With a faint, casual smile, Soren Macaluso lifted a hand.
A shimmering arc of magical energy shaped itself into a blade of pure light.
It cleaved cleanly through the heavy chains binding the President.
The chains fell away with a metallic clatter.
But with them, so too did the President's heavily weighted steel armor, sending his body plummeting toward the dock below. The fall, powered by the weight of reinforced plating, would crush an ordinary man flat.
The President's eyes widened in terror.
He braced for the crash.
Nothing.
An invisible force, soft and gentle, caught him mid-air.
The crushing momentum vanished, his descent slowing as if he floated, and a moment later, he landed safely on the ground.
Breathing hard, the President blinked, trying to process what had just happened. He turned toward the unfazed figure standing a few steps away.
"Doctor… thank you." His voice trembled, not only from the shock but also from genuine awe.
"I've heard of you… of your medical genius, your impossible recoveries… but I never imagined you were…" He hesitated, searching for a word to capture what he just witnessed. "…this powerful."
Before Soren could respond, a deafening BOOM accoured.
The source was from where the largest meteorite from earlier had suddenly exploded, sending fragments flying and a wave of hot smoke washing over the docks.
From within the cloud of fire and debris, a figure emerged.
Flames licked at his skin, his body still burning, but alive.
Aldrich Killian.
His muscles were charred but rapidly healing, molten flesh knitting back together, though his breathing was labored.
His once-impeccable suit was reduced to ash, leaving behind scorched barbecue skin.
His eyes burned brighter than the fire around him.
"I want to see… who dares save him." Killian growled, voice menacing… but it faltered the instant his gaze landed on Soren.
The confidence drained from Killian's face like blood from a wound. His smirk crumbled, his flame-drenched posture faltering.
"You…"
Memories of a nightmare came flooding back.
Of a man untouchable. A man, Killian, swore to himself never to cross again.
The flames around his body diminished, shrinking as his Extremis-driven bravado warred with creeping terror. The healing slowed.
Fear had become part of his bloodstream.
His lips pressed together.
"Dr. Macaluso, why… why do we have to fight?" Killian forced a strained smile.
"What are they offering you? Money? Influence? Whatever it is, I can double it. Name your price. Walk away now…"
But Soren's expression didn't change.
Killian's voice tightened. "Look, Doctor, as long as you turn around, I'll give you anything. Everything. All your… needs… I can make it happen."
That last, desperate offer echoed awkwardly, the docks silent save for the flicker of fires and the crackle of settling embers.
Soren chuckled. A single, humorless sound.
"Killian, you can't meet my requirements."
"I'm not here for your money… your offers…"
"I own the second-largest stake in Stark Industries."
"You hurt Pepper. You tried to kill Tony. You endangered this country's leader. You made this personal."
Killian's face paled. The implication hit him like a sledgehammer.
He staggered back, eyes darting between the smoldering wreckage, the President's pale face, and the indomitable man standing before him.
"Dr. Macaluso… I—I didn't know… In that case, I'm willing to compensate. Everything here… is up to you!"
Killian's voice cracked under the weight of his fear.
He wasn't lying. The shadow Soren Macaluso cast over him was so deep, so absolute, that even if it meant abandoning his ambitions, sacrificing his pride, he would do it, just to avoid crossing this man again.
But Soren only smiled.
Before Killian could react, Soren vanished.
"Let's test… the power of magic laced with the Dark Force," Soren's voice whispered from the shadows, more to himself than anyone else.
His earlier display had merely scratched the surface. Now, with a durable target like Killian, a living experiment that refused to die, this was a perfect opportunity.
An icy chill of dread crawled up Killian's spine. His instincts screamed at him run!
But it was too late.
A dark magic circle exploded outwards beneath him, ancient runes flaring to life, weaving patterns of unnatural light across the ground. The solid metal deck beneath Killian's feet liquefied into viscous, black mud.
"What?!"
His body sank instantly, like lead in quicksand.
He fought, flames roaring higher as his Extremis-enhanced body blazed. The intense heat should have evaporated anything, but instead, the mud hardened into steel, locking him inside like a twisted sculpture.
His limbs, chest, even his neck were immobilized.
"Earth Burst!"
Soren's disembodied voice rang out.
Dozens of jagged, earthen spikes erupted, spearing through Killian's body.
They burst from the deck like teeth from a monster's maw, piercing his chest, back, shoulders, and abdomen. Hot, searing blood gushed around the impaling thorns, hissing on contact with the cold steel.
"Arghh!"
His scream was cut short.
From the void, black vines shot forward, twisting, writhing, alive. They coiled tightly around his broken form, forcing their way into every gap, binding his mouth shut, coiling around his neck, legs, arms, and chest.
He couldn't move. He couldn't scream.
"Vine Strangling."
And then, the cold came.
A blizzard of supernatural frost washed over him, freezing the vines, the spikes, the steel… and his flesh.
The roaring flames of his Extremis core sputtered, struggling against the impossible cold, and lost.
"Zero Frost."
Ice spread rapidly, encasing his body, layer after layer, until he was a grotesque sculpture, vines, blood, spikes, and twisted muscles all frozen mid-struggle.
Only his face remained visible behind the frost.
Eyes wide with pain.
With rage.
And with fear.
Soren reappeared at last, standing before the icy tomb.
He regarded Killian's bloodied, frostbitten face through the translucent ice as though inspecting a curious relic in a museum.
"Not bad…"
"But you're still too weak to be interesting."
"…"
"…"
"…"
From the sidelines.
Tony, Pepper, and the President had watched it all. It wasn't a battle.
A dismantling of an arrogant man's defiance.
Extremis soldiers lay scattered around them, either dead or frozen in place, their earlier fury turned to horror. None of them dared approach now.
Their leader, the invincible Aldrich Killian, was... And no one wanted to test Soren patience.
Tony spat blood and shook his head. "Well… remind me to never, ever piss that guy off."
"Tony… he's a monster."
"He's a monster… on our side." The President nodded slowly.
Soren didn't even look back.
He had made no promises to SHIELD or the military to clean up the 'terrorists.' His deal was clear, rescue the President, and nothing more.
The rest… were beneath his notice.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Fellow Phantoms and aspiring Phantoms to be, if you seek to access advanced parts of this story procced to my shadowy realm of p@treon.
PhantomDream