003 : HIS FIRST NAME IS AGENT
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[SHIELD ANALYTICAL ROOM -
NIGHT]
Fury is speaking to members of the World Security Council in front of several large monitors.
COUNCILMAN #1: This is out of line, Director. You're dealing with forces you can't control.
FURY: You ever been in a war, councilman? In a firefight? Did you feel an overabundance of control?
COUNCILMAN #1: You're saying that Asgard has declared war on our planet?
"Asgard would never; my home only seeks peace with yours," Thor defended his home.
"We know Thor," Bruce comforted the Asgardian.
FURY: Not Asgard. Loki.
COUNCILMAN #2: He can't be working alone. What about the other one, his brother?
FURY: Our intelligence says Thor is not a hostile. But he's worlds away, we can't depend on him to help. It's up to us.
COUNCILMAN #1: Which is why you should be focusing on Phase Two, it was designed for exactly -
The team, mainly Steve and Tony, exchanged irritated looks at the mere mention of Phase Two. Given that the Council prioritizes that over people's safety.
FURY: Phase Two isn't ready; our enemy is. We need a response team.
COUNCILMAN #1: The Avengers Initiative was shut down.
FURY: This isn't about the Avengers.
COUNCILMAN #1: We're running the world's greatest covert security network and you're gonna leave the fate of the human race to a handful of freaks.
"We're not freaks," Inessa scoffed
"Besides, these people that you are calling "freaks" have saved more people than you could ever," Natasha said defending the team
FURY: I'm not leaving anything to anyone. We need a response team. These people may be isolated, unbalanced even, but I believe, with the right push, they can be exactly what we need.
COUNCILWOMAN #2: You believe?
COUNCILMAN #1: War isn't won by sentiment, Director.
FURY: No, It's won by soldiers.
"Well, we're not soldiers," Tony said, glaring at Fury. "Capsicle over there might be, but the rest of us aren't," he added.
˚∗: ˚◈˚∗: ˚
[BROOKLYN GYM - NIGHT]
Steve Rogers, a man out of time, is punching a punching bag somewhere in an old, almost WWII-style boxing gym. With each swing, it's as if he's trying to fight off and repress a memory.
{FLASHBACK}
Captain America is running through the forest, dodging mortars, gunfire, and the Tesseract's energy firearms.
STEVE (V.O.): There's not enough time! I gotta put her in the water!
Natasha places a gentle hand on Steve's shoulder. Inessa and Tony both noticed the action and exchanged a glance.
[BROOKLYN GYM - NIGHT]
As he punches the bag, Steve's rage grows stronger. It becomes more difficult -
{FLASHBACK}
Steve places his compass with an image of Peggy Carter. The time is here for him to crash the plane.
"Who's that?"
Natasha responded after noticing Steve's inability to respond, "That's Peggy, Peggy Carter."
[BROOKLYN GYM - NIGHT]
Steve sighs and closes his eyes. Strikes the bag more forcefully.
PEGGY (V.O.): You won't be alone.
Steve's eyes welled up just hearing the voice of his former lover.
{FLASHBACK}
The Tesseract is picked up by the Red Skull.
[BROOKLYN GYM - NIGHT]
As the last memory kicks in, Steve opens his eyes and fucking tears the bag.
SHIELD SCIENTIST (V.O.): Oh my god!
{FLASHBACK}
Steve Roger is half-frozen and lying on a medical slab. Two SHIELD SCIENTISTS use high-tech equipment to check his vitals. And it appears -
SHIELD SCIENTIST: This guy is still alive!
"How are you alive?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling.
As Steve was about to respond, Inessa interrupted him. "Science, it was Science; you wouldn't understand," she said, giving the team a look that clearly said she didn't trust him and that they shouldn't either. The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed as he heard his former student's response.
[BROOKLYN GYM - NIGHT]
Steve delivers the hardest punch he can muster, knocking the bag across the room. Steve takes a deep breath and picks up another bag from a line on the floor, which he hangs up. He starts hitting it.
And -
INESSA: Trouble sleeping?
"It's Super Spy Nessie!" Tony exclaimed as Inessa threw a snowball at him, striking him square in the face.
STEVE: [hitting the bag] I slept for seventy years, ma'am. I think I've had my fill.
"Seventy year! How is that possible?"
"Bloody hell, you're old, hot, but old!" Ginny blurted out, while Steve blushed slightly.
INESSA: Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world.
Steve takes a break from punching and walks over to the bench, unraveling the tape from his hands. He takes a seat.
STEVE: I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost.
INESSA: We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently.
STEVE: [removing handwrap] You here with a mission, ma'am?
INESSA: I am actually, Director Fury sent me.
STEVE: [removing the other hand wrap] Trying to get me back in the world?
INESSA: More on, trying to save it.
Inessa hands Steve a file about the Tesseract, as well as other files about Hydra's projects.
STEVE: Hydra's secret weapon.
INESSA: Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking out for you. He thought that the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs.
STEVE: Who took it from you?
INESSA: He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.
STEVE: At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me.
INESSA: Wanna bet? Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment.
"You should never bet with Nessa," Natasha said, pointing to Clint, who was muttering under his breath. "Francis over there learned that the hard way," she added, Inessa smirking beside her.
Steve takes a step back and picks up a punching bag. Begin to walk out of the gym.
INESSA: Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?
STEVE: You should have left it in the ocean.
˚∗: ˚◈˚∗: ˚
[OCEAN, NEW YORK CITY - NIGHT]
Tony Stark is submerged underwater in his Iron Man suit. And is severing a pipeline transport with a laser cutter in his hand. After that, he installs a Stark energy reactor. It lights up. Iron Man emerges from the water and flies towards Stark Tower.
"Wow, that looks cool," someone commented.
Except for the team, everyone in the Great Hall was staring at the screen in awe, especially the purebloods, though they would never admit it.
The team rolled their eyes as Tony smirked at all the admiration and curiosity on the witches and wizards' faces.
TONY: You're good on this end. The rest is up to you.
PEPPER [on the other line]: You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?
"Who's that?" Lee asked from the Gryffindor table.
"That's Pepper Potts," he replied, his eyes adoringly fixed on the screen.
{INSIDE THE SUIT PEPPER APPEARS ON HIS HUD MONITOR}
"So that's what it looks like on the inside?" Inessa said while looking at the screen curiously
With a boasting look "Yeah, cool right? I know I made it ." He said with smugness in his voice
She rolled her eyes at him -
TONY [into his headset]: Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy.
PEPPER [on the other line]: Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?
TONY [into his headset]: I assume. Light her up.
The power is turned on and the Stark sign lights up as Ironman flies to the Stark Tower Building.
PEPPER [on the other line]: How does it look?
TONY [into his headset]: Like Christmas, but with more - me.
PEPPER [on the other line]: Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards.
Iron Man flies over an overpass and up Stark Tower's side.
TONY [into his headset]: Pepper, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment.
PEPPER [on the other line]: Then get in here and I will.
[STARK TOWER LANDING PAD]
Iron Man lands on the tower's landing pad and walks along a walkway with robotic arms deconstructing his armor.
JARVIS: Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line.
TONY: I'm not in. I'm actually out.
JARVIS: Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting.
TONY: Grow a spine, JARVIS. I got a date.
[PENTHOUSE, STARK TOWER]
Pepper Potts looks up at the reactor device's monitors.
PEPPER: Levels are holding steady - I think.
Tony walks up to Pepper.
TONY: Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which leads me to my next question. How does it feel to be a genius?
Tony turns off the display, and Pepper and he face each other.
PEPPER: Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now, would I?
TONY: What do you mean? All this came from you.
PEPPER: No. All this came from that.
He taps and points to the arc reactor in his chest.
"What's that?" Ron asked
"It's an arc reactor" Tony answered
"Wicked, What's that?" Ron asked still confused
Tony looked at him, dumbfounded, and then at Bruce, who had the same expression as him, both of them thinking about how far behind these witches and wizards were.
"You know what kid, don't worry about it," Tony told Ron, who nodded confusedly.
TONY: Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself -- twelve percent of the credit.
PEPPER: Twelve percent?
"You did not just say that to Pepper?" Inessa asked Toni, amusement and disbelief on her face.
"I did," Tony admitted. "Let me guess, you paid for that, didn't you?" Inessa asked, smirking, Tony took a deep breath before responding, "I did."
TONY: An argument can be made for fifteen.
Pepper walks toward the living room.
PEPPER: Twelve percent? For my baby?
TONY: [Following Pepper] Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you.
PEPPER: Oh!
TONY: My private elevator -
Pepper pours herself and Tony a glass of champagne.
PEPPER: You mean our elevator?
TONY: Yeah, it was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later aren't I?
PEPPER: Not gonna be that subtle.
TONY: I'll tell you what, next building is gonna say 'Potts' on the tower.
PEPPER: On the lease!
TONY: Call your mum, can you bunk over?
"That's one way to ask someone to stay over," James said, "Good thing you didn't try that with Ev - Potter," Sirius said.
Remus shook his head, rolling his eyes at the two. "Idiots," he muttered under his breath, and Lily frowned at his husband and best friend.
JARVIS: Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden.
Tony picks up his high-tech phone and holds it up.
COULSON [on the phone screen]: Mr. Stark, we need to talk.
TONY: You have reached the Life Model Decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message.
COULSON [on the phone screen]: This is urgent.
TONY: Then leave it urgently.
At that moment the elevator door opens and Coulson appears.
TONY: Security breach. [to Pepper] That's on you.
COULSON: Mr. Stark.
PEPPER: Phil! Come in.
Pepper and Tony walked over to Coulson, who is entering.
TONY: Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent.
PEPPER: Come on in, we're celebrating.
TONY: [fake smiling] Which is why he can't stay.
COULSON: [he holds out a file towards] We need you to look this over, as soon as possible.
Tony stares at the file.
TONY: I don't like being handed things.
"Don't we know?" Natasha asked, pointing to herself and Inessa, while Tony stared at them.
PEPPER: That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade.
She hands Coulson her glass of champagne and takes the file from him. She then takes Tony's glass and hands him the file.
PEPPER: Thank you.
TONY: Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.
"Do you even follow your consulting hours?" Steve asked Tony. Tony replied bluntly, "No," to which Bruce rolled his eyes, "Of course you don't."
COULSON: This isn't a consultation.
PEPPER: Is this about The Avengers? [Coulson looks at Pepper] Which I know nothing about.
TONY: The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify.
PEPPER: I didn't know that either.
TONY: Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others.
PEPPER: That I did know.
Tony pouted at what Pepper said.
COULSON: This isn't about personality profiles anymore.
TONY: Whatever. Miss Potts, got a sec?
Pepper approaches Tony, who enters the files into his own databases.
TONY: You know, I thought we were having a moment.
PEPPER: I was having twelve percent of a moment.
PEPPER: This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken.
TONY: How did you notice? Why is he, Phil?
Looking at Stark, Clint asked, "Were you jealous of Coulson?" Tony scoffed, "I was not," he said.
PEPPER: What is all of this?
TONY: This is, uh -
Tony spreads his arms, and different holographic profiles of each of the Avengers appear in the air in front of Tony and Pepper.
TONY: This.
Screens of Captain America in action, the Hulk roaring as he attacks the Army at Culver University, Thor fighting the destroyer, and Loki and the Tesseract appear, with Stark and Pepper looking on in awe.
PEPPER: I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight.
TONY: Tomorrow.
PEPPER: You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework.
TONY: Well, what if I didn't?
PEPPER: If you didn't?
PEPPER: You mean if you finished? [Stark nods his head] Well, um...then -
She whispers something in his ear. Tony gasps. Coulson looks away in embarrassment.
Everyone in the Great Hall looked at the screen in disgust, already guessing what Pepper had said. Tony smirked as he leaned back in his seat, and the team rolled their eyes at him for what seemed like the hundredth time.
TONY: Square deal. It's the last date.
Pepper kisses him.
PEPPER: Work hard. [approaching Coulson] So, any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?
COULSON: I can drop you off.
PEPPER (O.S): Fantastic. Ooh, I want to hear about the ah- cellist, is that still a thing?
As Pepper leaves with Agent Coulson, Tony grabs the Tesseract in holograph form, worried.
Just as the next scene in the film was about to begin. A note then appeared in front of Inessa, who picked it up and read it. Looking up from the note, she said, "It appears that we'll be having more guests."
And just as she said that a portal was seen opening and out comes -