by Thomas Macri
Inside sat one of the world’s richest and smartest men. He was seated at a table, facing an empty chair and surrounded by fantastically high-tech screens. One was lit up with the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia. Another kept track of current news events with a constant feed of international newscasts. Still another showed stock quotes, weather reports from around the world, and hotspots of what could only be classified as strange activity.
After a few minutes of perusing the various dis-plays, Tony grew bored and turned his attention to the desk. On it was a small stack of printed files. Curious, Tony grabbed the top one and checked out the cover, which read: AVENGERS INITIATIVE: PRELIMINARY REPORT
Intrigued, Tony opened it up to take a look.
But before he could digest any information, a powerful hand swept down and grabbed the folder from him. Tony looked up into the familiar face of Colonel Nick Fury. Although Tony repeatedly said he didn’t want any part of the Avengers Initiative, there was something about it that interested him, so he kept coming back.
“I don’t think I want you looking at that,” Fury said as he sat down at the table. “I’m not sure it pertains to you anymore.”
Colonel Fury held up a similar file. “Now this on the other hand, is Agent Romanoff’s assessment of you. Read it.”
He tossed the file to Tony, who opened it and began to read.
“Aaaaaaaaah…‘Personality overview: Mister Stark displays compulsive behavior.’…In my own defense, that was last week.”
Colonel Fury shot Tony a warning glance.
“‘Prone to self-destructive tendencies…’ I mean, please. And aren’t we all?”
The colonel kept Tony locked under his stern gaze.
“‘Textbook…narcissism’? …Agreed.”
Despite the fact that Fury’s expression had not changed at all, his anger was becoming more and more palpable.
“Okay, here it is…‘Recruitment Assessment for Avenger Initiative—Iron Man: Yes.’”
Tony flung the file back at Fury, gloating.
“I’ve got to think about it.”
“Read on,” Fury replied flatly.
Tony again picked up the file. “‘Tony Stark: Not…Not?…Recommended’?”
Colonel Fury leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at Tony.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Tony protested. “How can you approve me, but not approve me? I’ve got a new ticker; I’m trying to do right by Pepper; I’m in a stable-ish relationship…”
“Which leads us to believe that at this juncture we’d only like to use you as a consultant,” Fury explained.
Tony looked a little bit bummed. He nodded, then stood up and extended his hand to Fury. Fury took it, and as they shook Tony smiled and said to him, “You can’t afford me.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AGENT COULSON WAS hard at work dealing with the situation in New Mexico. He had spent the previous night interrogating the powerful man who had broken into the complex where the hammer that had fallen to Earth was being held. Coulson had pressed him on where he came from and how it was that he found himself in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. The man was clearly highly trained, and Coulson wanted to know where he received that training. Pakistan? Chechnya? Afghanistan?
The man remained silent. Coulson was going to find out who this mercenary was and what he wanted. He spent the whole night trying, though, and had gotten nothing.
Now, he’d received a call that someone had arrived with information.
* * *
“His name’s Donald Blake?” Coulson asked skeptically, as he met Dr. Selvig at the heavily armed entrance to the site.
“Dr. Donald Blake,” Selvig replied.
“You have dangerous coworkers, Dr. Selvig.”
“He was destroyed when he found out you’d taken all of our research. That was years of his life. Gone. I can understand how a man might go off like that. The big face of an organization like yours coming in with jack-booted thugs…Well, that’s how he put it anyway.”
“That still doesn’t explain how he managed to tear through our security.”
“Steroids!” Erik lied, but he said it as if it were the most obvious explanation in the world.
After engaging Dr. Coulson some more, Dr. Selvig was allowed in to collect the detainee.
“Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, there you are. Gonna be all right. I’m taking you home now!”
Thor and Erik walked silently from the camp. As they departed, Thor managed to swipe Jane’s notebook from an agent, completely unnoticed.
It seemed they were free and clear.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE FOLLOWING morning, Thor received a visit from four heavily armored friends who erased any lingering doubt in Erik’s, Jane’s, and Darcy’s minds that Thor truly was from Asgard. Thor’s closest companions, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three—Hogun, Volstagg, and Fandral—had arrived via the Bifrost. Their spectacular Asgardian battle armor attracted the notice of everyone in the town, including a duo of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that Coulson had sent to shadow Thor and Selvig after he let Thor go.
Thor embraced his longtime companions, overjoyed to see their familiar, brave faces.
“Oh, my friends!” he shouted. “This is good! This is good! My friends, I have never been happier to see anyone. But you should not have come.”
“We have come to take you home,” Fandral said.
“You know I can’t go home. My father is dead because of me and I must remain in exile.”
Lady Sif shook her head. “Thor, your father still lives.”
Thor looked stunned.
Before anyone else could respond, a funnel formed in the otherwise-cloudless desert sky, and with it a whipping sandstorm that shook cars and cut anything in its path appeared as if from nowhere—just as Thor had when he first arrived on Earth.
“Was somebody else coming?” Darcy asked, not sure what to make of any of this.
As if on cue, the dust lifted and revealed a huge, otherworldly, humanlike figure covered in metal. It was the Destroyer.
“Is that one of Stark’s?” Agent Sitwell asked Coulson.
“I don’t know, that guy never tells me anything,” Coulson replied.
Coulson stepped up to the twenty-foot being, held up a megaphone to it, and announced, “Hello. You are using unregistered weapons technology. Identify yourself.”
In response, the Destroyer revealed its face—a fiery furnace—and began to shoot energy from it, vaporizing anything it came into contact with.
“Jane, you have to leave,” Thor said.
“What are you going to do?” Jane asked.
“I’m staying here,” Thor replied.
“Thor’s going to fight with us!” Volstagg pronounced.
“My friends, I am just a man. I’ll only be in the way, and at worst get one of you killed. But I can help get these people to safety.”
“Well, if you’re staying, then so am I,” Jane said.
Thor helped Jane clear the town, loading people into trucks, helping people find their way in the chaos. And while Thor, Jane, Erik, and Darcy did their part, the four Asgardians faced the Destroyer, which they knew the jealous and bitter Loki had sent to Midgard to vanquish his brother.
But one after another, the Asgardians found it impossible to fend off the Destroyer. While Thor’s friends—mortal and immortal—took cover, Thor knew what he must do. As Odin’s son, as a prince of Asgard, he must combat the Destroyer.
He spoke to Loki from across the Realms.
“Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing.”
He stepped up to the Destroyer, whose entire body was blazing beneath its armor.
“So take mine,” Thor said, “and end this.”
With that, the Destroyer closed its faceplate and turned to walk away. Thor was smiling, comforted that his words had reached his brother. But as i
t was leaving, the Destroyer backhanded Thor and sent him flying hundreds of yards across the dusty town.
“No!” Jane yelled, running over to him.
Thor heaved, bloody and beaten, not able to withstand the blow without his powers.
“It’s over,” he said to Jane. “You’re safe.”
Thor closed his eyes. A mighty hero had fallen. His stunned friends looked on as the Destroyer walked off into the horizon.
At that very moment, fifty miles away, Mjolnir began to rattle, shake, and finally break free from its stone encasement. It shot across the desert and landed right in the hand of Thor. Lightning struck, sending a blast of sand and smoke into the desert sky. When the dust cleared, Thor stood, outfitted in his armor and cape. He had proven himself worthy of Mjolnir by his selfless deeds and actions.
Thor twirled Mjolnir victoriously over his head, whipping up a twister that sucked up the Destroyer. Thor battled it in the heart of the storm, easily defeating the being and sending it crashing to the ground before making his own triumphant return.
Now he needed to journey over the Bifrost and return to Asgard to confront his brother. But before he could move to do so, Agent Coulson approached him.
“Excuse me, Donald?” he said. “I don’t think you’ve been completely honest with us.”
“You and I fight for the same cause—the protection of this world,” Thor said. “From this day forward, you can count me as your ally. If you return the items you have taken from Jane.”
“Stolen,” Jane clarified.
“Borrowed,” Coulson protested. “Of course you can have your equipment back. You’re going to need it to continue your research.”
Jane beamed.
Heimdall opened the Bifrost.
“I must return to Asgard,” Thor said to Jane. “But I give you my word, I will return for you.”
And with that, Thor and his Asgardian companions were sucked into a prismatic portal and away from Earth.
BIFROST
Whilst Thor was banished to Midgard, Loki used his time in Asgard to dominate the Realm. The Bifrost, being the key to travel between Realms and also a powerful force of energy in itself, was an integral part of his plan. Loki approached the Rainbow Bridge, used the Casket of Ancient Winters to freeze Heimdall, and traveled over the prismlike road to Jotunheim.
Once in the enemy kingdom, Loki set out to seek Laufey. Upon finding the Jotun king, Loki disclosed how he had sneaked in the Frost Giants during Thor’s coronation and offered Laufey the opportunity to re-enter Asgard—this time to murder Odin, who was in the mystical Odinsleep. Loki would then see to it that the Casket of Ancient Winters be returned to its rightful place in Jotunheim, and Laufey and Loki would part in peace.
Laufey, no fool, agreed to Loki’s plan. Soon, Frost Giants were marching into Asgard. As the Jotuns invaded, Laufey approached Odin’s bedchamber and, smiling, prepared to kill the Allfather. But just before the deed was about to be done, Loki murdered Laufey. Now he would be hailed as a hero. And with Thor banished to Midgard, he would be the rightful ruler of Asgard!
Before Loki could flee Odin’s chamber, in order to complete the final phase of his plan—to destroy Jotunheim in order to cement his place in the annals of Asgardian history as the great savior of his people—he noticed that the other Frost Giants had been driven back. Only one warrior in all of Asgard possessed such power—his brother, Thor. But Thor was exiled to Midgard…
Thor confronted his brother, and a fierce battle began. It started in Odin’s chambers, and soon the two brothers found themselves fighting inside Heimdell’s Observatory. Loki planned to steer all the energy of the Rainbow Bridge toward Jotunheim and destroy the Realm.
Thor flew toward Loki and began to struggle with him again. But Loki did not betray his reputation for quickness and trickery. Thor found the battle complicated and difficult, and eventually he realized that the only way to prevent the full-on destruction of Jotunheim was to destroy the Bifrost. He thought about his adventure on Midgard and all that he’d learned—and learned to love—there. He might never be able to return if the Bifrost was destroyed.
He raised Mjolnir and began to hammer away more and more furiously until dazzling crystal pieces of the bridge drifted into the sea of space surrounding it. As the bridge exploded, the two brothers were blasted off the ruined bridge and dangled on the edge of space. But their father, having emerged from his sleep, grabbed hold of Thor, who in turn held on to Loki. Thor did everything he could to save his brother. But Loki allowed himself to slip from Thor’s grasp and fell, screaming, into the void of space.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
IT WAS DIFFICULT to make out exactly what was happening in New York City, but a large blur of a figure was moving at great speeds, converging with vehicles, buildings, and the ground, and generally wreaking havoc on 125th Street in Harlem.
The destruction was more widespread than it had been earlier. There was more rubble and smoke everywhere. And now for the first time, a camera fixed itself on the face of the monster causing the chaos.
An ugly blue-gray…thing—about fifteen feet tall, judging its height compared to the nearby lampposts—looked like a bulging mass of twisted muscle and overgrown bones. Its hands and legs were enormous—each about the size of a tree trunk—and though its head was small as compared to the rest of it, it had a terrifying reptilianlike quality that made it no less intimidating than the rest of the creature. The spikes that protruded from its spine did nothing to soften the look of this thing.
The creature balled its fists, lifted its head, and let out a vicious growl.
Suddenly, a bright green beam shot out of the sky toward the monster followed by a thunderous impact. What was the government doing—nuking the thing with gamma rays now?
The green flash was not a nuke—or any other kind of missile. It was another big ugly thing. This one was green and had hair, and was in no way as grotesque and distorted as the one tearing up the city.
But the ugly monsters were not fighting together—they were fighting each other. The big green one pummeled the ugly one straight down 125th street, and it left a ditch in the asphalt where it skid. A ticker at the bottom of the screen read: crowds describe rampaging beast as an abomination.
The Abomination grabbed the green beast and threw him into a building, which crumbled around him. The green beast didn’t even need a minute to a recover, and burst from the rubble as if from water. It leaped in the air and soared a great distance to land on the Abomination, and the two continued to wrestle.
Now the ticker read: hulk appears to have upper hand.
The two giants faced each other, hunched in ready stances, prepared to attack. Both lunged at the same time, and they collided in midair. The impact created a disturbance that shattered windows as far as ten blocks away.
The beasts continued to attack each other. Then a helicopter, looking very small compared to the larger-than-life scene unfolding below, began to pelt the Abomination with bullets.
The Abomination jumped on top of a roof, and the copter flew in, attempting to achieve more effective fire at closer range. The Abomination grabbed a ten-foot girder from the roof’s water tower. He ripped it out, scattering its rivets on the ground. Then he launched the girder into the air as easily as an ordinary man might throw a spear. It clipped the helicopter’s rear rotor, and the aircraft started whirling out of control and spiraling toward Earth.
The Hulk took the opportunity to reengage the Abomination, and the two continued to battle.
The copter crashed into the ground, and the news cameras caught people escaping. A woman ran out of the chopper—and toward the scene of the fight.
The Hulk roared as the woman approached. The Abomination tore from the ground two marble posts connected by a chain, using them as bolas. The woman continued to approach. She seemed to be calling out to the Hulk. She must have been in shock. The Hulk raised his arms, and his veins and muscles bulged and pulsed.
The Hulk
smashed his hands into the ground and it opened up, creating a great chasm into which his adversary fell. The Hulk moved toward him, and then finished off the Abomination. The Hulk saw to it that the woman was safe, and then bounded off into the New York City night. The Hulk was gone, and the Abomination had been defeated.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
TONY OPENED THE dark restaurant’s splintered door, flooding it with the bright afternoon sun. Even from outside, he could smell the reeking barroom. Stale drink, cigar smoke—these were not the kinds of smells Tony was used to surrounding himself with. Though disgusted, he strode in as comfortably as if he were walking into a fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria. He made his way past chatting couples and drinking buddies, straight to General Ross who sat at the other end of the bar.
“I hate to say I told you so, General,” Tony started before General Ross even had a chance to look up at him, “but that Super-Soldier program was put on ice for a reason. I’ve always felt that hardware was more practical.”
“Stark!” General Ross said, finally facing Tony.
“General.”
“You always wear such nice suits,” General Ross said, alluding to Tony’s alter ego, who wore the coolest suit of all.
“Touché,” Tony responded. He paused and then continued, “I hear you have an unusual problem.”
“You should talk,” General Ross said again taking a stab at Tony’s life as Iron Man.
“You should listen.”
General Ross took a long puff of his stinking cigar, and Tony coughed a little. Then his face became deadly serious.
“What if I told you we were putting a team together?” Tony asked the general.
“Who’s ‘we’?” The general responded.
Tony looked pensive, thoughtful, brooding. Then Tony smirked the way he always did when he knew something others didn’t…which happened quite often.