Arc Eleven. Chapter Three-Hundred Twenty Six. What We Do In Shadows

Peter and Tony sat staring at each other. It wasn't as if they were friends and speaking candidly about the Autobots and the possibility of giving Jarvis and Jocasta souls would wait until they were well out of the military's reach.

Peter had made sure nobody remembered the pyramid opening let alone the Soul Stone, and he wasn't about to let Tony know about it either.

It would stay the All-Spark, an ancient Cybertornian procreation device, and maybe, maybe he would tell Stephen that the Autobots had it. As soon as he could talk to Wanda and make sure he wouldn't try to take it.

Eventually, after several cups of the terrible coffee, Charles arrived, being led in by Coulson and Ross. And he smiled at Peter as he was shown to his seat.

"We dealt with Miss Potts, the contracts are being drawn up, and as soon as they are signed you can let uh," and Coulson flicked to a file, "Optimus Prime know the US government and its military will be providing aid."

Peter nodded, "and Hoover Dam." Coulson looked over at Ross, who scowled,

"That was an unfortunate mistake, but any samples we may or not have removed, or may have been stored with Trask are now the property of the United States. We can agree to give back the whole Cybertronians, but, there are machines made with the pyramid using Earth's technology. That will have to be discussed with them."

"So, you want to keep the monsters you made? So can we expect Sentinel mark two or three? Or are you more interested in their adaptive powers, so that Augments are easier to kill once they become a problem?" Peter argued back. He knew that they had destroyed the small phone bot they made, but he had no idea of just how many were still out there, and still functional.

"I agree with Peter. You created a weapon to hunt Augments, and one to hunt Symbiotes. I understand the need to protect yourselves, but if you allow this technology to evolve further, you put all of humanity at risk. Master Mold and the Sentinels outgrowing their programming proved that." Charles added.

Ross clenched a fist, "and if you lot hadn't started throwing your weight around."

Tony sighed, "so, while it's nice to watch you two fight like girls, why exactly am I here?"

"I need help, they need help and we're calling in both you and Banner. I'm involving the government as if there is a practical use for it at home then nobody accuses me of undermining the government."

Peter slid a tablet over to Tony, and a file to Coulson, "Uh, sorry yours is just a brief, Tony needs the technical stuff." Coulson shrugged and flicked it open,

"New energy source, Energon. Sound, uh, nice. I guess." and Tony was too engrossed in reading the more detailed chemical and particle reports to pay attention.

"To them, it's food, but to us, it might be a cleaner-burning source of power. Even with Arc reactors, some things are just too small to use it."

"And you think this can?" and Peter shrugged,

"Not an energy guy but Liv does yes. You're the three leading energy experts," there was also Reed but Peter was till salty over his dismissive attitude and once he heard that when Gwen tried to contact Sue to make sure she was okay after being bonded, she had not only been rebuffed but on no uncertain terms to never talk to Sue again.

"Tony?" Cousin asked, as Tony frowned and squinted at the tablet,

"Yeah, uh, yeah. I mean, it's weird, a semi-liquid non-Newtonian Einstein condensate, but uh, maybe." and he frowned, "Yeah, maybe."

Peter laughed, as that was Liv's reaction as well, "but this time," and he slid the folder back, and flicked to the end, where a contract was sat. "Pepper wants you to sign this, and you too Director. All research materials and test data collected will be made available o everyone involved. What Bruce does with his is up to him, but this is a joint effort, and everyone gets joint credit." Coulson gave the contract a quick look over and signed, and Tony didn't even look as he took the pen and signed too.

Tony grinned, "So, giant robots? Not too shabby, but, I know you've got more, I've seen the specs for the base you have, I just wasn't allowed up. So spill."

"Right, So, Mr Stark," Charles began but Tony shook his head,

"Tony. Only he has to call me Mr Stark," and Peter laughed

"Sure, Stark, sure. But business." and handing over a tablet Tony whistler as the schematics popped up in three-dee,

"No wonder you threw the government out." as he expended over each section, "this is the design I worked on last year, with a partially organic interface," Tony's brows furrowed "cloned cells? " he tutted, "arcstar, switching to the arc reactor should up the integration point five per cent, but, okay, so you cloned some cells and stuck them with a power source into a big jar. What am I looking at?"

"They copy an Augments powers. The interface allows us to copy and store almost any ability, and replicate it." Tony frowned and looked at the schematics again

"You realise how stupid this is? You could make death ray or, " and he smirked as he nodded, "the portals, it's a power, and the moon base, Erik right. And you couldn't use arc tech because you needed someone already involved, so you asked Liv." Tony looked over at Peter, "I'm heartbroken, you could have asked me, I wouldn't have told."

Peter laughed, "Sure, and right now we'd have Tonyworld on the moon, blaring lights and sirens at Avalon."

Tony smirked, "Only you get Tonyworld Pete, I like everyone else." Tony leant back and flicked the tablet off, "so, what am I here for? You have working models, or you would never have shown me that could be done."

Charles smiled, "Investment. We need more help on Avalon, and while Peter is brilliant, and Liv is inventive, we need things done on a faster time scale, and with more advanced technology. And we need someone with experience working with the Military and the Government, as this technology, with a few alterations is one of the things on offer to smooth things over."

Tony smirked at Peter, "So you need me?"

Peter shrugged, "I dont care, everyone knows you've been doing this longer than me. I'm the new kid on the block, the prince, but even I'm not gonna deny you're the king." and he couldn't. Stark had manufacturing plants all over the world, while Peter and AIM were still building the majority of theirs and were outsourcing most things.

"And we are willing to allow you access to our systems, and space on Avalon. Once we expand, we can offer a completely isolated moonbase," and Charles smiled and raised an eyebrow "if you ever feel you need an evil lair." and Tony laughed

"Moonbase, sign me right up, but uh, lawyers, not helping to suddenly have a kajillion sieverts of radiation fry my base if you get mad at me. I want not just the tech to make these, but the samples to build my own," and he gave Peter a pointed look "I got burned before, and not again."

Peter huffed and shrugged, "yeah, it was terrible, stealing someone's stuff and getting caught. How awful for you."

"Please, this is a joint venture, and we want everyone to agree," Charles added.

Coulson smirked and shook his head, "So, everything seems to be above board, is there anything else? Maybe another secret base or some new strain of Enhanced Armoured Augment with the power to eat planets?"

Peter laughed, "God I hope not, Earth is bad enough." and he slid over one last folder "but, I do have one more thing."

Peter smiled, "A school. I'll rent, buy whatever the old Shield academy, its large enough and isolated, we can set up classes for kids to learn how to control their powers, learn what it means to be enhanced and get anyone who's different away from potentially dangerous situations."

"That's all and good, but" and Tony waved a hand at the four, "why am I here?"

Peter laughed, "So no Iron Man Academy?" and Tony raised an eyebrow, "No Iron Man pilots, sponsored by Tony Stark, flying his suits, taking over when you can't, or just happy leaving War Machine to run things?" and Tony leaned back and shrugged,

"Okay, so I'm now interested, but the military, government?"

"I have to agree, Gamma formula isn't being handed out to school kids, and neither is the supersoldier formula," Coulson said as Ross sat glowering with his arms crossed,

"And yet it is. See. Gwen and Charles here came across a very interesting problem, and Bruce and Blonksy helped prove it." Flicking open the folder, "page fourteen."

Coulson frowned and opened the folder on the right page, "Is this real?" and Peter nodded, "damn."

Ross huffed, "what?"

"Anyone exposed to the formula, even if it's removed will pass that on to their kids. So me, you, Coulson, Fury, anyone. Bruce, you, Blonsky, all your little gamma guys and gals. Everyone." Peter explained and Ross swore,

"Really?" and Peter nodded

"Even better, you have two Enhanced parents and the odds go up. Add gamma and it gets worse. This isn't about Augments anymore, we dipped our toe in the gene pool and caught a big shark. Anyone taking MGH is worse, it really screws with someone's g-code."

"G-Code?" Coulson asked, and Peter looked over at Charles.

"Gene Code. The parts of the genetic makeup that make us augmented or enhanced. It's more than just the X-gene, we've identified over 20 distinct gene sequences activated during enhancement. Not all do, and the more that light up you might say, the more powerful the individual is." Charles looked over at Peter who nodded, "While I cannot say I'm one hundred per cent happy with it, we've developed a genetic scanner, a simple drop of blood, and using that horrendous Sentinel device made one that can tell you who is going to be Augmented, and what classification they will be."

Coulson sighed, "that's a headache in itself. We've already got activist groups saying we need to isolate the powered, and now this? The president will blow his top."

"Better now than in ten years when kids shart blowing up schools, or worse," Ross said, and while Peter hated it, he was inclined to agree.

"We need to set things in motion now. It will only get worse, and we need to protect the younger generation. We chose to get our powers, they didn't."

Coulson flipped the folder closed, "but still, this is big. And while I think a school isn't the right answer, we have to do something."

Peter nodded, "This isn't about us anymore. We've got Russia, China, and every major power doing their own version of this. Even Europe is standing up and taking notice of what we're doing, and it's not pretty."

They all knew. It was all over the hostile foreign presses about the Sentinel disaster, and even the US allies had taken a step back. US power relations had gotten off on a really bad foot, and a lot of other countries were recommending any potentially powered individual stay away from the US for travel or business.

"So, I'm in. The Tony Stark School of Enterprise. Kinda catchy, need a big sign though" and Peter laughed,

"Yeah right, it's bad enough looking a the monstrosity next door. Aegis. The school's name is Aegis, and considering I'll be paying for most of it, I get to name it."

Tony tutted, "Yeah, billionaire, philanthropist, who made you the richest man in the world?"

Peter raised an eyebrow and laughed, "Shuri, because while you are worth 30-40 billion, maybe less since the government took your toys, Shuri is worth about five times that, and that's not Wakanda, that's Shuri. So yeah, Billionaire, Philanthropist, Inventor, oh and Polyamory champion of the world," and Tony tutted but hid a small grin,

"Well, Aegis sounds fine, but as Director of Shield, isn't that awfully close to our name?" Coulson added

"Augments, Enhanced, Gamma, Institute of Study. Different enough."

Coulson tapped a finger on the table, "fine, so how are we doing this?"

"I figured we allow adults with qualifications to teach there, let each branch involved recruit straight from day one, Ross, your Thunderbolts or gamma troopers, you wanted to separate them? Then here's your chance. Make them pass boot at the academy, then recruit them into the military. Full psych profiling, make sure nobody is unstable and provide counselling to those who are. We want a generation of healthy and well-balanced Augments, not scared kids hiding from the boogeyman or red menace cause a giant robot stomped their mom fifteen years ago."

"Red menace huh?" Ross snorted, "I guess I asked for that. I agree, but we dont sign until we see an actual plan, blowing smoke up our asses in a presentation isn't a well thought out budget meeting, with potential ways this could blow up in our faces."

Peter smiled, "and I agree. Which is why, in a month you'll get just that, but as long as Coulson agrees to lease us the building we can start, which is why Stark and Charles are here. We have some things to discuss."

"I understand," Coulson said as he stood, "but to warn you, I think the president will say yes, it wasn't just our image that took a hit, expect this to move and move fast, expect lots of ass-kissing and photos. If you weren't famous before, you will be. " and as he looked Peter up and down, "maybe hire a tailor, and a wardrobe consultant. Tony can help you, even hungover he's always impeccable."

"Why Phil I am a happily engaged man, but if I ever decide to swing that way, I'll call."