didn¡¯t tell him? Then how did he find out?" She asked.


    "Zemo found a footage of the killing and played it for us."


    Sam frowned in understanding "How graphic was the footage? I know even strong men can¡¯t handle their love runs being killed in front of them."


    Steve frowned with him. "It was pretty graphic. But Bucky was brainwashed. Tony should have understood."


    "Well¡­ yeah I guess. But It¡¯s understandable. Even I would be raging if I saw any of you being killed never less my parents." Sam stated.


    "I know I would have too." Scott replied right after.


    "I¡¯m assuming Tony didn¡¯t stop his raging even after you tried to stop him huh?" Clint asked. He knew Tony couldn¡¯t see reason when he was angered. Telling his home address to known terrorist was one example he could think of on the top of his head.


    "I tried stopping him. But once he found out I knew but didn¡¯t tell him he hit me and started attacking Bucky. I couldn¡¯t stop him even when I punched him." Steve told the rest of them.


    "Wait¡­" Sam frowned deeply. "Did you say you punched him?"


    "Yes. I saw no other way. He was in his Iron Man suit and ripped off Bucky¡¯s metallic arm."


    "You¡¯re saying you punched a man who was enraged because he just saw his parents being murdered?" Sam asked once more.


    Steve looked at Sam questioningly and nodded.


    "Steve. Man. If your enraged and someone punches you in the face does it calm you down or make you more angry?"


    "I¡­ There was no other way. He would have killed him"


    Sam watched him with mouth agape. "Dude, you don¡¯t punch a man your trying to stop him from going berserk! You hold him down and make him take his breath! That¡¯s like logic." Sam stated as he stood up from where he stood. Sam couldn¡¯t believe Cap had done something so stupid. Who the heck believed punching a mad man will calm him down?


    "I tried to reason with him! He wouldn¡¯t back down. So I had to cut off his power supply for the Iron Man suit! That was the only way we could stop him."


    "So afterwards you did try talking with him right? To get him to see reason? And what¡­ Tony left the two of you because he didn¡¯t want to speak?" Sam asked once more as he continued to paced around the Jet.


    "No¡­ I left with Bucky first once he suit was stopped." Steve replied quietly.


    "You left after you finally managed to stop him from raging!?" Sam yelled. "You didn¡¯t try to reason with him again? You just left? You didn¡¯t have to worry about him killing you two anymore! Your suppose to talk stuff like this through! I thought you consider him your friend?"


    "I do consider him my friend!" Steve yelled back.


    "You chose one friend for another! You left him there! Don¡¯t you know? The more and more you have time to think about something the angrier most people get! You should have made him see reason when you had the chance." The rest of the people looked on with wide eyes. They have never seen Sam get angry with Steve. He always seemed to agree with what the Captain did.


    "I sent Tony a letter explaining why I did what I did. I hoped he would see reason through it. But it seems he didn¡¯t. I sent him a phone as a sign of my apology to him. I told him I¡¯ll be always there when he needed me." Steve sounded anguished. "That¡¯s why I need to be there for him now! I saw him being attacked. But he¡¯s too suborn to ask for help. I need to help him because he¡¯s too stubborn to ever willingly say he needs help! That¡¯s who he is."


    Sam calmed down a bit at the pleading look on Steve. "Steve. I don¡¯t know how brutal the fight between you two were. But I know Tony went to Siberia to help you. He begged me Steve. Begged. That man you¡¯re saying is too stubborn to ask for help begged for my help so that he can help you. I¡¯ve worked with many PTSD veterans who saw their comrades die in battle. I saw my friend die. It¡¯s a hard thing to watch. You should have understood him more. I know Tony would have been enraged. But how you try to solve the situation was all wrong. Steve. You were wrong. If you were his friend you wouldn¡¯t have abandoned him after the fight. You would have brought him back with you." Sam ended as he frowned and waited to see if Steve would respond back. When he didn¡¯t Sam shook his head in disappointment and went towards the farthest seat on the plane and sat.


    Steve stood in shock. Why did he leave Tony there in Siberia? Why didn¡¯t he talk with him? He thought it was because Tony wouldn¡¯t understand. Maybe if he tried harder he would have made Tony understand. Why did he drop the shield? He dropped it without a second though. He thought it was because he did not deserve it after taking Bucky¡¯s side even after he witness Howard¡¯s murder like Tony stated. But¡­ maybe he dropped it because he was being childish. Maybe he had dropped it because he wanted to prove to Tony he didn¡¯t need the damn thing¡­


    He looked up at the others. They all tried their best to not stare at him. He could see they were awkwardly trying to do something. None of them spoke up for him when Sam had reprimanded him. Maybe he really was in the wrong in this. And small part of him¡­ agreed with them.


    XXX


    Peter had went up to the helipad eager to meet the renown surgeon. But when he had tried to greet the older man the man rushed past him. Peter stood in shock for a moment before he had to run to keep up the much taller person.


    "Doctor Strange welcome to Avenger Tower." Peter quickly stated as he had to semi-run to be walking at the same pace as the surgeon.


    The Doctor didn¡¯t spare even a single glance as he just walked into the elevator. When they were both inside the elevator was the first time the man spoke when Peter awkwardly stood next to him.


    "Well aren¡¯t you going to push the floor? I don¡¯t know where Stark is." The Doctor sniped


    Peter felt irritation arise. He sure had walked as if he knew everything. (Who did he think he was?)


    "Ah¡­ yeah here." Peter reached and pushed the floor where the labs were located. Any other time Peter would have tried to make conversation but he didn¡¯t want to talk to this arrogant man (Ugh!).


    The man also seemed uneager to make conversation so Peter silently pouted behind the man began making faces at him. It was when the elevator stopped the Doctor spoke once more.


    "You do know I can see your reflection. I don¡¯t know why Stark will use a intern like you." And the man left leaving Peter red faced.


    How dare he call me an intern! (well technically he was an intern¡­) Peter huffed as stomped after the tall man.


    "Strange! How are you?" Tony welcomed him warmly. Peter growled internally as he watched the man warmly greet Tony and shook his hands. He felt his irritation grow when the Doctor warmly greeted everyone but him! (How dare he look down on him!) If only this man knew he was Spiderman he would have acknowledge him also!


    "Doctor Pym, it has been a while." Strange stated as he shook the older man¡¯s hands


    "Yes. It has been what¡­ seven years? Your presentation during the seminar was excellent." Hank replied.


    "Ah. It wasn¡¯t as good as your seminar on subtomic particle." Strange replied with a genuine smile.


    Peter huffed on the side which went ignored by everyone except Colonel Rhodes. Peter saw him smirk at him and he felt his face turn red and he pointedly ignored the Vet.


    "So how does it feel to be in my shoes?" Rhodey asked as he watch Peter ignore the interaction between the older men.


    Peter decided to act more childish and decided to give him the silent treatment with a glare. Rhodey laughed and left the teen wallow in his own embarrassment.


    After the greetings were shared the group began talking about the condition of the patient.


    Strange took one look at the MRI and knew why the group had decided to call him. It really was a difficult surgery.


    "I can clear the aneurism up here. But any work done in these region will risk his life." Strange stated as he pointed at the test.


    "We had assumed." Hank said thoughtfully.


    "We are already looking for alternative cure but at the rate he¡¯s going he might not last three days. We were hoping maybe you can alleviate the pressure?" Tony asked


    "Yes that won¡¯t be hard. But even if I do release the pressure now it won¡¯t be long before it becomes inflamed again." The surgeon replied honestly. He noticed that the King of Wakanda look distraught.


    "How hard would be this surgery?" Tony asked as he handed Doctor Strange another set of results.


    Strange saw that the conditions were very similar to the previous patient. But still¡­


    "This would be a hard surgery also. Because it is in the under layer of the frontal lobe the chance of losing mobility is very high." He answered


    "Even with your skills?" Hank looked at him critically.


    "I will be the best chance they got. Even then I can only guarantee 37% chance of total successful surgery."


    T¡¯Challa sighed. He had known it was impossible but to hear it from the world renown surgeon was hard.


    "Ok well the first patient is very urgent now so can you start the surgery immediately? I¡¯ll get the Cryobed ready as your are in surgery." Tony stated as he got up to show the Doctor the surgery room he had prepared for him.


    Everyone followed his lead as Tony opened the door.


    Strange took a moment when he was faced with his patient, startled to meet the face of the man standing next to him. The other looked expectantly at him, but Strange said nothing and strode his way in front of the glass cell.


    "Let¡¯s do this."


    XXX


    When the group arrived secretly in Cuba the mood had still not improved. Sam still refused to talk with Steve and everyone tried to ignore both of them.


    Steve finally decided it was enough and tried to make truce.


    "Sam I know what I did was wrong. That¡¯s why I¡¯m trying to make up for it. Please help me make it up to Tony." Steve pleaded


    Sam turned to Steve for the first time since the incident and spoke. "Cap. I love you man¡­ And I¡¯ll run with you till the ends of the earth." Sam sighed. It was true. No matter what mistakes Steve made¡­ He knew in the end he will follow this man till the end. He just had to help him to not make such mistakes again.


    Steve smiled and nodded. He looked towards the other and gave his orders.


    "We will stay here and make base until we know what is happening in the Tower. Right now it seems the situations died down but when we are needed we will go. Scott contact Doctor Pym and see if you can get more information on what¡¯s going on. Clint can you contact your sources and see what they know of the situation?" Both men nodded at their orders and headed out.


    "What do you want me to do?" Sam asked.


    "Nothing for now. We need more information before we do anything." The remaining two nodded.


    And when Steve finally thought he could settle down to think of a plan the missile hit where they stood. In a split second he was able to read the Stark Industries on the side of the missile before he braced himself for the explosion.


    But it never came. He opened the eyes he had unknowingly closed. Before him Wanda and used her power to contain the blast of the explosion like she had months before. This time when she lifted the explosion up she was able to throw it high enough that the people on the ground could only feel the heat of the blast.


    Before any of them could relax though, they were surrounded. Steve watched as the Wakandan soldiers lifted up their guns and the heavy machinery were all faced towards them.


    "If you do not surrender we will shoot to kill." One of the commanding officers yelled their way.


    Steve raised his hands signaling his surrender and the other two followed suit. They allowed themselves to be handcuffed and were dragged away to wherever they were going to hold them.


    XXX


    Peter watched the operation in awe. He had never watched a live surgery before but even without the need of comparison he could tell Doctor Strange was doing a phenomenal job. The others in the room were watching critically at the steps the Doctor took.


    Peter shook his head in wonder. The man was a douche but¡­ like Tony said¡­ He was one amazing surgeon. Tony had given an estimate on how long the surgery might take before Strange started, but it was half of the estimated time when the man started closing up. The teen watched as the other scientist in the room appreciate the doctor¡¯s skills with a approving nod.


    "With this he won¡¯t be in immediate danger. But we still need to hurry and put him in Cryostasis.¡¯"Hank told T¡¯Challa as they stood up from the chairs they were sitting. "FRIDAY is Tony ready with the bed?" he sternly asked the AI


    "Boss says it is ready and that he is brining it up as we speak."


    Hank nodded as he went inside the surgery room. Peter was alone with T¡¯Challa and saw the relief that passed through his whole body.


    "Are you ok?" Peter asked softly.


    "Maybe¡­ maybe there will be a hope for me" T¡¯Challa stated more to himself then answer his question.


    In moments the door to the operation room opened once more with Tony and the bed in tow. The three people in the room quickly place the patient in bed. Once the bed was closed the teen watched as the frost set through the glass. They were finally done with phase one. Now they had to look for a cure.


    The two scientist and the surgeon came out of the operation room with smiles on their faces as they gave T¡¯Challa the good news.


    "Your highness I was able to alleviate not just the pressure but also one of the bigger aneurism. Due to this the brain should deteriorate slower and within the Cryobed it should be completely stopped until we bring him out again." The Doctor spoke.


    "I am very grateful Doctor. Thank you." The King replied with a strained voice.


    "Your highness won¡¯t you come with me? I think it¡¯s time we need to talk about your status." Strange stated as he gestured for the King to follow him for privacy. T¡¯Challa followed him.


    When Peter was finally alone in the room with two of his favorite people he finally asked.


    "How likely is it that he¡¯s going to survive?"


    "that depends on how quickly we can finish Extremis. So no more dilly dallying" Hank grumbled.


    The teen smiled. Now this felt normal. No more arrogant kings or the douche of a doctor. Just him, Tony, and Doctor Pym. With Colonel Rhodes waiting for them and Vision¡­ by the way¡­


    "Where¡¯s Vision?" He asked in confusion. He had not seen him after he had passed T¡¯Challa along to him¡­


    Both Peter and Hank looked expectantly at last occupant in the room.


    Tony shrugged but replied.


    "I thought he might need a rest and sent him to more tropical place than here." And he left the room quickly before they could ask more question.

 Chapter 16

    Steve and the others were taken towards the camp of the Wakandan soldiers. Steve followed them quietly. He needed time to think. Did Tony betray them like he had threatened hours before? But why were the Wakandan army here and not the US? Did T¡¯Challa betray them? After all it was someone who looked like him that had attacked the tower. What was going on? If only he had more information¡­


    Steve looked sideways to Wanda. The Wakandan army had not come prepared. The cuffs on both his would easily break by him and Wanda¡¯s power. If they needed to they could escape any moment. But he had allowed himself to be caught. He wanted to find out what the people of Wakanda knew. It was when they were almost to the temporary tent in the middle of the camp Steve knew he might finally receive the answers he had yearned for.


    Inside the tent was a tall man. Steve recognized him instantly. He was one of the advisors who had always glared at him every time they had met. And even now the man scowled at the trio.


    "Rogers." The man growled harshly. "I knew you would be trouble. I adamantly disagreed with his highness on your stay in Wakanda. And how did you repay the hospitality of our people? With violence!"


    Steve and the other remained silent. He saw Sam glaring at the taller man defiantly.


    "We have enjoyed Wakanda¡¯s hospitality greatly. We had hoped to leave your country peacefully but it was one of your soldiers who had fired first" Steve replied. The man growled and spoke in Wakandan harshly. Even without knowing a single word of Wakandan the group could tell he was cursing at them. He commanded his soldiers and the three of them were promptly pushed to the ground.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter now! King T¡¯Challa is dying. We were told he has only 2 more days to live. And his imposter has taken over! We are going to hand the three of you over to the UN. If you try to escape we will shoot." And the man left with the three of them sitting on the ground with their guards standing over them guns pointed.


    They did not have to wait long though. Soon they heard commotion outside and they knew it was Clint and Scott. When the commotion came closer they noticed the guards tensing and quickly Steve gave his sign. The three of them swiftly stood and knocked the guns away from them and incapacitated them.  But the person that awaited them outside surprised them.


    "Captain. It has been a long time. We have to go quickly. It seems the advisor name K¡¯Abi wanted to overthrow King T¡¯Challa¡¯s rule." There in front of them stood Vision. Wanda looked on with wide eye before rushing forward to hug the android.


    "I missed you" She whispered and tightened her grip.


    Vision smiled and patted her on the head. "I missed you too. But we need to hurry. If we stay here any longer we might not make it in time."


    "How did you know we were here. And What do you know about the Wakandan army right now?" Steve asked as the team rushed out of the camp.


    "Tony sent me. We assumed you would try to station yourself in Cuba but I was only able to pinpoint your location when I saw the Wakandan army asking Cuba for entrance. I believe they tracked you through the gps system on the Jet you took."


    "Tony sent you?" Steve asked once more in disbelief. Last time he spoke with him¡­


    Vision did not answer as the group met up with the two others.


    "Vision! How did it go?" Clint asked excitedly as he jumped down from the tree he was perched on. Vision had found them earlier and volunteered to rescue the three


    "It went well as can be. Now that all of you are here let me play the message from Tony." Vision took out a  disk and a hologram of Tony stood before them.


    "Well¡­ This is awkward." The hologram stated. "Well I told Vision to give you all this message if he thought we needed you¡­ So I guess everything is about to go to shit." Tony sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.


    "T¡¯Challa had a secret that is about to blow up in everyone¡¯s faces. While it¡¯s not my place to tell you his secret¡­But it is something I and others in this tower would love keep secret to the world at the moment." The group looked at each other and towards Vision who only shook his head already knowing what they might ask.


    "It¡¯s not my place to tell either" He replied.


    The hologram went on.


    "I know you all became acquainted with the lovely Hank Pym recently. Well thanks to his paranoia and suspicion against T¡¯Challa, he had placed a virus in their system. Thanks to that we were able to find out Advisor K¡¯Abi¡¯s rebellion. It seems he did not trust his newly anointed King¡¯s decision. We have multiple emails he has sent to generals in the army trying to rally them to his cause. When that did not work it seems he cook up a evil plan about imposters and the army followed his plan and attacked the Tower." Tony paused a bit. Steve saw the tired bags under his eyes.


    "We need¡­ by we I mean the leftover Avengers and T¡¯Challa¡­ K¡¯Abi to be taken care of quietly. I mean¡­ He needs to be taken back to Wakanda for a private trial without anyone knowing. Why? Well that also is part of the Secret that I can¡¯t tell you."


    Steve sighed, there were too many secrets.


    "So we can¡¯t do anything. We can¡¯t assemble the Avengers. We need you¡­ I need you." When Tony stated this everyone knew he was speaking directly to one person. Steve froze. They had ended the call so horribly¡­


    "Vision will help you. He will tell you anything you need to know¡­ Well except the secret of course." Tony gave them a smirk. "Well Cap since you did tell me that I¡¯m the leader of the Avengers now¡­


    Avengers Assemble."


    And the hologram went black.


    Steve smiled. He watched as the rest of them smile. From when did those two words lift their spirits so much.  He got to work.


    "Vision I need you tell me everything you can. Let¡¯s get to work Avengers!"


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    XXX


    "So now that priority number one is settled we need to talk about the conspiracy Hank uncovered." Tony stated when they all gathered once more. Tony found it hilarious that they always seemed to gather in the labs. Before with the other they had always gathered in the kitchen or the living room.


    "I had no idea that K¡¯Abi will betray me. He was one of Father¡¯s most trusted advisors¡­" T¡¯Challa told them with anguish in his face. It must have been hard for the young king. With all the personal problem he was going through one of the person he trusted the most decided to betray him. Tony knew that feeling very well. Very well indeed.


    "Well it¡¯s a good thing K¡¯Abi did not tell the others about alternate universe yet. If that bag of cats escaped I don¡¯t know what would have happened." Hank stated. "All the email exchanges that he sent to the generals will be enough to prove he was planning a rebellion. I don¡¯t think there will be a need to announce the presence of the Other T¡¯Challa." All of them nodded in agreement.


    "How are we suppose to find out where he is though?" Peter asked. "Didn¡¯t you say he has gone MIA with a small portion of the army?"


    T¡¯Challa sighed. But Tony spoke before he did.


    "I received a message from Vision awhile ago. It seems K¡¯Abi entered Cuba and attacked the others." No one needed an explanation on who the others were.


    Hank looked towards him. "Tropical place huh?" Tony shrugged.


    "So what are we going to do?" Rhodey asked.


    "Nothing. We are under the accords and without revealing the presence of the Other T¡¯Challa we can¡¯t persuade the UN in allowing us to help." Tony replied. "So¡­ I told the others to take care of it."


    "You told Steve to take care of it?" Rhodey asked in shock.


    "Well he needed something to do. And I thought this will keep him busy enough" He stated. When he had sent Vision to Cuba he had believed this mission will take the group back to Wakanda to apprehend K¡¯Abi¡­ He had not expected the Wakandan Man will gather an army and come himself to Cuba.


    T¡¯Challa stood up. "He is my responsibility I need to apprehend him myself."


    Hank looked calmly at the King. "You¡¯re sick. You will rest." He said and even though he did not growl like usual it gave no room for argument.


    T¡¯Challa heaved a big breath before he backed down and sat.


    Suddenly alarm sent off again. Tony sighed¡­ He really really didn¡¯t like that sound anymore.


    "FRIDAY what is it."


    "Boss. Someone matching K¡¯Abi¡¯s description has entered the compound." T¡¯Challa stood and growled and before anyone could stop him rushed out of the lab.


    "Well guess there was no need to worry about where he is." Peter stated.


    XXX


    "Men! Stand up and protect your King!" K¡¯Abi yelled as soon as he saw the soldiers lounging in the tower. "Your king was captured by the so called Avengers and an imposter has taken his place!¡¯  Panic started spreading through the people and many of them rushed up with their weapon in hand. "If you see anyone who looks like your King do not listen to him and bring him to me! He will be accountable for the rebellion he was about to cause!"


    The men hurried up and got into formation but before any of them could move T¡¯Challa entered.


    "K¡¯Abi! How dare you trick my men!" He roared. The soldiers were looking confused. The man in front of them did look like T¡¯Challa.


    "You fake! Where is our King!" K¡¯Abi yelled back. T¡¯Challa growled as he rushed towards the aging advisor.


    The men did not know what to do as some of them tried to stop T¡¯Challa and the others tried to stop K¡¯Abi. But before any real fight could start the room was filled with gas. Chaos filled the room as the army lost sight and one by one were taken down.


    By the time War Machine entered the battle all of the soldiers had lost conscious. Rhodey looked around in shock. T¡¯Challa had K¡¯Abi on the ground and roared once more.


    "Why? Why did you betray me!?"


    "Because you are incompetent! You have nothing but your bloodline! You have always tried to escape the responsibility of a ruler all your life. I had tried to advise you like your father asked of me! But you wouldn¡¯t listen. No you wouldn¡¯t listen to any of your advisors and allowed those fugitives into our land! You have no right to rule!" K¡¯Abi yelled back. T¡¯Challa stood still in shock.


    "I have always tried to heed your warning. I took every advise you have given me and acted accordingly." The king whispered.


    "No T¡¯Challa you didn¡¯t. You allowed your father¡¯s legacy to be dirtied the moment you allowed them in." The young staggered back at his harsh words. Had we really dirtied his father¡¯s legacy? He had done what he thought was right¡­


    "Well that¡¯s a load of Bullshit I ever heard." The people in the room glanced towards Tony as he strode in with Strange right besides him.


    "T¡¯Challa don¡¯t listen to him. He planned on killing you months ago. Even before you were anointed King." Tony stated as he threw papers he was holding in his hands.


    T¡¯Challa quickly glanced as the paper as K¡¯Abi took the moment to get up with a gun pointed towards the King.


    "What do you mean?" T¡¯Challa asked Tony as he turned towards the advisor he had trusted deeply.


    But instead of Tony answering Strange spoke up.


    "The test results came back. We know why the patient was becoming worse so quickly. He was being fed hallucinogenic plant that is highly poisonous in large doses. I believe you know it pretty well after all it is native to Wakanda. He was feeding you the same plants in smaller doses. You had hallucination you haven¡¯t told us right? You were afraid you were becoming like the patient. You¡¯re not. You were poisoned."  The Doctor told him impassively.


    K¡¯Abi growled. "You never had the right to rule! You were a disappointment to your father his whole life! White Wolf should have ruled in your place!" The Wakandan raised his gun higher and was about to pull his trigger when the shield flew into him.


    The shield rebounded back to it¡¯s thrower and Rhodey watched as the others followed Steve and came out from their hiding place one by one.


    "Well. Too bad for you but we think T¡¯Challa is an excellent ruler." Tony stated. K¡¯Abi looked around in shock as he was surrounded not only by the Avengers but also the Fugitives.


    "Maybe I was a disappointment to my father. But I will become the man My father wanted of me!" T¡¯Challa spoke firmly and stood. "And you will be tried for you betrayal and treason to your King and Country."


    XXX


    Peter watched all the action occur in the safety of the labs. He had wanted to argue that he can help but Hank had told him stay with him. (I¡¯m not young anymore and I don¡¯t have the suit anymore. I need a bodyguard so stay here.) When he saw the shield hit the Wakandan he was very surprised to see Captain America standing there with the shield in his hand.


    Peter looked over at the aging Scientist but saw that he was not as surprised as he was. But when he turned back to the screen he was shocked once more to find Team Cap once again gone.


    "Whoa! Where did they go?" Peter exclaimed


    "They are using the Ant-Man technology. They know they can¡¯t be seen here in the tower." Hank answered him.


    "So¡­ the people who knocked out the Wakandan army were Tiny Team Cap?"


    "Hmph. They came in with a better strategy then I gave them credit for." Hank scoffed.


    Wait¡­ But How did Cap get his Shield back?


    XXX


    "Thank you for everything." T¡¯Challa said as everything settled down once more. When the Wakandan army woke up and saw that K¡¯Abi had been bound some of them had voiced their opposition. But when T¡¯Challa proved K¡¯Abi had been planning a Rebellion and the poison in his system the misunderstanding was quickly solved.


    All the people who had helped just smiled and nodded. T¡¯Challa thanked each one of them personally and were eager to show his gratitude.


    "Your highness. While it is true the hallucination you had were because of the plants, your aneurism will get worse. So it is still early for celebration. Please get back to me once your country has settled down." Stephen Strange stated as he shook T¡¯Challa¡¯s hands one last time and left.


    T¡¯Challa turned towards Hank. "Are you going to come back with to Wakanda? I know you did not have time to completely cure Sergeant Barnes because of this fiasco."


    Hank nodded. "Of Course. He is my patient I will return with you."


    "And you Tony? I don¡¯t know how I can thank you?"


    Tony smiled genuinely. "No need. Well maybe I might call you to talk about the whole AU thing so just be able to take time off your busy busy royal life."


    T¡¯Challa laughed and nodded.


    "I will remember all that you have done for me and my Country," T¡¯Challa spoke to all of them. "If you require anything of me, please do not hesitate to ask." As soon as he was done speaking Peter raised his hand in the air.


    Tony turned towards him. "Well¡­? What is it. You know this isn¡¯t High School. You don¡¯t need to raise your hands to speak."


    Peter turned red but spoke nonetheless. "I know what I want."


    Rhodey laughed as he patted the teen on the shoulder. "Already? Wow Pete you must have been thinking about this."


    If possible the teen turned more red but stated. "Please Your highness. I would like it if you call me by my name and not Boy."


    T¡¯Challa looked at him confused before Peter explained.


    "The moment you have first met me till now you kept calling me Boy. My name is Peter Parker. I would like to ask you if you can call me by my name"¡¯ He stated.


    "Of course¡­ Peter Parker." And the teen smiled brightly.


    XXX


    Tony entered his room tiredly and got himself a glass of scotch. He sighed as he relaxed in one of the sofas in his room. He closed his eyes and called out.


    "I know you¡¯re here. FRIDAY already told me." And Steve grew back to normal size in the sofa facing him.


    "Tony. You look tired." Steve said concerned.


    "Well it was a long day." He replied simply.


    "Tony¡­ I¡¯m sorry. During the call I should have not yelled. I¡¯m¡­ so sorry."


    Tony opened his eyes. And frowned. "I was being childish. I knew the best action will be telling you everything but¡­ I¡­ I¡¯m sorry also."


    Steve smiled. "We were both being childish. I know you don¡¯t want to talk about it¡­ But I am truly sorry for not telling you about your parents sooner. When I saw you working through their death with B.A.R.F I just couldn¡¯t find myself telling you the Truth. Please know, I really didn¡¯t do it to protect Bucky. I did it for you."


    Tony watched him closely. "I know. I know that¡¯s the person you are. And¡­ I know you did it for me." He raised his glass in a cheer and drank. "And I¡¯m sorry. I can not help you or the others in coming back to America. I can ask around but the fact is You did break multiple laws and not just the Accords. And no one is above the law."


    Steve still smiled. "I know. But even if we can¡¯t help others legally. We will still help them to the best of our abilities." And this time Steve took Tony¡¯s drink in a cheer and drank.


    "Well this is goodbye once more I guess." Tony said.


    "No." Steve rebutted. "This is a see you later." And they laughed. Tony felt the clench in his stomach that he had since their fight finally relax. And for the first time in 5 month he was truly relaxed.


    "Well I¡¯m leader now so¡­ I get to call Avengers Assemble from now on." Tony smiled.


    Steve laughed. "Are you kidding? Only I get to say it¡­


    "Avengers Assemble"


    End of Part 1: The Futurist