Inside the helicarrier.
The heroes had gathered together.
Bant, dressed in his black Spider-Man suit, sat unobtrusively toward the back like some minor, forgettable figure. In the public eye, he had not been the centerpiece of this operation, so there was no need to steal the spotlight now.
"Does anyone else remember how this whole thing started as just taking down a few Hydra bases?" Nick Fury asked, genuinely amused.
"The biggest snake pit is gone now. What's there left to be unsatisfied about?" Tony leaned back in his chair, munching on a snack he had procured from who knew where.
"Yeah, and my house is gone too."
"You've still got all those safe houses..." Hill began, but Bant cut her off.
"Most of them got seized. The funds were from questionable sources. You can't just embezzle money and call it yours, no matter how much you stole." Bant turned his head toward Nick Fury. "Now do you understand why you have to pay taxes even on dirty money, old man Fury?"
Call it protection money.
"They left me one safe house. I won't be needing it though." As Fury spoke, he tossed a small box over to Bant.
"What's that?" Tony arched an eyebrow.
"The keys to my last remaining safe house. A little thank-you gift for putting in a few good words that kept me out of prison."
Nick Fury gave his backside a pat and stood up. He was ready to leave.
Steve blocked his path. "The dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a foregone conclusion now. So what happens to us?"
"To you?"
"I mean the Avengers."
Steve clarified. The original Avengers had been assembled by Nick Fury. He had been the one giving the orders. Now, thanks to the Hydra disaster, Fury had been removed from his position and naturally could no longer lead the team. To be honest, gathering a bunch of superheroes together didn't necessarily mean they would follow his command anyway.
"There are plenty of smart people in this room. Why don't you ask him?"
Hearing this, Tony assumed Fury was talking about him. He immediately stepped forward, playing it up. "If you ask me, we should just call it quits and disband."
"I wasn't talking about you!"
"You, silenced by a single EMP blast, and you still have the nerve to pipe up?"
Nick Fury rolled his one remaining eye, then extended a finger and pointed toward the corner where Bant sat. "That guy."
Fury was no fool. After everything that had happened, looking back, he had started to notice a few things that didn't add up. Initially, he had not known that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself was the Hydra mother nest, so he had assumed the cyberattack was orchestrated by Hydra. But now, in hindsight, there were clearly holes in that theory.
Who attacks their own base?
Many things didn't hold up under scrutiny. But at this point, Fury had nothing left to say about it. If anything, he felt Bant had done a damn fine job. Bant had genuinely rooted out Hydra. And all of it had started with nothing more than Fury telling Peter that his parents had been murdered by Hydra.
After it was all over, the Celestial Alliance that Bant represented had made no move to insert itself into the heart of human power. Instead, it was Norman Osborn who started engaging with the big players. Whatever else you could say, the Celestial Alliance's attitude was something the old black egg could appreciate.
Tony wasn't actually bothered by Fury's opinion of Bant as the smart one. He respected Bant's intelligence too. But what was with the knock on him to prop up someone else?
"My new armor has already overcome that weakness. And besides, you've got some nerve bringing that up. Who was it that prepared the EMP bomb in the first place? You shady bastard, you've been keeping counters against me since the beginning, haven't you?"
"Think whatever you want."
Nick Fury couldn't even be bothered to come up with an excuse anymore. He slapped his backside and walked off.
Immediately, the superheroes turned their attention to Bant, expecting him to offer some kind of direction.
"Come on, spill it. Big sister here doesn't want to end up unemployed," Natasha purred, throwing Bant a wink.
Bant remained unmoved. "Unemployed? Aren't you already old enough to collect a pension, Grandma Natasha?"
Natasha didn't take the bait. She just shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a Russki. That pension isn't going to find its way to me."
"You know how it goes. When it's time to pay in, they complain there aren't enough people. When it's time to pay out, they complain there are too many."
"Shut it. That's enough. Who exactly are you trying to take a dig at here?" Bant covered her mouth, speaking with mock righteousness. "Just because it's true doesn't mean you should say it out loud."
"So, what about the Avengers..."
"I think the Avengers should stay," Bant said after a moment's thought.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is being dissolved, but some new organization will inevitably take its place. I'll go ahead and tell you now. Norman Osborn is going to establish the Hammer of God Bureau to replace S.H.I.E.L.D."
"But as we just saw with the Hydra infiltration, no one can guarantee that the Hammer of God Bureau will stay true to its original purpose forever. No one can promise it will always stay clean. The Avengers are necessary. As a standalone team, we don't need to be together all the time. We won't fight every battle side by side every single day. But when the time comes and we're needed, we can step up."
At this, everyone nodded, acknowledging the sense in what Bant had said. Steve Rogers most of all.
Just like this time, even S.H.I.E.L.D. itself had turned out to be Hydra. What was left that he could truly trust? Only himself. Only the Avengers.
"Good. Since nobody has any objections, I nominate Steve Rogers as captain of the Avengers, and Tony Stark as our technical advisor. Both of them have proven leadership and technical skill. There are no better candidates."
These words immediately made Tony Stark beam with delight.
He glanced smugly around at the others, especially those who had questioned whether his intellect could match Bant's.
Look at that! Even Bant acknowledges me! You bunch of mediocrities don't know squat!
He declared at once, "I'll fully fund the Avengers' operational budget. Stark Tower can be converted into Avengers Tower. I've been meaning to build two new ones anyway."
Hearing that, nobody had a single objection. Tony Stark, the name alone screamed technical expertise.
"Alright, everything's settled then. The rest of you go register with Natasha." Bant waved a hand and prepared to leave.
Tony stopped him. "Hold on. What are you going to do?"
"What does any of this have to do with me? I'm with the Celestial Alliance."
Bant made it clear they had the wrong organization.
"Joining the Celestial Alliance doesn't mean you can't also be an Avenger," Steve said.
Tony nodded in agreement. "That's right. We don't discriminate against aliens here."
"Having Peter join is enough. To be honest, I don't want to waste my energy on the superhero lifestyle," Bant shook his head.
Steve felt a bit disappointed, but he didn't press the matter. To him, Bant was indeed a genius. On the battlefield, he could fight. Back in the lab, he could run research. On top of that, Bant was a good friend. But every man had his own path.
"I don't want to turn into a monster again either," Connors added, also declining membership.
In the end, Harry chose not to stay with the Avengers as well. Daredevil slipped back to the streets. Only the Falcon remained.
Once everyone's decision was settled, a mountain of trivial matters still awaited them.
Tony found Bant, but didn't say anything. He just stood beside him, both of them gazing through the glass at the thick clouds stretching beneath the helicarrier.
"So, did you and Steve bury the hatchet?" Bant broke the silence first.
The two of them had been harmonizing so seamlessly earlier, they seemed thick as thieves.
Tony shook his head. "We just avoid the topic. We pretend it never happened. A new team was just formed. Neither of us wanted personal grudges to tear this thing apart."
In simple terms, avoid saying anything detrimental to unity.
"But have you ever considered that a crack left unrepaired will eventually become a fatal weak point?"
Tony didn't voice an opinion on that. He simply asked, "When that day comes, will you stand by my side?"
"As long as you don't bully my cousin."
Tony let out a rueful laugh. "I know, really. The one who was most wrong in all this was my father. He was the one who betrayed Steve Rogers first. It's just hard for me to let that go completely."
"He doesn't care about betrayal."
"You're right." Tony made a swallowing motion, as if forcing down bitter tears. "He's so magnanimous. If I held a petty grudge, wouldn't that mean I lost?"
Reading between the lines, Tony Stark was clearly done pursuing the matter with Bucky. It was inevitable. He knew who had truly caused all this tragedy.
"Now that Hydra has been crushed, let's just turn the page on all of it." Tony seemed selfish and egotistical on the surface, but in truth, he understood things more clearly than anyone.
"It's not completely crushed yet," Bant said.
The Hydra agents who had been captured were all operatives within S.H.I.E.L.D. There were still many high-ranking Hydra officials hidden among the government who hadn't been rooted out. The Project Insight algorithm had been running continuously, but it couldn't instantly identify every single Hydra member. The algorithm's core function was to ceaselessly monitor information streams and uncover any clue connected to Hydra.
Norman had thrown himself into this work the moment the battle ended. Find Hydra. Eliminate Hydra. Every single day, senators, officials, or wealthy elites were exposed and arrested. Only now did the public realize how terrifyingly close Hydra had been to them. Fear gripped the populace, and their admiration for Norman, the one sniffing them out, soared.
The establishment of the Hammer of God Bureau was a done deal.
Before long, Norman arrived with the paperwork to take over the helicarriers.
"Starting today, the Hammer of God Bureau will replace S.H.I.E.L.D., carrying out all of its former duties and taking over all prior S.H.I.E.L.D. operations and research projects. This means these three helicarriers will fall under the jurisdiction of the Hammer of God Bureau. The Avengers will also, nominally, operate under the Bureau's oversight."
Norman addressed the assembled heroes.
"Of course, I hold all of you in the highest trust. I witnessed firsthand your extraordinary bravery during this war. Therefore, I have absolute confidence in your ability to protect America without the need for interference from the Hammer of God Bureau or anyone else."
Norman Osborn's words were impeccably polite, earning him considerable goodwill from Tony and the others.
Having just lived through the whole S.H.I.E.L.D.-turned-Hydra fiasco, Steve's greatest fear now was that the Avengers would become someone else's tool, just like Bucky.
"You're leagues better than that black egg," Tony commented, arms folded.
Norman offered a slight smile. "I hope the Hammer of God Bureau can form a cooperative partnership with the Avengers. Everyone here has their own life to live. The Bureau will share intelligence with the Avengers and only summon the team for assembly under necessary circumstances."
No one had major objections to Norman's proposal.
Natasha raised her hand, though. "What about those of us who don't have a life of our own? What am I supposed to do between missions?"
Steve was wondering the same thing.
"Life can begin at any moment. It just depends on whether you truly want it to," Norman replied. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, I would rather see you both put the past behind you and start anew. However, if that proves too difficult, the Hammer of God Bureau can certainly offer you positions. Any former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, after passing a review, may choose to continue working here."
The Bureau was just getting off the ground. It needed people.
"That would be perfect."
Both Natasha and Steve exhaled in relief. Honestly, without a job, neither of them really knew what they would do with themselves.
Natasha could adapt to modern life, but as an operative forged in the Red Room, she didn't place much importance on enjoying herself. Idle time tended to dredge up the unbearable memories of her past.
For Steve, it wasn't so much that he couldn't fit into the modern world as it was that he was afraid to. He feared forming new connections with people out there. He had never truly left 1945. The era that belonged to him had long since drawn its curtain. His former love was now a white-haired, senile old woman. The friends he knew had passed on one by one. This age was filled with Iron Men in flying armor, with Spider-Man whose strength and reflexes far outclassed his, with hackers, monsters like Connors, and countless aliens. He was nothing more than an ordinary man pumped full of super soldier serum, his abilities unremarkable by comparison.
Perhaps this era no longer needed him.
But thank goodness for Bucky. At least he still had Bucky. That was what he held onto.
In short order, Norman was officially appointed as Director of the Hammer of God Bureau. Truth be told, the World Security Council was in a bigger hurry than he was.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. in ruins, America had effectively lost its shield. Granted, that shield had been riddled with thorns all along, but they hadn't known that at the time. Now, without S.H.I.E.L.D. while the country across the Pacific still had the Spear of God Bureau, they felt not only a step behind but also profoundly insecure. So, the Security Council practically thrust Norman into the position without delay.
Unlike S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tradition of secrecy, after the public battle in Times Square, concealment was no longer what the people wanted. The American citizens who had witnessed Hydra with their own eyes would much prefer a visible, tangible organization protecting them.
Therefore, the existence of the Hammer of God Bureau was made public from the start.
On the day Norman assumed office, he and the superheroes who had chosen to join the Avengers staged a political spectacle that resembled a fashion runway show. Afterward, two of the three helicarriers were stationed over the Pacific Ocean. The remaining one became the headquarters of the Hammer of God Bureau, hovering high in the sky.
The Hammer of God Bureau had truly come into being.
/-\
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