[Stark Industries. Sector 16.]
"Pepper! Go!"
Agent Coulson fired his pistol at the massive shadow looming in the warehouse, but the bullets sparked harmlessly against the thick, grey plating.
The Iron Monger suit was a beast. It stood ten feet tall, a hulking mass of hydraulic pistons and heavy weaponry. In its center, the stolen Arc Reactor glowed with a blinding white light.
"I'm going!" Pepper screamed, sprinting toward the exit.
CRASH.
The Iron Monger smashed through the catwalk. Obadiah Stane's amplified voice boomed through the facility.
"Where are you going, my dear? We're just celebrating the future!"
He raised a massive gatling gun attached to his arm. The barrels spun.
WHAM.
The ceiling exploded inward.
Debris rained down on the Iron Monger. Through the dust, a smaller, sleek figure in Red and Gold slammed into the giant.
"You want a celebration, Obie?" Tony's voice cut through the noise. "Let's light some candles."
The Mark 3 grapple-hooked onto the Iron Monger's face, dragging the giant backward.
"Tony!" Obadiah laughed. "You're alive! And you brought the prototype. How quaint."
Obadiah reached up, grabbed Tony's leg, and threw him—hard. Tony smashed into a concrete pillar, the impact rattling his teeth.
"Power at 19%," J.A.R.V.I.S. warned. "Sir, the older reactor cannot sustain combat output."
"Route power to the chest piece!" Tony yelled.
He fired a Unibeam blast. It hit the Iron Monger square in the chest, but the giant barely staggered. The Iron Monger's reactor was newer, stronger.
"I love this suit!" Obadiah roared. He engaged his thrusters, launching himself at Tony like a freight train.
The two metal titans crashed through the wall, tumbling out onto the highway. Cars swerved and screeched.
[The Rooftop. 10 Minutes Later.]
The fight was brutal. Tony was losing.
His helmet was cracked, exposing his left eye. His repulsors were flickering. He had tried the "icing" trick by flying high, but his own low power levels meant he froze first. He had barely survived the fall back to the Stark Industries roof.
Now, he lay on the glass roof directly above the giant Arc Reactor building.
THUD.
The Iron Monger landed next to him. The sheer weight cracked the glass beneath them.
"You had a great run, Tony," Obadiah sneered, aiming a missile directly at Tony's face. "But you're just a man in a can. I am the Iron Monger."
Tony tried to move. The servos whined and died.
"Power at 2%," J.A.R.V.I.S. whispered. "Systems failing."
"Well," a calm voice echoed across the rooftop. "This is a precarious position."
Tony's eye snapped open.
Sebastian Michaelis was sitting on the edge of the parapet, legs crossed, watching the fight. He held a pocket watch.
"Thirty minutes," Sebastian noted. "That is how long you lasted. Impressive, for a dying man."
Obadiah spun around. "You! The butler!" He aimed the missile at Sebastian. "I'll deal with you next!"
Sebastian ignored the missile. He looked only at Tony.
"Do you require assistance, Young Master?" Sebastian asked pleasantly. "I can dismantle this toy in three seconds. You only need to ask."
Tony looked at the massive gun pointed at his face. Then he looked at Sebastian.
He remembered the paralysis. He remembered crawling to the elevator. He remembered the betrayal.
"No," Tony spat, blood trickling down his chin.
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"
"This is my mess," Tony gritted his teeth, forcing his arm to move. "This is my company. My monster. You... you just watch."
Sebastian's eyes widened slightly. A slow, terrifyingly genuine smile spread across his face.
"Very well," Sebastian bowed his head. "Show me."
Tony looked at Obadiah. "Hey, Obie!"
Obadiah looked back. "What? Any last words?"
"Yeah," Tony pulled the manual release lever on his flares. "Flare."
A blinding magnesium flare exploded in Obadiah's face sensors.
"ARGH! I can't see!" Obadiah flailed, firing the missile blindly. It missed Sebastian by an inch and blew up a satellite dish.
"PEPPER!" Tony screamed into his comms. "BLOW THE ROOF!"
Inside the control room below, Pepper Potts hesitated. "Tony! You're on the roof!"
"DO IT!"
Pepper slammed the button.
SURGE.
The massive Arc Reactor below the glass overloaded. A column of pure, blue energy—lightning made solid—erupted upward.
Tony, anticipating the blast, rolled off the glass pane just as it shattered.
Obadiah, blinded and heavy, was directly in the center.
"NOOO—"
The energy beam engulfed the Iron Monger. The suit fried instantly. The stolen reactor in its chest destabilized. With a final, metallic groan, the Iron Monger fell backward, plummeting into the fiery heart of the giant reactor below.
BOOM.
The explosion shook the entire building.
Tony lay on the edge of the roof, his suit dead, his body broken. He stared up at the smoke-filled sky.
Silence returned.
Then, the click-clack of dress shoes.
Sebastian stood over him. He looked down at the battered, scorched billionaire.
"You refused my help," Sebastian said softly. "Even when death was certain."
Tony coughed, wincing in pain. "You're fired, by the way."
Sebastian chuckled. He knelt down, picked up Tony's paralyzed arm, and began to drag him away from the edge.
"I am afraid the employment contract is quite binding, Sir. Besides..."
Sebastian looked at the burning wreckage below.
"I believe tonight's dinner was... adequate. You have potential, Young Master. Great, terrible potential."
[The Next Day. The Press Conference.]
Tony stood at the podium. His arm was in a sling. He had a bandage on his forehead.
Sebastian stood in the wings, invisible to the cameras, holding a glass of chlorophyll juice (Tony's new obsession).
Agent Coulson had given Tony a cue card. Just stick to the official story. Bodyguard. Training accident. Robot.
Tony looked at the cue card. He looked at the reporters.
He looked at Sebastian. The demon nodded once, permission to do whatever he wanted.
"There's been some speculation," Tony started, putting the card down. "About what happened last night."
"Mr. Stark!" a reporter shouted. "Can you tell us about the 'Iron Man'?"
Tony paused.
"The truth is..."
Tony smiled.
"I am Iron Man."
Chaos erupted. Flashbulbs went off like a strobe light.
In the shadows, Sebastian Michaelis took a sip of the green juice. He grimaced.
"Disgusting," he whispered. "But entertaining."
[End of Arc 1]
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