Injecting Thanos's genetic code into Jessica Jones's chromosomes, then merging the resulting serum with Rory's own blood…
In theory, it could work.
But theory was all it was.
When Rory woke up, he didn't rush into testing. Instead, he decided to culture more of Jessica's blood.
The lack of raw material had been limiting him, forcing caution, and Rory hated caution.
He munched on some instant noodles while watching the street surveillance feed.
"Still haven't given up, huh?"
On the screen, several new cameras had come online. In one of them, Steve Rogers, Captain America, appeared, still scouring the city for him.
Rory frowned.
He needed to start thinking about how to obtain a blood sample from Steve himself.
"Clint, how's it going on your end?"
"Nothing useful yet, Cap. Honestly, I think we should call in more support."
Post-Endgame, the Avengers were all off in different directions.
Thor had handed Asgard to Valkyrie and vanished into space with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Captain Marvel? Untraceable as always.
Banner and Rhodey were rebuilding the Avengers HQ.
The sorcerers? Too busy.
Wanda? Off the radar.
Spider-Man? Back in school.
That left Sam Wilson, The Falcon.
Steve agreed. More eyes meant more hope.
He called in Sam.
But Sam didn't come alone.
He brought Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier, and a full S.H.I.E.L.D. recon squad.
"Cap, Nick Fury sends his regards," Sam said with a salute, descending from the sky.
"Just say the word," Bucky added.
Steve nodded and distributed Rory's profile.
"We believe he's hiding nearby. He's skilled in weapons and explosives. Potentially dangerous. Find him, leave the rest to me."
"Understood!"
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fanned out.
Sam deployed drones from the air.
Steve and Bucky began the ground sweep.
Clint Barton took the rooftops.
"Cap, you're now patched into HQ," Rhodey's voice came through the comms. "Satellite feeds coming in now."
Steve barely blinked.
The hunt intensified.
Back in his lab, Rory sipped water and stared at the feed.
"Really? All this for me?"
It was only a matter of time.
They'd find him.
He started making preparations.
Two days later.
Rory, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, exited a dental clinic, right as a street camera caught his image.
At Avengers Temporary HQ, the facial recognition system blared an alert.
"Beep-beep."
Rhodey tapped keys, enhanced the image, and patched it straight to Steve's comms.
"Cap, we have him. Southbound on 41st, black jacket, baseball cap."
"Got it!"
Steve's team converged on Hell's Kitchen, 41st Street.
Sam got there first.
Fwoosh, thud!
Rory stumbled back, startled by the hero's dramatic landing.
"Seriously? Is that how superheroes make entrances? What if you gave me a heart attack, would the insurance cover that?"
Sam, behind red-tinted goggles, smiled calmly.
"Just trying to intimidate the bad guys."
"Bad guy?" Rory tilted his head. "What exactly did I do wrong?"
Sam opened his mouth, then stopped.
Come to think of it, he didn't really know what Rory had done.
Just that Cap said to catch him.
"Uhh… Cap'll explain when he gets here."
Within minutes, several S.H.I.E.L.D. SUVs rolled up, classic black.
Clint, Bucky, and Steve arrived.
Rory leaned casually against a wall, arms crossed.
"Steve, is this some misunderstanding? Or do you really think I'm the villain here?"
Steve, taller, imposing, stepped close.
"Rory. Hand over the samples. Then come with me."
"What samples? Come where?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. And where? To where you belong."
Rory scoffed.
"So this is what a superhero looks like, huh?"
His voice turned cold.
"You experiment on the Tesseract to build weapons… inject Super Soldier Serum to make Steve Rogers… create killer AIs like Ultron… but I'm the bad guy? Because I'm doing science you don't like?"
Steve clenched his jaw, saying nothing.
He'd saved the universe, but not without mistakes.
Rory stepped forward.
"You all get to play God, but when someone else tries, it's suddenly 'too dangerous'."
Steve interrupted, voice firm.
"That's enough. This is different. Thanos's blood is too dangerous, we can't risk it."
"Don't say 'we.' I'm not one of you."
Rory turned to leave, only to be blocked by Sam and Bucky.
He turned, looked back at Steve.
"You want my research? Fine."
He led them to his underground lab.
"These are my Thanos cultures. Take them."
He pulled a hard drive from a drawer.
"And this is the research data. You can have that too, but you should know, it doesn't belong to you."
Rory held it out.
Steve hesitated.
Then slowly shook his head.
"Listen, Rory. I'm not here to steal your work. I just want to eliminate a risk. You know what Thanos did. That can't happen again. So… I'm sorry."
He pushed the drive back toward Rory.
"This is your research. I won't take it."
"So what, gonna play the good guy now, but still send me back to 1970?"
Rory saw it in Steve's eyes.
He already knew the answer.
Steve nodded.
"Yes. Because… you don't belong here."
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter