After seeing the wreckage of his once-pristine laboratory, Tony Stark finally gave up on keeping things tidy. With a curse, he took to the air and began raining down repulsor blasts from above, forcing Marcus into a constant defensive retreat. The ten-meter gap between them became an impassable gulf — Tony's altitude turning him into a god of war descending from the heavens.
[Remaining Bio-Energy: 50%]
Marcus's energy reserves were plummeting under the relentless barrage. Every pulse blast drained more of his strength, forcing him to divert what remained into defense. He had no way to threaten Tony while the billionaire soared beyond his reach. Even if Marcus leaped, he lacked the aerial control to match Iron Man in the air. He'd be nothing more than target practice — a sitting duck under a rain of light.
"You really plan to hide up there like a coward?" Marcus shouted, his voice echoing through the smoke and fire. "Afraid to face me on the ground?"
Tony laughed through the comms, his tone dripping with mockery. "What, you think I'm an idiot? Why should I give up my advantage just to play fair? If I can wear you down from up here, then that's exactly what I'm going to do."
He adjusted his altitude slightly, floating higher. "And don't worry about me running out of power, kid — I can keep this up all day."
Marcus grit his teeth, frustration burning in his chest. 'You weren't like this in the movies!' he thought bitterly. 'Back there, you'd throw yourself straight into close combat just for the drama! When did your IQ finally kick in, Stark?'
Indeed, every cinematic Iron Man fight always involved Tony charging headfirst into melee — punching, grappling, brawling — despite having the most advanced ranged arsenal in existence. But in truth, Iron Man's armor was designed for long-range engagement. Its flight systems and energy weapons made it a superior mid-to-long-range combat platform, not a brawler.
And now that Tony was actually fighting smart for once, he was proving maddeningly difficult to handle.
"Beep—"
A sharp mechanical tone cut through the air. Two small compartments unfolded from Tony's shoulders, revealing twin micro missile pods.
In the next instant, six miniature rockets shot out, leaving twisting white trails as they spiraled toward Marcus.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The explosions came in a devastating chain reaction, shaking the entire lab. Though the missiles were small, their payloads were anything but. Fire swallowed Marcus whole, then hurled him backward like a ragdoll into the reinforced wall, leaving a crater half a meter deep.
"Khak!"
Marcus spat out a spray of blood, the crimson mist splattering across the floor like blooming roses. He had managed to soften the impact by turning sections of his body into slick metal just before the missiles hit — redirecting some of the force and preventing a direct detonation. Even so, the concussive blast shredded his insides. Chunks of tissue mixed with blood dripped from his mouth as he struggled to breathe.
High above, Tony hovered like a divine being, gazing down at him with all the superiority of a god addressing a mortal.
"Now you understand, kid," he said proudly, his voice echoing through the steel chamber. "No matter what powers you've got, you're still just a man. And I—"
Tony spread his arms wide, light from his thrusters bathing him in a golden glow.
"—am invincible!"
Marcus wiped the blood from his lips, smirking faintly. "You sound just like the fools who once burned forests during the Industrial Revolution — thinking they'd conquered nature. Arrogant. Ignorant."
"I can assure you, 'ignorant' doesn't apply to me," Tony shot back, "though it fits you perfectly."
Before the words had even faded, another blinding repulsor blast ripped through the air toward Marcus.
The glow filled the room — merciless, searing. Marcus knew that continuing to block with his own energy was suicide. His reserves were dwindling fast. So, instead, he kicked up a large steel panel from the debris, caught it midair, and braced it in front of him.
Zzzzz!
The beam struck the makeshift shield, molten sparks bursting outward in a rain of fire. But when the light finally faded, Tony froze. The steel plate hadn't vaporized as expected — only dented and scorched.
"What the hell—?" Tony murmured, squinting.
Marcus looked down at his trembling hands, then back up with a defiant grin. "Recognize it? It's your Mark VI prototype chest plate."
"What—?!" Tony's composure faltered.
He quickly checked the energy readouts — it was true. Marcus must've scavenged the armor piece during the chaos. The irony was painful: Stark's own invention was now being used against him.
"That's mine, kid!" Tony barked, leveling both repulsors. "I didn't want to destroy it — but if you insist, I'll bury you with it!"
"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. interjected smoothly, "that prototype chest plate is made using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s imitation Adamantium composite. Its value is… considerable."
Tony's reply came out sharp and dismissive. "There's nothing on Earth I can't afford!"
Missiles and laser fire erupted simultaneously. The explosions consumed Marcus once more, the sheer shockwave forcing him deeper into the wall. The chest plate in his grasp glowed white-hot, warping violently as the metal shrieked under the strain.
Crack—!
The Mark VI chest plate finally gave out, shattering into a thousand molten fragments that scattered across the floor like falling stars.
Marcus was once again left completely exposed to the heavens' fury.
Between repulsor volleys, Tony took the brief cooldown period to sneer down at him. "What now, kid? Any more clever tricks left?"
Marcus coughed, the corners of his mouth curling upward. "No," he said hoarsely, "I'm out of ideas."
"Good. Then you should—wait, what?"
Before Tony could finish his taunt, a sharp chime filled his helmet — then, suddenly, his left-hand thruster sputtered and went dead.
"What the—"
A split second later, the right thruster followed. Then the left boot. Then the right.
All propulsion systems failed at once.
"Because," Marcus said quietly, his eyes gleaming red in the dark, "the idea was already in motion."
Tony plummeted.
He frantically tried to reboot the flight systems midair, but his HUD was a wall of red alerts. No diagnostics, no error codes — just failure across every thruster channel.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.!?" he barked.
"Sir," the AI replied calmly, "you might want to look forward."
Marcus was already there — sprinting across the floor with inhuman speed, the high-frequency blade in his hands burning red-hot, humming with energy.
As Tony hit the ground, the blade came down in a single, perfect arc — a stroke of molten fury aimed straight for the glowing arc reactor in his chest.
The god of technology, the genius of men — had finally fallen from his throne.
The god… had fallen from the heavens.
____
T/N:
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