Tony gasped as sensation finally returned to his limbs, the paralysis releasing its grip with a surge of pins-and-needles intensity. His hand shot out, grabbing Smith's arm with desperate strength.
"Thank you," Tony said, his voice hoarse but sincere. "You saved my life. Again."
Smith felt satisfaction warm his chest at the acknowledgment. Four times now. Four life-debts that Tony Stark would carry. That kind of obligation was worth more than any payment. "Pepper called me. Said she'd found evidence of Obadiah's crimes, but he caught her in the act."
Tony's expression shifted instantly from gratitude to alarm. "Where's Pepper? Is she safe?"
Smith considered what he remembered of the original timeline. "Probably leading SHIELD agents to arrest Obadiah right now? At the Stark Industries facility, I'd guess."
"SHIELD?" Tony pushed himself upright, testing his legs. "Those bureaucrats couldn't catch a cold. We need to help her."
He remembered Obadiah's parting words about the prototype, about showing Tony what he'd built. Whatever armor Obadiah had constructed, it would be bigger than Tony's, more heavily armed, designed purely for destruction rather than mobility. SHIELD's standard protocols wouldn't be equipped to handle that.
Tony headed for the workshop stairs, his gait still slightly unsteady. "I need to suit up."
Smith followed, then paused at the doorway. "Tony, that reactor in your chest, it's the old model. You should upgrade to a fresh one before engaging in combat."
He gestured vaguely toward where the Mark II had stood. "Last time I was here, there was a new reactor on the Mark II. I didn't see it in the workshop just now."
Smith knew the old reactor's limitations from the film. Tony had nearly lost to Iron Monger because of insufficient power reserves. If they could avoid that weakness...
But Tony shook his head, frustration crossing his features. "That reactor was nearly depleted from Bulma's usage in our fight. I dismantled it for parts."
Smith's hopes deflated. "So you're going into this fight with a handicap."
"It'll have to be enough." Tony's jaw set with determination as mechanical arms began assembling the armor around him. "I'm not letting Obadiah hurt anyone else."
The armor plates clicked into place with practiced precision, the arc reactor's glow illuminating Tony's face through the chest piece before the final plate sealed over it. The faceplate descended with a hydraulic hiss.
"Sir," JARVIS reported through the suit's speakers, "current power reserves at eighty percent."
Tony's synthesized voice carried grim acceptance. "It'll have to do."
He turned to Smith, the armor's eyes glowing with cold light. "Want to race? Let's see who gets there first."
Without waiting for a response, Tony's repulsors flared and he rocketed out of the workshop, through the vehicle tunnel, and into the night sky. The characteristic boom of his acceleration echoed across the water.
Smith watched him go, recognizing the desperation driving Tony's speed. Pepper was in danger, and nothing, not power limitations, not a suboptimal reactor, not overwhelming odds, would keep Tony from protecting her.
Smith launched himself after Tony, ki propelling him through the air in pursuit. Both of them accelerated rapidly, vapor cones forming as they exceeded the speed of sound. To anyone watching from below, they'd see two shooting stars racing across the night sky, leaving contrails of disturbed air in their wake.
At the Stark Industries facility, Pepper's car screeched to a halt near the main exhibition hall. Coulson and his SHIELD team piled out behind her, weapons drawn, moving with the practiced efficiency of trained agents.
"Sector 16," Pepper said, heading for the entrance. "The file designation was Sector 16. It has to be somewhere below the main reactor chamber."
She'd argued for immediate action when she'd first shown Coulson the evidence, but SHIELD protocols had demanded review, authorization, tactical planning. Hours wasted while Obadiah consolidated his position and nearly killed Tony. The bureaucracy had almost cost Tony his life.
They reached a reinforced door marked with security warnings. Pepper swiped her executive access card. The reader blinked red, Access Denied.
"Of course," Pepper muttered. "Obadiah would have locked me out of his secret lab."
Coulson gestured to one of his team members, who approached with a small explosive charge. "Stand back, please."
The charge detonated with a muffled whump, blowing the lock mechanism. The door swung open, revealing a descending stairwell lit by emergency lighting.
They moved down carefully, weapons raised, expecting resistance. But the facility appeared abandoned, equipment humming with automated operation but no personnel visible. At the bottom, the stairwell opened into a massive underground hangar.
And in the center stood Obadiah's masterpiece.
The Iron Monger was enormous, easily twice the height of Tony's armor, built like a walking tank rather than a flying suit. Weapons bristled from every surface: missile pods, machine guns, what looked like a flamethrower attachment. The arc reactor in its chest, Tony's stolen reactor, glowed with cold blue light.
Pepper's blood ran cold. This wasn't defensive technology. This was a weapon of war.
Motion caught her eye, the Iron Monger's head swiveled toward their position, targeting sensors locking on. Through the armored cockpit, she could just make out Obadiah's face behind reinforced glass, twisted with malicious satisfaction.
"Run!" Pepper screamed, already turning.
The SHIELD agents opened fire immediately, training overriding self-preservation. Pistol rounds sparked harmlessly off the Iron Monger's armor, leaving no mark on the military-grade plating. One agent tried a shotgun blast at close range, the pellets ricocheted without effect.
Obadiah's amplified laugh echoed through the hangar. "Did you really think that would work?"
The Iron Monger moved with surprising speed for its bulk, one massive arm sweeping out. The impact sent the nearest agent flying, his body crumpling against the far wall with sickening force. Another agent tried to dodge, too slow. Obadiah's follow-up punch caught him squarely, and Pepper looked away before she could see the result.
She ran.
Behind her, gunfire continued briefly, then stopped. Screams cut off abruptly. The heavy footsteps of the Iron Monger echoed through the underground facility, growing more distant as Pepper reached the stairs.
She burst out into the exhibition hall, gasping for breath, and kept running toward the exit. Her phone rang, she fumbled it out while still moving, nearly dropping it.
Tony's name on the caller ID.
"Tony!" she answered, pressing the phone to her ear. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." His voice carried immense relief. "Smith found me in time. Pepper, you saved my life, you and Smith both."
"Tony, Obadiah, he's gone insane, he built this enormous, "
"I know. Listen to me carefully, you need to leave. Right now. Get as far away from that facility as possible."
Pepper was still running, the exit doors visible ahead. "I'm trying, "
The ground beneath her feet erupted.
The Iron Monger burst through reinforced concrete like it was cardboard, emerging in a shower of debris and dust. Pepper stumbled, fell, scrambled backward across the floor.
Obadiah's voice boomed from the armor's speakers. "Where do you think you're going?"
The Iron Monger's arm rose, the integrated machine gun spinning up with a mechanical whine. Pepper saw her death in that rotating barrel, saw her life about to end in a hail of bullets,
WHAM.
Something red and gold slammed into the Iron Monger at Mach 3, the impact like a freight train hitting a wall. Tony's Mark III drove Obadiah backward, their combined momentum carrying them out of the facility and onto the street beyond.
They crashed through the facility's perimeter fence and into active traffic. Cars swerved wildly, drivers slamming on brakes or accelerating in panic. A multi-vehicle pileup formed instantly, metal crunching as sedans and SUVs collided in chain reaction.
Pedestrians fled screaming. Some pulled out phones, recording video of the two armored figures grappling in the middle of the street. Within minutes, this footage would be everywhere, social media, news networks, conspiracy forums. The world would know that powered armor existed.
The Iron Monger recovered first, its greater mass providing stability. Obadiah grabbed a nearby sedan, a family vehicle with a terrified mother and child inside, and lifted it overhead like a club.
"I love this suit!" Obadiah roared, triumph and madness mixing in his voice.
Tony's external speakers amplified his response. "Put them down. Now."
"You're finished, Tony. You and your idealistic nonsense about responsibility and accountability. This is the real world, power is all that matters."
Obadiah prepared to throw the car like a missile. Inside, the child screamed.
"JARVIS," Tony commanded, "maximum power to uni-beam. Now."
"Sir, that will drain, "
"Do it!"
The arc reactor in Tony's chest blazed brilliant white. Energy channeled through the armor's systems, accumulating in the central emitter. Then the uni-beam fired, a lance of concentrated destruction that struck the Iron Monger dead center.
Obadiah flew backward from the impact, the stolen car tumbling from his grip. Tony was already moving, repulsors firing to intercept the falling vehicle. He caught it mid-fall, arms spread wide to distribute the weight, and guided it gently to the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~