Chapter 1
February 16th, 2013
Ten Rings Military Compound
Jaghatai Mountains, Iran
The Avengers had just finished clearing a Ten Rings base in Iran. Steve Rogers tapped his comm.
“Black Widow, Iron Man, do you copy? We’ve cleared the East Wing, that should be all of them.”
The response was quick. “Copy,” said Natasha. “Iron Man is just downloading the data from their mainframe. We’ll be out in ten.”
“Copy, Widow. I’ll tell Hawkeye to warm up the engines.” The comm crackled with acknowledgement. It had been just over three months since Extremis had restored Tony’s memories of his previous identity as a Russian supersoldier. Ever since, he had been training with Natasha, shaking the rust off his abilities, catching up, and just spending time together.
Steve was incredulous he hadn’t realized it before. He knew Stark looked younger than he should have, in his mid to late twenties rather than the almost forty Stark legally was. He’d also noticed that Stark’s strength seemed out of proportion with his lean body. Now that he knew the truth, however, it was much easier to put two and two together. Still. Tony Stark, American genius billionaire, actually Antoshka Baryanov, Russian genius supersoldier? He was having a hard time believing it.
“That’s not good.”
Steve’s brows furrowed, and he tapped the comm. “Come again, Iron Man?”
“Oh, shi-” The comm fizzled and died. Steve removed the device from his ear, and looked at it. “Clint, I think my comm is acting up. It just sort of di-”
An thunderous explosion rocked the ground as a fireball blossomed from where Tony and Natasha had been. Steve gaped, open-mouthed. More explosions went off across the Ten Rings base, enveloping it in flames as it began to collapse upon itself. Bruce dragged him up the ramp.
“Steve, come on, we have to go! Tony has his suit, he’ll have gotten them out of there!”
Steve simply watched in shock as two of his best friends disappeared into an imploding mountain. The quinjet lifted off, and they were spirited away.
February 18th, 2013
Ruined Ten Rings Military Compound
Jaghatai Mountains, Iran
The S.H.I.E.L.D. recovery team sifted through the wreckage, searching for any sign of the two Avengers inside when the facility blew. Agent Joseph Grant, newly assigned to Recovery Team Alpha-6 grunted as he lifted a steel beam. Letting it fall to the ground with a crash, he turned back to his work, and stopped dead.
A metal red and gold limb stuck out from under a section of brick. With only a slight hesitation, Agent Grant reached for his radio.
“Boss, call the Avengers. They’re gonna want to see this.”
Steve watched as the workers lifted the section brick and twisted metal, revealing what was underneath. A red and gold torso shone in the rubble, half-melted, metal twisted into patterns that were not normal on Tony’s precisely machined breastplate. Energy renewed, Steve scrambled, trying to move more bricks. Eventually, he revealed the ARC reactor. The normal bright blue was dull and dark.
“Captain America, sir?”
Steve whipped around. The agent who’d spoken held a lifeless body in his arms. The face and skin was burned beyond recognition, but the fiery red hair was unmistakable.
“I’m sorry, sir. For your loss.”
With a scream of rage and pain, Steve punched a concrete wall. And another one. Over, and over, as if that would make the pain go away.
February 27th, 2013
Central Park
New York City, New York, United States of America
President Ellis, the Secretary of Defence, and numerous other government officials were present. The Mayor of New York was there, as were several prominent individuals in the business world. Rumiko Fujikawa, Norman Osborn, Ian Quinn, and so on.
Members of the intelligence community were also in attendance. Director Fury, Commander Hill, the Directors of the CIA, NSA, FBI, and more. The scientific community was represented by Dr. Jane Foster, Dr. Erik Selvig, Dr. Stephen Strange, and several others.
At the front, the seats of honour were reserved for those closest to the deceased: The Avengers, and Tony’s friends, Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. Pepper dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. Rhodey just glared at anyone and everyone. Of the Avengers, Bruce was visibly struggling against the Hulk, and Steve’s eyes were red.
President Ellis wrapped up his speech, then turned towards the monument in front of all of them. A large marble plinth, atop which meticulously carved statues of Tony and Natasha were placed, with plenty of space for other statues. Ellis opened his mouth, then closed it again. This happened a few more times before he regained his voice.
“I think, what President Kennedy once said, applies here. We aren’t exploring space, but the sentiment remains. Heroes aren’t heroes because it is easy. It’s hard. But it is the right thing. Iron Man and the Black Widow gave their lives to protect this country, and this world. The least we can do is honour that sacrifice, by continuing to uphold the ideals of humanity. Those who die in this most sacred of duties will be forever memorialized in the Monument of Heroes. May they rest in peace.”
With that, the service ended. Steve wiped his eyes, and went to the monument, kneeling before it and bruising his fingers over the two names engraved on the base.
Anthony Edward Stark
Natasha Alianovna Romanoff
He had been asked to speak at the memorial, but he’d declined. Two of his best friends were dead, and nice words weren’t going to bring them back. How could this have happened? The two had only found each other a few months ago, and they’d been happier than he’d ever seen either of them. And now they were gone. No, not gone. Steve forced himself to say the word. Dead.
He put his head against the cool marble and made a vow. From now on, no mercy. The terrorists, thieves, murderers of the world would be made to suffer. They would rot in a cage for the rest of their lives. If that wasn’t possible, then said lives would be very short. He would harm no innocents, but he would show no mercy.
If you were a criminal, the Avengers would find you, and they would get you.