Watching the two men square off, Pepper suddenly felt a bad premonition crawl up her spine.
She immediately looked for somewhere to hide.
She slipped into the inner room, then peeked out with wide eyes, watching them.
Tony and Vincent faced each other in silence. Neither moved.
Then Tony's voice echoed from inside the armor.
"Nice tricks. Fine, let's see how you plan to 'borrow' something by force."
With that, Tony raised his hand and fired a repulsor blast straight at Vincent.
Vincent lifted a hand as well, but didn't make any other move.
The beam screamed in and landed perfectly in his palm.
Boom.
A violent explosion shook the air, dust and smoke billowing everywhere.
Tony reacted instantly. With a thought, Stark Tower's ventilation system roared to life.
The smoke was ripped away in seconds.
A figure appeared through the clearing haze.
Vincent was still standing there, completely unscathed, smiling at him.
Tony's scalp prickled under that gaze. He raised his arm again and fired two more repulsors.
Blistering heat poured out, swallowing Vincent whole.
The explosions were enormous. The entire tower shuddered.
Boom! Boom!
The shockwave shattered nearby floor to ceiling windows.
Freezing wind blasted in and scattered the smoke again.
"Tony, I'm really just borrowing it," Vincent said patiently. "I'll give it back when I'm done."
He truly didn't want to fight Tony.
First, it was a waste of time, and it would make cooperation harder later.
Second, if he injured Tony by accident, Loki would be invading the city soon. Losing a heavy hitter then would be a real headache.
Tony stared at Vincent, still untouched, disbelief written all over his face.
Those two shots would have rattled even the Hulk, yet this guy didn't so much as lose a thread from his clothes.
What the hell?
Where did this powerhouse crawl out from?
With a body like that, why did he even want an Iron Man suit?
This was like riding a donkey while shopping for a horse.
Tony's temper flared, but the cold air JARVIS released helped force him back into focus.
The standoff returned.
Vincent stood there at ease, thinking about how to convince Tony to hand over a suit.
Then Tony spoke again.
"Hey, buddy. How about we make a bet?"
"A bet?" Vincent looked amused. "Go on."
"If you can take my full power strike and stay standing, you win. But if you can't…" Tony spread his hands. "I don't think I need to explain what happens next."
Vincent agreed without hesitation.
"Give me a second," Tony said, turning away. Mechanical arms extended from the floor and began peeling the armor off him. "I'll switch."
In moments, the suit was removed. Another mechanical arm appeared from nowhere, placing a sleek wristband into Tony's palm.
He slipped it on. His expression looked relaxed, but inside, his mind was dead still.
This was his newest creation.
Mark VII.
Compared to the Mark VI he'd just worn, the improvements were mainly in deployment and assembly, not raw firepower.
Still.
Better than nothing.
Tony lifted the wristband hand and gave a small wave.
A red light pulsed on the band, verification complete.
Immediately, the building filled with the roar of thrusters, circling high above Stark Tower.
Crash. Crash.
Glass shattered.
A red and gold blur shot in through the broken windows, slamming into Tony piece by piece.
Cold mechanical clicks snapped into place.
The suit finished assembling around him.
"We start?" Tony asked.
Vincent made a courteous gesture. "After you."
Tony's gaze sharpened. He stepped his right leg back and settled into a fighting stance.
Hands raised, one high, one low.
Blue energy rippled across the armor like flowing light, then visibly gathered toward his forearms and the arc reactor in his chest.
His gauntlets began to transform. The elbows shifted. Panels realigned.
Then the chest mounted unibeam flared, brilliance swelling.
"Power remaining: fifty percent."
"Power remaining: forty."
"Power remaining: thirty. Sir, are you certain you wish to proceed?"
JARVIS warned him. If he poured everything into one shot, the suit would become scrap afterward, and Vincent could do whatever he pleased.
Tony didn't answer. The energy kept condensing.
"Power remaining: twenty…"
"Power remaining: one. Charging complete."
"Fire," Tony said coldly.
Several beams erupted at once, carrying terrifying heat.
Every last drop of the suit's energy poured into that strike.
The blast swelled to a frightening size. It grazed a nearby pillar, slicing a chunk clean off like butter.
Its power didn't need explanation.
Tony watched with a hard stare, but unease churned in his chest.
He had the strangest feeling this wouldn't do much to the kid across from him.
Was that just paranoia?
As he thought that, Vincent took a step forward.
He drew back his right fist, muscles coiling.
Then he punched.
A Serious Punch.
The air itself was dragged into motion. A brutal pressure wave collided head on with the energy beam.
For a moment, the terrifying blast actually started to collapse, fraying and dispersing.
Tony's eyes widened as his attack wavered on the verge of breaking apart.
The suit's energy was under one percent now.
There was no second shot.
Then something even more horrifying happened.
Vincent pushed harder.
The already unstable beam detonated instantly, exploding outward in a violent bloom.
A massive cloud of smoke erupted.
And from within it, a figure shot forward.
Tony's pupils shrank.
He saw Vincent charging straight at him with a raised fist.
"Holy…" Tony swore, instinctively trying to launch himself backward.
"Insufficient power," JARVIS said flatly.
Tony wanted to slap himself.
Right.
He'd dumped everything into the unibeam.
He had nothing left.
Vincent's fist expanded in his vision.
If that punch could erase his full power strike, smashing his head was nothing.
Regret flooded Tony's chest.
Tony Stark, head of Stark Industries, genius who built Iron Man, playboy who'd seen it all.
And today he was about to get his head caved in by some kid?
What a ridiculous way to go.
Just as the highlight reel of his life was about to start playing, Vincent was already in front of him.
That terrifying fist stopped.
Two fingers flicked Tony lightly on the helmet.
Clang.
A crisp sound rang out, and Tony felt his head jerk back from the impact.
"That's it," Vincent said calmly. "I won. Pay up, Stark."