Oh geez oh shit oh mommy oh CRAP, thought Anthony "Iron Man" Stark as he looked at the collection of powerful artifacts and objects laying on the table. Handing over the cash (he had several hundred in his wallet, and was silently grateful
it wasn’t more), he literally shoved everything into the box.
The Merchant just smiled, his work done, vanishing from view as Iron Man checked to see everything that was there.
Iron Man quickly checked to see that all the items were there, and then turned to yell at the Merchant, who had already vanished. Cursing angrily, he flew off, heading back to Stark Tower, contacting the Illuminati and telling them to come to his place
immediately, broadcasting images of the items he just found.
Once back at his base, he set all the items out. A CD containing the Master PC program. A Cosmic Cube. The Norn Stones. The Infinity Gauntlet. The Darkhold. The Crimson Gem of Cyttorak. The Freedom Ring. The hammers of the Worthy, Willbreaker, Faithbreaker,
Worldbreaker, Oceanbreaker, Soulbreaker, and Manbreaker. A supercharged ring from each of the Lantern Corps. Another CD, this one containing the Anti-Life Equation. The Book of Parallax, Book of Oa, and the Book of the Black. The H-Dial.
“If these had made their way into the hands of villains…” iron man said softly. He then shuddered, forcing the thought out of his mind. He wanted a drink, but knew he didn’t dare.
A few minutes later, the thoroughly alarmed Illuminati showed up through the portals he had given them. Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Prince Namor, King Black Bolt, Professor X, Ganthet, Batman, and Doctor Fate all looked at the items with horror.
“How… This is impossible! The items are safe, all locked away!” Ganthet said.
“Realistic knock-offs, apparently,” Iron Man said. “I found these at a garage sale of all places. He was expecting villains to show up.”
Doctors Strange and Fate analyzed the items. “They’re real, all right…” Doctor Strange said, fear making his voice shake.
“We have to get these out of here,” Batman said, cursing himself for not making sure the items were safe. “Lock them up someplace.”
“Take them,” Iron Man said. “I feel weird just having them. Especially those damn hammers. I was able to pick them up, guys…”
Everyone stared at him. The Hammers of the Worthy were only supposed to be picked up by the one worthy of them. And Iron Man had picked them all up. They tried to move them, but they couldn’t lift them off of the desk.
“Oh good, I have to dispose of them myself,” Iron Man said, his head dropping to his desk.
“That may be for the best,” Mister Fantastic said. “If you are able to move them without being possessed by them, you are probably best suited for locking them somewhere safe.” He and the others gathered the rest of the items up and started to leave.
At which point they all vanished from their grasp and reappeared on Iron Man’s desk.
“…” Iron Man said. “I swear I haven’t used any of these.”
Batman scowled. “You said that the Merchant was expecting villains?” he said.
Iron Man nodded.
Batman looked at the box sitting nearby. “Where did you get that box?”
Iron Man groaned softly. “From the Merchant…”
Doctor Fate analyzed the box. “There’s a binding spell on it,” he said. “The items inside will all be bonded to the one that puts the majority of them inside it. It will put each item within arms reach the moment they are out of your sight.”
Iron Man banged his head off of his desk repeatedly.
The other Illuminati members stared at each other nervously. “Stay here, Tony,” Doctor Strange aid. “Try and keep the items safe. And for God’s sake DO NOT USE THEM. We’re going to try to get some extra help on this…”
The others left, save for Namor.
“Y’know…” he said, “With all this power at your command… There’s a lot of good you could do.” The merman shrugged. “Just saying, is all.” He left into his portal, leaving Iron man to think.
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