The Avengers Initiative.
So Fury had already begun laying the foundation.
Evenson remained silent, turning the thought over in his mind.
It made sense. A team capable of defending Earth against extraordinary threats couldn’t have been assembled on a whim. Fury had undoubtedly spent years considering the idea.
For now, though, Evenson decided to stay out of it.
Fury hadn’t invited him into the discussion, and pretending ignorance was safer than revealing he knew too much about the future.
Tony looked puzzled.
"The Avengers Initiative?"
He smirked.
"Is that the name of your band?"
"It’s a proposal," Fury replied, ignoring the joke. "A special response team."
"For what?"
"For threats beyond the capabilities of conventional forces."
Before Tony could interrupt, Fury continued.
"The world is becoming more dangerous."
"I’m not just talking about terrorists hiding in caves."
"There are increasing numbers of enhanced individuals."
He paused.
"And organizations operating entirely in the shadows."
"Some possess strange abilities. Others command overwhelming military strength. Others are so secretive that most governments don’t even know they exist."
"To deal with those threats..."
"I need a team."
Tony leaned back against the bar.
"So you came to recruit me."
A confident smile spread across his face.
"I’ll admit, you’ve got good taste."
"But you don’t need a team."
"You’ve already found the right guy."
"I’m enough."
Fury shook his head.
"No."
"You’re probably not."
Tony lifted an eyebrow but said nothing.
Instead of arguing, Fury answered with facts.
"Twenty days after your kidnapping, a five-man enhanced squad ambushed a search-and-rescue team."
"They fought barehanded."
"The rescue force was equipped with heavy weapons."
"They still lost a quarter of their men before reinforcements arrived."
"Without backup, every one of them would have died."
Tony remained unimpressed.
In the armor, he thought, I could do that more efficiently.
Fury continued.
"Less than three hours later, a classified military installation inside the United States came under attack."
"Twenty enhanced soldiers."
"They fought four companies of U.S. Army troops in a sustained engagement."
"They held the advantage for nearly an hour."
"It took five attack helicopters to finally eliminate them."
Tony’s expression changed slightly.
Facing four companies of soldiers head-on...
That wasn’t impossible.
Not forever.
But his current armor certainly wasn’t there yet.
With enough upgrades...
Maybe.
"The investigation concluded they were artificially created mutants."
"They were products."
"Manufactured by a mysterious corporation."
Tony frowned.
"...Bioweapons?"
"Exactly."
Fury nodded.
"Our intelligence indicates the company intends to sell these enhanced soldiers to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations..."
"...and potentially to Russia."
"If that happens, we’ll be looking at the beginning of a global superhuman arms race."
Standing quietly beside them, Evenson blinked.
Wait...
Wasn’t that technically my fault?
The enhanced soldiers certainly traced back to Umbrella.
But selling them overseas?
Triggering an international arms race?
He hadn’t planned any of that.
Hawister...
That slippery bastard probably embellished the story while covering his tracks.
Fury wasn’t finished.
"Just days ago, General Ross led a black-ops mission into a Brazilian favela."
"The objective was a single superhuman mutant."
"The operation was a disaster."
"His forces were nearly wiped out."
"And that target has now entered the United States."
He looked Tony directly in the eye.
"So tell me."
"Do you still believe this world is safe?"
"Do you still believe one man can protect it alone?"
Tony was silent for several moments.
Finally he spoke.
"I’ll think about it."
"Who else is on this team?"
"Until you’ve agreed to join," Fury answered evenly, "I’m not prepared to discuss the roster."
Evenson nearly laughed into his drink.
Roster?
You barely have one.
Captain America was still frozen beneath the Arctic ice.
Thor was busy in Asgard.
Bruce Banner was still playing hide-and-seek with General Ross.
Beyond Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton...
Fury’s bench looked remarkably empty.
Tony suddenly turned toward Evenson.
"What about him?"
Fury glanced sideways.
"I haven’t spoken to him about it yet."
Evenson’s eyes narrowed.
Interesting.
That sentence carried more weight than it appeared to.
Fury hadn’t been talking only to Tony tonight.
Some of those words had been aimed at Evenson as well.
The invitation simply hadn’t been spoken aloud.
Until now.
Tony sighed.
"This is exactly why I hate dealing with spies."
"Too many secrets."
"No straight answers."
Fury smiled faintly.
"I’ll give you time to think."
"In the meantime..."
"I’ll be evaluating you."
"If you don’t meet my standards, I may withdraw the invitation."
Tony let out a dismissive laugh.
Someone evaluating him?
That was almost funny.
In Tony Stark’s mind, helping other people was already doing them a favor.
The idea that he needed to earn a place on someone else’s team was almost insulting.
"And one more thing."
Fury pointed toward Evenson.
"In a little while, I’ll be sending him to work with you."
Tony immediately misunderstood.
"So he’s my evaluator?"
Fury shook his head.
"No."
"I’m not assigning him to judge you."
"I’m assigning him because of your health."
Tony blinked.
"My health?"
He spread his arms dramatically.
"I’m in fantastic shape."
"I could punch a bull to death."
He paused.
"...As long as I’m wearing the armor."
"Really?"
Fury’s expression remained flat.
"You expect me to believe you haven’t noticed what’s happening inside your chest?"
The humor vanished from Tony’s face.
Of course he’d noticed.
He had built the Arc Reactor himself.
He understood the palladium poisoning better than anyone.
Still, his pride refused to yield.
"It’s a minor problem."
"I’ll solve it."
"I don’t need anyone else’s help."
That was Tony Stark in a nutshell.
Brilliant.
Determined.
And fiercely convinced that every problem in existence could be solved by Tony Stark alone.
Evenson finally spoke.
His voice was calm, almost hypnotic.
"And if you fail?"
"You’ll become nothing more than a brief legend."
"A hero who flashed across the sky before burning out."
"Everything you’ve dreamed of accomplishing will disappear with you."
"You’ll die before you’ve finished making amends for your past."
"You’ll spend your final days drowning in regret..."
"...knowing you could have done so much more."
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