NOTE: This issue takes place before Captain America #7

Stark Enterprises

A throng of reporters, photographers, and television crews stood outside the front entrance of the skyscraper that served as the New York headquarters of Stark Enterprises. Once the limousine approached, cameras began flashing as dozens of pictures were snapped in seconds.

“Quite the crowd, I see…” muttered Tony.

“Wanna go around the back?” asked the driver.

“No, that’s okay, Happy. Let’s give the people what they want.”

Happy nodded and stopped the car, shifting it into park and stepping out. He walked to the back door, opening it and that’s when the cameras flashed again, even more furiously than before, and reporters began calling out the name of Tony Stark as he emerged from the limousine, dressed in a perfectly tailored Italian suit and a pair of sunglasses shielding his eyes not only from the sun, but from the flash bulbs.

“Mr. Stark, is it true that some officials in the former administration are going to be implicated in the chaos caused by the Red Skull?”

“Mr. Stark, any truth to the rumors that the current administration has offered to rebuild Avengers Mansion?”

“Mr. Stark, has the new administration offered you a position in the cabinet?”

“Mr. Stark, is it true you may run for the Senate in 2010?”

“Mr. Stark, how has the economic crisis affected your company and your funding of the Avengers?”

“Mr. Stark, how was your date with Scarlett Johannsen?”

“Mr. Stark, why was Doom allowed safe passage back to Latveria?”

“Mr. Stark!”

“Mr. Stark!”

“Mr. Stark!”

Tony stopped just as he reached the front doors of the building and turned to face the reporters. “Listen, I love all this attention as much as the next guy. But unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to answer any of your questions. All that information will be disclosed at the appropriate time and place.”

“But Mr. Stark, what about Ms. Johannsen?”

Tony smiled at this. “A gentleman never tells. Now if you excuse me, I have a company to run.”

He walked through the doors with Happy following as security officers came forward to block reporters from entering the building. Once inside, Tony removed his sunglasses and slid them into his inside pocket.

“They’re relentless,” said Happy.

“Tell me about it,” said Tony.

“And it gets worse.”

Tony looked at the young redhead who approached him and sighed. “Pepper, please tell me you’ve got good news.”

“Depends on what you mean by good,” said Pepper.

“Hit me.”

The trio walked towards the elevators as Pepper looked over the papers in her arms. “The administration has been trying to reach you, actually, but not about the Skull incident.”

“What is it?”

“They want to know what progress you’ve made on a green car.”

“Let them know I’ve got other things to worry about right now.”

“You should let them know yourself, they’ve been on my back for weeks.”

“Okay fine, set up a meeting,” said Tony. “Next?”

“Warren Worthington has been calling, said he may have a solution to help you out with some of the Avengers’ recent difficulties,” said Pepper.

“Great, I’ll call him immediately.”

They entered the elevator and Tony pressed the button for the top floor. “Anything else?”

“Nick Fury wants to speak with you, he said it’s urgent,” said Pepper.

Tony groaned. “Fine, tell him we can meet tonight.”

“I did, he said it was too urgent to wait.”

“Well if he can’t wait until tonight, what is he—?”

The elevator doors opened to Tony’s office and he immediately detected the scent of cigar smoke. Happy tried to stifle a laugh as Pepper just grinned. “What do you think, Tony?”

Tony sighed. “Fine, get on the ball with that other stuff,” he said. “I’ll see you two later.”

He entered his office, crossing the wide space to his desk. Nick Fury sat behind it, puffing on a cigar, his feet resting on the surface. “If it ain’t America’s favorite son.”

“Almost every company is going bankrupt, looks like Stark Enterprises was one of the few smart enough to stay above the fray,” said Tony. “It’s called smart planning, Nick.”

“I know all about that,” said Fury. “You talk to Steve at all?”

“Not since the Skull incident. Last I heard, he was spending a lot of time with you guys.”

“Yeah, working with this Josiah X character.”

“Right, he mentioned him,” said Tony. “The Avengers have taken sort of a break for the moment. Partly because we don’t really have a home at the moment.”

“What about the ones who were living at the mansion?”

“Mostly staying at my place, although Sam thought he’d take some time to go look in on the X-Men.”

“Funny you mention the mutants. Hear from Worthington?”

“Not directly, Pepper just told me he wants to talk to me.”

“Let’s go,” said Fury, standing from the desk. “No time like the present.”

Tony chuckled. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope, he’s at the Helicarrier right now. C’mon, we’ll take my car.”

“Do I have a choice?”

Fury grinned. “Nah.”

RESTRUCTURING

By Dino Pollard

SHIELD Helicarrier

Tony and Fury entered a small meeting room where Captain America, Warren Worthington, and Storm sat at the table. Tony took a seat beside Cap, nodding his hellos to the other two.

“Good to see you guys again,” said Tony. “And thanks for all your help during the Skull incident.”

“Our world, too, Tony. We were glad to lend a hand,” said Warren.

“That’s why they’re here today,” said Fury. “Wanted to do a bit of a debriefing before we get started on that, though.”

“Have you been able to uncover anything about the extent of the Skull’s involvement with the last administration?” asked Steve.

“The former President’s body was uncovered in the White House after the Skull was apprehended,” said Fury. “He’d been dead for at least a year.”

“So not long after the Skull posed as Dell Rusk,” said Tony.

“Far as we can tell, Dell Rusk was just the first phase of the Skull’s plan,” said Fury. “Not long after we took him in, he vanished, although there’s no record of him missing.”

“He may have had the Cube as far back as then,” said Storm. “So why would he wait so long before acting?”

“To toy with us,” said Steve. “He wanted to see how long he could play us.”

“That means he also could have been responsible for the Bullseye incident in Luminstan,” said Tony.

“I don’t think so,” said Steve. “The Skull would have nothing to gain from that. But Noh-Varr, that could have been something he had a hand in.”

“So what about Luminstan?” asked Tony.

“That’s an ongoing investigation. Cap found out some info recently that could be connected to that, so he’s looking into it,” said Fury.

“If you have any leads, you should let the rest of the Avengers know as well,” said Tony.

“That’s what we know right now,” said Fury. “Doom’s also been granted safe passage back to Latveria and no further action will be taken against him.”

“Why not?” asked Tony.

“Because the whole reason America declared war on you was because of the Skull. So as far as the new administration is concerned, Doom was looking out for you, trying to stop the Skull,” said Fury.

“And Zemo?” asked Steve.

“Gone without a trace,” said Fury. “Everything else the Skull did was pretty much reversed once Steve got his hands on the Cube. Some things may still remain, but we haven’t found much trace.”

“I didn’t even think about bringing back the mansion. For that, I’m sorry, Tony.”

“Not your fault, Steve. There was too much going on at that moment.”

“That’s where we come in,” said Warren, finally speaking up. “Because the Avengers took down the Skull and restored the world, the UN is offering to help rebuild, so is America and the X-Corporation.”

“Rebuild the mansion?” asked Tony.

“More than that,” said Warren. “An island off the coast of New York. A place for the Avengers to have complete autonomy outside of America’s borders. You guys are your own nation, seems only fitting that you look the part.”

Tony patted Steve on the shoulder. “Congratulations, Cap. You’ve got an island to run now.”

Steve smiled. “Actually, you do.”

“What?” asked Tony.

“But once Avengers Island is complete, I’m stepping down. And I’m appointing you the new chairman. Assuming you want the position.”

“I’m honored, but are you sure about this?” asked Tony.

“I am,” said Steve. “But you and I can talk about this later in private.”

“I actually have a request to make as well,” said Warren. “Since the X-Corporation is going to help fund the Avengers, we want a representative there.”

“That’s fine, we’re down a member now anyway,” said Tony. “Who were you thinking? Jan? T’Challa?”

“No, they’re doing good work where they’re at,” said Warren. “In fact, the board took a vote on who should represent us on Avengers Island. It was unanimous.”

He turned to Storm.

“Pending the chairman’s approval, of course,” said Storm.

Tony smiled. “Looks like Carol’s gonna have some competition for sexiest Avenger.”

“So where’s Cap?” asked Sam as he looked at the massive painting of Howard Stark that hung above Tony’s fireplace. Jarvis walked by with a tray of steaming cups of green tea. Sam took one of them. “Thanks Jarv.”

“He felt this was a meeting better suited for current Avengers,” said Tony. He sat on the couch and Jarvis set a cup on the coffee table in front of him. “Thank you.”

“Current members? So Steve’s leaving the team?” asked Carol, seated in a chair across from the couch. She took a cup as Jarvis handed it to her, nodding a thank you before she continued speaking. “Is this because of the Skull?”

“He is stronger than that,” said Namor, standing by the window. He held up his hand in rejection of the tea. “There is another reason why he chose to resign.”

“There is, but he hasn’t told me yet,” said Tony. “He said we’d talk later.”

Genis took a cup from Jarvis. “Thanks.” He sipped it before he began to speak. “I guess this may not be the best time, but you guys all know I’m going to leave the team, too.I appreciate everything you guys have done for me, really I do. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been an Avenger. But after what Doom did to me, I feel like I just need to get away for a little. So I decided to accept Mar-Vell’s offer. And then there’s the matter of figuring out what happened to Rick.”

“Quite understandable, Genis,” said the Vision. He smiled at Jarvis who offered one of the remaining cups to him. “Obviously not, but I always appreciate the offer, Jarvis.”

The elder man smiled. “My pleasure, Master Vision.”

“Mar-Vell is another matter we may have to address soon,” said Tony.

“I’ve got it covered,” said Carol. “For now, anyway. If anything else happens, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Without Captain America, who will lead?” asked Namor.

“Steve asked me to take his place,” said Tony.

“Then I will leave,” said Namor.

“Big surprise there,” muttered Carol.

“I might actually be offended if you weren’t such a pompous ass,” said Tony.

“I respect Steven Rogers, I’ve fought by his side many times,” said Namor. “But the scion of Atlantis will not follow an industrialist more concerned with profit than the well-being of this world and her oceans.”

“Hey now, wait a sec!” said Sam. “Tony ain’t like that at all!”

“Sam, it’s okay,” said Tony. “Namor my company’s environmental record speaks for itself. We were one of the first corporations to go green and we’re on the cutting edge of technologies to eliminate the use of fossil fuel.”

“Now you are,” said Namor. “My mind is made up, Stark. Do not attempt to contact me again.”

He opened the window and took flight. Vision went to follow but Tony stopped him.

“Let him go. It’s probably better for everyone if Namor follows his own path.”

“He’s just angry that Cap picked you over him.” Carol smiled. “Guess he can’t stand someone as arrogant as him in charge.”

Tony grinned. “Do I have to remind you that you’re staying here for free? I could start charging by the night.”

“Just the four of us,” said the Vision.

“Plus Storm,” said Tony.

“It’ll be nice to work with her again,” said Carol. “Her and I have lost touch over the years.”

“She’s great, ya’ll are gonna love working with her,” said Sam. “But I won’t be around.”

“Sam?” asked Carol. “Why not?”

“I’ve been hearin’ some things, things that disturb me a little. Some things I gotta keep an eye on,” said Sam. “I got a replacement picked out, though. I spoke to Storm, she vouches for him, too.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “So who’s this replacement?”

The Xavier Mausoleum

Cannonball stood before the monument to his late teacher, one of the many he’s had in his short life. “Been thinkin’ a lot about those old days lately, Prof. Back when I first came here. Remember? That awkward, scrawny kid from Kentucky with the bad haircut? Never thought I would’ve led the kind of life I’ve had. Becoming a terrorist, an X-Man, and now an Avenger. I wonder sometimes if you ever saw that potential in. me? Did you think this is how it would all go down? Guess there’s no way to get an answer from you now.”

“I’m sure he believed you would be the best of us, Sam.”

Sam smiled as the blue-furred mutant approached him, watching him with yellow eyes. “Thanks for coming.”

“Storm gave me your message, said it was important.”

“Guess I should tell you right off the bat—I know what you’ve been up to,” said Sam. “I’ve got a line with some of the people you’ve been working with. And I also know you’re not happy with what you’re doing. Figured I’ve got an offer for you, one that could let you be yourself again. What do you say, Kurt?”

Kurt Wagner’s pointed ears perked up. “I’d say you have my attention, ja?”

“X-Corps, I know all about it,” said Sam. “I know you’re worried about what’s happening out there. And I figure I might be able to do some good there. I’m used to that kind of world, used to guys like Cable and the methods he uses. But you, you gotta be in the spotlight. I’ve already talked to Tony about this and he agreed to a trade.”

“Trade?”

“How’d you like to be an Avenger?”

Nightcrawler smiled.