The top echelons of the U.S. government, represented by Secretary Ross, had completely lost their patience.
Their anger toward Tony Stark was particularly intense. As a member of the privileged elite, he had the audacity to speak up for those so-called superheroes, completely failing to recognize his proper place.
In their eyes, so-called supervillains and superheroes were nothing more than troublemakers emerging from the civilian class.
On the surface, they appeared to be fighting criminals and upholding justice, but to the officials, they were overstepping the boundaries of governmental authority.
If it weren't for having to deal with aliens, gods, vampires, and werewolves—those outliers—they would have long since captured them.
Not to mention, Secretary Ross was among the hawks of the hawks.
Moments later, under Ross's lead, Tony Stark arrived at the control room and saw the superheroes imprisoned there—all the same heroes who had helped Captain Steve Rogers.
Exactly as Hawkeye Barton had predicted, this massive prison was constructed specifically to hold them.
Those watching outside the monitors wore expressions of extreme displeasure.
These were superheroes striving to protect world peace. Strictly speaking, they hadn't committed any crimes. They weren't supervillains, yet they were treated this way.
How could they not feel anger?
——
"Looking for death!" Quicksilver Pietro's fury erupted. As a deeply devoted older brother, seeing Wanda imprisoned and miserable triggered an explosive surge of anger.
Blue lightning continuously flickered and zipped around the room.
"Calm down!" Wanda said coldly.
Though she urged her brother to remain calm, her own heart carried a flicker of anger.
Evidently, she had silently made a mental note of Secretary Ross.
At that moment, applause echoed across the room, accompanied by taunting voices.
It wasn't anyone else—Hawkeye Barton, glaring at Tony Stark, sneered: "Futurist, gentlemen, the futurist is here. He can see through everything. He knows what's good for you, whether you like it or not!"
Outside the monitors, Hawkeye Barton silently watched Stark, as if silently accusing him of something.
Tony Stark looked helpless and said, "Clint, this isn't how I wanted things to go. Besides, it was you who didn't retire properly. You betrayed me first, okay?"
Though he appeared deceived on the screens, the reality was that no one was on his side—they had all betrayed him.
He hadn't even gotten angry to settle accounts with them, and now they were blaming him.
"Spare me, Barton!" Stark pleaded on-screen. "I didn't know they'd put you here. Don't do this!"
Meanwhile, in the monitoring room, Secretary Ross observed everything.
His gaze was scrutinizing, distrustful—not just of the superheroes, but even of Stark himself.
However, Hawkeye Barton was unimpressed. Completely enraged, he said coldly, "You knew they would lock us up, Tony!"
"Yes, but not in a floating super-prison!" Stark shrugged. "This is a place for the insane, not…"
"Criminals! Criminals, Tony!" Barton stood, facing Stark. "Is that what you mean? Huh?!"
"That term never applied to me, or Sam, or Wanda!" Barton glared at Stark, full of anger and a hint of disappointment. "Yet here we are, locked up!"
"That's because you broke the law!" Stark responded righteously.
He didn't look back, but he knew they were being monitored, so he had to choose his words carefully.
"Yes!" Barton sneered and turned away.
"You know the law, yet break it!" Stark tried to act indifferent, adding,
Hawkeye Barton had already stopped listening, muttering under his breath, "Blah blah blah blah blah blah!"
"Ignorance! Turtle chanting prayers!"
"You're an adult, with a wife and child!" Stark said evenly, admonishing him. "I don't understand why, when you chose the wrong team, you didn't think of them!"
Hawkeye Barton finally snapped. Standing up, he warned, "Everyone watch out for this guy. Maybe he'll stab you in the back!"
Family was his soft spot, and his anger flared instantly.
Stark ignored it and walked past Ant-Man Scott's room.
Scott saw him and immediately went on the offensive. "Hank Pym always said you Stark family members can't be trusted!"
"Who are you?" Stark said contemptuously.
That single sentence immediately broke Scott's composure.
Watching this off-screen, Stark's anger slowly subsided—not because he wasn't angry, but because he realized one thing: he would never be used as a pawn again.
Who was he?
Tony Stark—super genius, playboy, billionaire, scientist, and superhero, with so many titles—yet treated as a tool, causing the Avengers to split.
Though the circumstances were traceable—like the Winter Soldier Bucky killing his parents—thinking of himself as a mere pawn filled him with frustration.
That frustration, however, helped him regain some calm.
Every decision he made—whether to kill Bucky or not—had to be executed with absolute clarity.
Otherwise, he could become like that alternate timeline version of himself.
Tony Stark would never be anyone's weapon!
On-screen, Stark approached Sam, the Falcon, knowing he was a close friend of Captain Steve Rogers.
Seeing Stark approach, Sam's guilt surfaced. "What about Rhodes?"
Thinking of War Machine falling from the sky because of him, Sam couldn't suppress his guilt.
They had no deep hatred—it was all circumstances.
Though on different teams, they had once been comrades.
"He'll be sent to Columbia University Hospital tomorrow. Hopefully, it helps!" Stark said. "Do you need anything? Have they given you food?"
Sam, bruised and battered, turned to him with a hint of sarcasm: "Now you're playing the red-faced cop?"
"I just want to know where Steve went," Stark asked seriously.
"Then you'll need the one playing the white-faced cop!" Sam replied disdainfully. "I won't tell you unless you treat me like Mark Foreman did!"
Stark paid it no mind. Given Sam's bond with Steve Rogers, it was impossible to make him betray his friend.
So Stark used the AI in his watch to hack into the prison's monitoring system. Seizing the opportunity, he asked urgently, "I've muted their audio. We've got thirty seconds before they realize it's not a technical glitch!"
Sam immediately realized Stark's intention—he wanted to do something important.
In the monitoring room, General Ross sensed something amiss and ordered his staff, "What did you do? Restore the audio!"
"Look at this!" Stark pulled up Colonel Zemo's file on his watch. "This is who should've interrogated Barnes. Clearly, I was wrong, Sam. I was wrong!"
"This is a first!" Sam was surprised.
He never expected Tony Stark to bow his head and apologize. This was the extremely proud and arrogant Tony Stark he knew?
For him to lower his head and apologize… might as well hope tomorrow's stock skyrockets—it's more realistic.
Even if he were dead and cremated, burnt to ashes, his mouth would still be stubborn.
Yet the more he resisted, the more it proved Stark's sincerity this time. Clearly, he wasn't doing it on someone else's orders.
Off-screen, Stark raised an eyebrow. This sounded like he was some incorrigible old curmudgeon—but maybe, just maybe, he could admit when he was wrong.
After all, he was someone who could take advice… yes, that was correct, no doubt about it.
"The Captain still doesn't know what he's about to face!"
On-screen, Stark ignored Sam's sarcasm, knowing time was short and he needed to get to the point: "He'll need all the help he can get!"
"We don't know each other well, you don't have to…" Sam hesitated, but he trusted Stark wasn't a bad person, just proud and foul-mouthed.
He decided to tell Stark Steve's whereabouts, saying, "Alright, I can tell you, but you have to go alone, as a friend."
"Of course." Stark nodded. That had been his plan all along.
The scene shifted—Stark boarded a return helicopter. He had little time to waste.
Behind him, General Ross asked, "Stark, did he reveal Rogers' location?"
-----------------------
Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Guys, I've uploaded some High Quality english translated fanfic on my Patreon shop! Feel free to check it out-if you're interested, you can grab a copy and support me there.
Here are a few titles of recently uploaded fanfics:
New Addition
"Marvel Automatic Humanoid Girl"
"Marvel DC: Become Aquaman from Black Robe"
"The Marvel World Filled with Heroes"
"American Comics: Multiverse Simulation"
"Living in Marvel, Starting by Marrying the Scarlet Witch"
"Traversing the Myriad Worlds, Starting by Obtaining the Marvel Ten Ring"
"Marvel's Multiversal Magic Controller"
"Marvel: The King's Descent"
"Marvel: Randomly Load a Protagonist Template"
"Living in Marvel: Starting by Building 2B Missy (18+"
" Marvel: Glory of the Sun God (18+) "
many more are available 63+
Your support means a lot-thanks in advance, legends!
patreon.com/SuperTL
(End of Chapter)