Problem is Brewing

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

Once I left Matt, Foggy, and Jen's new office, I went Astrodactyl and flew back to the Avengers Tower. I had a full itinerary for today. For one, Tony was bringing together some of us to work on a new project, so that was first. After that, Creel and I were going to hang out for a bit, then a long workout to end the day. Three hours of Steve and Natasha kicking my ass. At least I had abs now.

I entered Tony's lab and realized I was a bit early. So I did what I always did when I was in Tony's lab on my own.

I stared at the Iron Man suits.

They were lined up at the back of his lab. It reminded me less of the giant rooms full of suits I'd seen in the comics and more of the Batcave, or how some of the Power Rangers series displayed their suits, standing in full view and encased in glass tubes. I looked over one of them, his first suit. It looked like the classic one from the comics, to be honest. I could see the marking where it had been welded together in rough ways. From there, the suits got more and more advanced, until I was on his last model before he began wearing his current one. Red and gold, blue light in the center.

Weird. The Omnitrix on my wrist was leagues beyond the suit before me. With access to Jury Rigg and Upgrade, I could make it much more powerful, if a bit quirky. But even a layman like me could see the genius in the man who had made it. For just a moment, I wondered what Azmuth would think of Tony. Probably see him as a potential, if slightly stunted, student. Which, considering Azmuth, was next level praise.

"She's a bit outdated," Tony said behind me, surprising me. I turned as he walked up to look at the suit with me. He crossed his arms. "But she's still solid."

"...You really are a genius, man," I said softly, looking around. "I mean, I cheat, but when I look at these-"

"Yeah, Pepper says my ego is big enough," despite his comment, Tony sounded very thoughtful. "To be honest though, it surprises me too sometimes. I mean, these suits have gotten to a level I wouldn't have imagined from the first one... What's the most advanced my suits got in other universes?"

I hesitated. "...One shattered a planet once. Another broke a galaxy destroying force into five pieces."

"Huh. Lot to live up to then," Tony said.

"Probably shouldn't have mentioned it," I said, cursing my lack of foresight.

"Nah, I'm not feeling super inadequate at all," Tony shook his head. "That is kind of what I wanted to talk to you about," when I turned, Tony scratched his neck. "I have an idea for something. Something that can help a lot of people. And I think Upgrade is what I need for it."

"...You might be right," I turned to him, crossing my arms. "Tony, what exactly are you trying to say? I know we aren't best friends or anything, but-"

Tony scoffed. "Well yeah, but you aren't exactly best friends with anyone. Seriously kid, you need to hang out with people in your off time. Take a damn break every now and then."

I opened my mouth, feeling hurt. Before I could speak, Fitz and Bruce entered the room, interrupting me.

"Tony, Mahmoud," Fitz said, smiling at us.

"Hey, Ross," Tony said to Fitz, using the 'Ross and Rachel' nickname he'd been using for Fitz-Simmons, turning around to face the pair of geniuses. "Bruce, you all right?"

"I'm all right," Bruce walked around to me. "How'd she do?"

"Jen? She was good when I left her. Foggy and Matt are good guys, and she's a smart lawyer. She'll probably end up sending a lot of bad guys to jail even without her powers," I said.

Bruce seemed to relax just a bit. He was a good brother. Well, cousin.

"All right, eyes up," Tony waved a hand. Two holographic images appeared, one an orange flowing group of lights in the shape of an Iron Man suit, the other a blue hologram that looked like an older version of me. "Jarvis, X. And one more."

"Hey!" Skye came in, carelessly tossing aside her backpack on the floor and gently resting her laptop on a table. "Am I late?"

"Nah, right on time," Tony looked around. "All right. I have a plan for something. Something big."

A schematic appeared in front of us. It spun into place, solidifying as we watched. "Bruce knows about it. With this, if I can do it right? We won't need Avengers anymore. Just one program, keeping the world safe. Hundreds of drones working across the Earth, aiding in search in rescue, combat missions, anything we need."

He looked around. "This is possible. More than ever. Two AI, two engineers, an Omnitrix, a badass hacker, and one of the top scientists on Earth. We do this right, and this will make the world safe."

Tony had a talent for words. Skye was listening closely, while Fitz seemed taken with the idea. I was trying to think of why I had a bad feeling.

The Iron Man looked around. "We have time now. Time to make something great. And I want you guys in on the project with me. I call it... ULTRON."

"...I have thoughts on the name," I said at last, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

Goddamnit Marvel.

*(^!# $* &α ^#...!(*#& *ω &!a

In a locker, deep within the tower, a suit of black catom armor rested peacefully. A BRIDGE Elite soldier had worn and taken it off dozens of times with no issues. It was, like others of it's kind, some of the most advanced armor in the world.

The locker room was empty when that set of armor began to shake. A red mist began to pulse around it. Catoms fell off into chunks, then flowed back into the armor. Over and over, until it looked less like armor, and more like some alien creature.

Then it pressed up against the door of the locker it was within. It smashed the metal apart, sending it flying.

As the loud sound echoed in the empty room, the catom armor hesitantly began to 'walk' forward, dragging its mass across the concrete. It 'dripped' and pooled across the ground. Red mist flowed out of it, then melded back into the mass. The black and red object finally reached a door. It moved under it, slipped into an office, and went to a computer under the desk inside.

Black steel and red clouds flowed up to the PC, then entered inside, running along the circuits As it melded with the device, the red mist pulsed faster and faster.

The PC was suddenly 'devoured' by the catom armor, leaving a slightly larger mass of metal. As it pulsed, a device like a small speaker flowed outward. An inhuman voice, like a man's but soaked in blood, came from the speaker.

"IIIIIII...R...Ron..." The speaker fell apart. After a long moment, the catom armor began to flow again.

Slowly, bit by bit, it rose. It came together, solidified. The red mist seemed to glow with power. When it finished, it took the shape of a man. It was black at the core, but the red mist surrounded it like fire. When it's 'mouth' opened, a small glowing speaker could be seen. Within the being, it pulled at the memory files within itself, stolen from the computer it had just eaten, stolen from the network. Soon, camera files flowed to its mind. Recent files. A portion of itself dug into the computer, slipping into the system, past defenses with ease, slipping beneath the notice of everyone.

It reached the most defended networks. And simply entered them, with the sort of horrific ease that spoke of either long practice or extreme genius.

"U-uuuuulllllllll," it 'hissed, the part of it's speech fading into an electrical screech. The catoms of the being 'flickered'. It didn't move otherwise, only staring aimlessly.

Then the catoms fell apart, and the red mist stayed. With a slight twist, it flowed into the network, disappearing into the internet and leaving a mass of useless catoms.

Lyle Getz of AIM

In a room across the country, a man sat at a desk and desperately worked at his computer. He was an older man, with thinning black hair, round glasses, and a thin build. He wore a bright yellow lab coat over a yellow jumpsuit. The man looked weary, with dark shadows under his eyes, hair unkempt, his typing slow and unsteady.

Lyle Getz was the current leader of the thinktank known as AIM, an acronym for Advanced Idea Mechanics. Once, they had been on top of the world. With the leadership of Aldrich Killian, they had become one of the US government's top-funded research think tanks, developing a form of gene therapy that would change the world.

Up until Killian decided to go nuts and start killing people.

Lyle didn't really care about that, emotionally. The older scientist was more upset about the sheer stupidity of Killian's decision. Extremis soldiers used as bombs, as suicide strikers? Ridiculous. Bombs had their place of course, but in a world of superhumans, far too many could survive a bomb easily. No, the real gift of Extremis was in the other abilities, the regeneration and pyrokinetic abilities. But worse then that, even when Killian had his soldiers use Extremis correctly, it was all to attack one man. Tony Stark.

Stupid. AIM could have been so much more. So many projects now gone, because Killian was mad that his idol had ignored him.

Truthfully, Lyle may not have known entirely everything about Killian and his motivations. A lot of mysteries had been left in the aftermath of his rampage, and with the man killed by Tony Stark, even more was left unknown.

In the end, whatever Killian had done, Lyle was picking up the pieces. Just a normal scientist trying to make sure the failing thinktank could somehow survive.

And Lyle was failing in that endeavor. Extremis was now illegal. All of their other projects were defunded, leaving them dead in the water. AIM's best scientists were getting picked up by other groups. They were a joke now. All he was doing was slowly getting buried.

Lyle rubbed his eyes slowly. As he did, someone opened the door to his office. "Lyle?"

He turned and smiled sadly. "Hello, Monica."

Monica Rappaccini was a gorgeous Italian woman, dressed in a tight green swimsuit-like uniform with some yellow sections. She had black hair and green eyes. She always had a scowl on her face, as though she was constantly moments from punching someone for some perceived slight.

"How're those octopi?" Lyle asked, trying not to show how relieved he was to have a break.

Her scowl became a bit meaner. "I want to kill them. Those damned things vex me at every turn. If the military really wants me to develop something from the Blue-ringed octopus, they need to fund me."

Lyle's temporary good mood vanished. "Monica-"

"We need money, Lyle!" she glared at him. "You need to talk to-"

"To who?" Lyle's eyes narrowed. "To the government? Killian turned their former soldiers into suicide bombers. Or go higher up? Oh wait, the damned President was kidnapped by our own men!"

Monica crossed her arms. "Well, you need to find something. Or I'm out. I got an offer from Cross Technologies."

Lyle shook his head. "Then take it, Monica. I like you. But do what you have to. Until that time, get the fuck out of my office and let me figure out how to fix this."

His fellow scientist gaped at him for just one moment. Then she spun on her bare heel and left in a huff. "Go screw yourself, Lyle!"

"Can't," Lyle said softly, eyes hardening as he turned to his computer. "Killian did it first."

Lyle typed for a bit, completing a response to a letter selling one more facility off to an interested party. It felt like that was all he did now. Sell off bits and pieces of AIM, slowly killing off his life's work.

It was when he finished and checked his files when, for just a moment, his monitor took on a red hue. Lyle blinked at the strangely swirling red lights before slapping his monitor. The red lights disappeared, then came back. Another slap, and they faded. Lyle stared oddly at the PC under his desk, then shrugged and looked at his folders. Then he stared at something... new. It was titled *(α^!# $* &α ^#...!(*#& *ω &!α a.

With a pair of clicks, he opened it. Possibly a mistake, but when he opened it, he found something... unprecedented. A series of documents suggesting the possibility of...

"That can't be possible," gaping, Lyle opened one folder. Equations and specs on catoms? Like the kind SHIELD was using now? And was that specs for some sort of… nanomachines? But, how did it get on his computer?

With some deeper reading, Lyle found himself in awe. Some pieces were missing, sure, some imagery corrupted or missing, but it was a lot. And more. So much more. Files on the time and space continuum, on how to...

"Holy shit... Holy shit!" Lyle pressed on the print button with desperate energy, as though everything on his screen would disappear otherwise. He grabbed his smartphone and rushed out the door as the printer warmed up. "Get me robotics, now! And the physics guys! We might have something!"

It might be nothing. It might be some hacker, messing with him. But Lyle was desperate and it did look legitimate. Later, he might regret this. But he had a chance now, and if he didn't take it he might end up regretting it even more. Any boat in a storm and Lyle was just the man to swim toward that boat at full speed. He would handle whatever came after he climbed aboard.

As he ran out of the door, Lyle didn't notice that the screen once again flash red.

Weeks later, March 15th, 2014

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

In the middle of the night, a loud beeping noise brought me out of sleep. I tried to ignore it and managed to sleep through it for a bit.

Right up until I realized what was making the noise.

My eyes snapped open, and I reached outward.

I fell out of my bed trying to reach the beeping noise. Slamming into the ground wrapped by blankets, I shouted in pain, then scrambled to get the blankets off.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I tried to rip a thick blanket off my leg. "X!"

"Earthquake in Rio, sir!" X's voice, now crystal clear after all the improvements we'd made, said over my speakers. "Your ID card is on the dresser."

"Tell Sam I'll be up soon!" I ripped off the blankets at last and grabbed my still beeping ID card. It was a thick metal card a bit larger than a trading card, painted black and green, with a green Omnitrix symbol on the surface. When I tapped the Omnitrix symbol, it morphed colors and shapes to make the card white and red, the Omnitrix symbol replaced with an Avengers 'A'. It spun before projecting a holographic image of Director Maria Hill's face. "Where's the meet?"

"Enterprise," Maria said immediately. "We'll debrief on the way. Be advised, this earthquake isn't normal. Emergency response has given us some odd reports. We'll inform everyone when we're gathered, but bring the artillery."

Nodding, I quickly grabbed a shirt and jeans out of my closet along with my catom armor pack, snatched a protein bar and drink out of my kitchen, and headed out of door.

Duty called.