Stark Tower, New YorkMay 2012
"You know, for a guy who claims to be a boring defense contractor, you have very expensive taste in bourbon."
Tony Stark stood on the balcony of the newly christened Stark Tower, holding a tumbler of amber liquid. The city sprawled below them, lit by the clean energy of the Arc Reactor.
Elias Thorne leaned against the railing, his silhouette cutting a sharp figure against the twilight. He wasn't drinking. He rarely did anymore. It dulled the reaction times.
"It's a gift from a client in Kentucky," Elias said, his voice low. "And the tower is an impressive beacon, Tony. A little loud, though."
"Loud is the point. I want the world to see the future." Tony took a sip, eyeing Elias. "Speaking of the future... SHIELD has been asking about you. Fury says you've gone dark. No public appearances, stock managed by algorithms, and you're spending a GDP's worth of cash on 'R&D'."
Elias turned, his blue eyes catching the reactor's glow. "The world is changing, Tony. The things we saw in New Mexico? That was just the scouting party."
"Paranoia looks good on you, but it's a little 1980s." Tony tapped his chest piece. "We have the deterrent."
"You have a suit," Elias corrected. "I'm talking about a war."
Before Tony could retort, the elevator doors chimed. Agent Phil Coulson stepped out, looking grim.
"Mr. Stark," Coulson said. He nodded to Elias. "Mr. Thorne. I didn't expect to find you here. Saves me a trip."
"Phil," Tony groaned. "I thought we were on a first-name basis. And I thought I wasn't joining your super-secret boy band."
Coulson held out a tablet. "This isn't about the band. It's about the Tesseract."
Elias didn't need to look at the tablet. Alfred was already whispering in his ear via the bone-conduction implant.
"Sir, massive gamma radiation spike detected at the Joint Dark Energy Mission facility. The facility has collapsed. Casualties are high. Agent Barton is compromised. Nick Fury has issued a Level 7 alert."
Elias set his glass down on the railing. "I have to go."
Tony looked at him, confused. "You just got here. You're gonna leave me with the spook?"
"Alfred," Elias murmured as he walked toward the elevator, passing Coulson without breaking stride. "Initiate Protocol: Nightfall."
Coulson watched him go. "Does he always leave like that?"
"Usually he jumps off the balcony," Tony muttered, looking at the tablet. "Okay, what are we looking at?"
The Suit
Thorne Industries: Sub-Level 5 (The Belfry)
The room was kept at absolute zero temperature to cool the server banks. In the center stood a glass case.
Elias stripped off his Italian suit. His body was a map of scars—scars from training, scars from the Destroyer, scars from testing the limits of human physiology.
He stepped onto the platform. Mechanical arms descended, assembling the armor around him.
It wasn't Iron Man's flashy hot-rod red. It was a suit born of shadows and pragmatism.
Material: A weave of carbon-nanotubes and a synthetic polymer derived from the Destroyer's debris analysis. It absorbed kinetic energy rather than deflecting it.
Helm: A full-face cowl with a T-shaped tactical visor.
Gadgets: Grapple lines, flash-bangs, smoke pellets, and localized EMP emitters.
The Cape: A memory-cloth glider capability, allowing for silent traversal.
Elias pulled the cowl over his head. The HUD flared to life.
"Systems green," Alfred reported. "Suit temperature regulation active. Ocular nerve dampeners engaged to prevent overheating."
"Location on the target?"
"Stuttgart, Germany. Facial recognition confirms: Loki of Asgard."
Elias's eyes behind the visor shifted. The Eyes of the Lord were dormant, waiting.
"Deploy the jet."
Stuttgart, Germany
The classical music of the gala was replaced by the screams of panicked civilians. Loki, dressed in his full horned regalia, strode out of the museum, flipping a police car with a wave of his scepter.
He corralled the crowd into the plaza, forcing them to their knees.
"Kneel before me!" Loki bellowed. "Is this not your natural state?"
An old man stood up to defy him. Loki raised the scepter, the blue gem glowing with lethal intent.
"Look to your elder, people," Loki sneered. "Let him be an example."
He fired.
But the beam didn't hit the old man.
Captain America dropped from the sky, deflecting the blast with his Vibranium shield. The energy ricocheted, knocking Loki back.
"You know," Cap said, standing tall. "The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."
Loki laughed, standing up. "The soldier. A man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time," Cap replied.
A Quinjet roared overhead. Natasha Romanoff's voice boomed over the PA. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."
Loki didn't drop it. He blasted the Quinjet. Natasha banked hard to avoid the shot. Cap charged, throwing his shield.
Loki slapped the shield away with effortless grace and engaged Cap in hand-to-hand combat. Cap was a super-soldier, but Loki was a Frost Giant god. Every blow Cap landed, Loki absorbed with a smirk. Loki swept Cap's legs, sending him crashing to the pavement, and raised the scepter to stab him.
Then, the shadows moved.
A black shape swung from the museum roof, moving in a silent pendulum arc. Two boots slammed into Loki's chest with the force of a wrecking ball.
Loki flew backward, skidding across the stone plaza.
Elias landed in a crouch between Cap and the god. His cape settled around him like smoke.
Cap looked at the new arrival. "Who are you?"
"Support," Elias growled.
Loki stood up, dusting off his coat. He looked annoyed. "Another costume? Midgard is infested with them."
Elias stood slowly. His HUD analyzed Loki's stance.
Target: Loki Odinson.Threat Level: Omega.Fighting Style: Asgardian Royal Guard / Sorcery hybrid.Weakness: Arrogance.
"Alfred," Elias whispered. "Pattern analysis."
Loki lunged. He was fast—faster than the eye could follow. He thrust the scepter like a spear.
Elias didn't block. He flowed.
Eyes of the Lord: Active.
Time dilated. Elias saw the micro-movements in Loki's shoulder. He saw the intent. He saw the illusion Loki was casting—a duplicate image feinting to the left while the real attack came from the right.
Elias ignored the illusion. He ducked under the real scepter strike, moving inside Loki's guard.
Copying Technique: Asgardian Dagger Arts.
Elias moved his hands in a blur, striking Loki's nerve clusters—wrist, elbow, throat.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Loki stumbled back, gasping. He wasn't injured, but he was shocked. This mortal moved like... him.
"You dare?" Loki snarled. He summoned two daggers from thin air and slashed wildly.
Elias's eyes spun, the gears turning. He matched Loki slash for slash, his armored gauntlets parrying the divine blades with sparks flying. It was a mirror match.
"You're sloppy," Elias said, his voice modulated to a deep bass. "You overextend on the backhand."
"Enough!" Loki shouted. He raised the Scepter to blast Elias at point-blank range.
Suddenly, AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill blasted over the plaza speakers.
A beam of repulsor energy slammed into Loki, knocking him flat on his back. Iron Man descended from the sky, all weapons deployed.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Tony said.
Loki looked at Iron Man, then at Cap, and finally at the dark figure standing silently in the shadows. He raised his hands in surrender, his armor fading away.
"Good move," Tony said. He looked at Elias. "Nice outfit. Bit theatrical, isn't it? Drapes are so last season."
"It's tactical memory fiber," Elias said, turning off his optical enhancement. The headache was instant but manageable.
"Mr. Stark," Cap said, wary. "Who is your friend?"
"Captain Rogers, meet Elias Thorne," Tony introduced. "Our local billionaire ninja."
Elias looked at Cap. "Captain."
"Thorne," Cap nodded. "You hit hard."
"I hit precise," Elias corrected. He looked at Loki, who was being cuffed. Loki was smiling.
"He's giving up too easily," Elias stated. "He's planning something."
"I don't think he planned on getting the snot kicked out of him by Batman over here," Tony quipped.
"Don't call me that," Elias sighed.
The Helicarrier
Location: 30,000 feet
The Avengers were assembled. Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, and Thor (who had intercepted the Quinjet and subsequently joined the "team").
Elias stood in the corner of the bridge, arms crossed, observing. He felt like an outsider, which was exactly where he wanted to be.
Nick Fury walked in. "We have the Scepter. Banner, Stark, you're on the tracking algorithm. Thorne... I want you on security."
"No," Elias said. The room went quiet.
Fury turned his one eye on him. "Excuse me?"
"Loki is on this ship because he wants to be on this ship," Elias said, stepping into the light. "He's a trickster god. You put him in a glass cage? He's a chaotic element in a contained environment. He's here to unleash the Hulk."
Banner looked up nervously. "Me?"
"He knows he can't beat you all in a straight fight," Elias deduced, channeling the Wayne intellect. "He needs to fracture the team. What better way than a rampage from the inside?"
"He has a point," Natasha said softly. "Loki's MO is manipulation."
"I'll double the guard," Fury said dismissively. "But we have protocols."
"Protocols fail," Elias murmured. "I'll be in the lab."
The Mind Stone
In the lab, the tension was palpable. The Scepter sat in the containment unit, emitting a low hum.
Elias stood apart from Tony and Bruce, who were poking the Scepter with instruments. Elias was watching the room. He felt a headache building—not from his eyes, but from the Scepter. It was itching at the back of his brain, whispering aggression, paranoia.
Mental Conditioning: Level 9.
Elias breathed out, erecting mental walls. He analyzed the feeling. Influence. Psionic frequency.
"You're quiet," Bruce Banner said, looking over his glasses. "Tony says you're a genius."
"I'm observant," Elias said. "Doctor, your heart rate is elevating."
"It's just the stress," Bruce muttered.
"No," Elias said, walking closer to the Scepter. "It's the rock. It's broadcasting."
Suddenly, the argument broke out. Tony accusing Steve, Steve accusing Tony. Fury entered, and the shouting match escalated. The Scepter's influence was peaking.
Elias didn't join the shouting. He put his hand on his utility belt, fingering a small lead-lined canister.
Plan B: Sonic dampener and sleeping gas. If the Hulk turns, I have 3 seconds to deploy.
"Put on the suit," Steve challenged Tony.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," Tony snapped.
BOOM.
The explosion rocked the Helicarrier. An engine turbine was gone. Barton had arrived.
The floor tilted. Bruce Banner fell, hitting the ground hard. He groaned, his skin turning green.
"Doctor," Natasha said, terrified.
"I... I can't..." Bruce writhed.
Elias moved. He didn't run away. He ran toward Banner.
"Natasha, go!" Elias shouted.
"Get away from him!" she yelled.
The Hulk roared. A massive, green fist swung blindly.
Elias activated the Eyes of the Lord.
The world slowed. The fist was a mountain of muscle and rage. It was clumsy, purely instinctual.
Elias ducked under the swing, the wind pressure nearly knocking him over. He slid between the Hulk's legs.
"Alfred! Vent the room! Now!"
"Venting atmosphere," Alfred replied.
Elias threw three flash-bang grenades directly into the Hulk's face.
BANG.
The Hulk roared in annoyance, blinded for a second. It wasn't enough to stop him, but it was enough to lure him.
"Over here, big guy!" Elias shouted, grappling up to the rafters.
The Hulk smashed through the catwalk, chasing the black gnat.
Elias wasn't trying to win. He was trying to lead the Hulk away from the bridge and the civilian crew, toward the cargo bay.
He landed on a fighter jet. The Hulk leaped, landing on the wing and crushing it.
"Okay," Elias panted. "New theory."
The Hulk swung a backhand. Elias saw it. He leaned back, the green knuckles grazing his cowl, cracking the lens.
Warning: Structural integrity compromised.
Elias decided to try something insane. He watched the Hulk's muscle fiber twitch before a smash.
Copying Stats: Strength (Partial).
Elias couldn't copy the Hulk's full strength—his bones would powder. But he pushed his biological manipulation to the absolute lethal limit of human potential.
He grabbed a loose steel beam and swung it with perfect leverage, timing it against the Hulk's momentum.
CLANG.
The beam bent around the Hulk's head. The Hulk blinked. He actually paused.
Elias dropped the beam. "Yeah, that didn't work."
The Hulk roared and shoulder-checked Elias.
Even with the suit, even with the roll, the impact was like being hit by a train. Elias flew through two bulkheads, crashing into a pile of crates.
Everything went black for a second.
"Sir! Sir! Cardiac rhythm irregular!"
Elias gasped, coughing up blood inside his mask. Thor tackled the Hulk through the wall a second later, taking over the fight.
Elias lay in the debris, his vision swimming. He smiled weakly.
"Got... data..."
He passed out.