Iron Agency

March 13, 2017:

The Iron Monger decides to have a talk with Iron Man

Upstate New York, nearby Maria Stark Children's Research Hospital

A road leading to a research hospital for children.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Pepper Potts, Ribbon

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

The world is quickly filling up with threats that are hard to counter. Murders, conspiracies, and powerful individuals practically falling from the sky day by day. And yet, there is still a more ominous threat to the world in the form of the every day illnesses that crush the hopes and dreams of children the world over.

Here in upstate New York, the Maria Stark Children's hospital does all it can to research these grave illnesses, but also, just sometimes, it does the small things too: Like arranging for Iron Man to come to an afternoon meet and greet with kids on the grounds just outside the hospital.

ETA? Well, that all depends on which suit Tony is using. Usually it's just a minute or two, but Jarvis has a warning up already about restricted airspace due to an unknown intermittent contact. Jets circle in the distance, looking for /something/.

If there is one thing that Tony Stark likes to do, its show off. Show off to kids? That makes it even better. Strange contats or no strange contacts he doesn't plan on making them wait very long.

With the new tweaks he's done to the repulsor systems they have to wait even less than usual.

"JARVIS, keep me updated on that contact. Just in case. I don't want to have something sneak up on me at a meet and greet would you?"

"Sir, it would be more prudent to wait until the contact can be determined."

"But think of the kids, JARVIS!"

The VI just sighs. "Yes sir, I shall keep you informed."

"Thanks," Tony has this conversation doing about MACH 2 in the upper atmosphere, then cutting speed to drop down lower and lower, angling towards the cordened off area ready for the landing of Iron Man. The suit he's chosen today? A slightly upgraded version of the good ol' Mk VII. Red and Gold, classic style and colors. Repulsors gleaming like stars as he shoots in for a landing.

The hospital grounds are in sight. Balloons mark the way, and he can even see the kids cheering below as he loses altitude to line up for a landing. It'll be a quarter mile out when Jarvis speaks again.

"Sir, something strange, I am detecting turbulence from a projectile but I do not have a radar contact. It is as if a-SIR!"

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

The sound is a dire cacophony, like a freight train echoing through the mind, and certainly it echoes through the suit as several tons of metal bear down on Iron Man, giving only a slim of warning before a massive hand reaches out for Iron Man's right leg.

"Let's have a talk."

The voice is a borbled, synthesized ire, and immediately the Iron Monger MK II throws on it's repulsor breaks and flings both of them towards the ground - thankfully, far short of the party in Iron Man's honor, or the hospital named for his mother.

"What do you mean turbulance but no rada—-WOAH!"

That would be the sudden apparenace of the Iron Monger MK II coming into his field of view. A massive hand grips his leg and in short order Stark finds his command to land turned into an imeadiate one.

There is a /thunk/ of metal on asphalt as he slams into the unyeilding ground. The shock at least jerks the leg free as he taps his own repulsors to fling himself quickly back to his feet.

"Talk huh?" Tony snaps as he reorients himself. "Seems that you want to talk to a lot of people lately. Right then…" One hand flexes a moment before metal fingers curl into a fist. "…lets talk."

A beatpause.

"By talk I mean kick your metal ass until I find out who is behind that ugly mask of yours." He adds as suddenly he's rushing forwards, repulsors in his hands glowing as he aims a blast towards the Iron Monger's left knee, intending to seperate the limb from the rest of the stolen machine.

The crater the Iron Monger makes when it lands is massive, but Iron Man will have gotten past it, and as it rises to it's full height the great metal creature braces itself for the oncoming attack, the blast of repulsor energy lancing out to impact the Iron Monger's left knee with a solid, direct hit. It is, after all, far to massive to dodge effectively.

That is also why it has upgraded it's armor.

A lattice work appears below the cast iron surface, energy redirected, deflected, and absorbed, leaving only a small scorch where that repulsor lands. Almost as if it had crafted it's shell specifically to thwart Tony Stark and his creations.

A step forward leans the Iron Monger into Iron Man's forward motion, and a sweeping fist whirls in an attempt to knock him off course and towards a rather large tree off to the side of the road they landed on.

In the distance, the children look on, for not more than a hundred yards away, their hero battles a villain! Farther away, jets home in on the battle.

"This is SEATAC 445 to Iron Man, we are monitoring your situation and moving to as-"

Without looking a large cannon pops from the Iron Monger's back to swivel towards those F-22s, hypersonic aluminum rocketing towards each craft with a series of blasts from that rail gun.

The first doesn't stand a chance, becoming a bloom of orange and red on the horizon. The second is hit on the wing, and the pilot ejects before further projectiles rend through it, moving faster than any missile might.

"I prefer we talk alone. As far as who I am, you already know. I am your failures, given a second chance. Your technology, pushed farther than you could ever manage. Which is why I assume you have been /spying/ on me."

Wait, what?!

Tony stands suprised for just long enough for that massive fist to send him flying. The tree helpfully stops his improptu flight as he slams into the trunk. There is a massive crack as the tree starts to teeter ever so disturbingly to the side.

By the time Tony has time to clear his head he can hear the querries over the radio. "Stay back! This isn't something that-"

And then its too late.

"JARVIS get them to set up a perminiter, find me a place to fight this guy without bystanders getting in the crossfire." He snaps out commands as he puts one hand on the leaning tree. His eyes flick to the internal scanners as his mind starts to sort though what happened with the energy lattice.

"Oh my god could you be any more pretentious." He snaps back. "Blah blah blah faliures. You're just some guy who couldn't come up with a better idea so you worked with mine."

His hand scythes to the side, repulsor beam blasting out but not at the Iron Monger. At the tree. Cutting it cleanly before he wraps his arms around it and uses his thrusters to swing it like a massive bat at the damn Iron Monger.

"Sir, there is an abandoned factory park not too far away. It should be clear of people."

"Ideas cannot be owned, Stark. You cannot stop information. I don't begrudge you for sending your minions to see my improvements, but I am surprised that your ego prevented you from upgrading to my specifications. Since they are /bette-/"

The tree impacts with a satisfying crunch of branches that sends the Iron Monger stumbling sidelong. One hand plants. The other rises, and at the center of that hand a repulsor appears, a blast of red-white energy lancing out for the tree to send it exploding into a million burning pieces.

Some of which /almost/ reach the kids party, but already the adults have tried to usher them back towards the hospital.

"Have it your way. I'll split your suit open. Pry you out. /Then/ we'll talk. And if you won't talk, maybe some of your confidants. Stane? Potts? Maybe that new little girl you've taken on as an assistant. Just tell me who's door I should go knocking on."

Tony Stark seems cavalier and unworried about collateral damage to most people. Thats not the case, but thats what it seems like. He notes the distance that shrapnel travels and makes a snap decision.

"They aren't better, just different." He calls out before a tiny little shoulder launcher pops out of the armor and a series of six micro missiles spiral out towards Iron Monger.

Inches from his hull they explode in puffs of dark smoke. Mixed in with a propritary swirl of electronic baffling microparticles.

"Have to catch me first," Taunts Iron Man as he kicks in the repulsors to soar up and away from Iron Monger.

"JARVIS, give me a scanned breakdown of this thing. I need some weakpoints to hit." He adds, keeping his speed /just/ faster than the Monger's projected one. He doesn't want to outrun him, he just wants to lead him away.

He can take the hits, the kids? The hospital? They can't.

The great metal beast staggers again, instrumentation haywire, it's visuals knocked briefly offline. Then it fires repulsors at the ground, kicking up a burst of heat and light that blasts the particles away and allows it's systems to come back online. But not before Iron Man is already in the air.

Leg guards slide down and repulsors whirl as the thrill of battle takes hold, and the suit's operator stares after Tony Stark and his suit, watching as it rockets away. But the thrill dims just a little, just enough.

The first round will just miss Iron Man, a fireball of metal moving at twenty times the speed of sound. "Hold still you little prick."

Again and again, the railgun fires, intent on cracking the Iron Man's defenses and knocking him from the sky. It isn't until the magazine shows empty that the Iron Monger finally blasts off to give chase.

JARVIS will have as hard a time scanning it as he did detecting it on radar, though some of the battle damage - minor damage here and there, reveal more positive radar reflections. Just enough for a positive lock. Clearly, though, Tony is going to be far more agile in the air, even if it seems like The Iron Monger might be able to outrace him as it begins to barrel after his hated foe.

"You never should have allied yourself with SHIELD. They might have found my lab, might have found the improvements I've made on your technology, but they'll betray you soon enough. Just like they so recently betrayed me. It's tragic, really, the wasted genius you have bottled up. Really, it's hard to believe…"

Rockets streak through the sky, weaving through the air, moving clumsily for Iron Man before each of the three break down into another three.

"…that you're the son of Howard Stark."

"Yeah, I tell myself that everyday." Tony returns as he spins in the air. His targeting systems beep a confirmation as he raises both hands and opens fire. Stuttering beams slam into rockets, angled just right to take as many of the multiple warhead munitions out of the equasion. The one that gets though explodes near enough though that the force throws him back and down, sending him tumbling out of the air before he can catch and right himself.

He's lost speed at this point, but at least he's face enough away from most things to not worry too much about about it.

A quick adjustment to one of his repulsors and he snaps his open palm towards Iron Monger. "Yeah yeah, I know it won't work." He says to preempt the mocking thats going to come.

When the repulsor fires though its not a single concentrated blast, its a wide angled cone. Not quite as powerful, but if the prodection is ablative like Tony is suspecting it might be…

…well burning it off should help.

"I'm /much/ more handsome than dad."

The Iron Monger slams to the ground just short of where Tony made his new landfall, and upon seeing his 'new' attack, another repulsor blast, his head tilts just a little. Both metal hands rise to meet the blast, but it surrounds him, and Tony will see the outer layer slowly peel away. Inside the suit, the operator can't help but smile with some amount of pride, a smokey trail in the Iron Monger's wake as he seems to toss something between them.

"I'd imagine after his little accident, most people were more handsome. More /alive/ too. It was an accident, wasn't it? Maybe ask your friends at SHIELD."

Metal cracks and splinters as the repulsor in Iron Man's hand pours it on, the armor beneath the ablative shell on the Iron Monger suit melting just a little. It's signals a turning point that Obadiah cannot abide, and those little spheres he dropped beam to violent, bright light. It's as scrambling as Tony's countermeasure, but not as long lasting - probably much better against strictly organic targets.

When the haze clears, Tony will see the Iron Monger rocketing away, to the north. He will also see a missile lancing through the air and back towards the hospital.

JARVIS chimes in.

"Sir, that is a Hammer Industries IA-45 Deadlock missile. It's implosive core is enough to level the entire structure."

"JARVIS, rework the repulsors according to Jane's new designs." Tony calls as the sees the missle arcing towards the hospital. He won't make it in time to stop it without help. He already can see that.

He doesn't have time to respond to that parting jab about his father as he's already running.

"Sir," JARVIS' voice carries a tone of worry. "Those designs are not tested yet, and rewriting it on the fly could—"

"Spare me the details and do it. This is the field test." Tony snaps as he starts to imput the power system changes.

"Yes sir," A few seconds pass. "Done."

The whine of the windup from the reuplsors reaches a feavor pitch in seconds. The explosive departure leaves scorch marks and craters in the soft earth he was standing on moments before. The ARC reactor glows a briliant blue-white as Tony hurls himself forwards.

The acceleration is fantastic. Over twenty percent faster than what he was doing. The repulsors scream in protest at the sudden power being drawn drectly to them but the pilot ignores the warnings.

The Iron Monger is put out of his mind as he throws himself after that missile. Impossibily he closes with it. He catches up to it, one of the hand repulsors flare out in a puff of smoke as Tony screams along with the weapon of mass destruction.

But he's close enough.

A electric burst of blue-white snaps out once again as an EMP burst from Tony's Suit is directed at the weapon, scrambling circuits, killing detantors as he reaches out to catch the weapon. Direct it away from the school…

…he's going to make this thing land somewhere…

The missile screams in Tony's hands as he directs an EMP into it, and just as his thoughts turn to finding a safe landing area, it seems to disintegrate in his hands. Pieces peel off, it's insides tumble away, until he's left with only what seem to be a shielded, glowing core of some sort.

The explosion is glorious.

It'll sear armor and send Tony for a ride, spinning as his armor rides the wave of repulsor-fueled destruction high above the hospital. From inside, the kids stare up in awe.

"Wow…" says one girl, who is wearing an Iron Man mask.

Just as his sensors clear up, as Jarvis reboots his system from the momentary loss of orientation, he'll see where he is:

About two feet from the ground. Right in the center of that party. A balloon line will snag on his suit, pathetically doing nothing to cushion his fall. The giant 'WELCOME IRON MAN CAKE' does a /little/ more as the Metal Man is sent cratering into it.

"Systems back online sir!" Jarvis chips helpfully. "And you seem to have averted disaster once more, sir. I'm reading no casualties, other than the cake that broke your fall."

If Tony has the presence of mind to look up - he'll see dozens of kids waving from a second floor window of that hospital he just saved.

"Oh."

Thats the compleate responce that Tony can give before everything goes blue-white and fuzzy. He can feel the uncontrolled tumble. He can feel the impact that isn't quite feeling like ground. He can only hope that the few seconds of control he had before the explosion left him with enough time to /not/ hit the hospital.

Then JARVIS reboots and there is a flood of relief.

His sensors return as JARVIS informs him of the tally for this short little brawl and there is a sign of relief.

With a /tink/ of metal the faceplate retracts to give him some air and he raises his cake-covered hand up to peer at it.

Then he, because he is Tony Stark, takes a bit of mushed cake and frosting. A pause. Then he slowly nods.

"I knew it, JARVIS. I really do taste delicious."

JARVIS just sighs as Tony raises that hand and gives the chearing fans a thumbs up.

All in a days work. Right? Right.

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