Chapter 53 – A shield around the world (1)  

(Novi Grad, Sokovia – HYDRA Research Facility – 28th April 2015)

"I still can't believe you didn't propose, I mean, you got the ring and everything." Nat was walking through the forested area shaking her head at her giant of a friend next to her. "All that advice and prep work and you get cold feet at the last minute."

"I did not!" Kal protested as he strode easily through the snow, but a raised eyebrow from Nat made him shift slightly. "It was merely…..not the right time. And besides, I still don't understand the processes it seems lacking?"

"Lacking?" Nat asked, raising her pistol out to her side and shooting the dozen attacking HYDRA foot soldiers that had leapt out of the snow.

"Indeed. A golden ring? With compressed carbon fixed upon it? A worthless material, surely an armband or weapon made with Uru with a real jewel would be a better gift to seal a marriage with." Kal shook his head at the strangeness of mortals, then his eyes flashed red and destroyed the guard tower up ahead. "And again, why must I kneel to present it?"

"It's… just what you're supposed to do." Nat finally said. She'd really tried very hard to help Kal propose, but the god had dithered to the point of missing his chance when Carol had been forced to return to her duties.

"Hate to interrupt but we're kind of in the middle of a fight here." Kal and Nat turned to look at Barton who was kneeling about 20 yards from them firing at HYRDA soldiers.

The scene in front of the archer was almost worthy of an Asgardian battle. HYRDA's infiltration of SHIELD had meant they had access to all the alien technology that they had but with none of SHIELD's scruples on using it. He watched as the Hulk tore through a squad of soldiers wielding Chitauri weapons and armour, their purple energy blasts bouncing harmlessly off of him. He could also see his brother and Steve clear out a bunker which then collapsed briefly into a Dark Elf singularity bomb.

"Sorry coming through!" Kal and Nat leaned out of the way as Kara rocketed through the air chasing after a pair of flying HYRDA soldiers using poor iterations of the Iron Man suit made from alien tech.

A large explosion shook the ground as Nat and Kal joined into the fry properly now, rushing to meet a large contingent of troops not yet engaged. The source of the explosion quickly presented itself as Kon appeared, covered in suet punching his way through a tank. The area he was leaving behind was still exploding, so clearly he had levelled a munitions dump or a supply depot.

Looming large over the battlefield was their goal, Von Strucker's castle, the last bastion of HYRDA on planet Earth. As Kal's heat vision surged again, causing an enemy tank to explode and take out an entire squad of soldiers, Tony streaked overhead blasting away at approaching reinforcements before diving down to the castle. However, instead of smashing into the castle a blue energy barrier appeared causing him to ping off of it.

"Fuck, shit!" Tony cursed, wincing as he tried to re-stabilise himself in the air as pain shot through his body.

"Language!" Steve's voice sounded over their communicators as tore through a squad of soldiers, Shield dropping them like flies. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"

"It appears the central building is protected by an energy shield; it has a similar signature to the World Engine." Jarvis' calculated electronic voice sounded out as he observed the battlefield from his new satellite in orbit. "Von Strucker's technology is clearly well beyond any other HYDRA base we have come across. I cannot see a way to lower the shield"

"The rat's final nest, it makes sense that it would be well guarded. The sceptre must be here, Strucker would not be able to mount this defence without it" Kal paused moving in the middle of the battlefield, seemingly unconcerned with the energy bolts flying around a few pining off of him, instead just bringing his vambrace up to his mouth. "Kelex, are you able to lower the shield?"

"One moment Master Kal…." A more human-sounding robotic voice came over the channel as Kal's newest creation paused trying to solve his master's problem. "I can lower the Shield, Master Kal, however, they will be able to raise it again after a short delay."

"It does not matter! At long last, we shall have our prize and end this accursed chase!" Thor boomed bringing his hammer down unleashing a wave of lightning.

"Well at 'long last' seems to be lasting a little long." Nat remarked next to Kal lifting her pistols up again to fire another salvo at even more Hydra reinforcements.

"Yeah. It's the weirdest thing, but I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint remarked as he loosened a single arrow resulting in a tank exploding.

"We wouldn't have if some people had stuck to the plan," Kara smirked as she gave both her uncle and brother a knowing look, the latter looking sheepish while the former merely grinned and laughed.

"Wait a second. Is no one going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?" Tony smirked as he weaved through the air around the castle letting off blasts as he tried to scan for the generator.

"I know," Steve grunted as he slammed his shield into a truck causing it to crumple and lurch the men out of it, whom he quickly dispatched by an expert throw of his shield. "It just slipped out."

The sound of artillery fire caused Kal to look upwards and before anyone could say a word he launched himself into the air. Once he was high enough his eyes started to flash red, as blasts of his heat vision annihilated the shells that were being launched from the castle and its protective shield. His eyes narrowed to focus not on the castle but the nearby city of Novi Grad, which had been the target of the artillery strike. His face formed a grimace as he saw that the city was still taking fire from the battle even with him destroying the shells.

"Von Strucker is targeting the city, he wishes to draw us away, I am stopping his attempt, but the city is still endangered," Kal remarked, remaining where he was and using another heat vision beam to shoot down more shells and occasionally a group of soldiers beneath him.

"Yeah, I'm on it. Jarvis, send in the Iron Legion," Tony's voice sounded out as he weaved through the air, his skill allowing to speak, fly and fire at the same time.

Overhead dozens of metallic shapes suddenly shot through the air. The Iron Legion Drones were quick to move, and even to Kal's experienced eye, they looked impressive. The original model Tony had created looked very robotic and matched his Iron Man suit. However, what flew through the air looked a lot more human, which was largely a result of Kal's assistance with him having aided in the design and lending him some Kryptonian technology to improve the design. As the Iron Legion flew by to assist the city the battle below did nothing but intensify, causing Kal's eyes to become presently red as they raked it over the battlefield and skies.

"Master Kal, I am detecting damage to the Iron Legion Drones that have been deployed. Might suggest that I take over command. My processes are vastly superior to those of the Jarvis construct."Kelex remarked as Kal twisted in the air to allow him to blast several more shells screaming through the air.

"I will have you know that my programming allows me to handle a multitude of functions and still be pol-" Jarvis' voice, not for the first time, sounded defensive and more than a little annoyed at responding to Kelex, to the two AI systems again butting metaphorical heads.

"Not the time!" Kal grunted back, wanting the conversation to end as he was focusing on the task at hand.

"Clint's been hit!" Nat's concerned voice shouted over the comms causing Kal to twist and his eyes narrowed as he saw his friend laying on his back with a deep wound in his side, in front of a bunker the Hulk quickly demolished.

However, Kal's eyes quickly snapped to Steve's location as a silver blurring streak shot past him, briefly trying to knock the living legend off his feet but failing as Steve merely backflipped and landed squarely on the ground.

"We've got enhanced in the field. Kal, you see him?" Steve asked, throwing his shield at another group of soldiers not missing a beat even in battle.

Kal gained altitude to give himself an even better view of the battlefield as his eyes widened as he went through the entire visible and invisible spectrum of light. A grimace formed on his face, as a strange shimmering red mist became visible to his eyes, existing just beyond the human perception of the world.

"I cannot, something is blocking me," Kal stated bluntly his grimace did lighten as he did see something that improved his mode.

"Some kind of stealth tech?" Steve had an edge of worry to his voice, not liking that Hydra could have the technology to hide from Kal's near-omnipresent sight

"No, it appears to be witchcraft" Kal's honest statement caused an audible silence to fall over the comm line as no one knew how to respond to that. "However, Stark I can see the power source for the castle's shield. It's under the north tower."

"Good to know. I'm going to poke it with a stick and let you guys deal with…. whatever the hell is going on." Tony sounded out and dropped low in the sky as he lined up with the north tower, realising a missile that cut into the stone side of the mountain before exploding and causing the shield to drop.

"Okay, Kara, Kon, you two wrap up out here and watch out for the enhanced. Thor, get to Barton and evac him to the Quinjet. Kal, Tony and I will grab the sceptre and Von Strucker. Nat, time for the sunset." Steve's commanding voice sounded out as he sounded out the game plan as he pushed towards the castle.

"On it," Nat responded, sighing as she looked over to the Hulk who was smashing apart a tank like it was a toy.

"I'll make sure the valiant Barton lives to sing of this day. Just make sure you get that sceptre." Thor's booming voice could almost be heard without the need for the comm device as he smashed his way over to Clint.

"And I'll make sure someone doesn't blow up anything he shouldn't" Kara's voice teased as she swept through the air destroying everything in her way.

"HEY! That was one time!" Kon-El grunted back as his fists slammed into a bunker that crumpled beneath.

"And everyone…." Tony's voice suddenly cut in sounding deadly serious and capturing everyone's focus as none of his usual cockiness was present. "Remember, watch the language!"

The small joke earned an eyeroll from Steve and a chuckle from everyone else as the battle started to wind down. Kal shot down smashing through the ceiling of the castle, at the same time Tony attacked the main laboratory and Steve struck the main entrance to cut off any line of retreat. The room he had smashed into seemed to be a makeshift armoury and barracks as a dozen men opened fire on him with all manner of weapons. He merely let them waste their fire for a few moments before slamming his hands together, the sonic wave blasting all back into the walls of the room that cracked as well.

Kal's focus quickly moved from the subdued men to the castle walls, his sight piercing the walls as he looked for the prize they sought. He knew Steve would find Von Strucker and Tony would secure the madman's research, what he was looking for was Loki's sceptre.

"Guys w- Bzzz -there an- fzzzt- do not-" Steve's voice sounded out their comms crackling at some unseen interference.

"Captain? Steve?" Kal hand went to the comm device in his ear, his eyes raked over the building trying to find his friend.

"Guys I have eyes on -Pssssaaat crnkllsht psssshtt" Tony's voice cut into his search, the intense interference again cutting him off.

Kal's head started twisting in every direction until he suddenly saw a large blacked-out section of the building his vision couldn't penetrate. His body shot forward to punch through stone, steel and metal alloy before finally smashing into a large indoor hanger that doubled as a laboratory. A dead Levithan hung from the ceiling and dotted all over the area were jars of clearly alien specimens, along with what Kal suspected were the grisly remains of human experiments. However, his focus immediately turned to Tony who was standing unmoving in front of the glowing sceptre they were after.

"Tony? Tony, are you okay?!" Kal shot over to Tony quickly grabbing the man by the shoulders just in time to see a flash of red mist wash away from his eyes, and hear the man mumble.

"I should have done more…" Tony's whisper turned into a small groan as he suddenly blinked hard and saw Kal in front of him, wincing as he felt a headache appear. "Kal what happened?"

Kal's eyes left Tony and quickly scanned the room, however, his vision revealed nothing, nothing apart from a lingering wisp of red mist that was quickly lost in the wind. His eyes narrowed at the spot. All his focus was brought to bear, and his eyes flashed gold for a moment as he felt the pull of power that had been increasing over the past few years. For a moment he thought he saw the outline of a woman and man but whatever was present vanished as quickly as it appeared to him.

"I am not sure," Kal responded slowly, his vision moving back to Tony giving his friend a friendly pat on the shoulder before turning to face the glowing weapon before them. "However, what matters now is that our hunt is at an end."

(Avenger's Tower – New York City - 29th April 2015)

Kal moved to one side to let the Midgardian healers attend to Barton who was quickly removed from the Quinjet accompanied by Nat so that Healer Cho could use her Regeneration Cradle to mend his friend's wounds. Barton just raised his hand and waved at Kal as they loaded him onto a gurney and started to move him.

"Hey, don't go planning my funeral yet, I plan on living forever. I'm going to outlive you, you know." Barton smirked as they started to move him away earning a shake of the head from Nat who went with him.

"And I look forward to seeing it!" Kal called out after Barton raised his own hand to wave his friend good luck hen was moved inside.

As Thor left the craft the sceptre secured safely inside a container for Tony and Banner under one arm, Maria Hill walked in carrying a data pad and a professional smile on her face. The former right hand of SHIELD was a common sight at the towers these days, in fact, a lot of old SHIELD personnel were. When SHIELD had fallen and the Avengers had stepped in to carry the load and keep the world safe, Tony had basically hired everyone he could that used to work for SHIELD, well, everyone that could conclusively prove they weren't HYDRA.

"Lab and the med bay is all setup boss," Maria's voice matched her professional smile as she looked at Tony who was finishing up with calling back the Iron Legion and cycling down the Quinjets engines.

"Oh, I'm not the boss he is," Tony pointed at Steve who was checking over his equipment one last time. "I just pay for everything, design everything and make everyone look cooler."

"What's the word on Strucker?" Steve moved over to Hill ignoring Tony's playful bemoaning of his position.

"NATO's got him. They're prepping a nice little cell for him whilst they sort out his trial at the Hague." Maria responded. She stepped to the side and then kept pace as Steve headed indoors, with Kal following behind when he quickly gestured for him to follow.

"And what about the two enhanced?" Steve pressed, taking the data pad from Hill as she played a video of two young people at a protest.

"We've gone through the files Stark managed to pull. Meet Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, twins." Hill reported, pressing the data pad in Steve's hand that played a video of the protest and showed a demolished building. "Orphaned at age 10 when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special-"

"It is the ancient home of Midgardian Magic and a place of great mystic power." Kal's voice caused both Hill and Steve to turn and look at him in surprise.

"Excuse me?" Maria asked more than a little alarmed, since gods and aliens became a thing, she learnt very quickly that whenever 'magic' came up it was never good.

"The land we just visited, was once known as Transia and was the birthplace of the art of human sorcery. Before my birth, Wundagore Mountain was located there until my mother banished it to another dimension." Kal stated, looking at his two friends before him, more than a little concerned that mortals seemed to know so little about their own history. "I suspect that these Maximoffs being native to the land likely hold a strong trace of the blood of old Hyboria, which is what gave them powers. After Von Strucker's experiments"

"Right, okay. Magic, the blood of whatever, that's something. Um, should we be concerned about Sokovia exploding with enhanced individuals?" Maria asked after taking a moment to try and process the very bizarre history lesson she was getting from Kal.

"No, without the sceptre's power, all should be well, the blood of Hyboria will lay dormant, and the wielders of the magic of this realm shall keep their watch on the old site of that dark and dreadful Mountain. So, nothing to be concerned about." Kal gave Hill his best smile which she just nodded at and made a mental note to double or triple the surveillance they had on Sokovia.

"What are their abilities?" Steve asked, shaking Maria out of her haze as they continued back into the tower. He did find Kal's soliloquies weird at times but was fast getting used to them.

"The male, Pietro, got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Whilst the female Wanda's abilities are registered all over the place. Mostly it's been classified as neurological interference, telekinesis and mental manipulation" Hill reported sounding a lot more centred as she drifted back to the cold hard facts she knew and trusted.

"Meaning?" Steve asked as they reached the elevator handing back the data pad to Hill.

"He's very fast and she's…. Weird, with a capital W," Hill explained, earning a nod from Steve as he and Kal entered the elevator.

"Well, make no bones about it, they are going to show up again," Steve stated as he pressed the button to take them to the Avenger's private floor.

"Agreed. We'll keep an eye out for them." Maria started typing on the data pad already marshalling their resources for the task. "You know, they likely aren't stable, the files state they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts."

"Right, right. What kind of crazy kids would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?" Steve gave Maria a teasing smile.

"We're not at war, captain." Maria shot back as the doors began to close.

"No, but they are." Steve got in the last word as the doors fully closed, he was silent for a few moments before finally speaking to Kal. "So, do you know what's in this secret project Tony and Banner have been working on?"

"I do not," Kal replied, knowing what Steve was asking about. The two geniuses that some of the tower staff had taken to calling the "Science Bros." had locked themselves away whenever they were back on site, "Banner states it is only an idea, and Tony does not wish to ruin the surprise as it will be…what were the words he used, 'epically awesome'"

"Sounds like Tony, just keep an eye on them okay? You know how lost in their work they can get." Steve requested looking at Kal who gave his promise with a nod of his head, with that weight off his chest Steve remembered another weight which Nat had added earlier. "Kal, you know this party Tony is putting together?"

"Yes, in celebration of our achievements and the end of a long quest. It shall be a night of revels unmatched in the history of Midgard, or at least we shall attempt it!" Kal boomed smiling down at his friend looking forward to a night where he could relax amongst friends and fellow warriors in the good old days before his exile.

"Yeah, it will be great. It's just… Nat mentioned you were inviting some people and implied that you were going to try and…...set me up with one?" Steve cringed remembering the femme fatale's teasing and shifted at the thoughts of people trying to set him up for romance.

"Have no worries, my friend," Kal slapped Steve on the back causing the man to shunt forward slightly as the doors opened allowing Kal to move out swiftly. "She is an old friend, a fine goddess and very fun at parties."

Kal moved off swiftly leaving Steve to ponder his words in the elevator for a few moments. His brian trying to think of a way out of it without hurting Kal's feelings. Despite everyone encouraging him to move on, his heart just wasn't in it, he knew he had met the love of his life and in truth wasn't looking for another one.

"Thanks but I'm- WAIT, goddess? Like an actual goddess?!" Steve yelled down the hall when his brain finally registered Kal's wording but it proved too late as the other hero had already strode down the hallway. "Aw, nuts…. I'm so dead."

Kal moved swiftly through the building. Although he wanted to spend time with the children he knew would have time to catch up with them later. Besides they were likely spending time with their Uncle who was trying to educate them on the finer points of Asgardian post-battle celebrations. No for the moment Kal was focused on making sure the Sceptre was secure and so headed to Tony and Bruce's lab.

As he entered the room he could see the artefact was firmly secured and was currently being analysed by a series of scans. Both Tony and Bruce were present, huddled together by a computer and whispering about something that the former was clearly excited about. As Kal walked forward, he briefly turned his head peering through the adjacent wall, checking on Barton who was being cared for by the Doctor Cho.

"I see Barton is improving well, Doctor Cho's creation is a credit to the crafts of Midgard," Kal stated, causing Tony and Bruce to break apart and look over at him.

"Unfortunately, he's still Barton." Tony quipped, earning a shake of the head from Kal and an eyeroll by Bruce. "Come to the glow stick of destiny. We are still analysing it unless you want to just tell us about it. It was your brother's after all"

"I wish I could, but alas the sceptre's origins, purpose and power are unknown to me. Wherever Loki got it from, it is not of Asgard, and the design is odd, it is a mixture of cultures and technology." Kal's gaze focused on the sceptre looking it up and down, his vision trying to pierce the crystal but failing as if something was instinctively reacting to his attempt to protect itself. "I cannot even see inside the jewel, what have you learnt?"

"Mostly it appears to be made out of a number of composite materials, most appear to be designed to absorb high band energy transmissions and radiation. And I don't think it was all made at the same time, what dating we can do places several pieces at very different ages to each other." Bruce spoke up gesturing to the screen which displayed the data.

"As interesting as that is, we found something better. You know how we were all wondering how Strucker got so inventive," Tony moved over and picked up a small from a nearby table his sense of showmanship clearly coming into play. "So whilst Bruce focused on the sceptre I focused on the gem inside. Now humour for a moment you may recognise my lovely assistant"

Tony flicked the device forward causing a holographic depiction of Jarvis's matrices to appear in the middle of them. It was a large swirling ball of golden amber lines of code that interacted with each other to create a brilliant shining display.

"Jarvis," Banner greeted the AI with a small smile.

"Doctor," Jarvis responded.

"Starting out, Jarvis was just this natural language UI I found on my dad's old server banks. Fast forward, he runs the Iron Legion, he runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper." Tony smiled slightly clearly proud at what Jarvis had grown into. "Now, top of the line. Only beaten by our resident alien's tech. Kal if you please."

Kal saw where his friend was going with this and quickly tapped a panel on his vambrace. A display of Kelex's AI matrix appeared next to Jarvis'. Instead of golden amber, Kelex's was a dark sapphire blue and formed what could only be described as a 3-dimensional infinity symbol. It was also denser than Jarvis', and the fine details of the swirling colours were almost imperceptible to the human eye.

"Both impressive, far beyond anything else, lightyears ahead of anything here on Earth," Tony's voice drew both men's attention back, as he moved over to the sceptre and held the device in his hand up to it before flicking it forward. "Now meet the competition,"

Both Kal and Bruce straightened up as they saw what came roaring to life in front of them. The matrix from sceptre jewel was a thing of beauty, it was a cascade of interconnected parts that flowed like water, yet moved a purpose, creating an image that made Kelex and Jarvis look like a child's finger painting.

"It's beautiful," Bruce moved forward, his eyes taking in every inch of the incredible sight.

"It's thinking," Kal's observation was more nuisance, his eyes raking over the same sight. "It's no mortal mind, nor any mind I've seen before…. eh?"

"What is it, you see something?" Tony moved forward trying to look at the same part Kal was looking at, but his eyes couldn't follow all the random movements of the matrix.

"It's reacting to us," Kal started to gesture to parts of the matrix in front of him. "This part is in English. This is Asgardian mathematics. I think this is meant to be Kryptonian. This one looks to be, binary?"

"You can read this?" Bruce moved next to Kal eager to learn about what this marvel was revealing.

"Partially, it is difficult to follow, it appears to be mostly random…thoughts, it is the best word I have. If there is a pattern or purpose, I cannot decipher it." Kal stated honestly his head tilting to one side.

"Strucker was," Tony chimed in grabbing his friend's attention once more "I saw down in his lab, he had some very advanced tech, tech he definitely could not have created on his own. They deep-sixed the data, but I guess he was knocking on a very particular door."

"Artificial Intelligence?" Bruce looked from the sceptre's matrix to Tony putting the pieces together and knowing where the man was going.

"Maybe something even beyond that. Artificial sapience a true thinking machine that can improve itself. This could be it; this could be the key we need to create…." Tony's excitement and enthrallment with his idea was only stopped when he remembered Kal was with them.

"The key to creating what?" Kal asked his eyes narrowing as he looked at his two friends.

"A project we've been working on." Bruce glanced at Tony who shifted uncomfortably. "It's more of a fantasy really."

"Which could become a reality." Tony started moving forward and gesturing to the sceptre, his voice impassioned, unlike anything Kal had seen before. "If we can harness this power, apply it to my legion protocols, and combined with the Kryptonian nanotech you've provided, we co-"

"That is a mighty, almost planet-sized 'if' Tony" Bruce cut him off, then moved over to his friend and shook his head. The feasibility of the idea just didn't materialise in his mind like it had for Tony.

"Our whole job, everything we do here is 'if'" Tony shot back, releasing a deep sigh trying to stay calm and not let his frustrations get the better of him, wanting to use the speech he had been planning in his head for weeks. "How long can we keep doing this? If you haven't noticed, the threats are only getting bigger." "

"And we have handled them," Kal replied, crossing his arms but also giving Bruce a quick glance, the two men sharing a look of agreement that their friend wasn't completely wrong. Tony saw the look and seized on it.

"For how long. Every day, every week, every year, we run the risk of one day coming up against someone, something that we just can't handle"

He looked at the two men and saw neither was refuting what he was saying, in fact, both looked like they begrudgingly agreed with him.

"All it takes is one mistake, one distraction and we can lose someone, or worse we lose the fight. But what if we didn't have to? What if you can spend your days on a beach sipping Mai Tai's turning brown instead of green? What if you could spend your days with your kids, kick your feet up, sip mead on your arctic porch without worrying about the sky falling down? What if next time evil world-conquering aliens show up, and they will, to the club they couldn't get past the bouncer?"

"The only people threatening the world would be people," Bruce spoke up, a pensive yet relieved look on his face.

"Exactly, I want to apply this to our project." Tony's face became a broad smile as he saw Bruce was slowly coming around, however, his smile faltered as he knew there was one small hitch. "….but Jarvis can't download a schematic this dense, nor can Kelex. We can only do it if we have the sceptre here"

"You wish to keep the sceptre, that is not possible." Kal moved forward not liking the direction Tony was taking the conversation.

"No, no, no," Tony raised his hands up stopping the much large man in his tracks. "I'm not saying that. Just….Just give me and Bruce three days with it, let us see if we can do this."

"You are suggesting creating a consciousness, an artificial one. This is a dangerous path, my friend, a path that has been the folly of many a world." Kal shifted as he glanced at the sceptre before turning back to Tony, not liking he had to be the one to curb his friend's desires. "We should inform the team and make this decision together."

"He's right Tony." Bruce backed up Kal moving to stand next to his alien teammate. "It was one thing to keep this quiet when it was an ideal fantasy, but now. We've got to tell them."

"So that we can get stuck in a city hall debate?" Tony asked rhetorically, his hands shooting up in disbelief, moving over to his workbench releasing a sigh before turning back to face his friends. "I don't want to hear 'the man was not meant to meddle' medley. Not when we're this close. I see a suit of armour around the world."

"Sounds like a pretty cold world Tony." Bruce remarked, scraping his foot on the floor as he looked down as he always did when he was feeling torn between morality and science.

"I've seen a colder one. This one, this very vulnerable blue one, needs this. Peace in our time, imagine that, just for a moment" Tony moved away from them grabbing a datapad off of the workbench and was already getting to work.

Bruce and Kal exchanged a look, the former was clearly tempted and willing to go along with the idea, whilst the latter looked very hesitant. Bruce then raised his eyebrows for a moment and gave Kal a pleading look. It was clear what Bruce wanted, although he was more hesitant than Tony he clearly wanted to see if this was at least possible.

"Tony," Kal's voice caused the billionaire to look up from his work at his friends a hesitant tension on his face, as he waited on what Kal said next. "I am not saying I support this. BUT if you promise not to activate this project of yours, and only study its feasibility. Nothing dangerous. Then I see no reason to inform the others, yet."

"Of course, 100%. We're just going to run the numbers, create some modules is all." Tony was quick to pounce on the opportunity. "I promise, nothing dangerous."

"Very well then, would you like my assistance with this." Kal offered his eyes looking over to the sceptre's matrix that was still displaying a thousand interlocking cascades of data.

"No, me and Bruce have got this, go spend some time with the kids, and keep that brother of yours from smashing up the tower." Tony smiled his signature trademark smile that always worked to calm nerves and instil confidence in nervous investors. "Besides, on top of all that, you've got a party to get ready for, and you promised to help make it the greatest in Earth's history."

Kal's face formed a grimace for a moment before releasing a deep sigh and deciding to trust Tony or more accurately trust Bruce to keep him in line. In truth, he was feeling tired, not physically but mentally. The past year had been one of constant motion and a thousand different things were always plaguing his thoughts. If he was honest with himself, he could use a break about not worrying about Midgard or impending doom for a few days. He started moving towards the door with Tony beside him all the way as if the billionaire was not just escorting him out but making sure he left.

"Okay, but I'm leaving Kelex to assist you. He should be able to speed up the processes." Kal then stopped as they reached the door, taking the opportunity to look down at Tony his expression serious. "And Tony, I do mean it. Nothing but studying it, understand."

"I understand. Scouts honour" Tony raised his hand, looking rarely honest for once, which was enough for Kal to satisfy, he gave Tony a nod and then left the room.

"Tony?" Bruce asked moving to stand next to Tony who had turned back around and walked back over to the sceptre's matrix.

"Yes, Bruce." He replied his eyes now fixed on the datapad in his hands as he started working at full speed to get his dream achieved.

"You were never in the scouts," Bruce sighed knowing what Tony had done. "Were you?"

"No, but hey he'll thank us when we get this done okay," Tony remarked, his hands becoming a blur as he started typing out the code. "You and I can get this mapped, structured and interfaced with Ultron. I know it. And once it's online and the team sees what it can do, they'll be thanking us."

"Tony…"

"Bruce, trust me. And I didn't lie okay, I promised nothing dangerous, and this isn't dangerous. It's like the opposite of dangerous" Tony looked away from his pad and saw that Bruce was almost there, and just needed a little push "Look, take the next couple of days, run the numbers with me, we have Jarvis and Kelex to help out. And if at any point you want to go tell Kal, you can, I'll even go with you. Okay?"

The room fell silent for a few moments as Bruce looked at Tony, then at the sceptre and then at the matrix in front of him. There was a battle clearly raging behind his eyes, between his wary restrained self, created from years of dealing with the Hulk and the inner scientist who wanted nothing more than to push the boundaries of science, the very side that had created the Hulk. It took a few agonising moments before Tony got his answer, as Bruce released a deep breath and grabbed the datapad off of him.

"Come on, we've got a lot of work to do." Bruce threw himself fully into the work now that he had made his choice. "We should start with a recursive data entry interface, if this thing runs as fast as Kal said, we want to minimise our point of entry but gain as much data as possible without crashing the system."

"My thoughts precisely, Kelex, could you display what kinds of code sequences would work best for that kind of entry point, and Jarvis, start prepping interface modules," Tony ordered, rolling up his sleeves a determined glint in his eye as he focused on getting his suit of armour ready for the world.