Recovery

WARNING! INFINITY WAR SPOILERS!

/

The Funeral for Harry Osborn was a small and simple one, a simple closed casket, friends and family only.

Something he would have liked.

There was no fanfare, no monument built in his honor, just a few speeches given by Greer, Peter, and myself.

He didn't have too many friends outside of school.

"This was never supposed to happen." I said, my fists clenched in frustration as I gaze over Harry's new Gravestone. Another ceremonial one would be set up in Genosha, nothing big or fancy, he always hated standing out, but it would be a place where Genoshans could pay their respects.

"It wasn't your fault. He made his choice to try to protect you. He died a hero."

Greer was standing next to me in a black dress, watching as Harry's friends payed their respects to his grave.

"He was an idiot." I reply simply. "He knew I could heal, he knew my armor was durable enough, and he knew about my magic. He should have stayed away. He should have helped with crowd control or help Peter or Yuriko with the Hellhound. Instead he charged in to try to protect me… I should have trained him better, given him the Oz formula, something! Something so that I don't have to bury an empty coffin."

"The past is the past… and as much as we want to change it, we can't." she answers with a sigh, leaning her head on my shoulder.

Sighing in frustration, I turn away and head back to the limo.

"Come on, we have work to do."

/

The weeks following Harry's death and funeral were stressful to say the least, I didn't sleep, I rarely ate, and I always worked. Many of my responsibilities were shirked off onto Yuriko and Greer to oversee while I coped.

I know it was selfish of me, I know it was wrong, but I couldn't really bring myself to care. Not when I was doing everything in my power to make sure this never happened again.

I can't hold back anymore. The Apex formula has given me a boost and has allowed me to be able to take on the likes of Iron Man or Captain America without much issue, but the likes of Thor or Hulk I would still have issues with.

And that is the issue. If I can't take Thor or Hulk, how the hell am I going to take on Thanos?

I can't. Not in my current state.

I needed more.

And I couldn't stop until I was sure my family was safe.

/

"Initiate bonding sequence." I say while standing completely nude in a testing chamber.

"Yes, Sir." Ultron replies. After the battle, I had immediately set to restoring his code to how it was before, something that was incredibly difficult to do. Norman did a serious number on him.

From the walls came a dark green slime that seemed to crawl and squirm down and across the floor. Touching my feet, it latches on in a way similar to a leach, and in a way… it was.

This was the first successful artificial Symbiote, genetically modified to be different and more powerful than its template. An example is that this version is immune to the weaknesses of its predecessor like fire and sound while still granting me some of the abilities of Spiderman like its template. I.E. Wall crawling, web, increased strength, and more.

Combined with its genetic modification, I also added in a little tweak.

Nano-bots.

Fusing adamantine Nano-bots to the symbiote gives me a little bit of an upgrade over other suits in the MCU. Whereas Iron Man's suit is all Nano-bots or hard plating, mine is liquid and alive, allowing me to manipulate it mentally to create anything I desire. Advanced ion cannons, Chitauri lasers, and weapons that would have been impossible without the Nano-bots are now possible, but the maneuverability and possibilities that the symbiote grants me would have been impossible with just the Nano-Bots.

Crawling up my legs, the Symbiote slowly engulfs me until it finally wraps around my head and plunges me into darkness.

Opening my eyes once more, I immediately see the difference between my sight before and after. Now everything popped much more clearly, allowing for greater vision. Looking down at my hands, I see that the symbiote has mimicked Spider-Mans suit to a degree. No symbol, but it had the same spandex like appearance.

Mentally manipulating the suit, I make it turn into something more Me.

Flowing as if it were water, it shifts to appear more like the comic Green Goblin suit, complete with sharp fangs, pointy ears, and glowing yellow eyes.

"Perfect." I growl. My voice changing to a deep grumble, not unlike Batmans own voice.

Raising my right arm, I will the Nano-bots to form together to create a sword. Giving it a few experimental slashes, I nod in appreciation. Perfect.

This was the prototype. Once I can get better materials, this suit would be invincible. No one would be able to hurt me or those who I care about again.

/

"Alex, we need to talk."

"Not now Greer, I need to finish this." I reply with a sigh. Wearing my symbiote suit disguised as a regular shirt and jeans, I was trying to experiment on my blood. If I could find a way to link-

"Now." She growled.

Looking up from my work, I glance over at Greer to see her in her Tigra form glaring at me. None too pleased with me.

"Greer, I can't jus-"

Silencing me with a look, she grabs me by the collar and starts dragging me from my lab. I could have stopped her, dug in my heels, but I didn't have the energy to fight with her right now.

I didn't have the energy to do much more than tinker.

As we step into the elevator, I try talking again.

"Greer, I need to wor-"

"Shut… Up."

Obviously I shut up.

Stepping out on the roof of the palace, she dragged me to the edge so that I might see everything.

"Do you see that?" she asks me. "Do you see that? That is 16,000,000 people depending on you, but you sit in our lab and bury yourself in your technology and plans. You've lost yourself Alex. Since Harry died, you've been moping around. You are a King damn it. Act like one." Saying this, she sighs in frustration before toning it down some.

"You are a king, not a god. Despite your power, you will lose people. Whether it is in war or just from old age, you will lose people… Don't let that break you. Use it to make yourself stronger, use it to motivate you… It will hurt, but you can't let that stop you. You have responsibilities that you can't just keep running away from. Eventually you will need to step up and take back your title as the King of Genosha."

Looking at her, I sigh. Both in her human form and her cat form she was beautiful, each form in their own way. With a hand on her stomach, Greer looked like a queen. With her orange hair blowing in the wind and green eyes gazing off into the distance, I was happy I saved her all those years ago.

"I can't stop, Greer… Not all the way. What if something like Norman were to happen again? What if what happened to Harry happened to one of the kids, what if it happened to you?" I plead. "I won't lose you too."

"You won't." She replies with a small smile. "I'm more stubborn than you give me credit for."

"Anyway," She sighs as she turns back to the elevator. "You have a country to run Alex, don't let what happened to Harry drag you down. What happened was tragic, and I'm very sad that it happened, but it happened. You can't change it; you just have to keep moving forward."

"I'll try." I say as I follow her to the elevator. "That's all I can do."

"Well you had better try hard and fast, as we have a visitor." She replied simply.

"Who?" I ask.

Pressing the button for the throne room, she sighs.

"Magneto wishes for an audience, and he is being particularly frustrating."

/

"Erik!" I say with an admittedly weak laugh. "What brings the master of Magnetism to Genosha?"

"Hydra." he replies with a snarl. "Recently, files were released by one of the Avengers, Black Widow I believe, that showcased the fact that the American based Intelligence organization SHIELD has been compromised and infiltrated by Hydra since the Second World War. They are out there, and I want them destroyed."

Oh.

This works perfectly.

"I assume these files held names of individuals linked to Hydra?" I ask as I recline in my throne.

"They did. Senators and politicians, Agents and assassins, everywhere on the social ladder they crawled and multiplied like insects."

"And I assume you have Mystique on the case already?"

"I have her on a separate mission, Hunting down the Winter Soldier." he replies simply as he manipulates the metal in the room to create a chair.

Normally I would have just made everything non ferrous to make sure he didn't turn on me, but trust is an important thing to have, especially with someone as powerful as Magneto.

"I know this isn't a social visit Erik, so why did you come?"

"I..." he started, looking almost unsure of himself. "I need your help. With your power of foresight, we can find every Hydra cell and put them down like the dogs they are."

Magneto is a proud man, having survived racism since the Holocaust as a Jew and as a genetic oddity in a world of Mutant haters, he has seen what the world has to offer and has found it lacking. To ask anyone for anything is a major blow to his pride.

Unfortunately, I can't help him… at least, not in the way he was thinking.

"The power of foresight is a tricky thing. Sometimes it shows you what you want, and sometimes it shows you something insignificant. The color of a persons eyes, what I'll have for breakfast in three years, stuff like that. I can't help you in that way right now. If I do see anything with my powers, I'll let you know, but for now? Nothing." I say. Technically I didn't lie. I just omitted the truth.

"However." I start as I see Magneto seem to deflate. "I can help in another way."

Snapping my fingers for dramatic effect, I mentally have my suit call in Wolverine.

"This is Wolverine, He is the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn't very nice." I say with a grin. In his time in Genosha, Logan had gone through a bit of a sabatical to regain his memories. After he and I took out Striker, I had sent him to Captain America where Steve shared war stories with him. Apparently they had fought together to take down Hydra several times. Besides that, I had used several different ways to restore his memories such as The Black Mirror, Psylock, and even a trip to The Ancient One. In the end, He came back a more fulfilled man. He may not remember everything, but he does remember much more than he did.

"Ever since I brought him to Genosha, he's been trained in martial arts and espionage. If anyone can find and subdue the Winter Soldier it would be him."

If I can get Bucky to Genosha, I can start him on the process to rehabilitation with Psylock and eventually Shuri, I can possibly gain another ally.

"I apologize that I can't help more, but as the King of a foreign country, especially one that most of the world finds… questionable, I can't be seen meddling in foreign affairs more than I have." I tell him.

"The help you have given me will suffice. If you see anything in your visions, please… let me know." he replies as he stands. "We will be meeting at my old base in a week, I would appreciate it if Wolverine would meet us there."

Nodding at him, he turns and walks out of the throne room, some guards walking him out.

As the door shuts, Wolverine turns to me from where he stood at my side and lights a cigar.

"What the hell was that about?"

"The Winter Soldier was one of Hydras best assassins, a ghost story. Over seventy years, he took out the target, afterwords his memory was forcibly erased and he was put on ice for the next assignment. He killed hundreds for Hydra, but before Hydra he was known best as James "Bucky" Barnes, Captain America's closest friend. Magneto plans on killing him for what he has done, but I want him alive, which is why I'm sending you. If anyone will be able to take him out and bring him back here alive, it's you. I'm sending Blink with you so you have an easy way out, I hope it proves unnecessary, but Magneto was hurt horrifically by the Nazis, he'll be out for blood."

With a simple nod, he takes a puff from his cigar and walks out to prepare for his trip.

If Nat declassified the Files, then that means Captain America: The Winter Soldier is done with, meaning SHIELD is over. That means that Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 should be coming up soon and I need to be ready.

/

"What are you working on now?" Greer asks as she walks into my lab and looks over my shoulder at the computer screen.

"I'm studying Abominations blood." I reply as I put in another formula.

The program I'm using is similar in design to what the High Evolutionary used to analyze the Extremis formula. The main difference however is it is much more streamlined. While the High Evolutionary was a Genetic mastermind, his computer skills were lacking.

"I'm hoping to find a way to combine the Apex formula and the Gamma, Superserum hybrid into one Formula. If I can find out how, I should be able to give myself the power of the Hulk and then some." I say as I put in another equation.

Stepping back a bit, she looks at me in incredulity.

"Why are you so obsessed over getting more power? You are already more powerful than the Hulk! Shouldn't that be enough?"

Pausing for a second, I realized something. I had never told anyone what was coming. I kept preparing and preparing, but nobody else actually knew why. Stark knew to an extent due to his visions and dreams, but he didn't see the magnitude of what will actually happen.

"I guess I haven't really shared my motivation, have I?" I ask with a small smile. "Imagine yourself for a moment in a world without heroes or villains, without aliens or demons, just your average police officers and random thugs who try to break the law. It sounds nice, doesn't it?"

With her nod, I continue.

"Now imagine for a moment that a revolutionary movie comes out about a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist who becomes the worlds knight in shining armor. You can see his struggles, his addictions, his issues, and his hopes and dreams. Now imagine that shortly afterwords another movie comes out, this time about a man with severe anger issues who can become a force of nature when he gets angry. In the end, you see him focus that rage to protect the ones he loves."

"This trend then continues, the next movie being the next step in the Knights journey where he met one of the best assassins in the business, followed by the legend of how a god became human and met an archer and an agent. A Soldier's fight in World War Two and how he became a Man out of Time." I say as I try to paint a picture for her to understand.

"Then these stories converge as they all team up to face up against the gods trickster brother. They become a team that the galaxy over would learn to fear."

Eyes wide, she looks at me in shock as I continue to weave my tale.

"After the fight they go there separate ways, the soldier trying to acclimate to modern life before getting pulled into a war between two government agencies, one serving to defend the world, and the other to destroy it. The Knight faces his inner demons as he faces off against a man hellbent on destroying both him and his legacy. The god finds a weapon of immense power and tries to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. But we also see some new faces, a ragtag group of scoundrels and thieves and mercenaries team up to keep another weapon from falling into the hands of an alien warlord."

Slowly, I start using my magic to take shape and show her some of the scenes from the movies, Captain America flinging his shield at the Winter Soldier and his shock at how he actually caught it. Iron Man leaping from Armor to armor as he tries to keep up with the Extremis Soldiers. Thor using his hammer to attack Malekith. The Guardians holding hands to share the power off the Infinity stone.

"Then they team up again. This time against a threat made from home, a robot determined to destroy everything in order to recreate the earth in a world of machines. Here we meet a certain Speedster, a Sorceress, and a Robot who wishes to stop the firsts rampage." Saying this, I show her scenes of Bruce and Stark trying to build Ultron before ultimitely giving up. Ultron waking up and assimilating Jarvis, The fight in Africa, the Hulkbuster suit, the birth of Vision, and finally Sokovia.

"After this battle, they once more go their separate ways, The knight focusing on his work and less on his knighthood, The god returns home to his family and palace, the man with his anger left earth to find a home where he belonged, and the soldier went to comfort those he used to know."

"Then the government wished to control these heroes, make them do things their way, The Governments way or else."

Showing her the scene where Ross shows up and gives them the accord, I continue.

"They split." I say simply. "The knight agreed with the government. Too many deaths were caused by their recklessness, with government backing and supervision, less deaths would be caused."

"The soldier however… Didn't feel that way. What If the government took too long to decide? If they weren't free to act, how would they keep doing what they did and help?"

Showing an image of them arguing, I continued.

"So starts the Superhero Civil War."

Showing images of the fight, I show her how Captain America loses his shield to Spider-man, how the Black Panther is fighting with claws and anger, how Ant-Man tries to take out Iron Man before Spider-man ties him up.

I show her the fight in the bunker, how Steve and Bucky fight off Tony before Steve finally crushes the Arc reactor with his Shield.

I show Steve breaking the rest of the Avengers out of jail and bring them to Wakanda.

Finally, I start showing her what will happen.

Thanos.

"Soon though, a new threat emerges, far more powerful than anything they have faced before, capable of easily beating the Man with the anger issues and the god, picking up the most powerful weapons in the galaxy along the way. He easily overpowers the Soldier and the Knight, along with new faces like The Wizard and the Spider. When he finally combines the power of the weapons..."

Snap

The image shows Thanos smiling at Thor, having just snapped before disappearing, The image zoomed around the world to showcase the people who died. Women, Men, Young, Old, Parent, Child, Rich, or Poor. Turned to dust with just a snap.

"Half the galaxy dies because a man thinks he knows whats best. Kill half the universe so that the other half can survive."

Looking at her, her eyes widen with shock and brimming with tears, I disperse the image as I hold her.

"That is why I'm doing everything in my power to get stronger. When He comes, I must be ready. I can't let him use the Stones for his own agenda. I can't let half the universe die. The stakes are to high for me to sit back and relax, waiting for something to happen. I saw the future, Greer. I can't let it come to pass."

"I can't."