An hour after Electro dissipated, Tony Stark and the New York City government, having confirmed no abnormal electrical activity, restored power to New York. As per the previous agreement, the entire second half of 2012's New York electricity would be supplied by Stark Industries' five large Arc Reactors, and residential electricity would be free.
This was a good opportunity to investigate any power theft or leakage, check for strange laboratories in the decaying parts of New York, and then take them all out in one sweep.
Of course, Tony still intended to charge for industrial electricity, such as that used by Osborn Industries and Warren Corporation. At most, he could offset some of the costs with the losses these companies incurred last night. Making it completely free for a month and a half was impossible.
"So, although we might have lost tens of millions of dollars in one night, we successfully dealt with one super-villain. The only flaw is that this guy's need for electricity was like a drug addiction; he'd rather self-destruct than be captured."
Tony stated the current situation and laughed quite happily. He hadn't dared to set foot in Manhattan for several hours, and he was finally relaxing a bit. Only when he was with the Avengers did the uncontrollable anxiety he'd developed since the Battle of New York ease somewhat.
In this place, even without wearing his armor, he could maintain a sense of security and self-control.
"Well, my mission is over." Pietro (Quicksilver) felt a little nostalgic about his brief time as a superhero. Although there was no applause or cheering, having a place where he could run with a purpose was very important. However, neither Tony nor the Captain could help with this. After all, the young man genuinely had a father, and Genosha had no diplomatic relations with the United States; in fact, Genosha was largely unrecognized by most of the world.
"Alright, come visit often, especially you, Spidey. I'm sure Genosha welcomes you, and not just me."
Pietro smiled meaningfully, then quickly left. Watching a silver streak of lightning rapidly depart, the Captain mused, "Perhaps our team really should have a few mutants; it would significantly improve their perception."
"Yeah, but more importantly, we need to expand further. T'Challa (Black Panther) rarely comes to New York. Janet (Wasp) is already one of us. So, we've essentially only had Spider-Man as a new recruit in the past six months."
Tony, also an Avengers leader, frowned. He had received news from Nick Fury that the Thunderbolts had also gone through a round of recruitment. Tony couldn't figure out Fury's thinking: he seemed to be specifically recruiting based on the roster of the Wasteland world's Thunderbolts, bringing in Astra, The Tinkerer, Moonstone , Mach-I , and Songbird into the team.
Fury was quite something, knowing that these people rebelled in a parallel universe and led to the annihilation of the superheroes, yet he was recruiting them while his own organization was riddled with Hydra agents. Tony didn't know what his plan was.
Tony looked over at Peter: "Peter, you know a lot of super-powered friends. Any thoughts?"
"Heracles or Mar-Vell. Sorry, I'm kind of tired..."
"You can go home if you're tired."
"According to my schedule, I'm still on a field study trip. Theoretically, I shouldn't arrive in New York until tomorrow at the earliest." Peter yawned helplessly. Tony was momentarily startled, then smiled resignedly: "Alright, kid. The Tower has guest rooms. Just rough it out here for the night. Go get some rest."
After Peter went to the guest room to sleep, the Captain looked up at Tony standing there: "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine... Why?"
"You look stressed, Tony, as if you're facing some difficulty," the Captain asked with concern. "If there's anything you need me for, you can always say so."
"I'm fine, Steve, it's just..." Halfway through his sentence, Tony suddenly realized how he could question the Captain, and quickly asked, "Steve, if you were preparing for a war, but the war started before you were ready, what would you do?"
"So you're worried that we aren't ready for the enemy we'll face."
"I'm just asking, if, if it happened, what would you do?"
"If war taught me anything, it's that there's never a war you're completely ready for. War will always encounter various situations, even the side with the advantage, or the certain victor, will run into trouble," Steve looked at Tony and continued: "If you're asking how to buy more time to prepare: hold the line, buy time for the rear, protect the industrial centers. I guess that's in every history of war."
Tony just nodded. He had an idea.
As his armor continued to iterate, J.A.R.V.I.S. was also constantly upgrading. This gave Tony the idea of using J.A.R.V.I.S. as the central command for an Iron Legion. He already knew that in a parallel universe, Ultron would break through human-set shackles and transcend limits to become an enemy of the Avengers and humanity. So, Tony and Hank weren't planning on over-developing Ultron, and Tony had stopped Hank from using his own brainwaves to upgrade Ultron.
But what about... using J.A.R.V.I.S.?
If he used J.A.R.V.I.S., he could guarantee safety to a large extent. Tony was confident J.A.R.V.I.S. wouldn't betray him, and he wouldn't set overly high goals for J.A.R.V.I.S. All it needed to do was control all the suits in the Iron Legion.
Thinking about it, Tony sighed, then forced a smile: "Thanks. It's really nice to have an old guy around, isn't it?"
"I'm not an old guy... I just can't quite keep up with your era."
"Then, you want me to build you a suit of armor too? Iron Patriot?"
The Captain shook his head. Although the enemies they faced were getting stronger and he felt increasingly powerless, he still wanted to enter the battlefield directly. The very existence of Captain America had more spiritual significance than his actual combat ability. Steve Rogers stepping onto the field was the most important thing.
"We fight together, united as one. That's how we fight any enemy."
Tony looked at the Captain and asked the question.
"What if we can't win? What if we lose?"
"Then we lose together."
The Captain looked at Tony: "Or, as our team name says, we avenge."
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