A Labyrinth of Secrets
7/20/1947, Ledger Residence, Boston
The man smiled towards everything that was there before the Ayala’s had went to sit down as well, the two had smiled towards the man as the meals were being prepare, “So then, how have things been with that amulet?” he asked and hearing that, the man looked down at it, “The damn thing’s been getting pretty sneaky, trying to convince me to do things I don’t want to.” he told him.
That made little Hector go to touch the amulet on his chest, making Mari take him away now, “No… you can’t touch that.” Maria told him, “We don’t want it to be mean to you.” she had warned towards her son as they started to eat, “So then, what does it do exactly?” Joseph had asked, never having gotten an answer about that, “It’s… it makes me feel like Captain America… or at least what I think he would feel like.” he told him.
Nestor had proceeded to flex his hands now and as he started to pop some claws now, almost looking like the claws of a tiger which made the man look at it with some fascination now before Nestor had smirked, “I actually have a costume for it.” he said towards the man which made him smile, “You bring it?” he asked, making Maria chuckle, “He never goes anywhere without it.” she told him.
Hearing that,the man started to take his jacket and shirt off to reveal the white uniform underneath before he took the mask and gloves out, putting them on before he removed his pants and shoes now, a white tiger like outfit was his as they saw that there were brown leather straps around his wrist and his ankles now which made the thing seem quite interesting as The White Tiger outfit had started to do a small spin.
They gave a few claps to the sight as he grinned towards them, “If you ever want to join, we’d be happy to do some tests and make sure that everything is–” “Maybe later, I’ve got a case.” he said towards them and hearing that, the soldier raised an eyebrow, “So then, what’s the case?” Joseph asked of the man and hearing that, Nestor had sighed as he took the mask off now.
“There’s this new problem that’s been coming out and about, some sort of group that is abducting people, and the ones that we can find? They don’t look like themselves anymore, they look… wrong.” he said towards Joseph which gotten him worried, “Do you have any photographs?” he asked and hearing that, the man nodded, “They’re back home, but when you see them, you’ll be shocked.”
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7/20/1947, Project Hurdle Lab, East Harlem
The men there had been looking at everything that was there before he saw the latest subjects, “Damn it, we lost a few others.” he said and hearing that, the cleaners had went and started to do as much, making sure that there was nothing when he saw that there was one of them starting to wake up now, making him groan as he pulled out his pistol, “Ah ah ah…” he said now.
The subject who had been alive looked almost like a metal minotaur, seeing the man still alive, he had a thought, “Sell him to a mad scientist, we can test to see if this process is the best.” he said to them now and hearing that, the others had nodded, going and starting to take the subject on via a collar so that they could sell the creature right now to someone random.
“The White Tiger has been searching for our operations.” the man said and hearing that, the security officers had been looking towards the images of the man who had been fighting their forces and had been killing the subjects that had been released and alive, seeing that, the man sighed, “Send the hunters ut, maybe the latest batch can kill him.” he said, making the man nod as they could hear the snarls of said hunters.
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7/20/1947, Fort Erskine, Teton Wilderness
“This is everything that Nestor was able to gather about these experiments.” Joseph told them, “And that’s just about New York.” He said towards them and hearing that now, the others had observed the images there with Zarda giving a look now, “These look like monsters from Greek Mythology developed with modern technology.” She said as worried as the others right now.
They had started to observe them before Skymax spoke, “I can go ahead and start asking around? If these monsters are caught by The Enemy, then they can make their own super–army.” he said and hearing that, the General had nodded towards the statement as he looked at them all, “We don’t have anything at the moment, observation only, but you will NOT be assisting Nestor further.” he told them.
That made The Squadron look at him with some confusion and shock, “There is a chance that this could be related to a government project and because of that, the higher ups may in fact make things worse.” he explained and hearing that, the Squadron had all disliked that right now but they couldn’t argue that The Squadron would need to be careful where they stepped.
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7/21/1947, East Harlem, Manhattan
Skymax had been disguised as Nestor Ayala, walking the streets of East Harlem before seeing that there was The White Tiger who had been on the rooftops with Joseph as they had looked towards everything there, Zarda and Robbie walking as a couple right now and as they had done so, there was a disturbance which made the group all look now in confusion when they saw it.
Jim, their friend, had been with them and as they started to move towards it, the group had seen that it was some sort of Metal Minotaur and The Human Torch attacking him, making sure that he was not able to attack, “Nestor.” Joseph said and hearing that, The White Tiger had nodded as he went to leap down now, as he did so, Robbie looked towards them before he went to check the area.
he went and started to look around before noticing that there was a truck that was starting to drive away and seeing that, the man went and ran after the vehicle in question now and as they started to escape now and seeing that, he went to move as fast as possible now as the man wanted to see what it was that had been causing all of this and how they would stop it.
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7/21/1947, Project Tomorrow, Mojave Desert
Phaeder had been working on the brains like he wanted and as the man started to link the three or so canines together before the man checked to see if the computer was working and he was glad to see that the brains combined processing power had started to make it work, seeing the movement, he grinned before checking on the movement and saw that there was Howard.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, making sure that the organs were preserved correctly, “That Project… Project Hurdle?” Howard said, making the scientist look towards him with a glare now and that made the man sigh at that now before he went and looked at the computer and started to get some limbs attached to the computer now to see that there was something more… humanoid.
“Is that the one to create enemies to counter any supers?” he asked of Howard and hearing that, he nodded towards him before Phaeder had went to check the designs, “If there’s anything that we can do to at least make sure that there is nothing that can lead back to Hurdle, or worse, us.” he told the man, “Is Amberson going to be a problem? I can send someone–” “No no.” Howard said.
“Amberson is useful and he makes sure to keep a distance between himself and the rest of the project so he’s not a risk, but the Arsenal Unit that we had given them may lead them to Project Tomorrow by mistake.” Howard explained, coughing now before he went to get his wire to recharge at a outlet now, “We need to retrieve it.” he explained and hearing that, Phaeder waved it off.
“I made sure that it looked like a Japanese monstrosity instead, the damn thing will lead them to the east, not us.” he said to the man now and hearing that, the Scientist had sighed, “Is there a function to remove the damn thing?” he asked and hearing that, the man nodded, “Luckily, I made sure that there was.” he told him before going to open up a large case there.
He started to prime a few switches, making sure that the machine had been ready and glowing before he looked, “I can set it off, put up a timer.” he said towards him now and hearing that, Howard thought, “What’s the time when it goes off?” he asked and hearing that, Phaeder thought, “Half an hour? Roughly that.” he told the man who nodded, “Do it.” he ordered, making Phaeder nod as he went to flick the switch.
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7/21/1947, East Harlem, Manhattan
The White Tiger had went and leapt onto the back of the creature, going and slashing at the back of him before backflipping off now, Nestor had been in a fighting stance as the creature had snarled towards him, shouting in anger towards Nestor which made Jim go and fire a torrent towards the Minotaur which caused the creature to look both ways before it grabbed a car and tossed it.
The beast had went and charged towards the White Tiger who had been able to jump away and as he went and started to claw at the ligaments now, making sure that they were unable to move as properly as possible as the Enhanced Man had made sure that the monster had been focused on him, “Toro! Toro!” he shouted, making sure that the beast had kept its focus on him now.
“You called?” Toro, Jim’s partner had said towards the man before he went to save a few of the people that got TOO close to the monster now, as they went and started to keep everybody trying to run as far away as they could before the four of them started to hear the sound of a LARGE explosion, one that made the group pause confused by all of that.
They had went and started to look towards each other before the Minotaur had grabbed at his head now and hearing the moan, the two of them got worried and confused before they saw that there was an explosion now and that made the trio start to get a bit more worried by that before the creature had started to run towards the source and so they did the same now.
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7/21/1947, Project Hurdle Lab, East Harlem
Amberson Osborn had vanished now, making sure that everything was being packed up as quickly as possible, having gotten the word from his supporters that The Arsenal was going to explode and that they needed to make sure that it looked like a cell of mad scientists that had been funded by The Reds, taking a breath, he went and started to head out when he heard the sound of The Minotaur.
“Well then, have fun, my Ruskies!” he shouted towards them before going to leave the lab, the mercenaries who didn’t have a lick of english in their combined vocab had looked towards the man in confusion when they had heard the sound of some smashing now and hearing that, the mercenaries had all aimed their weapons as the minotaur and the Super–Skrull had crashed through.
Skymax who had been in the form of a tiger like Kronan had been snarling, smashed in by the creature when he saw that there was a small army of Russians who all had weapons aimed at them, seeing that, he had turned towards The Minotaur and opened his maw, breathing a jet of fire towards it before the monster had been hit by fire just as White Tiger had leapt in.
“Wow, it looks like we hit the–” he started before they opened fire, seeing that, he went and moved to hide now while Skymax had shifted into serpent so that he could slither from their attacks and as he did so, the two pyrokinetics had been firing now, making sure that they would escape when there was a large rumbling now which made her worry now as the wall nearby had crashed open now.
They saw that there was a large machine which had been roaring, screeching now with the metal starting to seem more like a large and vicious bird of prey now which made the group start to get worried while the Russians had started to turn, surprised by the sight of it, but when they saw that it was going to attack the Squadron and their allies, they had decided to attack now.
The Minotaur, burned and enraged, had charged towards the machine, going to smash his fists into the face of the machine now but instead of them denting the machine, it had went and smashed its head into his before opening up its pauldrons and starting to speak, sounding cyrillic or some sort of copy of it before projectiles were fired, burning through the flesh now as it tore into the minotaur.
That made the group get worried as they saw that they had been glowing now and that made the group worried as White Tiger had leapt forward, as he went and did as much, there was something that made the Squadron move as he landed onto the back and started to slash at the wiring now and as he did so, Jim and Toro had created a wall of fire, making sure that there was something which made Nestor leapt off.
“Come on! We gotta go! ¡Ahora!(Now!)” he shouted towards the group, surprising them at the statement before they went and started to move now, Skymax growing large enough to grab a door and raise it like a shield as he went and started to move as fast as he could backwards now and as he did so, the group wondered what was going on before they saw that The Machine was glowing brighter.
That made the group start to get worried right now before The Machine had exploded now, the force of it throwing them backwards now and as it had done so, they saw as Joseph and Zarda were approaching now, “Everyone alright!?” Zarda asked and hearing that, the group were about to say no when they saw that Robbie was there and he had gotten a few of the mercenaries there, all tied up now.
“I was able to get all of these ones.” he told them and hearing that, the group had been glad for that, she had started to move now and as they went to pick them up now before The Squadron looked at the remains, there was something which made them curious, wondering how this had happened and how the Russians were able to create a lab like this with no awareness from The Squadron now.
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7/21/1947, Fort Erskine, Teton Wilderness
The Squadron with Nestor who had been dressed in his civilian gear looked towards the remains from the lab that they had gathered, seeing it all, The General had went to grab at a piece of it, “These are all Eastern European items.” he said to them, “How were The Russians able to bring something like this to America?” he asked and hearing that, Joseph spoke, “And why did they make sure we knew?”
That made them all look towards her, “Everything about this is Russian, the wiring, the machinery, the weaponry, even the metals, there is no way that they wouldn’t try to cover it up with something American, it’s ridiculous for them not to.” he continued and hearing that, Zarda nodded towards The response before The General had seen that there was something which made her curious.
There was a Stark label there which made her curious by that before the Utopian saw that it was something which made her pause in confusion and then in shock at that before looking to the others, “We need to talk to Howard Stark, now.” she told them and hearing that, The General had nodded towards them now, “I’ll open a line to the man now.” he told the group as he went to do so.
The man saw that there was one of his soldiers coming in now with a phone, “For you, sir.” he said now and hearing that, the man sighed as he went and started to search through everything that was there before he started to listen, “Sir–” he started before pausing, confused and then angry, “You’re joking, sir, we can’t–” he sighed now, taking a breath before nodding, “Understood, sir.” he told him.
The general had hung up now and as he had done so, the group had glared towards the order now before they had sighed, hating the sound of that right now before they had went and looked towards Zarda, “Hey, Howard’s cousin is Dum Dum Dugan, right?” Robbie asked and hearing that, Zarda nodded which made Nestor smile as they went and started to do some personal work right now.
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7/24/1947, Stark Mansion, New York
Zarda had walked in with Howard and the evidence now and as they looked towards everything that was there before they saw that Howard Stark was there with a smile now, “Hello there, Dum Dum’s cousin right? And whose this Angel?” he asked with a grin towards them now and hearing that, the Utopian had smiled towards him now before she offered her hand which he kissed now.
“Hi, I was wondering if we can talk to you about this?” she asked, revealing a plate from the machine in question and seeing that, the man nodded now as they went and started to walk further into the room, “This isn’t my logo.” he told them now, making The Utopian and man confused, “That’s a Stark Industries–” “This is a Stark Munitions logo.” he explained and hearing that, the two were surprised.
“Stark Munitions?” Zarda asked and hearing that, the man nodded as he went and went and started to pull out a photo now and showed it to the pair, “Yeah, my Great Grandfather, Isaac Stark Senior?” he said to them as they saw a very little Howards there with an older man in front of a Stark Munitions design, “But my father had lost the company due to Roxxon being bastards.” he told them.
“I had to build the company back up from nothing but my brain once dad vanished in 1933.” he explained now and hearing that, the group started to look towards the image and how Howard Stark seemed to be almost a replica of his son, “Howard Stark Sr. always wondered what happened to the old bastard.” he said to them now before looking at the logo again.
“So why would a communist robot have a Stark Munitions logo? Wouldn’t they instead have a Stark Industries?” Zarda asked and hearing that, Howard was curious as well as the man had looked at it with some worry, “I don’t know, but I would check Roxxon if I were you.” he warned and hearing that, Zarda nodded towards that, thank you, Mr. Stark.” she told him with a smile now.
The man went and started to get a few more bits of information before the man had noticed that there was something which made the Howard stop them, “Wait, where did you get this?” he asked and Howie looked towards Zarda, “In Manhattan, in a lab underground.” she told him and hearing that, the inventor had been even more curious on that as they started think on how they would talk to him.
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7/24/1947, Project Tomorrow, Mojave Desert
Phaeder and Howard had been playing a form of chess that involved multiple boards when they had seen that the agent that was in charge of the coverups had looked towards them now, “The Fort Erskine had been told the stay off the case, but Zarda Shelton was at Stark Mansion.” he said towards the group and hearing that, the two of them had looked before sighing.
“At the very least… there shouldn’t be anything too bad, but the people from my country may get a bit worried by that right now.” he said towards the group now and hearing that, the man looked towards him, “And are any of these people capable of being subjects for–” “No.” Phaeder said to him, “I am responsible for many deaths, many tragedies, but my country is off limits.” he told him.
That made Howard Stark sigh before he went to go and get a ledger, “These people on the other hand are all free for the taking.” he said to the man now and hearing that, he smiled, observing them as Phaeder had went and looked over everything that was there at least before taking a breath, “And remember, my sons and their families are off the table too.” he said, making them nod, disliking but agreeing now.