The Final Battle
A silver car followed by a line of black cars pulled up in the No Parking zone of the Stark Industries Factory. Pepper and Coulson climbed out of the first car, followed by all the other SHIELD agents. Pepper keyed them inside, and in they went in double file.
Tony narrowed his eyes slightly. Worry filling him even though he knew Pepper was fine.
"Section 16," said Pepper as the agents followed her around the large Arc Reactor. "Section 16 - there it is."
Onscreen Pepper went straight up to a yellow door with the words "Section 16" painted in black letters on the lock the words "Authorized Technicians Only" painted under the window in red letters. She swiped her key, but aside from a soft beep, nothing happened. She swiped again, with the same result.
“Time for the super spy equipment Coulson.” Clint grinned at the screen.
Onscreen Pepper turned around in frustration. "My key's not working," she said. "It's not opening the door - oh!" For Coulson had held out his hand behind him and an agent had placed something in it.
"Wow! What's that?" said Pepper. "It's like a little device - it's like a thing that's going to pick the lock?"
“I think it looks more like a bomb.” Rocket commented. Gamora sighed.
“Everything looks like a bomb to you Rocket.”
“That is a valid point.”
“I am Groot.”
“That’s because I can make everything a bomb.” Rocket laughed maniacally causing the Avengers to send him uneasy looks.
Coulson had placed the thing on the lock of the door. "You might want to take a few steps back," he said as it began to beep.
Pepper, Coulson, and the rest of the agents all retreated from the door a few paces and waited. Almost immediately there was a small explosion, and the door fell open.
“Told you.” Rocket smirked proudly at Gamora who rolled her eyes not answering.
Obadiah looked up at the noise, and turned to the Suit, hopping across an aisle to reach it.
“Oh god.” grimaced Peter.
"And here we go," said Pepper.
Inside his workshop, Tony was putting on his own Suit with Rhodey looking on in wonder. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen," he said.
“Ever since then the universe has been proving me wrong.” Rhodey chuckled slightly.
“And Tony has been trying to get ahead of the universe with his constantly advancing armour,” Bruce added smiling. Tony gave him a look of mock offence.
"Not bad, huh?" said onscreen Tony, and then, presumably to JARVIS, "Let's do it."
He aimed a ray from his hand at the nearest of his cars, the one he'd crushed in the fall after his first flight, and sent it flying away from him.
“What do you have against the cars.” groaned Sam mournfully.
Satisfied, onscreen Tony turned back to Rhodey.
"You need me to do anything else?" asked Rhodey.
Tony's mask went down. "Keep the skies clear," he said, and then he powered up and zoomed up through the holes in the ceilings and into the night sky.
“Yeah, the army wouldn’t be very helpful with this if they were trying to blow him out of the air,” Quill confirmed.
"Damn!" said Rhodey, staring up after Tony, and then he turned to look at the Mk II, unpainted but still impressive-looking. "Next time, baby!" he said, and he swung himself into one of Tony's cars and sped away.
“Damn right.” Rhodey grinned appreciatively.
Phil Coulson's face appeared at a window in a door, the other four SHIELD agents following behind with Pepper. He swung the door open, drew a pistol, and went inside very quietly. The others behind him followed suit.
Everyone quickly quietened down. Tension filling the room at the footage.
They were in what must be the heart of Obadiah's workshop, for it was quite dark and there were big tubes and pipes and railings and warning signs everywhere. Pepper was looking around anxiously as they went.
Why couldn’t you have just waited outside? Tony thought miserably.
Then they rounded a bend and came upon the reconstituted Mk 1.
"Looks like you were right," said Coulson. "He was building a Suit."
“I think that is just a smaller version.” Thor grimaced.
"I thought it'd be bigger," said Pepper, and she looked up at a quiet buzzing noise behind her. Two cables which hung from the ceiling had obviously been recently disconnected from something and were still buzzing.
“That isn’t threatening at all.” Shuri rolled her eyes.
The agents split up. Coulson took one agent and they vaulted over the railing next to them to go one way; another agent passed by a computer screen which showed various dangerous-looking upgrades to the Mk I Suit.
“They really shouldn’t be splitting up.” Steve frowned at the screen. The other ex-shield/army agents nodded in agreement.
Coulson and the agent with him continued to make their way forward.
Pepper was alone. She seemed to be following a trail of dangling still-buzzing cables, and she'd come to what was almost a curtain of chains which dangled from the ceiling.
“Shouldn’t agents be with her?” Sam noted. Again they all nodded. Tony glared at the screen, guilt still churning in him.
Pepper started around at a slight noise behind her, but as it was very dark back behind the chains she couldn't see much of anything. She stepped forward to look more closely. There was a clang. A mask lit up at the eyes.
“Oh Shit.”
Something rose up, towering at a colossal height; the viewers only had a brief glimpse of it.
“Holy mother of fuck that is terrifying.”
The glowing eyeholes of the mask saw Pepper, a target marked in red, who screamed and ran. And then, as Pepper came tearing around the corner and the agents turned, they saw it. The Suit was massive, easily ten feet high, and it swept aside anyone that stood in its path. The agents fired uselessly, but of course, could not damage the thing.
“This is the part where you run!” Brunnhilde bellowed at the screen.
Pepper was running for her life through the sector, the great Suit charging after her. An enormous metal claw of a hand lunged forward for her, and just barely missed her.
“Tony where are you…” muttered Natasha softly.
Tony flew through the sky.
"How do you think Mk I's chest piece is going to hold up?" asked Tony of JARVIS.
"The Suit is at forty-eight percent power and failing, sir," said JARVIS. "That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight."
"Keep me posted," said Tony as he sped through the air.
"Pepper?" came Tony's voice on Pepper's cell phone as she ran out of the Stark Industries factory.
"Tony!" she cried. "Tony, are you okay?"
Tony grimaced for what felt like the thousandth time. Thinking of both the tearing out of the Arc Reactor and the fight that was about to happen.
"I'm fine!" said Tony.
"Obadiah, he-he's gone insane!" said Pepper, pausing to talk to him. "He built a Suit-"
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he was always insane,” Rhodey said.
"I know, listen, you'd better get out of there - get out of there right now!"
But the pavement behind Pepper began to suddenly move and swell upward till it cracked and broke, and up from a hole in the asphalt rose the Suit, the gigantic Iron Monger. It stepped out from the hole and towered over Pepper.
“Again, Holy Shit.”
"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Obadiah, his voice amplified and slightly distorted by the Suit.
“Super far away from you, I think.” Quill snarled at the screen.
Pepper backed away with a scream as Obadiah lifted an arm. "Your services are no longer required!" he said, and a barrel of enormous rounds on top of the arm began to spin.
"STANE!"
“Jesus Christ that timing.” Scott breathed.
At the last possible moment, Tony's red-and-gold Mk III had come barreling down out of the heavens and sailed directly into the Iron Monger.
Too big and slow and heavy to react in time, the Iron Monger was knocked backwards out of Stark Industries grounds and onto the busy thoroughfare outside.
Wanda winced sympathetically for the citizens in the vehicles who must have completely lost their shit at the sudden appearance of these two death machines.
Tony sailed into the side of a truck, but Obadiah landed on the street in the middle of an intersection. Cars swerved to avoid the beast of terror, but Obadiah grabbed a car and threw it over his shoulder as it tried to pass.
“Ass.” hissed Brunnhilde. Loki squirmed in his seat next to her. Praying video’s of the Chitauri invading New York wouldn’t be shown.
The other cars began slamming into each other as they skidded away from the chaos, but one minivan with a woman and her children inside it came to a screeching halt right in front of the Iron Monger. They screamed in terror as their mother slammed on the brakes.
“Please no,” begged Scott.
Obadiah clanked to his feet and grabbed the minivan, lifting it into the air above his head.
Everyone let out cries of horror and anger.
"I love this Suit!" cried Obadiah as he turned toward Tony, the minivan full of screaming children dangling from his grasp.
“I hate you in the suit.” Tony snapped back.
"Put them down!" Tony demanded.
"Collateral damage, Tony," said Obadiah, stamping forward.
“The FUCK!” Clint yelled at the screen. “What kind of asshole kills a family and calls it Collateral-fucking-damage!”
"Divert power to chest RT," said Tony to JARVIS, lowering his hands.
The chest piece took a moment to power up before throwing out a blast that sent the Iron Monger flying backwards and made him let go of the minivan.
Tony caught the minivan, but his Suit was not as bulky as Obadiah's. He stood wobbling under the weight of the car as he tried to hold it up.
“Oh thank god.”
"Power reduced to nineteen percent," said JARVIS as Tony struggled to hold up the minivan.
“That… isn’t very good.” Rhodey said worriedly.
“Very astute observation Honeybear.” Tony smiled weakly at his friend.
Tony sank to one knee. The woman slammed on the gas, and the minivan came down on the ground with a thud. It took off down the highway as Tony clung to the hood.
"Lady!" shouted Tony in protest as he began to slide down the hood. "No, no, no, no, no -" The minivan rolled over him as he slid down to the ground.
“Oh my god.” Shuri bit back a snort. Tony rolled his eyes at her.
“Glad to see you’re concerned.”
"Ugh!" grunted Tony as he lifted the back wheels to keep from being crushed. Then he rolled over as he let go, and the minivan sped safely away.
For Obadiah was charging up the street toward Tony with a roar and a jump that took him another ten feet into the air. Just as he reached Tony, a motorcyclist came zooming in between them. Obadiah grabbed the motorcycle and sent Tony flying backwards with it. A nearby bus had skidded to the side of the road, and now its doors opened and frantic passengers began climbing out of it and running away, many of them screaming.
Obadiah ran forward and grabbed Tony, flinging him high into the air. "For thirty years I've been holding you up!" he bellowed. Then he threw Tony back down on the ground and stamped on him with his huge right foot. "I built this company from nothing!" He reached down to pick Tony up with his hand, or claw, again. "Nothing's going to stand in my way!" He hurled Tony into the bus right through the side, which thankfully was now empty. "Least of all you!"
Everyone quietened again. The tension returning at full force. Tony was keeping a carefully blank face.
A large projectile opened from the shoulder of the Iron Monger and aimed itself straight at the ruined bus. It fired an explosive into the bus, which went up in flames with a bang.
The force of the explosion sent Tony sailing up into the air again, and as he came down his flight repulsors came to life. He went from falling to hovering upright in the air in a moment.
"Impressive!" cried Obadiah with a laugh. "You've upgraded your armour! I've made some upgrades of my own!"
And then the Iron Monger lifted off the ground and began to ascend through the air, its flight repulsors using as much force as a small spaceship and letting off about as much smoke.
“Well shit.”
"Sir," said JARVIS. "It appears that his Suit can fly."
“JARVIS definitely got his attitude from you,” Natasha commented carefully. Tony smiled slightly in memory of his old AI.
"Duly noted," said Tony. "Take me to maximum altitude."
"With only fifteen percent power, the odds of reaching that altitude -"
"I know the math!" snapped Tony, looking down as the Iron Monger approached him. "Do it!"
Concerned glances were once again sent Tony’s way and once again. He ignored them.
And JARVIS obeyed. The Mk III took off toward the clouds while the Iron Monger flew up in pursuit after it.
From the lot of the SI factory, Pepper watched worriedly.
For a moment there was a shot of the Iron Monger chasing the Mk II, followed by a view of a military surveillance screen.
“Now isn’t a good time for you to interfere,” Peter muttered, worried for his mentor.
"Sir, you're not going to believe this," said the young private sitting in front of the screen. "That thing is back!"
"Get me, Major Allen," said his superior. "Scramble the jets."
The private picked up the phone by his desk, but a hand came down and prevented him. "Not necessary, people," said Rhodey, looking around the room. "Just a training exercise."
“Told you that excuse is the best,” Tony muttered to an unamused Rhodey.
"Yes, sir," mumbled the young man, staring up at the Colonel and putting down the phone.
Tony sailed up, away from Obadiah, and for a moment it looked as if he might really be getting away. But then the Iron Monger sped up, and for all its bulk began to give real chase.
"Thirteen percent power, sir," said JARVIS.
"Climb!" barked Tony.
"Eleven percent," said JARVIS.
"Keep going!" said Tony.
The Arc Reactor in the middle of the Mk III began to flicker. "Seven percent," said JARVIS.
"Just leave it on the screen," said Tony. "Stop telling me."
The tension increased with every announcement. Shuri, Peter, Rhodey, and Bruce, however, were slightly less tense than the others. Having realised what was happening.
And then Obadiah reached out and grabbed Tony's foot, yanking him down so that Tony's helmet was on a level with his own. He wrapped his other hand around the neck of the Mk III.
"You had a great idea, Tony!" bellowed Obadiah as his helmet crusted with ice. "But my Suit is more advanced in every way!"
“I think you mean more ‘murderous psychopath’ in every way.” sneered Wanda not entirely taking note of the face she had just defended Tony.
But Tony said, "Yeah? How'd you solve the icing problem?"
Realisation hit everyone else and a collective ‘ohhhh’ went through the audience.
"Icing problem?" asked Obadiah as the lights inside his helmet suddenly began to flicker before going out entirely.
"Might want to look into it," said Tony, and he knocked on the top of the helmet with the back of his hand. The Iron Monger began to fall, and great indeed was that fall.
“Take that you piece of shit.” Cheered Quill.
Onscreen Tony hovered where he was, watching the fall of the Iron Monger until JARVIS said "Two percent," and the Suit started sputtering and falling short distances at a time as the flight repulsors went in and out. "We are now running on emergency backup power."
“That justice was short-lived.” Drax noted in his oddly calm voice.
"Whoa!" said Tony as he went down. He managed to land safely on the roof of his factory, falling onto his knees as he did. He climbed to his feet and said, "Potts?"
"Tony!" cried Pepper with a gasp. "Oh, my God, are - are you okay?"
"I'm almost out of power," said Tony, peeling off one glove of the Mk III as he spoke and lifting the visor of his helmet. "I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there -"
But a great clanking thud behind him put a stop to that as the Iron Monger appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
“For Fuck's sake!”
"Nice try!" said Obadiah as Tony whirled around, mask flying back down.
Obadiah aimed a punch at Tony's head. Tony ducked, and flung out his right hand - but his right hand was bare. He glanced at it, distracted just for a moment, and Obadiah dealt him a blow that sent him spinning back through the air.
Everyone was on the edge of their seats in worry. All of them looking terrified for Tony.
Tony landed on hands and knees a few feet away, jumped up, and made a flying leap at Obadiah, punching him with his left hand (which was still gloved). Obadiah caught him by the arm and then grabbed him around the middle of the Suit with both hands. With a growl, he began to squeeze.
"Weapons status," choked Tony as the plates of metal began bending and twisting and little pieces of the Suit popped out behind him.
"Repulsors offline, missiles offline," said JARVIS.
“How the hell did you win.” gaped Scott.
Obadiah smiled inside the helmet as the claws of his Suit slowly destroyed the Mk III.
"Flares!" cried Tony, and though there was not enough power left for a real spurt of fire, there was enough to send a series of sparks at the Iron Monger that made him Obadiah drop Tony as he tried to right his helmet.
"Very clever, Tony," said Obadiah to that individual.
“It’s what I do best,” Tony smirked.
Stephen raised an eyebrow at Tony unamused by his ego. Wong noticed, rolling his eyes at Stephen.
“Like you’re any better.” He whispered to him. Stephen immediately glared at Wong.
Tony, who seemed to have somehow got around a corner while Obadiah wasn't looking, peered cautiously around it as Obadiah clanked around the roof. His screen was cracked but still appeared to be functioning.
"Potts?" he said again, more quietly this time so Obadiah wouldn't hear him.
"Tony!" cried, Pepper.
"This isn't working," whispered Tony. "We're going to have to overload the Reactor and blast the roof."
“Oh.”
"Well, how are you going to do that?" asked Pepper.
"You're going to do it," said Tony. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the bypass button, it's going to fry everything up here."
“You will have to get away really quickly,” commented Bruce.
"Okay," said Pepper, carefully making her way back into the factory, the floor of which was showered with glass (in three-inch pumps, no less). "I'm going in now."
“Why did she choose to do this in heels,” Natasha muttered to herself. Clint heard, looking at her amused.
"Make sure you wait until I'm clear of the roof," said Tony. "I'll buy you some time." And he ducked out of sight as Obadiah came his way.
Inside the factory, Pepper pulled down switch after switch.
“Why are there so many switches.” sighed Steve.
“Well, I doubt they normally want people to blow up the huge glowy thing,” Sam smirked at him. Steve turned slightly pink.
“Fair enough.”
Tony managed to jump up on the back of the Iron Monger. Obadiah growled and tried to turn, but he was too late. Tony, clinging to the neck of the Iron Monger, had just got a glimpse of something in the base of its helmet that JARVIS brought up for a closer look. The words "Weak Point Located" appeared next to the icon.
"This looks important!" said Tony triumphantly, and he gripped the thing with his bare hand and yanked it out. The IronMongers helmet sputtered threateningly, looking like it was about to go out again.
Pepper pushed a row of square, glowing buttons one by one
“Hurry up…” breathed Thor worriedly.
Obadiah tried to reach behind his head for Tony, twisting from side to side. He succeeded before long and threw Tony right onto the glass panes that were directly above the middle of the large Arc Reactor below. Pepper twisted a row of dials.
“Oh shit.” Bruce’s eyes widened in realization. “You stayed on the roof?” Tony shrugged in response looking slightly guilty.
Upon the roof, the chest pieces of the Iron Monger folded back and its helmet opened to allow Obadiah's head to emerge.
"I never had a taste for this sort of thing," said Obadiah, looking down at the Mk III helmet that the viewers had not before noticed he was holding. "But I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the Suit!" He crumbled the helmet to a twisted lump of metal and threw it next to Tony.
“I never would have thought.” Rocket commented sarcastically.
Tony raised his head to look up at Obadiah.
"You finally outdid yourself, Tony!" said Obadiah as the Iron Monger clanked forward. "You made your father proud!"
At the comment about Howard Tony looked down, wincing slightly as memories of his childhood and guilt about their murder fought inside him.
Tony climbed to his feet, no doubt ready to begin another assault, but at that moment Pepper pushed the last buttons and flipped open the cover of a large red one.
"It's ready, Tony," she said. "Get off the roof!" Tony heard her through the crumpled helmet next to him.
“Yes, Tony. Get off the roof.” agreed Bruce. Peter nodded along.
Obadiah smiled at Tony and began shooting out all the glass around Tony's feet. Tony held up his arm, but nothing in it was working. He started to fall as the glass under his feet broke, and he clung to the metal bars for dear life.
The tension was at its peak as the obvious ending to the situation hit everyone.
Pepper screamed as a shower of glass came down on her, for she was now directly under the spot to which Tony was clinging.
Obadiah continued to shoot out all the glass, sending another rain of shards down on the unfortunate Pepper. She looked up and saw Tony dangling many feet above her.
"Tony!" she screamed.
"How ironic, Tony!" cried Obadiah. "Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!"
Tony winced again, guilt flaring up in him once more. Rhodey looked at him worriedly, squeezing his shoulder slightly in comfort.
"Pepper!" bellowed Tony, his eyes fixed on his enemy.
"And now," said Obadiah. "I'm going to kill you with it!”
Obadiah lifted his arm and shot a small missile that exploded at the side of the roof (actually quite a distance from Tony).
"You ripped out my targeting system," said Obadiah, taking another step forward.
“That’s what that was.” Mantis’s eyes widened as she nodded in understanding.
"Time to hit the button!" shouted Tony down at Pepper.
"You told me not to!" wailed Pepper.
“And now I’m telling you to.” Tony breathed.
"Hold still, you little prick," said Obadiah, lifting his arm again. This time the missile bit off a piece of the roof behind Tony - somewhat better, but not much.
“Don’t hold still.”
"Just do it!" shouted Tony.
"You'll die!" howled Pepper.
Steve was drowning in guilt over every thought he had about Tony over the years when he clearly was willing to give his life to save people.
Obadiah took aim again, and this time (though he still didn't hit Tony) the explosion caused Tony to lose hold with his bare hand. "Push it!" he shouted.
Pepper punched the button and raced away from the station as the Reactor came to life and filled the room with charges that could have individually powered a house each. Then it sent a blast of power up to the roof which blasted Tony aside and struck the IronMonger's smaller Reactor. Obadiah gave a cry as the resulting shock sent a bolt of electricity into the heavens, causing a streak of lightning and a clap of thunder.
“That looks horrible.” Wanda’s eyes widened at the bright light of the screen.
But Obadiah was dead before the Suit even began to fall, clanking its way down through the factory into the great Arc Reactor. There was a burst of flame that nearly caught Tony as he rolled away from the hole in the roof.
“Jesus Tony,” Bruce gaped at the screen along with half of the other viewers.
Then, slowly, the air cleared. Tony lay unmoving, the Arc Reactor flickering feebly. "Tony!" came the voice of Pepper, and whether it was an echo of memory or really her voice no one could tell.
Everyone held their breath. Seeming to forget that Tony was in fact, in the room. At that moment they just felt fear for the fallen hero.
The Arc Reactor went out, and the screen went dark.