Tony tried to chase the team that took Banner, but without his armor, he couldn't do anything.
It took them ten minutes to regain their abilities, and at that moment all the systems in his suit came back online.
"JARVIS, can you find them?"
'Negative, they disappeared from all cameras.'
"Damn it" Tony shouted angrily before calming himself. After that, Stark's first move was to channel all the energy from his suit into his chest, firing a unibeam straight at Steve.
Steve covered himself with his shield. While it kept him from getting hurt, it didn't stop him from being pushed back. Even though Steve resisted, the ground beneath him was scraped as he was dragged backward.
This went on for a full thirty seconds, during which no one intervened, until Tony's armor ran out of power, opened up, and let him out before falling to the ground with all systems shut down.
"Isn't that a bit sudden, Tony?"
"Don't call me that, Ste... whoever you are. Wanda."
Wanda understood immediately and surrounded the entire team, except Tony and Pietro, with chaos magic.
Of them all, the only one with powers was Vision, but even he couldn't escape Wanda's grip.
"Wanda... is any of them real?" Tony asked, guilt in his voice for not realizing sooner what was going on, even though all the clues had been there.
Wanda stayed silent for a moment. Everyone fell into a trance as she entered their minds.
When the light returned to their eyes, Wanda hesitated for a second before speaking.
"...None of them," she finally said.
"Where are they?" Tony demanded furiously.
But Steve just feigned confusion, "Who are you talking about?"
Tony exploded, "Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Vision... JAMES RUPERT RHODES!"
"We're right here, Tony, what are you talking about?" Steve continued pretending to be confused.
"You're not them, I should've known. Steve wouldn't act like this. How long has it been?"
Steve smiled "A leader has to make decisions sometimes"
Tony couldn't hold back and punched him straight in the face, but Steve didn't even flinch.
"If you don't tell me where they are, none of you are leaving here alive" Tony threatened, but Steve didn't care.
'Sir, I doubt they'll say anything.'
"I know" Tony said, "Wanda, can you find anything?"
Wanda shook her head, "Nothing. There's nothing in their minds except false memories and their mission."
"Take care of them," Tony said coldly.
The bodies of the "Avengers" were crushed as if a giant were squeezing them in its hands, until they burst, releasing green blood that splattered onto the floor without touching any of the ones left standing.
"Let's contact Fury" Tony said, and Pietro and Wanda followed him.
---
"They're blocking us," Fury said.
"Blocking us?"
"That's right. Any attempt to send SHIELD data outside is completely jammed, so we have no way to prove what we're saying. Our entire network is cut off. It's our word against theirs, and SHIELD doesn't exactly have a great reputation right now."
"Damn it. And you never suspected those bastards?"
"Calm down, Stark," Fury said, "I've worked with them for years. You could say almost everything I've achieved is thanks to them. If I even doubted them, who could I trust?"
"I don't know, but clearly not aliens who can impersonate anyone and copy their powers," Stark said.
"They're not supposed to be able to do that," Fury replied, "They can mimic appearances, but that's it, not powers, not memories. And I don't think they hid it either, since we used to be enemies. Actually, that's a good thing."
"What part of this situation sounds good to you?"
"You said it yourself, they didn't care about dying. But unless they're willing to lose one of their biggest influences on Earth, that means they must have more copies of the Avengers.
However, they didn't copy you, Wanda, or Pietro, only the ones they kidnapped. That means to copy someone, they need the physical body.
A dead body has no powers to copy, especially in cases like Clint or Bucky, who rely more on skill and experience than actual abilities. So if they still plan to create more copies, they need them alive."
"The question is, where are they?" Tony said.
"I'm already working on that. Despite everything, the Skrulls were under SHIELD surveillance the entire time. They must've left some trace."
"Wanda's investigating on our side too, but every Skrull we've found has no idea what's really going on."
At that moment, JARVIS interrupted again.
'Sir, news.'
"The last time this happened, everything went downhill, JARVIS" Tony joked, despite everything.
'The repetition of patterns leading to what you call a coincidence is not scientific, on the contrary, and ironically, it is... merely a coincidence,' JARVIS replied.
"I don't need a scientific explanation, JARVIS, but since you say that, I guess this situation isn't like last time, right?"
'Of course not, sir,' JARVIS replied, projecting the usual holograms, 'It's much worse.'
'We're at the United Nations headquarters, where Captain America himself and the Avengers have decided to accept the Superhero Registration Act,' said a voice on the screen.
In front of everyone, Steve was the first to sign, along with his entire team.
As soon as they stepped out, reporters swarmed around them.
"Captain America, can we ask you a few questions?"
Steve nodded politely.
"Why did you decide to accept the Superhero Registration Act? After all, it was only a proposal and there wasn't much pressure to enforce it yet," the first reporter asked.
"Recently, a member of my team, Leonardo, nearly caused an international crisis that could have brought disaster to the whole world. After that, a similar situation happened with Dr. Bruce Banner, who caused destruction seeking revenge. I only hope incidents like those don't happen again," Steve replied.
"As expected of Captain America."
"Worthy of being the world's first superhero."
"And of representing the United States of America."
"Mr. Rogers, do you believe other superheroes around the world will agree?" another reporter asked.
"Of course. Those who understand what's right will do so. For example..." He didn't finish the sentence, instead, he looked toward the street, where a group of people was approaching.
"Defenders!" someone shouted
"Are those the Defenders?"
" What are they doing here?"
"Could they be against the registration law?"
Amid the confusion, this group of heroes also entered the building.
At the door, security stopped Daredevil, the only one whose identity was unknown.
"No superheroes with secret identities allowed," said the guard.
When everyone expected a fight to break out, Daredevil simply raised his hands to his mask, pulled it down, and revealed his face to everyone.
The reporters could only take photos as the Defenders entered without speaking to anyone.
The attention returned to Steve's team, but since he was the only one speaking, all focus remained on him.
"Is this what you meant when you said those who know what's right will act accordingly?"
"That's right," Steve said, "If they truly want to serve the greater good, they'll understand what needs to be done."
"Speaking of that, why aren't some members of the Avengers present?" one reporter finally asked the question everyone was thinking but no one dared to say.
"Some have retired, others are off-world at the moment. I hope that when they return, they'll do the same as we did," Steve replied.
But the reporters quickly caught the implication in his words.
"Mr. Rogers, if you hope they will, does that mean there are some who won't?"
Steve sighed in disappointment. His expression was so convincing that if Fury and Tony didn't know he wasn't the real Steve Rogers, they would've believed him.
"Unfortunately, some members of the Avengers disagreed. They don't understand this is for the greater good. Therefore, with great regret, I must say that from this moment on, Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff, and Pietro Maximoff are to be considered supercriminals."
Chaos erupted as everyone tried to get more information.
"But those three have abilities, right? How do you plan to catch them?"
Steve smiled, "To achieve that, we'll be working directly with the Skrulls, who will build power-nullifying devices all over the globe. Not just the ex-Avengers, any individual with abilities who refuses to register will be considered a criminal."
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)