Good As Gold

Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes…etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. 

This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire.

*.*.*.*.*

GOOD AS GOLD

*.*.*.*.*

"No, let's disregard interference, extrapolate the scepter's radiation wavelength and cross scan for it over the mapped locations." I offered. 

Oh, I already knew where the tesseract was, I had its real time location constantly updated on my glasses. See this is why it's important to have not only advanced satellites and surveillance devices spread out all over the world but also tech that allows you to tap into every digital feed within proximity and process it meaningfully.  

I just had to let things play out to a certain extent. 

"And you call yourself smart? The necessary parameters will cripple the processor speed." Stark shot at me.

"Not if we tweak the formula and allow a certain flexible extent of operation." I pulled the screen to my side, fed the data into the console and watched the progress flare up in speed.

"Won't the power needed to maintain integrity short the system?" Banner asked, seeing the promising results but noticing the significant drawback.

I made to answer his question but the futurist tapped on the console and did what I was about to "Yes, but if we reroute it through these levels then problem…solved." Stark smiled.

"Now we wait." I nodded.

"You two have such chemistry." Banner joked.

Stark laughed and sneered. "The exact same thing was said of my first ex."

"Guess she dodged a bullet there." I sniped back. "What can I say Banner, he's a fan, even if he won't admit it." I grabbed a seat and reclined. 

"See Bruce, he's insane." Tony said, walking over to the man. "I mean why else would he wear shades indoors."

"You jelly brah?" He rolled his eyes at me and went back to conversing with the other super scientist. 

Using my psionic link to browse through the files sent to my glasses, addressing what needed addressing, sifting through useless conversations between lines assumed secure, looking over current company expenditure and signing off on small buyouts and acquisitions while concurrently designing a better cooling system for the rail cannon the team of engineers back at HQ were tinkering with.

The psionic link needed refining and upgrading, its current iteration was just functional, which meant it was simple and unable to handle complex input, I had to be better than just functional. I filed away the plans for a bionic implant which would allow direct and smoother mind-to-matter interfacing— a more simplified version of the upgraded iteration would also similarly serve as an upgrade to the E-scape headsets. 

I pulled my phone and drew up the improved blueprints for the cooling system, sending it to company servers for the engineers to look over and implement.

'Updates.'

[They're still offline, Boss. All we have is their last broadcast coordinates.]

'File away the locations and put the operation on hold. Divert the computation power to #Titanfall.'

[On it…done. Event outcome threshold expanded.]

"Ow!" I stared up, catching Stark grinning after electrocuting a laughing Banner. 

[And database download complete Boss, we're updated.] And that was my queue, I'd been downloading additional Shield data files to further supplement the ones I had on hand. With the Hydra files I obtained from hacking into Zola from the various Hydra bases I had very comprehensive information on very secret subjects. 

[Boss, the bait's been bitten, operation 'Crash and Burn' in effect.]

'Perfect.'

I can't overstate the importance of knowledge and its relation to power. Although you'd have to be wise enough to understand when and where a certain type of knowledge should be applied. 

"Where are you going?" Banner asked as I approached the lab's exit.

"I'll be exploring the place, seeing the sights, meeting the people and all that. Call me if you need me." I said. "Oh, and Stark, behave."

"Sure mom."

"Hey Cap." I waved at the Super soldier who smiled and nodded. I walked to the bridge, Fury was busy conversing with Thor, Natasha was missing—a tap into the Helicarrier's surveillance feed showed that she was with Loki, appealing to his ego with her 'scared maiden' play and getting him to talk. 

Things were going according to plan and I had to keep it that way, to a certain extent at least. It'd make it much easier to acquire all I needed and avoid scrutiny if the situation were as controlled as possible. 

"Hey Coulson." I waved at the suited agent by the computer console. 

"Sir" He nodded at me, keeping his expression stoic with that persistent micro smile of his.

"Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"Very funny sir." He replied. 

"So, where is he?"

"Where's who sir?"

"The megalomaniac." I said, draping a hand over his tensed shoulder. "Not Stark, the other one." That one had him crack a real smile.

" 'I'm looking right at him.' Is what you want to say isn't it?" His smile widened as did mine. "C'mon old boy, show me where the alien is."

"I'm afraid that'll be impossible at the moment Hammer." Fury approached with Thor in tow. I left the agent to get back to his work and focused on the man in all black wear, especially his badass eyepatch and trench coat. 

"Oh, Nick you tease." 

He leveled an exhausted look at me and gestured for me to follow, his gait as sure as his back was straight, "Any update on the cube?"

"Everything's set up and we'll have its location soon." If he was surprised by the good news, he didn't show it.

"So, when do I get my level clearance upgraded? I'm tired of being level three Nick, those guys are all nerds who find increasingly interesting ways to play galaga during work."

"You'll get your stripes when this is over."

"Wow and maybe one day I could get to be director too just like mother wanted me to." 

He snorted at that. 

"Look who's back early." Stark smirked— busily prodding and having fun with Banner—as we reentered the lab.

"I heard you were being a naughty boy."

"Will I never please you mother?"

"Your brother was the only child I ever loved."

"Save the drama for the theater. Stark, I need stats." Fury walked to the display, expanding it into a 3-dimensional hologram for better viewing.

"Is man of iron your relative? I know how annoying brothers can be." Thor asked me from the side watching Fury talk to Stark and Banner.

"Right? Especially the adopted ones."

"Aye" He smiled. "Forgive me for asking friend, but how did you obtain divine essence?"

"It's a long story, one better told over barrels of the finest mead." One I'd most likely never honestly speak of.

"You truly are Midgard's wisest!" He threw his head back in laughter, clapping my shoulder with enough force to pulverize the bones of a lesser being. Our eyes met, he knew I was unto him, that was a test of power and I had effortlessly withstood it. His smile widened to match my grin—challenge accepted. 

Captain America barged into the room, slamming the prototype energy rifle onto the desk loud enough for even the deaf to know that he wasn't happy. 

Right this. This happens doesn't it? I found myself a comfortable seat for the drama about to unfold. 

"Why are you using the cube to create weapons Fury?" He threw the director a hard glare, momentarily turning to Stark "Your computer was moving too slow for me." 

Fury approached the patriot, trying to run damage control. "Rogers we gathered everything related to the tesseract, that does not mean we were making weap—" 

"Weapons? Like these? I'm sorry Fury, were you just about to lie about your Phase Two" Stark cut him off rolled his eyes at the super soldier, made a few clicks on the screen and brought up classified data of weapons designs and files, "Oh, and wouldn't you know it, Hammer's designing them for you." He smirked, arms crossed and waiting for my answer.

"The world really doesn't change." Rogers shot. 

"Sure let's ignore the fact that apart from owning and directing the mega-tech conglomerate that's singlehandedly advancing our civilization's level, I do happen to be the world's leading weapons manufacturer and contractor." I reclined further into the chair, disregarding Tony's stale smirk, the tense atmosphere and looks amplified by the Mind stone's radiation. 

"You knew about this?" Banner glared at me, a bit of disappointment in those angry brown eyes with dabs of silent green. 

"Why do you think I'm here?"

"Maybe you'd like to remove yourself from this environment doctor. Loki is manipulating you." Said Natasha who'd quietly slipped into the room. 

"Unlike you? I'm not leaving." the good doctor threw back. "I'd like to know why Shield is using the tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction?" His gentle demeanor was torn apart by the sheer rage beneath his tone.

"Because of him" Fury pointed at Thor. "His kind came to our planet last year—proving that we are not alone—and had a grudge match that flattened a small town. It was obvious that we were hopelessly outgunned."

"'Were'?" Stark asked. Fury threw a knowing glance at me, I glanced back. Tony's frown deepened. 

"My people are at peace with your planet." Thor frowned.

"But you're not the only ones out there and you're not the only threat. The world is filling up with people who can't be matched or controlled, we desperately need bigger guns."

"Like the cube?" Cap interjected. 

"Your work with the tesseract created a signal to all the realms that Midgard was ready for a higher form of war."

"You pushed us."

"To create a nuclear deterrent? Because that always calms everything down doesn't it Justin." Tony said out of the blue, dragging me into the mud with him. The asshole. 

"Coming from the guy who walks around with a wearable WMD and a nuke literally in his chest? That's rich." I sneered. 

"The truth is hard to swallow"

"Must be nice, looking down from your moral high ground."

"It's better than the view from your tower of blood money."

"Remind us again how you made your fortune, Stark." Fury interjected.  

"This is about me now?" Stark raised a brow.

"When isn't it?" Cap asked. 

I let them go at it, each of them talking over each other while the gem in the scepter glowed brighter. I could just grab it and bail, no one could realistically stop me. It could be mine, all I needed was to take it…my precious…

Heh, nice try mind stone. 

The infinity gems couldn't be trifled with, lesser wills would crumble with direct exposure and as it was right now, it was eroding the wills of those around it, already subtly manipulating them. 

I strengthened the border around my mind and bolstered my defenses against the gem's radiation. 

The argument was getting heated, Cap was goading Tony into wearing his suit so he'd be able to reasonably kick his ass, Thor was laughing at our perceived smallness, Fury and the Widow were trying to get the good doctor out of the room and said Dr Banner was nearing the scepter with each step he took. 

"We are a time bomb." He foreshadowed, fingers grazing the smooth metal length of the scepter in an almost loverlike fashion, his eyes a silver shy from a drunken glaze. 

BEEP! BEEP!

Rang the terminal. 

"The tesseract?" Fury asked, expectant. 

Banner rushed to the terminal, awoken from his stupor by the alert. "Yes and it's--!"

—BOOOM!!

The deafening explosion rocked the Helicarrier, the devastating blast tore through the lab with enough force to rock everyone and everything not bolted down, up and away.

I jumped with the blast, going after the black widow who was thrown with the hulk, not that I was concerned for her wellbeing. Her landing in my arms was just a coincidence. 

"I think you just fell for me." I smiled, fixing my shades.

She groaned—phantom pains from the blast, she was human after all. "That was painful." She said, gesturing for me to put her down but suddenly paused, laying eyes on the bellowing Banner, who twisted, groaned and grunted in demonic octaves on the floor in an increasingly macabre fashion as though he suffered a possession by Satan himself.  

Said demon was pushing against his flesh, trying to break past the confines of his thin skin in the most brutal and agonizing manner possible. Patches of green grew over his enlarging form, his clothes were torn off by the sheer rapid growth, his bones cracked and snapped in protest as the gamma radiation consumed more of his struggling body. I saw one last apologetic look in his eyes before the flooding rage drowned him out. 

Slowly, the beast rose from the floor ripped clothing, twisted metal flooring and broken pipes beneath it, it stood a towering mass of green, unadulterated rage and concrete hard muscle.

His transformation was almost hypnotic, disgustingly beautiful and utterly fascinating. Out of a gentle and genial scientist came a demon-like berserker, a behemoth of pure rage and untold destruction.

"We should run." The widow whispered, her voice shaky, cold sweat beading over her face and fingers, trying to draw as little attention as possible. 

"Hold on tight." I whispered back. 

"Hey c'mere boy!" I whistled at the beast. Natasha froze in my arms, looking up at me with bafflement, her mouth hung open yet words escaped her. 

"C'mon boy, come to daddy." I called again, a playful glint in my voice. "Sun's getting real low."

"ROAR!!!" Hulk bawled a drum shattering cry, the monster wouldn't stand for my disrespect and disregard. He came at me with the intensity of an eager and ready priest to a naked boy in the dark.

Each step he took caved the ground he stepped on as he rumbled forward.

[Hulk data obtained boss.] 

I turned and booked it with the widow still in my hands. Scaling the entire stair section with well placed jumps on the railings. 

Behind me came the harsh tear of metal infrastructure and the crash of glass as the behemoth made up for grace with brute force, smashing through pipes and doorways like a bullet through paper, leaving explosive wreckage in his wake while I laughed to the wind. 

I'd eaten bigger flies, ancient demons and dragons, the hulk was below me when it came to raw power and output. 

But just because I could didn't mean I would. I wasn't about to show Shield what I was physically capable of. 

I raced to the shutters and came to an abrupt stop. 

"H-hammer? Hammer, we need to keep going!" Natasha urged. 

"That's what she said."

"Justin!" She yelled eyes darting to the incoming demise in the form of the Hulk.

The Hulk sped; his gaze manic with hints of glee as he likely imagined turning me to paste against the shutters. 

BAM! BAM! BAM! Went his steps, almost as loud as the widow's heartbeat to my ears.

"Hammer move!" The widow coiled her hands around my neck, reaching for the back of my head in a lover like fashion as she yelled louder. 

BAM! BAM! BAM! 

He was so close I could smell his breath, close enough to notice the scalding warmth of his skin as he made to tackle us into the shutters. I stepped to the side in that microsecond. His eyes were trailed on mine in wrathful reluctance as he brushed past me with wind breaking force and inertia that he shattered through the metal shutters and tumbled destructively into the hangar bay of the Helicarrier. 

I heard his unrelenting roar accompanied by the remarkable sound of Mjolnir breaking through the air and the loud crash that ensued as the Asgardian prince swooped in to battle the beast. 

"Justin." The widow said quietly, gesturing for me to put her down, which I did.

She stumbled for a step or two, her knees weak and arms heavy, sweat soaking her leather already. 

She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down, drawing deep labored breaths as she sat and gathered her wits, pulling wind whipped hair strands from her sweat slicked face.

"You okay?" I knelt to her eye level.

She nodded, steadying her breathing rhythm and stabilizing her condition. Her eyes regained their sharp glint, she was shaken for sure, but she recovered well enough to go about doing whatever her duties entailed. 

For a woman that just got chased by the Hulk and was a hair's breadth away from being smeared all over the walls, it was downright amazing.

"You knew Thor would be there."

"Huh?"

"You planned this from when the explosions went off to drawing Banner's attention to bringing us here." She stated, "The hangar and subsequent sections lead directly outside the Helicarrier for someone strong enough to break the walls. And that's exactly where you led the big guy and the guy with the hammer."

"Calm down Natasha, you're thinking too much." We stared at each other in silence as I tried to convey that I didn't in fact plan it from the start.

 "…I think I understand why Stark hates you." She said with a subdued grin as I helped her up. 

"Yeah? You feeling the same?"

"Yes."

"Lovely."

[I say we kill her.]

'Relax Eve'

*.*.*.*.*

Been a while huh? I missed you. Did you miss me? You did?! Wow. I hope this one adds to the Happy new year for y'all. I didn't release for the whole of last month, something I can never allow to happen again. 

I'll do my very best to consistently update new chapters each week. Maybe two or three for different stories per week—most likely alternating between Hammer Effect and Invincible Me.

I won't lie, this chap took a lot. I hope you liked it, enjoyed it especially Justin's dynamic with the avengers, something I worked really hard on, heh hardon. 

I've got things in store that will blow your minds. All in due time. 

Oh and please don't cancel me, this is a fictional work and the jokes within should be seen as such too…*wink wink\^_^/

With love, from Rain. Please stay safe. Send nudes of your waifus or if you're waifus. Kek. I joke, I joke. Or do I?

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Once again, stay safe, much love. Rain away. Muah~~   

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