Arc 2: Savage Land

Part 3: paradise discovered

Note for Mr. Anthony Stark

Tony,

Your new girlfriend called again to see where you were. I told her I wasn’t even sure where you were at. Why didn’t you tell her that you were going to Antarctica? I am tired of covering for your lack of communication. Bad enough I have to do it in the business world, but I no longer want to be involved in your personal affairs Tony. When you get back you had better call that girl and come up with an amazing story or you’ll lose her like the others. Who am I kidding? You probably want to lose her. I should just call her now and tell her that you called and said that you didn’t want to see her anymore. Maybe that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Regards, Pepper

P.S. Your private shipment of weapons and metals came in today. I sent Rhodes an e-mail so he could keep track of them. At least I know someone in this company besides myself that is responsible.

Antarctica

Nick looked though the side window of the carrier helicopter that was taking him to Tony Stark’s location. Miles and miles of ice and snow passed below them like a great frozen ocean. If anyone else would have called him with the news that Tony had called about Fury wouldn’t have believed him, but Nick knew Tony wanted to keep his military contracts badly.

Clint, Natasha, Dane, Captain America, Hank Pym, and Janet Van Dyne were all in the helicopter with him. They were all quite skeptical of course of Tony’s call to the Antarctic, Nick couldn’t blame them. They were joking, even now, of what would happen to Tony if he had been lying.

Fury glanced back at his little Ultimates group. Hank was sitting and staring at the poor world war two hero. Janet was sidling up next to the man, smiling her fake coy smile. Natasha and the others sat on the other side of the helicopter looking awkwardly at Captain America. Last time they had all been together with the captain they had been hunting him down.

Steve Rogers acted relaxed and spoke to them as if they were old friends. All of Steve’s real old friends were either buried or in a retirement home. The poor man had been forced to get to know an entirely new world of technology where democracy truly did rule. The psychologists had warned Nick Fury that such a dramatic rapid change could easily unbalance a person.

Steve hadn’t yet had enough time to come unbalanced, Nick had wisely kept him busy training his body and training Nick’s handpicked soldiers. Steve had been more than cooperative.

Nick’s thoughts returned to the present. Trailing behind them were two more helicopters. One was filled with a special military film crew. They would be in charge of filming the Ultimates in action. Nick Fury needed to paint the best picture he could of his billion-dollar budgeted Ultimates project.

If there was nothing that happened then they could at least explore. His film crew and PR personnel could paint the Ultimates as tree-hugging conservatives dedicated to peace. If they did come across any challenges then they could paint them as specialized soldiers dedicated to the security of America.

In the third helicopter was a small cadre of some of Fury’s best soldiers. They were mostly there to keep the two scientists protected from any real threat. Fury hoped that neither of them would get hurt too seriously on their first mission. He hadn’t had time for training them and any major injury to his super human group would be bad publicity.

“We’re almost there,” the pilot communicated into Fury’s earpiece, pointing at a huge fogbank.

Fury nodded at him and clambered out of his seat to talk to his Ultimates before they landed. He was glad that he had ridden in the same helicopter as them. It gave him the chance to see how they interacted with each other. Now he knew how to use them as a team and not just individually.

Though Captain America was a natural born leader and a finely trained one as well the howling commandos weren’t exactly comfortable with that yet and it showed. He didn’t want to pair either of the scientists with him either because they would be falling over themselves trying to impress the living legend.

Out of the three howling commandos both Hawkeye and Black Widow were leaders but under different circumstances. Black Widow would lead best under a shadowy covert operation while Clint was invaluable in an open combat situation. Nick would have to lead them as a group for now.

He wasn’t going to get away with leading them for long. He was too valuable to the government to be allowed much combat time. He had lost an eye to enemies of the country and that had been enough for his superiors to make him take a promotion. He had never wanted it.

He looked over his little ragtag group. They were the best America had to offer at the moment. He was glad he wasn’t going to have to depend on just them for long. He would use the secrets of the super soldier serum and the secrets of Hank Pym to create real soldiers.

The best was yet to come. In his Ultron project he would soon have a soldier that didn’t die, for it was never alive, a combat android with Artificial Intelligence that could adapt to any combat situation. He was worried sometimes that they would take the humanity in war, but realized there never was any humanity in war. War was just desperate people doing desperate things.

“Alright,” he grumped at them, cutting through Janet’s inane chatter and Steve’s attempts at keeping a distance. “We’re going down to the coldest place on Earth, but supposedly there is some sort of tropical jungle hidden in the fog and clouds ahead. Get suited up and follow my lead.”

“Why are we here?” Captain America asked. Nick wanted to groan, of all people he expected Cap to follow orders. “What I mean to ask is, what exactly is our mission here?”

“We’ve just found a new land that didn’t exist just a few years back,” Nick explained. “Our mission is to scout it out and if we find anything of value to claim this land for America.”

“Isn’t Antarctica already split up into territories?” Hank asked.

“Yes, but claims here have been changed several times in the past,” Nick sighed. They were Americans, did it really matter who owned what block of ice? “We just need to give something back.”

“Whose territory are we going into?” Black Widow asked. Of all the people to ask that question it had to be her.

“We are entering territory where ours and Russia’s meet,” Fury told her, looking her in the eye. Natasha didn’t bat an eye. She was a spy, if this bothered her than she wasn’t going to show it.

“Any more questions before you suit up,” Fury made it obvious in his tone that he didn’t want any more.

“No, sir,” Clint saluted and then unclipped himself from his seat, grabbing some sub-zero gear that was hung on a hook behind him.

“Good,” Fury growled. “Cuz we’re almost there.”

“Sir!” the pilot’s voice came back to Nick. There was a slight note of alarm. “You might want to come look at this!”

“What is it?” Nick stormed to the front of the helicopter.

“We’re not alone here,” the pilot pointed at a small dark spot on the snow, it was obviously another helicopter.

Tony looked up as the sound of helicopter blades pushing through the air reached his ears. Fury had responded much quicker than Tony had anticipated, his plans would have to be tweaked ever so slightly. He nodded at Rhodes and turned to greet the helicopters with one of his trademark smiles.

His own helicopter was landed next to him. Antarctica wasn’t exactly a good place for a helicopter but there really was no other way to travel as far as Tony was concerned and Fury, it seems, had the same idea. His members of the board were still in the strange tropical land beyond the thick fogbank, still unaware of recent events. They’d find out soon enough.

Rhodes had arrived with his suit and his clothes as specified. Tony was once again wearing Antarctic suitable clothing. His heart had calmed and all he suffered from was some ice in his mustache and some scraped hands.

The military helicopters landed, blowing ice crystals and snow into Tony’s face. He put down his goggles to protect his eyes. Nick Fury was going to demand to know why he was here and what exactly had led to his discovery of his strange fantastical land in the middle of the Antarctic.

As the chopper blades slowed the door of the front helicopter slid open. A tall broad figure hopped out and made its way toward him. That would be Nick Fury, cutting right to the point. Six figures followed him out. Tony wondered who they were. There were only five of Nick’s Howling Commandos left and last he had heard at least three of them were in Iraq. Of course, Tony wasn’t supposed to know these things, so he wouldn’t be asking Fury about it.

“Tony,” Fury removed his own goggles, revealing his cold brown eyes. “What is this about a paradise?”

“Just follow me,” Tony told the general. “I think it best if I just show you everything.”

“Jim Rhodes here?” Fury asked. It was a funny question and caught Tony off guard.

“Yes,” Tony nodded as he headed toward the fogbank. “And someone else, that I think you are dying to meet.”

“Iron Man?” Fury knew right away who Tony was referring to. “He’s out here with you?”

“I called him right after I phoned you,” Tony explained. “He came out here personally.”

“Where is he?” Fury asked, casting his gaze about.

“Already doing reconnaissance on the area,” Tony pointed again at the beckoning fogbank.

“Great,” Fury growled grumpily. “That’s the last thing I need right now, a civilian getting involved.”

“How do you know he’s a civilian,” Tony grinned mysteriously.

“He doesn’t take orders like a soldier,” Nick reasoned.

“Neither do you,” Tony grinned. Thanks to the fact that he was such a valuable asset to the military he could say things that most people couldn’t.

“Don’t push it Stark,” Nick Fury jabbed a finger at Tony’s chest. “Casualties happen on missions like this.”

“Which is why I don’t plan on participating,” Tony returned.

“Good,” Fury put his cigar back in his mouth and clamped it firmly in his teeth. “Just show me this paradise you were talking about.”

“This way,” Stark walked toward the giant fogbank. “Careful, there’s a steep bank just on the other side. I fell down it, that’s how I discovered the paradise in the first place.”

“Ultimates assemble,” ordered Fury. Tony glanced back to look at who Fury was ordering around and he gasped. Captain America stood in full uniform with his shield strapped on his arm, a living legend walking just a few feet from him. Behind Cap were more people, including three of the Howling Commandos.

“Captain America!” Tony exclaimed once he had found his voice. “It can’t be. What have you done, Fury?”

“I haven’t raised him from the dead if that’s what you’re asking,” Fury rolled his eyes. “One of S.H.E.I.L.D.’s scientists found a cure for his condition and revived him. Isn’t that right, Captain?”

“It is,” Captain America smiled.

“After all of these years,” Tony said wistfully.

“I can’t think of a better time than now,” Fury proclaimed continuing his march to the fog.

“This had better not be a gimmick,” Tony mumbled.

“Or what, Stark?” Nick turned and glared with his only eye.

“I assure you,” Captain America laid his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I am the genuine article.”

Tony looked into Captain America’s eyes and there was something in there that made him want to believe. Tony slowly nodded he did believe, the timing was just so improbable.

Behind Fury’s Ultimates came an unusual sight. A cadre of soldiers bearing not weapons but camera equipment more suited to a gag of Hollywood filmmakers. Behind them came another group of soldiers, these looking quite a bit more serious with automatic guns in hands and many more weapons strapped onto their bodies. Tony wondered what the camera crew was for.

“Filming the next blockbuster, General?”

“Just show us the paradise and then get out of here,” Fury growled.

“With all due respect General, as I am sure you can understand, I am not leaving my men behind,” Tony said pointedly.

“Well then,” Nick Fury sighed. “We’ll just have to get them out of here as fast as we can.”

They advanced into the fog, Tony was careful not to fall down the slope this time. He almost hoped that Fury would slip. Unfortunately he didn’t as they arrived at the other end of the fog he stopped.

“I’ll be . . .” Fury muttered. “You didn’t fall too hard on your head after all, Stark.”

“Hmph,” Tony agreed.

“Colonel, get some climbing gear down here, quick, I don’t see Stark’s hiking buddies,” Fury shouted back at one of the soldiers.

It took them less than two minutes to get everything set up and the soldiers were quickly down the slope followed by Tony, Fury, and the Ultimates. The soldiers made a circle around Tony and the Ultimates camera crew while Fury and the Ultimates advanced toward the jungle.

“Which way did they go, Stark?”

“They all raced off into the jungle like a bunch of little boys,” Tony Stark explained.

“I don’t see your little friend, Iron Man, either,” Fury commented. He had a hand over his eyes as he gazed up at the hazy sky.

“I’m sure he’ll show up,” Stark reassured. “Now, if you will excuse me I need to make a phone call to Pepper, she reminded me of some business I must take care of right away. I’ll wait for you up there.”

“Fine,” Fury agreed, motioning for his soldiers to let the billionaire go. “I needed you out of my hair anyway.”

“Right,” Tony bowed mockingly and raced back to the wall, climbing much faster than Fury expected.

“Alright,” Fury ordered. “I want my tracker up here now. We need to find the business men before something else does.”

A thick red-headed young soldier trotted forward and saluted to Nick. Fury released him with a stiff nod and the young man quickly began scanning the ground and nearby plants. It wasn’t long before he found their tracks. They weren’t too hard to see either. It wasn’t often he was ordered to follow a bunch of overweight middle-aged men through the jungle that they ran through like it was a Hawaiian resort.

“This way,” he trotted forward rapidly, trusting the rest of the soldiers to follow him. “They ran through here, look, they even stripped a bunch of their clothes off. See that sweater there and that jacket underneath that bush.”

“Help!” a sudden loud scream erupted from the surrounding jungle. More screams followed, all of them nonsensical.

With a quick nod from Fury all of them raced forward, Captain America easily gaining the lead over everyone else. A roaring sound came from overhead and Fury looked up to see a familiar red and gold armored form. Iron Man had arrived and Fury wasn’t too annoyed at his appearance.

Suddenly they all came to an abrupt halt. An elderly man in his boxers and undershirt stood in a clearing, crying his eyes out. A few more were crouching down around him, still screeching.

“What happened?” Captain America was quick to ask. “Why are you screaming like that?”

“Aaagh, blekaurs!” one of the business men managed before succumbing to his sobs.

“He’s not making any sense,” Cap called back to the rest as they caught up with him at the older man’s side.

Iron Man landed directly next to the man and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, but the man only wailed harder. A strange screech came from above their heads and everyone glanced upward.

“Impossible,” Hawkeye exclaimed.

“Am I seeing what I think I am seeing?” Fury asked Clint.

“I hardly believe it myself, but it looks like a pterodactyl to me,” Clint shaded his super eyes out of old habit.

An ear splitting roar erupted in their ears. Everyone glanced about for the origin of the noise, but nothing could be seen in the dense foliage of the jungle except a few more pterodactyls flying away.

“You men surround the business men, Hank you’d better grow. I think we might have a bigger problem than even I had anticipated,” Fury admitted. The Ultimates made a tight circle around the soldiers who guarded the business men and the camera crew once more.

They listened intently for any sign of danger, sweating bullets in the tropical heat. Suddenly the jungle around them exploded into life.