Heroes Assemble!

It's Time

A/N – I know, it's been far too long since I've posted. I can only apologise and claim that 200k+ words in 9 months, add in real life and my muse went on holiday. However, a writer's retreat managed to jumpstart things again and with NaNoWriMo coming up next month, I am good to go again.

ooo00ooo

The sight that appeared out the front of the quinjet was completely expected – at least to Tony. He'd kept a careful eye on Virginia Island and the floating, flying landmass that hovered above it for four solid weeks, courtesy of Friday and the Stark satellite that he'd 'parked' in geosynchronous orbit above this part of the planet.

"Tony? What have you done?" a worried sounding Capsicle asked from directly behind the pilot's chair.

"What does it look like?" he shot back.

"It looks like you took a page out of Ultron's book," Nat replied, the frown that was most likely on her face evident in her voice.

"You made the island fly?" Daisy asked. "How'd you do it?"

"You'd need a vibranium core to achieve magnetic cohesion, the same as Ultron did with Sokovia," Bruce stated.

"Got it in one," Tony beamed.

"Where'd you get the vibranium?" Harry asked. "Apart from Steve's shield, there isn't enough outside of Wakanda for you to make a core that big."

"The vibranium core that Ultron used. You found it, didn't you?" Bruce asked. "You went to space, found it and brought it back!"

"You and I really need to collaborate on more projects, Banner," Tony replied. "It's always nice talking to someone with a brain."

"What's your plan, here, Tony?" Steve asked.

Tony looked back at Steve and at the group clustered around him.

"I thought that it'd be obvious. A brand-new, albeit relatively tiny, country with no ties to any nation," Tony replied.

"To what end?" Nat asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Look. We all know where things stand at the moment. The Accords tied our hands pretty comprehensively. The bad guys got to do their thing and we couldn't do anything to stop them. And how many countries banned us from even visiting? Yes, the Accords have now been rescinded. But what happens when the world has another brain aneurism? We need our own place, a place for people like us to be free to be who we are. That is our start."

"But we've already got Black Island," Daisy pointed out.

"An island hidden under magical hocus-pocus where ordinary people can't see us," Tony retorted, waving away her point. "And don't say that we're 'welcome in Wakanda'. Kitty-Cat may be working towards opening the country to the rest of the world but our presence has the potential to make his job even harder. With that, we can be seen. Seen as people, ordinary people. Well, mostly ordinary. At least, people who just want to go about life."

"So, it's a PR stunt," Nat summarised.

"No!" Tony replied, wrinkling his nose. "Well, yes, in some ways, I suppose it is. But that's not its main purpose. We can be flying around the world without worrying about borders and stepping on people's toes."

"How high?" Steve asked, his eyes sliding past Tony, making him turn as well to look out the quinjet's front viewscreen at the floating island in front of them.

"Two thousand metres," Tony replied.

Currently, though, the floating landmass was exactly where it was a month ago – its lowest point a mere twenty metres above the highest remaining point of the island. Every test on the engines and superstructure had come back clean and clear.