TGS - #10 (Patreon)

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Stark Residence, LA

–Tony Stark–

“Like I said, you can go shove your head up where the sun doesn’t shine, Fury. I am not helping you,” He said in the video chat that Pepper had just dumped on to him in the middle of his work in the lab. Apparently, Fury had pulled many of his favours with Pepper to make sure that the meeting happened and he only agreed because Pepper told him to but nowhere was it written that he had to be nice to him.

The sigh of resignation and frustration that escaped Fury’s mouth was like music to his ears. Sweet sweet music that didn’t help one bit in lessening the regret he felt with how he handled Jack’s case. Sure, he lied about his amnesia but he was still, in the end, a kid and he had just put him on the hit list of the biggest military in the world.

Uncle Sam was known for many bad things but if there was one thing that they could be counted on, it was the fact that they always got their enemy. In the rare cases where it looked like Uncle Sam had lost control of the situation, it was only because of the higher-ups holding back the army otherwise there was probably nowhere in the world where one could hide from the might of the US military. Such was the might of the Military-industrial complex that ensured the hegemony of the United States of America. Knowing that the President had ordered for no expenses to be spared in containing this new threat was something that made his anxiety rise day by day. It had been 3 days since Jack had fled the hotel and in the process, broken a dozen different Aviation laws. That’s what they were using to declare him a criminal, not that they would need a reason but it always helped their conscience if they did have proof of a crime committed. Not that it would matter if the matter ever made it to court. They were in denial of Jack being a minor but once the matter came to light, there would surely be protests in the street against trying him as an adult no matter the dubious circumstances surrounding his powers.

“Stark, again,” Fury’s tired voice spoke from the laptop in front of him, “Is there any way you can track him? We need to get to him before anybody else does?”

“And then what, Fury? What if you do get to him? What will you do then? Even if I do believe your words, what’s stopping your superiors from kidnapping him right from under your eyes or better yet, order you to do it yourself? What then, Fury? Would you do it or would you rebel?” He snapped at Fury and then took in a deep breath because he had just let the anger get the best of him.

The silence he received from the other side was damning. “I thought so,” he muttered and he slammed the laptop shut.

God, what a shit show. There were probably a dozen different requests from all the different three-letter agencies requesting his help in locating the new threat to US democracy. The media was as usual doing its best to fan the flames in that regard but the fact that Jack just fled and did not engage with any of the military assets present in the vicinity meant that it was a little harder for the Media to just blame him for everything. The only thing was the damage done from all the windows shattered because of the sonic boom he left in his wake which was an easy fix for him. He wrote a cheque, and instructed Jarvis to make sure that everyone either got their brand-new windows installed or got compensation. That shut up all of the clamouring building owners who went back on their days once they got the money and that was that. 

All the data that he had on Jack was sealed away in a server that was located somewhere deep in the sea or even in some iceberg, for all he knew. He was very specific in coding that part in Jarvis. One of his magnum opus, if you will. The ability to create pseudo-random code by observing dozens of different natural and man-made phenomena that happen around the world and then basing the algorithm on a pattern using those events. It could be the interval between those events, their sounds converted into binary, or even their colours or a number of other parameters. Based on that algorithm, Jarvis decided on the place to store the Black Box server that he had. That place too was changed based on that algorithm at seemingly random intervals. Now, if someone had complete access to Jarvis’ source code and was present when he coded that thing so that person would know just what the source pattern was, then there was a chance that it could be cracked but that was based on the assumption that Jarvis had not taken that code and upgraded it to kingdom come.

Then there were the readings he had gotten from the base that had burned down. He did some digging and found out that they were experimenting on something in that base. It was a collaborative effort from the Military, SHIELD, and a dozen different private companies, for what, he could only guess.

Super soldiers.

God, when would the world move away from flesh and blood soldiers, no matter how enhanced they might be? No matter how strong, smart, blonde, and just absolutely perfect Steve Rogers was, he could kick his ass with ease, even with the Mark II. There was nothing exceptional when it came to Captain America if he thought about it in the modern context but if they were able to come up with someone like Jack in a lab? 

The mere thought of that was terrifying enough. A mass-produced army of Jack’s power level would be disastrous for everyone, even the US military, no matter how delusional they might be to realise that. Despite the impressive powers that Jack’s shields had, they were certainly not equipped to handle Nuclear Weaponry and certainly not equipped to handle the aftermath of those nukes.

He would have loved to get to the bottom of that base if not for the multiple warnings he had gotten from his contacts in the Army, warning him to stay away from Jack since the military was of the opinion that the Hulk was multiplying somehow. Some of the more outrageous theories suggested that Bruce Banner had somehow transfused his blood with that of someone and that someone was Jack. He had snorted at the mere thought of that despite not having the DNA of Jack because he knew, with almost certainty, that Jack was a product of the experiments done at that Canadian base that was no longer on the map. In the span of his bringing Jack to the US and Jack being discovered, the base had been completely destroyed and covered with Snow. It would seem that the Canadian government worked fast in covering up their shitshows.

He had chosen to take a step back from the entire matter, not only due to the warnings from his contacts but also from Pepper who was of the opinion that Jack would be more than capable of handling the threats coming his way if he acted smart and stayed away from urban areas and used his powers to a minimum, thereby camouflaging him from the military scanners. Also, she was sure that Fury would know about Jack being captured as soon as that happened and Fury would do something about it. 

He was 90% sure that Fury was the reason none of the agencies in the world were about to find even the shadow of Bruce Banner. He could understand why though. Bruce being in the middle of an altercation was the sole reason the Hulk was triggered and in all the fights that he was able to get the footage of, he had noticed one peculiar thing. The Hulk, as fearsome and rampaging as it was, never hurt a civilian or someone who was not in his way. That meant that the Hulk was not some mindless beast but someone who responded in kind to the threat it was subjected to.

He sighed and closed his eyes, letting them rest from the torture that he subjected them to, every day. Despite his considerable advances in the display field, there was not much he could do to mitigate the limitations that came with age. He could understand the thoughts of politicians and the other rich people who wanted to live forever and hold on to their powers for a longer period of time and honestly, with what he had seen of Bruce, he was probably the closest thing to an Immortal that he had seen but he was not that tempted. Sure, having fewer growing pains as he aged would be nice but that was just a part of living life that he had to accept. He didn’t want to become like those monsters in human skin in the pursuit of a longer life. He was content with what he had and would be fine being a rickety old man with a killer sense of humour. With all his wealth, creature comforts would be a finger snap anyway.

“Anyways, Jarvis, bring up the scans of Jack’s shields. I think I got it. We should be able to strengthen the projected repulsor barrier by at least 15% if we imitate the same energy structure,”

“Affirmative, sir…..”

_________xx_____

At the same time, Kamar-Tak, Kathmandu

–Jack Sullivan–

This sucks. So Hard.

He panted and gasped as he did the same katas as all the apprentices that he was paired with. The Ancient One had given him a bracelet that increased the pressure on his body so much that he was probably weaker than an average adult at this point, despite being a literal Super Soldier. She had said that it would help train his CHI to not be in imbalance with his Gamma Energy and Power Cosmic.

Ah yes, the Power Cosmic. According to his spotty comic knowledge, Power Cosmic was a type of energy that was unique to Galactus as he was the being that would bring about the Big Bang of the next universe after the inevitable heat death of the current universe. Apparently, his barriers were somehow made of the same stuff. Those barriers were then covered in Gamma Energy that his body produced according to his demand and then there was CHI which was there in his body in excess quantity because of the Super Soldier serum that was used on him. The Ancient One had been very forthcoming with information right up until he asked her about the specifics of his experiment where she shut up and asked him to join the training that was mostly reserved for unpowered newbies, not someone Awesome like him who could lift a car with a thought.

He was not moronic though. He realised the meaning of the training soon enough and within a day of training, he had already learned how to open portals using his bare hands. The energies already present inside his body did present a challenge which is why he had to focus very hard on the place and even then, the portal that opened was barely enough for him to fit his arm through but hey, progress was progress.

According to the Ancient One, with enough mastery of the Sling Ring, one could open portals with just a wave of their hands and even employ portals as a weapon in their arsenal. It was just a shame that the event horizon of a portal would cancel out depending on the density of mass and energy it encounters.

So no Thanos killing easy machine, sorry HISHE.

He had also figured out a way to stop his second skin from appearing on reflex. Now, he could activate it on demand and then deactivate it with some effort as well. Next, he was working on activating that skin on only specific portions of his skin instead of his entire body.

He had almost 10 months to train himself and he was sure that Kamar Taj was the best place to be for that. Not only did he get trained in the art of hand-to-hand combat by Mordo himself, but he was also trained in fighting hard and brutally by Kaecilius. He knew what fate awaited both of them but since they were useful to him at the moment, he did nothing to dissuade them from their probable future.

Their heads were still getting away from their bodies if they met on the battlefield as enemies, though. Mama raised no coward and letting them go instead of solving the problem once and for all, if you knew what was going to happen later on, was definitely cowardice for him.

He had tried getting his hands on some artifact but so far he had no luck. He passed his downtime, which was sparse considering the absolute ton of books he had to read, and he practiced with his powers. According to the Ancient One, the eldritch constructs that each master made had varying levels of strength, based on the strength of the Sorcerer casting it. In the entirety of Kamar Taj, only the Ancient One, Mordo, Kaecilius, Wong, and a dozen other oldies were able to create constructs that could give his barriers a challenge. He had tried it with the Ancient One and was successful in cutting through her barriers but the only reason he was able to do that was because of that Power Cosmic coursing through his barriers.

In their spar, he had seen that all of the green energy surrounding his barrier had been stripped away by her spell but the core structure of the barrier remained which was then deflected by another one of her spells. God, she was so strong.

So, he practised with his barriers with all that he had. He was not sure of any major events that happened between now and the Invasion of New York so he was wary of venturing out and missing out on precious training time. He had decided to spend the time leading up to the CHitauri invasion with his training so that when the time came, he would be all ready with a power-up.

He had entertained the thought of stopping Loki and preventing the Invasion if that was in his powers anyway, but the Ancient One had stopped that train of thinking in its tracks. According to her, that invasion must happen and it was a fixed point in history that would shape the world for centuries to come. She had then gotten all scary and then threatened him that if he tried to stop that from happening, she would have to hunt him down as a time criminal and he had stopped thinking about that from that point onward.

So, no stopping Loki from opening the portal. The next best thing he could do was reduce the casualties or prevent them altogether. He knew he could not save everybody but one could hope.

He had then set two goals for himself -

• Be strong enough to stop the Leviathans and their energy weapons with ease.

• Be able to create multiple barriers at the same time.

• Pilot the barriers to evacuate citizens without being in the vicinity, i.e., increasing his spatial awareness.

The task was tall but he was determined to do it. After all, one extra hour spent training could mean the life and death of someone 10 months later.

So, he went back to training. Despite his muscles protesting with all their might, he picked himself back up and went back to training, even as the mere act of performing the katas left small craters on the training floor, due to the sheer weight he was subjected to.

Word Count - 2716