Having witnessed the birth of Iron Man and his rise to worldwide fame, Brown chose to resign from his job under Tony. His reason for leaving was simple: he had achieved financial freedom. Thanks to snapping up Stark Industries stock at the bottom, combined with Obadiah's betrayal, Tony had bought back every single share except the ones Brown held. Tony then appointed Pepper as CEO, leaving her to handle all corporate affairs.
"Are you really sure you want to resign?"
"I am, Tony. Besides, I'm just resigning, not leaving you forever. We can still get together when we have time."
Tony nodded, then thought of Yinsen, who had returned to his homeland, and sighed. "Looks like I'm a loner again. Well, no use being sentimental—time to get to work on a new suit."
Pepper complained, "I've got to go to the company and deal with this massive mess. A mess this big is going to keep me busy for a while."
Tony ignored her completely, wanting nothing more than to make a fast escape. Watching Tony and Happy beat a hasty retreat from the press conference, Brown burst out laughing. "I never knew Tony had a side like that."
"Indeed. Well, Brown, I've got to get to work, too."
"Do a good job. I'm expecting a hefty dividend at the end of the year."
"Got it, you capitalist, just like Tony."
Just as Brown was about to drive away in his Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Coulson came jogging over.
"Mr. Brown, on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., I am once again inviting you to become a member of our Avengers Squad."
"Coulson, do you even know what kind of person I am?"
That question stopped Coulson in his tracks. He thought about it for a moment.
"To be honest, sir, I don't really know what kind of person you are, but my personal feeling is that you're an upright man."
"You're right about that; I suppose I am an upright man. But at the same time, I'm a free spirit. I don't want to join any organization and be ordered around on missions I don't care about."
Hearing this, Coulson froze. After a few seconds, he said, "Alright, Mr. Brown. I won't keep you."
With that, Brown stepped on the gas and drove off into the distance.
"Director, the recruitment failed."
"Fine. Come back first and help handle the Tony Stark situation; we can talk about recruiting him later."
"Understood, Director."
The call ended. Fury looked at a photo of Brown and muttered under his breath, "Just what kind of person are you? Such a powerful, unstable variable—how are we supposed to handle you?"
With that, he walked over to the window, looked down, pulled out the pager he carried with him at all times, and said, "Maybe only you could actually fight him."
Meanwhile, Brown gave the previous encounter not another thought, let alone cared about the ripples it caused. Right now, all he wanted was to get home and do a ten-draw pull; nothing else mattered. As soon as he got through the front door:
"System, give me a ten-draw." With his mood this good today, he was bound to pull something decent. A beam of light flashed across the screen: nine grays and one blue.
"Congratulations to the host for drawing: Entry-level Bajiquan experience."
"Damn, and here I thought I'd score red, considering how happy I was today. Fuse it."
A flash of blue light swept through, and the fusion was complete. He tossed the few useless gray rewards straight into his storage ring.
"Well, there's still some time before Hulk appears, and I haven't run into Spider-Man doing any good deeds yet. I might as well go find Peter Parker and see which version of Spider-Man this is."
No sooner thought than done. He drove straight to Midtown High School to wait for them to get out of class, and by the way, to check whether this world's Spider-Man's partner was Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane.
A school bell rang, and students began streaming out of the gates. Brown scanned the crowd for a familiar face.
Before long, he spotted someone who looked identical to the Andrew Garfield version of Spider-Man, and right next to him were Mary Jane and his good buddy, the second-generation Green Goblin.
Seeing all this, Brown decided not to disrupt the timeline. Once he identified who was who, he quietly left. Just as he was about to get back into his car, the surrounding street noise abruptly vanished. Sensing something was wrong, Brown turned to see Ancient One opening a magic portal right behind him.
Brown walked through it without a trace of hesitation, though inwardly he was wondering, *What does this bald woman want with me? I didn't even do anything!* Brown's demeanor at that moment was the spitting image of a primary school student being summoned to the principal's office.
"Sit down, powerhouse from another world."
"Greetings, Sorcerer Supreme. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Brown had dropped his previous playful grin, turning entirely serious.
"How long have you been in this world?"
"About a year and a half. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. Have some tea."
Ancient One's behavior left Brown completely baffled. She simply looked at him with a relaxed smile, a gaze that made Brown's heart race with unease.
"Sorcerer Supreme, is there a specific reason you brought me here?"
"Nothing special. I just wanted to see what kind of person a powerhouse from another world might be. From your every move just now, I've pretty much figured it out."
Brown gave a wry smile. "Am I really that easy to read?"
Ancient One shook her head. "It's simply that I can easily foresee what you will and will not do."
*A centuries-old human-spirit,* Brown thought to himself. *Does she know even when I'm cursing her out in my head?*
"I do," Ancient One said calmly with a gentle smile.
"Haha, amazing. Way better than me," Brown said awkwardly, offering a bitter laugh.
"I know you're not a bad person. You just don't like being tied down, nor do you care for the spotlight."
Hearing this, Brown let out a helpless smile. "You're right, but people change."
"I look forward to your change." She then conjured a portal and said, "I won't see you out."
Brown strode back to his car, drove home, flopped onto the sofa, and began to ponder Ancient One's words.
"Change? How am I supposed to change? Join the Avengers Squad? Joining now just makes me cheap labor where I have to do all the heavy lifting—I might as well wait. When it's necessary, I'll save people and do whatever needs doing."
"Or... should I go fish Captain America out ahead of time? And grab the Space Stone while I'm at it? A Superman wielding the power of space—sounds pretty good."
At midnight, S.H.I.E.L.D. detected a high-speed micro-aircraft crossing the entire North American continent and flying toward the Arctic. Agents promptly reported the situation to Fury.
"Motherfucker! What is this guy's deal? Patch me into a reconnaissance satellite, keep it locked on the Arctic—I want to see what he's up to. Motherfucker."
Arriving in the skies above the Arctic, Brown used his X-ray vision to locate the Tesseract and Captain America.
"Tsk, tsk, look at that peach of a backside..." With that, he shattered the Tesseract's casing, stashed the Space Stone into his storage ring, and flew straight to New York carrying Cap.
"Hello, Agent Coulson? I've got something here that S.H.I.E.L.D. is definitely going to be very interested in."
Half-asleep, Coulson snapped wide awake instantly. "Where are you right now?"
"Right here in the villa you bought for me."
"Understood. I'll be there in half an hour."
Coulson immediately briefed Director Fury on Brown's contact and ordered two tactical teams to mobilize at once.
In less than half an hour, Coulson arrived at Brown's villa leading two tactical teams.
"Take a look. America's soul, Captain America—and he still has vital signs."
"Hold on a second, let me make a call."
"Director, we have Captain America here, and he still has vital signs."
"You and Brown stay put. I'm dispatching a few more teams, equipment, and research personnel right now."
"Mr. Brown, our Director invites you to visit S.H.I.E.L.D.."
"Lead the way. I've been meaning to meet this Baldy Egg Director myself."