101- Avengers (7)

Thor’s reunion with Jane was underwhelming, which was understandable. In the middle of the Helicarrier, with SHIELD agents everywhere, the two only awkwardly greeted each other. It was mostly Jane who was embarrassed, but it did give Mason and Tony a laugh.

Also, with Thor on deck but Loki in the wind, Mason genuinely had no idea what the God of Trickery would do now, which made it only more interesting.

Mason was not the only one in this situation either, as the next day after the Germany fight, when the sun was barely crawling up over the Atlantic Ocean, Fury convened a meeting for the Avengers.

Mason, Tony, Steve, Romanoff, Banner, and Thor sat down at a table, with Fury waiting for them. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, all in the same room. They were mostly being carried by Thor and Hulk, but still.

"Did you really have to call us here so early? There’s gonna be payback for this, Fury." Tony yawned, looking like he had not slept all night.

Fury gave him an unhappy glance and groaned, "This meeting was initially going to be about the fate of our world, but go on, Mr. Stark. Tell us all about the dirt you uncovered. Now really is the time."

Mason immediately guessed what this was about. Under the curious gazes of the others, Tony swiped his holographic phone (Mason really needed to get one of those from Tony) towards the blank screen in the room, instantly projecting the reason for his sleeplessness.Weapons. Schematics for weapons, and already constructed weapons. And, quite conspicuously, there were a few HYDRA symbols over these schematics.

This was utterly lost on Thor, Banner looked interested, and Mason did not care much for it at all. Steve, however, instantly got up from his seat, exclaiming, "You are developing Hydra’s weapons! Have you truly learned nothing of my time? You see power and your first instinct is to harness it to turn it into a weapon?"

Fury sighed, having already seen this coming since they had been alerted by the breach of their mainframe. He explained, "I understand your past, Captain Rogers, and your natural aversion to Hydra, but you must understand that in the grand scheme of things, the origin of an innovation means nothing. You only see the weapons because this is what we do, but Operation Paperclip has also brought us plenty of innovations in the medical field. Do you have any idea how many lives were directly saved by the inventions born from Nazi and Hydra scientists? Why don’t you ask them whether the origin of that medicine matters?"

"The grand scheme of things? I’ve known plenty of men who’ve used this excuse." The Captain was not so easily convinced.

Surprisingly, Natasha added in support of him, "I… must admit I am not too sure about this, Director. I understand, but is it truly necessary?"

On the side, Mason added, "Don’t treat us like children, Fury. Anyone with good sense would understand that there is a vast difference between medicine and weapons. If you decide to fan the flames, you should at least tell us the real reason why, not just that flames are good for cauterization. Because the real reason you did this is our friend Thor here."

An unapproved reproduction appears here, taken from the site used by the author for publication.

Thor, who had no intention of joining the conversation, pointed at his chest in confusion. "Me? I have always been one of Midgard’s most fervent defenders. My people are the defenders of this world."

Fury snorted coldly, "Him? You think he is the reason? YOU are, Mason. The world was fine before you, Mason. It was you who broke the boundary between our world and others. It was because of you that demons erupted worldwide, that gods decided to renew their interest in our beautiful blue planet. It was you who brought over ten million mutants in a world that was not ready for them."

The revelation was an unexpected one for Mason, but that did not easily convince him either, as he argued back, "So your solution is to tinker with an energy source you know nothing about, an energy source that in your own words could potentially blow up our planet, and then place the weapons you created in the hands of a clearly untrustworthy organization? Or do I need to remind you of my warrant again? Do you think that was your only mole? That those weapons you’re creating will never leave SHIELD’s hands?"

Tony added from the side, "Mason has a point. Those weapons can only do more harm than good." he turned to Steve. "No offense, Cap, but if you were able to defeat these guys with only a bunch of American World War 2 soldiers, then these weapons have no chance of doing anything to any of the people in this room, much less to the threat we were called to face. This is a weapon of suppression, not of defence."

Fury looked genuinely angry as he replied, "And you think I don’t understand that?! But we have to start somewhere, don’t we? Because who do we have to count on other than ourselves? The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, we’ve had a 48% increase in casualties among our agents this year, and we are facing a potential alien invasion. If we don’t start today, but when we’ve truly gotten our face in the wall, then yes, we will only have these Hydra weapons to face our inevitable doom. Only if we start today can we reach that point and actually be able to defend ourselves. Because believe me, this point will come."

The outburst from the usually cool Fury forced a heavy silence into the room, except for Mason, who smiled. Leaning forward, he said, "The Avengers were scrapped? And who decided that?"

He looked across the table to Thor, asking, "Thor, oh mighty God of Thunder, protector of the Nine Realms, shall you become my honored brother in arms before Midgard’s invaders?"

Thor grinned, placing Mjollnir on the table. "You have my hammer."

"Tony Stark, may this world count on your boundless genius and innovations to protect it?"

Tony rolled his eyes, but still held out his palm like he was firing a repulsor. "You have my armor."

"Steven Rogers, you were given power to protect this world. Will you honor that will?"

"You have my shield."

"Natasha Romanoff, will you be the sharpening stone to the group of brutes? Will you offer what your horrible experiences taught you to protect your world?"

Natasha smiled softly, "You have me."

Mason finally looked at Banner. "Bruce Banner, you think of your power as a curse, a means of ultimate destruction. Perhaps it is, perhaps it’s not, that is for you to discover. But to get there, you need a world to live in. Will you stand up for that world?"

Banner hesitated, but eventually, bolstered by the others’ gaze, he replied, "You… have my Hulk."

Mason grinned, slapping his hand on the table with enough force to leave an imprint in the wood several centimeters deep. "Then there you go. The Avengers have officially been created. Not as lapdogs of SHIELD or the World Security Council, but as the protectors of this world. Because as you once told me, Fury, there are threats in this universe that simply cannot be stopped by human means. And whenever one such threat arrives, we will be there, for that is what the Avengers are."

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Author’s Note: So, pretty big divergence without the Mind Stone to influence everyone, but Tony still dug in and found SHIELD’s dirty secret. I wanted to dig a little deeper into Fury too, to show that he himself is not necessarily too happy with the Hydra weapons, but he also got orders and big responsibilities. Hawkeye is unfortunately missing from this founding moment, but I thought it was the best time to place it, so too bad for him.