“Earthquake” -288

Tony Stark slumped into his sleek couch, drink in hand, his eyes focused on the large flat screen in front of him. He wasn't one to often spend his time watching the news—Jarvis could handle that—but tonight, something gnawed at him. The chaos in Japan. He knew what was really going on.

The Breaking News banner flashed across the screen, and a serious-faced anchor appeared. "Good evening. A catastrophic earthquake has hit Tokyo today, leaving devastation in its wake. Rescue teams are racing against time as the scale of the destruction becomes more apparent."

Tony sipped his drink, eyes narrowing. Earthquake. Sure, that's what they'd call it. But he knew better. He had access to classified feeds and had seen the truth. He'd seen footage of the battle between two monsters, the massive reptilian creature clashing with something equally terrifying. One of them... was green. Very green.

The broadcast cut to images of Tokyo's cityscape, or what was left of it. Skyscrapers that had once stood tall were now reduced to heaps of rubble. The streets were littered with debris, cars overturned, and huge cracks running through the pavement. Entire blocks looked like they'd been wiped off the map. The destruction was widespread, but Tony knew that the quake wasn't the cause.

"As you can see, the damage is catastrophic," the anchor continued. "Experts are still assessing the magnitude of the quake, which reportedly struck without warning. Aftershocks continue to shake the city, further complicating rescue efforts."

Tony scoffed, shaking his head. "Aftershocks, sure." He knew better. There were no aftershocks—just the fallout from a brutal fight between two titanic creatures.

The news report showed shaky phone footage from someone who had caught the destruction up close. The building the person was filming suddenly shook, and their scream pierced the audio as the tower collapsed. Smoke billowed, and the camera footage cut off abruptly. The scene transitioned to rescue workers scrambling through the wreckage, pulling survivors from the rubble.

Tony watched intently as the footage continued, the weight of what he knew bearing down on him. The truth was, the world was not ready to understand the existence of things like the Hulk and that... lizard. Hell, even he wasn't fully ready. The footage he'd accessed earlier had shown enough—two monstrous beings leveling the city as if they were gods fighting in a human world.

"Reports suggest the earthquake may have reached a magnitude of 8.5, one of the strongest to hit the region in decades," the anchor said, her voice somber. "We'll continue to update you as more information becomes available. For now, the death toll is still unknown, though early estimates suggest it could be in the thousands."

Tony's mind was only half on the report. He knew it wasn't just an earthquake. Jarvis had already combed through data and pieced together some classified footage that confirmed what he suspected: the Hulk had been involved in a fight with some other monstrous creature. Jarvis had pulled together some information from obscure Foundation files—encrypted data Stark had cracked long ago.

"Sir," Jarvis's voice chimed in, almost as if reading Tony's thoughts. "There is more data from the fight if you're ready for it."

Tony's lips twisted into a wry grin. "Yeah, Jarvis. Show me."

The screen flickered as the news anchor's voice was replaced by surveillance footage—grainy, yes, but unmistakable. There was Hulk, his massive fists crashing into the scaly hide of the reptilian creature. Each blow from either combatant sent shockwaves through the air, the very ground beneath them trembling. Buildings crumbled as if they were made of sand.

"Yeah... definitely not an earthquake," Tony muttered.

The footage continued, showing the devastation left in their wake. Tony shook his head, knowing the world would never know the truth—not the full truth. At least not yet. The public would believe what they were told: that nature had torn Tokyo apart. But Tony Stark knew better. The real disaster wasn't natural—it was two forces of nature, one green and one scaly, fighting with the power to destroy worlds.

"Let's hope no one ever learns the truth about this," Tony whispered to himself, setting his drink down. The world wasn't ready for the likes of these monsters. Not yet. But sooner or later, Tony knew that the truth would surface. It always did.

-----------------

Tony Stark wasn't the only one who was impressed with the waves of news as well as so called evidence for the earthquake.

Even SHIELD Director Nick Fury was finding himself amazed by the reach of the Bulwark. He had also thought about the idea of keeping what had happened a secret, but he didn't think it was possible given the amount of evidence for it.

Many people had seen the fight from afar, even though most of the people had evacuated the affected area.

He himself had given up on hiding it, and moved right on to dealing with the aftermath of the whole situation.

Yet, while he was trying to figure out how to get back in contact with the Bulwark, how he could deal with the security council's concerns. He was shocked to learn that other than the people of the highest level, none really knew about the fight between the two titans.

All the evidence online had disappeared, even SHIELD's own database had been raided and all footage deleted. A massive security risk, but he couldn't help but be impressed all the same, even as he raged at everyone to get them to fix the problems.

To think someone could do something like this was impressed, and scary, for now they used their power for good, but they could easily use their power to manipulate the media for their own ends.

It was no wonder that many nations already seemed to fall under their sway, or maybe they had always been, but he only noticed it now that he knew about them. They could very much make or break a politician's career.

He remembered that the current President Obama had won thanks to the sudden support of Alexander Ricci, someone who was verified to have been a member of Bulwark. This meant that they had already been able to decide who to put in the White House and hadn't been afraid to use that ability.

While that was indeed a concern, it wasn't all that important, at least not for now. Instead, his primary concern was the fact that Banner and that lizard monster had ruined a good part of Tokyo and disappeared and that everyone wanted to know more.

He, as director of SHIELD, was the one they turned towards, and he didn't have many answers to give. He wanted to try to get his hands on the lizard's remains. Something that could stand up against the Hulk like that wasn't something he was willing to ignore.

Something else that was hard to ignore was the fact that Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, and Bucky Barnes had shown up as well.

Two of those were supposed to have died 70 years ago. The other was a woman of 90 years of age who was supposed to suffer from Alzheimer's. Yet now she was fighting like she, too, was a damned super soldier.

He had personally gone to visit where Peggy was supposed to be living. Only to find the place empty, even though someone, who everyone, himself including had assumed to be Peggy herself.

However it now seemed like it had been someone merely pretending to be her, or someone else with Alzheimer's who looked close enough to fool everyone. After all, it wasn't a surprise if she appeared to have forgotten something, so no one asked many questions.

Hell, who would even think to check if she was the real Peggy? Who would expend the effort to kidnap her? The only reason she was under SHIELD protection was due to respect. She was respected for sure, and knew a bit of old and out-of-date secrets, but beyond that, she had no value.

Yet, clearly, everyone had been wrong; she apparently still had plenty of value to someone else. Though he couldn't understand why Peggy Carter hadn't been in touch with SHIELD, surely she who founded the damned thing would still have some loyalty in her heart.

It was giving him a damned headache, and he knew he wasn't alone. Pierce had already been to his office a dozen times about what was going on. He looked almost panicked when he learned the news that those three was somehow alive and running around together again.

Personally Fury guessed that it was because Pierce was from a older generation, he likely had a deeper bond with Peggy, and was likely worried about what was going on, and he couldn't blame him. Everyone wanted answers.

Answers he just didn't have, which was why he was currently wrecking his brain about how he could get in touch with Bulwark and get some answers.

Sure, the Ricci family had connections, but they were also difficult to touch, after all they were well connected and decently liked by the public. So even the old tricks of making up some bogus crime to push on them likely wouldn't work.

Sure it would deal with the public, but it wouldn't work due to all the connections they had with people in power, not to mention what kind of support they might get from the Bulwark.

"Mother fucker." He cursed under his breath.

A/N

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