Morning sunlight spilled over the blocked-off street, glinting off shattered glass and the dull tal barricades that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had set up around the entire block. Yellow tape fluttered lazily in the light breeze while armored vehicles sat parked at crooked angles near the smoking crater in the asphalt.
Then a quiet flash of blue light rippled in the air.
Tony stepped out of the fading glow as if he had simply taken a casual stroll through space. His boots touched the pavent as the teleport energy collapsed behind him with a faint crackle.
He looked around once, taking in the scorched storefronts, cracked windows, and the blackened crater in the middle of the street.
Two familiar figures stood near the edge of the damage.
Susan was speaking with Yelena. Both of them turned the mont Tony appeared.
A few yards away, leaning against the hood of a SHIELD SUV like the whole situation was mildly interesting background noise, stood Thor.
The god of thunder held a jumbo burger in one massive hand.
He took another enormous bite.
Grease dripped down the wrapper.
Tony stared at him for a second.
"Seriously?" Tony called out.
Thor raised the burger in greeting like a royal toast. "Good morning, Stark. This establishnt nearby prepares an excellent sandwich of beef."
Tony blinked once. "That is not a sandwich. That is a giant at patty between two pieces of bread."
Thor shrugged and took another bite anyway.
Tony shook his head and walked toward the girls.
Sue gave him a tired look the second he got close enough.
"Nice of you to finally show up," she said.
Tony raised a hand slightly. "Teleporting across the city takes at least three seconds of emotional preparation. I'm fragile this early in the morning, and I had to take Nat to my mom's place, and I didn't even have ti to make breakfast. So, I stopped by at this cafe downtown for so tea and toast."
Yelena asked, "How is she doing?"
Tony said, "Great and slightly cranky."
She chuckled. "Well, the due date is near."
"So, what happened here?" Tony asked, looking at Sue. "And why didn't my scanners pick this up?"
Sue gestured toward the crater behind them. "Chain explosion. Two thugs tried to rob the store and Thor happened to be there. So, he beat them up and then they started glowing like a human furnace. Then they exploded after Thor gave them another round of beating."
Tony stared at the crater for another second, then tapped the side of the bracelet wrapped around his wrist.
A soft hum answered him.
A translucent blue interface unfolded over his forearm, layered with scrolling data and rotating scan grids. Thin beams of light pulsed outward from the bracelet and swept slowly across the destroyed pavent, the broken storefront, and the scorched edges of the blast zone.
Tony crouched near the crater and held his arm out over the center.
The scanner flickered as it pulled samples from the air, the ash, and the microscopic residue baked into the asphalt.
Sue watched him work with her arms folded.
Thor wandered closer while still chewing the last of his burger.
Tony studied the holographic readouts with narrowed eyes.
"Huh."
Sue raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of huh was that?" she asked. "The interesting huh, or the bad huh?"
Tony kept reading for another few seconds before standing up again.
"The very bad huh," he said.
Sue exhaled slowly. "Fantastic."
Yelena asked, "So what do you think this is? Mutants or so kind of superhuman experint gone wrong?"
Tony shook his head imdiately.
"Nope."
He flicked the hologram outward so the data rotated in the air between them.
"This isn't a mutation or superhuman explosion. Sobody cooked up a nanotechnology-based bio-electronics package and injected it straight into the nervous system."
Tony pointed at one section of the scan results.
"The nanites hook directly into the brain stem and hijack the repair center of the body. They force cellular regeneration at a ridiculous speed while dumping huge amounts of energy into muscle tissue. That gives the user enhanced strength, increased speed, and enough thermal output to turn their entire body into a walking furnace."
Thor wiped grease from his beard with the back of his hand.
"I noticed the heat."
Tony nodded without looking at him.
"Yeah. You probably did."
He rotated the scan again and zood into another section.
"The problem is stability. Whoever designed this system pushed the energy threshold way past what a human nervous system can regulate. The nanites keep forcing regeneration while the thermal output climbs higher and higher, and considering Thor's beating... the nanites couldn't keep up with the damage output."
Sue followed the data lines with her eyes.
"And eventually they exploded."
Tony pointed toward the crater behind him.
"Exactly."
Yelena crossed her arms as she looked between the hologram and the blast damage. "So it is basically your Aegis serum with an extra fire boost," She asked.
Tony tilted his head slightly while considering the comparison.
"Sowhat similar conceptually. My Aegis serum enhances cellular durability and stabilizes regeneration through controlled biological feedback. This thing ignores all safety limits and just keeps forcing the system to run hotter."
He flicked another panel open.
"The nanites are also wired directly into the brain's aggression and survival centers. That explains the violent behavior during the robbery. Once the system activates, the subject runs on fight mode until the body overloads."
Sue looked back at the crater again.
"So they were walking bombs."
Tony nodded slowly.
"Pretty much."
Yelena glanced toward Thor.
"And our friendly neighborhood god punched them until the tir ran out."
Thor finished the last bite of the burger and crumpled the wrapper in his hand. "They were criminals," He said calmly. "I did not expect them to explode like angry suns."
Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to need a gallon of coffee before this day gets any worse." He flicked the hologram closed with a small gesture.
Sue studied him carefully. "You recognize the tech."
Tony nodded once.
"I do."
Yelena frowned slightly and asked, "Should we be worried?"
Tony looked at the smoking crater again.
His expression had lost most of the humor that usually lived there.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "You probably should be worried."
Sue tilted her head. "Why?"
Tony slipped his hands into his pockets and sighed. "Because I know exactly what this stuff is. It's called the Extremis virus and the last ti I checked, it was shelved by the governnt after I released the healing nanites for the public." He tapped his earpiece. "Elena, are your upgrades completed?"
Elena replied, "Yes, boss. Synergy reached 100%."
Tony has been secretly upgrading Elena's body to make it perfect. He might have taken things further by using his Infinity Gem to give the robot a soul. He never thought it would work, but it did. So, the threat of an unshackled AI was no more. Finally, he also added so stupidly insane power in her.
"Great, search and annihilate A.I.M and bring Maya Hansen, alive," Tony ordered.
"Do you want to kill everyone related to A.I.M?" Elena asked.
"No, wait!" Tony stopped her as he thought for a mont. "How about we use this situation and help the Avengers earn a na for themselves? They can solve this problem and get so dia attention and I'll prevent unnecessary deaths."
"That seems like a great idea," Elena agreed. "But I don't think they'll go with the killing thing."
"Yeah, doesn't matter as long as they stop whatever experint A.I.M is doing. You'll be assisting them in this mission and if things get out of control, feel free to do whatever is necessary to protect them," Tony said with a serious expression.
"Leave it to , boss," Elena replied. Her voice sounds more cheerful.
"And Elena," Tony said.
"Yeah?"
"Glad to have you back on the field again."
"Likewise, boss," She replied.
[PIC]
---[AN: No, I haven't ended the fic yet. I just rembered the last ti I uploaded 8 chs back to back for my Modern Family ff, they took the entire book down. So, I don't want to take any risk with this one.]
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