Tony Stark was fuming.
His "state-of-the-art" security system had been breached twice in one week. Twice!
First Obadiah, now this one-eyed pirate standing in his living room like he owned the place. Even if Fury didn't seem hostile, the sheer audacity was enough to make Tony want to fire his entire security team. And maybe Jarvis too.
"Let's just say," Fury smirked, swirling his stolen cognac, "as a spy organization, we have methods that ADT doesn't offer."
He wasn't going to admit that he just cut the power to the perimeter fence while Jarvis was rebooting from a localized EMP. Keep the mystery alive.
"High-end tradecraft often involves the simplest solutions," Fury added cryptically. "Don't sweat the details."
"Hmph," Tony scoffed, mentally designing a new autonomous defense grid with lethal lasers. "So what do you want? Trying to recruit me for your little boy scout troop? SHIELD?"
"Yes and no," Fury replied. "Let me give you the elevator pitch. SHIELD was founded by the United Nations Security Council. We answer to the big five. That's why we can impersonate the FBI and CIA without getting shot. The US government is just one of our bosses."
"The Big Five?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of red tape. No wonder you're so arrogant. Breaking and entering? In Texas, I could legally shoot you right now."
Fury ignored the threat. He knew Tony was just venting.
"But why?" Tony pressed, his curiosity piqued despite his annoyance. "Every country has intelligence agencies. Why do we need you? The world's powers barely agree on lunch, let alone a global spy network."
"Because we handle the things they can't," Fury said, his voice dropping an octave. "We protect the ordinary from the extraordinary."
"Extraordinary?" Tony narrowed his eyes. "Like what?"
"Like werewolves. Vampires. Aliens. Sorcerers. Inhumans. Science experiments gone wrong," Fury listed them off like a grocery list. "And the kind of extremists who don't want money, but want to watch the world burn."
"Werewolves? Vampires?" Tony laughed, though there was a nervous edge to it. He knew about the Hulk. He had seen the Abomination footage. But magic? Monsters?
Sure, Lucas's diary mentioned these things. But Lucas was an anomaly. Hearing it from a government official—a "local"—made it terrifyingly real.
"They exist," Fury confirmed, taking a sip. "They've always existed. The dark corners of the world are darker than you think. You didn't know because we did our job. We kept the nightmares out of the suburbs."
"Sounds noble," Tony quipped, deflecting with sarcasm. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were the good guys."
He only trusted Fury because of the diary. If not for Lucas's "spoilers" about SHIELD being allies (mostly), Tony would have already activated the house turrets.
"So," Tony leaned back, crossing his arms. "If you're so amazing, why are you bothering a 'civilian' like me?"
He emphasized the word civilian with venom. He was Tony Stark. Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist. Iron Man. He was anything but ordinary.
Fury set his glass down. The playful banter was over.
"Because the threats are getting bigger," Fury said, his one eye locking onto Tony's. "I'm putting together a team. A response unit for the battles we can't fight alone."
"I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."
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