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Injustice: Avengeance

Summary:

Based on the DC video games. Tony Stark the Iron Man lost what he cared about the most to HYDRA; it sends him on a downward spiral as he and a group of loyal Avengers seem to make sure that it never happens again. Captain America leads the charge against the new Regime that he has created; fearing that Tony may become what he fought against. Cap X Black Widow, Spidey X She-Hulk.

Notes:

This was an idea I got after seeing a meme image on Deviantart on sides of an Injustice AU with Steve and Tony. I am no Tom Taylor and I don't know if I will this universe as grim as the one in the comics and games did. Plus, yes I am interested in the upcoming Injustice animated movie even if I know it will probably just be adapting Year One of the comics. I only have one requirement to meet expectations:

Please for the love of god; please keep in the scene at the end of the first year where Alfred beats the snot out of evil Superman!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Time, Space, Reality... These are among the essences that make up each universe in the Multiverse; a collection of different universes parallel to eachother. Some of these universes are similar to eachother; identical except for a singular divergent point that spins itself off into a different direction. Some have triumphs happen when tragedies were meant and some have tragedies happen when triumphs happen. Universes where even a single change or choice could lead to catastrophic consequences.

I am Uatu the Watcher; it is my eternal duty to watch over these universes never to intervene. I have observed countless stories among the infinite number of universes; one of which I shall share with you. One where a tragedy sent one of the Earth's greatest defenders on a downward spiral; well intentions turned him into a tyrant and divided the Superhero community of his world.

Tony Stark the man known as billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, genius and being held captive in the aftermath of a terrorist attack sent him on the path to become Iron Man leading to him help found the Avengers and save the world countless times.

Our story starts a week before what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life...

Avengers Tower in New York City and Tony Stark was smirking to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror in the latest Mark of his red and yellow Iron Man armor with the faceplate up, "Iron Man: Secretary of Defense... I am sure that I can get it to catch on..." he said to himself as Steve Rogers came in wearing his Captain America uniform with a smile. "Here is Steve; you know it's not too late to turn my wedding into a double one. Say the word and I will buy a golden ring with an expensive rock on it and then you can walk up to Natasha and get on your knee." Tony told him and Steve shook his head.

"I would never want to take your special day from you Tony and once again I have to say congratulations; on your new position and your upcoming nuptials." Steve told him thinking about how it was getting serious between him and Natasha Romanoff the Black Widow; though they were able to keep it professional while they were working together on the Avengers and SHIELD. "Would this just be a scheme to be able to force me to come to your bachelor party?" Steve asked folding his arms.

"You have got me Cap; you too busy to have fun in my honour or not wanting to anger your own redhead." Tony laughed before Steve suddenly looked serious. "Here comes the downer; something you want to let me know Steve?" Tony asked as Steve nodded.

"I have been looking at data that Fury gave me before his death; about the HDYRA re-emergence." Steve told him and Tony nodded as there had been attacks in the US from HYDRA using white supremacist gangs that they had managed to recruit for their cause and others who bought into their rhetoric. HYDRA had also been stepping up on international terrorist attacks and had seized control of the nation of Sokovia.

"Tony... I have the data here; this is something HYDRA had been planning for decades... Ever since they were organized after the War with Nazi supporters recruited into SHIELD with Operation: Paperclip. SHIELD has been compromised and they have a plan to launch a full scale invasion soon. I think you will have to postpone..." Steve told him as Tony looked through the file and shook his head.

"I will handle it and thanks Steve; we will launch a plan to catch them off guard; I will have people to catch them in the act and arrest them. No need to let them spoil our fun." Tony told him as Steve looked exasperated and sighed.

"Tony; we don't know how far this goes... They also have moles in the Senate helping to spread the arguments going on preventing them from coming up with solutions to the HYDRA crisis... we can't reach Thor, Dr Strange, Wanda and T'Challa is busy with HYDRA's own attacks on Wakanda. We don't have Bruce..." Steve said as Tony put a hand on his shoulder.

"Politicians are too busy bickering with eachother to do anything; please tell me what else is new. Seriously Cap; were the Avengers as in Earth's Mightiest Heroes. We've beaten the odds plenty of times and we can do it without our heavy hitters. I assure you that I will take care of it, I have my own way of hacking SHIELD and I will have safeguards when they decide to strike." Tony said before smiling. "But I will say this Steve; thanks for bringing this to my attention and no hard feelings I guaranteed if the SHIELD crisis stops you from coming to my wedding. Don't tell Rhodey but you are my first choice of godfather for Pepper and I's first child; I think Morgan after Pepper's uncle can be perfect no matter the gender." Tony told him and Steve smiled.

"I appreciate it Tony; thank you..." Steve told him as they went back to the ceremony which would be a ceremony in front of the Tower.


Pepper Potts the CEO and Chairwoman of Stark Industries was doing her best to keep her patience in check as she was talking to an aged man with grey hair and a moustache wearing a business suit of his own; Thaddeus Ross who had been named the Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff. The man who was infamous for leading the United States Military efforts in chasing Bruce Banner the Hulk (who was created in the gamma radiation project that Ross had been leading) and was a vocal critic of him being seen as a hero joining the Avengers.

He had also been after the Secretary of Defense position that was recently given to Tony Stark...

"...Bad enough that your flame gets my rightful position after I spent decades serving my country while he spent years piloting a weapon after getting injured on his first day on a battlefield but he wants to celebrate having a weapon while our country is close to tearing itself apart?" Ross thundered as Pepper sighed.

"I understand your concerns but Tony promises that he will have it under control and the Avengers will be here to stop HYDRA." Pepper said though she did have her doubts and Ross scoffed.

"The Avengers? You mean the dangerous vigilantes declaring themselves the ultimate authority in protecting the planet and will happily welcome any terrorist, criminal or monster that says that they want to reform?" Ross interrupted his voice full of contempt despite the polite demeanour that he was giving off. He continued saying "the Avengers..."

"Are Earth's mightiest heroes and the best protection that the planet has ever had Mr Ross." interrupted a voice and then came an aged man with glasses and a business suit; it was Alexander Pierce a war hero and piece advocate who was serving as Secretary for the World Security Council. "I hope that you will have the courtesy of addressing Mr Stark as Mr Secretary the next time you seem him Mr Ross." Pierce said as Ross humphed leaving to go to his seat at the stage.

Pierce took her hand to kiss as Pepper said "Mr Pierce sir; knowing your work and all that you have done let me say that it's an honour to get to meet you face to face."

"Let me correct you in saying that the honour is all mine in getting to meet the soon to be Mrs Stark; your fiancé is a lucky man and someone to be envied. I had been trying to use meetings and speech to advocate for world peace but the Avengers have shown that the best weapon to achieving peace is a group of remarkable people with the power to save the world." Pierce said before coughing, "But you the woman behind the man; some say without you Tony would never have known how to tie his shoes on his own. I can only imagine a world without Pepper Potts." Pierce told her as they said goodbye and making their leave to eachother.


21 year old Peter Parker who had been the superpowered masked street vigilante Spider-Man for 6 years; his time as Spider-Man spent saving people and fighting criminals while being criticised by media such as Daily Bugle Communications as well as local authorities and being Spider-Man affecting his school and college work. Empire State University. Right now he was wearing a red armor with the helmet resembling his mask with a golden spider logo on it which was built for him by Tony Stark as a present for being made an official Avenger.

Here he was nervously among some of Earth's Mightiest Heroes and some he had admired since he was a little kid especially Iron Man (getting to see him up close when he was a toddler at the Stark Expo was amazing; he preferred to forget about the robot attack going on at the time) and Captain America. Laughing with the redheaded catsuit wearing Natasha Romanoff the Black Widow was a tall green skinned muscular Amazon like woman in a purple leotard like bodysuit with a white strap down it and white boots.

She was Jennifer Walters the She-Hulk who was the cousin of the Hulk but could control her Hulk self and transformation and preferred to stay in her Hulk form at all times. Peter had teamed up with other Avengers members before and while most were irritated by his quips; Jennifer actually took it as she could be serious and fun loving. She lived a promiscuous celebrity lifestyle while being very serious when she was acting in her role as a defence attorney who specialised in superhuman cases.

He remembered being nervous when he was taken to the inside of the Tower lately and had unmasked himself trying to get to know his new teammates; he was red in the face as he stammered out a greeting as Jennifer took his hand to shake. She was a woman to be admired for being able to be a hero as a superhero and an attorney while he kept being criticised as a vigilante and collateral damage during his fights. How fun she was and how amazing she looked; there was a lot to be drawn to her.

He could never hope to be in her league; thanks to Spider-Man dates that he had never went well and the only real girlfriend that he ever had he had failed to catch after being thrown off a bridge months ago...

"Say the word Spiderling and I can let Jennifer know you are interested and tell you of my experience with her in bed." Tony said putting a hand on his shoulder surprising Peter; "So how do you like the new suit?" Tony asked him.

"To be honest Mr Stark; it's getting some used to in the armor and I am not sure about the color scheme..." Peter muttered as Tony sighed.

"Well a new look could suit you as you go from the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man to the Avenging Spider-Man; you're in the big leagues kid and you are going to need this suit as you will now be helping to save the world." Tony said as Peter thought about how after more than half a decade of putting his life in danger; he still hadn't told his Aunt May. "Trust me kid; I know this will be scary but tonight you show yourself as a whole new Spider-Man and then look forward to having a fun time at the bachelor party. This will suit you more than the onsie that you used before." Tony said as Peter glared at him behind a helmet.

"It wasn't an onsie!" Peter retorted as Tony then started walking away as Peter noticed Natasha whispering something to Jennifer who looked towards Peter and smirked as she gave a shake of her rear end much to his embarrassment.


There was a full podium outside the Avengers Tower along with the streets being packed and sitted at the side were several important figures in business suits, Pepper came to the microphone as she was giving a speech; "A day unlike any other brought the Avengers together for the first time to fight the foe that no single hero could fight alone and one of those original five heroes is here to make an announcement. Let me introduce to you my husband to be the new United States Secretary of Defense: Tony Stark!" Pepper said as there were a huge applause as Tony in his armor flied down to the stage and it opened up for him to step out smiling in a business suit.

He kissed Pepper on the cheek as he went on the mic saying "thank you for that introduction MS Most Amazing Woman in the World! I know you all have doubts about the future of our country with the villains and threats out there like HYDRA but I assure you that the Avengers will continue to protect the world. SHIELD and the Avengers will be working to build you a better safer world. Let's bring them out now!" Tony said as the Avengers members came out waving to the applauding crowd including Steve, Natasha, the Vision a green and yellow Synthezoid robot with a face and a yellow cape Along with a Solar Gem embedded in his head acting as his power source Colonel James Rhodes in his black and silver War Machine armor, Sam Wilson the Flacon in his red flight suit, Air Force Colonel Carol Danvers better known as Captain Marvel in her red and blue suit with a yellow insignia as she took her place next to her boyfriend Rhodey, Jennifer, Robert Reynolds the powerful hero known as the Sentry with his long blonde hair and yellow bodysuit with a dark blue cape and belt along with gloves, Hank Pym in his red and blue Ant-Man suit with a silver helmet and Janet Van Dyne the Wasp in her yellow and black suit as she took her place next to her ex-husband Hank.

Then Peter web slinged next to Tony in his armor as there were shocked gasps; "Let me welcome you all to the newest Avenger... New York's own Spider-Man!" Tony said as there were reporters asking for questions.

"Phil Sheldon for Daily Bugle Communications; are you sure that it's a good idea to put an unreliable menace such as Spider-Man on the Avengers especially after what happened with the Stacys?" asked an aged reporter with glasses as there were coughs and Peter looked nervous.

"First of all; what a shocker that the Bugle wants to trash on Spider-Man. We see great potential and it was unfortunate about what happened to him but I assure you that we will help him work on his full potential. Please stop blaming him for everything that he can't prevent... Who am I kidding; your boss jolly J. Jonah Jameson probably talks about how much he hates Spider-Man in his sleep." Tony said which great laughter from the crowd.

"Christine Everhart for WHIH News; what do you say to people criticising you for having your wedding while there is a major crisis with the terrorist organisation HYDRA and so soon after the death of former SHIELD director Nick Fury? What are do you plan to do to fight them in your new position as Secretary of Defense?" asked a blonde haired reporter.

"Nice to see you again Christine but you all have nothing to worry about; the Avengers and SHIELD will do everything in our power to save the world and we won't let HYDRA win; I dare HYDRA try to ruin the good times that we have." Tony answered.

"What happens if you and the Avengers fails?" Christine asked again as Tony shook his head.

"The day never comes but I promise you that if we fail to protect the world; you can be damn sure that I will do everything in my power to avenge it!" Tony said into the microphone.


Late at night 6 days later and it was the night of Tony's bachelor party; Peter was there at the club looking nervous as Steve hadn't arrived and most got called away after having things whispered to them. Peter figured that he wasn't good enough to be necessary and told Tony he was just going to call it a night. He ran outside in the raining night and climbed up a wall and activated the backpack of his Iron Spider armor.

He then web slinged through the streets trying to clear his thoughts and it seemed that the streets were clear that night; ever since the press conference there were criticisms online and in the media of people being sceptical about Spider-Man being in the Avengers with J. Jonah Jameson giving a long rant. Plus he still hadn't told Aunt May and as far as she knew he was taking a job at Stark Industries which was technically true.

He web slinged past the building of the law firm Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway and he knew it was the law firm that Jennifer was working at. He perched himself up on a nearby street lamp and noticed Jennifer running out in a long raincoat. She saw him and smiled s she came closer, "Stark's party too much for you?" Jennifer asked as Peter jumped down to face her.

"Had too much on my mind and I am guessing long night at work?" Peter asked as Jennifer nodded.

"Wanted to get my paperwork done for the time being before the big day. I am all ears if you want to talk so how about we go back to the Tower and you can speak to me in my room?" Jennifer asked as Peter gulped as he nodded.

They slowly made their way to the tower and Jennifer showed him to the way to her room which was filled with magazine posters of her on the walls and a steel enforced large bed. She took her raincoat off with her in her business suit with glasses and her hair tied down which made her look amazing as she untied it.

"So the words of the neighsayers getting to you Peter? Would you believe I once dated Jameson's son the astronaut?" Jameson asked as Peter sighed.

"With all the failures in my life like the Stacys; how could I be with all of you? I couldn't protect the only real girlfriend that I ever had in my entire life! Plus the other Avengers at the party were called away and I knew I wouldn't be since I wasn't big or powerful enough to be needed!" Peter shouted as Jennifer sat down on her bed looking serious and patted a spot next to her as he went down.

"Please look at me with your face Peter." Jennifer told him softly as he put up the faceplate. "We all do the best we can Peter and sometimes that means that we can't save everyone. Steve the Avengers dad have given me a speech sometime ago that we never give up and just keep doing our best. Never give up and dear god I don't know how to keep this up. Let me ask why you want to do this? Put on the costume?" Jennifer asked as Peter sighed.

"My inaction cost me my Uncle and I want to help the little guys on the street; I have the power to help people in trouble and it's on me if I do nothing and that means people get hurt." Peter told her and Jennifer smiled.

"There you go; I am sure the people on the streets know what you are doing and are grateful. All of us Avengers have our screw up moments; just look at the tabloid headlines whenever I let my Hulk anger get the better of me." Jennifer told him and Peter felt better. "So again sorry about Gwen and the Goblin and I am sorry for peering but are you seeing anyone? Are they okay with you going on to Tony Stark's bachelor party?" Jennifer asked and Peter was red in the face.

"No... Gwen was the only one who could stand Puny Parker who was Midtown's only professional wallflower... Missing dates and meetings thanks to Spider-Man helped kill my dating life... No woman could stand to be with me..." Peter as Jennifer faced her.

"I am raising an objection to this as if they knew the reason; any gal or woman would be lucky to be with a funny sweet nice guy such as yourself who is cute." Jennifer told him as Peter was embarrassed. "Bet you didn't expect to hear that from the fellow Avenger you were attracted to Peter and please don't insult my intelligence by trying to deny it as living a promiscuous lifestyle helped me see when someone is attracted to me." Jennifer told him smirking as Peter gulped.

"How could anyone not be? You're a bombshell who helps people in court; you could have any anyone you want..." Peter muttered as Jennifer shook her head.

"Most of my lovers end up shallow and you might have heard that I was once with Tony; it didn't end well... I have wanted to see about another serious relationship with a nice guy for some time now and I found one who I am asking if he wants to be my date to the wedding?" Jenny asked as Peter was red in the face.

"... I toyed with asking you out in my head but this feels like a dream... Want to take it slow..." Peter muttered as Jennifer smiled.

"I don't mind at all though there could be problems if I end up catching the bouquet after Pepper throws it. We could start this as slow as you want." Jennifer told him as Peter nodded as he got his armor to transform back into the backpack. He wanted to see about kissing her and he hesitatingly asked but a look from Jennifer told him to go ahead.

They slowly did so but Peter was in awestruck at the feeling and it lead to him putting more into it and embracing her with her doing the same. "Wow... I promise you that there were never any doubts about wanting to try it with you before but now... No hope of them being there... You were planning on going anywhere after the party?" Jennifer asked as Peter shook his head.

"My place is locked up and I fully expected to wake up in a bed I was put in after suffering a hangover having passed out..." Peter replied as Jennifer grinned.

"Take it as far as you want and don't worry about my clothes as I tear through suits like it's nothing and feel free to explore with your hands..." Jennifer told him as they were making out and an hour later they were under the covers in eachother's embrace in their underwear


Pepper sighed as she was down hard at work at with the late night paperwork at Stark Industries; she went out the balcony looking at the sky wondering how Tony was doing at his bachelor party. The bachelorette party was nice but it would be hard to believe that her wedding was in less than 24 hours and during a time where HYDRA was at the biggest threat it had ever been. However she was stunned when she saw Tony flying up to the balcony in his armor.

"Most of the other Avengers got called away even the kid so I thought that I might as well leave. I hope it's not too much trouble as I am certain that you're not supposed to see the bride before the wedding." Tony said with his faceplate opening up as Pepper laughed softly and smiled.

"You never cease to amaze Tony Stark." Pepper said as she came closer.

"Pepper you know with HYDRA out there I am actually taking care of it; I am staging a counter operation and I would never let them destroy the country. Take you away; the one thing that I can't live without." Tony told her gently as Pepper came up to embrace him as they shared a kiss.

"Proof that you have a heart." Pepper said as she tapped his arch reactor in the chest area and Tony smiled; he then closed his faceplate as he picked her up bridal style much to her surprise. He then had FRIDAY the suit's AI play Whole New World by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle as he slowly flew around the buildings holding Pepper who managed to laugh out loud at what was happening; giving into the moment.


The royal castle of Sokovia and there was a meeting table set up for the HYDRA High Council; sitted at the top chair was a man in a business suit with a purple mask and golden headband around his forehead. He was the new dictator of Sokovia; Baron Helmut Zemo who was a long time foe of Captain America and was the son of Nazi nobleman Baron Heinrich Zemo who had fought Cap during World War II. "We are the true heirs to leadership of HYDRA and we should be sitted at the head table." said a blonde haired man sitting down next to his twin sister at the table; they were Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker the twin children of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker; another Nazi nobleman who after the War escaped and used his loyalists and family fortune to found HYDRA.

"I hold the seat here as I am the one who has conquered Sokovia in the name of HYDRA; I am the one who grew up in this miserable country after my family lost everything..." Zemo ranted back at them thinking of how after Germany surrender during the war; his father had was tried for war crimes and his titles stripped off him with the rest of his family forced to flee in shame.

"Both you and our so called Supreme HYDRA have only recently joined together with HYDRA while we were raised on HYDRA's principles ready to take the reins from our father." Andrea retorted as holograms of the various High Council members appeared in their seats. Including the Scientist Supreme of Advanced Idea Mechanics who was founded with backing from HYDRA and recently joined forces; Gideon Malick an influential trading businessman and member of the World Security Council and Simon Krieger the CEO of the Roxxon Energy Corporation that had recently sided with HYDRA secretly.

On the screen in the room there was now showing a live feed of Alexander Pierce with a large muscular man in a black bodysuit; bulletproof armor and a black mask with a white skull on it. The man was white supremacist terrorist criminal Brock Rumlow better known as Crossbones. "I see that you are keeping my seat warm as usual Zemo." Pierce said.

"Enough with the games and take off your false skin; Supreme HYDRA..." Zemo shouted turning his chair around and facing the screen saying the last bit with disgust in his voice.

"How dare you Zemo! You better show his respect; he has been fighting democracy and freedom long before you were a sperm in your daddy's body!" Rumlow snapped as Pierce put up a hand to silence him. He then put his hands to the back of his neck and pulled off a holographic face mask revealing his true bald scarred red face.

He was Johann Schmidt the infamous Nazi super soldier known as the Red Skull who had mutated his body in an experiment to try and create the perfect soldier and was the leader of Hitler's paranormal research division (the remainder of which after the war joined with Strucker as he was forming HYDRA) and was the ultimate enemy of Captain America. After the war he was put into suspended animation until after Captain America had been unfrozen in ice; so he could terrorise the world once more and try to kill his hated nemesis.

He had months ago had his bodyguard and fanboy Rumlow kill Pierce in secret so he could take his place. "Tomorrow we will crush the Avengers spirit as we strike during Stark's wedding. Thanks to my planning ever since becoming Supreme HYDRA; we are in the perfect position to bring the world to its knees. Thanks to Mordo the magic Avengers are stuck in Asgard fighting to prevent Ragnarok with their rainbow bridge destroyed. Klaw has the Black Panther and Wakanda preoccupied. We have the Chitauri coming to keep the rest of Avengers most powerful preoccupied. Zemo how are the missiles?" Schmidt brought up as Zemo grunted.

"The missiles are ready to fire when ready." Zemo grunted hated being treated as an underling.

"Scientist Supreme; how goes the Extremis bomb?" Schmidt asked the Scientist Supreme as AIM was given the dangerous military DNA encoder virus to study and make ready for their use; created for medical reasons to regrow limbs but it made users unstable with strong fire based abilities. The SHIELD high ranking mole humphed to herself about having to hand it over.

"Ready to be used as well." The Scientist Supreme answered with Schmidt grinning some more.

"Excellent; the Avengers will be blindsided as it shall be used against its citizens as we destroy their buildings." Schmidt said as he faced them all. "Tomorrow the Avengers shall fall and HYDRA will stand in the ashes of their destroyed world; ready to be remade into a new one in HYDRA's image. Irrelevant outdated notions of freedom shall be eradicated as a new world order keeping the world secure shall be created! We shall stand masters of the world... Hail HYDRA!"

The HYDRA guards gave their salute as the High Council members chanted "HAIL HYDRA!"

 

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was early in the morning and Tony Stark had gotten up and breathed to himself as he got showered and dressed up in his suit when there was an alert going on in the tower; "Oh course, there will be hell to pay for the bad guy of the week if I get this suit so much as wrinkled..." Tony thought in his head as he readied one of his suits to go into. "FRIDAY; what is the situation?" Tony asked his AI which was connected to the tower and his suits.

"HYDRA are launching an invasion on the US; they have seized control of 3 Helicarriers that are making their way to New York, San Francisco and Washington; DC." FRIDAY said popping up holograms of radar maps with the current locations of the Helicarriers along with live news reports of what was going on as Tony paused shaking his head thinking this would have to be a good time to give pause to his wedding. He was prepared for this...

"How about Cap and the Avengers that have been called in?" Tony asked FRIDAY as the holograms changed to the profiles of the various heroes.

"Captain Rogers sent a report a few minutes ago saying that the team that he had assemble led had found out too late to give prior warning but they know of HYDRA spies inside SHIELD and are doing their best to get to Washington as HYDRA have also launched an attack on the Capitol building with the members of Congress as well as the President's cabinet after the Red Skull called them in for an emergency meeting while disguised as Secretary Alexander Pierce. Captain Rogers also have sent intel that he had gotten on HYDRA's supporters." FRIDAY said showing documents and evidence of dealings with Roxxon and the company holdings of Gideon Malick.

"So the Red Skull must have been leading HYDRA and Pepper just met with Pierce a week ago... Wonderful; so what does my boss the Commander in Chief have to say since I figured he would have contacted me by now?" Tony asked after giving a sigh.

"I regret to inform you Mr Stark that the majority of the Cabinet and Senate were led into a trap with most killed. US President Matthew Ellis was led into a car which was blown up on live TV by a rocket launcher from the Red Skull's agent known as Crossbones." FRIDAY informed him as Tony took a moment to put his hand to his forehead.

"Great... This is much better than I thought; well I guess that I better savour what little time that I have left as Secretary of Defense since no way the new President is going to let me keep the position after this! Anything else I should know about?" Tony asked sarcastically as FRIDAY brought up a live feed of different powerful Avengers and reserve Avengers members in space including the Sentry, Carol fighting Chitauri.

"A fine day when an alien invasion is the least of our problems and we have most of our heavy hitters preoccupied. Get Pepper to saftey, activate the House Party Protocol and get all available Avengers reserve or otherwise ready to stop the invading HYDRA forces and take down the Helicarriers! If the invasion is stopped then give a message to please get us some help." Tony told FRIDAY thinking that he was a little too cocky before but they must stop this so he could go back to his scheduled plans.


Peter and Jennifer awoke with Peter in his boxers on top of Jennifer in her purple bra and thong; "I must be dreaming still..." Peter muttered as Jennifer smirked as she pushed him off.

"Sorry but this dream needs to end as we have a wedding to prepare and I was hoping that my date could help me zip up my dress..." Jennifer said before there were a high alert of HYDRA launching an invasion in New York. They sighed as Jennifer went to get her superhero gear on and Peter went to get dressed before putting his Iron Spider armor on. "Get used to Avengers business interrupting plans that you have..." Jennifer told him as Peter decided to lighten the mood as his armor was folding onto him.

"I bet that I could take down more HYDRA mooks than you..." Peter told Jennifer who smirked at him promising that he will regret making that challenge.


Inside the capitol building Schmidt in his Pierce disguise smirked as he watched the injured barely alive Thaddeus Ross who was crushed by debris and shot during the attack on the Cabinet and Congress; "Ever the war hero trying to fight against an unstoppable machine Thaddeus Ross; your rightful position taken by the Iron Man. Don't worry as I admire your methods of trying to create a military might that would crush all enemies of the US; wanting to sacrifice freedom for security and you have more in common with HYDRA than you might think. I will make sure you can recover so you can be persuaded to join up with the new HYDRA World Order!" Schmidt said ordering the nearby Scientist Supreme and AIM agents with the Extremis bomb to inject Ross with it causing him to yell violently as his missing body parts started growing back.

Schmidt went to the National Statuary Hall where he was met with SHIELD director Maria Hill along with her SHIELD guards and Gideon Malick; he went to his prepared speech as there was a camera crew set up live as Schmidt faced the cameras to read out a prepared speech that he and Hill will be urging all US citizens to not resist ass he will be negotiating a ceasefire with HYDRA and to order all law enforcement personnel to cooperate.

However a shield hit him in the face as Steve went in to take him down, "Rogers; stand down or else you will be in bigger trouble than you already will be for assaulting World Security Council secretary..." Hill demanded only for SHIELD agents to come charging in attacking HYDRA forces and Phil Coulson came in aiming a gun at her direction. She was about to order her guards to take him but then they put up their guns to aim at her.

There was Bucky Barnes the former Winter Soldier smirking as he took off his stolen camera crew uniform as he turned the monitor and showed the video he was uploading live on TV:

It showed a dark room as an injured Nick Fury Jr facing down a gun by Maria Hill who was with Rumlow and Schmidt. "So after all these years you sided with HYDRA? I knew you could never see the world as it should or it was but this... I honest to god wish that I am more shocked than I am..." Fury said as Hill scoffed.

"I see the world as it should be indeed; one where threats are taken care off, where the self-proclaimed 'heroes' are not supposed to be our only real line of defence. HYDRA will make the world safer and the so called Superhumans will know their place." Hill said as they went to work arranging for Fury's oncoming death to be seen as an accident.

Hill was stunned as Cap ripped off the mask to reveal Schmidt's infamous Red Skull face to the world on camera; he was cuffed with high tech handcuffs along with Hill. Then came in Sam Wilson the falcon dropping off a defeated Rumlow with his mask off and then Natasha came in dragging in the Scientist Supreme with his AIM beekeeper helmet off and his face bruised. "Ross is being taken to medical and the Extremis bomb is being dismantled and the AIM agents taken care off. As for what happened to the Scientist Supreme here... I just had to let out my frustration since I rented the perfect backless dress and I spent so much time practicing catching the bouquet." Natasha explained cracking her fists.

"So the Red Skull; I am guessing you decided to strike to ruin Tony's big day and take advantage of the Avengers that we have in space?" Steve asked as Schmidt laughed darkly.

"Taking advantage Captain? I brought the Chitauri here! Thanks to Malick's ties with NASA we were able to steal a queen egg from the Chitauri bringing them here. Just as I made sure you couldn't ask your friend the Black Panther for help by backing Klaw's attempts to conquer Wakanda. He had no hope of succeeding off course but it would keep the Black Panther busy. I also planned to make sure that your thunder god friend couldn't use his rainbow bridge to come down to your assistance." Schmidt gloated as Bucky came over along with Sam and Natasha.

"We have our friends taking back the Helicarriers along with the remaining Avengers beating down your thugs in the streets. It's over..." Bucky told him as Schmidt smirked.

"Ah the fabled Winter Soldier; the greatest weapon that the Soviet Union ever had. I so regret that I wasn't able to have you at my command. Even if this didn't result in a victory for my side; I had a contingency to make sure that it wasn't a victory for you either." Schmidt said as he gave a head signal to Rumlow who took out form his vest a remote control that he used after pressing the button. They heard a loud bang as Schmidt explained "I had 3 bombs that were in each of the Helicarriers in case they were taken away from us. I had entrusted my most faithful agent with the backup remote in case I was unable to get to my own."

This alarmed them as Steve went to work on ordering an evacuation of the area and to get anyone they can to move the falling debris as well as rescue any that may have escaped the Helicarriers.


Tony was leading the heroes in New York in trying to evacuate the area as well as fighting the HYDRA soldiers who were coming from the Hellicarrier above New York; he had assembled a large army of manually piloted Iron Man armours to help with evacuation and fighting against the Helicarriers and the HYDRA soldiers. He was dealing with a squad on top of a building when suddenly a figure in a black and yellow scary looking suit of high tech armor himself came up taking down several HYDRA soldiers. He had four stingers like devices on his back shooting out beams at the soldiers.

He went to face the figure who had his faceplate open up to reveal a familiar face; "Hank; decided to give Ant-Man a new look?" Tony questioned by surprise as Hank Pym was smiling at him.

"The Yellowjacket suit I have been calling it so I want to go by that name; been designing it for a while. Ever since Janet left me and I have been getting a feeling that due to... certain issues I have been dealing with along with no one letting me forget about Ultron that the others don't trust me as much... Just yesterday I wasn't called in to help with the big crisis going on; asking that I remain just in case something happened during the wedding. I thought that if I built something better than my old gear then I could do better and see about people trusting me again." Hank explained with a sigh as Tony put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well it's kind of scary looking Hank but thanks for the assist..." Tony said as they looked up in the sky and saw the Hellicarrier blowing up and the debris falling down. "Avengers; we need to get citizens away as far as possible..." Tony said throw his helmet to the communication devices of the Avengers stationed in New York.

"I think you should know that I have detected missiles launched from Sokovia making their way to Washington; DC." FRIDAY told Tony and he was starting to wonder if there was some cosmic force dedicated to making sure everything went wrong on that day.

"Hey Tony; it's Rhodes and the Chitauri have been defeated and we have come to found that HYDRA are making their move. We are coming to help..." Rhodes said as Tony had a sigh of relief to his face as it seemed that finally they were getting some much needed good news.

"Your timing is perfect Rhodey as we have 3 stolen Helicarriers above New York, San Francisco and Washington along with missiles heading to Washington. If you can help stop it and help with catching the debris as well as stopping the missiles then that would be appreciated." Tony told him and Rhodes told him no problem.

Tony saw large debris heading towards the Avengers Tower as well as the Stark Industries building and he went to his old company's building which was nearest. He managed to start blasting the debris in panic as they went flying into other buildings to crash into. He found a limo being surrounded by dead HYDRA soldiers and his face was filled with horror as he recognised it and flew to it as fast as he could.

He had his faceplate open up in horror as he found a redheaded body on the ground in a blood splattered wedding dress which he embraced; "No... Come on Pep... Open your eyes... This can't be happening..." he pleaded with tears coming in his eyes trying to argue against the futile truth as he scanned and found no heartbeat.

He pointed repulsor cannon to man in a HYDRA uniform who showed off a SHIELD badge; "Sorry Mr Stark... I'm Special Agent Grant Ward and I have been working deep undercover for over a year. I was discretely trying to take down HYDRA agents and get people to saftey but when I heard that they were on route to ambush your fiancé... I am sorry to say that I got here too late and took down the sorry SOBs... I tried to save her but my scanner said that the two heartbeats were too far gone..." the man told Tony sympathetically as he gave out a quick thanks before he got a double take.

"Wait... Two heartbeats? You don't mean..." Tony asked as Tony's eyes were fighting back tears as he faced a crowd as Ward did his best to hide a smirk forming on his face. He was found by Hank who had managed to hear what happened and went to comfort Tony.


Carol and the others were tired while flying out from space after fighting Chitauri for hours but they were willing to help the Earth which was needed to be saved again. Robert Reynolds the Sentry was heading to New York and Janet was leading a group to help in San Francisco with her, Rhodes and Vision were heading to help with the missiles heading to Washington. The debris of the Helicarriers were fallen fast so they weren't confident they could get there in time to stop them but they could help prevent further casualties and help the wounded.

They got to Washington and did their best to fire at the missiles; she was concerned about the Vision who was badly damaged from the Chitauri. There were one last missile as the Vision was close to fallen to the ground but sent one last blast from the Solar Gem headed to the missile but Rhodey was taken care of it. She shouted to her boyfriend to warn him but he was hit by the blast and sent fallen to the ground.

She panicked as she helped finish destroying the missile and flew after Rhodey managing to catch him before he hit the ground. She slowly got him to the ground as there were Steve and his associates going up to them in concern with Sam looking him over. Coulson went up to Steve to tell them of certain prisoners that managed to get to make an escape after taking a distraction.


Tony was cradling Pepper in his arms as he got a message from FRIDAY that Steve was trying to call and he whispered to put him through. "Tony; we have Washington mostly under control but the Red Skull escaped along with Malick, Rumlow and Hill... " Steve told him as Tony barely made out a sigh.

"Wonderful... This day keeps getting better and better..." Tony replied unable to hide his tears.

"Tony... Are you alright? Did something happen?" Steve asked with great concern in his voice.

"Pepper... HYDRA got to her and I couldn't save her... I found out she was pregnant and I have no idea if she knew..." Tony explained hearing the shocked gasp from Steve.

"Oh god... Tony... I am so sorry... You need anything... I promise you that the Red Skull and his cohorts will pay for this... I promise you that any help you need after this is over..." Steve said struggling to think about what to say in his voice of sympathy.

"Don't worry about it Cap..." Tony said cutting the message off as he stood up his tears of despair turning to anger. "FRIDAY, I want a full search for location the Red Skull and his associates. Hack into every feed, call or whatever in Washington and beyond... Do what you must but I want them found!" Tony ordered his faceplate coming back into place as he flew off into the sky with vengeance on his mind.


Peter was struggling with his first real fight with his Iron Spider armor after trying to get used to the armed legs on the back which sent helped to disarm the HYDRA soldiers as well as supporters and the repulsors helping with his web attacks against them. He was concerned as the HYDRA forces all seemed to know and accept they were distracting the heroes and keeping them preoccupied with taking Washington the real target. He was trying to get people to saftey while pushing back debris to helped those trapped. He lost track of Jennifer a while ago and the heroes in New York were spread thin trying to take care of it. The HYDRA soldiers seemed to be mostly done but then the debris of the Helicarriers came down and he got the urgent message on his heads up display to help with evacuating civilians.

He web slinged to the area and did his best to try and help with evacuating with the large pieces of debris were fallen fast destroying buildings and he saw the Sentry flying to take care of them but one last one crashed into a neighbourhood.

Panicked he went to it and saw what looked like a bomb had dropped as he was helping to lift up the debris to save people trying to ignore the dead bodies; doing his best not to let the devastation overtake him. He heard coughing and found someone else with a debris over them where a store had been. He gasped when he recognised it as his Aunt May and jumped to it picking it up and going to try and help Aunt May up while screaming 'no' in his head.

She was coughing and the heads up display seemed to be saying that she was losing life fast which he tried to deny in his head; he couldn't lose her like Uncle Ben and the Stacys. He couldn't!

"Ms, we are going to get help... We are going to save you... Don't worry... Everything will be alright..." Peter said doing his best to hide the tears in his voice.

She smiled up at him and said "please; show your face as a final request of a dying woman... Please, I want to see my nephew one last time..." She smiled as Peter was stunned but nervously had his helmet go down to face her.

"Aunt May... How... How long..." Peter said his voice unable to finish the question.

"Even though I tried to deny the possibility at first; I have always known. I didn't want to think of you putting yourself at risk but after everything that you have done to help the people of the city..." May said as Peter embraced her fighting back tears.

"Sorry... I failed you like I failed Ben..." Peter said as May shook her head.

"You never failed me Peter; I am so proud of you..." May said as she took her last breath.

He had no time to process this as he saw people taking pictures with phones and a news crew coming up from Daily Bugle Communications with Phil Sheldon with a mic asking to get a word. Peter panicked as he was about to put his helmet back up but then there was Jennifer appearing looking angry smashing the news cameras and telling them to scatter.

They ran away terrified as Jennifer slowly with a sad look on her face put her hand gently on Peter's shoulder, "The fourth person that I cared about that I couldn't save and now the world knows that I am Spider-Man... What do I have left..." Peter murmured.

"You have the Avengers to help you; we can't replace the family that you have lost but we are here for you..." Jennifer told him as Peter looked at her gratefully.


Tony had flown to Washington and had found a series of HYDRA trucks with soldiers surrounded by crates of explosives; possibly used to try and scare away those trying to rescue prisoners. There were captured Cabinet and Senate members who were remaining and others who were directing orders as if they were willing supporters. This made him furious along with the others; all there bickering helped cause all this. Too busy bickering to try and actually do something about the crises...

There were Malick there directing everything and he mockingly put his arms up smirking; "Rogers probably told you but I convinced Hill and the Red Skull to let me diverge from them since I could make the case that I was coerced if I was questioned about being attacked by Captain America's allies in the live footage. Rogers must have told you but it doesn't matter. I have connections around the world and try as you might; I won't even see a courtroom. Please feel free to arrest me." He said gloatingly as Tony was looking furious at him underneath his faceplate.

"You are right about one thing Malick... You will never see a courtroom..." Tony said as he aimed a repulsor hand to the explosives and it set them off with those still alive screaming in pain as they were killed by the burns. The politicians died and Malick jumped out of the way looking terrified as Tony took care of the other survivors. Malick suddenly looked fearful but didn't have time to beg before he was shot down by a repulsor blast.

Then suddenly there was Hank there, "I stowed away on your armor before you flew away; figured you might need backup in case your emotions caused you to get over in your head." Hank explained looking at the carnage as Tony panicked.

"Hank... I am sorry but Malick gloating about how he was going to get away with this... the politicians that helped HYDRA with their plans either directly or letting their egos stop them from trying to fight them... I was wasn't thinking..." Tony said as Hank's faceplate went up with a smile.

"One of them fired at the explosives themselves; wanting to die in a literal blaze of glory and wanted to make sure that the Avengers couldn't save their prisoners. That is what happened." Hank told him and Tony smiled as he got a message from FRIDAY saying that she had pinpointed the location of Schmidt, Rumlow and Hill.

He then took off into the air finding their getaway truck and fired at it, causing it to crash; he flew down and pulled out Rumlow as he blasted at his head and then did the same to the chest of Hill. He then pulled out Schmidt as he flew to the Capitol building where Steve and his associates had finished taken care of the rest of them and trying to push back reporters as they tended to the wounded as well as trying to figure out the location of Schmidt.

He flew down as he aimed a repulsor blast at Schmidt; "You ruined this day and you took away Pepper from me; I found her body in New York... I want you to see the face of the plan who will finally end you..." Tony told Schmidt who was smirking and laughing.

"Looks like I broke the Captain's brother in arms..." Schmidt gloated as he spoke his last words as a repulsor blast through the stomach ended his life. He found Rhodes being tended to and went to make sure he was alright as the crowd was stunned as what they had witnessed. Steve and the other heroes nearby went by to check on Tony but then there were government agents being led by a sunglasses wearing man.

Tony glared harshly at Agent Henry Peter Gyrich who was a thorn in the Avengers business before; "We found the dead bodies of the unaccounted for Senators and members of the cabinet; Mr Pym filled us in on what happened." Gyrich said as Tony was waiting for him to make an accusation that never came. "Mr Tony Stark; it is my biggest regret to have to inform you that as the Secretary of the State that you are the last remaining member of President Ellis's cabinet." Gyrich said as he gave Tony a minute to think over the words. Gyrich sighed as he said:

"How we proceed from the events of tonight is all up to you... Mr President..."

Notes:

I want to say that I have full respect for the late Powers Allen Boothe and I was feeling guilty after killing off the character he played in the MCU here even if the character was a villain. Similar to how I can get scared nowadays of how I write T'Challa but then again the same notion has never stopped me from bashing the hell out of Snape.

Chapter Text

3 days later in a large tower in Las Vegas was a bald headed man in a white suit sitted at a TV in a room which was like a luxury penthouse suite. He was watching a report from WHIH News showing the construction and insurance company Damage Control hard at work cleaning up from the HYDRA invasion as well as repairing buildings in Washington, New York and San Francisco. There were also monuments being built as well as Christine Everhart was giving the report:

"We are just 3 days removed when the terrorist organisation known as HYDRA launched a full scale invasion on the United States with 3 SHIELD Helicarriers contributing to the devastation that has been wrought on what people have been declaring as 'H-Day'. Casualties are said to be near thousands including the entirety of the United States Senate as well as the US President Matthew Ellis along with his cabinet including the infamous Iron Man himself Tony Stark. Mr Stark was supposed to be having his wedding with famed businesswoman Pepper Potts who was a casualty of H-Day and was seen executing HYDRA's leader on live TV; the infamous Nazi war criminal Johann Schmidt better known as the Red Skull. Mr Stark who was recently appointed US Secretary of Defense was soon declared next in line for the US Presidency."

"Mr Stark who is scheduled to be officially sworn in later today has been criticised and blamed for allowing H-Day to happen with his supposed lax attitude towards HYDRA as well as scheduling his high profile wedding during a national crisis against the terrorist organisation. Though he has sent word that he seeks to fully explain his plan against what remains of HYDRA; we are seeing the beginnings of his plan of retribution..."

Then footage of leftover SHIELD agents as well as FBI agents storming Roxxon and Malick facilities and one piece of footage showed the Roxxon headquarters in New York with Simon Krieger dragged outside handcuffed while ranting and raving furiously.

"A representative of President Stark has said that he has acquired Intel on HYDRA agents, supporters and backers and has launched a confiscation of the assets and holdings of the late businessman Gideon Malick who was allegedly a HYDRA High Council member. Roxxon Energy Corporation CEO Simon Krieger had also been named as an alleged backer of HYDRA and has been arrested with the company mainframe being looked and supposedly alleged evidence of unethical and criminal acts by the company. President Stark has ordered Roxxon shut down with all company holdings and property held and a statement from his representative saying that a full investigation will be held with clean employees being moved to Stark Industries to continue their work. Stock holders of Roxxon had been vocal in their anger at this but were said to have been turned by a representative of President Stark who was quoted in saying 'I have no time to deal with you clowns right now so fuck off or else you want to accelerate the investigation in your activities in the company'!"

The man Wilson Fisk frowned at this; five years ago he was the feared Kingpin of Crime of New York City with few willing to challenge him and that included the vigilante Daredevil (who to his delight was confirmed as killed during H-Day as his civilian identity of Matt Murdock) and the masked Spider-Man. Spider-Man had been an annoyance in his operations and after facing off against him for months the masked Superhuman had gathered evidence against him with him managing to make an escape before the PDNY could come for him. He had been lying low waiting for the heat to dry down and too ready to return with a full comeback to New York; with his lawyers being able to argue away against the evidence against him.

He swore that he would make Spider-Man pay for this; especially as his wife Vanessa after seeing evidence of his criminal dealings had served him with a divorce lawsuit which was granted with him hiding away as a fugitive and had taken their son Richard with him. Recently with HYDRA gaining up; he came to the conclusion that they would be able to overrun the so called Avengers and take over so better to join up with them; offering his many resources to join with the cause even if he distanced away from the Nazi imagery and elements of the organisation. He was in Las Vegas acting as the city's division chief.

Still the mantra of the strong ruling over the weak for their own good appealed to him.

However while H-Day had dealt a serious blow to the Superhero community; it drove Iron Man to be proactive in hunting down HYDRA and he was in the perfect position to do it. Roxxon showed that he was not fooling around and so it was better to start making plans to get away while he could.

Still not a total lose; his hated nemesis Spider-Man was publicly revealed to be Peter Parker; it hurt his pride to think that he was forced to flee New York thanks to a teenager from a poor family. The info dug up on him revealed that his uncle had been killed by a robber working for him; probably drove him to fight crime. He shook his head wondering how many superhero origins did his men create just by doing business as usual.

He would need to hide, rebuild once more and come up with plans to get revenge on Peter Parker. He was meeting with his top aide James Wesley on the final preparations to meet their escape when the main bodyguard burst open the doors in a panic; "SHIELD and government forces sir... they are bursting through the door..." He said alarming them as they had hoped that they would have more time.

They quickly ran to the roof where there was a helicopter pad but were forced to jump out of the way and landed on their backs from the backlash as a rocket launcher had destroyed the helicopter. Then coming from helicopters were several agents who forced them to their knees as they were handcuffed and surrounded by armed agents ready to fire if they gave them a reason too.

Wilson Fisk cursed both Peter Parker and Tony Stark at this.


There was a large stage set up in front of the White House with a packed crowd for the inauguration for the next President of the United States; sitted on chairs were Robert 'Bob' Reynolds, Steve, Natasha, Sam, Peter, Jennifer, Janet, Hank, Carol and Rhodes. Rhodes was wheelchair bound in a suit while the others were in their superhero uniforms. Behind the stage was a giant screen.

"I am worried about Tony... I haven't been able to meet with him since H-Day and I can't think of how wrong this all is." Steve sighed as there were eyes being directed to him from Rhodes, Carol and Hank.

"Are you saying that it's a bad thing that Stark is bringing the fight to HYDRA? I have never been his biggest fan but he is really cracking down on HYDRA and their supporters and shutting down their backers. You of all people should be happy that he took initiative and ended the Red Skull." Carol said who was next to her wheelchair bound boyfriend.

"While possibly breaking all sorts of procedure and laws doing so; I am not saying that I am happy to see HYDRA's followers being hunted down like this... The methods could cause people to create an outcry about the legality of it all which would make it harder for us and especially Tony in the long term. I want HYDRA to pay as much as you all do but there are things that I can't just ignore as a lawyer." Jennifer said as Carol scoffed.

"Really since you find it easy to ignore the law when you decided to become a vigilante." Carol fired back as Jennifer was about to stand up to fire back at her when a look from Steve got her to stay put.

"You shouldn't be doubting Tony; he only has the best of intentions here." Hank said as Janet went to face him still looking creeped out by his Yellowjacket armor.

"They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions Hank." Janet told him.

"Tony's methods may seem extreme to some but they are affective and after such an attack; we can't afford to be soft to fighting HYDRA now. They will happily prey on any sign of weakness." Rhodes said.

"Caution is not weakness Mr Vice President. People are happy to create an outcry against anything; even if it's life saving procedures; President Iron Man going in guns blazing will turn heads whether we want them too or not." Sam told him as Rhodes shook his head as Tony had managed to convince him to act as his Vice President to help him bring the country back together; Rhodes wanted to do his part to help and he wasn't in any physical shape at the moment to do it as War Machine.

It seemed like things were going to go into a full on argument and Natasha whispered to her boyfriend to break it up with one of his practically patented speeches; "Calm down everyone; this is not the time or place to be fighting with eachother with a crowd and cameras watching us. We need to stay united." Steve told them calming them down at a moment. "What I meant before is that Tony shouldn't be expected to be running a country. He hasn't had any time to mourn or grieve and he doesn't need this; he needs us to help him through this dark time in his life. He is in an emotional state and good intentions or not; he is not in a place to be expected to run a country and the efforts to be fight back against HYDRA." Steve told them.

"You think he was just being emotional when he took care of the Red Skull once and for all?" Carol asked as Steve shook his head.

"I don't fault Tony for that at all and believe me; I am just as relieved as everyone else that he can't hurt anyone again. Truth be told I expected it to end with me taking him out myself. My point still stands is that even before this; Tony was not a man who should be running a country and this is not what he needs to be doing." Steve said as Bob spoke up.

"If I may Captain; regardless of your feelings Mr Stark is now our President and we should be behind him in his actions. We are the Avengers so we should be avenging those that we lost." Bob said before he looked towards Peter who had his head down with his helmet on. "You have been quiet." Bob said as Jennifer looking at him angry.

"Maybe because he also shouldn't be here as he is trying to deal with losing his last family member as well as his identity being revealed on live TV! So give him some space since he needs all the help that he could get!" Jennifer snapped at him as there was a helicopter being landed and out came Tony in a suit and a pair of sunglasses being followed by Grant Ward who was chosen to be his new Secretary of Defense. The inauguration was starting as Steve went to talk to Tony who replied to him "we will talk later Steve; I just want to say that... You were right but I will fix what I can..." Tony said simply as the ceremony was being called.

It was an untraditional one as there would be fireworks and it would also act as a press conference, the newly elected Supreme Court Chief Justice swore Tony in after he took the Oath of Office. He went to the podium and directed his speech:

"People of the United States of America... There is no easy way for me to say this but I failed you all... AS secretary of Defense and as Iron Man... HYDRA was close to tearing our country apart and I didn't take the threat as seriously as I should have... I have full regrets about all the lose that we all suffered; let the monuments that I have ordered built here in Washington and in San Francisco and New York let us remember those we lost on H-Day. I myself lost my fiancé and our unborn child... But I said that if I failed to protect the Earth then you can be damn sure that I will avenge it and I will promise you that I will! I am bringing the fight to HYDRA; you have all seen about me taking in the property of that traitor Gideon Malick whose wealth will be used to help fight against HYDRA and to help their victims. Simon Krieger his fellow traitor and the CEO of Roxxon has been taken into custody to face justice for his crimes; his company's database had all sorts of evidence of unethical and illegal activity that their power and wealth have allowed them to dodge for decades but the treasonous war crimes shall be the last. Those just looking for honest work in the company will be moved to Stark Industries to help with providing clean energy and let Roxxon be the first example I am setting. I am issuing a state of emergency and issuing a manhunt for all HYDRA supporters and backers. Anyone found assisting suspected HYDRA activity will be arrested for treason and HYDRA rallys will be met with extreme prejudice. I have my Artificial Intelligence going over footage of past HYDRA rallys and footage of H-Day to find the free HYDRA agents who are still at large. I have this to say to anyone HYDRA thugs watching: make this easier for yourself and jsut turn yourself in now because HYDRA will not be tolerated anymore!"

Tony took in questions and ignored ones asking about the legality of his orders but then came to one asking about SHIELD which had been infiltrated by HYDRA and the United Nations demanding answers since it was a national agency.

"Once I have found myself a Secretary of the State I will be talking with UN representatives about the issue but in the meantime; the US SHIELD resources and agents shall be folded into the US Department of Defense which shall be overseen by former SHIELD agent and undercover mole in HYDRA... My new Secretary of Defense here Grant Ward." Tony said clapping with audience as Ward stood up from his seat to take a bow.

"Now let me say that I have someone else who I want to say a word; someone who also lost a loved one during H-Day. A young man who I had the biggest honour in mentoring, please welcome the Amazing Spider-Man himself: Mr Peter Parker!" The others were stunned by Tony picked Peter up and dragged him to the podium shaking his head whispering "this is your chance to face the crowd Peter; you're bigger than Elvis now!"

Peter gulped as he nervously took down his helmet saying into the microphone "my name is Peter Parker and I have been Spider-Man since I was 15 years old... All I can say is that I got powers from a bite and a family loss drove me to don the mask learning with great power there must also come great responsibility." There were a thousand reporters with their hands up and then speaking up was Phil Sheldon.

"Mr Parker; what do you have to say to the deaths of PDNY Police Captain George Stacy and his daughter Gwen Stacy who you were dating at the time of her death? The widowed Mrs Stacy has been quoted as saying 'We let that boy into our house after George's death while he was practically responsible. Even moreso for Gwen; he told me that my daughter was his whole world and that didn't stop the damned boy from doing more to save her! The nerve of him coming to face us after we already lost George and lying to our faces; standing by as he knew that Gwen knew his involvement with our George's death."

Peter gulped as Jennifer was about to jump from her seat ready to smash but Steve stopped her getting up from his seat and went to get the microphone; "your question is out of line Mr Sheldon; we all know of your boss' crusade against Peter here who has risked his life to protect New York and has not had the time or space he needs since H-Day." Steve sternly said into the microphone dragging Peter to take him back to his seat while giving a disappointed glare to Tony.

"Well... There was Captain America himself Steve Rogers and Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-Man! Peter will be acting as a fully deputized member of the Avengers so his activities in New York will now no longer be vigilantism..." Tony said taking a breath. "That's all the time we have for but to end I will like to share with you a special tribute to my fallen First Lady... Ms Pepper Potts." Tony said as the screen showed a tribute video to Pepper set to I Will Always Love Youby Whitney Houston.

"Tony, just what were you thinking?" Natasha asked glaring at Tony along with Steve, Jennifer and Janet.

"Look Peter; I am sorry as I really should have talk to you about the plan before but I haven't had the time to meet with you. I knew people were asking questions now that they saw you unmasked but this was the chance to introduce the real Spider-Man underneath the mask and so the people of New York could start knowing about their protector." Tony said looking apologetic towards Peter as Jennifer went to put her arm around his shoulder. "I will make it up to you and you have Jennifer with you; I should say to better protect her than you did with Gwen or I did with Pepper but that's not really needed since she is a female Hulk... Insensitive I know but you two have eachother now..." Tony said as the glares hardened.

"Tony; you should step down as I am worried that your grief could cloud your judgement; you are n no state to be President or to be leading a war. You need to take it easy; get help and be allowed to process what happened. Let someone else handle this and let your friends be there for you..." Steve said as Tony sighed before motioning for Carol to help direct Rhodey to the White House while being followed by Ward.

"Standing by caused H-Day and I appreciate wanting to look out for me but this is something that I need to do... I need to strike while the iron is hot and I can't trust anyone else to do this; go back to the Triskellion and rest Captain. It's been a long few days." Tony said ignoring Steve's attempts to stop him.


In the royal castle of Sokovia; Zemo was going over the losses from the event known as H-Day; despite how much of a failure it seemed he didn't believe that it was a total loss as it meant that the Red Skull was out of the way with him to take up the leads of HYDRA. He still had the Soviet nukes to use as a bargaining chip; the man Schmidt had given out was that the nukes would only be launched at his command and would before then be used as a deterrent against international intervention against HYDRA after they take the US. However he had them fired upon Washington hoping to get the Red Skull killed along with the other people governing the country so he could take over himself.

"Just like Stark has just been coroneted; I now shall take over as Supreme HYDRA. We shall consolidate our resources from outside of the US in order to fix our shaky challenge. One weak head has been cut off so two more shall take its place and you two will be able to help with our 2nd head. We shall continue on from our setback." Zemo told the Strucker twins.

"That is a funny way of describing what is in actuality a complete failure Baron." Andreas told him with his arms folded glaring along with his sister.

"Stark is on a warpath against all of HYDRA inside of the US including most of our backers and resources; I see 'setback' as a most too generous term at best." Andrea said as Zemo motioned for them to look at the screen in front of them.

"Our missiles are not our only weapon; we shall use this to threaten the UN into subsiding to our demands as well: behold the secret weapon that I was keeping from the Red Skull known as Sleepers!" Zemo said as it showed underground factories with giant silver robots with the HYDRA symbol on them. "Hitler ordered their construction in a project that was being led by my father; he had them built here when the Nazis were occupying Sokovia. Giant metal forces of destruction that were to be the most powerful of the Wunderwaffe projects that he was working on. However the project was expensive and time consuming with the project only halfway done before Germany surrendered. I had discovered upon them once I started my campaign against the returning Captain America and found the funds to discretely continue the projects. They shall serve as our enforcers here in Sokovia!" Zemo explained as the twins looked at eachother.

"How do you plan on powering them Baron?" Andreas asked and if the twins could see underneath his mask then they could see his giant grin. He pushed a button on his remote and it a prisoner tube with a purple glowing figure inside screaming in it.

"Arthur Parks the man known as the Living Laser who I have managed to get ahold of and he shall be the living battery of our Sleepers." Zemo explained as the Strucker twins shared his grin as this sounded promising.


The Triskellion the island tower base of SHIELD in the upper bay of Manhattan on Governor's Island; it was now serving as the headquarters of the Avengers following H-Day and repairs on Avengers Tower. Peter was on the bed in his room in it watching a news report from the Daily Bugle which was having a statement from J. Jonah Jameson:

"We finally have a name underneath the mask of that menace Spider-Man and it was some upstart kid who was only 15 when he was slinging about our streets for the first time. This Peter Parker caused untold amount of dollars in property damage fighting the menaces that his presence creates; his recklessness got a true hero with a bad killed along with his daughter who he was dating at the time. Parker needs to be locked up and not to be deputized by a President who is even worse than he is at being reckless!"

Peter saw TV being turned off and saw Jennifer there with the remote; "Steve suggested that you take it easy and I am helping right now because watching the Bugle will never be taking it easy for you." Jennifer said simply as Peter laughed as she sat down on his bed to face him. "How are you feeling after our new Iron Man in Chief made you centre of attention in his inauguration?" Jennifer asked softly as Peter sighed.

"Truth be told; I know he is going through a lot but I don't think I am ready to face him again at the moment and hoped he is being kept busy with his Presidential duties. I know Cap has his concerns but Colonel James Rhodes always seem to be more level headed so he could keep him in check and he has us by his side when he needs us." Peter said as Jennifer sighed. "Honestly; I don't know how to feel since everyone now knows who I am while losing one of the last loved ones that my identity was supposed to protect... Should be nice not having to hide who I am but now I have to deal with everyone knowing and without my Aunt May a part of me feels alone..." Peter said as Jennifer shook her head as she slowly took his hand.

"You will never be alone Peter as you have us the Avengers, including me..." Jennifer said as their hands were connecting. Peter's face blushed as a smirk slowly formed on his face.

"Say Ms Walters; you didn't coming in here to take advantage of a younger guy's emotional state to seduce him, didn't you?" Peter asked jokingly with Jennifer giggling at his attempt to lighten the mood.

"I would be careful about what slanderous accusations you through towards a bonafide lawyer Mr Parker..." Jennifer replied coming in for a kiss as Peter went to put his arms around her waist. Then they were interrupted by a knock on the door and then Steve entering.

"Sorry, was I interrupting something?" Steve asked as Peter was embarrassed and Jennifer was glaring at him, "Sorry Peter; I just wanted to check up on you seeing if you needed help at this time?" Steve asked as Peter shook his head.

"I think I will be alright after some time Cap." Peter said as Steve left to give them some privacy. "I was having some déjà vu from last year when I snuck Gwen into my room and my Aunt May walked in on us... He really is the Avengers dad, isn't he?" Peter asked as Jennifer nodded.

"One hundred percent; it's why I don't allow myself to fawn over him or be jealous of Natasha having America's ass to herself." Jennifer muttered shaking her head. "Since this moment has been ruined for us, how about tomorrow I take you out for dinner?" Jennifer offered as Peter smiled nodding.


Tony was now in a secret SHIELD lab which he had now commandeered and there were scientists and medical staff looking over a statis tube containing the unconscious Thaddeus Ross. "The readings we are getting from him are showing that the brand of Extremis that he was injected with was unstable. We would need a stabilising agent for him otherwise within an hour at the most of being out of the pod he would be ready to explode." A doctor told him and Tony frowned; Ross was a real pain but he couldn't be dealt away with if he wanted to unless he wanted to create a large explosion.

Truth be told if he found a way to stabilise Ross' condition then there was a chance he could be grateful and would be willing to use his Extremis powers to help the new President. A risky idea came into his head and he told the doctor that he could be sending data on a possible answer later to study.

He then went to the table containing shut down badly malfunction body of the Vision; it was a sorry state to see him as. He took a lot of damage but the insides of his body showed how advanced he was with the scientists unable to give even an estimate on how long it could take to give get him up and running. He had to give the evil genocidal robot monster Ultron this; he knew how to create an android servant. He then looked to the Vision's forehead which housed his power source the Solar Gem.

Created by Doctor Phineas Horton who had created the stupidly named android known as the Human Torch in 1939; Horton just like Tony's father Howard and Abraham Erskine was definitely a genius in that era much ahead of their time. The power in the Solar Gem could be put to good use...

He then activated a remote controlled armor which went to him with the staff jumping out of the way; using his armor covered hands he went and pulled the stone from the Vision's forehead. "Sorry Vision but the world needs avenging and I have some ideas for this..." Tony muttered looking at the Vision's body apologetically.

United States President Tony Stark is treading closer slowly on a dark path.

I could make myself known and warn him but I am sworn never to intervene.

Besides...

I doubt that he would listen...

Chapter 4

Notes:

Feels like the Peter and Jennifer moments are more like a romantic comedy compared to everything else.

Chapter Text

Two days later Jennifer was in her room at the Triskellion with Janet helping Jennifer get ready for her date with Peter; her hair was done and she was showing off her black dress. Janet was giving her expertise as she was also a fashion designer as well as a scientist. "One more thing to make this perfect for Peter. I first noticed he had a thing for you when I caught him reading a law magazine with you on the cover and I heard him say that he loves how you pull off the sexy nerd look with the glasses." Janet said offering Jennifer a pair of her glasses from the desk and Jennifer smirked as she put them on.

"If he wanted to look at a sexy nerd then he just needed to look in a mirror; if you saw him the night we spent together... I only knew him for a short while but the cute dork with a physique; god helped him if the wedding went on as planned and I caught the bouquet." Jennifer said as they heard the door open.

"Sounds like you were setting yourself up for disappointment sorry to say Jennifer; I had practiced catching it and was prepared to wrestle any opponent no matter how big to catch it. Nothing was going to stop me from becoming Mrs America." Natasha said making herself known at the door. "You look nice Jennifer; if I didn't know my boyfriend I would be hoping that he didn't see you like this or I would be jealous." Natasha said entering the room.

"How is Steve anyway Natasha?" Janet asked as Natasha sighed.

"I swear that it feels like he is putting the whole world on his shoulders; he has put blame on him for H-Day and is scared about what Tony is going to do in his emotional state in the President's office and I don't blame him. Tony was never a man to really think his big ideas through when he was himself and I am with Steve in thinking that Tony should be seeking professional help to help him with what happened." Natasha explained and they winced at the reminder of this that they were taken the opportunity to try and ignore.

Janet trying to be optimistic saying "well maybe Tony will be able to see clearly that he shouldn't be doing the job. When he realises what being the President entails..."


Tony Stark was at his desk ready to tear his hair out as on his desk were several notes and documents from his predecessor; documents about the economy, education and documents about the international aid being given to other countries. So far in his brief term in office he had focused so much on the military and defence side of the job in wanting to strike back against HYDRA that he had completely neglected the other duties that went into actually running a country.

"I should see if T'Challa is done taking care of the invasion of Wakanda to see if he would be up for offering advice on how to be a world leader; can't let Cap know about this since he was the one who told me that I shouldn't be leading a country... Can't let him know or else he would have the fuel to give me the biggest 'I told you so'... I need to look at candidates for my cabinet stat to take care of this so I could focus on finishing the war with HYDRA..." Tony muttered to himself remembering that he used to hate the paperwork part of the job of running Stark Industries. He would always leave it to Pepper...

He was mentally berating himself as the door open and a glaring Gyrich was there; acting as his personal secretary thinking he could make him less of a pain and the less he had to do with any real power or duties the better. Gyrich told him that Colonel Danvers and Vice President Rhodes were there to see him. He invited them in and told Gyrich to leave him alone and Gyrich gave a nod. "Nice to see you Rhodey and I promise you that I have it on my 'to do list' in getting a way ready for you to be able to walk. Once I have it operational; we can start on physical therapy." Tony said with a smile as Rhodes smiled back at him.

"Don't worry about it Tony as I see that you are busy running a country." Rhodes told him noticing the untidy stack of papers on his desk.

"Yeah... About that... I could really use your help as apart from fighting threats to the country... I am not realising that I have little clue as to what I am doing in actually being President." Tony admitted as Carol shook her head but Rhodes just laughed.

"Don't worry Tony; I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to be your VP. It will help keep me preoccupied now that I am grounded." Rhodes replied before getting serious. "But back to business Tony; there is something that you really need to see... If you can get FRIDAY to show the latest from WHIH News..." Rhodes said with Tony asking FRIDAY to do just that. FRIDAY brought up a hologram showing the latest news report of Christine Everhart talking about a declaration sent to the UN and the news media from the Sokovian government.

Tony's face darkened when he realised what that meant.

The news report showed the giant Sleeper robots standing guard at the royal castle of Sokovia where there was a stage set up with banners of the HYDRA logo along with armed guards, Zemo was at the microphone with the Strucker twins at either side of him as he gave his speech:

"People of the world I am Baron Helmut Zemo the leader of Sokovia and the new Supreme HYDRA! I stand before you sharing in the sorrow at the events of H-Day as well as the celebration of the death of the Red Skull. I regret that it has come to that much bloodshed and I hope to halt the hostilities. I am now showing off the newest might of HYDRA science, the Sleepers! With their strength as well as the nuclear missiles we still have in our possession from the previous government's alliance with the Soviet Union; there is a possibility for more unneeded bloodshed. I am just asking the United Nations for the HYDRA regime to be recognised and legitimised by the world as the Sokovian government as well as negotiating for a potential ceasefire. HYDRA doesn't have to be enemies if we aren't unprovoked. I will give you 24 hours before I hope to hear a response. Hail HYDRA!"

"Unprovoked my ass; he will be doing the provoking..." Tony snapped banging his desk with his fists.

"It will not be a good sign to your harsh stance on HYDRA if you go along with this Mr President." Carol said with a harsh sigh as Tony shook his head as he went to the door.

"Of course it won't be a good sign which is precisely why I won't; please see about assembling a group of Avengers but selective please. No one like Cap or Peter or any of Cap's biggest supporters as I don't think they will be down for what I am about to do and I don't want to waste time arguing with them." Tony said as they both blinked realising what he was suggesting.

"You are going to invade Sokovia." Carol said as a statement and not a question.

"Let's be honest Carol; I am going to be far from the first President in office to stage a coup in another country but I am going to be the first leading it on the front line. Unless Nixon had his own super powers that no one knew about." Tony said as he activated a button to summon an Iron Man armor.

"Can't say that I am against this idea but do you plan on how you are going to spin it for the press or how Steve is going to take this?" Rhodes asked as Tony was suiting up.

"Firstly: by the time we are back from liberating Sokovia, I will be hoping that you will have found a candidate for my Press Secretary to do that for me. Secondly: I think we will have more time to argue with Steve than we do now." Tony replied as they both sighed hoping that this goes well.


Peter had gone out for his first proper patrol as Spider-Man ever since H-Day and his first proper patrol in the Iron Spider armor; he had found masked looters going after a series of stores still being rebuilt by Damage Control and so he went in to take care of them. "Come on guys; in these days we should be coming together so why don't you put the stuff back and go home to rethink life choices..." Peter joked as he used his Spider-Sense to dodge the gunfire coming his way. "Maybe not..." Peter remarked as the bullets that did hit bounced off his armor and he went to work webbing and taking them down, getting used the spider legs at the back really helped with the looters trying to get the jump on him.

Soon the PDNY officers came to arrest them and Peter went to web sling away but a Captain said "we will take it from here, thank you Mr Parker." Peter blinked before nodding as he had to remind himself that his identity was no longer a secret so this would need to be getting used to.

This was the new normal for him as he web slinged through the streets and waved to the onlookers and even helping a few about to walk into oncoming traffic. Before he could jump off he found a kid with glasses tapping his glasses; at the very most he would be about 13. "Can I help you with something buddy?" Peter asked as he saw other kids near where the kid was.

"It was my first day back in school and Principal Lieber said that you went to our school and most of the science trophies in the cabinet had your name on it." The kid said as Peter blinked having memories from elementary school flooding in which were suppressed thanks to bullies.

"Oh yeah; I remember Mr Lieber. Glasses and says 'Excelsior'? He taught English when I was in school." Peter said as they nodded with his words. "If you are surprised that your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man went to your school; remember most times your fave Superheroes were just normal people at one point in their lives just like you. Captain America himself back before he volunteered to be a Super Soldier was a scrawny kid from Brooklyn." Peter told him going down to their level making them surprised as he went to fulfilling their autograph requests.

"Looks like someone has found the perks of being a public identity hero." said an amused voice as Peter got up and turned around to see Jennifer looking breathtaking in her dress and glasses. "Shall we and be warned that I am not above ripping that multimillion dollar tin can off you so that I can kiss my date." Jennifer told him holding out her arm and Peter deactivated his armor so he was in a tuxedo as he took her arm in arm as they made their way to the restaurant.

There were jealous looks coming their way as well as flirty looks as Peter didn't know what to make of this; was to be expected after all since it seemed that they were a celebrity couple got to the restaurant went inside and were sitted at a table with Jennifer saying that she will pay the bill; "Spider-Man! Because of your fight with the Rhino last year my office wasn't able to work for more than a month!" shouted one of the patrons of the restaurant as Peter tried to apologise to him.

"Thank to President Stark causing H-Day; my brother is in the hospital on life support!" shouted another as there were other angry shouts as Peter looked down. He asked if they should just go but Jennifer stopped him saying to not let them ruin their night as the manager came to tell them to quieten down and apologised to them as they made their orders.

The food was nice but Peter looked at the glares and wondered if this was going to be the new normal for them now.


Tony was flying in the air side by side with Carol and Bob with Hank miniature sized riding on Tony's armor; he had initiated the House Party Protocol once more and diverted them to destroy all HYDRA banners as well as free all prisoner camps while keeping the Sokovian residents safe. They didn't looks so grateful as they were seen protecting with anti-US and anti-Avengers signs and chants.

"You sure that you are alright with this Bob? Not that I don't appreciate having the Golden Guardian with the power of a million exploding suns but don't you think you should be spending more time with your life?" Tony asked Bob who shook his head.

"Lindy tells me that she just needs time and space to herself; still shaken up about what happened on H-Day." Bob explained with Lindy having a near death experience while working at her job at Daily Bugle Communications before the invasion started.

"If you are sure; I see the castle and the Sleepers are there." Tony told them as they flew down and fired at the Sleepers with Bob and Carol able to just charge right through their chests. Tony felt kind of disappointed but had no time to dwindle as Carol made a hole in the castle so Tony used his repulsor blasts to take down the HYDRA soldiers outside the castle who were trying to fire at them along with rocket launchers that were soon destroyed.

Tony read about the Sleepers project in the data confiscated from HYDRA forces but they didn't speak of where they were being built. It looked like they were being built here at Sokovia.

"Don't worry about being delicate." Tony told them as they went to work torching the place with their blasts while making short work of the soldiers guarding the place. They made their way to the underground missile launcher as Carol and Sentry went to work grabbing the missiles to dispose of them while in space.

"Tony Stark; the Merchant Death who has now invaded my country so now we world leaders are now face to face." Zemo said with his guards aiming their guns at him. "I must say that I am most disappointed in the performance of my mighty Sleepers." Zemo remarked.

"What can I say; state of the art tech beats faulty Iron Giants being put into production during World War II any day of the week. Anything to say in the remainder of your brief reign as leader of Sokovia?" Tony asked as Zemo showed off a remote control.

"I will take you with me Stark; one wrong move and I will detonate this which will set off a bomb with hidden explosive all around Sokovia's most populated cities and there are live cameras here sent to a satellite feed which will be sending the footage after the button is pushed. What do you have to say knowing that you will have to deal with the world knowing that you were responsible for the death of most of Sokovia's population while you were launching an invasion?" Zemo asked mockingly and gloatingly.

"I have to say this... Now Hank!" Tony said as Zemo screamed as he was feeling great pain in his head. "Good fortune Zemo as I did want to bring you in alive for the information you have. So while you were seen Hank made his way sneaking his way underneath your mask, through your ear and into his brain. So I will be taking this..." Tony said stepping forward to crush the remote before the soldiers had a way of trying to grab for it.

Then came Carol and Bob who were holding the struggling Strucker twins causing the soldiers to kneel down in defeat and surrender; "we found them trying to escape when we get back. So that's our job done Mr President?" Carol asked.

"Just have to give a statement to the media and make plans to help with setting up free elections here in Sokovia while bringing Zemo here in custody; you two can feel free to end the Strucker bloodline." Tony told them and twists of the neck did just that. Hank then grew back to normal size as Tony cuffed Zemo.

"We are now more alike than you imagine... We both desire order through might..." Zemo managed to say as Tony glared at him harshly.

"Don't ever compare us again HYDRA scum!" Tony warmed him darkly.


In the gym of the Triskellion; Steve and Bucky were sparring, "It is starting to feel like our first fight together Cap." Grinned Bucky as Sam ran in with his phone.

"Steve; you seriously need to see this as soon as possible." Sam said passing over the phone as their eyes blinked looking at the headline as the footage showed Tony dragging a cuffed Zemo outside the royal castle of Sokovia as he was followed by Carol, Bob and Hank with the headline:

PRESIDENT STARK LEADS LIBERATION OF SOKOVIA!

Chapter Text

Tony was leading his handpicked group of Avengers back to the Triskellion as FRIDAY called in saying "President Stark, I think you he made aware of the fact that Captain Rogers and the other Avengers are waiting for you inside." Tony sighed even though it was to be expected, it was not something that he felt like he was prepared to deal with.

"Okay Friday, direct the Iron Legion to their pods to be fixed, direct the Drone carrying Zemo to agents telling him to be taken into maximum security custody and listen up Avengers, we have to deal with a lecture from Mr Judgmental himself." Tony replied communicating to the other Avengers with him as they entered the landing pod and Hank got off and grew to normal size as they saw Steve with Sam, Bucky and Natasha. Steve particularly had his arms folded and a very stern glare.

"Okay, Capsicle I know you are dying to hear it but let me just say that I know this is not an excuse but I knew you would have problems with the plan so I didn't want to waste any time arguing with you on it. You really should have been told but I wouldn't have wanted to argue about it but... Now that I'm President I will have to make some very tough decisions and I have lost where I am trying to go with this so you may proceed with the chewing out." Tony told him after a big sigh.

"Tony; I can understand about wanting to retaliate against HYDRA but just what were you thinking? We could have dealt with Zemo and HYDRA in Sokovoia discretely but you made a big spectacle of it and painted a huge target on the US." Steve yelled at Tony incredulously as he brushed it off.

"I told Carol that I will be far from the first President to be topple regimes, I am just doing it more openly now and sending a message that you strike against our country and we will retaliate! Zemo was using his missiles to bully the UN into letting him be accepted among the other oppressive regimes with a voice there. I have sent a message that the Avengers will be living up to their namesake." Tony replied as Natasha decided to speak up.

"You have certainly sent a message alright; a message that under President Stark's term in office he will openly lead his group of super powered enforcers to topple anyone that will disagree with him. This is me just stating what it will look like to the UN as they will explain to you once they call you in for a meeting and trust me they will! What will be your plan there, use your suits to bully the UN into getting off your back?" Natasha asked speaking up.

"Watch what you say to the President now Romanoff, whether we like it or not he is the Commander in Chief and you have to admit that the other countries in the world will be hesitant to take us on now! A show of force might seem extreme but it might just what we need to not be seen as weak!" Carol shouted as Tony motioned for her to back off.

"Tony; believe me I would myself love nothing more than be more open in topping regimes that abuse human rights and oppress their own citizens but this stunt... You don't belong in office; you belong somewhere with your friends getting the help that you need and please... Don't think that I won't stop you if I think that you have gone too far..." Steve told him with pleading in his voice as Tony sighed.

"I will totally do you a solid Cap and ignore the implied threat that you have given to the US President, we will talk later as I have stuff to do so once I am done here I am going home to do work while trying to deal with the bland paint job of the place." Tony told him before budging past him with his handpicked group of Avengers following suit.

"Capsicle's widow girlfriend is right about one thing; the UN is going to be up my ass about this and playing around is not going to work like it has when I get called into the Senate... I may have a plan about what to do but it's risky... So was liberating a country from their Nazi government so what they hey..." Tony thought in his head.


Peter was with Jennifer inside the Triskellion taking in the news, "Liberating Sokovia from HYDRA... I can't say that I am against the idea but Tony went along and did it? Will the world see us as war criminals now since we're Avengers? Is Tony allowed to do that just openly as the President?" Peter asked in disbelief as the news report showed the footage and the Sokovian civilians not reacting positively to Iron Man even if they were scared of HYDRA. He had to admit that if he had the resources; he would be tempted to liberate a nation that had been taken over by Norman Osborn if he had still been alive.

"Normally that would get the Congress and Senate up in arms but since they are not in operation right now to be in a position to hold the President accountable; this means that President Stark is free to act as a virtual dictator." Jennifer explained to him shaking her head not being thrilled about what she had to point out to him. They hear an excerpt coming from J. Jonah Jameson:

"Well folks let it not be said that J. Jonah Jameson won't admit when he has been mistaken. President Tony Stark has actually surprised us all by bringing the fight to HYDRA, liberating the nation of Sokovia from their country and dealing serious damage to what remains of them as well as taking care of all remnants of HYDRA in our fair country. Sokovia can look forward to the great taste of freedom and the US of A can look forward to knowing that we will finally have a President that will actually protect the greatest country in the world!"

"You know how we heard from Captain Rogers that he wasn't aware of it? You don't think Mr Stark will get more distant from the Avengers while it hasn't been too long since H-Day?" Peter asked concerned and Jennifer sighed but then they noticed Carol coming up towards them.

"Stark is busy now so he will have more important things to worry about than the reckless vigilante that he had taken under wing for some reason while he wasn't humbled by what happened. You should act more grateful that he is actually working to make this world a safer place." Carol told them shaking her head as Jennifer got up in her face.

"Back off Carol; Peter was just showing concern about Tony's mental state." Jennifer told Carol with a glare.

"So you have to speak up for your new boy toy Jennifer? Decided that you wanted someone young?" Carol asked as Peter glared at her and shouted at her that she was out of line. "You should be more grateful to the man that gave you your fancy suit and made you more than just a D-list street guy Parker and Walters, are you questioning what Stark does to protect our country?" Carol asked her as Jennifer had her arms folded.

"Imagine a lawyer being concerned about the law?" Jennifer asked sarcastically.

"You are being very annoyingly aggressive to your teammates Carol so why don't you leave us be?" Peter asked her holding back anger as Carol sighed.

"I will just go and leave be the ones who aren't important enough for the President to be sent on important missions." Carol said leaving them be. Jennifer looked frustrated as Peter concerned took her hands asking her to take deep breaths.

"Sorry Peter and thanks for the assist, I won't insult your intelligence by saying how us Hulks getting our anger out of our system is a good idea... Be warned that sometimes Carol can be pretty unpleasant..." Jennifer told him shaking her head.

"You think things will get better?" Peter asked as Jennifer sighed.

"I won't lie but one can only hope." Jennifer replied.


Hank was in a lab at the Triskellion working on the Yellowjacket armor, Janet suddenly appeared at full size in the lab as Hank went to greet her happily saying "Janet! It's been too long since we have gotten to just talk one to one on our own!"

"Hey Hank, first off let me say that I am kind of scared by the look off the new suit and Yellowjacket? Did you decide that you outgrew Ant Man?" Janet asked as Hank just shrugged his shoulders taking no offence to the remark about how the suit or the new name. "Second let me state my surprise about the new President entrusting you to help him invade Sokovia to take care of the remains of HYDRA's leadership." Janet told him as Hank sighed.

"Still thinking that Tony might be on the road to hell with his firm hand of leadership?" Hank asked facing her.

"I am concerned about the slippery road that he is on and Cap is right that Tony should be somewhere getting help with his grief and certainly not in the White House. I bet there people in the UN ready to denounce President Stark and make threats of war!" Janet told him as Hank shook his head.

"They will certainly be welcome to try and make their empty threats but I don't expect Tony to take them seriously, we have the most powerful fighting force in the world and I bet Tony will make that known very clear to any critics in the world." Hank replied as he saw the concerned face on his ex-wife. "Look Janet, Tony is the President and has to make tough choices for the greater good and this is our chance to truly help the world recover! I am getting closer to Tony since H-Day and I want to do take advantage of any chance I have to help save the world and atone for mistakes we have made!" Hank told her as Janet looked down.

"So you are going along with this trying to help make up for Ultron..." Janet asked as there was a strong thud as Hank banged his table and Janet had a look of horror and guilt on her face as what she had just said, Ultron was always a sore spot for Hank. "I am sorry for bringing it up Hank... I am sorry for any simulating..." Janet told him apologetically as Hank just pointed to the door silently asking her to leave. Janet gave him a look of sorry as she slowly left and Hank put his hands to his head.


Tony Stark in his armor was in the yellow armor beyond it with a dome over the head, it was his Hydro Armor for going underwater and was now below the seat beyond what normal deep sea diving crafts could withstand. "President Stark sir, I have checked the news media's opinion polls since the liberation of Sokovia and your opinion ratings have skyrocketed off the charts..." FRIDAY told Tony.

"That's great that I have my power supporting me as the President but I hope to gain favour with the individual who has entertained my request for a meeting." Tony replied as he had reached his destination; the underwater city of Atlantis. He reached the royal capital building and the blue skinned guards with their gills didn't look too happy to see him but allowed him entry.

Tony went to the throne room and bowed before the figure sitting on the throne with his hands together calculating like a Bond villain. He was a pointy eared humanoid with pin skin, a black sleeveless vest, black leather pants, a golden belt and wings on his feet. "Tony Stark the Iron Man and now the new leader of what surface dwellers consider the Free World. Well done Stark on your new throne and I am sorry about what happened to your bride to be on your wedding day but when I got your message sent down to my kingdom; I knew that you weren't after congratulations or condolences." The figure told him.

"Thank you your highness and you are right Namor as there is an ulterior motive for me coming here to visit you. I want to state that this is just a standard armor underneath my Hydro armor and so I am not more well armed than I could be without any guards so I came here in good faith Namor." Tony said to the figure Namor as he stood up.

Namor was the half human and half Atlantean king of Atlantis who had helped the heroes of Earth such as the Avengers before but with Namor's loyalty to his kingdom's interests and against perceived threats they have come to blows before.

"I hope that you have found out about me ordering all American oil rigs shut down and removed from your oceans, I had to send squads of former SHIELD personnel as especially the Roxxon rigs didn't want to go down without a fight. Plus I have also put on a program to be harsher to water pollution so that should be good news to you and your people. With that token of good faith I want to offer an alliance between the US and Atlantis, be our diplomatic allies so we can put the past behind us." Tony offered as Namor laughed humourlessly.

"Don't insult me Stark my expecting me to believe that you would come all the way here to just offer an alliance based on good faith? Saved me the trouble of tackling Roxxon's monstrosities on my ocean but what do you want in return? What do you get out of this alliance?" Namor asked as Tony sighed.

"Do you know about Sokovia?" Tony asked as Namor nodded.

"Ah yes, I have heard of you leading a group to take down HYDRA's grip on Sokovia." Namor replied.

"Well I don't regret one bit what I have done but it came with the caveat that I have been summoned to appear to the United Nations to reportedly answer for my actions. There are many that have allied with Sokovia having no problem with their new HYDRA leadership who will want to discredit me or take the chance to declare war. I figure that you coming with me as a new ally would be a full proof that along with the Avengers that invading the US would be a good idea and I hope to send a message to the world that I want all the countries to play nice from now on. This new ally being the ruler of the Ocean who is encompasses most of the Earth." Tony told him as Namor thought it over.

"From my years working with Captain Steve Rogers during the surface world's second World War, I have gotten to know the Captain very well and I doubt that he is for this idea." Namor told him as Tony sighed agitated.

"Steve has little say in this; I could really use your help Namor! Since you're a part of the world too since your father was a human sea captain!" Tony replied as Namor thought it over.

"T'Challa of Wakanda is closer to your Avengers group than I am, do you think that you would have an easier time convincing me than him?" Namor asked as Tony sighed.

"T'Challa is already dealing with a thwarted HYDRA invasion himself on Wakanda but... Yeah... I could really use your help Namor, are you in please?" Tony asked as Namor got off from his throne and came closer.

"I have conditions as I will ignore whatever plans you have for the surface world as long as you don't think to try and annex Atlantis and to keep my ocean clean and if you remember that I will be working with you and not for you then you can consider us allies." Namor said as he accepted the hand shake offer that Tony gave him.


Steve, Natasha and Sam were speaking with Rhodey on video chat, "Believe me... I know how difficult things are becoming with Tony's decision but like it or not he is our President. I know his methods are not the ones we are hoping for but a show of force could really help us and it will only ever have to be a show without us having to act on it." Rhodey told them looking quite overwhelmed by everything.

"I always thought you could be counted on to be the voice of reason to Stark with your level head, any reason why you are going along with this?" Sam asked as Rhodey sighed.

"Everyone please don't think that I am blind to what is going on or how this looks, I am not happy about it either. The fact of the matter is that I know running the country is the last place Tony should be but he was made President and it will take a large beating to get him to stop! In his emotional state the best thing that I could do to help him was keep close to offer support and guidance; help him steer clear from going off the deep end like if he ends up thinking that endangering innocent people by blowing up a city with a bomb will help be a message. I don't want to think that he would go as far as thinking that but I can't leave him alone in his emotional state and his new position. Too risky to take chances and I know the situation isn't ideal but Tony has made progress in fighting HYDRA and not let us be seen as vulnerable so there is good to be taken from all this. All we can do is just do our best in this uneasy situation..." Rhodey said before ending the call.

"Do you think Rhodey will be able to stop Tony from going truly overboard?" Natasha asked Steve who looked down.

"I can only hope because I don't want Tony to force my hand and make my stop him by force..." Steve said as Coulson came up to him. "Agent Coulson, been since H-Day since we have seen you." Steve greeted Coulson as he nodded at them.

"I can only wish that it was under better circumstances as I wanted to examine something that I have seen. Something about the scene of the crime where Gideon Malick, a squadron of HYDRA soldiers and the remains of our Congress died didn't sit right with me." Coulson said with a serious face alarming them. "My team and I recovered the remains of the explosives that set off the explosion that killed them. Some of the brightest minds I have ever known collectively known as Fitzsimmons examine them and concluded with my horrible hunch." Coulson said as they were further alarmed.

"Phil, I don't think that I like what I am hearing." Natasha told him as he handed the report over.

"You shouldn't Agent Romanoff, they concluded that there was no way that a bullet could have set it off as there were traces off a blast that must have done the deed. They were 95% certain that the blast that shot them off... Was a Repulsor blast..." Coulson told them regretfully making them blink wishing that this wasn't real.

Chapter Text

Peter had disguised himself with sunglasses, a baseball hat and a hooded jumper with the hood over the hat as he had used the allies and buildings to webs sling around them until he was able to jump down and then reach Oscorp Tower where he had made an appointment with the next day.

He made it through the door and took down his hood and removed his sunglasses and hat as he reached the reception desk, "I am Peter Parker with an appointment to meet Mr Osborn." Peter said catching the attention of most everyone in the room causing expected mutters to happen with Peter just sighing in response. The receptionist was stunned but phoned him in as he went to take a seat.

He looked around and found an empty space which had been filled over a year ago, with a giant statue of the company founder Norman Osborn who the company was doing their best to distance themselves from now. He was told by the receptionist that Mr Osborn was ready for him and a staff member showed him to the elevator until they reached the top floor and then showed to the CEO's office.

Peter entered and found a brown haired man his age in a business suit as they happily greeted eachother with a man hug, "Peter Parker; it's been too long and so sorry about your Aunt man." greeted Harry Osborn who was good friends with Peter at Empire State University until they became distant following Gwen's death (who Harry was also close to) and following the death of Norman Osborn who was Harry's father, Harry had taken over the company.

That had been the last time they had met eachother and Peter wanted to meet up again to find anything resembling his old life pre H-Day.

"Thanks Harry, I am getting better but how is it like being pretty much the youngest head of a multi-billion dollar company in the world?" Peter asked as they let go and Peter just caught a wince on Harry's face.

"You know the company has been worse and I am not exactly the business or science genius that dad was but... I could tell you all about it but it would be pretty boring stories to tell to someone who has been a superhero since before he was able to drive, now a member of the Avengers and now pretty much close with the new President." Harry replied as Peter tried to play it off. "Don't act like it's no big deal Pete because it totally is and when I got the news... All the times in college when you acted weird or flaked on us all made sense now." Harry told him and Peter got nervous.

"Listen Harry, I didn't want to drag you into my life by telling you and put you into danger. Plus what happened with Gwen and your dad..." Peter told him but Harry brushed him off.

"Don't worry Peter I totally understand; should I expect to hear you bragging about your new flame because I have seen the news." Harry asked as Peter shook his head vigorously. "No one would believe that Peter Parker of all people would be shacking up with the green skinned bombshell that most boys at the school would give all their money to spend some time as her new boy toy." Harry said as Peter grew annoyed.

"It's not like that Harry; things are getting close to us and believe it or not it's not a fling." Peter replied as Harry grew defensive.

"Sorry Pete; didn't mean it like that! Just so surprising; tell you what how about we scheduled a night out together and you bring Ms Walters and we can double date as I have my own lovely lady so we will be two young men off the market!" Harry offered and Peter smiled thinking that it could be nice and he was sure that Jennifer would be up for it.

There was a phone ringing and Harry checked his and almost jumped to see a H. Balkan calling, "Sorry Pete but I have an important call so do you think that for the moment we could cut this reunion short? Just leave your contact details at the reception and I will get back to you?" Harry asked and Peter gave a nod as he said goodbye to him and left.

Harry answered the call coming from Henry Balkan who was one of the most senior board members of Oscorp since the company's founding, "The other members of the board and I are getting real impatient; at this rate the company's stock will have fallen so low that the stock of a chain of diners will be more valuable than Oscorp." said Balkan's agitated voice on the phone as Harry cleared his voice.

"Your patience will pay off I promise you; I have a direct link that will lead to getting a big partnership with Stark Industries and thus working with the President himself! I just need a little more time; they say that Rome wasn't built in a day and that patience is a virtue. I promise you that in six months time no one will be able to believe that Oscorp was close to a failing company." Harry replied as Balkan sighed.

"Very well Harry; against my better judgement I will do my best to stall for the time that you need but I should give you a fair warning that the Board is already debating whether to just replace you or just sell the company outright. Believe me; it's not something we are entirely pleased about since we will be lucky to make back half of the money we have invested but sometimes it's best to just cut our losses. Don't make us do the same to the Osborn family." Balkan finished as Harry gulped as he said that he understands.


A helicopter landed at the New York island prison known as Ryker's Island, several uniformed agents were acting as the security personnel as they led Grant Ward out and escorted him to the entrance of the prison. He allowed his men to give the papers to the prison staff so they could be escorted in as he thought to his last meeting with his boss US President Tony Stark:

"Listen Ward, I know that my methods since getting into office can be seen as extreme or questionable but this proposal you are giving me? I can't say that I am totally against the idea or merits of it but I am on a thin line as it is; you know this guy's reputation from both the costumed crowd and the public? How do you think my PR team is supposed to spin this?" Tony asked Ward as they were discussing Ward's proposal in the oval office.

"No one will know Mr President sir, this goes underground with orders to all authorities not to engage him saying it was a government matter. No one will need to know that this has been done and you can't ignore the possibilities of him working for you." Ward told him and smirked as Tony finally relented after some more words.

"No one will be allowed to know the full details without my authorisation; Rhodey would kill me if he knew certain details..." Tony warned him and Ward nodded.

Ward sat down at the visitor's centre watching as he spotted several armed guards escorting a certain prisoner in ALL of the possible cuffs and ALL security precautions with the other inmates and guards looking terrified to be anywhere near the man. The prisoner was forcibly sitted down as Ward faced the prisoner with a guard holding a telephone to the ear of the prisoner.

"Frank Castle the infamous Punisher himself; I must say that I am a tremendous big fan. I know you are here getting to talk one on one to the new United States Secretary of Defense but I assure you; the honour and privilege is all mine! Here you have with security precautions created just for you as no one wants to take a chance with you, one mistake and the prisoner population of the place will go down to single digits in no time!" Ward said to the prisoner smirking. "Your service record already showed you to be a man to be feared and respected and the body count since you donned the skull is just something else! You have wiped out countless mob families, Yakuza families, cartels, trafficking rings and I could just go on and on! I have seen what happened when you got your hands on right-wing nuts that decided to co-opt the image of your skull, seriously Disney wishes they were as protective of your brand as you are!" Ward told Castle who glared at him.

"Is there a point to be made of you coming to see me Mr Secretary?" Castle asked making it clear that he was using the Mr Secretary title mockingly.

"You are aware of President Stark's touch stance on enemies to the US especially HYDRA?" Ward asked as Castle had a slight grin.

"Stark is finally starting to see full sense; I had one of those toys and there would be far less monsters running regimes in a month." Castle replied as Ward's smirk widened.

"Something to discuss later but I have come here to give you the good news that President Stark will be gracefully offering you a full Presidential pardon and full deputisation." Ward told him as the room was silenced with looks of disbelief from most.

"Is this a goddamn joke?" Castle asked as Ward shook his head.

"I assure you this is no joke; President Stark is hell bent on rebuilding from scratch the system that failed your family and caused H-Day to happen. He wants the streets for the people to be safer and wants to let you permanently take the putrid scum off the street and you will be allowed to help decrease the prisoner population if you know what I mean. You could be in line for something special but let's save that for later. So what will it be, will you take your Pardon and new opportunity or just live out your countless life sentences here?" Ward asked as Castle started to smirk making most of the guards and inmates gulp.


Tony sighed as he was dressed in his best suit with a full security detail along with Carol as backup; they made their way to the General Assembly of the United Nations with the security pushing back reporters as well as protestors against his liberation of HYDRA. Just to be expected with the thanks people may get sometimes for wanting to save the world and avenge the lost. He had his security detail bring in screens for use later.

Tony was off course called up ignoring the murderous glances of several of the representatives there; he was being asked questions about the events of the day. "I feel that the actions that I have taken speaks for itself; in retaliation for HYDRA launching a full terrorist invasion of the US I have led a liberation of Sokovia from the highest ranked leader remaining of HYDRA. Heinrich Zemo who I have taken into custody; proud of his Nazi father and is now in custody. You have no need to thank me as world saftey is its own reward." Tony ha said simply as if it should be obvious to murmurs from the crowd.

"Mr President Stark; most of us are concerned about your decision to launch a full scale invasion of a sovereign nation. Baron Zemo's regime had support from allies of Sokovia and I can't help but notice that you seem for lack of a better term 'flippant' about your public show of disregard for international borders." The UN Secretary-General told him as Tony cleared his breath.

"Well Mr Secretary-General sir I feel that I should point out that the terrorist usurper Zemo's regime was never officially acknowledged by the UN here and let me refresh your memories about the fact that he had threatened the world with missile attacks to have his regime recognised. The US has a reputation of not negotiating with terrorists and I wanted to live up to it." Tony said as there were more murmurs. "To those that were happily allying themselves with the Nazi cult which had been led by a war criminal; pointing that out doesn't really do anything to me but say that your judgement is horribly flawed if I am being extremely generous." Tony continued on inviting angry retorts and shouts as the Secretary-General tried to restore order.

"That was out of line Mr President; I will have to ask you to watch your words as there are other concerns including your decision to take the resources of the currently inactive SHIELD agency and the assets of the late Gideon Malick who was alleged to have been a mole with HYDRA..." the Secretary-General said as Tony stood up.

"Alleged nothing; the supposed international philanthropist was nothing more than a filthy HYDRA agent since he was a kid and yes I have made the decision to reallocate his resources to help the victims of HYDRA plus reallocating the resources of the agency that HYDRA had infiltrated since the beginning. Please don't waste time bringing up the shutdown of Roxxon as I don't care how chummy any of you were with Roxxon; the whole company was an irredeemable lost cause and I fixed it." Tony said interrupting the Secretary-General as the rants from the crowd increased.

One diplomat went down to face Tony outraged at his conduct while ignoring the Secretary-General' attempts to send him back to his seat; "You are out of line Stark; you shouldn't be here as a world leader. We should have you brought into custody so you will be found guilty and sent to the Hague..."

Tony sent a signal and then barging through the door was Namor with his royal guard, "members of the United Nations and the people watching at home please let me introduce to you King Namor of Atlantis; the underwater kingdom that I will now officially reveal has allied with the United States of America! They will be working with us but I will give him a moment to speak to the world." Tony said speaking through the microphone as Namor faced the assembly.

"For far too long the governments of the world has been polluting the Ocean of the world that never belonged to any of you but that ends now! President Stark here has promised to combat pollution and threats to the ocean that belongs to my kingdom! There is no drilling for oil on the ocean or anything else, President Stark has given me full authority to deal with any criminals on my ocean so I expect the same with all of you! I am the King of the Sea and it's time that you all recognise it!" Namor told the crowd in a demanding serious voice that said that was the end of it.

"You dare bring this freak into the assembly here; Stark I will warn you all that my country's military is ready to invade the US so you had better back down from this attempt at being strong..." the diplomat said only to be taken aback as Tony came and laughed in his face literally. "You find this funny?" asked the diplomat furiously.

"I am honestly seeing you trying to play big boy threatening war either thinking I am an idiot or you are genuinely extremely arrogantly stupid enough to not realise how embarassingly outclassed all other militaries are to the force that I have!" Tony replied patting him on the head as if he was humouring a child making the diplomat somehow even more furious.

"Let me remind you that Namor here controls the Ocean which is more than 70% of the Earth! He could easily drown this entire building and have all of you killed within five minutes! Colonel Carol Danvers here has cosmic space power that could make give Gods a good fight! Plus I am a founding member of the Avengers the Earth's Mightiest Heroes and I am Iron Man!" Tony said pointing to the security detail who then put on the screen showing live footage of outside the building where the Iron Legion was in the sky circling the building.

He then done a signal as flying through the wall was Bob Reynolds in his suit as he flew down to next to Tony, "In case you needed more examples of the firepower that the Avengers possesses; this here is the Sentry who is known as the Golden Guardian of Good! One of the top superheroes we have in the US who alone has the power of ten million exploding suns and was friends with the Hulk himself whose cousin we have on the active roster! I hope that I have made my point how hilariously outmatched anyone who thinks they could actually start a war with the US actually are." Tony asked smirking as the diplomat who had directly confronted him had lost all self control.

He went to attack Namor and was stabbed through the chest by Namor's trident shocking the assembled UN personnel. "Wasn't expecting that but he was about to attack first..." Tony muttered as even he was a bit stunned but shook it off as he faced the rest of them. "HYDRA almost tore my country apart so I have decided that I will no longer hold back against threats to the country and to the world; I won't limit myself to ideals that don't protect the innocent and I won't allow systems that doesn't give justice to continue to exist! The days of bickering people in power stopping things get done or actively preventing them are over! This is my message to the world; play nice to you won't like the consequences! If you are foolish enough to think that you can take on the Avengers then you will succeed in nothing than having your armies decimated and your nations losing their right to autonomy!" Tony said looking serious terrifying most of those assembled.

One diplomat shook his head as he was with members of the Dora Milaje of Wakanda; he was T'Shan the ambassador of Wakanda as well as cousin to their King T'Challa. Wakanda had managed to be victorious against the HYDRA forces led by Klaw in their invasion and were now finishing with the rebuilding efforts. T'Shan didn't know everything his cousin would do in response to this but he was certain that any attempts to threaten Wakanda will not be tolerated even by an old friend.

T'Challa did tell him to be prepared for if a civil war erupted in the US as T'Challa knew Captain Steve Rogers and there would only be so much of the methods of President Tony Stark that he would take...


In the Triskellion, Hank was making his way to the meeting room of the Avengers as Steve said that he wanted them to go over evidence that had been found as well as discuss the mental state of Tony. Since the President was busy for the foreseeable future they would be holding a meeting without him, Bob or Carol as they were unavailable as well. Plus they wanted to watch Tony's hearing at the UN live and see if the proceedings inform any decisions that they would be making

Hank shook his head as Steve was being overly paranoid and Tony was doing a fine job of rebuilding the country from its shaken state. He had lost track of time and entered the room saying "sorry everyone but working in my lab made time fly by and I was blindsided when I realised..." HE was taken aback by the looks they were giving him.

"I don't want to believe that some of the most brilliant minds working for SHIELD could have been mistaken about this but the alternative..." Peter muttered looking at Hank.

"I am looking forward to whatever explanation you have for this." Bucky said present as while he wasn't an official Avenger; he did work with the group on covert missions and was present when the findings were given to Steve and his close allies.

"Not looking good for you Hank." was all that Hank said.

Jennifer and Natasha found themselves silent as Hank was confused but Steve had them passed over a copy of the documents to Hank. Hank glanced at them and his face was turning to horror when he saw it was the findings of the explosive remains that were set off by Repulsor blasts. "Come on guys, this could have been planted there... You don't seriously think that Tony set off the explosives to risk the hostages lives just to kill the HYDRA soldiers?" Hank asked defensively as they gave him looks.

"The incident happened after what happened to Pepper, I don't want to think that he would have done this but the evidence makes me feel that I am forced to believe that Tony let his emotions cloud his judgement." Natasha said.

"Okay... So he had a lapse in judgement but considering what he had just been through on that day could you really blame him? There were HYDRA miles in congress and it's not like most of them were really trying to do their jobs..." Hank said after sighing as Janet stood up to face him.

"One of the soldiers fired at the explosives to kill all of them to avoid capture and to prevent the Avengers from rescuing the hostages; that was your eyewitness account Hank! Please tell me that Tony told you his version of what happened and you passed it as your account because otherwise the best explanation is that you lied to cover it up." Janet said wiping away a tear as Hank slammed his hands on the table.

"Okay, so I did! The lives of useless politicians no doing anything is no big loss and Tony had lost his world on what should have been the happiest day of his life! He might have overreacted but he was acting out of grief and people thinking he could have intentionally murdered them would have done nothing but bring him trouble that he didn't need!" Hank snapped as Steve faced him.

"All this just shows that Tony should have been seeking help since H-Day..." Steve said as Hank groaned.

"Not this again, you had been saying this since before he was officially inaugurated and it's just a broken record at this rate! I won't deny that Tony wasn't affected by H-Day because of course he is but he is channelling his grief and desire for justice into doing something good..." Hank said as Jennifer pointed out that it was time for the hearing as they put the screen on for the live news.

They were stunned as it went down and Hank was thinking that this was just going to make his fellow Avengers worse about Tony. At the end most were stunned silent but Steve got up first, "I am going to contact Vice President Rhodes to give a message to Tony that this has gone far enough! He will be given a week to make a graceful transition to the next President or else I will use force to save him from himself!"

"Come on everyone; you can't be for Steve being over in his head in giving out this treasonous demand!" Hank asked trying to salvage this but while Peter, Jennifer and Janet didn't' want to say anything the others showed that they were fully onboard with Steve on this. "Should have known that Cap's lap dogs would just go along with this!" Hank shouted as Sam got up and grabbed his wrist.

"I am not a lap dog and despite what people might say about me I am not Steve's lap dog! I am on the right side and it just so happens that more often than not the right side is what side Steve is on! This time the right side just happens to be helping to forcibly impeach the President who has all but officially just conquered the world!" Sam told Hank in his face as he left with Bucky and Natasha to follow Steve with the others quietly leaving themselves.

None of the members knew it at the same but this was the moment where the Avengers as they had been before had ended...

Chapter Text

The next day Tony was at his desk in the Oval Office looking at plans for the special leg braces to possibly help Rhodey to walk again, there was Rhodey in his wheelchair there with Carol as well. They were watching the news as reporters had the previous afternoon approached Steve at the Triskellion and he had given this statement:

"Tony is a good friend and teammate but I can't condone his conduct as of late; his threats to the United Nations and other recent decisions since H-Day has made up my mind that he doesn't belong in office at this time. I hope to give time to him to transition to a new President so that he can have the rest that he needs."

The Daily Bugle had J. Jonah Jameson saying that a huge show of force was what they needed to scare off their enemies, though he did criticise Tony for allying with the Atlantean king who had scared the city when he first fought the Human Torch during World War II.

"He was the one telling me that I wasn't taking the protection of the country and the world seriously enough and now that I do he pretty much states his threat to depose me without actually saying the threat itself. Is there no winning with Steve?" Tony sighed shaking his head.

"He did have trouble with seeing the bigger picture but if he wants to try and depose him by force let's see him try.." Carol muttered shaking her head.

"Have to admit Tony that we all know that Steve wouldn't be down with what happened at the UN especially with allying with Namor and his actions there." Rhodey pointed out as Tony faced him.

"I knew he wouldn't be happy about that but a big enough threat was what we needed to get the world to play nice and not make us look weak! I wasn't too happy with having to ask Namor for help but it did have the effect we need. Plus as I told you I didn't expect there would be an idiot stupid enough to try and threaten me to my face or try and attack the Atlantean King so he was acting in self-defence..." Tony muttered.

"Tony I get it that as President you have to make hard decisions especially moreso after H-Day. Not happy that it was necessary but an Avengers show of force did the trick. We knew there would be critics especially Steve when he found out about the report from Coulson." Rhodey brought up and Tony shook his head remembering the previous night where Rhodey being brought into his office to give the message from Steve as well as the copy of the document.

"That was regrettable; I was so focused on stopping Malick from escaping with his goons that I didn't put much priority in the hostages' saftey, especially thinking the bureaucracy that they were compliant in helped cause H-Day." Tony said as they both bought the story but he had a feeling that they were making themselves buy it with Rhodey desperately wanting to give Tony the benefit of the doubt with the alternative wouldn't be good to think about.

"If that gets out; Rogers could rally the opposition against you. You know off course how easy it would it be for critics to frame it and your recent actions as all a big power grab." Carol pointed out and Tony sighed.

"Information like this can't get out and I need to get Steve to see reason; because if he don't I will have to order him and any supporters that he has to be taken in." Tony muttered as he excused them as he went back to on other documents that he has, including finalising the choices that Rhodey had given him for the members of his cabinet.


It was midway through the week with it getting dark as Peter was nervously knocking outside Jennifer's room as he was thinking to himself "Remember what you discussed with Jennifer earlier; pretend that the country and the world isn't in trouble with President Stark becoming a virtual dictator and Cap is ready to make him step down by force... It's just you and your green goddess double dating with your friend who you are reconnecting with! Jennifer warned me that if I started to worry about Avengers stuff or the future of the world while we are out then she would smash me and not the good kind..." The door open and out came Jennifer wearing a blue dress with her hair in a pony tail and glasses; she done a twirl to show the dress was backless and she wasn't wearing a bra.

"You are planning to kill me by giving me a heart attack, aren't you?" Peter asked as Jennifer smirked.

"Don't be stupid; you are no use to me dead..." Jennifer joked as arm in arm they went outside the Triskellion and a limo was there to take them to the fancy restaurant. They had soon arrived and met up with Harry with his hair styled back with gel in a business suit with a smirking redheaded woman in a black dress.

Peter and Harry greeted eachother as Peter said "hi Harry; you have heard of Jennifer here of course and who is this lovely redhead of yours?" The woman smirked as she came up to him and Peter felt that she looked familiar, "wait, I think I saw you at Aunt May's funeral..." Peter asked as the woman shook her head.

"Our aunts were friends and we were neighbours for our lives even if we never really got to meet eachother tiger. I'm Anna Watson's niece and I wanted to reintroduce myself to you but Aunt Anna thought you deserved space due to everything that had happened, we had moved away before we got into ESU. I'm Mary Jane Watson but you can call me MJ tiger." The woman introduced herself as Peter was taken aback.

"I remember Aunt May saying about how her friend Anna had a niece and how they tried to set us up once; kind of a small world and nice to meet you MJ." Peter said once he caught his voice.

"If you went to parties more while at ESU Peter then you could have been reintroduced to her earlier Pete as she was quite a party gal. Though she is settling down as she is actually the future Mrs Harry Osborn." Harry told him as MJ smiled showing off an expensive engagement ring as it stunned Peter and Jennifer.

"Wow... Just congrats Harry, felt like a bombshell..." Peter just said wondering how long the two of them had been together.

"Wish it was quite as a shocker as learning that your old college buddy is Spider-Man and has one of the best looking Avengers as a flame." Harry said as they went into the restaurant and got their seats as they gave their orders with the food soon arriving.

"Ms Walters, I don't know if you remember me but a few months back after I congratulated I was a part of a photoshoot you and Janet Van Dyne had taken part in. I plan to break into acting with a role coming up in a soap drama and my first photoshoot there I hope to break into modelling as well." MJ told Jennifer after a few minutes as Jennifer thought about it and had a realisation.

"I remember now a swimsuit issue for up and coming models as well as experienced ones; Peter should be able to see your photos since he has the magazine with the cover on his wall. I am wondering if I should be concerned if he put it up for Janet on the cover instead of me." Jennifer said smirking as she turned to Peter who was turning to red faced embarrassed as she had expected.

"Well I hoped to try and get to the cover trying to pose and make myself look like a gal with the ultimate come hither look but I never really stood a chance against two Avengers." MJ laughed as Jennifer couldn't help if there was some bitterness in her eyes. "Tell me Ms Walters; I never really expected you to end up with the science geek that I lived next door to for years but I guess the spider powers made him a stud." MJ said to Peter's embarrassment again.

"Not wrong there but he is really a smart and sweet guy but besides the powers my school life wasn't that much different from his." Jennifer told her with MJ and Harry not really buying it. "Truthfully; before the powers were given to me I was shy and lacked self-confidence. I was the bullied wallflower nerd as well with only my cousin Bruce as a friend along with my textbooks to get into law school. My last high school reunion I was being fawned over by guys who laughed in my face when I tried to ask them out, one of them put the moves on me and I threw my drink into his face just as he had done to me before." Jennifer admitted as Peter sighed knowing Jennifer didn't really like thinking of her old life and held her hand as they shared a smile.

"Well now you are together as a famous power couple now literally, so tell me how is it like working for the President now? Has President Stark invited you to parties at the White House?" Harry asked as they grew nervous. They looked at eachother in concern before thinking of the best way to approach this.

"Well... The President has been busy and it's been a bit concerning..." Peter managed to say as Harry shook his head.

"Are you talking about the small minded groups protesting the methods that is stopping our country from being weak and the old fashioned Captain opposing Stark? I mean sure the methods are not ideal but we do need a firmer hand in leadership if we don't want people to be taking advantage of the vulnerable state that the country was in right after H-Day. President Stark is the President we needed." Harry replied as Peter and Jennifer shook their heads not sure how to react to this. "Now tell me; will you two be expected to take in Old Man Rogers if he decides that he knows best and commits treason against the President. Please tell me if the details are classified..." Harry laughed as Jennifer took a deep breath.

"Steve actually does make some very good points and concerns since before the inauguration." Jennifer said with Harry almost jumping out of the seat, "Tony lost his wife on what was supposed to be his wedding day and was just made the new President. He really shouldn't be in office and should be seeking help; his actions have kind of proved Steve's point." Jennifer said with a serious voice as Harry looked like he was stopping himself from panicking.

"Come one H-Day was tragic and we all lost a bit of ourselves on that day and the President is using the events as motivation to make the country stronger than it had been before. You agree with me don't you Pete?" Harry asked but paused when he saw Peter not looking his way. "Pete, do you think that we could have a private in the corner please?" Harry asked suddenly and Peter got up thinking that it might not go well.

"Harry, can I please ask why you want me to agree with you on the President's authoritarian methods?" Peter whispered as Harry calmed down a bit.

"Peter listen, can I please ask if you can make sure the Avengers including you stay close to the President because I was kind of hoping that you could help me get in with him! A contract with the government and the President's company." Harry whispered to him as Peter was taken aback.

"You want me to do what? Plus you want to use me to get you into contracts for your company?" Peter asked aghast at what Harry was saying.

"Looks please let me explain; the truth is that when we met up in Oscorp Tower I wasn't really being all that honest with you..." Harry whispered as Peter allowed him to go on. "The truth is that nothing had been easy since taking over the family company that dad built. The company's reputation and stock had gone down since it was revealed their founder and CEO was the Green Goblin. The Board of Directors never had any faith in me when I had taken over and they never really had any respect or trust in the 'trust fund playboy' as they called me. I had been trying to turn it around but I am not a science genius like you or dad was and it's only the PR department managing to hide from the public just how bad Oscorp is doing." Harry admitted to him as Peter thought it over.

"It only got worse after H-Day since our facilities got trashed with irreplaceable research in it and now the Board is close to either kicking me out or selling the company. There are also fears from the Board that the President would use the fact that the company founder was a Supervillain as an excuse to just take everything like how he destroyed and took everything from Roxxon and the estate of Malick! I saw the news that my old friend was Spider-Man and on the Avengers with one of the big members being the new President. I convinced the Board to give me time and I could have the company working with the new President of the United States who is also a world famous Avenger along with my good who is also an Avenger pretty close to the new President!" Harry finished as Peter thought it over.

It seemed like Harry was in a tight spot; however Peter was a bit miffed about the feeling of being used and his own issues with Tony. "Sorry Harry, I understand if you are in a tight spot but I can't in good conscious really go along with what President Stark is doing." Peter said as Harry looked mad. "Look Harry, I am sorry..." Peter said but Harry exploded.

"You're sorry; I stuck with you after all your flaking on me and Gwen, after what happened to my dad I came to you when I really needed you the most and you practically spit on my face to agree with some old fashioned self righteous fossil! You were always so much smarter than me as our teachers and even my own father loved to point out! I was willing to put that behind us and the fact that you got Gwen and both of our dads killed!" Harry snapped as Peter suddenly got angry himself.

"That was out of line Harry!" Peter said as calmly as he could but then Harry got up in his face after laughing humourlessly.

"You probably didn't care enough about Gwen since you didn't catch her and months later you are here with the replacement! Taken here to show her off to me and my fiancé but at least MJ is all natural..." Harry continued on as Peter had enough shoving him back slightly.

Peter was turning about to tell Jennifer that they should go but she was already up and waiting for him by the door, they went through to the limo with Harry chasing asking them to wait and he was sorry. "Give us some time and don't follow or else you will have to clean your fancy suit after you fish yourself out of the dumpster in that alley over there! I have before tossed bad dates in there so don't think that I wouldn't do it!" Jennifer yelled at Harry as MJ came out looking mad at Harry as she slapped him on the back of the head.

"Sorry about our double date being ruined there; Harry told me his company was failing and then became out of line after I told him that I couldn't go along with Tony just so that Harry could get contracts." Peter told her apologetically.

"Not your fault that your old friend was an idiot ass tonight; besides if you could believe it it's not really even the worse double date I have ever been on." Jennifer replied as she gave a small smile. "So tonight could end on a better note; I could show you my high school yearbook so you can look at my pictures and tell me if you would have rejected me if you were in high school together." Jennifer asked him as Peter smiled.

"Okay but I don't think that I should have needed to tell you that I would have been happy to be asked out by a girl, even if they were somehow a worse wallflower that the school's only professional one." Peter replied as they laughed together.


Grant Ward rather liked the power and authority being the new Secretary of Defense for the United States had given him; after growing up with monsters for parents and an older brother he had to work out to protect himself and his brother. Now he had the authority to command respect; moreso than his older brother who was one of the Senators who was a casualty of H-Day.

However he would be expected to be working at a desk and on meetings and Ward didn't really like that so he convinced Tony to let him lead some major missions on the field. He made his point by pointing out how being the Commander in Chief still won't really stop him from being Iron Man when he felt that he needed to.

So he was leading a raid with mainly agents of the FBI and now ex-SHIELD agents of an AIM funded lab, being forced to come along was the lab's operator a white haired man with glasses and a moustache who had been taken into custody. Professor Miles Warren a biologist who was blacklisted by the government for his cloning experiments and it lead to him becoming a biology professor at ESU. AIM had found out about his cloning research and was given this lab and funding to continue his research in secret.

The fact that Ward had convinced Tony of what they could do with the research was the only reason why the man wasn't killed along with other unrepentant and unneeded HYDRA patsies. "Be careful everyone; all this equipment still has use!" Ward warned the squad as they started the raid on the lab with Warren looking frantic.

They came across a chamber machine as Warren shouted "no be careful with that! My latest and most important subject! This could bring Gwen to us after the Parker boy all but killed her! His blood is helping to keep her stable but she still needs work to be given life such as a stable skeleton!" cried Warren as Ward had read about how Warren taught both Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker. Seemed that he was obsessed with Gwen after her death to a creepy level.

"I think the President could help with that..." Ward grinned as his squad continued on with their work.

Chapter 8

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

In the Triskellion gym; Steve and Natasha were sparring together as Natasha was starting to get the upper hand. "It's fortunate that you weren't unfrozen earlier so I would have to be sent against you. I would have killed you or decided to keep you as my prisoner as a trophy. Seduction is what we were taught in the Red Room for undercover and with us together now I know I would have made Captain America surrender to me." Natasha told him grinning as Steve shook his head as he was getting his edge back in the sparring.

"Don't be too cocky Natasha; I would have allowed you to think that you would have won but taken you down when you got lost in your supposed victory." Steve replied as they saw someone enter and it was Peter in his normal clothes. "Wanted to use the facilities here Peter? It's free to all Avengers as you should be aware of." Steve asked as Peter cleared his breath.

"I... Kind of wanted to talk to you for a minute Cap but if you are too busy at the moment, I could always speak to you later as you are much easier to try and talk to than Tony at the moment..." Peter asked as Natasha was going off in the corner and motioned for Peter to go next to Steve. Peter went and stood next to Steve. "So Cap... You were quite vocal to the media of your disapproval of what Tony has been doing and rightfully so what you said privately and publicly. The politicians and media seem to be on Tony's side here as a whole and well... The words they described you as old fashioned and out of touch with modern day... Have you thought twice about what you will do if Tony doesn't stop?" Peter asked as Steve sighed as he went to face him.

"Well most of the politicians discluding Tony's chosen cabinet are the elected officials and I respect their right to say what they wish but they should respect the rights of people to disagree and counter argue what they say. I am a citizen who is saying that the President is overstepping his bounds and I know that it's my responsibility as Captain America and has Tony's friend to stop him before the US and the world is officially a police state. Some may call me treasonous but I as Captain America am not here to represent the American government; I am here to represent the American Dream and what America should be. It's an idealised version of the country and the world I will admit but it's an ideal I will always fight towards." Steve replied as he saw that Peter was thinking about it.

"I know Tony has managed to gather support from the public but people are scared; they suffered due to H-Day and will want to latch onto any solution that seems ideal. Sometimes when people are scared they will jump on the nearest bandwagon without looking at who the driver is." Steve continued on wishing he had a better analogy since the driver in this instance is Tony.

"I hear what you are saying Cap but you might have heard of the shout out when Jen and I double dated with my old pal Harry; he was looking to use me to get into government contracts from Tony and I didn't want to go along with him. I went to sleep and was scared for a millisecond since I doubted if I did the right thing." Peter explained as Steve thought about it.

"Doubting ourselves is a human thing Peter and sometimes doubts can stop us from making bad choices but sometimes they are meant to be overcome Peter. You talk about what the people had been saying about me in the media but you have faced plenty of criticism in the media yourself Peter. Even now when they have a name and a face to put underneath the mask and individuals like J. Jonah Jameson have been quite vocal and anger driven towards you." Steve continued on as Peter sighed.

"I admit that just giving up being Spider-Man has crossed my mind plenty of times." Peter told him and Steve put his hand to his shoulder.

"No one would have blamed you if you gave up but you didn't and persevered to do the right thing with little thanks or reward. I have spoken to people that you have helped and saved Peter and they have given their thanks. The right thing to do isn't easy sometimes and sometimes there is a price to pay for it but it's a price I am willing to pay everytime. If saving Tony from himself leads to a fight then I will have to take the burden on myself; if he sends his supporters after me telling me to move then I will just have to plant myself like a tree and tell them 'no you move!' If no one will want to stand beside me to fight well that just makes it a fight I will have to do alone." Steve finished as Peter smiled.

"Thanks Cap; that's basically just what I needed to hear! I am sure you won't have to fight alone as you have plenty of the Avengers on your side including me." Peter said as he left with a smile as Steve waved back.

Natasha walked up to Steve smirking asking "what exactly was in that Serum that you be able to say exactly what you needed to say at the moment? Be able to be the Avengers dad when you needed to; Jennifer kinds of find it annoying you know because otherwise and if she and Peter didn't have eachother she would be wishing that she was in my place."

"You are asking what compels me to give a speech like that? What compels you to spread your hand on the ground like that with your other arm out to the back? Do you ever wonder if people behind you want to take a look at your behind in the pose?" Steve asked with his arms folded as Natasha groaned.

"Not this; I was done being bothered by the pose when my sister in the Black Widow program asked about it." Natasha retorted as Steve was smirking; they didn't know who was watching the security feed from the cameras live.


In case of an emergency Tony had the live security feed of the Triskellion wired to the White House and to FRIDAY and recently he had her alert him if Steve was found talking to Peter. "Can you believe this; even my young spider protégé is doubting my methods and wants to side with Cap? I saw him as like a younger me and even gave him the new suit as a welcoming gift for joining the Avengers! Why would he think that I am not doing the right thing?" Tony asked as the feed had been playing as holograms in the Oval Office and he looked genuinely hurt and confused, he was joined by Rhodey for a private meeting.

"Tony; I know you have been busy but to the others it looks like you have been distant in your time of need. He hasn't really had a chance to get to talk to you and your last real interaction with him was dragging him into the spotlight of your own Inauguration without telling him first. It's no surprise he would want to go to the more approachable Avengers leader." Rhodey told Tony who sighed.

"You can be counted on to pull no punches in being brutally honest; you're right that I haven't given him the time he needs for me to guide him in the Avengers and that should be fixed after Cap and his supporters are dealt with..." Tony muttered to himself as he put his hands together calculating like.

Then came in Ward who said "sorry for intruding Mr President and Mr Vice President sirs but it seems that some people didn't quite get the message. I have gotten intelligence that the Russian Military are planning an attack in retaliation; they are readying their own force of Superhumans. Their own Avengers." Ward told them as Tony sighed shaking his head.

"So they want to test me then fine... They have an army... We have a Hulk..." Tony smirked as Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

"You plan on sending Jennifer; she isn't exactly on your side at the moment. Or if you knew where Bruce Banner was; do you really think he would be with you on being used as a weapon like this?" Rhodey asked as Tony continued to smirk.

"I am not talking about Jennifer or Bruce." Tony replied as Rhodey was stunned and confused.


The next day in a secret base in Moscow, Russia; Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Olshenko was smirking to himself as he saw his soldiers and scientists hard at work to declare war against the war monger Tony Stark and his Avengers. They plan to stage incidents out in space for his powerful Avengers to be sent out and underwater bombs to keep the Atlanteans busy. Plus he had brought several Soviet era officials out of prison to help and use files of the Winter Soldier program to devise strategies against Bucky Barnes. Several superhumans were being trained for the Winter Guard Initiative, an old program for the Cold War era that lost symbolism but no time to try and reinvent the look of the team.

Remnants of the Red Room project were being used as they had gathered the leftover assassins from the project. His men had managed to acquire from Sokovia leftover parts of the Sleeper robots and had found the base hiding Arthur Parks the Living Laser so it seems the great Tony Stark was not so throughout in his invasion of the country. They along with parts of Ultron that they had acquired were building a giant suit of armor to put the Iron Man armor to shame known as the Crimson Dynamo to be powered by Parks. Not only that but country's top soldiers were being trained as they were close to a recreation of the serum that had created the Red Guardian their own Captain America during the Cold War.

Suddenly assistants ran in a panick saying that Captain Marvel had been attacking the country's military bases and now the Sentry was attacking Moscow. There was panic as Olshenko had a look of horror in the face muttering that he thought that he had more time as he began ordering for everyone to start to move everything. Their evacuation was cut short as through the roof came charging in was Bob glowing with yellow sun energy as he destroyed the Crimson Dynamo armor easily as US soldiers came in.

Bob was taking care of the superhumans trying to fight him as Olshenko's guard was trying to move him to saftey but then came in a large bulking figure that looked like the Hulk only with black hair, black specialised shorts and his skin was dark red. "I must say that during the Cold War; despite my dreams I never thought that I would get to invade Moscow." grinned the Red Hulk as he spotted Olshenko. "Mr Prime Minister on behalf of the United States Government; I Lieutenant General Thaddeus Ross am placing you under arrest. Come quietly or else resistance will be met with extreme force... Please resist..." the Red Hulk grinned.

Thaddeus Ross had been awakened from his stasis chamber and was furious upon being debriefed by Grant Ward and saw that they had shaved off his moustache. "Unbelievable; you are telling that Stark is now President and I was being used as a test rat after all my time in the service? As if the country couldn't go more downhill..." fumed Ross as Ward faced him.

"You should be thanking your new President as he was not using you as a test rat; that would have been AIM for Extremis and he managed to stabilise your condition and save your life. Don't worry as I will tell him that you said thank you." Ward told him as Ross was fuming.

"I think you should know that President Stark has realised the error of his ways in not taking threats to the country or the world seriously enough. He is making sure that threats to the saftey and criminals are no longer tolerated; a new world order where the Avengers will be making sure that H-Day doesn't happen again. This is pretty much what you really wanted; despite your talk of the danger of Superhumans and the Hulk you really wanted them controlled and used as a defence force for the US against their enemies. You craved the power of the Hulk and wanted an army of him while making a big deal of him making a threat to be hunted down." Ward told him as he let Ross have a few minutes to think it over.

"Even if I was onboard with Stark's change of heart; why do you think that I would want to work with him?" Ross asked as Ward grinned taking out an empty tube and gave it to Ross. "I know this..." Ross muttered looking at the label and it was one of the many samples of Bruce Banner's blood that they had managed to acquire to try and study it.

"President Stark used it to stabilise your new Extremis condition and now the power that you have craved for years is now yours to command." Ward told him as Ross was stunned.

After Sentry tore apart the superhuman Mikhail Ursus who used his bear transformation as Ursa Major; most of the Russians surrendered to Olshenko's fury as he swore vengeance; "You will have plenty of time to plan vengeance in the Hague as President Stark now writs the rules in the world." Ross told him as the US soldiers began taking them into custody and looking over the technology and research.

Soon they found the samples of the Serum and a circular shield yet to be decorated; Ross told them "be extra careful in taking this back as Secretary Ward has let me know something about the future that suggests we will be needing this..."


Peter, Jennifer, Janet and Hank were at a special meet and greet in the streets of Manhattan. They were in uniform as Peter saw some appreciative fans in costumes of his old suit, "Between you and me your suits look better than this does." Peter said to some kids as he posed with them while picking them up. He smiled as Jennifer was giving a smile and a flexing pose as some kids were sitting on her arms.

"Feels nice and more relaxing than if I wasn't called away from the office. Lately most of our new clients are looters who took advantage of H-Day." Jennifer whispered to Peter after the families that had their photos taken were done.

"I don't know why you are complaining; you have people excited and wanting to get their photos with you. I am certain most here don't know who I am or if they do they may know me as the guy who made Ultron." Hank whispered to them through his helmet as most were looking scared at his armor and some wondering if he was a new superhero.

"Something doesn't quite seem right with me; why us and not the others?" Janet asked looking suspicious at the whole thing and Peter and Janet thought that there did seem to be something off about this.

"Well Bob and Carol were called away for some big mission; most of our really powerful heavy hitters died in H-Day remember or are still recovering... Plus Tony wanted to schedule a meeting with Steve, Sam, Bucky and Natasha..." Hank told them sounding a bit nervous when he was saying that.

"Wait Steve with his biggest supporters invited on this meeting?" Peter asked raising an eyebrow and Hank was grateful that his helmet was covering his nervous face.

"Tony didn't set this up to be distracted for anything that would happen on this meeting... Did he?" Jennifer asked as Hank told them not to be so paranoid...


Steve, Sam, Bucky and Natasha had been called to the White House and had taken a Quinjet ride there; they noticed the ex-SHIELD agents on standby next to the Quinjet after they left. They were greeted by Gyrich who had shown them inside where they noticed guards on standby as they were led to the Oval Office. Tony smiled as he greeted them "glad we could finally have a real talk together guys, I was hoping to negotiate you stepping down from your statement that be considered a treasonous threat?"

"Sorry Mr President but you kind of forced our hand when you decided to bully the entire world into going along with you. We do nothing and leave you to your own devices like you seemed to be wanting to do and within six months the world could be your own police state." Sam said as Tony shook his head.

"I suppose the guards at our ride here are just looking after it so it doesn't get stolen?" Natasha asked with her arms folded as Tony looked serious.

"Please back down; this doesn't need to end in a fight Steve." Tony warned with pleading in his voice as Steve looked serious.

"It only ends in a fight if you let it Tony." Steve warned back as Tony sighed giving the signal as a nearby Iron Man armor from a hiding spot was assembled on him. Then armed men being led by Ward came charging in saying that they were under arrest for treason.

The four fought back against them and got to the windows and charged as Tony sent repulsor blasts at them and went through the windows as there were ex-SHIELD agents fully armed and ready telling them to stand down. However a black colored Quinjet suddenly appeared before they could come closer and out came Coulson with an advanced prototype gun with him with the four grinning as they thought back to their plane ride.

Natasha was piloting the Quinjet when she was telling the passengers that someone was trying to hack into their communication feed as the holographic head of T'Shan appeared. "Ambassador T'Shan; nice to see you and did you hack into our feed?"

"Quite easy as hacking is a grade school subject for Wakanda and sorry that it was necessary but it was important that this call not gets to your President or his associates." T'Shan told them as they were concerned. "My cousin King T'Challa has been finishing with the fallout of the invasion that hopefully ends the royal family's feud with the Klaue family now that the last one is in our custody. He has been concerned about President Stark's actions and has hacked into his communication." T'Shan informed them as they were alarmed.

"I am guessing that this is related to our meeting with Tony?" Steve asked as T'Shan grew more serious.

"Captain Rogers; your associates are about to run into a trap where the so called Commander in Chief plans to have you arrested." T'Shan informed them and they hated that they weren't as shocked as they wished that they could be. "Fortunately for you; I have contacted your supporter Agent Phil Coulson and provided him with your getaway. The King had a replica of your Quinjet built but with Wakandan technology so you would feel at home." T'Shan told them.

Then came out was a large muscular bald headed man with a goatee and blonde haired man in a dark green jumpsuit and a yellow bandana mask with glowing arms; they were Luke Cage with super strength and bulletproof skin and Danny Rand who had the power of the Iron Fist with them known as the Heroes for Hire. "Luke, Danny I thought you both would be in recovery..." Sam asked as they knew that they were both on the Helicarriers that HYDRA had commandeered when it crashed to New York. Danny was lucky enough to be caught by Luke with his powers managing to help him survive the fall and even he was quite hurt by what happened.

"I got the Wakandan ambassador's call when I was on duty in the medical bay and they heard and insisted on helping..." Coulson explained as the four ran and came forward with Luke shielding bullets with himself with Danny behind on back up.

"We were catching up on the news on the bay's TV and no way in hell were we going to miss out on helping Captain America fight against Stark's tyranny." Luke said as the four got inside.

Tony had been trying to fire at the getaway craft and was frustrated with the lack of success he was getting against it. "Kind of disappointing Coulson; after all you taught me so much in SHIELD together. I am so disappointed in you." Ward shouted as he was leading the armed men outside before the four had made their escape through the Oval Office.

"Funny, I was about to say the same about you Ward!" Coulson shouted as he went inside and the craft went up in their air and turned invisible with Tony frustrated that it didn't get picked up on the radar of his heads up display.

The four then saw that their gear including Sam's flight pack and Steve's shield was there, "Got help to smuggle it to the Wakandan Quinjet. You have plenty of supporters in the Triskellion still Captain." Coulson said smiling at them as a hologram of T'Shan got up with the four giving their thanks for the assist.

"Think nothing of it and my King has said that you are welcome to seek sanctuary in Wakanda." T'Shan told them as Steve stepped forward.

"Please tell King T'Challa that we appreciate the offer but if we want to take back the country from Tony's regime then we will have to stay here. We don't want to run if we have alternative options." Steve said with them all nodding in agreement.

"The King thought that... No he knew that would be your answer and also told me to let you know that the offer has no time limit. He wishes you good luck." T'Shan said as Coulson took the pilot's chair.

"Having been a favourite agent of the late Director Fury meant that I knew some of the secrets that he kept close to his chest in case of an emergency. Including a secret base called the Playground that you won't find anywhere in any SHIELD database. I already positioned my team there to prepare for the worst." Coulson informed them as they got ready for the war that had pretty much had just began...

 

Notes:

Copied from fanfiction:

Guess who today had arrived his DC Multiverse Peacemaker figure? Excited to have a proper finger than just the Funko Mystery Mini! Plus his upcoming show now has its own Twitter and it sets the tone for more of Peacemaker from the movie as well as more of him being the Anti-Captain America with him saying he is what if Cap wasn't a wimp and was at least five times stronger.

Speaking of Anti-Captain America archetype could we be seeing another familiar one soon in this story?

Chapter Text

It was stunned silence that met Peter, Jennifer and Janet when they heard the news that Steve, Sam and Natasha along with Coulson were fugitives wanted for treason. They had realised indeed that the meet and great was a distraction after all. They were furiously quiet and refused to talk about it to the other Avengers who they heard about were acting as Tony's enforcers against countries trying to ready their armies and Sentry in Russia was the tip of the iceberg when they saw there was a Red Hulk involved working with the US Military. Jennifer fumed when no agent at the Triskellion would acknowledge her demands to know details. Well Carol, Bob and Hank found it weird that they weren't acting vocally angry against it but they thought that they were coming to terms with how it was quietly. Of course Tony hadn't come to them to talk about what had happened but the three had quietly made an informed decision collectively.

Peter had spent more time patrolling with Janet and Jennifer tagging along to help as backup, refusing to answer reporters' coming their way wanting to ask questions about Cap being branded as a fugitive. Self control it was as they didn't want anyone to get any clues as to what they were up to. Soon it was the final day of Steve's week long ultimatum and they had answered a police call for backup as they were raiding a drug lab which was being ran by a recurring foe of Peter's; Lonnie Thompson Lincoln better known as Tombstone a large muscular albino man who had enhanced strength and was attempting to have his men produce a drug called Grave Dust which would give his men variations of his strength.

Janet was using blasts against the masked criminals as Peter was doing his best to dodge against the criminals but Jennifer was doing well against Lincoln himself who was in a suit. "I preferred it when you worked alone Spider-Man!" Lincoln grunted hated the feeling of being punched by Jennifer a he was too used to not really facing much pain anymore.

"So you have had to deal with this guy for most of your career?" Janet asked as Peter nodded at her.

"Yep; he was the leader of a biker gang employed by Fisk but after he went on the run; Tombstone decided to try and become a crime boss taking over a splinter faction of Fisk's operations. Thinking he could be the new big man of crime." Peter explained as he managed to use his suit's spider legs against several of the men to take them down and a combined punch from him and Jennifer finally knocked down Lincoln.

The police came and started arresting the men as the 3 Avengers got out and got past the crowd and reporters asking for details, they saw on a big screen on a building was a news report from a known rumour and scandal monger in the news media scene Dexter Bennet who had become the new Press Secretary of the US as Tony claimed that he needed someone who could tell big stories for the big stories coming.

Bennet spoke through it:

"We are still on the lookout for the wanted fugitives Steve Rogers who has been formally stripped of the title of Captain America, Ex-SHIELD agent Phil Coulson, Sam Wilson known as the Falcon, Natasha Romanoff the infamous Black Widow, James Buchanan Barnes who is more infamous as the Winter Soldier millionaire philanthropist Danny Rand known as Iron Fist and Luke Cage who is known as the protector of Harlem. United States President Tony Stark in a statement said it breaks his heart to have to declare his close allies including Rogers as traitors but that's the sad reality that it's such a difficult time that even Captain America himself can betray his own country's best interests! All authorities are on the lookout for these individuals who are extremely dangerous and to contact the authorities if you have any information on the whereabouts of these individuals. The group had been called to the White House in good faith to negotiate with the President only for them cowardly attack the President and his men while going on the run afterwards when it was clear that they were outmatched..."

"Wonder who came up with that fascinating work of fiction?" Janet asked sarcastically as they made their way back to the Triskellion, ignoring onlookers except for fans looking for an autograph and a picture and they had been easier to spot from anyone else wanting details. "So you know the plan? Our stuff is moved and now we just have to find the right person to tell?" Janet whispered and they nodded as Janet carried Jennifer with Peter web slinging to the Triskellion. Their stuff had been moved to a penthouse owned by Janet under the pretence of a backup place for them to go to in case something happened to the Triskellion.

They reached the Triskellion and was stunned when they saw the President himself Tony there talking with some officials there. He noticed them and went forward smiling as he said "hey guys, I have seen that you have decided to be more active on the streets since the unpleasantness with Cap but it's good to have the Avengers keeping people feeling safe and secure!" Tony noticed their faces as he went closer to Peter saying "okay silent treatment and I can tell you have feelings about it. But webhead I have realised that I have neglected my responsibilities as your mentor but I have come here to tell you that I am here to help guide you as I should have been doing if my wedding had went forward as planned. Don't worry about taking me away from my duties as Rhodey is taking care of it for me today!"

"Mr President sir; we have something to tell you..." Jennifer said only for Tony to start dragging Peter by the arm as Janet and Jennifer followed suspiciously, Peter allowed himself to be followed wanting to at least hear him out.

"We are still Avengers here even if I am not technically active so please to you it's just Tony. Plus I have something to show you all before you can say what you want to say. If you want to talk about the Red Hulk that you may have heard about; sorry but I promise I will tell you about his deal in due time. Right now he is on a mission with Bob and Carol." Tony said and they knew that he meant that the three were doing his dirty work across the world.

They reached one of the special training areas of the Triskellion which was also at Avengers Tower; used for target practice. They saw a muscular blonde haired man in a white shirt throwing a circular shield at the targets like Steve would do with his shield. "The Russians wanted to create their own new Russian Cap but I thought we could make sure that their research doesn't go to waste." Tony explained.

"So who is the skull guy Tony?" Peter asked pointing to a man in a dark blue heavily armored bodysuit with orange areas in it, a skull mask with a white cape over it and his own circular shield with an orange symbol on it. Janet and Jennifer gasped shocked recognising him.

"Tony Masters the Taskmaster; mercenary and trainer of mercenaries and goons who has the ability to mimic people's moves. We have fought him plenty of times." Janet explained as they looked to Tony who tried to look nervous.

"He had uses and I have hired him with a pardon for crimes if he works exclusively for the good guys here. A man for the money instead of wanting to be evil for evil's sake." Tony explained as he motioned for them to come closer as the blonde haired man smiled coming to greet them.

"Avengers please meet Captain John Walker of the US Army's 75th Rangers Regiment; mastered counter-terrorism, hostage rescue and the first man to receive 3 Medals of Honour. A textbook example of a perfect soldier. FRIDAY bring it up now please." Tony said introducing him as it brought up holograms of news articles. "He had made headline in his home of Georgia fighting back against the violent HYDRA thugs at Pro-HYDRA rallys. When there was a riot of HYDRA supporters in his hometown; he fought back against them and must have took out at least one hundred HYDRA goons before the riot was dealt with or possibly more." Tony explained as the three Avengers had to admit that it did make him sound impressive even if they had an idea where this was leading to and they didn't like it.

"Please; you are giving me too much credit Mr President Sir. I had the help of the local police and my best friend Lemar backing me up! His suplexes are next to nothing." Walker said as there was a smiling African American man in a blue shirt coming their way.

"Don't be modest against John; you rallied us to defend our home and you were the one who was being amazing serving our country." The man said as they looked at the man and Peter thought that he looked familiar. "But here are guys who have been saving the world itself; an honour to get to meet you." The man said looking thrilled and excited to see them.

"I think I saw you on TV; aren't you a wrestler?" Peter asked as the man nodded smiling at them.

"Lemar Hoskins or as you know him better as Battlestar; wrestlers under the Unlimited Class Wrestler Federation where he was a former United States Champion and 2 time World Heavyweight Champion with his 2nd being the longest reign the company has had in over a decade. Somehow managed to translate professional wrestling into actual fighting against terrorists." Tony said bringing up a picture of Lemar in his ring costume of a red and light blue suit with a white star symbol, white gloves, black boots and a black eye mask as Janet and Jennifer was open mouthed.

"I know its wrestling but you went out in that thing?" Janet asked unable to take her eyes off the hologram.

"You should see this costumed guy they brought in for 1 match to fight against him; guy called himself Super-Patriot who was dressed like a clown! I read it was a military guy he was friends with; someone called John..." Peter laughed as there was a coughing from Walker as Peter looked to him in realisation and muttered about how awkward this was.

"If you don't like my ring costume Ms Van Dyne; I am sure my new suit will be much better and more practical for field work with us working together." Lemar said as the three then looked at him silently asking what did he just say. "Well we were both approached for training to be actual Superheroes after H-Day; that President Iron Man himself was interested in transforming us into something bigger!" Lemar explained as they took that in.

"It is going to be an honour for us both to be working with you two! I mean this is bigger than we have ever dreamed off our whole lives! I was star quarterback of the high school football team dreaming of serving my country in the Army and Lemar was captain of the wrestling team dreaming of being able to wrestle on TV; how could we believe this was possible?" Walker asked as they took that in.

"We have spots to fill and we need to rebuild the Avengers quick to ease the public. They had been training here for a while and were showing quite impressive in their training and that's even before I gave them both a Serum that we have acquired last year. They both will be great assets to the team; I am definitely hoping Lemar will not disappoint considering how much was spent just to acquire the copyright to his ring name from the UCWF. I bet Captain Walker here will do just fine as Steve's replacement." Tony said confirming the 3's worst fears as Lemar looked at Walker proud of him.

"Absolutely not!" the three said at once making Tony jump and Walker and Lemar looked their way.

"Look, I know that you have disagreements with how I have been doing things and have seen Steve's side of the matter but the fact of the matter is the US needs to be strong with big threats and shows of strength needed to scare our enemies; things will be calming down and I don't expect you to be soldiers in a war against countries or something! Let the actual militaries do that." Tony tried to placate them.

"Carol and Bob?" Janet pointed out as Tony sighed.

"Look; I am sorry but I wanted to talk it out with Steve and his supporters but they forced my hand. Like it or not but John will be taking over as the new official Captain America and as long as you are Avengers then you will be listening to your commander in chief."Tony said firmly with a glare and his arms folded but was taken aback by their looks showing they were not fazed.

"Kind of a good thing that we came here to tell someone that we are quitting right now today anyway." Jennifer said shocking Tony, Walker and Lemar. "Cap and I mean the REAL Cap was right and just because you didn't want to step aside and get the help you need you chased him off and branded him a traitor. We can't stay with the Avengers anymore because that would imply we support you on this and besides the group won't really be the Avengers anymore." Jennifer told him as they went to leave.

"Can we talk about this? This is extreme and you know that I can' let you join Steve if that's your intentions..." Tony begged as they continued on but he became desperate. "Peter; I am here to guide you now! Remember the suit you have is to help you as an Avenger and if you're quitting then I can't let you keep it..." Tony said in a demanding voice but Peter had his armor disassemble and without looking he took it off and dropped it but not before stepping on it.

"Mr President; I will have the guards stop them before they go through the door..." Gyrich said coming up to Tony but he said to just leave them be to his shock as Walker and Lemar took this in. "Are you certain; we can't let them join Rogers..." Gyrich asked stunned as Tony nodded.

"We can't let the public think the Avengers as disassembling or make things worse for ourselves and pulling out a hunt for more of my friends will do just that. I will convince them to come back and I have my ways. I have to tell another Avengers recruit that her partner had just quit..." Tony thinking with full confidence in his voice.


A penthouse suite was set up for Peter and Jennifer to stay in by Janet which was near the suite she would be staying in. Janet offered Peter his own suite but he thought about being open now to the suggestion by Jennifer to take their relationship to the level of them living in the same suite now. Peter had let Janet have a look at his old Spider-Man suit which was ripped up from its last fights and Janet said she would see about fixing it or a replacement.

"So now I am unemployed once again... I bet my name now will make sure no lab will think if rejecting my job application or i could do birthday parties." Peter told Jennifer that night as they were getting ready for bed and he was smiling as he spotted smirking at him in a purple thong and a Spider-Man shirt. "My pay should do us fine until we find out what to do next..." Jennifer muttered as she went to embrace Peter.

"You mean trying to find out how to find Cap and the others?" Peter asked as Jennifer silenced him with a kiss meant to tell him to worry about that later. Just as Peter was getting into it he felt his Spider-Sense go off and let go having to tell a concerned Jennifer what was going on.

They found a figure outside the window and they went up to it to notice a young woman in a white and black bodysuit with a white full face mask with visor lenses like Peter's old suit and a hood over it. "Who are you... Is that web-shooters?" Peter asked noticing the devices on her wrists as the figure nodded slowly.

"President Stark helped me with the suit along with the web and web-shooters." The figure explained as Peter got mad as he shared his designs with Tony in good faith. "I'm Spider-Woman and I was training to be your new partner hoping to be introduced to you today at the Triskellion as you could help with the training. Was disappointed when the President told me that you quit before he could tell you about me but I wanted to see you before the public gets a hold of me. He pinpointed this as the best place to find you." The figure explained as Peter shook his head thinking that something seemed familiar about her and her voice.

"...Have we met before?" Peter asked hesitatingly as Spider-Woman took his cheeks with her hands softly as Jennifer annoyed slapped her hands away with Spider-Woman sighing.

"Will see you later and hopefully we could talk without your new girlfriend here but I just want to say... I forgive you for everything Peter..." Spider-Woman said as she web slinged away with Peter wanting to follow as Jennifer told him that it has been a long day and let her be a worry for another day.

Spider-Woman web slinged to a building allowing her to get a clear view of the George Washington Bridge, needing some air to think over what happened she took down her hood and mask allowing her blonde hair to get some room...

 

Chapter 10

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was a week that had gone by in the former Strategic Scientific Reserve base known as the Playground which had been transformed and upgraded as an emergency base by Nick Fury Jr when he was the Director of SHIELD. It was now serving as the base of the resistance group that had formed against US President Tony Stark and his authoritarian methods ; right now they were laying low and striking out against any villains and terrorists that they have sightings off as well as helping displaced refugees thanks to Tony's war on the entire world. Steve along with Bucky and Natasha were with Coulson watching footage of the latest mission in taking down a base of a HYDRA remnant group and leaving the fallen soldiers for Tony's men to find while leaving with the intel gathered.

They had found intel about criminals, cartels and gangs being slaughtered with Frank Castle the Punisher spotted by some officers but there seemed to be data that all authorities if they spotted Castle where to leave him alone as it seemed that he had been deputized by the government. No one really liked the fact that the idea that he had been deputized by Tony wasn't really surprising to them at this rate. Just something to keep an eye out if they ended up running into Castle.

Steve looked at the footage of the cell's leader gloating to him that as far as the US government and people are concerned he is as much an enemy as he is and was labelled as such by a close ally. "I remember when I first encountered the Winter Soldier and when I realised who it was; plus finding out the man leading the project that turned Bucky into the Soviet's puppet was Karpov who I had trusted with my back during the War. I never wanted to be have to fight a comrade or be let down by one again." Steve sighed looking down as Bucky went to comfort him.

"You don't always know what someone is capable of and you can't blame yourself Steve." Bucky told him putting his normal hand on Steve's shoulder as Natasha nodded.

"You did your best to try and convince Tony to step down and he was the one who escalated everything; no one could blame you in trying to talk sense into him." Natasha said as Steve thought it over. "To get your mind off it; let's see how the Heroes for Hire are doing." Natasha suggested as the three looked to the training area of the Playground and was amused to find Danny and Luke surrounded by the taken down moaning bodies of dozens of ex-SHIELD agents stationed at the Playground.

"No Offence Mr Coulson but I am kind of wishing that you had better sparring partners here." Luke said smirking as the agents started to groan as they got themselves up.

"You sure that you are both alright with being turned into fugitives by siding with us? We know that you had to leave your old lives behind by joining the fight." Bucky asked as they both scoffed in response.

"Your are kidding Barnes? You think we will regret joining Captain America in fighting Iron Man who has gone dictator? Hell no; I am more than happy to be treated like a criminal again if it means that I am standing up against tyranny as us heroes are supposed to do." Luke replied as Danny nodded with him.

"Not like it mattered if we weren't fully onboard with this since right now this is our only option; the family company and assets have been frozen by Stark's regime so I have little alternative." joked Danny as they shared a laugh.

Coulson then found a British couple coming up to him alarmed by the names of Leo Fitz and wife Jemma Simmons who whispered something to him. "Captain and others; I think we should take a look because Stark has called a press conference and... We have intel that he maybe revealing his new handpicked Captain America." Coulson told them as they went to a monitor to watch the news.


A camera crew was set up in the Oval Office along with several reporters as Tony was at a microphone standing with Ross in a suit, Rhodey in a wheelchair and Ward. "My fellow Americans; as we try to rebuild our nation and try to heal from both what HYDRA has done to our fair country as well as a betrayal by one of our biggest icons. We need new heroes to take on bigger threats and challenges to the country. Let me first introduce to you Lieutenant General Thaddeus Ross a veteran of the Vietnam War and is still the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. He was used as a guinea pig by HYDRA but thanks to my quick thinking he is now transformed figuratively and literally so can I show you what he can do as the Red Hulk." Tony said as a projector set up behind them showed footage of the Red Skull deployed against enemy soldiers as Ross clapped with a serious look on his face as he tried to look humble.

"General Ross has done great work for our country and he shall do even greater work now. "

"Next let me show you two individuals who have shown great bravery and strength during dark times in helping to lead a counter attack against HYDRA in their home of Georgia during H-Day." Tony said as the projector showed cell phone and news footage of Walker and Lemar getting people to saftey as well as attack HYDRA soldiers and supporters.

"Now let me introduce to you the latest additions to the Superhero community. First you know him from your TV screen as wrestling superstar of UCWL: Lemar Hoskins... Battlestar!" Tony said as the room played a lyricless remix of Star Spangled Man from old Captain America propaganda pieces with Tony, the assembled officials and the reporters with the camera crew clapped.

Lemar came out in a dark blue bodysuit with dark red lines, white gloves, a dark red bulletproof vest with a star symbol molded into it and white goggles. "Now let me introduce to you Captain John Walker who you well know soon enough as the all new ultimate Captain America!" Tony introduced as they clapping continued as smirking and waving was Walker dressed in a dark blue body suit with red lines across it like the US flag, a silver star symbol on the top right corner with the top bit molded into the black shoulder strap, dark red fingerless gloves, a dark blue helmet with a silver A and star combined symbol and his circular shield which was painted to look like Steve's shield.

Walker came to the microphone saying "thank you Mr President Sir and thank all of you; being chosen to be the new Captain America is the biggest honour of my life. I have followed Steve Rogers my entire career and I look up to him like you won't believe; it's saddening to hear him vocally and violently reject the new way of things here. I think Steve's biggest weakness must have been that his mindset is still set in the 1940s but I am here to revamp the idea of Captain America for the new America where the injustice wreaked upon us shall be avenged." Then there were the reporters asking questions for them and Tony ignored the ones directed to the rumours of Spider-Man, She-Hulk and the Wasp quitting.


Back at the Playground the assembled agents and heroes just stared blank faced at this processing it, "I actually hope we can face off against this clown soon and so you can wipe that stupid look off his face..." Sam muttered as they took this in.


Peter had been out on patrol and for the time being was using his mask along with Jennifer's Spider-Man shirt, jeans, a jacket and his web-shooters. Quite a downgrade but until he had a new suit or his old one mended he had to make do with what he had. "All yours officers." Peter said greeting assembled PDNY officers as he had taken down masked robbers who had high jacked a prison transport van with several of their allies inside with them now webbed to the van.

The officers didn't look too happy to see him with one officer pointing his gun at Peter saying "he looks like he doesn't have Stark's backing and I heard he fell out of the Avengers, we can bring him in now..."

The Captain told him relucantly "lower your weapons boys, like it or not Parker is still officially deputized by the government." The officers were not happy as they had to leave Peter be as be web slinged off leaving them to bring in the officers. Peter thought about it and decided to pay his girlfriend a visit.

He web slinged to the Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway building and jumped through the window. He knocked on Jennifer's office door and was greeted by her in her business suit causing him to whistle which made her giggle as she let him in saying that she needed this after a week of dodging her co-workers asking if she quit the Avengers. "You saw Walker and Battlestar being revealed on the news? I swear that I won't be able to control myself if anybody calls him Cap." Peter asked as Jennifer looked angry.

"No kidding; still can't believe that in no time at all Tony thinks he could replace Steve by finding a good enough soldier, dressing him up with a suit and shield and dousing him with a serum. While also using your inventions for a new 'Spider-Woman' without even informing you?" Jennifer asked as Peter was quite angry with that underneath his mask. "Plus him introducing Ross as the new Red Hulk? Ross was the man who hunted Bruce for years, after it was Ross' project that ruined his life and now he gets to enjoy the perks and fame of it while Bruce is who knows where..." Jennifer asked looking like she was about to crush something as Peter started massaging her muscles through her suit as she calmed down and turned him over to face her so they could embrace with a smile.

Peter's arms felt a spot that made her giggle, "So should I investigate this spot to see if the famous She-Hulk is ticklish?" Peter asked smirking as Jennifer smirked back.

"Try it and you will be sorry." Jennifer warned him as she let him go to get on his way. "Remember that is my favourite shirt you have on there so don't let anything happen to it." Jennifer warned again as she waved to him as he jumped back through the window.


At the White House; Carol was called to meet Rhodey and Tony in the Oval Office. "Now that Van Dyne, Walters and the Parker kid have rage quit what do you plan to do with them?" Carol asked as she had been called away from duty helping the military around the world along with Bob now that things have settled down with the countries surrendering.

"Nothing; they will be allowed to continue as they had as Superheroes and given time I am certain they will be welcomed back once they see things more clearly." Tony replied as Carol scoffed. "I have a new assignment for you." Tony said as Carol grinned.

"Is this tracking down and taking care of Rogers and his traitorous group of rogues?" Carol asked banging her fists together as they shook their heads.

"No Carol; Tony and I both agreed that we can't let the Avengers be seen hunting down former members. They were still our friends and Steve does still have respect to his name and he did have support from people around the country even if they aren't as big or vocal though not without a lack of trying." Rhodey told his girlfriend as Carol didn't look happy.

"There are authorities tracking them down to bring them in alive but I want you to focus on welcoming the new Cap and his partner Battlestar." Tony told her as Carol scoffed.

"I get the title still has a legend behind it but you really think that two guys who were only recently doused with a serum and haven't been in a fight with their new powers yet should be with the Avengers?" Carol asked as Tony grinned.

"I bet they will do just fine under your guidance; Captain Marvel the new field leader of the Avengers." Tony told her as Carol took it in and smiled. "Yes Carol; I am too busy to be openly leading the Avengers as Iron Man and Rhodey still needs his clutches to be ready for trying out so he is in a long way to go before he could don his armor again. I have a list of the new line up barring our wayward trio so please don't go leaking it to the media or the internet." Tony said passing a list to Carol who read it over.

"Spider-Woman; really? So another newbie modelled after that wreckless idiot... War Machine?" Carol asked her eyes widening as she faced them and put her hands to Tony's desk. "So you have a replacement for Rhodey as War Machine?" Carol asked incredulously as Tony nodded.

"I hope you can learn to trust a guy who you can't see the true face off since for security reasons his identity will remain a mystery to all but a select few. I can say that it's a white man so it would be a bad look for one taking the reins of an identity of an African American." Tony continued on as Carol took that in.

"I am sure Tony has another reason for why this new War Machine is a secret so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. He promised me that it's no one HYDRA and it's someone who has served in the US military as well." Rhodey said as they both wondered if they should be more suspicious...

Notes:

Walker's suit is from the Falcon and the Winter Soldier show and Battlestar's suit is the one form the show only with his vest colored red and the white goggles and gloves.

Next chapter is based on the Annual issue of the Injustice 2 prequel comic.

Chapter 11

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The Triskellion; Carol, Hank and Rhodey were watching a live news report by the Daily Bugle of pro-Steve Rogers and Anti-Tony Stark protests with the protestors wearing Cap shirts and holding signs saying "WALKER = NOT MY CAP", "DOWN WITH STARK", "CAP FOREVER, FASCISTS NEVER" and others with authorities trying to quell the riots. "Can you believe this; after Stark has proven us to be a force to be reckoned with there are idiot on Rogers' side even after he and his sheep ran away with their tails between their legs as traitors. Give me a couple of minutes and I will teach them a lesson..." Carol muttered thinking that this wasn't what she wanted to come back after some time helping the US military is keeping the peace by taking down the countries trying to start a war with them.

"No Carol; Tony wants us to remember we will not be a police state and shut down people's right to protest. The authorities will take care of it the protests become a full riot and we don't need the Avengers shutting down protests to give people the wrong idea. Remember Carol; Tony can have you benched if the needs arise and I would hate for your judgement to be clouded." Rhodey told her as she sighed.

"Just seeing these people at this arguing against something that will bring order to the world along with Stark stopping us from hunting down Rogers when I could easily find and quell his little rebellion." Carol answered as she looked to Hank who had his face down. "You have something on your mind?" Carol asked to his direction with Hank sighing.

"I am just being reminded that Steve, Sam and Natasha left us and then did the others without a word as to what they were doing. I thought that Janet would have left a message and then I could have talked to her..." Hank said as Carol scoffed. "You think that's funny Carol?" Hank asked with a glare to her.

"Just the mere idea that you think Janet would discuss her decisions with you after you both have been divorced for about 3 years or something now? The Avengers have to be strong and we can't have the last founding member still active on the team throwing himself a pity party." Carol responded as Hank got up to glare at her direction.

"You expect me to just suck it up but newsflash Carol; people have emotions and are not just robots! I was still trying to process Steve on the run when I heard about Tony creating a whole new Captain America who we are supposed to accept will be a part of the team now!" Hank told her as Carol shook her head.

"I don't think we need Captain America anymore but Captain Walker seems like a good soldier so I will be willing to accept him on the team; even if he is taking on the name of a relic of a bygone era. The past should stay in the past." Carol told him as Hank didn't think his next words too well.

"Well then what are you still Captain Marvel? Instead of reinventing your persona like I did you continue to bear the name of him..." Hank said and realised his mistake a little too late as Carol was ready to outright strangle him as Rhodey shouted at Hank that he was out of line and told Carol to calm down.

"Sorry Carol... I will leave now..." Hank muttered leaving to go back to his lab as quickly as possible as Carol went and banged on the wall with her fist causing a hall.

"Carol; do you need a minute? I know those are painful memories..." Rhodey asked as Carol shot him a smile.

"There are good things to remember about the past like simpler times with us in the Air Force." Carol told him as they reminisced...

Submitted for your approval; Colonel Carol Danvers who was a US Air Force pilot transformed by a Kree weapon into the super strong and headstrong hero that she would later be famous for. Carol of this universe embodies the worse aspects of her selves from other Earths who attempt to justify their tactics as following authority, while this universe's Carol shows contempt and less patience for those who she disagrees with.

Let us take a detour of this story and go to a little over a decade in the past of this Earth during the beginning of the new Age of Heroes; the base of Project PEGASUS a joint venture between SHIELD, the US Air Force and NASA to study the stars and new ways to travel them...

Captain Carol Danvers in her brown Air Force jacket grinned as she was trying out the new fighter jet using the experimental prototype Light-Speed Engine which could make it go at incredible speeds. "Okay this seriously beats any rollercoaster!" Carol said to herself as she tried out various sky patterns and routes on it before she landed. There were personnel coming up to them with one especially not happy being government agent Tyler Hayward was acting as the project's director.

"Thank you for proving me right when I said you were the wrong pilot in testing out this engine Danvers! You could have crushed this multimillion dollar prototype! Your marks and record clearly belonged to someone else because no one with the credentials listed should be acting as you have ever since I have first laid my eyes on you!" Hayward ranted to her as she moaned.

"Being yelled at by a man with a huge stick up his ass; feels like I am back at home with my old man so thank you for making me feel at home Director Hayward..." Carol muttered as she took off and was met with Rhodey. "Major Colonel James Rhodes sir!" Carol said with a mock salute as Rhodey laughed.

"Come on Carol; I have known you since we trained together so you don't have to be so formal. Don't try to act like you respect authority when it was breaking the rules that got you passed for a promotion." Rhodey told her as they laughed together. "So how was it like Carol?" Rhodey asked as Carol grinned.

"Amazing... I imagine it's what your buddy Stark must feel flying about in his toy suit of his. You know if something went wrong and it crashed; you could always see about asking him to pay the cost of building it again. I am sure if he looks for change in his couch then he could easily find the money to cover the cost." Carol told him and Rhodey laughed.

"Well he might be busy with his new group of friends of his calling themselves the Avengers; you see they have the green Hulk monster that General Ross had been hunting." Rhodey said as Carol scoffed.

"I heard; they have that weirdo who thinks he is some Greek god or something..." Carol replied as they saw a smiling tall black haired man that had Carol smirking when she saw him.

"Actually Captain Danvers; I believe he is claiming to be Thor who belongs to the Norse pantheon and not the Greek ones. Anyway while I can't say that you haven't got me worried; I am impressed that you have shown what the Engine could do. This could help in making long travel a thing of the past." said the man who was Dr Walter Lawson the head scientist at Project Pegasus.

"You should be proud of what you made Doc and I could show you my gratitude if you want to go out to dinner after we are off the clock?" Carol asked as Walter looked flustered but he smiled as Carol left saying that she will see him there.

Rhodey laughed to himself watching this saying "you could have destroyed a one of a kin prototype and you end up on a date with the scientist that made it; you are some pilot Carol..."


Later that night Carol was waiting by the entrance but then saw a beam and hid to see blue skinned beings in armored suits of white and orange with planet symbols on it along with orange helmets with holes for the mouths, eyes and horned parts at the tops making them seem like Spartan helmets. There was a figure with his armor parts being blue and he seemed to be the leader saying to spread out and locate s Mar-Vell.

Carol then ran to Walter's lab and went inside in a panic telling Walter who was working on a yellow device saying "Walter; we have to get out of here! There are some weirdly dressed aliens out here looking for someone or something called Marvel..." Carol told him frantically as Walter looked concerned but then the alien soldiers came in and started blasting the lab with Walter grabbing his own blaster weapon telling Carol to get out of here.

She was caught by the blast as the yellow device was shot by the alien soldiers with Carol being sucked into the blast to Walter's horror, and then suddenly Carol found herself glowing with yellow energy and found that she could lift herself up in the air. She felt all powerful and it was both terrifying and fantastic at the same time, she then went and punched the alien soldiers with might that sent them backwards.

The one wearing blue defiantly looked towards Walter to fire at his head but then Carol shot energy out of her hands and taken them down. "Did you see that Walter..." Carol asked grinning staring in shock as Walter then transformed into a blue skinned man wearing the same uniform as the soldiers only with dark green and a dark green ringed planet symbol on it.

"I have a lot to explain to you Carol..." Walter sighed.


"...So if I get this straight... You're part of an alien race known as the Kree? The guy in blue Colonel Yon-Rogg is a part of a rogue military cell and you're Captain Marvel?" Carol asked as Walter laughed.

"Not exactly; I am Mar-Vell as in two words and not two syllables in a single word. I am a Captain of the Kree; an interstellar empire that joins together with alien worlds once they find themselves to be worthy of part of such an alliance. I was assigned to come to Earth to judge their worthiness. Doctor Walter Lawson was unlucky enough to have been in my landing zone so he died; I took his place and used holographic disguise tech to take his likeness. Lucky enough for me I was able to continue on from his primitive research and he was just assigned to PEGASUS which was perfect for my cover." Walter explained as Carol looked at her hands as she made them glow.

"Be careful when you have to tell that story again and what words you use. Alien empires are usually seen as evil in our fiction and it won't help if you explain how you committed identity theft." Carol told him as Mar-Vell laughed. "Well what about your machine and how did it turn me into a Super Saiyan?" Carol asked as Mar-Vell looked to the machine.

"The Psyche-Magnitron a matter converting device that stored great power that I used to power the Light-Speed Engine which I hoped to use to help Earth develop interstellar travel; to help them become worthy of allying with the Kree. I had learned so much about Earth on my time here and I would love nothing more for them to expand to their full potential." Mar-Vell explained to her.

The bodies were taken care of and Carol agreed to keep his secret; Mar-Vell helped Carol test out her powers which she intended to join the ranks of the superpowered heroes that had been popping up.

Carol was looking into the mirror at her new dark red and dark blue uniform suit with the yellow insignia, "I look good in this and I do love your new look Mar-Vell." Carol told him as Mar-Vell smiled as he was in the uniform that Yon-Rogg had been using.

"The Kree leadership have been super impressed with my findings as well as taking care of the traitor Yon-Rogg. So I will have to get used to being Colonel Mar-Vell now." Mar-Vell told her as she came closer. "Since you are a superhero now; I think you are required to have a codename now. Any ideas?" Mar-Vell asked as Carol grinned.

"I was thinking about the Captain Marvel thing that I called you and I like it so much that I want to take it for myself. Do you mind?" Carol asked as Mar-Vell shook his head.

"I am flattered that you would want to take my name." Mar-Vell told her as Carol grinned.

"A woman loving a man so much they will want to take their name; I think it might be too early in our relationship but I think you know how that sounds." Carol replied as they shared their first kiss.

As Captain Marvel; Carol made herself known to the public and was deputised by the US Government. It wasn't long until she found herself being offered a spot on the Avengers as her relationship with Mar-Vell grew.

However soon that happiness cracked...

Carol was in her apartment to find Hayward there as she jumped with her hands glowing ready to fire, "I come in peace and I offer you congratulations in joining Tony Stark's little circus of super powered freaks and hope that you don't let the fame get to your head." Hayward told her as Carol glared at him.

"Director Hayward can I please ask why did you feel the need to break into my apartment?" Carol asked as Hayward got up.

"Since I now have a superhero working for my group I thought why not take advantage of her to take care of a traitor. You see I have found evidence that there is a traitor working on behalf of HYDRA at Project Pegasus and it's someone you know very well: Doctor Walter Lawson." Hayward told her as she had a look of fury as she picked him up his neck. "Take this..." Hayward said passing her a photo from his jacket pocket as Carol dropped this.

Carol's eyes widened as she glanced at the individual that the younger Walter Lawson was shaking in the photo and it was dated before Mar-Vell had been taken Walter's place. "What is this?" Carol demanded as Hayward got up.

"That is Lawson after graduating MIT; meeting with the Nazi war criminal and founder of HYDRA himself Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker. Lawson had joined HYDRA before he was recruited for Project Pegasus and has been corresponding with them ever since. I have the coordinates written for his top secret lab at the back of the photo." Hayward explained as Carol looked at the back.

"I will get to the bottom of this and once I fix this misunderstanding, I will deal with you later." Carol warned as Hayward nodded as he left.


Carol had flown to the coordinates and flew through the roof to find the Psyche-Magnitron being worked on by scientists and there was a HYDRA symbol on the wall. "So Mar-Vell here comes our guinea pig now having found you out." said a grinning brown haired man in a suit with an entourage of government officials next to Mar-Vell in his Walter Lawson disguise looking panicked. The man yelled at the scientists to activate the Psyche-Magnitron as he looked up to Carol and said "let me introduce myself as Werner Von Strucker the heir to the HYDRA empire and I must say Ms Danvers; you have been a most inspiration to us. When Doctor Lawson explained what he had created; my father allowed the funding of this lab to create an army of you to bring the world under HYDRA in no time..." The man said as Carol flew down and started firing at the scientists and started punching at the machine.

"Carol, stop! Please, you don't know what you are doing!" Mar-Vell yelled panicking as Carol looked at him furiously as she flew up at him after punching a hole into the guy of Werner before picking up Mar-Vell by the throat. "I can explain Carol..." Mar-Vell begged.

"Okay explain then; you went into cahoots with HYDRA!" Carol demanded as Mar-Vell gave a reluctant nod.

"After some time of their spy not checking in; HYDRA came to me and found me out! I managed to convince them to work together; the advantages of me improving Walter Lawson's research. First it was them seeing the uses of the Light-Speed Engine and then when they saw you as Captain Marvel and how the Psyche-Magnitron could create more of you... I convinced them that the Kree could help them take the Earth and be a part of the mighty Kree Empire with them too wanting order in the universe." Mar-Vell started as Carol grew angrier.

"So the Kree are an evil empire after all; I feel so foolish! How about Yon-Rogg?" Carol yelled as Mar-Vell shook his head.

"You don't understand; the Kree is benevolent and want peace throughout the Universe but the best way is to bring civilisations under their leadership! HYDRA was to join the Kree Empire when my superiors arrive once they make the Earth strong. You have to understand Carol that if the Empire finds a world unworthy of joining the Empire then the world is destroyed. There are officials only out for themselves and that was Colonel Yon-Rogg who was always jealous of my potential; he wanted to get rid of me so I wouldn't be a threat to him climbing up the ladder." Mar-Vell explained as Carol scoffed.

"Now explain to me the bit about me being nothing more than a guinea pig for your lab experiment! Was it all a lie between us?" Carol asked as Mar-Vell shook his head.

"You were never a guinea pig to me Carol! What happened to you may have been a happy accident but a happy accident nonetheless! I wanted you by my side as I rose up the ladder; show you as what the humans could be capable of! HYDRA providing the Empire with a planet's worth of an army with your power! We could decimate our natural enemy the Skrulls in no time; we would be able to take on even the might of Thanos the Mad Titan and his Black Order! An army that you would lead and be celebrated as a hero by the Kree!" Mar-Vell told her pleading with her in his eyes to accept this.

Carol noticed the Psyche-Magnitron powering up and Werner's entourage which included Air Force General Hale who she had recognised attempting to flee while telling the leftover machine to start the machine to empower as many of them as they could. Carol flew to it and smashed the machine absorbing the power within it to feel stronger as she took care of the rest of the HYDRA personnel.

"You don't understand what you have done Carol! I was trying to save this world! The Kree don't accept any aggression against them or defiance; that includes if a Kree Sentry scopes out a planet and ends up attacked by the inhabitants! To the Kree an attack on a Sentry is an attack on the Kree as a whole! If you don't help me fix this then the Kree Armada will come and the Earth won't stand a chance!" Mar-Vell screamed as Carol scoffed as she picked him up with one hand and aimed her glowing other hand at him.

"They will feel my fist!" Carol replied as Mar-Vell shook his head.

"The Earth has superhumans and great potential but it is far from being realised! Despite the superheroes of the Earth; the planet won't stand a chance against the might of the Kree Armada. The world's governments are not united and spend their time bickering amongst themselves and their military forces are laughable in comparison to even a small Kree fleet! The Kree will come and if it was today then the Earth will be doomed..." Mar-Vell said as Carol then had her hand stop glowing making Mar-Vell feel relieved before she went and snapped his neck with tears in her eyes.

SHIELD and the military came and Carol explained about Mar-Vell and HYDRA: some officials wanted her tried for keeping an alien invader hidden and the fact that she was created by him. Her heroics and the Avengers speaking on behalf acquitted her but in a way Carol Danvers died that day. Her outlook on life hardened and it only got worse with time.

This is the Carol Danvers we find ourselves now...

"Simpler times before I full took in for how unprepared the Earth was for the threats that it could be one day facing." Carol sighed shaking her head before smiling at Rhodey as the news were talking about her and Bob's efforts in silencing the countries arming themselves to declare war on the US. "Stark is bringing the world together and is strengthening up our defences. Kree fleets have attacked and we were able to take care of them but Mar-Vell was right that one day the Kree will bring their full might upon us. However when they do they will see themselves up against a united Earth that is ready to utterly destroy any force that dares to threaten our planet. I will show that lying conniving traitor..." Carol thought in her head.

Notes:

Like I said inspiration from this chapter from from the Annual issue of the Injustice 2 prequel comic but also What If issue 17 which showed 3 different stories showing what if Mar-Vell, the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman and the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider remained villains. In that story Mar-Vell was also promoted to Colonel. There is also inspiration from the Mar-Vell from the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon where he had initially sided with the Kree over the Earth and wanted the world to join them.

Chapter Text

Peter had gone on patrol in the next weeks and had watched as there were protests in New York for Steve and against Tony's authoritarian regime with those for the new world order being held back by officers trying to keep order. There were prominent protests in Harlem with the citizens being all for their local Hero for Hire Luke Cage as well. Posters for Tony's US government as well as Walker had been vandalised. He had also seen footage of the Spider-Woman web slinging about helping people as well but he was hesitant about approaching her but knew about the reports of New York having two spider people now.

Peter now had to jump in when a protest escalated when the pro-Tony protestors had brought guns and fired escalating things and he had to use his webs to restore order as there were officers coming and Phil Sheldon of the Daily Bugle was the first of the arriving news groups to get near to Peter to have a word.

"I am here at the sight of a protest escalated by violent zealots for the treasonous fugitive Steve Rogers which was broken up by Peter Parker the Spider-Man who was one of three Avengers rumoured to have quit..." Phil said angering Peter as he refused to let him spin this.

He grabbed the microphone and said "let me get this straight; the Cap supporters were peaceful and it was the Iron Man thugs who escalated things! I will put the rumours to rest right now to say that yes I have quit the Avengers because the tyrant Tony Stark chased Captain America away and turned the Avengers into his own personal militia force." The cameras kept on rolling for the Daily Bugle crew who were stunned but the footage was being captured by the other news groups.

"Are you saying that you are sticking up for Steve Rogers and what do you think of his replacement Captain John Walker..." Phil asked trying to gain the mic.

"Steve Rogers is Captain America; Walker isn't and I won't dignify anyone playing along with the charade." Peter said giving him back the microphone before web slinging off thinking to let that and Tony's team have fun with that.

He went to the top of a building and found a caped figure flying down to him and saw that it was Bob. "You shouldn't have done that Peter." Bob said judgementally shaking his head as Peter sighed. Peter turned away from him and looked down. "Are you intentionally ignoring me?" Bob asked raising an eyebrow.

"What how my life has been since H-Day; I am not in the mood to argue with one of Tony's superpowered soldiers. Tell me how many lives have you saved since Tony sent you out as a soldier to take down countries that were arming themselves in retaliation to Tony basically threatening the entire world to do what he says." Peter replied as Bob sighed. "Don't like the truth? You know lately I have been wondering how you ever got the reputation of being the Golden Guardian of Good; people spoke of you as the Captain America of a new age!" Peter continued on as he stood up to face him.

"Peter; the world as we knew it was forever changed by H-Day and we needed to change with it! Being soft caused H-Day and..." Bob said as Peter made a yawning motion as he shook his head. "Can you take this seriously Peter?" Bob asked looking like he was losing his patience.

"I am taking your statements as seriously as they deserved to be taken! I have done the right thing in quitting and Steve did the right thing as well; go fly away and find a cat in a tree to rescue. It would be the most heroic thing you have done since H-Day." Peter told him as he found the Spider-Woman jumping down from the web.

"Mr Reynolds; can you leave us alone please?" Spider-Woman asked as Bob nodded as he went and flew away. "Peter; I want to have a talk with you that I have been wanting to do for a while. I know you are on the outs with the President with you not agreeing with what he is doing but... I seriously need to talk to you and I think I should start by showing you who I am." Spider-Woman said as Peter laughed humourlessly.

"Is it so that I know who to sue for infringing on my web-shooters? My girlfriend is a lawyer just in case you needed to be reminded." Peter told her sarcastically and it looked like she cringed on the saying. Peter saw her put her hood down and unmask as he was registering what he was saying. "What... Can't be... This has to be a trick by Mysterio or the Chameleon..." Peter muttered not believing his eyes as he too unmasked.

"It's not Peter; it's really me." Gwen Stacy told him with a smile as Peter felt his Spider-Sense go off so he was hesitant. "I feel my Spider-Sense go off as well." Gwen laughed as Peter was still registering it.

"How?" Peter asked once he finally found his voice.

"I remember dying, the Green Goblin dropped me and there was you Spider-Man the man who I blamed for my dad's death trying to catch me with your web. I felt the pain as I died..." Gwen said as Peter winced at it. "Next thing I know I found Tony Stark himself with doctors saying that they had rescued me from the labs of Advanced Idea Mechanics. They gave me some time to register how I felt as I felt stronger, faster and the extra sense... Mr Stark told me that I had died and in the times HYDRA devastated the country and in the aftermath he had become President. He helped me trained to use my powers. He explained that he had found the AIM lab where they had taken my body to use their mad science to revive me and experiment on me with blood of yours that they had acquired." Gwen explained as Peter looked suspicious.

"Seems awfully convenient." Peter replied as Gwen sighed.

"I know something between you and I don't necessary agree but I wanted to help protect the country with the great power and responsibility to use it that I have been given." Gwen told him and Peter winced at the phrase used. "Mr Stark explained that AIM were planning on creating an army of spider powered reanimated corpses and what better first test subject that the one he had failed to save. It's been a lot to take in with Mr Stark reuniting me with my Mum and my brothers, being told that Harry's dad was the Green Goblin and seeing that you were Spider-Man. I felt... Betrayed, but seeing that you had lost your Aunt May on H-Day and Mr Stark explained to me what he had been told about why you do what you did and how you weren't able to save me, my dad and your Aunt despite doing your best to... How could I justify being angry at your after that?" Gwen said with a tear in her eye as she pulled Peter into a hug as he hugged back hesitatingly.

"I want to believe you... But... Tell me something, only the real Gwen would know..." Peter asked as Gwen looked up to him.

"The night before what happened to the bridge; I snuck into your dorm room and we spent the night together... I told you that I dreamed of being the most rocking drummer who was married to the hottest scientist in the world." Gwen said and smiled as his mouth was open. She went in for a kiss taking Peter by surprise as he closed his mouth and ended up returning it but after a second he pushed her off.

"I get it... You are taken at the moment but... I told my Mum my plans and I talked her into inviting you over at the house for dinner tomorrow at half 5. You can bring Ms Walters as a guest." Gwen said with her voice speaking clearly that she wasn't exactly thrilled at this. Peter nodded once he had a second to thought it over. "I will see you there." Gwen said smiling as she put her mask back on and web slinged away.

Peter did so with his thoughts filled with horror about what had just happened.


The offices of the Daily Bugle headquarters later that day and Lindy Lee-Reynolds was working at her desk job on her first day back to work since H-Day. She heard shouting outside the office of J. Jonah Jameson and after minutes of shouting out came Phil. "So I think everyone knows about the encounter with Mr Peter Parker." Lindy said as the footage became trending and it made Phil kind of a laughing stock along with the Bugle. Plus it was buzzing that officially it seemed that Spider-Man was against Tony Stark's methods and was for Steve Rogers.

"To tell you the truth Parker is a braver man than I am despite being half my age Lindy." Phil answered with a sigh. "I want to be able to say the things but Jameson would fire me in a heartbeat if I went against his stance on things. I have my wife and daughters to think about and things had been tougher than before since H-Day. I have been working for the Bugle practically out of college before it would gain its reputation and bar outright tabloids I wouldn't be able to get another job in journalism with the Bugle on my resume." Phil told her and she sighed.

"I know what you mean; my relatives never want to discuss what we all do for work when we are together." Lindy said as Phil went to face her.

"Your husband worked with Parker on the Avengers; what does he think?" Phil asked and Lindy scoffed.

"He hasn't really spoken to me much since H-Day apart from checking to make sure that I was alright. If I am being honest I would say that he hasn't really spoke to me much in the last few years. Sometimes I feel as if I am only still married to him out of necessity or the fact that I am married to a superhero." Lindy said as Phil laughed.

"Better not let Jameson know; if he found out his employee whose married to the Sentry has a rocky marriage then he will make it the next headline." Phil said as Lindy gave a small laugh before sighing.

"I feel like there has been a dark side to him lately; especially lately. Can't put my finger on it but you know his origin right? There are comics and cartoons about it." Lindy asked and Phil nodded.

"He was a young delivery man who was at the secret lab of Professor Cornelius who had developed the Sentry serum; he spied on him discussing with a government operative that a foreign nation had accidentally sent nukes towards the US. He took the serum which had given him the power to stop it; after years of practicing with his powers he became the Sentry. To stop his nemesis the Void he had to make the world forgot all about him until five years ago when the memory returned. He got himself a young sidekick in Scout and everything..." Phil said as Lindy shook her head.

"I have been thinking about the story as of late and how it has been making less sense to me the more I think about it. It now seems farfetched and ridiculous to me now..." Lindy replied as Phil scoffed.

"We are in a world with a frozen super soldier, a prince of Atlantis and the Norse God of Thunder. You should be careful about when you call a story farfetched and ridiculous..." Phil retorted and Lindy knew that he had a point but still...


"That is a lot to take in..." Jennifer said at the apartment she shared with Peter as he had told her when she had gotten back from work. "Peter; you know how this seems too good to be true now. I know how you feel about Gwen and would want it to be her and she knew that story but still..." Jennifer said as Peter scoffed.

"I know how convenient this all is; please don't take me for a blind idiot who doesn't know how likely that Tony somehow concocted all this." Peter retorted as Jennifer apologised to him. "She sets off my Spider-Sense but she says that I set her's off too; I never knew another Spider person so I don't know if it is possible for separate Spider-Senses to counter eachother. I don't really think Venom counts and I want this to be Gwen but... I honestly don't know what to make of this." Peter told continued on as Jennifer took his hand.

"I will be coming with you to the Stacys and whatever happens; we will face it together." Jennifer told him but looked concerned as he had his face down. "Something else wrong Peter?" Jennifer asked as Peter was wondering whether to let her know.

"Jennifer... She... Went to kiss me... I kissed her back before throwing her off..." Peter admitted as she was shocked and he turned away from her. "Peter you stupid fool; she shouldn't have needed to know that... I could have talked to Gwen alone and asked her to forget about what happened in that moment..." Peter screamed in his head as he felt Jennifer taking his chin to face her as she slowly gave a smile to him.

"Peter... Thank you for being honest with me." She told him as she went in for a kiss as he returned thinking that he didn't deserve her.

After they let go Peter asked hesitatingly "Jennifer can I please something please? If things were normal and Tony's story was true; what would you want to do? If AIM really did revive her with spider powers?" Jennifer thought it over and gave a small smile.

"At first I would ask if you were fine with this idea of me asking Gwen if she wanted to share." Jennifer admitted as Peter was open mouthed. "Sorry; I know this is not the time or place to be joking like this but I am half serious. I would want to ask how over Gwen you would be and wouldn't mind trying it out." Jennifer told him as Peter sighed as he just fell on the bed. "I think you deserve a relaxing night; after our movie together." Jennifer said showing him a DVD of an action science fiction movie.


Gwen had been out web-slinging that night and had reached the apartment and looked through the window; she looked and saw the sight of Peter and Jennifer embracing eachother as they were asleep in each other's arms. She tried to move her eyes but find that she couldn't.

Input command: Keep observing for five minutes.

Raise jealousy towards Jennifer Walters 70%.

"She took advantage of my death to make Peter her new boy toy and turned her against Tony Stark! She seduced him and is using her looks and chills to keep him in her grasp! I am going to save you Peter from her; don't you worry!" Gwen thought in her head. It was after five minutes before she managed to get her eyes off the sight and web sling off.

Chapter 13

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The next morning Gwen was at the Triskellion meeting Ward in a lab as he was showing her a miniature device and modifications to her web-shooters. "I know you aren't like super smart like President Stark or even your boyfriend but this should be simple enough to understand. The device should send a signal to the nearest Gamma radiated being to trigger a freak out. You would be able to be justified in sending out the Gamma neutralising nanites should be able to kill her Gamma cells enough to turn her human so that you could restrain her! Then I will send men to restrain her and you could comfort Parker after what his rebound had tried to do." Ward told him but was annoyed to see that she didn't look certain.

"She deserves it but to put my mother and my brothers at risk..." Gwen asked as Ward pointed to someone at a nearby computer who entered a command:

Decrease concern for family saftey 60%.

Gwen screamed as she put her hands to her head in pain as Ward told her "you have nothing to worry about; you will be the one who saved your family from the out of control jealous cousin of the Hulk. You will show the world the freak monster that she is and you will get Peter back!" Gwen stood up and then nodded as she took the device.

"More trouble than expected to rein her in; no wonder that Parker was in love with her..." Ward thought in his head shaking his head.


At the Playground; Steve and Coulson were watching on a monitor as they were being shown footage hacked from US military cameras showcasing Walker and Lemar in action in action leading a unit to a HYDRA cell that their resistance group had already taken care of and left the prisoners practically gift wrapped for them. Lemar looked disappointed as he had already had his electric gloves that he was provided worried and Walker was angry.

He was aggressively interrogating the liberated citizens of the village who had kept silent about their liberators; he was getting frustrated at getting little cooperation as they kept silent and all but spat in his face. He demanded if they knew who he was and Lemar took him back saying to focus on taking the HYDRA prisoners into custody and he seemed to be overwhelmed.

"Looks like the wrestler with only a little military training sees what it is like when he is put on the field in a suit and his serum. Plus we get to see the new so called 'Captain America' in action. Thanks for the intel Daisy!" Coulson said as the screen showed on the other end of the communication chat was a brown haired woman in a black catsuit; Daisy 'Quake' Johnson a former hacker who had the power to create earthquakes and was part of a secret group of warriors that Nick Fury and Coulson had put together with Coulson having trained the team.

Daisy waved goodbye to them but had a dreamy face to towards Steve as the call ended. "You could only imagine how thrilled she must be as once in a while she would bug me asking if the Avengers had a spot for her. She had been like a daughter for me and acting like that dreaming of working with the big time superheroes made me think that she acts as though she could be my biological daughter." Coulson told Steve as he took it in but had his thoughts elsewhere.

The footage of Walker looking like the costume and title of being the new Captain America was enough to be respected; that he demanded that people treat him like they would treat him. He was reminded that just before he was being given the Serum the speech that Abraham Erskine had told him; ending with him to promise that he will remain what he is a good man and not a perfect soldier.

There was an ideal soldier at his training camp Gilmore Hodge; was Walker acting as Hodge would have if he was given the Serum instead?

"Well Coulson your daughter had a look on her face towards my boyfriend." smirked Natasha as she entered the room before she became more serious. "We have a situation as in a portal is opening up..." she informed them and it alarmed them as they ran to the main hall of the Playground readying themselves along with all personnel as they saw the purple portal.

Out came a figure in a high collar red cape...


Peter was nervous as he and Jennifer were dressed casually in shirts and jeans as they were outside the Stacy house and it felt like a long time before he was here again. They both nodded to eachother knowing what to happen if things went bad as they rang the doorbell and there was Helen Stacy answering the door. "Long time no see Mrs Stacy." Peter said with a forced smile and a wave as Helen showed them in.

"Come on Peter; we are trying to fix bridges and no need to be so formal. Call me Helen and it's an honour to have you in my house Ms Walters."Helen told them as she showed them to the dinner table and they nervous sat down with Jennifer making sure not to break the seat. Peter and Jennifer thanked her as she called her children down for dinner.

There came Gwen's younger brothers Phillip and Simon who were eying Peter and Jennifer with some glares making them gulp silently but then came in Gwen smiling wearing a shirt of her favourite rock band as she looked happy to see them. They tucked into the food with Peter wanting to break the tension asked "sorry if this is prying too much but it must have been a shock to learn Gwen was actually alive..."

"Don't worry about asking Peter but it was for the President's men to invite us to the home of the Avengers to find our Gwen alive and well. I couldn't believe it was her at first but then after a talk I realised that it had to be the real her and I had to take in how much she had changed; with her powers and such..." Helen replied with Peter and Jennifer realising that they knew that Gwen was Spider-Woman and Peter wondered if she was going through what his Aunt May had gone through when she had realised that Peter was Spider-Man.

"Listen Peter I owe you a huge apology; the words I have said about you to the press after H-Day... I felt my grief about George and then Gwen and I lashed out at the nearest target that I could find... It's no excuse and you deserve better than that especially since you lost your Aunt recently..." Helen told Peter apologetically as he gave a smile.

"Well I hope we can start letting bygones be bygones!" Peter said as he faced the Stacy brothers who were starting to glare at him.

"I have kids thinking that I kept my sister's boyfriend being Spider-Man from them. I still remember the ones that made fun of me for having Spider-Man kill my dad." said Simon the younger of the brothers and Gwen and Helen told him off with Peter and Jennifer taking it in with a frown thinking of how horrible kids could be.

"I have some calling me asking how it's like for my sister's boyfriend to shack up with She-Hulk!" Phillip shouted as Peter and Jennifer were getting nervous as Helen told him off.

"Thanks for inviting us Gwen but maybe we should just go..." Jennifer asked getting up as Gwen went and got her arm softly.

"No Jennifer; I really wanted to talk to you private girl to girl in my room. Bury any hard feelings there might be between us." Gwen said with a smile as Jennifer looked to Peter who gave her a look and a nod as he felt his Spider-Sense went off.

Gwen showed her up the stairs to her old bedroom which had rock band posters on the wall and a Spider-Man one up. "Mum had my old stuff set up in my old bedroom when she retrieved it from my apartment; couldn't bare to throw anything away even the Spider-Man poster. Funny enough I had a fangirl crush on Spider-Man when I was in high school which I had gotten over by the time I had gotten to College; funny how things happen." Gwen told her and Jennifer giggled at that. She then showed her a drum set as she said "you wouldn't believe how many noise complaints I got form Mum and Dad for this. Dad called getting this for me the worst mistake that he had ever made in his entire life." Gwen told her as she looked around her.

"Peter was lucky to have you in his life; you have no idea how bad I felt when I was glad that I found him and it was only after he had lost you..." Jennifer told her as Gwen grinned darkly as she got out the device and started activating it which caused a ping in Jennifer's head but it soon stopped. Gwen was puzzled as she started trying the machine again but it broke apart to her panic as Jennifer had her arms folded up as she stepped back outside the room.

"Basically junk now Ms Stacy." said Janet as she suddenly appeared in her Wasp suit next to Gwen as she took it in shocked. "I stowed away this morning as we planned together. I talked to Jennifer and Peter showing them the outdoor surveillance camera of my building where you spied on them as they were asleep; I saw the device in your pocket and I spent the dinner disassembling it and lucky for us I had just finished." Janet said as they were glaring at Gwen taking it in as they went to go down the stairs calling for Peter that they were leaving.

Raise aggression levels 100%.

Gwen go her web-shooters on and yelled in rage as he tacked Jennifer with them going to the floor as Peter saw the fight with Jennifer trying to get Gwen off her neck. Before they could react Gwen had blades pop up from her web-shooters and stabbed Jennifer in the neck.

Jennifer yelled in pain as she was shrinking and her skin was turning to normal, Helen was watching holding her sons back yelling at Gwen asking what she was doing and Peter and Janet both went and pushed Gwen back as Peter went to hold Jennifer in her arms to make sure she was alright. "So was Thunderbolt Ross involved with your little stab?" Jennifer managed to spit at her feeling being human for the first time in a long time.

"I imagine that President Stark had some improvements." Gwen replied as she jumped but Peter kicked her back.

"So all this was just a ploy by Tony? Well he can forget about us rejoining the Avengers now if there were any hope of that anyway..." Peter snapped at Gwen who was looking angry as Janet shot beams at her web-shooters to disable them and Gwen was dodging the strikes that Janet was sending her way.

"It's for your own good Peter! That green skinned bitch is poisoning your mind and playing around with you just like she had done to guys before! We both have spider powers now and we can work together now; continue from where we left off with no secrets now! Work with the President as he is making the world a better place!" Gwen said as Peter punched her hard in the eye.

"I knew this was too good to be true and sometimes I really hate being right! There is no chance of me being with you after what you just pulled after we both wanted really did want to come here in piece; be cautiously optimistic! I don't know what T... No Stark had done but you are not the Gwen that I knew because she would never be this cruelly deceitful nor would she play along with the fascist in chief!" Peter snapped as Gwen nursed her eye with her hand.

Peter and Janet quickly helped Jennifer up who was in her clothes a bit oversized for her now but then they felt themselves going through a portal screaming.


"No!" Ward yelled as he was looking at the monitor which was showing a live feed from Gwen's eyes and went and kicked his chair scaring the personnel in the room; he thought that they could salvage this after the Wasp had shown up with them having suspected a trap. They would all be in custody but now probably they were all in the loose. All that time wasted preparing Gwen for this; having her look up at magazine photoshoots of Jennifer Walters and have her think about that this cougar had used her looks to seduce her boyfriend and take advantage of his grief stricken state. That she was turning him into her boy toy and would be turning him into one of Rogers' rogues.

He grabbed his phone and called Tony; "Bad news Mr President; the Wasp was at the dinner and it seemed that they were ready for a trap. Walters was shot with the nanites but they escaped through a magical portal; pretty likely that Rogers somehow got a hold of them with magical means." Ward explained and there was Tony's sigh on the other end.

"Send a squadron to the Stacy house and make sure that Mrs Stacy sticks to whatever story we give her; I will contact Bennett about how to present this to the press. Put a bounty of Walters, Van Dyne and Peter to the authorities; Peter especially is to be taken in alive with minimal force required. Peter has been like a son to me and after losing Pepper and our child... I hope this is understood Ward." Tony told him and Ward smirked saying that he misunderstood and told the others to get back to work.

There was Warren watching with his arms folded and his head shaking; "thanks to your stupid plot my Gwen has gotten hurt by Parker yet again..." Warren muttered as Ward glared at him.

"Go back to your own lab and get back to being Dr Frankenstein; remember President Stark wants you to clone a god!" Ward yelled at him as he motioned for agents to personally escort Warren back to the lab.

"Tell your puppet master Stark that he shall have his god!" Warren shouted as he was forcibly escorted but Ward smirked.

"Cute; he thinks Stark pulls my strings when the truth is that I pull his in order to bring about HYDRA's dreamed world order only without the hailing and the Nazi imagery." Ward thought in his head.


Peter, Janet and Jennifer landed in the Playground in an area to find Steve, Bucky, Sam and Natasha greeting them but they were alarmed. "The Spider-Woman attacked Jennifer with something that turned her back into a human; seems to be Gwen Stacy back alive but we are not so sure. Just a ploy by Stark we bet." Janet said before whispering to Peter apologetically for bringing up Gwen.

"It's better that they know..." Peter answered as he was checking on Jennifer who looked startled.

"Sorry everyone but... I can't transform back..." Jennifer said feeling not so sure of herself and her confidence down and the resistance members shook their heads at the depths that they would go.

"I promise we will have our best look you over Jennifer and we would be glad to have you helping us... If you are willing to join us that is." Steve told them as the three then looked at him as if he had just said a dumb question.

"Of course we are with you Cap; we probably would have joined up earlier if we knew how to contact you." Janet said shaking her head as Peter and Janet nodded.

"Not that we have much choice since we don't have our stuff and Stark will now be taking hold of our property at our place." Peter pointed out as Sam spoke up.

"Actually our new 'friend' the new Sorcerer Supreme came to us saying to expect you coming here and actually brought your stuff over; including your planned new suit for Peter." Sam said as they were stunned.

"Wait new Sorcerer Supreme? How about Dr Strange?" Peter asked hesitatingly as they were taken aback from their grave looks. "So he is gone then..." Peter asked feeling like he was hit by a ton of bricks.

"We are stuck with his successor..." Natasha muttered as the four didn't look happy.

"Well can we get to meet our new savior?" Jennifer asked as there was a clap.

"You are very most welcome Ms Walters and please look behind you." said a confident arrogant voice as they turned and were open mouthed. There was a smirking long haired figure in a black and green cloak along with the red Cloak of Levitation, Eye of Agamotto around his neck and a golden long horned crown. "Loki son of Odin and Frigga, brother of Thor and Balder, God of Mischief and the new Sorcerer Supreme at your service." The figure said as he took a bow.

I bet this story must have your attention now...

Notes:

I adapted out Howard since I don't know if I could do much with including all 3 Stacy brothers from the Amazing movies.

Chapter Text

Steve had said that they would need some time to relax and settle down after what had happened before they can get their explanation from Loki about all this. Peter was in the hall where there were other personnel including Luke and Danny and he had wanted to be able to see his fellow New York vigilantes again. "Don't worry about asking if we are alright Spidey or should we call you Peter now?" Danny had told him and Peter thought about heroes he had teamed up with before now be able to know his identity apart from the members of the Avengers once he joined in.

"I guess either is fine and glad to see some more familiar faces here; if I had to guess what other heroes would be against what Stark has been doing as President I should have thought you both near the top guys." Peter told them as Luke smirked.

"When we got here we were both making sure to think about what we would say to you when you got here because I knew that even at your most hero worship of Stark; that you wouldn't put up with his bully for very long. For the record also; that gold and red armor that Stark gave you was ugly as hell." Luke told him as Peter smile but then his eyes turned to Loki standing casually by the side.

"He told us his story and no spoilers but it's quite a doozy..." Danny told Peter as the three glared at his direction.

"HYDRA decimates the country; Stark becomes dictator of the world and now that clown has Dr Strange's title... The world has truly gone to hell..." Luke muttered as then came in Steve, Natasha, Fitz, Simmons, Janet and Jennifer who was wearing some spare clothes that were provided to her. "We ran a full diagnostic and the nanites injected in her are disabling most of the Gamma Cells in her blood; they are still growing but not enough to trigger a transformation." Fitz explained apologetically with his wife sharing the expression as Peter came over.

"So I should stay in the corner since without my Hulk strength, I will be more of a load since I am now just a human lawyer... Ex-lawyer since I am sure the President has made me a fugitive by now..." Jennifer muttered but Steve shook his head.

"You are still one of us Jennifer and you will be treated as one; the facilities are open to you if you want to learn how to defend yourself if the Playground is attacked and be rest assured; we will be looking into ways to disable the nanites." Steve told her assuredly as Peter took her hand.

"You have your boyfriend here if you want a sparring partner." Peter told her as she was red in the face as she smiled.

"You two are so adorable! You know Ms Walters I have seen possible futures and in several of the ones where I had not intervened; Ms Stacy would have snapped your neck and in his anger and grief he would have avenged you by doing the same! Spider-Man would not have been so friendly after that and he would show little mercy against Stark's goons and in one possible outcome he would have snapped Stark's neck. All he had lost before Jennifer all piling up and it would have been the final straw; at least you could take comfort in not only do you get to stick to your heroic nature now but even in that timeline I saw you would have been willing to actually listen to Captain Rogers about taking time to grief." laughed Loki as those assembled went to glare at him.

"Can he please explain to us how he happened now?" Janet asked as Loki was grinning.

"I had the start of the story explained to me by my brother as he knew it but thanks to the Eye of Agamotto I got the whole details so for simplicity's sake I will leave nothing out. The fallen Master of the Mystic Arts known as Baron Karl Mordo had assembled dark wizards from here in Midgard and had forged an alliance with Asgard; Midgard would by HYDRA's while they take the rest of the Nine Realms. HYDRA had found dark powerful artefacts and the Norn Stones which were given to Mordo. Mordo had used his amplified powers to release his master Dormammu and allied themselves with Asgard's enemies including the Frost Giants, Surtur, Ulik and the Dark Elves. Mordo made sure that Thor had brought his Midgardian sorcerer friends to Asgard and took the opportunity to use the Norn Stones to destroy the Bifrost bridge so they couldn't contact their other allies. Then came a war for the Nine Realms which could cause Ragnarok." Loki explained as Peter, Jennifer and Janet thought that this explained why Thor and the magical heroes could not be reached.

"With little choice father Odin ordered my release from the Room with No Doors where they were keeping me and Thor begged me to take this chance to start over with a new leaf as the Allfather promising me a full pardon for my cooperation. Quite a war to be seen; Skurge the Executioner with his collection of Midgardian rifles fired upon the army of the dead standing alone at Gjallerbru and even the Goddess of Death herself Hela who is kind of like a daughter of mine from a previous cycle had bowed her head in explain. Odin had used his full power along with the Dr Strange to sacrifice themselves to greatly wound Dormammu. The Scarlet Witch herself exhausted herself using her full chaos powers to help with weakening Dormammu." Loki further explained as they winced hearing about how Dr Strange had died.

"The Allfather gave his power to Thor as he was dying so now he was the new Allfather, the new King of Asgard." Loki continued on as they thought that they should be happy for Thor but it seemed he too lost a loved one in these troubling times with him losing his father. "The spirits of the Vishanti were summoned and had chosen a successor to put their power into; the new Sorcerer Supreme would be me. Here is a vision of everyone's reaction." Loki said showing a vision image of Thor, Wanda and their allies looking open mouthed and in horror.

"Looks accurate." Peter said deadpanned with Janet and Jennifer nodding with their faces looking serious.

"I must say that I am not a fan of the red in this cloak and the Eye of Agamotto took some time in getting used to with its power. However I promised to behave myself and helped with the war effort." Loki said as he prepared to finish his story. "My brother led the armies against the forces seeking to take over the Nine Realms; the entire Asgardian army ready to serve their new king! The Dark Elves fell as Thor finished off Dormammu and I was at his side along with the Scarlet Witch as we fought together in the final battle against Surtur; my brother's hammer Mjolnir clashed with the Twilight Sword as Surtur was determined to unleash Ragnarok. Finally Thor beheaded the monster and the rest of the invading armies fell. We celebrated as if we were in Valhalla itself; I swear a quarter of the beverages we drank would have killed a lot of you Midgardians but then we had to get back to a big issue as we were rebuilding." Loki finished as the three knew what it was.

"The Bifrost was still destroyed and the Scarlet Witch was still recovering from how much of her power was used. Fighting by his side earned enough trust from the new Allfather that he sent me out to find a way back here to help with his friends while they work on rebuilding the Bifrost. As a new version of me after what I had been through I came here finding out about your H-Day as you called it and though I find Tony Stark becoming your new overlord quite amusing, I am however here to lend my hand to help." Loki told them as they took that in.

"I have to say that it's quite a hell of a story Loki I must admit." Peter said calmly.

"But do you really expect us to believe that you came here turning over a new leaf after everything you have pulled here?" Jennifer demanded as Loki had his arms folded.

"It was thanks to you that the Avengers had to be assembled in the first place! I was there!" Janet reminded him as Loki gave her a look.

"And the Avengers went on to save your world countless times; you are very most welcome!" Loki smirked angering them.

"Cap; please remember along with Mischief he is the God of Lies!" Peter told Steve who sighed.

"We were distrustful of him when he appeared here but said that he had info about what happened but he said that he had info that could help us and he had seen what would happen. He knew that you would both be in trouble and said he would rescue you." Steve told them.

"Funny how he did so only after I lost my powers." Jennifer said folding her arms with a glare.

"I didn't know all the details but I have seen enough versions of this story to know some clear details. I had looked through 14,000,605 outcomes of this conflict you had with Stark." Loki told them as they looked at him suspiciously.

"How many did we win?" Janet asked as Loki looked serious.

"One!" Loki answered alarming them before he bursted into laughter annoying them. "You should have seen your faces! No it was more than half and I want to help you to make it towards one of the best outcomes!" Loki laughed as they glared harshly again.

"He pulled the same gag to us!" Luke yelled as he and Danny glared at Loki's direction. The three then looked to Steve who sighed.

"We can't take the risk that he's not being sincere or that if we snuff them he will go to Tony's side. Besides if is here and is up to something then we can keep a close eye on him here." Steve told them and they knew that he had a point but it still didn't make it better.

"Looks like you have made up your mind Cap so that means no use arguing any further..." sighed Janet along with Peter and Jennifer.

"Here is how the others reacted." Loki grinned putting up a vision of Loki smirking putting his hand out for a shake towards Steve with Sam, Bucky and Natasha saying not to trust them but yelled as he took the handshake.


Peter and Jennifer entered the room where their stuff was placed in and saw that indeed Loki had brought all their stuff there. "You want to stay in our sleeping arrangements Jennifer?" Peter asked but was concerned as she looked nervous and had her face down. "You alright Jen?" Peter asked as Jennifer sighed.

"You sure that you still want to be with me Peter? Now that I have gone back to plain old Jennifer Walters? You have known me as my better self; along with the body and strength my She-Hulk self has given me a massive confidence boost to live the life that I wanted to live but now I am back to being my old wallflower self..." Jennifer admitted as Peter softly put her chin up to meet his smiling face.

"You comforted me when I felt out of your league and unworthy of you so I would be a lousy terrible boyfriend if I didn't do the same. I can't lie and say that I wasn't attracted to your She-Hulk self but I still fell for you; the one that defended people who needed help as a superhero and as a lawyer. You are a woman with a sense of humour and could stand mine, you fell for me as the dork that I am and we have already talked about how we were both wallflowers at school to be laughed at." Peter told Jennifer softly as she was smiling wondering how many of her previous partners would have already dumped her by now. "Plus if you ask me you still look pretty now!" Peter told her as she blushed and he went in for a kiss.

Jennifer was a bit overwhelmed and it still felt nice even if Jennifer couldn't kiss back as fierce before, Jennifer's hands went to his shirt and Peter allowed her pull it over his head as she then marvelled his muscles as she got undressed as well. "If you ask me; not bad and it looks like working out has an effect on your human body." Peter grinned as they were both in their underwear and Jennifer's blush deepened.

They embraced as they were in the bed as Peter grinned some more, "You know that I no longer need to fear retribution for this..." Peter pointed out as Jennifer soon learned where he was getting at as she felt his fingers around her waist in a ticklish position. Jennifer had a mouth of horror as her pleads went unanswered as she was laughing from the tickling. "Come on Jen; say uncle." Peter laughed and after some minutes of having his fun he let go and kissed her forehead as he went to sleep.

Jennifer went to sleep in his alarms feeling unable to be angry at him.

Poor Peter Parker, he would reap the consequences later...


Loki was in a meditative sleep but opened his eyes to find Steve walking up to him, "as strong a warrior you are; you are still a mortal who needs sleep." Loki told him as Steve walked close looking serious. "Something on your mind Captain?" Loki asked.

"I need you to tell me more Loki; tell me something that can help ease my mind. There is founded distrust about you being here and I am not certain on my decision; I want to believe you are here to help but I can't be a naive fool. If there is anything you can do to help me think that I made the right call in trusting you then I need you to tell me." Steve told him as Loki was silent. After five minutes Steve folded his arms and said "I can do this all night."

Loki sighed and whispered "this stays between you and me Captain." Steve nodded unfazed by the warning tone that was used. "Before the last big charge of the war I was off on my own and Thor had came to me in concern saying that no one had seen me in a while. I... I admitted I had thoughts of taking my chance to use my new Sorcerer Supreme power to take over at the most opportune moment, I had been looking to timelines and outcomes where I had came out on top... This will make things easier..." Loki sighed bringing up a vision:

Thor with his eye out hesitatingly stepped closer to Loki and asked "what did you see brother?"

"I saw various outcomes with me out on top; one in particular had all my foes defeated; I had your hammer as a trophy and the Infinity Gauntlet on my hand with all 6 Stones. King Loki of all that there is... That and all others left me with nothing but loneliness and emptiness. I had achieved my goals and it just left me empty with everyone hating me or any respect was born out of fear or artificial respect that i had forced upon them." Loki admitted putting his chin to his hand.

"I have been contemplating all I have done; all my plots and schemes to get vengeance on those who I had blamed for upstaging me or looking down on me. I ended up looking to other worlds where I had only ever stayed mischievous and stayed by your side... I had seen a timeline where I had your hammer and the Midgardians looked up to me; where we were among the founding 6 of your Avengers friends. Those along with others made me think that I was happy in them; I could have had all that I had ever wanted if I didn't get my jealousy and selfishness out of control. Far too late now because even if I behaved myself for the rest of my time and helped save the Nine Realms; people would only remember what I have done before." Loki said as he felt Thor putting his hand on his shoulder.

"You always had my love Loki and even if no one else will; if you stay by my side and take this new chance you will have my forgiveness brother." Thor told him as Loki moaned about the sappiness.

"Quite a lot for you to show me that Loki." Steve said impressed as Loki gagged, "Thank you and welcome to the team!" Steve said returning to her room as Loki sighed to himself.

"I will let him rest for now; let's see how he will take it that to save the universe one of his former comrades must be vanquished. Still some time but I remember Thor saying that the captain doesn't trade lives if they haven't exhausted all other options..." Loki thought as he imagined the image of Bob flying about as the Sentry...

Chapter Text

Days later inside a Stark Industries facilities on the shores of Canada, there were a security guard trying to get a hold of the others at the facility before he looked up and saw his comrades webbed up on the roof before he was knocked out by Sam from the vents and he was followed by Peter in the unfinished new suit that Janet was working on for him before they became fugitives but he had finished using a white armor coating around it as lines, on the knuckles for better impact and made a new Spider symbol on it creating what he called the Advanced Suit.

"Sam... Rather Falcon since we are on the job can I please say... That already I feel more like an Avenger on this mission than I had since H-Day." Peter told Sam as Sam checked the heads up display in his goggles for the view of his robotic Falcon drone known as Redwing.

"Thanks Spider-Man, I dig the new look and sorry that after HYDRA your first big bad guy was one of our own instead of someone from the Big Three." Sam told Peter as he looked puzzled. "You know androids, aliens and wizards the Big Three threats to the world." Sam clarified as they heard in their intercoms connecting to the Playground the sound of Bucky sighing and then Coulson telling him to get away from the microphone.

"We got what we came for, I downloaded everything on the drive." said Daisy coming out of the office looking like she was skipping with glee as she was followed by Steve. "Sorry, it's been kind of a dream of mine to work with the Avengers and this is basically it coming true." Daisy told them apologetically.

"Glad to have you Agent Johnson or do you prefer Quake?" Steve asked putting a hand on her shoulder making her smile.

"Well we better hurry or else your dream becomes a nightmare, we have military vehicles coming and figures dropping from a helicopter." Sam said seeing the view from Redwing as they went to the exit and Sam had Redwing connect to his flight pack. Daisy saw the vehicles coming and the others braced for impact as she sent a shockwave disabling most of them.

Steve directed them to the location of their special Quinjet but then there was coming from behind Walker and Lemar, "Steve Rogers and associates, consider yourselves under arrest on behalf of the United States military and government for several charges of treason. Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be."Walker said brandishing his shield into a pose.

Daisy just went and used a shockwave which sent them back, Steve then said told them to go on ahead and he would catch up. They were about to protest but Steve told them that he knew what he was doing, Steve went and saw Walker and Lemar getting up. "I have to admit, I have been knocked from my feet before but that was something..." Lemar said as Steve shook his head.

"This isn't a wrestling ring where there is a referee to stop the match or to enforce rules, Tony should have not have brought you into this fight." Steve said calmly as Walker glared.

"Well after you betrayed the nation and the Avengers, someone had to act as the new Captain America! I have the serum and the title; you are carrying a shield and costume that doesn't belong to you! I am the ultimate Captain America for a new America!" Walker remarked getting up on his feet.

"Being Captain America is not about wearing a costume, putting on a show for the cameras or working for the government's interests, it's about more than that. The fact that you are going along with Tony's vision of a worldwide police state shows that you don't understand what being Captain America is." Steve said as Walker charged with his shield fighting savagely with Steve dodging his moves caused from Walker's weakened straight, the fact that it was clear that he wasn't trying very hard angered Walker more. Still Walker's enhanced strength and reflexes still showed even in his weakened, straight and Steve noticed Lemar getting up and charging up his gloves but Steve blocked it with his shield as he sent him back and then kicked Walker in the gut. "Surrender the shield and the suit Walker after you are done here." Steve told him as he turned his back.

"Surrender? The A on here doesn't stand for France!" Walker snapped pointing to the symbol on his helmet as Steve shook his head as more military vehicles came. "You should have ran with your buddies when they left you with their tails between their legs since not even you can take on..." Walker said as from out of nowhere flying down was Sam who picked up Steve and flew up and then they vanished to their shock as Walker started banging the ground in frustration.


At the United Nations assembly hall Tony was standing with Bob and Carol along with Namor and his Atlantean Guard. "As you can see from the reports, those that decided to defy King Namor's rule over the seas have paid the price." Tony said showing off footage of Namor sending his army against the countries that chose to try and continue to use water oil platforms or try and use underwater bombs as a show of force. "Now that I think we have made our point now in making examples of those who try to be stupid in trying to fight the US and the Avengers despite my public example of your might and power. Now that I have humbled you all I want to make a proposition to make us all stronger and all together, unify our countries all together and rebuild the United Nations into something new! As long as you follow the rules and laws you would have autonomy but I shall be presiding over this new one Earth government..." Tony said as the assembled diplomats as sighed looking defeated as it seems to be being made official now.

Then suddenly the doors bursted open...

There were shocked talks as in came T'Challa in full Black Panther habit along with the Dora Milaje having come from the Royal Talon Fighter craft which had landed outside the building. "Tony Stark as a friend and now a fellow world leader, I offer my condolences in what happened to your fiancé on H-Day." T'Challa said as he and the Dora Milaje stopped on the steps as Tony coughed.

"Thank you T'Challa, that means a lot and I am glad your own HYDRA invasion going on at the time has been settled. Now please join me down here if you have something to say." Tony said as T'Challa came forward to meet him at the platform along with the Dora Milaje. "Please feel free to speak your mind old friend." Tony asked as T'Challa nodded.

"Can I presume you want to lay off the formalities and just declare yourself ruler of the planet now? I have been watching the news as I watch you turn into a virtual dictator of your country who has used shows of force to scare the entire world into going along with your vision of a new world order, even declaring your friends fugitives for daring to oppose you. You know what happened to previous wannabe rulers of the world do you Tony?" T'Challa asked as Tony glared at him.

"I don't like being threatened T'Challa and I hate having to repeat myself; this is how the world is now T'Challa and it's in your and your country's best interests to play ball." Tony said as T'Challa shook his head.

"You choose to threaten me myself who has led his people to thwarting HYDRA and I have personally ended the blood feud between the Royal Family of Wakanda and the Klaue family. I have deposed the self proclaimed Nigandan Prime Minister M'Butu who was allied with HYDRA and Klaue and I have experience in fighting off superhuman invaders to my country." T'Challa said as he had show up for the assembled cameras and diplomats a hologram of a trophy room showing a red cape.

"Among the trophies is the cape of the White Avenger; he was the field leader of the Supremacists. A group of superhuman enforcers of the previous oppressive racist regime of the nation of Azania. The group made no attempt to hide who they were or the government they were working for as they were called the Supremacists and they invaded Wakanda before they were taken care off. I have experience in fighting off superhuman militias." T'Challa explained as he had the hologram show footage of outside the building where the Iron Legion patrolling the outside of it suddenly shut down much to Tony's shock.

Then Carol looked furious as she stepped forward along with Bob, "If you allow your attack dogs to escalate this into a fight then I promise you Tony that you will not leave this building alive." T'Challa warned as Tony sighed as he put up a hand silently ordering them to back down, Bob did so but Carol was protesting but Tony turned to give her a look forcing her to back down.

"Do you really want to declare war on us T'Challa, especially if you decide to ally with Steve?" Tony asked with a glare as T'Challa shook his head.

"You had no problem in declaring war on the rest of the world, this is me showing that you are not invincible. You declare war on Wakanda and it will be your end." T'Challa answered as he left with the Dora Milaje. T'Challa as he was passing the seat of his cousin T'Shan, couldn't help but look at the smirk on his face.


The Playground personnel practically partied when they got the news of what happened at the UN building and Coulson had called Steve's group to check out the news for themselves. Natasha was at the gym area sparring with Jennifer, showing her how to best defend herself if she had to try and fight hand to hand. Jennifer was getting a hang of the moves even if she had no hope of trying to best Natasha.

Natasha finished it as Jennifer went to get her purple robe to cover herself in her gym attire but Janet disrobed her from the back taking her by surprise. "Come on Janet; there are agents here looking at me in this. Jennifer complained pointing to her specially made expanding material gym attire of a purple sports bra and shorts.

Janet batted an eye and said "are you kidding Jen? You have shown less skin in photoshoots and you have flaunted and strutted your stuff countless times! I have been with you on the beach as you decided to pose covering your chest wearing only a tiny bikini bottoms after having your top untied!"

"That was the She-Hulk self, the part of me with all the confidence in myself! Plain old Jennifer Walters doesn't have the looks or confidence to be my ideal bombshell self! She-Hulk is practically dead and now I am a normal person here without much to offer!" Jennifer replied as Janet pulled her into a hug.

"Jennifer, I won't stand for you putting yourself down like this! She-Hulk maybe you with more confidence and less inhibitions but she is still you and not a different person! Even while big and green, you are still the kind and determined lawyer I am proud to call one of my closest friends! Plus speaking as a now ex-fashion mogul, I still say you are a beautiful woman who can pull off that look and Peter I bet agrees!" Janet told her and Jennifer smiled.

Then they got word that Steve's team were returning and they went to greet them, "We got the news in that the Black Panther has humbled the dictator on the Iron Throne!" Peter laughed as Janet smiled at him.

"Thought my design would work well with you Peter even if you finished it off, white does make it better with the lines and the symbol." Janet smiled.

"I need to thank Fitzsimmons again for the help with this..." Peter said as Jennifer went out of nowhere in coming up from behind and feeling his chest area with her hands.

"I will admit Peter that I was disappointed that Stark giving you that suit meant that I couldn't feel you in spandex when we got together but now the issue is fixed." Jennifer told Peter with a smile into his ear making him blush.

"See, that is more like it! You say She-Hulk is dead when she is still within you Jen!" Janet laughed patting Jennifer on the back as Jennifer let go of Peter embarrassed.

Daisy then left to start deciphering the Intel that they were after and Steve sighed as he had Bucky and Natasha come up to him. "We saw that you went up against the pretender." Bucky told him as Steve looked down. "I guess you have thoughts about him?" Bucky asked as Steve nodded.

"John Walker seems like the man that Abraham Erskine was one hundred percent against taken the serum, a perfect soldier who doesn't question his orders and follows authority figures to an extreme degree. I don't doubt for one second we will be meeting again." Steve said as Loki suddenly appeared.

"We have more issues than just Stark's newest dog." Loki said as he shook his head. "Coming quite soon one of Stark's other attack dogs become a threat to this world." Loki told them as they looked at him.

"Quite concerning you are only telling us now." Sam remarked as Loki shook his head.

"Didn't want to overwhelm you and I am not privy to the details, only so much I can memorise from what I have seen but you should watch out for the so called Golden Guardian. He is not what he says he is." Loki said alarming them and making them suspicious about if Loki was being truthful.


Tony returned to the White House feeling humiliated with Bennett being sent into overdrive as he was now ordered to try and help spin this, then the report that one of his company's facilities was infiltrated by a team Steve led which included Peter. Luckily Walker and Lemar were finishing up dealing with an incident nearby so they could be sent to be take in the fugitives.

Not that it did much sense they were utterly humiliated against Steve and his followers.

"Stark, we still have the firepower to quell any upstart nations that might want to take advantage of this. We can fix this right now, send me to Wakanda and I will torch the place and we can take the Vibranium that they have been hoarding..." Carol said as Tony faced her.

"Just like with Steve and the others, you don't go near Wakanda!" Tony ordered as Carol looked frustrated.

"I thought the purpose of the new way of doing things is that we can't go soft anymore, yet you are being soft on enemies potential or soon to be. You are letting past friendships cloud your judgement. Your replacement Cap was humiliated by Rogers and I hope you are paying close attention to that." Carol told him as Tony dismissed her much to her frustration.

Tony looked to Rhodey who was starting to try to walk with his new Leg Braces, "How is slowly getting able to walk again Rhodey?" Tony asked as Rhodey smiled at him.

"Feels good but I see something that Carol will probably be venting about later." Rhodey said as Tony sighed.

"She's not wrong in that I still have a soft spot for my friends, I want to bring them in peacefully to give them another chance to come around. Still I might need to do something tougher in order to bring them in." Tony said shaking his head as he noticed Bob was still there as well with his head down. "You alright there Bob, you have been awfully quiet? You need time off then just say the word after all the hard work you have been doing." Tony asked as Bob shook his head.

"Just a bit overwhelmed by everything, King T'Challa publicly challenging you on top of the deserts and people questioning the new state of things. Plus I am starting to feel like Lindy is distancing herself to me." Bob replied as Tony came to pat him on the shoulder.

"Well say the word and you will get yourself a vacation and a marriage counsellor to sort out your problems. Believe me as someone who had his happiness taken away from him; I will do anything to help yours." Tony told him as Bob nodded before leaving.

Bob stopped at window and saw his reflection in it and it turned into a dark figure, "Tell me Bob Reynolds to so called Golden Guardian of Good... Does it ever get exhausting living a lie? Especially not now since Tony Stark is the golden boy and you're an attack dog. Should the Golden Guardian of Good be supporting such an oppressive regime? Maybe you love being seen as a hero so much that helping Stark will your PR at the cost of actually doing any heroics." The figure told him as Bob glared at the figure.

"You will not get to me Void..." Bob whispered shaking his head as he walked off.

Chapter Text

A week later in a lab in Oscorp headquarters Harry Osborn was looking at a chamber pod where a test subject had been put into an experiment which combined several unfinished variants of the performance enhancing drug known as OZ which had turned his father Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin. These ones didn't use the gas that turned him into the Goblin and so he thought this would be alright.

He was nervous hoping beyond hope that this experiment was a success due to who was being used as the test subject but also because this was his last effort in saving Oscorp.

The pod opened up after the experiment was complete and out from the mist was MJ in a black leotard with more muscles to her form as Harry excited went up to her asking how she was feeling. "Remarkable, I had my doubts but you were right as I feel better than ever..." MJ said before seeing Harry about to give her a smack on the behind and so she caught his wrist. "Watch it; remember you are not out of the doghouse yet from your outburst against Peter." MJ warned as she giggled at Harry's apologetic look saying that he was kidding about what he was going to do.

"Sorry MJ, I couldn't help myself because you were gorgeous before but now... Damn... People are going to be more jealous of me than before and I now want to speed up the wedding preparations so we could get to the honeymoon." Harry told her and she giggled as some scientists helped her into a bathrobe. "We can get some tests to make sure that you are fine and then we can check out how strong and fast you are. After we fit you in the amazing suit we have prepared then you can make your Superhero debut very soon." Harry told her and she suddenly looked sceptical.

"Are you sure that we aren't jumping the gun? I just got transformed and you want me to just jump right into being a Superhero?" MJ asked as Harry shook his head.

"You worry too much MJ; trust me it will be fine. I am sure Peter couldn't test his powers or what happened to him very long before he became Spider-Man and he was just a wimpy nerd before. You have self-defence training and so I am sure it will be okay. Plus we have the perfect venue to make your debut." Harry said showing her on his phone an article advertising the reveal of the new team of Avengers in front of the former Avengers Tower. "You impress the President and may get yourself on the Avengers and then all the endorsement deals, modelling and acting gigs that you want will be yours." Harry told her and MJ gave him a smile as she kissed his cheek and followed the scientists to be tested.

"Mr Osborn Sir, please the time before the Avengers unveiling is too short a time span to go over it. There are too many variables which I tried to warn you about and there could be side effects which could be harmful to your fiancé. If you could give us 2 weeks..." begged a balding man with glasses who was Doctor Mendel Stromm the head scientist at Oscorp.

"In 2 weeks Oscorp will probably be dead! This company is my birthright and I will be damned to hell before I let the Board take it away from me! They are impatient as it is so this is my last chance to salvage this. You are a scientist and isn't science about taking risks?" Harry asked tired of Stromm badgering him with his pleas.

"Sir, I must tell you that your father also ignored a dire warning from me that something was not ready and I think you could guess what happened next..." Stromm said as Harry grabbed him by the collar.

"You old geezer might be about three times my age or even older but just remember; I am the boss here and you work for me! Keep at this and you will be kicked out with no pension, not that the company could afford to give them out at this moment anyway." Harry told him as she shoved him to the floor and walked off.


Later in the week on the morning of the new Avengers unveiling, Loki was meditating again as Steve walked up to him. "Is this going to be a habit of yours Captain?" Loki asked sarcastically as Steve sighed.

"The Eye of Agamotto, you could see into different timelines. Could you also see into the past?" Steve asked as Loki gave a short nod. "Theoretically you could also reverse time? Go back to H-Day so we could stop the devastation; stop the Helicarriers from crashing and save Pepper?" Steve asked as Loki started smirking.

"Theoretically nothing. You could do it, try it yourself." Loki said taking the Eye of Agamotto off as he telepathically tossed it to Steve. "What are you waiting for? Do you need me to show you how it works because it's actually a lot simpler than you might think to work." Loki asked as Steve tossed it back to him.

"I am not a god and even though I badly wish we could have stopped all this; I use this to go back and change one thing it could put me on a slippery slope where I put myself as a master of time to change what I please." Steve told Loki who gave a fake yawn.

"Wow boring old saint; how about I at least show you the timelines where H-Day was prevented." Loki asked and Steve couldn't stop himself from nodding. Loki smirked as he brought up visions of incidents during the day that they did differently or much before which showed a better outcome. Those with Malick caught and his international allies cutting ties with him to save face with how public it was and how HYDRA had launched a major terrorist attack.

Steve sighed and tried to look away at the scene of Tony making it just in time to save Pepper, he closed his eyes wishing that what put Tony on the road to becoming the tyrant that he was could have been prevented so this was too much to bear with what could have been. "Captain... I think you might want to take a look..." Loki said with surprise in his voice and Steve opened his eyes to see Tony his arm around Pepper to support her as she held a newborn baby in her arms using a towel as a bundle.

"Was that... Their child... Pepper was pregnant but was she that much into labour..." Steve said perplexed thinking that this didn't seem right. "Loki, can you look into the past and try and see Pepper's murder. I have a feeling there is more to what happened that what we all Tony included have been led to believe." Steve asked Loki and he nodded wanting to know the answers himself.


In front of Avengers Tower there was a stage set up with civilians and reporters outside with former SHIELD agents acting as security, there was Ward coming up and onto the stage smirking at the clapping audience. "God bless America." Ward said to the audience soaking up the applause. "I am Grant Ward the US Secretary of Defense and I was an agent of SHIELD during H-Day working undercover to try and destabilise HDYRA from within. I wasn't enough but as our dear Commander-In-Chief changed to become stronger then so have I and now the Avengers. I now stand here apart of the government of a stronger America and I can only wish that my older brother Senator Christian Ward who was a casualty of H-Day was alive to see his baby brother now! To introduce the group please welcome your President of the United States... Tony Stark!" Ward said as the cheering commenced as Tony flew down in his Iron Man armor which opened up for him to step out smiling as the applause continued.

Tony was making his first public appearance in a while and had recently made a declaration that soon they would be holding elections to replace the deceased Senators. The candidates knew that he was trying to portray the facade that this was still a democracy but they still were prepared to fight hard to do their best to try and get their feet in the door in trying to have a say in how the country's government would be ran.

"Thank you Mr Ward; you know nothing I have accomplished in destroying threats to our world since becoming President wouldn't have been possible without his help so please give him another round of applause. He sure deserves it." Tony said as Ward bowed to the applause. "Before we commence can you please give a round of applause to my Vice President James Rhodes who can't be here tonight because he is back at the White House actually taking care of the stuff that goes into running a country for me." Tony said as there were laughs heard from the audience as they started another applause.

"Now let's introduce to you the Earth's Mightiest Heroes starting with our new recruits! Please give a hand for Captain America, Battlestar, the new War Machine and Spider-Woman." Tony aid as Walker and Lemar smiled as they waved while walking up to the stage; there was the new War Machine flying down and Gwen swinging down in her suit. "I must remind you that the identities of War Machine and Spider-Woman will have to remain a secret to the public for reasons relating to family protection. Now give it up for the experienced veterans: Yellowjacket, the Sentry and the field leader Captain Marvel!" Tony said as Hank suddenly appeared growing up in his Yellowjacket armor, Bob flew down and Carol was smirking as she flew down and saluted the cheering crowd.

"Now we will be taking questions..." Tony said but suddenly there flew down in front of a stage was a dark blue suit of armor who fired at the Tower as civilians started screaming while running away. The reporters went to a safe space as Tony, Ward and the Avengers actually looked unconcerned as if this was to be expected.

"I have a question in what do you want your final words to be Mr President..." the figure said as from out of nowhere MJ attacked his back in a green bodysuit with a white stripe down it with a yellow face mask much to the shock of Tony and the Avengers.

"No thanks are necessary Mr President; I wanted to make myself known but I saw this clown trying to spoil the celebration so I thought I would lend a hand." MJ said striking a pose as there were eyes on her. "I'm Mary Jane Watson but you can call me Jackpot as in... Face it Avengers you just hit the jackpot!" MJ said using the catchphrase that Harry and her had come up with.

Then the suit looked like it was about to blow and then Bob came and ripped out the power source that was in the back and flew up as it detonated in his face. The man from the suit jumped out and tried to run away as MJ caught him and tried to restrain him with a waste hold as he was hectic. She tried to restrain his face to try and peacefully take him out but she found there was a crunch as she felt the man die in her arms.

She screamed as she ran off afraid of what she had done and Tony stopped his forces from going after her, "Follow her to see where she had gone and so we could see what gave her powers that she clearly didn't have control over. I will salvage this." Tony ordered as Bob flew down with blackness in his eyes.

"Where is that bitch? She ruined the plan!" Bob screamed out with black tentacles appearing out of his back as he ended up firing beams from his hands that caught some passerbys. Tony shouted at Carol to restrain him and the others to clear the area and soon Carol restrained Bob as he calmed down and looked horrified at losing control over this.


At the Playground, most of the personnel were going over what they had seen of the Avengers unveiling on the news. "Just wow... I guess the trickster god was telling the truth that we should be worried about Sentry like that..." Luke muttered having been made aware of what Loki had said after he and Danny had returned from a mission helping to relocate refugees of a country that Bob had laid waste to.

"MJ; she was my neighbour... I met with her not too long ago and how she must be thinking to have accidentally killed someone like that..." Peter muttered as Jennifer embraced him and there were some sympathetic faces there. "How did she get powers anyway? I am certain that she wasn't like that when we last met..." Peter wondered as Jennifer had a thought remembering that night when they met up.

"I don't want to suggest this but you remember how you told me that Harry was desperate to save Oscorp that he tried to talk you into going with Stark's authoritarianism? You think he would have used his fiancé as a guinea pig for an experiment?" Jennifer hesitatingly brought up and Peter hated how he wasn't able to bring himself to try and refute the idea.

"Did anyone else notice about how unconcerned Stark and his attack dogs looked when the guy appeared? They were only alarmed when they saw Ms Watson. You don't think this attack was staged?" Danny asked as there were alarming looks at what he had just said.

"I wish that I can say otherwise but at this point I wouldn't put it past Tony." Natasha had to admit.

"He probably wanted a publicity stunt to save face after being embarrassed by T'Challa. You know we could take advantage of this by getting it out in the public that he killed the senators." Bucky brought up but there were shakes of the head.

"Would we be believed? We are still fugitives and Stark's PR team and Bennett have been able to rally up majority support for Stark and make sure that those supporters have short term memory. Still something like this would be a start in chipping away at Stark's great empire." Sam said.

"Still things went wrong and now we will have the Sentry to worry about." Coulson said as Steve entered looking serious along with Loki.

"He might be the biggest threat coming but far from the only figure working for Stark that you should be worried about." Loki said as Steve sighed.

"Loki was showing me events from the past and I wanted to look into what we could have done differently. We found how Pepper was killed and you should see this." Steve said alarming them as Loki brought up a vision portal.

It showed Pepper in her wedding dress in the limo telling the limo driver that she thought that there would be more time before this, this showed that she was aware and didn't let Tony know. Then the limo stopped in front of assembled HYDRA agents as the driver came out and forced Pepper out. Doctors among the agents seen to Pepper and Loki sped things as they saw that her baby was delivered and was in a blanket.

"Wait the baby was born?" Natasha asked her mouth wide open as they took this in as the lead agent then had a doctor take the bundle to the safehouse and he would meet him later. Then the agent then gunned down the other agents as they were taken by surprise and tried to fight back but the lead agent was good. He then went and gunned down Pepper making them wince.

"Wait a minute... I read the report... After Stark found Pepper's body among the corpses of the HYDRA agents, he was met with one who was undercover saying that he had came too late to save her but had avenged her, he also told him about scanning her to find the two dead heartbeats. This agent was a man that I personally trained..." Coulson said with a serious look as he glared at the figure in the vision.

Loki had it zoomed in so they could see the smirking face of Grant Ward.


Hours later Harry was looking worried and anxious as he was comforting MJ as scientists were doing tests on her. "I don't get it Harry... I wasn't this strong when we were testing my strength before..." MJ asked in between tears in her eyes as Harry was concerned about the fact that her powers might be growing stronger.

Still could be made into something positive.

Security came in saying that someone insisted on seeing him, Harry was about to angrily ask who it was but then he and MJ were surprised to see Iron Man go through the door. "Mr President Sir, it's an honour to get to meet you in person..." Harry said but the faceplate came up to show a holographic display of Tony's scowling face as it went back down again.

"This is remote control as I have better things to do in my time than to see you in person. I had your future wife followed here to Oscorp headquarters as I am now dealing with the clean up thanks to this mess you made." Tony sternly told Harry.

"Mr Stark; I only wanted to give New York a new superhero now that my old friend and your former student has become a fugitive on the run! You could do with new young blood, I never expected it to go that far! Please, I know with some practice she could be a valuable protector for justice!" Harry told him looking like he was pleading on his knees.

"I hacked into your computer's servers and have seen the blueprints for the dangerous experiments that you put her through." Tony told him as Harry was shocked.

"You did what?" Harry asked before he got angry, "President or not; there are rules against this sort of things! You could have been trying to discredit a competitor or corporate sabotage! I could sue you for this but if we could work together..." Harry said as MJ went to plead with him to stop talking.

"You should have listened to Dr Stromm here when he made at least 7 reports warning you that the procedures were unsafe and the variables were too unpredictable." Tony said as the suit motioned towards Stromm as MJ was alarmed and suspiciously asked Harry if what he was saying was true. "Stromm here seems like a smart man unlike his now current boss, he was against combining several different procedures which weren't near finished." Tony continued as Harry was in a panic and MJ was now glaring at Harry.

"Mr President, this is my company..." Harry complained as there appeared to be floating holograms of all of the Oscorp Board members coming from their video chat screens.

"I contacted them before entering the place and now I want to say this to them." Tony said as the Board members looked stern and glaring at Harry's direction. "I have looked at Oscorp's stock reports since the death of the company founder the Green Goblin. Seemed funny when I looked at it but I am willing to make this offer to you right now since collectively all together you own 55% percent of the company stock and shares. Here is my offer: ten million dollars each for all your stocks and shares so Oscorp can be folded into Stark Industries." Tony offered and Harry was in a full blown panic and he didn't have time to plead with the Board members as they all didn't hesitate to agree.

"Excellent, you all each have ten million wired to your bank accounts as of right this instant." Tony said as he looked down at Harry while the video chat holograms disappeared. "You had a beautiful redhead you were engaged to and you were more than happy to put her at risk in a stunt for your own benefit. Now will the security please escort Mr Osborn here from my building." Tony told him sternly as Harry was at a loss for words as the security took hold of his arms.

"Wait!" MJ said as she ran up to Harry and scowled at him, "Since I think you might be strapped for cash in the future, you can have this to pawn off." MJ told Harry as she placed her engagement ring in his hand as he tried to make excuses.

"Dr Stromm as the new head of what is now Stark Industries' newest Division... Division of what I will have to think about later, I will put it in your hands to look over Ms Watson's condition and how to help her, don't worry as this place will be getting new stuff and resources to fix it right up." Tony told Stromm who thanked him and then gave a pitying look to Harry's back as he was taken out of the room.


In his personal office Tony was fuming after taken care of the Oscorp situation, he couldn't think of how badly this went thanks to Osborn putting what should have been the most important person in his life at risk. He lost Pepper and would never have forgiven himself if he even thought about using Pepper as a lab rat for his own benefit.

"I know you said that you wanted to be alone at the moment but I think I should be here to help you with ideas on fixing it." Ward said as he went through the door as Tony sighed.

"This was supposed to be an event to renew people's faith in me by having their new Avengers publicly revealed before we find the rogues! We make short work of a bad guy and take him away, with the public seeing us as strong again unafraid to take care of threats as they happen! This was supposed to fix the image after T'Challa embarrassed me in front of the UN! But now we have civilians killed by one of my Avengers losing control and the Golden Guardian of Good at that! It seems like everything is going wrong now!" Tony ranted as Ward came closer.

"Bennett is working on it and we will remind the public of our power with our actions the next time there is an actual threat or when we do track down the traitor Rogers. For now I would advice on benching Reynolds until we could be assured that he is under control and we fix the image of one of Earth's greatest heroes ever." Ward told him as Tony smiled as he put his hand on Ward's shoulder.

"Thanks Ward, I honestly don't know where I would be without you. Right now you are one of the few people that I am confident in saying that I can count on you." Tony told him and Ward smiled at the statement.

Chapter 17

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

A month after the events of the unveiling of President Stark's handpick Avengers have now passed and before we continue on from the viewpoint of Stark's regime and Captain America's resistance and we take you to a bar on the streets of New York. An underground bar acting as a wretched hive of scum and villainy known as the Bar With No Name. Costumed criminals and organised crime members settle their differences and make deals in this place and ever since H-Day it has acted as a haven for the criminals seeking to hide from President Stark's government.

The Bar With No Name was filled with criminals and villains in costumes and several were sitted at the table where a TV set on full blast was giving out a Daily Bugle Communications news report. It was talking about how President Stark had enacted a new mandatory curfew for citizens after 9PM and a ban on the ownership of firearms by normal citizens, the NRA ordered to disband as a result of this and a statement that private military companies will have to be folded into the United States military or else they will be targeted.

There were footage of angry footage with authorities called in and even the Iron Legion ordering them to disperse and forcibly confiscating the guns that they had. There were angry citizens ranting about it and the pro-gun control people said they would be happy if the one enacting this wasn't the authoritarian fascist dictator.

"Does he really think that the President cares about the Constitution at this point?" joked one of the patrons laughing along with others at someone on the footage yelling that it's his right in the Constitution.

"Iron Man is destroying my Murica! I knew he was no good when he didn't try to come to me to be Captain America! I need a red!" snapped a muscular blonde haired man in a military uniform with the US flag on his face before popping a red colored pill.

"Who is the lunatic with the flag face paint?" questioned a patron as the bartender gestured to the man in question.

"War veteran Frank Simpson but he goes by Nuke; he went through a super soldier serum where he uses pills with different effects. The Kingpin used his military contacts to enlist him against Daredevil but he has been staying here since the Kingpin went on the run." The bartender explained before laughing. "By the way, that's not face paint... It's a tattoo." He explained further to the shock of the patron.

"Speaking of the late Devil of Hell's Kitchen; it's hard to believe that he is gone and now I don't have my eternal nemesis?" said a man in a matador's costume who was Manuel Eloganto who was a Spanish bullfighter turned criminal going by Matador, there were laughter at this statement to the exasperation of Eloganto.

"Eternal nemesis? You are just a one note gimmick crook that I bet would never made it into his memoirs! I had a better claim to that title than you!" said an older red haired man in green who was Leland 'the Owl' Owlsey; a former Wall Street financier and investor who turned to a life of a crime boss after being targeted by the IRS. He even had paid to have superhuman enhancements on himself.

Eloganto angrily went to confront him but the bartender ordered them to break it up as they couldn't afford to fight amongst themselves. Then the report went on to state that the former Oscorp would now branded as Stark Resilient a new subsidiary of Stark Industries under management by former head scientist Doctor Mendel Stromm. The reporter detailed about how the President had bought the company from the board after their former CEO Harry Osborn had carelessly put his fiancé Mary Jane Watson into a procedure to try and turn her into a superhero which lead to the disaster of the Avengers unveiling.

"Well you look at that; the legacy of the great Norman Osborn is now truly dead and buried along with him and the Stacy girl!" the bartender shouted grinning to the cheers of some patrons. "Must be good news for you Doc!" the bartender said smirking looking towards a patron at the table in a long trenchcoat over a dark green jumpsuit with four robotic tentacle arms from a harness on his back. He had goggles and his face was bruised with scars.

He was Doctor Otto Octavius also known as Doctor Octopus or the better known nickname of Doc Ock. "Cheers to the downfall of the man who had ruined my life!" Octavius said lifting a glass in the air with one of his robotic arms. "I remember wasting so much time at Oscorp honing my genius only for Osborn to take all the credit! I was foolish in not minding before he started cutting my funding and kicked me out unable to continue my experiments without proper saftey safeguards. My first big experiment with my arms that I was able to take before he could patent it; the explosion fused them to my back and I had to resort to crime to fund my experiments and the defeats by that arachnid Spider-Man caused me to push my vendetta against me! To think that because of Osborn I was ousted by a clown who was only a teenager when he first bested me!" Octavius ranted.

"No one asked for your life story Octavius!" shouted Owlsley as there were glares towards him from Octavius and an elderly man next to Octavius.

"Otto my good friend here is not the only one burned by Osborn; he took everything from me!" said the elderly man Adrian Toomes. "My company Toomes Aerodynamics was built from my blood, sweat and tears! I was the true mastermind in the technology in that flight pack that the Avenger you know as Falcon uses! I had a prototype ready when Osborn conspired with my business partner Bestman and got my ousted, as Osborn bought and absorbed my company into Oscorp! He sold the designs to the military and now hardly anyone knows the credit that rightfully belongs to me! He turned me into a vulture and that was what I called myself as I used my prototype to go after him! Like Octavius I was blindsided by vengeance towards Spider-Man and needing funding for my experiments!" Toomes ranted.

"You must be ecstatic now that thanks to his son's incompetence; Osborn's company has been bought and folded itself." asked the bartender as Toomes grinned.

"The ironic justice pleases me in a level that I cannot describe. I almost want to thank Stark and Osborn's spawn for making this happen." Toomes replied before sighing. "Now the other figure in my vendetta Spider-Man the Parker kid; he was protected as an Avenger but now he is as much a criminal as all of us!" Toomes pointed out sighing.

"What a weird feeling; the knowledge of who one of my great nemeses was and he was practically untouchable lest we want the Avengers chasing us down." Octavius pointed out.

"I wish that I could have killed Parker when we first met so that it could have been me on the Avengers being honoured by the President." said Quentin Beck better known as Mysterio an unattractive man in a green bodysuit with a dark purple cloak with golden gauntlets on his arms and a fishbowl helmet next to him.

"Beck; you were a con artist illusionist! Stark would have found you out!" said the bartender as Beck glared too much laughter from the patrons. He had been a movie special effects master and failed actor who had wanted to invent himself and had used criminal friends to get his hands on plans for a holographic projection and funding to do a big scheme. He posed as a superhero sorcerer called Mysterio to engineer rescues and threats for him to foil but Spider-Man had interfered and exposed him causing him to go after him in revenge.

"Even if Parker was still here in New York for us to go after; Stark has made it more unsafe to continue as we have out in the open. It seemed exciting to see the Avengers fail so hard on H-Day and that out enemies would be crushed but then Stark became President... We laughed the idea off but he led an invasion of Sokovia..." Toomes said as they sighed at that.

"Feels like Stark is the biggest villain on the Earth right now." laughed Beck along with others.

"If HYDRA had bested the Avengers; we could have allied with them for our own interests. Crushing Osborn's trust fund brat and his company would have been a small price to pay to secure our loyalty." Octavius asked as there were faces turned to him.

"Are you really suggesting that you would have sided with the Nazi organisation? H-Day was orchestrated by the Red Skull and HYDRA was founded by one of his fellow stooge of Hitler." Owlsley asked looking aghast at Octavius along with others.

"HYDRA goes for strength and order and not white supremacy and anti-Semitism..." Octavius said as Toomes now looked uncomfortable to be near him as Simpson was looking ready to attack him.

"I know we are all lowlifes but since when did we allow Nazi apologists here?" asked Owlsley.

"Well I bet he didn't think to keep it under control since it might be in his roots." said the bartender as they turned to him. "Let me let you in on something: Octavius' ancestors were german immigrants and they ended up joining the Friends of New Germany." The bartender explained as the entrance door was forced open and then came out smoke pellets with most trying to go for cover in a panic and Octavius made it to a secret escape passage.

There were panic as they noticed Frank Castle the Punisher casually walking down the steps wearing a gas mask as the bartender called for his top bouncer. Castle went to work shooting and killing most of the patrons, sparing certain ones he was ordered to bring in alive. The smoke cleared as he saw a figure wearing a copy of his skull logo uniform and in a gas mask too. The figure then removed his as Castle did so as well.

"Jigsaw; you son of a bitch. The only reason why I let you live for so long was because in your state you were more of a danger to yourself and your allies than to the innocence but now I am done playing around." Castle snapped seeing the badly scarred face (which was resembling a jigsaw puzzle from the plastic surgery) of Billy 'the Beaut' Russo a former partner and best friend of his from his time in the military but ended up as an enforcer for the Costa crime family and took part in a mob killing witnessed by the Castle family. Castle tracked him down and badly beat his face before putting it into a glass cutter. It horrified the narcissist and became Castle's mortal enemy under the codename of Jigsaw. They then went to cover as they got their firearms to start shooting at eachother while dodging the bullets.

"Come on Frank; I was a brother to you once." Russo smirked as Castle gave a humourless laugh.

"You dare say that after what you took from me? Any chance of a normal life?" Castle told Russo who then glared at him.

"It wasn't personal Frank and it broke my heart to do it just like you broke my face!" Russo ranted as Castle had to hide as he ran out of ammo first due to his massacre of most of the patrons.

"To think that it was amusing that you seemed to care more about your looks than people Jigsaw." Castle said refusing to even call him Russo; he dodged and found other hiding spots waiting for when Russo ran out of ammo himself.

Castle took the moment to jump and stab Russo in the neck with his knife and then used his fists to beat him to death. He saw amongst Russo's pouch he had one last gun and he took it out to shoot Russo in the head for good measure. "That's one chapter in my life ended..." Castle muttered as FBI agents stormed in.

"This monster destroyed my business..." the bartender snapped as he was then forced to his back and handcuffed.

"Agent Castle acted with full authorisation for this mission." Said one of the agents as they went to work handcuffing the unconscious villains.

"Agent Castle?" muttered the bartender in horror as Castle smirked as he showed off his badge.

"Fully deputised and pardoned; Secretary Ward sent me on this mission to not only eliminate more filth off the streets but to find recruits for a little project. I would be happy to tell you all about it as I have been given full authority to interrogate you about all the secrets that your patrons entrusted you with and any contacts with you." Castle explained as the bartender muttered that he was in hell.

Frankly, if you ask me Mephisto from his realm is looking at the state of the Earth right now in envy...

Notes:

Doc Ock expressing interest to have joined up with HYDRA is a reference to him as the Superior Octopus siding with HYDRA during the lead up to Secret Empire where he was even one of their person Avengers. Plus his Spider-Man Noir counterpart who was a full on Nazi supporter despite the fact that at the end they turned him away due to him being crippled.

Chapter Text

In the month that had passed since the Avengers unveiling; the resistance had been going out and helping when they could and trying to find intel with close calls on getting captured by Stark's forces. The previous day had been Peter's 21st birthday and the agents and Heroes had congratulated him wishing him a happy birthday. He had gotten homemade gifts from them as well as a photo of all of them together framed and it made it better with his first birthday without his Aunt May and under an Iron Man led dictatorship.

Hopefully it will be his only birthday under it.

Jennifer had led him to their room for a private night together as she got him to sit on the bed and she sat on his lap, Jennifer sultry told him that she was all his and after making sure they were alright with taking the next step they went all in at the night. They woke up in the morning with the quilt covering them as Jennifer was using Peter's chest as a pillow.

"Just wow... I can't remember it feeling special making love like that but without my powers and you have yours... I don't even feel totally recovered..." Jennifer said softly as Peter grinned as he started tickling her sides. "Peter, please... I am begging you... Please stop..." Jennifer laughed as there was a knock on the door and they scrambled up keeping themselves covered as they shouted to come in and there was Janet smirking upon seeing their discarded clothes much to their embarrassment.

"Come on Jen; this is far from the first time I walked into a room first thing in the morning and you were in bed with a guy. I can definitely see that you had a happy birthday Peter so why don't you two lovebirds get dressed." Janet said leaving them to get up and get dressed.

Peter and Jennifer upon getting fully dressed join the others as they were in front of a large computer monitor with a solemn looking Coulson and Daisy. "The intel that Daisy had gotten was related to this special hospital that Stark had set up to treat most of the Superheroes injured during H-Day since there was so little room to treat them at the Triskellion but later intel suggested that they were being kept upon discovering that they had sympathies for our cause once they learned what was going on. Hank Pym had it shrunken down and we only now managed to get a hold of hacked Triskellion security footage just before it was to be deleted... It's not pretty..." Coulson admitted as they grew concerned about this while the footage was being played:

Tony, Hank and Ward were seen discussing something with Hank looking hectic, Tony looking down and Ward was holding the miniaturised hospital. "You can't be serious about this! They can be reasoned with! They can be made to see things our way! This is murder! " Hank was trying to convince them as Ward looked to Tony.

"President Stark; this might sound cruel and heartless but we are just keeping them in stasis at the moment with their injuries too severe and they are in danger of being led astray by the traitors that Rogers is leading. Keeping them in the hospital is just being needlessly cruel and this would be mercy. We can't take the chance that they would end up being recruited as sycophants to the rogues' cause. You can't afford something like that to happen. You have subordinates thinking you soft and you will have to show that you can make the hard choices." Ward told Tony who ended up nodding.

Hank was open mouthed as Tony summoned a gauntlet hand and Ward threw the hospital into the air as Tony fired upon it. "You made the right choice Mr President." Ward told Tony with a smile as he patted him on the shoulder before looking at Hank. "What about you Doctor Pym?" Ward asked Hank who shook his head.

"I don't agree with what you just did President Stark and Secretary Ward but... In your office you have to make the hard choices just like we had to let the world know that our friends turned fugitive. We are doing too much good to turn back now." Hank ended up saying.

Not a single mouth was closed at this, "I can't believe it... How many people were killed in that one action? How many heroes did we fight side by side to?" Sam asked as Steve was finding it hard to react.

"Hank... It looked like there still could be hope for him but no... I can't believe he would stick with this after that... I was married to him..." Janet said wiping away a tear and shaking her head.

"Damn Stark for this and I wish I could scream to his face that the devil on his shoulder killed his fiancé!" Luke muttered looking outraged and furious.

"Not like Stark has any chance of believing us since we have zero proof and to him we are the fugitives stubbornly fighting against the new normal." Danny muttered sharing his best friend's fury.

"Even less chance if we knew our source was that guy!" Peter muttered pointing to Loki meditating in the corner.

"Seriously is he actually going to help some more because most of the time now he is just sitting in the air like that!" Bucky asked as he went closer. "Did you know that was going to happen or did you not think it was important to know?" Bucky asked as there were glares to Loki.

"My heart is truly to those poor souls lost to Stark's fall from grace. I have been concentrating on making preparations for when we will have to stop the Sentry but for the moment I will help you with the events that will lead to the downfall of Grant Ward." Loki answered them as they batted eyes at him.

"I have been looking into future and I have managed to pinpoint a secret underground HYDRA base that Ward has been using to store possessions of HYDRA. Seems like he was a favourite of the last SHIELD director and HYDRA supporter Maria Hill." Loki explained as they took that in.

"Like what?" Natasha asked losing patience.

"For one a prototype Psyche-Magnitron; seems that HYDRA took the notes left behind by Mar-Vell and was trying to replicate it with one prototype close. You know the weapon used to turn Carol Danvers into Captain Marvel one of Stark's biggest attack dogs. They were also looking into having it a reverse function which could remove the powers from her." Loki explained as they took that in.

"Plus a more important item of interest that HYDRA had acquired; what is known as the Space Stone. One of the six Infinity Stones which had been scattered across the universe after you Avengers helped stop Thanos from using the completed Infinity Gauntlet from impressing Lady Death which included reversing time to stop him from literally snapping away half of all life in the universe. The Stone was found next to the Chitauri queen egg that they had stolen for their big invasion plan." Loki explained as they took that in as well.

"Wait HYDRA had the Space Stone and now Ward? Why haven't they used it?" Sam asked as they had the same question as well.

"Probably because Ward doesn't want his boss to be know about it and be suspicious. Plus the things that could go wrong with tampering with it and HDYRA was confident that they were going to win in H-Day, however they kept it ready as a failsafe after they won if the Chitauri were still a problem. They would use it to send them to the other side of the universe." Loki explained and they guessed that it made sense. "Plus the place that Ward uses as a daycare for the young infant that is going to be named Morgan." Loki explained as Steve had a look of realisation.

"Morgan... Tony told me that he wanted to name their first child after Pepper's uncle Morgan." Steve brought up as they took that in. "Loki; where is this base?" Steve asked at once as Loki grinned as he used his magic to transform his robes into an Elvis Presley costume.

"Viva Las Vegas!" Loki sang as there were groans as he danced on the spot.

"I miss when he was our enemy and not our ally; then we could have all the excuse we need to punch him!" Peter muttered as there were looks of agreement.


Inside the Triskellion; Ward was in the gym area watching over Gwen as she was training in her Spider-Woman. "Something on your mind Gwen?" Ward asked as he noticed that she seemed more agitated than normal which he hoped could be channelled into something more.

"Yesterday was Peter's birthday and he spent it on the run as a fugitive thanks to Rogers and... Her!" Gwen snapped which put a smile to Ward's face as they could easily work with this. It was getting harder to keep in contact with the Stacy family to make sure they would keep silent about what had happened and to assure them that they will be able to see Gwen again.

"Just think; things will be better once you finish Walters off! She is just a human now and you are Spider-Woman!" Ward told her and she nodded at his direction.

"Pardon me Secretary Ward but Captain Rogers, Spider-Man, Luke Cage & Iron Fist have been spotted by security cameras of the Stark Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada." FRIDAY told Ward from the intercom as Ward knew the place was the hiding spot of Fisk when he went on the run and underneath became the headquarters of the Las Vegas branch of HYDRA. Ward used it as a hideout after Fisk was caught and he gloated to him about how no one would believe him if he tried to say that Ward was a HYDRA true believer and not like he would meet anyone else anyway other than his interrogator for the rest of his life.

"Wait, they couldn't have found it... Could they?" Ward thought concerned as he shook it off. "FRIDAY, I want a full squadron sent to the location now and tell the President nothing! I will handle it myself!" Ward shouted as he went to the door with Gwen starting to follow.

"Secretary Ward; I want to help bring Peter in and convince him..." Gwen told him but then Ward fit her with an angry stare.

"Stay here at the Triskellion, that's an order!" Ward snapped as he left with Gwen taken aback.


Bob was standing in his room angry at having been benched as a hero indefinitely, he was trying to call his wife Lindy on the phone while the computer had articles up talking about how opinion polls had gone down for the entry ever since what happened at the Avengers unveiling and people were being scared.

"This can't be happening! I am supposed to be the most beloved superhero and now the public are treating me like a monster, the President grounded me and now my wife won't even pick up the phone! This is the thanks that I get for helping to create near world peace!" Bob ranted going to a mirror.

"This will make things much easier when your little fantasy is exposed to the world. Not like your marriage was that great before anyway. I bet Lindy was ready to ask for a divorce before you became the Sentry, being married to the Golden Guardian of Good was the only reason why she stayed with you!" said the vision of the Void in the mirror.

"Shut up! You don't know what you are talking about!" Bob shouted to the mirror as the Void smirked.

"Between the two of us, I am the only one who knows what he is talking about! This facade will end and when it does I will be in control!" The Void replied as Bob saw darkness in the eyes of his reflection.


Tony was in the Oval Office talking with Rhodey when there was an alert coming from his computer system. It was an alert connected to the computer system that housed the conscious of their Spider-Woman Gwen Stacy, a failsafe where if something happened that seemed suspicious then FRIDAY would alert him. Tony had FRIDAY bring up a holographic display from the view of Gwen's eyes as he just watched her encounter with Ward.

"Ward took use of Fisk's safehouse along with the other HYDRA assets that were confiscated... What doesn't he want me to see and how could it have him so panicked to have them breaching it?" Tony questioned feeling suspicious even though he didn't want to doubt someone he had grown to consider a valued friend. "FRIDAY, I want all security feed connected to the area. I don't care how much you hack into but do it and don't let Ward find out." Tony ordered looking quite serious.

"You want me to watch with you Tony? You might not like what you find in there?" Rhodey asked as Tony sighed as he gave a nod.


Steve, Peter, Luke and Danny had been going through the guards at the casino until they got to where Loki said the secret entranceway was. Peter was covered as he went to work hacking the controls with the others taking care of the guards coming.

They got in as they went in and took care of the guards inside; Steve saw the crib with the young baby infant girl inside and carefully picked her up as they all had a look at her. They were wondering how the girl would grow up if she knew about her tyrant father and if she stayed being raised by a fascist HYDRA thug. Peter used his strength to break the containment cell with the Psyche-Magnitron as Luke and Danny teamed up to try and get at the containment cell for the glowing bright blue Space Stone.

"Don't bother gentlemen; those are 3 of my top assets right now and you will be leaving in chains without them." They heard Ward say as they turned and saw a huge battalion of soldiers armed with Ward at the front. "Happy belated birthday Mr Parker; I must say that after your black suit I didn't think that you would take up a white spider symbol again on your look but this year has been full of surprises, hasn't it?" Ward said smirking as the heroes knew that they were ready for them to make a move because they didn't want to risk the life of the girl.

"So does the President know that you are acting as a nanny for the daughter you told him died in her mother's womb?" Luke asked sarcastically as Ward sighed.

"I have no idea how you found out but no use hiding it. It was a contingency plan in case H-Day went south. Ms Potts found out she was pregnant and got her doctors to keep it hidden from her fiancé; unfortunately for her the doctors were HYDRA moles. Director Hill thought that we could use the infant as leverage against Stark since we predicted that she would give birth early on H-Day but she was lied to thinking that she still had a month. I personally killed Potts and decided to take care of the loose ends after the brat was sent away, I figured that the Avengers would somehow win the day and so if Stark saw me after I took out his wife's murderers then I could get into his good graces to mould him. Him becoming US President was an unexpected but not unwelcome turn of events, I thought that I could manipulate him to make use of his Secretary of Defense powers and authority but now the powers and authority of the role is mine! I think that I have become more of his 2nd in command then his best friend!" Ward explained as the heroes thought about their options.

"So you were not really a HYDRA believer then if you betrayed your own side?" Danny asked as Ward laughed.

"I am not a Nazi and I never liked the Nazi imagery in HYDRA but growing up with my older brother made me realise how the strong rules over all and they only way to protect the weak is to become the strongest! Director Hill recruited me into SHIELD out of police custody after I tried to burn down my family home, she too shared my vision of a stronger better world! After she sided with HYDRA she brought me in as well since we had the same world vision! After Stark became President I was there to watch as he brought HYDRA's vision to life only without the Nazi imagery! When Stark eventually find out that I had his daughter I would be able to use him as leverage to be my puppet and then I would take him out of the picture and rule the new world order!" Ward explained further.

"Just trying to excuse yourself and make yourself better than the Nazi allied fascist thug that you are!" Peter shouted angering Ward as he glared at him. "What do you know of Spider-Woman?" Peter asked as Ward grinned.

"Might as well tell you now before we haul you into a cell before Stark forces you to join him which he is obsessed with doing. You have your old ESU Professor Warren to thank for her." Ward told him as Peter looked puzzled behind his mask. "The creep was in love with your girlfriend and after she died; he went to his illegal cloning experiments having found funding from AIM. He was working on an unstable clone of her when we caught him and he thought about using Spider-Man's DNA to help her become more stable; we took him in and using Life Model Decoy as well as Stark technology we made her stable with a cyborg exoskeleton! Her brain linked to a computer system for us to control and we fed her the cover story of AIM experimenting on her as she hadn't actually died." Ward explained as the heroes looked disgusted.

"I don't know who I hate more right now; Warren or you! I knew there was something I never liked about Professor Warren! I knew he saw Gwen as a top student but..." Peter muttered getting the full story of Gwen now.

"I pity the cloned girl since she doesn't know that she is a pawn in you and Stark's little game." Luke said disgusted as they heard a sound coming from the intercom.

"Story time is over. Everyone meet me outside right now and Ward; if a single bullet is fired from any of the weapons of you and your men then EVERY single one of you is going to be thrown in a deep dark prison cell with no sunlight or food for the rest of your lives!"

It was clearly the voice of Tony Stark and now the heroes had the pleasure of the soldiers and especially Ward having faces of horrified shock.

"Try anything Ward because I have sent a full Iron Legion to Las Vegas as we speak along with me." Tony's voice said as Ward saw his men look defeated as they just dropped their weapons and he began muttering that this couldn't be happening.

"Steve, Peter, Luke and Danny you can keep the toy that you have but please all of you enter so we could meet in piece. Thanks for saving my daughter and in exchange for handing her over; you get a free pass to just leave from this with no attempts at an arrest. Please don't do anything that will make me resort to my better judgement." Tony said with pleading in his voice as they looked behind them at the Space Stone cell but guessed that this was going to be best bet right now as could all 4 of them take on the Iron Legion right now?

"I always intended on handing her over Tony." Steve shouted as they went up with the soldiers making way for them to go up with Ward shouting at them to do something.

"Thanks Steve." Tony said with gratefulness to his voice as they thought that there might still be a bit of the old Tony Stark left.

Chapter 19

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Tony had been a man off his word as the four heroes had handed over the infant to Tony and he made the assembled officers let them leave peacefully to the Quinjet while they were ordered to bring in Ward and his men as HYDRA traitors. Bennett had did his best to spin the story to the public that the Secretary of Defense was a kidnapper and loyal to HYDRA's vision and cause. Of course there were criticisms as those against the regime from the start were protesting and there was a circulated picture going about the internet of the 'they're the same picture' meme from the Office with the two pictures in question between bold font lettering of 'STARK'S ADMINISRATION' & 'HYDRA'S VISION FOR THE WORLD'.

Tony was taking care of the infant officially named Morgan Stark and had hired a nanny to help; he was busy enough before he learned that his daughter ended up being born and survived and now free time for him was now extinct. Was this how his father Howard Stark felt when Tony was growing up and he was busy running Stark Industries? Scratch that; he hated to dwell on the idea that he could end up like him.

He was softly playing with her face with his fingers as she was in her crib as he heard the door slammed open and there was Carol as he did his best to keep his emotions in check as Morgan started crying. "So you learned that Ward was a traitor from the start and you actually let Rogers and his rogues get a clean getaway! Should I give up hope that you are going to actually keep to your promise of being strong in protecting this country and the world; so you will be just like any other two faced politician? Will parenting just soften you up some more!" Carol demanded as Tony got up and faced her and Gyrich who was nearby.

"Gyrich; please show Carol to the Oval Office where I will speak to her in a few minutes at the most. I want this to be clear that it's an honour that you will be stay there silently until I come to meet you." Tony said straight faced as Carol was taken aback but relented as Gyrich was motioning for her to follow him.

Tony managed to calm Morgan down and had the nanny look after her as he went to the Oval Office and faced her. "So tell me Stark did what happen with Ward teach you anything? Your best friend?" Carol asked mockingly as she had her arms folded as Tony nodded.

"He did indeed; he had taught me that truly there is no one that I could rely on in this world but myself and I have been too lenient. That stops now and now the new me will deal with an insubordinate who doesn't seem to respect the authority of her commander in chief." Tony said as Carol was taken aback once more until Tony told her "zip it; the adults are talking!"

"First let me say that you will cease badgering me about capturing Steve and his rogues as I will have it taken care off. Next you will only be permitted here in this building if invited; otherwise you will be treated as any other cosmic powered intruder and then you will lose your spot on the Avengers and if not your rank then certainly you will be demoted. How does being Lieutenant Marvel sound?" Tony stated as Carol was looking angry.

"This office has gone to your head Stark! You dare treat me like this after all I had done in standing by your Presidency and your actions? I helped you liberate Sokovia and bring the dissenting nations of the world under control while you ignore my advice on how to deal with former teammates! If you push me too hard then I can kill you and please don't think that your tin can could stand with me?" Carol retorted and was stunned when Tony laughed in her face.

"Let's play a game and pretend that I don't have surprises under my sleeve; let's say you win and then kill me... What then? Will you try and force the world to listen to you? You will be labelled as a traitor who just killed the President and I have seen the opinions about you around the world ever since we started this whole fixing the world thing. You would have to use your power to threaten nations to help and will ally others against you especially since you have the US seeking to avenge their President. Will you go through the hassle of fighting MY Avengers and my contingencies in order to have the US submit to your authority? Do you really think Steve and his rogues would accept you if you came to them? You have burned bridges Carol and if you start a fight then I will have the Avengers here in a second to fight you and have FRIDAY send the live feed to the world news. Your move Carol." Tony replied as Carol tried to find a retort but couldn't.

"You win Stark..." Carol said only for Tony to raise an eyebrow and his arms folded and Carol gritted her teeth. "I mean that I am sorry... Mr President Sir." Carol said through gritted teeth as Tony nodded.

"Please return to the Triskellion; Captain Danvers." Tony said as Carol did her best to hide her glare as she left.


Castle was in his personal playroom filled with the cells of prisoners to be tortured and interrogated for information along with different weapons and torture devices. He was with Eddie Brock who was infamous for being Venom and at the time of H-Day was working for the FBI in exchange for a lighter sentence. "Kind of unfair that you get to be out on the field Frank. Seriously I protected the innocent as Venom and I was already working for the government but no the President benches me and keeps my other half in its storage indefinitely. I could be San Francisco's official superhero as I act as their lethal protector once more!" Brock ranted to Castle who raised an eyebrow.

"You have made it clear Brock!" Castle ranted at Brock who then glared at him; Castle continued as he was doing in processing the information taken from the bartender of the Bar With No Name.

"You could be much nicer to me Frank as we are a lot alike! We both used what needed to be done to punish the guilty and we have both fought the wallcrawler before!" Brock told Castle who just ignored him.

"I think Mr Castle wants to tell you is that his beef with Spider-Man was when he was accused of killing Captain Stacy. I don't think that he is too impressed that his beef was catching a serial killer while he was disgraced with an interview of a pretender serial confessor copycat." said the bruised and battered form of Wilson Fisk as Brock went to glare at his grinning face. "What's the matter Brock? Still sore about your father being a casualty of H-Day? The same father that resented you ever since his wife died giving birth to you and was just waiting for an excuse to disown you? Still sore that he died before you could earn his approval?" Fisk taunted as Brock was close to attacking him.

Then entered was Ross dressed in a business suit, "Well if it isn't the new Secretary of Defense himself who I expected to be taller with skin that was fiery red." Castle said facing Ross who looked at him.

"Lieutenant Castle; you have certainly made a name for yourself ever since you left service. Some see you as a hero or an out of control vigilante. I am not here to make judgement but to deliver to you my predecessor." Ross said as there were agents tossing in a beaten up Ward with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

"Come on Frank... Remember me being a big fan and how I recruited you... It was my idea to give you your pardon..." Ward pleaded as Castle picked him up by the neck and threw him into the open cell next to Fisk as he closed it.

"Last time we met; you were so high and mighty gloating about how you had acquired more power for yourself than I ever could. So how is like for you Mr Secretary?" mocked Fisk as Ward just silently pleaded that Castle put him out of his misery...


In the main room Steve was with Loki who was doing his meditating again, Sam, Bucky and Natasha. "So the fascist President gave you a free exit card when you have him his daughter?" Sam asked as Steve nodded.

"Any plans on thinking that this means that Stark could be talked down?" Bucky asked as Steve sighed not holding out hope. "Plus I hope I am not sounding cruel but our plan was to just let Stark have his daughter? I won't argue that if everything hadn't went to hell he probably could have been a good dad but the man he has been since H-Day?" Bucky hesitatingly asked.

"I stand by my choice and I do hold out hope that Tony wouldn't do anything to hold onto his last link to the future that he had wanted with Pepper." Steve said as then there was Coulson entering with several agents.

"We managed to track down the files related to the guy that the magic trickster told us to look into." said Alphonso 'Mack' Mackenzie putting the files down on the table.

"Eddie Emmerick; a Maggia gangster from the 1960s. Was part of a break into of a Stark Industries lab looking into energy called 'Zero Matter'; they trigged a machine which took Emmerick in with him never having been found as his cohorts were caught." recited Coulson from the files.

"Can you cut the games for once and tell us why Emmerick is so important if he was still alive?" asked Natasha losing patience with Loki.

"Well my dear Black Widow; he is important because he is still alive. You may know him as the Sentry's nemesis the Void." Loki explained taking them by surprise. "Allow me to explain: this 'Zero Matter' is actually Darkforce from the Dark Dimension! Emmerick had his physical body destroyed and was surfing through the Dark Dimension for decades." Loki clarified as they took this in.

"So how did he escape?" Steve asked as Loki smirked as he using magic opened up a file to a certain page.

"The Zero Matter machine ended up in the custody of Professor Hugo Cornelius the creator of the Sentry serum." Coulson read as Loki grinned.

"Cornelius was having trouble with his super soldier serum and used several machines to strengthen it with the rays from the Sun. The Zero Matter machine kept it stable but it had infused Emmerick's essence into it. When Robert Reynolds took the Serum there was Emmerick's conscious going to his head along with the Darkforce energy as Reynolds was transformed. Emmerick was able to take shape as the Void just so the Sentry could have a nemesis to fight." Loki explained further as they were open mouthed.

"How about us forgetting about the Sentry?" Fitz asked as Loki's grin went bigger.

"Mr Fitz; you can't forget what you never remembered in the first place. The Sentry's purported return was actually his origin." Loki replied as their shock grew as he brought up a vision of the past. There was Bob breaking in and noticing the test tube which he ended up drinking and screamed as he was transformed with dark tentacles coming out of his back and his skin was glowing bright yellow.

It was eerie to say the least...

Then it showed Bob's hand breaking a machine examining cosmic energy it was storing inside; "Bob Reynolds was a crook breaking in for stuff to sell and thought the serum was a drug. The cosmic energy was a small fraction of what you would find in the Cosmic Cube. Robert Reynolds desired to be seen as what he never was: a hero. The energy altered people's memorised as it transformed his body to store the power that he now had; the Golden Guardian of Good is nothing more than a myth and false memories created o he could live out his fantasy." Loki finished explaining as there was a long silence and they knew that they had to contact the others at the Playground to break this to it.

"This is not our year..." Sam muttered with no one disagreeing.


In less than a week Tony had arrived at the Triskellion as he had the still disgruntled demoted Carol follow him to an underground lab which Hank had been put in charge of. There were scientists gathered together looking over the notes and tests that had been done on the Space Stone along with the confiscated HYDRA research on the Infinity Stone as well.

"With this we could explore the outer reaches of the universe; reaches that I only thought possible in entering the Quantum Realm." Hank said excitedly as they took that in and Tony asked if there was anything else. "Unfortunately yes... We have managed to pry into the planet Hala... The home of the Kree Empire." Hank explained after a sigh as he had the machine connected to the Space Stone show a live vision of the Kree Empire preparing their armies.

"The Kree; who are they preparing to fight?" Carol asked as Hank gave a big sigh.

"Let me guess... Us?" Tony asked as Hank nodded solemnly.

"They have found out how divided the world and the protectors is at the moment and think the time is perfect to launch a full scale invasion. They have a Cosmic Cube about ready; powering up with the destruction caused by the Power Stone also in their possession." Hank explained alarming them as they knew about Cosmic Cubes hand sized cube shaped storage devices of cosmic energy used to reshape reality at a whim at the user.

"Well let's get ready to strike pre-emptively right now! For years I have used the name of the traitor who claimed that the Earth was no match for the Kree! This is our chance to prove him wrong and to make sure that we are a force to be reckoned with and that we are not weak!" Carol said as Hank sighed.

"Carol; this would be unwise..." Hank said but Tony put a hand up.

"No Hank she is right; we can't let the Kree get here especially not let them with the Cosmic Cube and an Infinity Stone of their own. Besides think of how much more as heroes we will be seen if we prevented an alien invasion from arriving!" Tony said with an air of finality as Carol grinned.

"You really think that we could take them Tony? Won't we leave the Earth undefended from our enemies including Steve and his resistance?" Hank asked as Tony put up a hand.

"We will leave Ross, Sentry and others here while the 3 of us go! We will have the element of surprise on our side." Tony said as Hank resigned his protest knowing that Tony's mind was made up.

"Besides with 2 Infinity Stones and the Cosmic Cube; I can change it so that the Avengers splitting between us and H-Day never happened..." Tony thought in his head as he began making preparations.

Notes:

Reworking the Sentry's origin since even by comic book logic I highly doubt a serum could give someone so much power. Maybe if they were drinking essences of Dr Manhattan or Superman put into a liquid but we are expected to believe an attempted super soldier serum gave a man the powers of one million exploding suns? In a universe with gods, superhumans and reality altering cubes I find that exceeds my suspension of disbelief.

Chapter Text

Bob had already started taking to wearing his Sentry uniform full time during the day and it had pretty much became permanent after H-Day and now being known as Bob Reynolds was meaningless to him now. He was now the Sentry full time now. He was now acting as the world's Golden Guardian of Good full time now action for America's best interests and what was his reward?

Being benched without it being told to him whether Stark ever intended to have him active as an Avenger again. This was a travesty; he was thinking about the unfairness of it all as he got back to his room in the Triskellion and realised his wife's stuff was gone and there was a note. He looked at it and his face was frozen for a second:

Bob, I tried to tell you but you never really listen to me anymore not that you ever did anyway... I am leaving you and I will be looking for a divorce and moving out of New York. I am already tired of J. Jonah Jameson hounding me for details about your breakdown and I can never find support when I come to you for it. I wish this choice was harder than it actually is. I am sorry.

Lindy

The note was turned to ash in his hands as he was muttering that this couldn't be happening, he looked to a photo of him smiling with a young teenager in a blue bodysuit, yellow mask that showed his hair, eyes and mouth and a yellow cape. "Ah yes Billy Turner; when the Sentry was born we got a snot nosed brat to be our young sidekick. Was happy to accept the booster made off your blood to turn him into Scout. He ended up losing his arm when he fought the Void and it's almost as if bringing a young kid into helping you fight crime and villains was a real stupid idea!" said the image of the Void in the mirror as Bob smashed it with his hand.

There was then a call on the Intercom asking for all Avengers to come to Hank Pym's private lab and he gritted his teeth as he went down to it so he was in the lab along with Gwen as Spider-Woman, the new War Machine, Namor there as a guest, Walker, Lemar and there was already there Tony, Carol and Hank all suited up standing with Ross. Tony was showing off the portal machine connected to the Space Stone, "One of the 6 Infinity Stones and it's the one that lets us see through all of Space! The three of us have found out that the Kree Empire are planning an invasion and we are going to their homeworld to stop them! Rhodey is running things at the White House while we are gone and the rest of you is to stay here to help keep an eye on the world." Tony explained as Bob stepped forward.

"President Stark; I could be off use to you..." Bob said but Tony put a hand up.

"Sorry Bob but I still can't be sure that you won't get out of control yet." Tony said simply as Bob clenched his fist looking angry. Tony had them open up the portal as he pressed a button and then a wall opened up to reveal the Iron Legion assembled as he them through the portal first and then he, Carol and Hank followed as the portal closed.

"So we are supposed to just sit back while the President plays hero in fighting the Kree?" Bob asked angrily getting fed up with everything.

"What do you supposed we do then Sentry?" Lemar asked as Bob went to the machine.

"I say we get this Space Stone, use it to find the rogues and take care of them permanently!" Bob said as Ross looked stern.

"President Stark has ordered that the Space Stone's next use will be when they had remained victorious or if they need backup. I am unable to let you attempt what you are proposing." FRIDAY said as Ross stepped forward.

"You have your answer Reynolds as much as I would love to carry out the plan. We are soldiers and we listen to our superiors and their orders." Ross said as he marched up to Bob.

"With all due respect Secretary Ross... I am through with listening to people with less power than me!" Bob said as then backhanded Ross into a wall as the Avengers members went to check on him and Bob ripped the machine to pieces and picked up the Space Stone.

"This is insubordination Reynolds! You can't do this!" Ross snapped at Bob who turned to him with darkness in his eyes and tendrils coming out of his back.

"I am the world's greatest superhero; I can do whatever the **** that I want!" snapped Bob as he then blasted the power source chamber powering up the lab filled with purple photon energy. He then flew straight up as Ross scrambled the Avengers to track him down and then called to activate 'Project: Ragnarok'.

As they left through the shattered glass of the chamber weakly crawling out was the furious looking Arthur Parks the Living Laser; "First HYDRA, then the Russians and now Stark... No one will ever use me as a living battery ever again..." Parks furiously muttered. There was also a statis chamber broken as a black ooze slithered out...


At the Playground; every individual there was on high alert as Loki said that now would be the time that the Sentry would become the Void forever and he left to track down something that would be able to help them destroy the Void without killing Bob Reynolds. They couldn't take the chance of him lying especially when he warned that he had seen outcomes where any of them may end up dying.

Things were tense as Peter was next to Jennifer feeling anxious as they were behind several armed agents at the ready in the main hall, "I managed to take it well when we all learned the Sentry's status as a top hero was nothing more than a lie but now today we are expecting him to attack." Peter muttered as Jennifer sighed.

"I almost wish that he would just show up and get it over with..." Jennifer muttered as then there was a portal opening up and then stood out Bob holding the Space Stone to their dread.

"You have two wishes left Jennifer and long time no see everyone." Bob said with a grin as the agents open fired and he yawned as they bounced back. Then began firing beams at everything as the resistance members began taking cover as the debris came tumbling down. Bob then opened up another portal that kept opening and it ended up sucking in most of the heroes as Steve, Sam, Bucky, Janet who was using her wings to try and help Bucky from being pulled through but she was pulled in as well, Luke, Danny, Natasha and Coulson got the agents to take cover.

They were pulled in and Bob then pushed Peter who was holding onto Jennifer to get her to saftey through the portal. They landed with great thuds as Peter moaned with the other Resistance heroes managing to make better landings.

They saw they were in the middle of Manhattan as Peter went to check on Jennifer who moaned as her landing was on her back. Bob then caught Peter and put him into a bear hug. "I want New York to see who their greatest heroes are as I destroy the rogues! I will start by crushing you into nothing so there is no competition against me as New York's hero! Then I will do the same to the others and I will snap Rogers' head and once their 'Captain America' is dead not only will the rogues resistance die with their leader but no one will dispute that I am the greatest hero alive!" Bob shouted gloating as Jennifer got herself up as Bob was hovering above the ground slightly.

Jennifer got up taking it all in; the results that the resistance had done on her blood samples had showed that the gamma cells were slowly growing larger and this moment the impact was making them grow faster with even the Stark nanites having trouble with the emotions of everything that has been happening speeding up the process. The thought of someone the world have thought as one of their greatest defenders was going to kill her friends the true Avengers of the world including the man that she loved...

It gave the final push...

Jennifer ran and jumped taking Bob by surprise as she punched him hard in the face; she grabbed Peter in her arms as he was fallen and so she landed as the other heroes were stunned but ended up smiling as they were working on getting the citizens to saftey.

"Welcome back to active duty on the team Jennifer." Janet said as she was directing civilians back and Jennifer gave her a grin as she turned to her direction.

Peter was put down on the ground asked by Jennifer if he was alright and then was stunned to see the smirking form of Jennifer towering over him in her She-Hulk form with her clothes ripped up. "I would say something but I think that we need to focus on him!" Peter said pointing to Bob who was having tendrils put more form his back and now glowing with his costume turning red and black.

"The Sentry is dead; long live the Void!" the Void smirked as he faced them as Steve readied his shield.

"So is it Avengers Assemble time?" Luke asked as there were a fake cough behind them as they turned to see Ross in his Red Hulk form, Namor, Walker, Lemar and Gwen there.

"We are here and you rogues will finally be apprehended once the real Avengers have taken down this traitor!" Ross said grinning.


Tony was in his most advanced suit powered by none other than the Solar Gem taken from the Vision in place of the Arc Reactor. He was leading his team as they had gotten through to the Kree palace on the planet Hala and he had sent the Iron Legion to start firing on the Kree Armada so they could track down the Power Stone and the Cosmic Cube. Tony was firing repulsors at the Kree soldiers once they knew that they were there and Carol was firing her own blasts with Hank using the robotic stingers on his suit to fire Pym Particles at the soldiers. He was having FRIDAY hack into the Kree systems.

"To provide a distraction I could unleash the prisoners from their cells underneath." FRIDAY suggested and Tony had her do it. There were large sirens and soon they found a lab with scientists that they had taken care off quickly with a large reactor being powered by the red Power Stone and there were cases for the green Soul Stone and the yellow Reality Stone.

"So it looks like they had found themselves more than just the Power Stone..." Tony muttered looking to Hank.

"It could be that they weren't using them?" Hank suggested as to why they didn't see them when they were exploring the universe by looking through the Space Stone.

"No use with the Soul Stone and the Reality Stone was to be used with the completed Cosmic Cube and we must thank you Avengers for your little jailbreak creating the chaos to speed up the powering up process." said a voice and they turned to see a Kree admiral leading soldiers as they began firing at them as pushed her fist through to grab the Power stone as Tony managed to use his Solar Gem powered repulsor blasts to cut to the cases with the Reality and Soul Stones so he could grab them with Hank providing cover for them.

Then they saw a large green figure plunge and pummel the Kree soldiers to pummel them as the three then had their eyes widen and in the case of Tony his mouth open as they looked to the figure. A large bulky humanoid with black hair and a black beard with purple slave pants.

"Hulk?" Hank asked alarmed his helmet disassembling to reveal his face. The last time people had seen the Hulk was 2 years ago when thanks to a plot by the Leader he was on a rampage and went on the run with him unable to being found much to Jennifer's worry and regret that they couldn't find her cousin who was like an older brother to her.

"Isn't it a sight for sore eyes; I didn't know who the loser in yellow and black was but I guess you wanted a change from being Ant-Man then Hank." The Hulk said shocking them by speaking normally. "Yeah; you probably didn't expect to see me here talking normally. Two years can change and the time spent as a slave gladiator for the Kree gave the Hulk and puny Banner plenty of times to sort out their issues and now they are both one and the same. I never expected to find old friends responsible for the cells letting the prisoners out." Hulk explained as they took this in.

"What happened to you and how did you get here?" Carol asked stunned as Hulk laughed humourlessly.

"Good question Carol and direct as I remember you; how did I end up in space leading to me being found and enslaved by the Kree?" Hulk asked sarcastically with Carol and Hank realising that he was looking to Tony's direction.

"Look; Bruce... Hulk... I am sorry... People were getting scared off him again and the politicians, military and especially Ross wanted to hunt him down again. I lead him into a trap once I tracked him down; the goal as I said in my message to him I hoped to send him to an uninhabited world so he could live out his life in peace. I am sorry..." Tony explained as Carol looked like it sounded reasonable and Hank was stunned.

"I will smash you later after we take care of these Kree goons..." Hulk said as they went back to fighting the Kree soldiers. Tony thought about the Stones in his hands and then had them join the Solar Gem in powering his armor with it feeling taking more power.

Soon they came across the throne room as there was the holographic display of the Supreme Intelligence the collection of the Kree's greatest minds and their leader.

In front of the chamber housing the almost powered up Cosmic Cube was a tall strong Kree in dark green robes, black war paint on his face, a headdress and holding an alien looking sledgehammer weapon called the Universal Weapon. He was Ronan the Accuser; the head of the Accuser Corps with the duty to seek out weapons and judge them worthy of being conquered by the Kree or to be destroyed.

"You wretched Avengers of Earth dare come here to disrupt our operations and steal our Infinity Stones? The suffering of the people on your putrid planet will be prolonged before we destroy the planet! Your guilty verdict has long been dealt with." Ronan snapped as the four then ready themselves.

"I will be appealing that verdict Ronan and now that I'm President I will be doing what I can to protect my world!" Tony said as they then went to work attacking the Kree forces and Ronan.

Hank was focusing on the soldiers as Hulk was jumping at Ronan to punch him as hard as he could with his anger as Carol was firing at him. "President Stark? I never thought the Earth would be in that bad a shape!" Hulk snarked as he lunged at Ronan before being swatted by Ronan using the Universal Weapon.

"Tony had his wife killed by HYDRA when they decimated the country and he had to take over in the aftermath!" Hank yelled at Hulk who looked stunned and then mumbled an apology looking regretful.

"I knew you should have been put down as the animal you are!" Ronan snarled at Hulk's direction as Tony got close enough to the control panel linking the Supreme Intelligence's physical form to the systems and had FRIDAY scramble the systems as the Supreme Intelligence yelled feeling the agony.

Tony then smirked looking to the almost fully powered up Cosmic Cube; "Carol use your full power and have the Power Stone power you up! Go to the planet's core and destroy this planet!" Tony yelled at Carol who smirked who then began powering up with golden agency almost like a Super Saiyan as Ronan and the Kree soldiers already in shock noticing their leader's agony then began yelling to stop her.

"Tony; this is going to kill us all!" Hank yelled with Hulk stunned as Carol then began flying down towards the ground using her power to power her way to the planet's core. The impact sent Ronan flying back and he landed with a thud.

"Consider this a big middle finger to you Mar-Vell; I proved you wrong and I have been dreaming of ending the Kree ever since I decided to keep your name as an eternal reminder." Carol thought grinning.

Tony grinned as he grabbed the Cosmic Cube fully powered up as Hulk yelled "I am sure you have heard this a million times Stark but are you out of your mind? Is your idea to play god?"

"Come on Bruce... Hulk or whatever you prefer; if Thor could do it then I am certain that playing god is not too hard and besides. I am the most intelligent and capable individual on the planet... No the universe! My brain easily trumps the Supreme Intelligence made out of the brains of their best minds. I am not playing god... All this time..." Tony answered with a face as he placed the Cube in the Arc Reactor with his armor struggling to contain the power and it ended up shatter the Solar Gem.

Tony Stark a man who now thinks himself as a god has gained power beyond what he could control...

"What... Who said that?" Tony asked his smirking face turning into a confused one as Hulk, Hank and Ronan began feeling the quaking planet's ground.

You... You can hear me?

"Yeah buddy, I heard you! Where are you?" Tony demanding getting annoyed looking around.

Oh dear...

"Where are you! I demand to know!" Tony snapped himself glowing with bright blue...

Chapter 21

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Tony then found himself what looked like the vacuum of space with different prisms and windows around them. Confused he peered into them...


On a stage in front of the White House; Steve Rogers in a suit had his hand on a bible and his other hand held up as he said "I Steven Grant Rogers, do solemnly swear..."


There was Peter Parker as Spider-Man in a park as there was a family being looked over by medics as the police had arrived to arrest the organised crime members who were doing a mob killing. "Are you alright?" Peter asked the dad concerned who then smiled at him.

"I am fine and I hope that my wife and kids will be; I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't stepped in Spider-Man! You have my thanks and I will make sure that the whole of New York knows what a hero you truly are!" retired war veteran Frank Castle said gratefully taking Peter's hand to shake.


There was Doctor Steven Strange in a meeting at the Metro-General Hospital with his hands bandaged up. "We don't think that we can fix your hands but with your years of experience and expertise; you could still work here as a consultant to our other doctors." Said the head of the hospital as Stephen looked angry for a moment before calming down.

Putting his ego aside he said "I don't exactly have anything to shake with right now without being in intense pain..."


Deep on the battlefield a team of US soldiers in black body armor were doing their best to fire upon the red and yellow suits. "Commander Ross is down and we are taking heavy casualties... We need to fall back..." Sergeant Phil Coulson said to his troops and then there was a figure flying down waving around a hammer as he fired lightning at the soldiers whose death were not without great pain...


There was Tony Stark in his suit with Pepper Potts in her wedding dress hands in hand as the priest pronounced them man and wife.


Tony stared at the last window his mouth wide opening taking it all in. "What... What is this place? What are they?" Tony asked as he felt something and turned to see a colossal large figure of a bald headed man whose eyes were pure white in a dark blue high collar robe.

Those are windows to alternate realities to the one that you are from Tony Stark. Each one a variation of yours; some with slight variation, some sent on a different path and some completely different with different people.

"The Multiverse... It's real..." Tony muttered in awe at what he was seeing.

Indeed it is and the Cosmic Cube's power allowed you to be able to feel my presence and bring you here outside the Universes. This is the centre of the universe myself.

"Well then who are you Mr reject from the original Star Trek?" Tony asked failing to notice his armor was starting to fail some more.

I am Uatu the Watcher; it is my eternal and sacred duty to watch over the Multiverse never to intervene.

"You watch us... Well Mr Pervert did you know that H-Day was going to happen? That Pepper was going to die? That my friends were going to turn on me? Why didn't you warn us?" Tony cried with fears of anger as he looked up at Uatu.

I have sworn an oath never to intervene for the consequences could be disastrous...

"That's a load of bull! You just sat back watching my life get ruined and my world gone to hell! It didn't matter because I am just one of trillions of Tony Starks and there are trillions of Peppers out there isn't there!" Tony yelled his fury growing.

I was tempted to intervene; to warn you of the path you are treading...

"I heard this nonsense from Steve and the others already! I didn't ask to be President; I was made to be the new one and I used my new position to fix things and make sure H-Day never happened!" Tony yelled as he began firing repulsor blasts that didn't affect him and kept firing managing to break some of the prisms housing the universes. "Maybe if I tried using the full power of the Reality & Soul Stones along with the Cosmic Cube..." Tony thought as he saw that his armor was overloading and he didn't feel the energy of the Stones.

The Infinity Stones only work in their native universe and besides your armor wasn't built to house all the power you are putting into it. You could tear yourself and your whole universe apart if you overload yourself.

Tony then found himself looking at the prism housing his own universe where he saw on Hala the planet was about to blow with Carol asking where is Tony as Hank and Hulk were looking concerned with Ronan getting up. Carol was starting to ask if the others will use the Space Stone to send him back as Tony found himself telling the Cube to send them all back to New York...

Notes:

The scene with Sergeant Phil Coulson was inspired by a flashback scene from Superman & Lois with 'Captain Luthor'.

Chapter Text

In New York; the Void then started blasting things as Steve started coordinating his team to continue getting the civilians as far away as possible. "You really were always unfit for service Rogers; you were unable to make the hard choices and not making the enemy your priority!" Ross shouted as he picked up a bus which had gotten stuck and then threw it right at the Void shocking both Walker and Lemar with even the War Machine form his body language not being happy as he was in the sky firing his weapons at the Void. Jennifer jumped to pick up the bottom of the bus catching it as she landed on her feet to put it safely on the ground so Peter could rip the door open allowing the people inside to run out.

"You always talked about how Bruce was a monster who put people at risk and here you are doing the same; with your talks of how the Avengers have always been about lording themselves over the normal people and cause unnecessary collateral damage I can now see that you are a hypocrite who thinks those things are unacceptable unless you are doing it Ross!" Jennifer shouted at Ross who grumbled as Gwen was trying to distract Void with her webs and Namor was trying to use water sources to fire at Void.

Walker ended up throwing his shield right at Void who caught it and crushed it in his hands to his shock, "that's all you got pretender Captain America? Excuse me while I finish this guy off..." Void shouted as he turned to see Namor charging at him with his trident as Void caught it and snapped it in half and literally punched Namor's head off.

Steve and Bucky looked solemn at the sight of an old ally as the other heroes were stunned, Ross was annoyed at losing a powerful ally and the civilians watching were sick at the brutal sight. Ross grumbled as he fired up his hands and launched himself right Void pushing him back but Void sent him back with a punch and then was pushed back as Jennifer, Luke and Danny with a fired up fist all punched him at the same time in the back.

Void snarled as he found Steve directing his troops and then blocked his hands as Janet and Sam were in the sky firing at him with Sam's blasters and Janet was using her blasts. Then charged right at Steve who noticed and readied himself with his shield but then was pushed out of the way by the War Machine with the blast shattering his Arc Reactor and he was lying on the ground dying.

Peter was nearby and decided to try and help War Machine up to his feet, "Even though we are meant to be enemies you still do this webhead? I misjudged you..." said a familiar voice as Peter ripped off the faceplate and then shouted in shock as he saw the face of Frank Castle.

"The Punisher? Stark made you the new War Machine? No time I have to get you to saftey..." Peter said as Castle push him back and waved him off as Peter looked concerned but saw him fading with the other resistance heroes looking surprised as they noticed for a second and worried as well.

"Don't worry about me; I played along with Stark's administration to get a chance to do Punishing legally with every intention of betraying him later the fascist... I didn't have the morals or principles to openly defy Stark like you lot have... Forget about me, focus on taking down Sentry and then Stark... Leave me here so I might get the chance to have a glimpse of my family because I am certain that I won't get to meet them in the afterlife where I am going..." Castle said as Peter carefully put him down and then to a corner so he could spend his last few moments in peace...

Peter didn't have it in him to watch and focused on helping as he could.

There was a car filled with people trapped with teh door jammed and Hoskins and Walker teamed up to try and rip the door open and then they succeeded. Steve came to help them get the family out to saftey and got them to run to saftey. Steve looked to the two as Lemar nodded and then Walker hesitated.

Then suddenly there was thunder in the sky and then came down a large figure making the resistance heroes and civilian paused as it was in silver armor with a long high tech alien looking axe and it had a beard and long hair. It looked to be Thor but seemed to be odd and Steve muttered "that's the Stormbreaker axe; Thor had used it before and it has been in storage in Avengers Tower..."

The Thor like figure then charged right at Void stabbing him in the back with Stormbreaker but the Void pushed him back blasting him in the face with the skin melting away to reveal a robotic exoskeleton underneath. "Another cyborg clone like the Gwen Stacy girl!" Danny shouted when he noticed along with others with civilians screaming.

Steve then began throwing his shield at the face of Void distracting him as the Thor clone charged at him again. Gwen had been distracted while she was slinging on a web while trying to find a point to fire at Void that she was caught by a stray blast from Void catching her in the face. "What are you talking about? What clone?" Gwen asked but more like demanded towards Danny as Luke pointed to a building window.

Gwen looked and saw that her mask was ripped and there was a scratch on her skin to reveal metal behind.

Void pushed the Thor clone but then from the sky was the Hulk from the sky who landed on the Void. "Sentry? Have you gone evil? To tell you the truth that I never liked you and never bought your story that we were friends!" Hulk snarked in his face as everyone took a moment to find the fake memories fading as if there was a cosmic force undoing what the fake memories...

As if there was a being going beyond Cosmic with this as an after affect.

"Nice to see you back Bruce but we could discuss where you have been later but nice beard." Natasha told Hulk as she was close enough while keeping civilians ready and firing at the Void with her bracelets with Jennifer especially stunned and happy to see her cousin back.

"Thanks Natasha but I hate the beard myself; ever since I first saw myself growing it I have become afraid it would lead to me becoming Maestro." Hulk answered as there now was Carol catch Tony as he was falling in his failed armor plus there was Hank not far behind. They didn't notice Ronan landing and catch the Universal Hammer as he made his escape in the confusion...

Suddenly Void yelled as he was caught in magical chains forming; there was a portal with Loki stepping out with his hands at work using a spell on him. Void seemed to be separated in half as Loki took the chance to grab the Space Stone from the Void. The Void was forced out of Bob as a dark force of energy with Bob looking more like a normal human.

Loki then opened up a portal using the Space Stone (more exact than the magical portal used by sorcerers) sucking up the Void to the Sun as Loki brought out what they saw was the yellow Mind Stone. He then had it glow as he used it on Bob and then pushed him through a portal. "Used the Mind Stone to create a mind fantasy world for him to live his life through. He will be happy and content forever living out his life as the Sentry." Loki explained as the resistance heroes came forward.

"So you were getting the Mind Stone and how did you get it?" Sam asked as Loki smirked.

"Using my persuasive and sharp tongue and skills off course." Loki explained thinking back to it:

Loki was a table playing a game of cards with Taneleer Tivan the Collector; anteing up the Mind Stone in Tivan's possession V the Eye of Agamotto. Loki grinned as he was dealt the winning hand as Tivan flipped the table in frustration.

There were civilians and TV reporters cheering as Hulk came forward asked "Hey Cap you are going to explain to me what happened with Sentry and why you seemed to be good friends with this puny God now with him wearing Strange's cloak." Hulk's eyes widened as he furiously noticed Jennifer about to initiate a kiss with Peter with his masked lifted up to his nose. "Someone had better explain that to me! Jen; Spider-Man is like a decade younger than you and I remember him as a high schooler when I first met him!" Hulk shouted as Peter suddenly grew terrified.

Then came Carol and Ross circling the resistance heroes into a circle with them angry, "You lot are going to be hauled in as traitors now and that's only if you don't surrender right now!" Ross thundered with civilians booing.

"Are you kidding Secretary Ross! They just helped take down the Sentry!" Lemar shouted in shock walking towards him and Ross looked like he was about to push him away for insubordination.

"You're a soldier now Hoskins and now live to follow orders! You better follow them now or else you wished you stayed in the wrestling ring!" Ross told him with Walker glaring at him.

"I had my parents worried about me working for the new administration and they were scared off their lives and for mine. I think that I always knew this was wrong but I was too excited about getting a chance to be a hero that I ignored my conscious. I am not the ultimate Captain America; Steve Rogers is." Walker told him ripping off his helmet and throwing it to the ground.

Ross went to tackle them when they screamed as there was a portal underneath them before it disappeared and then the resistance heroes looked towards Loki. "I sent them back to Georgia; Walker did go out of control in timelines where he did end up joining us and so this way they have time to reflect and change themselves." Loki explained as there was Tony coming forward having retrieved the Cosmic Cube from his destroyed armor.

"Secretary Ross and I recognise that voice anywhere even if you look different; so the great Thunderbolt Ross got the Hulk power that he always wanted!" Hulk said getting in Ross' face who sneered.

"It was never supposed to be yours Banner so it's where it belongs now!" Ross answered as Tony got in between them.

"So Bruce... Funny story I have had to make tough calls as President which Steve wasn't for and so he went rogue with dissenters following his lead. You can help me bring them in now." Tony said with a smile as Hulk looked between him and Steve for a minute as he moved to join the other resistance heroes against Tony, Ross and Carol.

"One side there is my cousin and Captain America plus others I would trust to have my back and the other side is Tony Stark and Thunderbolt Ross who turned into a red version of me... Not a hard choice to make." Hulk said as Tony looked disappointed, Carol looked stern and Ross grinned.

"As much as we would love to continue I have seen that our chances of success will be greater if we make a strategic retreat to rest ourselves." Loki said as there was a giant portal underneath the resistance heroes dragging them through it to the Playground.

Ross, Tony and Carol yelled in agitation as Tony helped Hank up and noticed the carnage plus his Thor clone getting up. He then noticed the corpses of Castle and Namor and yelled, "Ross; please tell me that we still have the Space Stone? We acquired 3 so having 4 will make this a sort of win!" Tony begged Ross and was furious as he looked away.

This was going to be a PR disaster...


The resistance heroes rested as Coulson led the clean up process of the Playground, "You know Tony will be wanting to track down the 2 Stones that we have and he could use a signature tracking system to find us here." Natasha told Steve who sighed.

"You could just throw them to a portal to the Sun?" suggested Hulk as Steve shook his head.

"May not work and I doubt Tony would stop chasing them if we tried to hide them. The best we could do is prepare ourselves for when Tony arrives with a full frontal army assault." Steve muttered not happy that it came to this. "Still good to have you back Bruce... Hulk...Whatever you prefer..." Steve told Hulk who smiled as he got more of a detailed explanation as to what is happening.

"I am back from talking with leaders of our allies." Loki said appearing in a portal as he used the Space Stone to open up two portals.

"Staying isolated from the world's problems has never been good and so Wakanda will fight by your side as we free the world from the tyranny of the Stark administration." T'Challa said passing through a portal in Black Panther habit with the nanites in the helmet opening up to reveal his smiling face.

"Heimdall's eye has showed him what has been going on and with the power of the Odinforce transferred to me; I shall aid you Captain along with Asgard's armies! Not a moment too soon as we have the Bifrost almost finished rebuilding!" said the voice of Thor as a more hardened but still joyful Thor entered the other portal with his new crown and Mjolnir in his hand as usual.

Steve embraced them both with a smile as he said "I am so glad to see you again and sorry about your father Thor. The others as well have I will be grateful but are you certain that you want to risk the saftey of the people of your kingdoms?" Steve asked and they looked as if he had asked a stupid question.

"Midgard's protection is Asgard's business and Howardson has become obsessed with forcing his vision of saving the world by adopting the tactics of our enemies!" Thor said shaking his head.

"We will not stay isolated and Wakanda has already declared itself an enemy of Stark's world order as you have seen when I had arrived at the UN." T'Challa said and Steve knew that their minds would not be changed. The final battle in this conflict was coming soon...


Outside the room that Peter and Jennifer shared; Jennifer was embracing Peter and Janet with her strong arms. "I sure missed being my green bombshell self but I am so grateful that I have a friend and boyfriend that reminded me of how much more than that I am! I love being She-Hulk more but I am not going to find myself as useless if I can't use my powers again!" Jennifer said as she let go and Janet told them to take care.

"Good luck now Peter since you have your girlfriend's cousin working with us." Janet told them and Jennifer giggled as Peter groaned.

They went inside and Jennifer gave him a sly smile as Peter nodded with them kissing and embracing eachother. Jennifer asked if he was sure he wanted to go along with his and smirked as he said yes. Her hand and explored his abs through the costume as her other one carefully unzipped his suit.

She helped him out of it and he helped rip off her shredded clothes so they were now in their underwear with Jennifer's surviving. "You don't think that we should worry about your cousin walking in on us?" Peter asked as he sat down on the bed as Jennifer gently pushed his back to it and then used her hands to pin Peter's arms to the bed.

"I wouldn't worry about Bruce if I were you; I would be worried about that your girlfriend has her Hulk self back and the fact that she remembers how you took advantage of me not having powers." Jennifer said with a sly smile as was glad that Peter's mask was still to his nose so she could see the color drain from his face. "Keeping your hold on me until I submitted when you were helping me spar, having my ass spanked with your strong hands and I don't mind those but you using me as your tickle doll..." Jennifer said slowly as Peter was wondering why his Spider-Sense was not going off.

"Please have mercy Jen; I will do anything to make it up to you! I will kiss your feet and call you mistress if you want me too! I will publicly declare myself your sidekick in public!" Peter begged and Jennifer missed how adorable he was when she had him where she wanted him. She won't be too cruel but maybe if he wants to be a literal butt kisser or pose for a photo by her feet as she holds his mask up as a trophy...


A week later in his personal lab at the Triskellion; Tony had been working overtime with Hank helping him and had Rhodey handling the White House and helping Morgan's nanny in babysitting her while he was not exactly thrilled about what happened in New York especially the revelation that he had the Punisher piloting his armor. Bennett had put out the statement blaming the Sentry's rampage on Steve and the rogues so they could engineer heroics but not a lot of people were buying it. Authorities were trying to keep protests and riots under control as the support for Tony's administration was at an all time low and support for Steve's side was at an all time high.

The Bugle was the only non government news service still backing the administration and the US military were trying to keep riots and protests around the world out of control as emissaries were being killed and it didn't seem like they would continue to be occupied.

Carol had been seen on the news destroying Atlantean forces when they tried to declare war in retaliation for their king's death with her executing the Atlantean warlord Attuma; the good press for foiling an attack like that only lasted for so long with the public eye.

Tony and Hank were pulling all the stops in using Tony's nanotechnology experiment (that had been on the shelf previously) with no expenses paid as to the strongest and most durable materials and technology to create the most powerful and advanced Iron Man armor yet. It was in front of them with a cube shaped hole in the middle with the depleted Cosmic Cube placed in it with six holes around it to fit in the Infinity Stones. The Reality, Power & Soul Stones already placed in it.

Then entered Carol holding the green Infinity Stone saying "okay Stark; I found and retrieved the Time Stone... Would you believe that some space junk peddlers just outside the solar system found it and didn't realise what it was..." Carol looked at them and batted an eye asking "When was the last time you 2 have seen sunlight or even your reflections?"

Their faces had seen better days with them growing beards with Carol passing the Stone over so it could join the 3 other Stones in it. Tony had FRIDAY bring up a holographic map which was used to track down the signatures of the Stones. The final 2 signatures were in the same place, "This must be the base of the rogues; Danvers get ready because we will have that big fight with rogues you have been begging for real soon once the preparations are made!" Tony told Carol and she grinned as she pounded her fists together.

"Friday; tell Ross to get all our available military forces ready and to activate the Thunderbolts Initiative." Tony said as he looked to the armor which could disassemble into a vest that he would put on and the armor would assemble around him. "The chaos around the world and the battle will power up the Cosmic Cube and this new Infinity Armor shall be strong enough to house the power of the completed Cube and the Six Infinity Stones! With their power together I shall be able to fix everything on our world and then I will take care of a certain pest who just watches our universe! He says that the Stones won't work will the Cube will fix that..." Tony said to himself batting an eye from Carol and Hank.

Too many times have I seen supposed experts thinking that they know more about powers and forces beyond their control than they actually do. Watching their hubris fail which can have their universes pay the price is a burden that comes with being the Watcher...HE

Chapter Text

Inside the Triskellion two days later all the assembled personnel were made to be working on overdrive; the entire Iron Legion was being deployed and Rhodey was furiously running through the place until he eventually found Tony talking to Ross and Carol. "Sorry Rhodey pal but we are kind of busy here so you will have to come and see me another time..." Tony said as Rhodey then went and grabbed his arm causing Ross and Carol to look at his stern face.

"As I can see; ordering a full military deployment, I heard about you bringing out an army of supervillains with shock collars?" Rhodey snapped at Tony who just sighed as if this was an annoyance he had no time to deal with right now.

"Look Rhodey; we offered them freedom for a big mission that most were just going to get themselves killed in anyway and the collars will keep them in line. We found the location of Steve and his rogues; we are going to end his little resistance once and for all so everyone else will fall in line!" Tony answered him as he pulled his arm away.

"Tony; against my better judgement I stood by you even as I truly knew that you were becoming authoritarian; I thought a harsh hand was what was needed to fix the world and I stood by you because I thought that I could keep you in check. Finding out you had the Punisher in my armor, cloned Thor to use as a weapon and finding out that you cloned Gwen Stacy so that you could use her to manipulate Spider-Man and then adding how you have authorities deal with the protests along with the enforced curfews... I can see that I have failed in keeping you in check as you go full dictator with this becoming 1984."Rhodey continued on as Carol and Ross glared at him with Tony shaking his head.

"We got the Senate and Congress elections done and so this is still a democracy." Tony retorted as Rhodey laughed humourlessly as he wasn't fooled with the senators and members of congress knowing that they would only be figureheads at best. "Rhodey; I don't know what you want from me... I avenged the wrongs done by H-Day, I killed HYDRA..." Tony said as Rhodey scowled further.

"You have become HYDRA! The public protesting says that your administration has become no different than HYDRA's vision of the world with even Ward knowing that as he joined with you! I am through with lying to myself so they are completely right! You might not be having your own symbol nor do you have the people hailing you but you are pretty much leading a HYDRA controlled world!" Rhodey shouted with Tony becoming angry.

"I have tolerated this for a while Rhodey but don't you think you should accept this is how it is now Rhodey since once Rogers is gone everyone else will accept it now as well." Carol told Rhodey who sighed.

"I should have done this when I got concerns with how well you were into basically conquering the world Carol but we should call this a break up." Rhodey said shocking Carol.

"Disappointing Vice President Rhodes; you were a good soldier before." Ross said as there were agents coming forward. "Please put Vice President Rhodes into protective custody until further notice." Ross ordered as they took his arms and forced him away.

"Carol; don't worry about Rhodey; we will talk again and get this sorted out once he had a chance to cool down..." Tony told Carol as they started to walk away.

"Pepper would be ashamed off you!" Rhodey shouted at Tony's direction causing him to stop and turn to face him with a shocked face. "You heard me right Tony! You are pretty much unrecognisable from the man that she loved and was much worse than when you two first met! She would be disgusted with the monster using the name and face of Tony Stark and would be fearing for Morgan's future with you raising her!" Rhodey shouted as he was taken away.

Tony stood there with a face filled with doubt and shaken by Rhodey's words; Ross shouted asking if Tony was coming and Tony then looked at the vest power source for his Infinity Armor with the 4 Stones and the Cosmic Cube powering up due to the turmoil in the world. "I am going to fix everything..." Tony thought with determination as he then followed them.


Outside the entrance all the field agents and even some non-field agents with combat skills would be joining in; the heroes were getting ready and there was Thor assembled with the entire Asgardian army and allies along with Wanda Maximoff with some other Earth sorcerers who helped. T'Challa was having the ready Wakandan military including all of their tribes and the Dora Milaje chant 'Yibambe!'

"No turning back now Steve; this feud with Stark ends today!" Bucky warned Steve who looked stern and serious.

"I tried to help Tony; get him to step aside and get the help he needs but his pain put him on the road I tried to stop him from going on. He's my friend and as much as I wish I could still help him... He needs to be stopped... Whatever it takes." Steve said with determination as Natasha came closer.

"You make it sound like you might die doing so." Natasha told him as Steve sighed bringing out.

"This is a terrible place to do so but I don't know if I will get another chance... Just so we both know there could still be a bright future ahead of it Natasha..." Steve said bringing out a box with a ring in it as he kneeled down with Natasha stunned before smirking.

She took it onto her finger with cheers from all around along with Sam said smirking "I call best man..."


There was a cannon device connected to the Psyche-Magnitron being powered by the Space Stone as Peter, Janet and the Playground scientists had been working on it with help from finishing it with help from the Wakandan scientists. "This should be ready as we are powering it up and once Colonel Danvers has been hit then she will be rendered powerless thus depriving Stark off his most powerful enforcer. It will need to be protected to stop Stark from getting the Space Stone." Simmons said powering it up with Fitz.

"Not really used to large scale fights like this; I will probably be dying today..." Peter muttered as he was pulled into an embrace by Jennifer with Janet and Hulk nearby.

"You are not dying today Peter!" Jennifer told him as Hulk laughed.

"Off course he isn't; no one gets to kill him except for me!" Hulk said scaring Peter and causing Jennifer to glare at him.

"I am too old for you to be the overprotective older brother Bruce!" Jennifer snapped at him with Janet chuckling.


Loki was standing by Wanda, Luke and Danny as he was keeping hold off the Mind Stone; Wanda had been upset to learn that the Vision was probably dead (with condolences to her) but she would avenge him today and allow herself to mourn later. "This right here shall be my glorious purpose!" Loki said grinning as they looked towards him.

"Your glorious purpose will be looking after a rock?" Luke asked as Loki glared at them as Wanda joined the Heroes for Hire in laughing.


Osborn Manor and it had seen better days with Harry Osborn the now former CEO of Oscorp not bothering to clean up as he lied on the couch with empty bottles from his father's private alcohol collection lying on the floor. It was not fair as his fiancé left him and refused to contact him; sure it was a gamble with her life but he had faith that she would survive and was destined to be a great hero. He was ousted from his company and had to stand there and watch as the President bought out his company with his Board not even hesitating.

He was left with almost nothing but his family fortune in his manor and he was certain that it might not last very long since he lost the services of the Oscorp accountants helping him to manage it. Everything went wrong thanks to his supposed friend Peter Parker! He got his father and Gwen (who he had a small crush on) killed and the revelation that his father was the Green Goblin caused his company stock to fall dramatically so he was left to run a failing company.

He found out that Peter was Spider-Man who got them both killed but finding out that he was with the Avengers and thus pals with the new US President made him decide to bury the hatchet; willing to forgive Peter and start over.

But now he utterly refused to help him out with government contracts and thought that his self righteous morals were more important than helping Harry out. If he had just sucked in his pride he wouldn't be a fugitive on the run with the traitorous former Captain America. He hoped he got himself killed!

If he had just sucked in his pride wouldn't be a fugitive, they would still be friends and more importantly Harry would be in with the President with MJ still by his side and his company better than it had ever been.

Unknown to him an alien ooze came in hiding from its escape from the Triskellion; trying and failing to find a suitable new host after Eddie Brock. He scurried the Manor and found Harry Osborn sensing the anger and resentment towards both Peter Parker and Spider-Man; the hatred towards Peter matching its own.

It was perfect.

Harry noticed the ooze just fast enough to be able to scream as it lunged at him...


At the Triskellion there was a large assembly of convicted criminals and supervillains with their shock collars to be loaded up into the transport vehicles. On stage there was Tony in his armor standing with Carol, Masters in full Taskmaster gear with his shield, the Thor clone, Hank in his Yellowjacket suit, Brock who was going with other agents and military personnel (furious to learn that thanks to the Void's attack his Symbiote had escaped) and there was Ross as well. "Secretary Ross; as you are the one with the most military experience how about you give a speech to the troops." Tony told Ross who nodded as he went to the microphone.

"You all are here because you are all lowlifes, leeches of society, crooks who got themselves hauled into prison at the tax payer's expense and have ruined your lives with your choices. But today you all have a chance to make something of themselves; Steve Rogers and his group of renegade sycophants have made a mockery of the new law of the west in the world and you are here to bring him in! Rogers's codename and shield is a symbol to those who decide to be rebels and we will crush that symbol once for all! Once the resistance is crushed; i will help your President usher in a new era of peace around the world and no one will ever dare to attack the US of A ever again! I don't expect most of you to survive this battle but your deaths will not be in vain for it will be for a glorious purpose! You all shall serve your country as Thunderbolts!" Ross shouted to the villains who found amusement in this as they were being moved to join their allies in this fight with the US military.


Steve was standing T'Challa and Thor as they were facing the assembled armies side to side with eachother. "Today Wakandans we stand side by side with our brothers in this world! They like us fell victim to an attack by HYDRA but the outside world was not as lucky in rebuilding as we had been. Tony Stark fell to his grief becoming the villains that he had fought against in the past. If he gets his way then he may destroy everything in his attempt to reshape the world in his image. He must be stopped and should we die then it will be a most noble death as we depart to Djalia! Wakanda Forever!" T'Challa told his army as they chanted back 'Wakanda Forever!'.

Thor faced the Asgardian army and told them while holding Mjolnir up high "Asgard not long ago we fought a war for the fate of the Nine Realms and once more we shall be called into action! The universe is at risk if my old friend would be allowed to retrieve all 6 Infinity Stones and we shall fight with everything that we have! I shall fight by your side as your new king and as the new Allfather! Shall we fall then we will be able to proudly tell the stories of how we fought against evil as we dine in Valhalla! For Midgard!" The Asgardian army then chanted back 'for Midgard'!

T'Challa and Thor looked to Steve who sighed as he faced all the armies. He stood firm and said "Asgard, Wakanda and Avengers are standing here to fight for a better world! We were unable to stop H-Day and I did my best to try and convince Tony to stop but now he will only stop if we force him to. We are all standing here and I wish we will all survive this; I know that some of you won't. In his grief and attempts to fix the world he is tearing it apart. Today we will be fighting to avenge everything good that Tony is destroying in his misguided attempts to save the world. Today we all stand together to save the world and even the universe. We shall free the world and I want you all to know that the price of freedom is high... But it's a price that I am willing to pay everytime. As I said we are avenging the world that HYDRA and then Tony broke... Today we are all Avengers!"

The armies then started cheering as the three leaders then saw Sam flying down saying that they are coming. They turned and saw a platoon of the US Army along with the Iron Legion, the Thunderbolts and Tony Stark flying to lead his 'heroes' to them. "Avengers... Assemble!" Steve let out the rallying cry as the three armies then charged forward.

The missile launchers and aircrafts operated by the Wakandans fired at the Iron Legion and the American crafts with Sam lending assistance up in the air. Tony was attacking the Asgardians with his repulsor blasts fuelled by his 4 Infinity Stones with the chaos fuelling up the Cosmic Cube in his chest.


Janet was firing blasts to take out US soldiers and villains, her using her shrinking abilities to dodge attacks and grow back up to take them out. She found herself sent back as there was Hank there as she glared at him and aimed for her stingers which didn't have an effect. "Come on Janet; I invented your gear and I discovered the Pym Particles! Nothing you can do that I can't counter." Hank said as she was shrinking down to dodge blasts from the stingers. "You shouldn't have gone rogue Janet; you should have helped us stop Rogers from tearing the Avengers apart!"

Janet grew back up as she pushed him back with her legs, "You, Carol and especially Tony did that not Steve! Do you seriously still think this was for the best? Turning the world into a dictatorship? I no longer recognise the man that I was once married to!" Janet shouted to Hank and got Hulk lunging at his back to rip the stingers off and there was Thor striking down damaging the Yellowjacket suit with Mjolnir.

Hank then grew giant size to shake them up as Thor began firing lightning at him with Hulk jumping and punching him in the stomach to send him down back to normal size. Janet took the chance to rip open the back compartment of the suit to use her blasts to disable the suit as Hank tried to get his suit working. There was a repulsor blast sending Thor back as there was Tony flying down laughing. "Isn't this just grand? A reunion of the original line up of the Avengers..." Tony then had T'Challa lunging at Tony striking hard at his suit with his Vibranium claws as Tony pushed him off flying into the sky. "You know T'Challa, Carol wanted to invade Wakanda after what you pulled at the UN and I stopped her. Lucky for you I need to concentrate on completing my Stone collection or else I would deal with the ungrateful Panther!" Tony told him scowling underneath his helmet.

Then there was the Thor clone pushing at Thor with Hulk pulling him off as Janet finished disabling Hank's suit with his trying to fix it before she punched him out. "I am the true son of Odin and now the Odinforce is mine to command! I shall smite you pretender with the full power of my Thorforce!" Thor shouted lifting Mjolnir up in the air and allowing it to be charged fully with lightning as it blasted his clone with his struggling to resist it. Thor then used his free hand to grab Stormbreaker and used it to behead Thor.

"You looked better than him anyway Goldilocks!" Hulk said patting Thor on the back who smiled.


There was Steve, Sam still up in the air, Bucky and Natasha joining Wanda, Danny and Luke in shielding Loki who was using his magic against the villains, soldiers and the Iron Legion up in the sky. "Do you not trust me? I promise you that I am on your side!" Loki complained as Steve threw his shield to take out soldiers coming his way.

"It's not that we don't trust you not to betray us..." Sam said firing at the Iron Legion soldiers.

"It's that we don't trust you not to endanger the Mind Stone with some ridiculous stunt!" Natasha finished as she was firing from her gauntlets as well as the guns in her hands with Loki looking insulted. Danny and Luke were battering with eachother as Luke took down Bullseye the FBI agent turned assassin for the Kingpin with dead accuracy. They were wondering how many villains had they spotted who they had taken down.

They and Tony flying towards them and he flew down with Luke lunging at his back trying to keep his hands behind his back as Danny charged up his Iron Fist to attack at his suit with Tony managing to push him off with small blasts from a Unibeam from the chest area. Tony found himself being locked in magical chains by Wanda and Loki working together with them also trying to magically force the Stones off him.

Then there was Ross as full Red Hulk who was taking down several Wakandan and Asgardian soldiers coming towards them so they lost focus, then there was Carol from behind pushed Loki breaking the magical chains. Loki dropped the stone and Bucky managed to grab it but then Tony blasted a hole through Bucky ending him with the heroes shocked by the display.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted alarm and in shock along with Natasha and Sam as Tony flew down picking up the Mind Stone so he could place it in his armor.

"Oh yeah he was your friend, wasn't he? I remember when I was too Steve; did you not catch what just happened? Well here is an instant replay or rather a remake!" Tony snarked as the Time Stone in his armor glowed as Bucky got up with the hole in his body disappearing.

"Sorry everyone... But I guess this is the end of the line..." Bucky managed to say before Tony broke off his metal arm with a blast and then shot his head with another one disturbing and disgusting the heroes as they tried to fire at him. Carol then flew away as Ross followed her with Tony looking down at the disgusted voices.

That was unnecessarily cruel, I know that you can hear me...

"You have no right to judge me since I am doing something unlike you! You are probably the fanciest dressed couch potato ever!" Tony yelled with those assembled wondering who he was talking to as he flew up into the sky.

Steve put Bucky's body in his arms as Sam, Natasha, Wanda, Danny, Luke, Natasha and even Loki coming forward to comfort him. T'Challa, Hulk and Thor had even looked down when they had arrived and saw what had happened. "We shall mourn later Steve but now we can't let Stark get to the Space Stone!" Wanda told Steve as she put her hand on his back as he got up and put Bucky's body down looking serious as he nodded.

"Tony has the Mind Stone now, get to the Space Stone in the Psyche Magnitron cannon!" Steve ordered into the communication channel as they gave chase.


At the cannon Daisy and Coulson armed with a specialised laser cannon had joined Peter and Jennifer in defending the cannon with Janet in the sky joining them. Daisy was using her Quake powers against the coming villains and soldiers but it was clear that she was getting tired. Jennifer helped Peter against his old foe the Rhino as she punched him back but then were was a wrecking ball slammed at her head as they saw the disgraced boxer turned villain Carl 'Crusher' Creel the Absorbing Man with the power to absorb and transform parts of his body into materials with touch.

Creel pulled Jennifer into a bearhug hold with her struggling to break free, "With the Wakandans here it was super easy to be able to get ahold of Vibranium to absorb!" Creel gloated as Peter slinged with his webs to try and help Jennifer but he used his Spider-Sense to dodge a punch coming from a tall muscular orange haired smirking woman in dark purple body armor. It was Mary MacPherran who was the super strong villainess Titania who was the wife of Creel and had a strong hatred of Jennifer.

Peter then found himself having to dodge golden spider legs of a figure in a rebuilt version of his Iron Spider armor. "Hello Peter." said a familiar voice as Peter glared at Gwen in the armor. "President Stark had to find someone else to use this armor since you bolted..." Gwen said with Peter trying to dodge her webs and then a leg but wasn't quick enough as the other one pinned him to the ground. "Once the ogress is done with; we can be together! I don't care if I am not the real Gwen, I have the memories of her and her love for you Peter and should it matter if I am not the real one? You know Walters was nothing more than a rebound..." Gwen said as Peter glared as he put his strength trying to pull back as the four arms were pinning him down.

MacPherran was smirking as she was viciously punching Jennifer in the gut, MacPherran then smirked into her face as she taunted her "I finally have you right where I want you Walters now that we are on the side of good and you are on the side of criminals! Once you get tossed into a cell we are going to make you our own personal punching bag! We could arrange to have you paroled in our custody and have you collared up to be the family pet bitch..."

"You should get a breath mint Mary and if you wanted me that badly then you should have asked me out years ago..." Jennifer managed to say after a few grunts as she then kicked MacPherran in the gut as Daisy the put her focus on using her Quake powers to disorient Creel and make MacPherran slip allowing Jennifer to get out of Creel's grip and punch MacPherran in the face.

There was Masters who used his shield to attack Daisy from behind and managed to subdue her before she could use her powers and dodged the blasts from Coulson.

Jennifer then pulled Gwen off Peter and helped her up as MacPherran, Creel and other villains began coming forward but then there was Thor striking down with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker sending them back but also disabling their shock collars. "Stark paid me nowhere near enough to try and take on Thor and since he paid in advanced... I am out of here!" Masters yelled making a retreat along with Creel and MacPherran as they noticed their collars were disabled and ripped them up.

Peter was webbing up the brought down villains so they couldn't try and escape but then there was Gwen attacking him as he went to dodge the legs as Thor helped Daisy in keeping back the villains and soldiers after she got back up. Gwen dodged a punch coming from Jennifer as Peter told her pleadingly "you may not be the Gwen that I knew but you are still a living being who doesn't deserve to be Stark's weapon slave! You could run away now..."

Gwen screamed as she lunged at him and he pushed her back, then there was Ross jumping down with his fiery fists as Jennifer took the punches from him. Tony then got down and went towards the cannon but then there was Loki and Wanda using their magical chains to put Tony down, them not strong enough to focus on the spell and try and remove the Stones this time.

Then there arrived Steve and the others as Ross was kicked in the face by the thrown Mjolnir, then there was Carol using a blast to send Thor down. Ross tried to lift Mjolnir to no success as then the Hulk came and punched Ross. Then Ross got up with his fists filled with fire as he punched Hulk in the face with him getting angrier. "All the Hulkbuster units sent after you... All the years hunting you down and now I will kill you with the power that should never have been yours to begin with! A fugitive from justice and the law, I am the hero this country's military needs to handle this power that you didn't deserve!"

Mjolnir was lifted up and then thrown at Ross' face and it returned to the free hand of Steve as the heroes looked and cheered at this, "You were never going to be worthy Ross! You call yourself a war hero and a patriot and all the years you spent calling the Hulk and the Avengers dangerous putting people at risk with collateral damage and yet you do the same? You have shown your true colors when you were happy to join one of the Avengers you criticised when he was bringing about what you really wanted: a superhuman army for America to bring the world under its heel! You're not a hero Ross; you're nothing more than a control freak!" Steve told Ross who roared as Thor got up to fire lightning at Carol and then grabbed Stormbreaker to strike against Ross' back.

Hulk roared as he got up fully energised and powered up with his anger as he punched Ross in the face and gut several times and one good one knocked him out reverting him to human. "Keep it for now Captain, I have a weapon off my own and besides I have the power of the Thorforce on my side!" Thor told Steve as he went to return Mjolnir to him.

Natasha then fired at Gwen along with Sam from the sky as Peter pushed her off but then there was Carol charging towards him only to be punched by Carol as they began pushing eachother towards eachother. "You're boy toy is a clown who never should have joined the Avengers and you are a celebrity shaming the Avengers with you sleeping around and partying! Stark should have hunted you down like the animals you are! I came back from destroying the Kree homeworld and thus saving the world and yet you rogues get the glory for taking down Reynolds?" Carol snarled at Jennifer who glared at her.

Peter then slinged to the cannon and helped Fitz and Simmons with powering it up and aiming it at Carol who pushed Jennifer back at full power. She went flying at the cannon as it fired. There was a blast as the cannon was destroyed and Carol was on her knees getting up glaring at him and then went to fly up only to fall down. Confused she tried to fire blasts from her and was horrified upon seeing that she was powerless before a punch from Jennifer knocked her out as Peter was glad that Tony's most gung ho attack dog was taken care of.

Peter noticed the Space Stone in the destroyed cannon and used a web to capture it as Tony managed to get out of the magical chains. Loki then managed to send the Cloak of Levitation to Peter who got it as he yelled with it taking him on the air as Gwen managed to use a web to get herself to Peter grabbing his free hand.

Tony then chased afterwards sending repulsor blasts shouting "I am disappointed in you Peter! I saw you as a son and gave you the suit but you sided with Rogers? Cloning the Stacy girl and using her to get Walters out of the equation didn't! No matter, it will all be fixed and forgotten about once I fix the world!" Tony yelled after Peter sending a blast that caught Gwen and then FRIDAY's voice coming from Gwen's suit said that the self destruct sequence was activated.

"Peter..." Gwen said sounding terrified as Peter really badly wanted to try and save her but with so little time before she exploded and he had to focus on trying to get the Soul Stone to saftey.

"Sorry Gwen.. But... It's time to let you go..." Peter said regretfully using his hand caught to free himself from Gwen's grip as she fell and exploded in air with avoiding a blast form Tony sending him to the ground near where the other Avengers were taking care of more of the villains.

Peter tried to set up a portal to send the Space Stone but then Tony came charging grabbing it as Jennifer, Luke, Danny, Daisy, Hulk, Thor and T'Challa teamed up dog pile on Tony. Steve then had Mjolnir send him flying towards Tony as he used the Stones power to throw everyone off. He then placed the Space Stone in the final slot as the Cosmic Cube was fired up. Steve threw Mjolnir towards the Cosmic Cube creating a tear distracting Tony long enough for Steve to touch the Cube.

There was a flash and everyone saw that everything seemed the same; Tony was stunned as his heads up display almost showed the Cube's power and not the Stones power. "Imagined the Stones to lose their power with the Cube unable to repower them again." Steve said shocking Tony as he futile tried to repower them again.

"You could have brought Barnes back and then made it so that H-Day never happened! You could have done so much more!" Tony yelled at Steve who stood firm as he readied his shield and Mjolnir for Tony's reaction.

"I will not play god Tony." Steve said simply as Tony yelled in rage as he went and grabbed Steve's neck and flew into the air before anyone could attack them.

"You holier than thou sanctimonious relic! I needed you by my side as I learned that you were right that we were unprepared! You ran and ruined everything and keep doing so! I will just have to destroy this universe and redo everything with you watching!" Tony yelled as he flew down and there was a flash.


Steve and Tony found themselves into the vacuum of the realm beyond the Multiverse and Steve noticed Uatu.

Captain Rogers; welcome to the realm outside the Multiverse. I am Uatu the Watcher tasked with watching over all that transpires in the universe and Stark... We really must stop meeting like this.

Tony then started firing at Steve who tried to dodge and then went and slammed his shield and Mjolnir against the Cube with Tony pushing him back stray shots hit prisms. "We are nothing special Rogers! There are trillions upon trillions of us in the Multiverse with these prisms being a universe! The Watcher here just sits back as things go badly!" Tony roared as he dodged Mjolnir being thrown at by Steve as one prism caught their eyes...


In the White House, Pepper was open mouth and horrified as Tony was smiling showing her the screens of what was going on in the world. "A lot has gone on since what has been known as H-Day but here you are back and we can rebuild! I am sorry that I couldn't protect you but I will now and I understand being the new First Lady will be a lot to take in but..." Tony said only for Pepper to run out of the door with Tony concerned giving chase.

"What have you done Tony?" Pepper asked terrified at the sight of him.

"Pepper... I did all this for you!" Tony yelled after her as she found something in the Oval Office and furiously threw it at as it broke on the wall. It was an old Arc Reactor with a plaque saying 'Proof That Tony Stark Has a Heart'.

"You did this for me? Becoming a tyrant and oppressing the people of the world just as HYDRA would? I don't even know who you are but you are not the man that I wanted to marry you monster!" Pepper yelled her face frantic and furious at the sight of Tony as the agents came to restrain her.


Tony stood there stunned wondering if this was a slight variant of their universe. Then how could Pepper be there? Wait... He toyed with having Miles Warren creating a clone with Pepper but decided against it since it wouldn't be his Pepper. Did this show what would have happened if he went through with it?

Indeed Tony Stark.

Tony glared at Uatu before watching further.


Tony furiously lifted up Warren by the neck of his clothes as Ward tried to calm him down, "What did you do to her? She was frantic and just about hated me! What did you do?" Tony screamed into his face.

The terrified Warren when he found his voice said "you said you wanted her to be just like Pepper, I did what you asked..."


Tony's eyes were filled with tears as he looked down as he clearly saw that Warren succeeded. "Rhodey... He tried to tell me that Pepper would be ashamed and I didn't listen... He was right... You were right Steve... I never should have accepted the Presidency and just went to get help to cope... I am sorry..."

Steve went to comfort him as Tony used the last of the Cube energy to send them back.


The heroes found Steve and Tony returned as Tony went onto his knees and sent a message to his troops "To all Thunderbolts and US troops, you are to stand down and surrender yourselves... I surrender and will accept punishment..." they were stunned as Tony deactivated his armor and threw off his vest and looked towards everyone saying "first of all for all the good it will do, I am sorry for everything... What are you waiting for? The bad guy has surrendered so you won now..."

Steve allowed them a moment to take this in as the soldiers and Thunderbolts relucantly surrendered and they were all being taken in.

The day had been won..

Chapter 24

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

There was an urgent call at the Triskellion to release Rhodey as there was an emergency press conference to be held with the press and civilians waiting as there were aircrafts flying towards the Triskellion. A quick stage was set up with Rhodey waiting nearby and then the Quinjet provided to the resistance by T'Challa landed. Out came to everyone's shock Steve, Coulson, Sam, Natasha, Danny, Luke, Loki, Wanda, Jennifer, Janet and then Tony.

Rhodey had the officials hold their fire as Tony came to the microphone, "Thank you, thank you! Let me just say that I have a lot of apologies to make... I wanted to save the world but I just created a HYDRA world order with me in charge! I could never give the American people nor the whole world all the apologies I would need to make this right! I am ordering all US forces occupying nations around the world to disperse immediately and I am ordering a full investigation into any and all war crimes! Plus I am pardoning all these individuals right behind me and all the political prisoners and those arrested just for rightfully protesting what I have been doing!" Tony said mournfully as the public was taken aback with the cameras rolling live.

"I am hereby firing my entire cabinet save for Vice President Rhodes as I stand down to face impeachment by the US Senate for which I will plead guilty. I am ordering my entire administration to face a full investigation into abuses of power and that includes all my previous associates! I will warn if former Roxxon executives or Board members or HYDRA allies want to take opportunity to try and be among those suing the US Government I will remind you that the evidence still exists of your treason so please try your luck! Otherwise feel free to rightfully sue if you have been wronged." Tony said and the Administration officials watching were stunned with those serving the Cabinet members already starting to clean out the offices to their protests.

"I will be surrender to the UN to face war crimes and crimes against humanity, I hope you will stand by Captain America himself Steve Rogers and Rhodey as they try and help to rebuild the world's trust in the US after my horrible and callous actions. I expect Rhodes to be putting in international aid as he will probably be working overtime to fix what I have done. I definitely owe him apologies as well and wish him luck as he takes over until a new president can be elected." Tony said as Rhodey flashed him a smile and a shake of his head.

"Now as I surrender myself to custody; please give a rousing hand to Captain America and the Avengers!" Tony said walking away from the stage to be handcuffed as the crowd bursted into applause.

Phil Sheldon infront of the Daily Bugle cameras said "I am getting word that J. Jonah Jameson wants me to cry out against this injustice as what he calls Captain Traitor forcing the President to admit defeat but... The fascists lost and Cap and the real Avengers have won! Suck it Jameson!" Phil then dropped the mic literally on camera and though Jameson told him that he was now fired, he would go home to find plenty of job offers from refutable news organisations for what he had done


In a house were three elderly man taking in the news that the Stark Administration had been taken down. A man facing a smiling with glasses that he was playing checkers with said "so fellas it looks like the bad guy has been taken off his throne... Anyway king me Stan!"

"But you are already the king Jack!" replied Stan smiling as Jack and the 3rd man drawing in the corner groaned.

"Why do we hang out with him again Steve?" Jack asked the third man who shrugged.


A week later there was a funeral and tribute for Bucky Barnes with Steve standing by as an eulogy was being made by Bucky's great-great niece Rikki Barnes.


Wanda could be seen with a tear in her eye as there was a monument and a grave being dug for Vision.


Months later at Christmas time there were a large assembly of the Avengers for the wedding of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. Steve was having a toast with Sam his best man, Rhodey, Luke and Danny with Thor joining in. "Captain Rogers at his bachelor party was the last mortal standing with the Asgardian ale!" Thor cheered as they laughed.

"So how goes rebuilding SHIELD Coulson?" Rhodey asked Coulson who was sitting nearby smiling in his suit. Coulson and the crew of the Playground would be rebuilding SHIELD and it was Steve and T'Challa who helped convince the UN to allow the rebuild of SHIELD as once again a UN force.

"Taking it's time as expected but it's easier with Cap's blessing." Coulson said as Steve smiled.

"Well, thanks to you for getting Danny control off his company back and setting up Heroes for Hire as our own legitimate business back by SHIELD and the Avengers!" Luke said grinning as they were backup Avengers running their agency along with Danny running his company.

"Cap here could run for President if he wanted to and easily win." Danny said as Steve shook his head.

"I am still a field agent and I am not ready to give that up just yet, besides I think after this year I don't want to think about any of us suddenly getting thrusted into politics." Steve sighed as they understood.

"You would have us to help give you advice as world leaders if you want to change your mind Captain." T'Challa said walking by to join the conversation.

"I would be happy to come on by, just ask the new Asgardian ambassador and your newest Avenger!" Thor said pointing to Loki who just sighed with Wanda giggling as well.

Jennifer, Peter and Natasha were talking to eachother. Natasha was being told that Jennifer had hoped to be getting cases after the holidays as she was working at Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway again. Janet who had gotten control off her company back went to them to give Peter a parcel that he opened up to reveal a photo album called "For Peter's Eyes Only".

"Jennifer's present for you that she made at my company! With special fashion that she wore as both sides of herself. This church is not to be the place to open it up here though." Janet told Peter who groaned as he saw the Hulk in his custom made extra large suit glaring at his direction.


The priest declared Steve and Natasha man and wife with the guests cheering as they had their first married kiss. Steve and Natasha went to their Just Married Quinjet as Natasha threw the bouquet. It was easily caught by Jennifer who smirked at Peter who just sighed with a smile. There was a TV screen there amongst the guests showing a smiling Tony Stark there via video.


Inside a warehouse at a table sitted together was Ronan who kept muttering about avenging the Kree Empire, Octavius, Masters, MacPherran, Creel and Arthur Parks. "I am stuck here with you goons on this Christmas night..." MacPherran ranted as then came in was a large bulking monster with sharp teeth, white in his eyes, a slithering tongue and a white spider symbol who used tendrils to launch himself to the table.

"Stay far away from me and your brained filled breath Osborn..." Creel warned as there was a smirking fan coming forward with a dark red hood and a flowing cape.

"Here we all are misunderstood by society and deemed criminals, villains and monsters who have been wronged by those who label us! The Avengers will be working to restore the status quo but this year this showed that they are not infallible nor are they invincible! We shall strike after the holidays and let our enemies become unprepared! I have gathered you all together for a single purpose; to fight the foes that no single 'villain' could fight alone! I am the Hood and I shall lead us to our glory, our Cabal!" smirked Parker Robbins the criminal who was now calling himself the Hood.


Steve and Natasha were following Guards inside the supervillain prison known as the Raft noticing the cell with Hank who looked solemn and didn't know what went wrong. They went passed the cells with Carol and Ross (inside a special cell with measures designed for the Hulk along with a power dampening collar) who both glared furiously at them. Rhodey was behind them and opened the door as there was a glass cell with a smiling Tony inside and outside his cell was a nanny playing with little Morgan with a Christmas tree set up. They both smiled and said Merry Christmas to Morgan, the nanny and then to Tony.

"Merry Christmas to you two and I must say that people call me a genius but you two... Getting married on Christmas? 'Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary dear', seriously if I thought of that then I would have definitely have postponed the wedding so we could focus on eliminating HYDRA saving us all this trouble." Tony said with them giggling at this. "So what brings you here, a little detail from the Honeymoon isn't it?" Tony asked as they sighed.

"We just wanted to see how our friend has been getting on." Steve said as Tony sighed.

"Just fine; waiting here to face the consequences for my crimes, seeing that my best friends who have every reason to hate me come here to see how I have been which makes me feel even more terrible..." Tony said as Natasha smirked.

"Glad that it worked." Natasha said as Tony laughed.

"Okay then Romanoff or is it Rogers now? Anyway coming to terms that I will be spending the rest of my life in this cage and from here I will have to see my little girl grow up indirectly. Feel free to have her surname legally changed to Potts if you are scared that she will have to grow up with the stigma of my tarnished name." Tony said.

"We promise that Morgan will be taking care of Tony." Steve said as Tony smirked.

"You better Rogers; she is your goddaughter after all." Tony replied as they smiled.

An Avenger becoming the evil that he fights; made to see the error of his ways and surrenders. A happy ending for those who fought for the world's freedom.

Repercussion will be felt by Tony Stark's actions.

Including repercussions relating to him trying to reshape the time-space continuum to his own desires, breaking open the barriers to other Earths...


At a graveyard in New York days later at New Year's Eve near midnight; Peter and Jennifer who was in the form of a normal human were in warm clothes as they put flowers on the graves of May Parker, Ben Parker and then finally Gwen Stacy as there were flowers left from the Stacy family who had sent them a note and a card saying sorry and they didn't blame them.

Peter and Jennifer embraced as they looked at their watches and kissed as it hit midnight.

At the flower filled grave for Pepper Potts next the memorial monument for those lost on H-Day, a figure in a winter coat with the hood down put down roses at Pepper's grave and then looked to the memorial to find Pepper's name he then left making his way to a closed down club. He then entered and inside was a man with as skull shirt and jacket with a five o clock shadow, a 22 year old man with glasses and a middle aged obtuse man with glasses. "Saw your doppelganger nearby Petey." The figure said towards Peter 'Petey' Parker who was taken aback.

"Yeah well get used to the idea we will come across him again, my own one is dead and Micro's here turned evil and is dead as well." said the man with the skull towards the obtuse man David Lieberman known as the hacker name Micro.

"Happy New Year, Sarge!" Micro said to the figure who shook his head.

"What's so happy about it? The Avengers exist here and already almost destroyed the world so the work is not yet done." Sarge said shaking his head.

"So plans for a new year's resolution?" Petey asked as Sarge nodded as he got off his winter coat.

"Just one Petey... Saving this world by killing the Avengers!" said Sarge with the face of Phil Coulson.

Notes:

I have plans for a sequel and Sarge here will be a fusion of what we believed Sarge would be in Agents of SHIELD and Captain Luthor from Superman & Lois, their Earth being based on the Boys. The Cabal will be inspired by the Society from Injustice 2. Thank you for reading and I am glad that I finished a multi chapter story.

Chapter 25: Sequel trailers

Chapter Text

Inspirational music played as Tony Stark was smiling as he was in an office in front of a statue of Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Wasp & Ant-Man. "Hello, you know me as Tony Stark the world protector and Avenger known as Iron Man. I am here as President & CEO of Stark Industries, we put the 'super' in superhero and help heroes such as the Avengers make the world a better place. Our work goes all the way back to when my father Howard Stark founded the company and helped the allies during World War II, lending his hand in creating the world's first superhero Captain America!" Tony said as it showed black and white footage of Captain America USO shows.

"After retiring after the war, he returned years later to fight the growing red menace of Russia and went to serving his country again smashing Commies helping to found his first team the Freedom Five. After being put on ice so to speak, he has returned to help lead the Superhero community that he had ended up inspiring!" Tony said with footage shown of Captain America smiling with his triangular shield visiting sick children in hospital.

"How about Golden Girl, his old colleague from the Freedom Five." Tony said showing pictures of magazine covers with Golden Girl on them.

"There is also the gentle green giant born from gamma radiation known as the Hulk!" Tony said showing footage of the Hulk fighting against enemy soldiers. "Don't forget about the Prince of Thunder himself Thor!" said Tony showing Thor flying through the air.

"Last but not least my personal student Eugene 'Flash' Thompson who was already a top tier football hero at Midtown High before a spider bite turned him into the young Spider-Man! His movie franchise following his appearance in Avengers: Civil Warfare has become a huge hit!" Tony said showing footage of Flash as a quarterback during his high school days and then as Spider-Man unmasking to a live press conference next to Tony.

"Remember Stark Industries and by extension the Avengers are here for you!" Tony said as his Iron Man armor assembled upon him as it then cut to the Stark Industries logo.

In a dark room on a couch glaring at the TV was Sarge, Petey, Micro and Castle who then all gave the TV middle fingers. "Plagiarising the NYCC teaser for the Boys Season 1 for the win!" Deadpool shouted jumping out from behind the couch shocking them. "Hey tell me if you are taking influence (a polite way of saying you are ripping it off) from the Boys, will that included the comics? Because I was definitely heartbroken when they said that they wouldn't be adapting Herogasm so will you be fixing that mistake?" Deadpool asked as they glared at him.

INJUSTICE 2: MULTIVERSAL COLLIDE

COMING SOON

"Was that seriously the best title you could come up with for this sequel Cornholio? What did I expect from a hack who never seems to finish his stories and got his name from Beavis & Butthead!" Deadpool yelled as Sarge went to a baby crib and picked up a baby wearing small dark red sunglasses.

"Seriously, that baby is wearing sunglasses? He kind of reminds me of fellow X-Men character Summers..." Deadpool laughed before stopping as he turned to see Sarge pointing the baby to him. "This is how you are adapting the laser baby, isn't it?" Deadpool asked as Sarge put the baby's sunglasses up as red optic beams from the baby's eyes fired at Deadpool's head with Deadpool screaming in pain.


Spider-Man, Coulson & Captain America were reading their scripts as Deadpool jumped in shouting "Guess who?" The three then groaned noticing the masked nuisance cheerfully coming up to them.

"So Cap; any resentment on how Spidey here got more screen time with his hot romantic comedy subplot with She-Hulk when by all accounts you should have been the protagonist of the story? Plus your sidekick Bucky getting killed off since your sidekicks really didn't do much but help you." Deadpool asked Cap who then glared at him.

"Coulson; you think they will commit to using Sarge as the alternate Earth counterpart that fans hoped he would be only to pull the rug and make it some alternate dimension alien?" Deadpool asked.

"Spidey my best pal... Could you tell me if there are any plans to include the Thunderer, Agents of ATLAS, or even Hawk-Owl to this universe?" Deadpool asked Spider-Man as security came to take him away.

INJUSTICE 2: MULTIVERSAL COLLIDE

COMING SOON

"I have never met a more annoying nuisance and I had to deal with the Muppet Pepe before..." muttered Coulson.

Notes:

I promise that I will try and not be as sadistic as Tom Taylor or the entire writing staff of the Disney Plus What If show.