After the Senate hearing, Tony Stark officially received authorization to privately own his armored suits.
But instead of kicking back and enjoying the victory, Tony only grew busier.
His schedule was packed to the brim—easily ten times more hectic than when he was living the playboy lifestyle.
First, he launched his long-awaited Airborne Fortress Reconstruction initiative. To speed things up, he hired the Men in Black at a high hourly rate to help with the overhaul.
The fortress transformed rapidly, changing day by day.
At the same time, Tony immersed himself in the global manhunt for HYDRA. Any whisper of a base or cell was enough to send him flying to the front lines.
Of course, the so-called "clues" were hardly spontaneous.
Malrick, with his enhanced senses, had already located the entirety of HYDRA's network using his super hearing. He passed that information to the Men in Black, who coordinated swift, silent raids.
Tony often tagged along, keeping score.
Within days, only a few mid-sized HYDRA bases were still standing. They had tried shielding their hideouts with lead to block Malrick's vision—but unfortunately for them, his hearing worked just fine.
Tony's path of vengeance was nearly complete.
What remained now was his growing internal conflict about S.H.I.E.L.D.
After the scandal broke, Nick Fury and his most trusted operatives were detained by the World Security Council. Once their observation period ended, it was unlikely they'd ever get a second chance to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D.
So, Fury made a desperate move.
He put his trust in the one man he could still rely on.
Tony Stark.
Fury formally recommended Tony as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., even vouching for him with his own legacy.
His last-ditch effort was a plea to preserve the organization, despite everything that had gone wrong.
Fortunately, the newly appointed Security Council shared the sentiment that the world still needed a global peacekeeping agency—something capable of handling threats beyond the reach of traditional militaries.
After reviewing Tony's history—his transformation after Afghanistan, his technological genius, his global reputation—they agreed to the nomination.
One week ago, the entire Council had offered Tony an olive branch.
They asked him to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D.—a new version, free from corruption, and impenetrable to future infiltration.
To help with his decision, they gave him temporary clearance to access classified S.H.I.E.L.D. files.
After days of reading confidential data, Tony finally understood just how much S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept hidden.
Super-powered individuals. Global anomalies. Ancient, high-energy relics. The world was far stranger than he'd ever imagined.
And those anomalies weren't rare—they were multiplying.
Tony came to appreciate that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been holding the seams of reality together, protecting ordinary people from things they weren't ready to understand.
But he also saw the dark side. Under both Fury's leadership and HYDRA's corruption, the organization had crossed more than a few moral lines.
That's what made the choice so difficult.
Should he rebuild what was broken? Or let it stay dead?
After wrestling with the decision for several more days, Tony finally went to find Malrick.
---
"What's this? A Himalayan vacation plan?"
Tony raised an eyebrow as he stepped into Malrick's workroom and saw a detailed 3D map of the mountains spread across the table.
"Something like that," Malrick replied, putting down his stylus. "There's a region there I can't see into. Supposedly, it's inhabited by mages. I figured I'd pay them a visit, maybe learn something."
"Mages? Come on, magic's real now?" Tony took the map, examining it with skepticism.
"There's no record of that in any of the S.H.I.E.L.D. archives. Maybe you're just hitting a lead-lined bunker, not some magic temple."
"After the HYDRA mess, people everywhere started shielding sensitive sites with lead."
He smirked. "There was even a Japanese TV segment where a family found a stash of Superman fan magazines hidden in a lead box under their daughter's bed."
Tony burst out laughing at the memory.
He slapped Malrick's back. "Face it, your x-ray vision is being countered by teenage embarrassment."
Malrick gave him a flat look. "You came here just to tell that ridiculous story?"
Tony, still grinning, gasped for breath. "Hey, it's relevant. You've basically caused a global spike in lead prices."
"Thanks to you, hiding stuff from Superman has become a full-blown industry."
In the DC universe, it took scientists and military agencies time to study and catalog Superman's powers.
But in this world—the Marvel Universe—people just read the comics. They already knew what Malrick could do.
Lead wasn't a precaution anymore. It was the default.
Malrick snatched the map back. "If you tell one more story like that, I'm throwing you out."
He made a mental note: he needed telekinesis. If he couldn't see through lead, maybe he could feel through it instead.
"Okay, okay," Tony said, holding up his hands. "I'm done. I actually came here to talk about S.H.I.E.L.D."
He explained the offer and the weight it carried.
"I think S.H.I.E.L.D. still has a role to play. And if I rebuild it, I'd want to coordinate with your Men in Black."
"You focus on the extraterrestrial threats. S.H.I.E.L.D. handles Earth-bound problems. It's a good split, don't you think?"
Malrick narrowed his eyes. "You? Managing Earth's threats? You are the Earth's threat."
"That's harsh!" Tony threw his hands up. "The Airborne Fortress crash was an accident!"
"Accidents always happen when you're involved," Malrick replied flatly. "And you've clearly already made your decision, so why ask me?"
Tony shrugged. "It just felt right to tell you. Now that I have, I feel better."
Malrick rolled his eyes. "Don't expect me to back you."
"Then we'll call it something else," Tony said, brightening. "Not S.H.I.E.L.D.—something new. Something stronger. Something... like the Avengers."
He'd seen the name in one of Fury's files, and it stuck with him.
He liked it.
After all, what had he been doing lately, if not avenging the world?
If people knew a group like that existed—people willing to fight for justice without compromise—they might think twice before trying anything destructive.
"Avengers, huh?" Malrick muttered. "Fine. If you want my help, I have one condition."
"Give me the Tesseract from the old S.H.I.E.L.D. vault. I want to study it... for the next hundred years."
Tony frowned. "The Tesseract… that was in the Level 10 files…"
Before he could finish the thought, the communication ring on Malrick's wrist beeped.
A hologram of Natasha Romanoff flickered into view.
"Malrick, we found something," she said, her tone serious. "You need to see it in person."
---
Siberia. HYDRA Base.
Above the icy tundra, Malrick and Tony descended into an abandoned HYDRA facility.
Natasha led them through the frozen corridors to the control room.
Dust covered every surface. The equipment looked like it hadn't been touched in years.
She opened a case of old video tapes, their labels faded with time. Slipping one into the machine, she powered it on.
The ancient monitor flickered to life.
Grainy footage began to play.
Malrick immediately sensed the gravity of what they were about to see.
From the look in Tony's eyes—filled with curiosity—he knew it wouldn't last.
In less than a minute, that curiosity would twist into something else entirely.
---
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