----
Nick Fury spoke first.
"You know how tense things are right now. I brought everyone together to prevent this from spiraling into full-scale anti-superhuman sentiment."
Nolan raised an eyebrow. "And?"
This man definitely had toys worth noting.
Nolan could sense that his telepathy wasn't working on Fury, not completely. A psionic shield, likely one of the old S.H.I.E.L.D. relics. Even with their fall from grace, they still had access to tech most people would kill for.
That much was clear after all, Fury had managed to secure a derivative of the Space Stone and Mystique's DNA.
"We need your help," Fury said, his tone righteous and resolute.
Nolan just stared at him.
"…And what makes you think I'd ever help you?"
Fury pulled out a phone, projecting a holographic display in the air. Headlines and news clips filled the space. All of them were about Nolan.
All of them slanted, dangerous. Then, a video played footage of him unleashing a massive tornado atop Oscorp Tower, power swirling like a dragon descending from the heavens.
Others turned to look. Most hadn't seen this.
Tony had, but the rest? They were stunned.
This wasn't just power. This was godlike.
Control over the weather itself.
"You see?" Fury said. "They're not coming after us. This Act was designed… to go after you."
Nolan's eyes flicked toward the footage, unimpressed.
"So... can't control the mutants, so you come after me instead?"
Everyone with a working brain and access to satellites should've known what he was capable of by now.
Governments could see a cockroach in a bathroom through their surveillance networks. He'd made no effort to hide.
But Nolan wasn't worried. Nuclear weapons couldn't even kill Logan.
And Nolan was faster, stronger, and far more aware than anything conventional forces could throw at him. A missile would never touch him.
The only beings on Earth who might threaten him were cosmic, alien, or magical.
Not government suits.
They had Storm on file. They knew what real power looked like.
But they chose him.
Because he seemed more controllable. No mutant factions. No Professor X. No Magneto.
Just one man. One lab. One threat.
Fury watched Nolan's expression shift from passive to cold.
He had miscalculated.
He thought Nolan would be concerned. The looming pressure would push him into the alliance.
Instead, Nolan looked… bored.
"You want a favor from me?" Nolan said. "Don't ever drag me into your politics again. And before you try controlling people like me, maybe ask yourself if you're ready for the fallout."
He turned to Max. "We're done here."
Time to get back to his lab. He had real work to do experiments, not ideological puppet shows.
Tony stayed silent.
He'd researched Nolan more than anyone here. He'd studied the man's power output, observed his actions, and his mindset.
In all honesty, only three people present might have a shot at stopping Nolan if things ever went sideways: Wanda, Vision… and maybe the kid, Peter.
And the Anti-Superman Armor Tony had been developing? Still incomplete.
Nolan paused, then turned back one last time.
"Whatever issues you've got, leave me out of them. And maybe focus on the Avengers first."
He looked at Tony directly.
"You really think he's going to let it go? The man who killed his parents? If Tony could just 'forgive and forget,' he wouldn't be Tony Stark."
Nolan's smirk widened.
"When I showed up earlier, someone tipped me off that several Iron Legion suits left your tower."
He glanced back at Tony and Fury.
"Let me guess… heading to kill Bucky?"
Fury flinched.
He still liked to pretend he was the all-knowing puppet master of S.H.I.E.L.D., but that era was long gone. The world had changed. So had Stark.
Pepper's departure had matured him, tempered his recklessness. He still saw the big picture, but it was no longer filtered through Avengers loyalty.
If he truly was planning the Illuminati now, then it meant his worldview had outgrown even Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
And no amount of Fury's "greater good" talk was going to make him forget his parents.
Steve looked at Tony, suspicion rising fast.
"Is Bucky being hunted?" he asked, quietly but sharply.
Fury responded calmly, "He's still under our protection. My agents are watching him."
Steve didn't believe a word.
He pulled out his phone. Dialed.
No answer.
His expression darkened. Bucky always answered. Unless something had gone wrong.
"I hope you didn't drag me here just for a PR pitch," Tony said coolly, his repulsors warming beneath his boots.
"You—" Steve growled.
And then he snapped.
His shield flew through the air, a perfect arc slicing toward Tony.
Tony leaned just enough for it to miss. The shield curved, reversed, and flew back to Steve's hand like a boomerang.
Fury clenched his jaw.
Nolan had completely unraveled the delicate balance he'd just spent days constructing.
And for what? For Bucky Barnes?
To Fury, Bucky was barely functional anymore. Mostly metal. His combat capability was limited to one arm, and that, too, required regular maintenance due to organ degradation.
The truth was, the only reason Fury had bothered to keep him alive… was leverage.
To keep Steve obedient.
Now that leverage was about to blow up in his face.
Fury had even pre-cleared Tony's little "operation" and told his agents not to interfere if they saw Iron Man en route.
He just didn't think Nolan would expose it so casually.
As Nolan stepped back, he nodded to Max. "Stay clear. This is about to get messy."
He wasn't wrong.
This wasn't a fair fight.
Steve's side was outnumbered, outmatched. No Bucky. No Ant-Man.
No backup.
It was supposed to be a duel of equals.
Instead?
What were they even fighting with?
----
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