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Natasha looked around.
Within a two-meter radius of where they stood, everything was relatively clean. Beyond that perimeter, the corridor was devastated—scorched walls, shattered concrete, twisted metal. But inside their little bubble of safety?
Almost pristine.
Marcus had protected them. Completely.
Natasha turned back to him, expression carefully neutral. "Thank you for saving my life, Mr. Reed."
Marcus brushed dust off his jacket—more out of habit than necessity, since he was somehow completely clean. "If you really want to thank me, do me a favor."
Natasha paused. Most people would've deflected the thanks, insisted it was nothing, played the humble hero. Marcus just asked for payment.
Not a gentleman, apparently.
"What kind of favor?" she asked carefully.
"Tell the IRS to stop harassing me. They show up at Rockwell headquarters like three times a week. It's getting old."
Natasha blinked. Of all the things he could've asked for—
"I'm serious," Marcus continued. "If I weren't so well-educated and averse to paperwork, I would've solved the problem more... permanently by now."
Natasha studied his expression. He wasn't joking about the annoyance. But the threat was delivered with just enough lightness that she couldn't quite tell if he meant it.
"That's beyond my authority," she admitted. "But I can reduce the pressure. Make some calls. It won't stop completely—you built a multi-billion-dollar company in under a year, and you're not white. The IRS thinks you're a goldmine. But I can make it less aggressive."
Marcus was Asian-American, highly successful, and had come out of nowhere. To the IRS, he might as well have been wearing a sign saying "audit me forever." Combine that with hostile competitors feeding anonymous tips and various intelligence agencies wanting access to his technology...
Yeah, the harassment wouldn't stop.
But Natasha could help. She'd been tasked with gathering intelligence on Marcus Reed anyway. Fury had given her leeway to build rapport, offer incentives. This qualified.
Marcus nodded, accepting the partial solution. "Better than nothing."
They left the ruined building together.
The fallout from the Hammer Industries disaster was immediate and brutal.
The expo had been attacked by rogue combat drones. Dozens of civilians injured. Several dead. Property damage in the tens of millions.
Justin Hammer was arrested within hours, charged with criminal negligence, reckless endangerment, and about fifteen other counts. His company's stock price went into free fall.
Marcus, who'd been prepared for exactly this, made over five billion dollars shorting Hammer Industries stock and buying up distressed assets.
Ivan Vanko was officially dead—vaporized in the self-destruct explosion. But the damage he'd caused would echo for months.
One week later, at SHIELD headquarters, Nick Fury read through Natasha's assessment reports.
Tony Stark's file came first.
Subject displays impulsive behavior, self-destructive tendencies, and classic narcissistic personality traits. Recommendation: Not suitable for Avengers Initiative at this time.
Fury wasn't surprised. He'd had other agents watching Tony too—paranoia was a survival trait in his line of work. He knew about the palladium poisoning, the reckless party, the fight with Rhodes.
But he also knew Tony had synthesized a new element, saved his own life, and fought off two dozen combat drones to protect civilians.
Natasha's recommendation was noted and ignored.
Tony Stark would join the Avengers. Maybe not as a field agent—not yet—but as a consultant. His technical expertise alone was invaluable.
Fury set Tony's file aside and picked up the second report.
Marcus Reed's photo was on the cover.
Fury stared at it with his one good eye.
He'd been tracking Reed since the man appeared in Afghanistan with Tony Stark. At first, Reed had seemed like a footnote—rescued hostage, lucky survivor, nothing special.
Then Reed had founded Rockwell Industries and made billions in the stock market with impossibly good timing.
Then Reed had fought the Abomination in Harlem and won.
Now Reed's threat assessment was up there with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Potentially higher, depending on how powerful those telekinetic abilities really were.
Fury read through Natasha's report carefully.
Subject possesses significant psionic abilities—telekinesis confirmed, possible telepathy. Enhanced physical capabilities, extent unknown. Personality assessment: chaotic neutral. Has moral boundaries but enforces them personally. Will not initiate violence but responds to threats with overwhelming force. Highly intelligent, strategically minded, difficult to manipulate.
Recommendation: Suitable for Avengers Initiative if properly motivated. Approach with caution.
Fury leaned back in his chair, thinking.
Reed could be an asset. Powerful, effective, generally benign. But he was also unpredictable, independently wealthy, and didn't need SHIELD for anything.
That made recruitment tricky.
Fury decided to shelve the direct approach for now. He'd meet with Reed personally first. Get a read on the man. See if Reed's principles aligned with SHIELD's mission.
If they did, great. If they didn't...
Well, Fury would cross that bridge when he came to it.
Marcus's compound in the Hamptons was quiet.
The Iron Man 2 events were wrapped up. Tony was alive and healthy. Pepper and Tony were officially together. Rhodes had his War Machine armor. The Avengers Initiative was moving forward.
Which meant Marcus had some free time.
He stood in his underground workshop, looking at the dimensional transit interface only he could see.
The system's cooldown period was complete. He could travel to another world now if he wanted.
And he wanted.
Specifically, he wanted to visit the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man universe.
His goal was simple: get spider powers. Particularly the spider-sense—that precognitive danger detection that had saved Peter Parker's life a thousand times.
Marcus had been thinking about it since the Resident Evil world, when Wesker had tried to blow him up with remote explosives. Marcus had detected the threat with his telekinesis, but only barely, and only because he'd been actively scanning.
If he'd been distracted, he might've died.
Spider-sense would fix that. Automatic threat detection with no conscious effort required. Always on, always watching, warning him of danger before it arrived.
His current telekinetic range was five kilometers—not small, but not enough against certain threats. Long-range missiles, orbital strikes, directed energy weapons... he needed more warning time.
Spider-sense would give him that.
Marcus pulled up his system interface.
[Movie Plundering System ]
Host: Marcus Reed
Age: 24
System Space: 2 cubic meters
Items Stored: Food, water, Skynet backup drive, gold bars, miscellaneous supplies
Abilities: Telekinesis (30-ton force), Telepathic Suggestion, Super-Brain (NZT-49 permanent), Enhanced Physique (5x baseline), Accelerated Healing (10x), Super Strength (2 tons), Super Speed
Origin Points: 78
He'd returned from Resident Evil with 86 points. The Iron Man 2 events had earned him 2 more—probably from Ivan's death and the chaos that followed. Then he'd spent 10 points upgrading his system storage from one cubic meter to two.
That left him with 78 points. More than enough for a round trip to the Spider-Man universe and back, with plenty left over for emergencies.
The expanded storage was essential. He'd loaded it with survival supplies—food, water, medical equipment, tools, weapons, currency. If he ended up in another hostile world like Resident Evil, he'd be prepared this time.