Bant obviously wasn't going to let Tony tag along with him.
After all, he was the Sakaar King, and that wasn't something Bant intended to make public just yet.
Besides, Earth had long since been handled—there was nothing for Tony to do anyway. Better to let him keep serving his sentence on Sakaar honestly.
Ultron had nearly destroyed the world. A few short days cooling his heels on Sakaar wasn't enough to wipe that slate clean.
Let him fight in the Sakaar arena for a few years first.
On Earth.
Pepper quietly sorted through all of Tony's assets, intending to do exactly as Tony had promised—use his entire fortune to compensate for the damage Ultron had caused.
To that end, Tony's mansions and luxury cars were all bundled up and sold off, and even his original suits went at bargain prices.
But Stark Industries didn't disappear.
Stark Industries was a publicly traded company, and Tony's shares didn't give him sole control. At most, Pepper could liquidate Tony's holdings.
But by this point, Stark Industries' stock price had already cratered. For a long time to come, the company would limp along in a half-dead state.
So while she sold, she was also buying back shares with her own money—all of it set aside for Tony, in case he ever got kicked out of the company entirely.
But her salary, high as it was, could only buy a sliver. Barely worth mentioning.
Bant had no interest in Stark Industries shares. Harry Osborn, on the other hand, was actively buying them up.
Harry had developed sharp business instincts. Once he realized he wasn't cut out for science, he let it go—his two best friends were the smart ones, and being the dumb one was fine by him.
Stark Industries' stock had tanked because of Tony, but the fundamentals were still there. The patent royalties Tony had registered alone would keep generating steady income far into the future.
And right now, it was at rock bottom. The perfect time to buy.
As for Norman Osborn, he no longer cared about wealth on paper.
Power.
That was what he craved now.
He'd already been the director of HAMMER, which gave him considerable global influence—but there was still the World Security Council looming over his head.
Now, however, because of what Bant had said to Tony, a lot of people had begun reconsidering what kind of relationship Earth ought to maintain with the Plumbers.
The old approach—isolation and exclusion—clearly wasn't going to work anymore. The other side had made that abundantly clear.
You couldn't put on an air of superiority, harbor ill intentions toward the Plumbers, and then expect them to selflessly serve you in the end.
On what grounds?
This time, helping deal with Ultron had only happened out of respect for that Earth-branch Security Officer, Bant Parker. If Earth couldn't produce an appropriate attitude toward the Plumbers, the other side could simply choose not to cooperate.
The universe was vast. It wasn't lacking a backwater like Earth to serve as one of its jurisdictions.
The Plumbers didn't care about Earth, but Earth needed the Plumbers' protection. That was the most frustrating part of it all.
If people had never known about the threats lurking out in the universe, that would've been one thing.
But the people of Earth had faced the Ultron crisis, endured HYDRA infiltration, and survived the Battle of New York. They understood all too clearly: with existing technology and homegrown superheroes alone, they simply couldn't handle crises coming from beyond the stars.
They needed the Plumbers' protection.
"There's no need to debate this, Norman. We must establish a good relationship with the Plumbers…"
At the World Security Council meeting, the major member nations all nodded in agreement—a rare consensus.
At this stage, Earth genuinely needed the Plumbers' protection. Even if the Plumbers' Earth branch was, in nature, somewhat like U.S. forces stationed in Japan, there was no other choice.
"Norman, I recall that your relationship with the former Earth-branch Security Officer, Bant Parker, is quite good? Could you perhaps mediate on our behalf and secure greater autonomy for Earth?" one of them asked.
By now, no one dared entertain ideas of infiltrating the Plumbers anymore. Securing a certain degree of autonomous rights was already seen as an ideal outcome.
"Young Bant is indeed a junior of mine, and he has a fair amount of influence within the Plumbers. There's no need to worry on that front. Besides, the Plumbers aren't a colonial organization." Norman's smirk was harder to suppress than an AK's recoil.
He'd already talked things over with Bant and reached an understanding.
Autonomy for Earth's individual nations—give it or not?
Of course they'd give it!
Honestly, neither Bant nor Norman had the energy to deal with the petty squabbles between every country. If they wanted to live in peace and friendship, or beat each other bloody, that was their business. Everything would go on as before, with one difference: anything in the realm of the supernatural fell under Plumber jurisdiction. Everything else was up to them.
That way, any mission the Plumbers needed to carry out on Earth could proceed regardless of any nation's objections. No one would have the right to interfere.
And Norman would be promoted from HAMMER director to Security Officer of the Plumbers' Earth branch—no more listening to the Security Council's endless nagging.
Plumber membership would be selected from across the globe, supplemented by a portion of personnel dispatched from headquarters.
Honestly, that was more reassuring than anything.
Having some of their own people in the ranks made it feel less like being ruled by outsiders.
Bant had no desire to rule Earth. He simply intended to have the Plumbers take over HAMMER's original functions—the only difference being a matter of status.
The Plumbers stood higher.
Norman delighted in wrestling with politicians for power, but Bant had already washed his hands of it. That was precisely why he'd handed over the Earth-branch Security Officer position to Norman.
There was more than enough to deal with back at Sakaar headquarters.
Norman was now seated aboard the Plumbers' space station, laying out plans and deployments for his upcoming work.
"First, we should establish sub-branches across different continents, even individual countries."
He mulled it over.
Although the Plumbers could currently exercise global control from orbit, if an emergency broke out or some peculiar supernatural phenomenon appeared, dispatching from the space station might take too long to arrive.
Better to set up branches everywhere. That way, different regions could be assigned to different people, and his workload would lighten considerably.
"I remember Young Bant once wanted to hollow out Mount Rushmore as a base. Might as well put one of the branches there," Norman thought.
"Next, personnel…"
Rank-and-file Plumber members needed to have some talent, just like HAMMER's agents had. That part wasn't hard—Norman didn't even need to go looking. The Security Council nations would send their people over willingly.
The more Earthlings inside the Plumbers, the more autonomous Earth became.
And they'd also want to plant a few informants within the Plumbers' ranks.
That was fine.
Those people wouldn't rise high enough to access many secrets anyway. Besides… in this world, strength ultimately ruled. So what if the entire Earth branch was riddled with spies?
They'd still have to do their jobs honestly, wouldn't they?
If anything, spies were better—because only a spy would put in 120% effort to complete a mission. Who among real employees didn't slack off?
Hadn't they noticed that the Plumbers' actual boss couldn't be bothered with any of this nonsense?
"Spies, for the sake of secrecy, certainly won't reveal their backgrounds to each other either. Just let them suspect one another," Norman thought.
He didn't care who those spies secretly worked for. Once they joined the Plumbers, they'd work for the Plumbers.
"Next, the superhero team."
He rubbed his chin, thinking.
That part wasn't difficult. The original Avengers had disbanded, so they could just be brought back under a new banner. The Captain and the others probably didn't care whether they were called Avengers or something else.
With that in mind, he immediately pulled out his phone and sent a group text to Steve and the other superheroes, asking if they'd be willing to work for the Plumbers.
As for reassembling the superhero team, Bant was actually quite interested.
He returned to Earth to handle the matter together with Norman.
A few days later, outside the Plumbers' headquarters, a black van screeched to a halt. Steve stepped out with Bucky and Falcon, while in the driver's seat, Natasha rolled down the window and gave Bant a wink from across the way.
"Long time no see, Young Bant… no, wait—should I be calling you Brother Bant now? Wouldn't want to be disrespectful." Steve cracked a grin the moment he saw Bant, clearly a devoted viewer of Stark's livestream.
"If you don't mind, you can call me Grandpa Bant too."
Bant rolled his eyes. By then, Natasha had parked and gotten out.
"Where's Agent Barton?"
"He's getting ready to retire. Enjoying the countryside life." Natasha had recently dyed her hair white. Bant thought it didn't suit her as well as her original color.
As expected, white hair was a look best left to 2D. In the real world, it fell flat.
As for Hawkeye's retirement plans, Bant simply nodded, not feeling particularly regretful.
The man was just an ordinary human. In an era where superheroes would soon be everywhere, he'd struggle to keep up. And with a wife and kids at home, retiring early wasn't a bad thing at all.
"His wife was originally a SHIELD agent, right? I'll make sure he gets a generous pension. Why don't you retire?"
"I can't sit still." Natasha pursed her lips in a small smile.
She wasn't in SHIELD anymore. The Plumbers didn't care whether you were a former Russian operative—her pension had already been maxed out.
But retirement never crossed Natasha's mind.
She was alone either way. If she actually retired, she wouldn't even know what to do with herself.
Bant led them inside the company.
"Is it just us?" Steve asked.
"No, there's Peter and the others too." Bant shook his head. "We're still short on people for now."
They walked through the building. The Plumbers' headquarters had its own conference room, so it worked well enough for gathering these heroes—especially since they hadn't necessarily agreed to join the Plumbers yet.
Steve and the others followed Bant inside, taking the elevator down to the sublevels. The moment they stepped through the door, Peter waved at them.
"Hey, Cap." He was still in his Spider suit.
"Hey, Spider-Man." Steve walked over and clapped him firmly on the shoulder. "Still haven't found Venom?" he asked with concern.
"No…" Peter shook his head, his face full of sadness and worry.
Venom had vanished during the fight against Ultron.
At one point, Ultron had hit Peter with a sonic attack, forcing Venom off his body. Since then, Venom had simply… disappeared.
"It's been so long, and he hasn't shown up once," Peter said miserably.
When he'd first encountered Venom, Peter had found him a bit annoying. But after all this time, he'd long since accepted the symbiote.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine."
Cap comforted him, then let his gaze sweep over the others in the conference room.
Daredevil and Green Goblin were faces he recognized but didn't know well. Black Panther, T'Challa, was there too, and the two exchanged greetings. Bant's girlfriend, Felicia, also had a seat at the table.
Notably absent were the siblings who'd once stood beside Ultron. Whether they'd been dealt with for betraying the Plumbers, Steve didn't know.
He decided he'd ask Bant to put in a good word for them later. Those two kids had just been led astray by their hatred of Stark. Their hearts weren't rotten.
And then there was one more person—someone he didn't recognize.
"This is William Baker. You can call him Sandman," Bant said by way of introduction.
Steve immediately remembered: the villain who'd sent Peter and Venom on a rampage was Sandman. He just hadn't expected Bant to bring him into the Plumbers.
As for Sandman, Bant obviously knew the man's history.
He wasn't a particularly good person, but he wasn't particularly evil either. So Bant had given him a special chance to join the Plumbers, along with a promise to help treat his daughter's illness.
"Hello, Captain." William Baker wasn't much of a talker. After a brief greeting, he fell silent.
"That's everyone for now."
Bant said.
Honestly, the team's strength was a little underwhelming. The most powerful member was Sandman—a former villain.
But there was no helping it. Thor hadn't awakened yet, Vision was gone, and Wanda and Pietro, after Tony had been sent away, decided to go wander the cosmos for a while—partly to lay low.
Once everyone was assembled, Bant had them all sit down and spoke:
"Let me be upfront. This isn't like the Avengers. Joining the Plumbers means giving up a lot of your autonomy. From here on, all of your actions will require Plumber approval. No missions means no acting on your own."
Bant had no intention of inviting trouble. The Avengers had been fiercely independent, but Bant didn't need that. He just needed people who'd follow orders.
"I have no problem with that." William Baker said, then sat back down with a pained expression. He barely maintained his human form, grains of sand trickling from his skin in a faint rustle.
Steve frowned slightly, as if deep in thought.
So the superheroes would essentially become weapons in the Plumbers' hands. Was that a good thing?
He thought long and hard—especially about SHIELD, and how HYDRA had infiltrated it.
But soon, he let out a self-deprecating shake of his head, realizing his worries were pointless.
The world already belonged to the Plumbers. What was there left to worry about?
So he nodded. "I agree too."
/-\
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