In a house on the coast, bought more to show off than to live in, Tony Stark was lying on the couch with a glass of alcohol in his hand.
"Enough, Tony, it's already the second bottle today. Will you tell me what's going on?" Pepper scolded him, both upset and worried.
"Alright, I'm just enjoying my life."
"I'm serious, Tony. You've been ignoring the Avengers for a week, what's happening?"
"Ahhh…" he sighed, "Fine, you want to know what's happening? The truth is, trouble is coming. Internal problems, disputes within the group, and more things I'd honestly rather avoid."
"That's it? So the Avengers face an internal problem and you just abandon them?"
"Of course not," he said seriously, "I'm already part of that ship. If the ship sinks, I'll sink with it."
"Then what are you doing here?" Pepper asked, exasperated.
"Just enjoying my life a little before it turns into chaos… I'd like to believe I deserve it."
Pepper noticed the seriousness in his words and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
"Tony, I know you think you have to atone for your sins, but you already did that a long time ago. You don't have to force yourself to keep going if it's not what you want."
"Not want the fame and glory?" he laughed sarcastically, "Don't worry about that."
'Sir, there is a new pai…'
"There goes my break. Spare me that part, JARVIS. Show me."
'Understood, sir. Displaying image.'
Tony watched the projection for a few seconds before concluding,
"Yeah… I have no idea. Where is this?"
'It should be on the outskirts of Manhattan. A recently built government research base. The attackers seem to be some enemy faction, simply.'
"Doesn't look too serious. Can't someone else go?"
'Because of the sensitive location, those with low destructibility and high agility will go. However, the Avengers request your presence because of the type of institution.'
"So they need my brain to make sure they don't destroy everything by accident… Fine, I suppose."
Ten minutes later, he was already in front of the living room window in his red and gold armor. The glass opened to the sides. Before he put on the mask, Pepper approached and kissed him.
"Take care. You know I love you."
"Of course I know," Tony replied, but when he saw his girlfriend's annoyed look he corrected himself, "I love you too."
Pepper smiled and stepped back before remembering something.
"About those problems, do you think everything will turn out alright?"
"Of course, you don't have to worry so much."
But just then, she frowned, confused.
"Wait… how do you know the problem hasn't gotten worse since you left? Problems won't wait for you, Tony."
He laughed, lowered the mask that completed the helmet, and answered,
"Problems don't wait for me. It just so happens that I'm the one who's going to cause them."
With those last words, he took off flying.
---
At the government facility, an enemy faction attacked, probably trying to steal whatever was being kept there.
They neutralized guards and anyone who tried to stop them, stole information, and reached the central storage, where the successful research samples were kept. They placed five syringes in a briefcase and prepared to flee.
However, as soon as they left, the situation got complicated: the briefcase was snatched by a web and ended up in Gwen's hands.
The leader turned in her direction and saw not only Ghost-Spider, but also Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Bucky.
Normally, they would have sent the Iron Legion or Pietro for such an operation, but both presented the same problem: a mishap with mechanical weapons or a collision from Pietro could be fatal in a lab. That was also why Steve wasn't there; he could have shown up without his shield, but they considered it unnecessary given how minor the matter seemed.
Gwen opened the briefcase and looked at the syringes.
"So… syringes? What is this, some new drug?" she asked playfully.
The attackers didn't answer. They pointed their weapons at her and fired.
Gwen reacted quickly: she tossed the briefcase upward and, with her hands free, shot webs covering the muzzles of several guns, blocking their fire. She dodged the rest with flips and acrobatics, landing just in time to catch the briefcase in midair.
"Taraaa," she sang, then pretended to be annoyed, "You guys aren't fun."
She stuck the briefcase to a wall with webbing and lunged into the fight. The rest of the Avengers joined her and, in less than five minutes, they had already taken down more than half the group, leaving only the strongest.
Surrounded, the raiders now faced Clint aiming his bow at them, Tony hovering and charging his repulsors, while Gwen and Bucky stood firm, imposing respect without moving.
Suddenly, Gwen sensed danger behind her and reacted just in time. A huge being appeared: a kind of mini-Hulk about 2.5 meters tall, muscular like a bodybuilder but not at the level of the real Hulk. In fact, it was hard to associate him with Hulk, but his green skin gave away some connection.
As she turned, Gwen saw that the briefcase was open… and one syringe was missing.
"Oh-oh."
"Fear me, Avengers. With my new power I'll tear you to pieces," he roared, charging at Bucky.
Bucky dodged and tripped him with a kick, making him fall for a moment. Gwen blinded him with webs over his eyes and feet, Clint shot an electric arrow that jolted him, and when he managed to break free, still on the ground, he looked up to find Tony aiming his fully charged central repulsor at him.
---
At Avengers Tower.
"No, no, no, this is a very serious problem…" Bruce Banner muttered as he paced nervously.
"Calm down, Bruce," Steve said, "They only managed to create five of those things, and their performance is far inferior to the real Hulk."
"But that's the point," Bruce insisted anxiously, "They managed to recreate Hulk, at least partly. Believe me, I've lived with him for years and I know how dangerous he can be. We don't want another one out there."
"Shouldn't we be thinking about something else?" Tony cut in, drawing looks, "Like how they managed to do it?"
"Tony, that's not what we're dealing with right now," Steve stopped him, still resentful of his attitude. But Bruce interrupted.
"No, he's right. The person who has researched Hulk the most in the world is me, and I can assure you this is not only difficult, it's practically impossible, and even if they knew how, they would need samples from the original, and a lot of them, the kind no one could get without me noticing."
"You're saying they managed to get close to Hulk? How?"
Bruce stayed silent for a few seconds until an idea hit him.
"During the case with Doctor Pym… my body was destroyed and I was in a coma while it regenerated. At that time, while I was healing, there was a moment when I felt my strength weaken. It must have happened then."
Steve frowned.
"It'll be hard to figure out. You were in a coma for quite a while and many people had access to the place."
"There's no need for that," Tony said, once again drawing all the attention, "JARVIS."
'Yes, sir.'
Immediately, JARVIS projected a video on the screen. It showed Bruce recovering in a white room. Suddenly, someone entered and extracted "samples" from him, the process brutal and direct, cutting off Banner's entire arm while he was unconscious.
The most disturbing thing was that the intruder didn't even bother to hide his face.
Everyone was shocked to see the culprit. Surprise, confusion, even a little panic.
Only Tony's expression remained unmoved, like someone who had already prepared for this. Slowly, he turned toward a particular corner of the room.
"So… Colonel James Rhodes, anything to say in your defense?"
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)