Chapter 3: Stark Assigned

"Hold that still!" He shouts at his machine for the fifth time. It feels like it's been the hundredth, however.

"Yelling at inanimate objects, are we?" A voice removes his attention from whatever he was doing to the intruder in his lab.

"Bruce, what brings you here?" He asks.

"Steve, Clint, Natasha, and I received the call from Fury to report to him, I was coming to make sure you got it, too." He says.

"Ah, yes, Avengers assemble." Tony mocks, "I don't particularly, play with the team unless I feel like it and seeing as I don't right now, well I'm sure you know you're way out."

Bruce rolls his eyes, "Come on, Tony, you know that's not going to work with Fury."

Tony sits up and looks at Bruce pointedly, "We already took care of that little alien problem and besides, speaking of aliens where's the big guy, why isn't he joining us."

"You know full well that Thor is taking care of Loki, besides, for whatever reason, Thor wasn't called, but you were." Bruce tries again.

Tony rolls his eyes, "Pass, but thanks for the offer."

"I'm afraid, Stark, that it's not going to be that simple." At this, Tony straightens ever so slightly, but then rolls his eyes once again after the initial shock.

"Oh, come on, Jarvis, extract the intruders!" Tony shouts.

"I am afraid, Sir, that my commands have been overridden." The mechanical, accented voice responds.

Tony sighs in defeat, "You had to come here?" He looks at Fury with a frustrated expression

"Yes, because I knew full well that you were not going to come to the hellicarrier, as you just confirmed."

"I'll go, okay? I'll be there in a day or two, so you can leave now." Tony tries.

"Nice try, but this message is something that must be discussed right now." Fury presses.

"Awe, too bad, I guess I'll miss it, oh well, better luck next time." Tony shakes his head in mock disappointment.

Fury rolls his eye, "Nice try, but we'll be discussing this here and now."

"Fine, then where's Thor?" Tony folds his arms across his chest.

"He is otherwise occupied, but I have my sources and they tell me he will be joining us in the next day or two."

"Same as me, so goodbye." Tony presses harder.

"All available members must be present, again, sorry." Fury doesn't even sound apologetic.

Tony mutters something incoherent under his breath, by way of a complaint, and uncharacteristically, Fury allows it to stay that way and ignores it.

"As we are all aware, there are other so called, heroes, besides ourselves, the most notable being, the Flash, aka Barry Allen of Central City, Superman, aka Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, Diana Prince, Princess of Themyscara, Hawkgirl, aka Shayera Hol, an alien from Thanagar, Hal Jorden and John Stewart of the Green Lantern Corp, and John J'onz, a Martian from Mars, as well as some supposed sightings of some urban legend vigilantes such as Batman and Green Arrow in both Gotham City and Starland City." Natasha says by way of greeting as she walks in and hands out the files on each of the people mentioned.

"Okay, so there are more heroes, we know that, I mean there's Spiderman and the Fantastic Four, not to mention the X-men." Tony says dismissively.

"Yes, but like us, these members have taken to calling themselves a team, a Justice League of sorts. What concerns us is the fact that it is yet to be confirmed and our radar has been able to pick up a rather large satellite orbiting earth higher than any of the others. Had I not been there, during that particular test scan we would have missed it and this meeting would not even be happening." Fury states.

"You think that these people are lying about the team?" Steve surmises.

"Due to the secrecy, I am skeptical of this, the funding and the satellite are so secretive that my sources have been unable to upturn anything. As you are the Avengers I want you to look into this, specifically you, Stark, since you're so good at hacking. I want you to take that suit of yours up there and scope it out and get a feel for it." Fury states, looking pointedly at Stark at the last part.

"Of course, my suit is at your command." Tony replies sarcastically.

"Don't play games, Stark, this is serious, and I do not need nor want another danger to come this planet." Fury says.

"Well, I mean did you trace the funds, something like this doesn't just not leave a trail, surely the money to build this would leave something?" Clint asks.

"I have turned something up, but I am reluctant to say it until it's confirmed by Stark's recon mission."

"I think that that would be important in order to know what I'm looking for." Tony rebuts.

Nick glares at Tony for a moment, "All right, fine, I think that this satellite or station or whatever it is, may be being funded by a ghost department in Wayne Enterprises known as Applied Sciences, but as the schematics of the department are so classified and well hidden, even my abilities can't seem to confirm it even exists. It's as if there's a blank spot in all this."

"Wayne Enterprises, what are you saying, Bruce Wayne may be involved in this. The man is an airhead, a rich buffoon, surely you can't be serious, Wayne Enterprises shut down their military and weapons funding after Bruce Wayne came back from the dead." Tony says.

Fury shakes his head, "That's what I can't seem to figure out, none of this adds up or makes sense."

"I can hack into Wayne Enterprises myself and tell you right now." Tony says pompously, as he takes out his tablet and starts typing away.

Fury says nothing and allows him to try. Everyone waits patiently.

"Damn it," Tony mutters angrily after a moment, "I can't believe this, it started downloading a virus."

"That's why I wanted you to perform a recon mission, even if you're just looking on the outside of it, I need to know if there's anything that can link this back to Wayne Enterprises. If so, then report that to me, and we'll move forward with the response to that, if not then, we will have to take the time to figure out where to go from there." Fury explains.

AN: Okay, so for those of you who don't know, I've taken to rewriting this story. So, yes, you may have to go back and reread, but for the sake of you faithful readers and reviewers out there I am sorry and will try to be more on top of my posting, no I did not forget about this. Thank you so much for your support. I am starting college in a few days and as it stands am starting to have considerably less and less time for this. Please continue with your support and I will try to continue to update as frequently as I am able. Please let me know what you think. I have started the new chapters after chapter 2, everything before chapter 3 is now obsolete. Let me know what you think of this. Also, out of curiosity, I am writing a book of my own, it's fiction. If any of you would like me to post an excerpt from it in an author's note, let me know and I will. This is the summary… What do a murder trial, gladiator fighting, and the crowning of a new emperor have in common? Or rather what is the design behind it all? Fane starts off as just a gladiator in the prime of his life, victorious, loved, and supported by even the new emperor himself. However, after he accomplishes what he believes will be his legacy for all time he starts to realize that sinister things are taking place. He starts to realize the importance of knowledge and even begins to question and think about the current happenings of EurAsia. It isn't until over a decade later that he finally sees it all and realizes just how naïve he really was and how his ignorance may have cost not just him but the world as a whole as well.

Okay, so let me know and please, please review, and let me know if a short excerpt interests you. Thank you for your support and I hope to have the next chapter to this up and posted no later than Friday, Wednesday, if we're lucky and if I've received enough reviews by way of motivation, so since that button's right down there, perhaps you should, oh I don't know, leave me some love, hate, or just plain feedback. J