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dayfalwastaken · 8 months

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Iron Bleeds Golden, Extremis - Iron Man Fanfic Preview.

“…Yeah… Yeah. No, good job. I owe you dinner. That Greek place with the belly dancer you like.” He waited for the ecstatic thanks on the other side of the phone before speaking once more. “Send it all over. Nice work.” Tony said as casually as he could in spite of what he’d just heard.

This job never gets easier.

He ended the call and paused for a second, looking quietly at the door in front of him. Maya was no doubt staring daggers into his back, her anxiety almost palpable throughout the plane’s cabin. If he hadn’t known her better, he would’ve sworn she was on the verge of a breakdown.

Tony inserted the eight-digit password into the door lock and opened it, then turned around to face Maya. He kept his mouth neutral for what he was about to tell her, not wanting to raise her distress further. Years of practice ensured his voice didn’t tremble. He had been doing this for a long while now, but being the one to deliver the bad news was always painful no matter what.

“My guy hacked your dead boss’ files. He gave Extremis to a group of militiamen local to you. Domestic terrorists.” She gasped softly, and Tony had to stop himself from placing a hand on her shoulder. “I have to make some calls.”

Her expression said it all. A hopeless glimmer in her eyes that swiftly betrayed the tough front she attempted to put up. She broke down right after, burying her head in her palms, tears beginning to spill. Tony didn’t blame her.

He wished he could’ve stayed there to comfort her. Tell her it’d be okay, that this would all be over soon, but he lacked the precious luxury of time, and he had a responsibility to uphold.

He walked into the tail end of the plane and closed the door behind him. Noticing his presence, the transparent screen in front of him lit up, permeating the small room in a dim blueish hue. Entering a special combination on his Stark Phone, he tuned in to a secure frequency and brought the device to his ear.

“Avengers intermediary channel. Priority A-1. Iron Man.”

A profile picture of himself popped up in the upper left corner, sporting a wall of text about his current location and so on right under it. To the right, a scan outlining his armor appeared, along with a vertical progress bar near it that was already starting to fill up. The word “Power” sat at the top. Beneath it all was another bar, this one numbering the loading time for each suit section, as briefly detailed by the \Sequence Activated plastered onto it.

“Information regarding attack on F.B.I Station, Huston. Forward to all relevant law enforcement entities.”

REMOTE WARM-UP AND DIAGNOSTICS, he read unconsciously.

Main Power Supply – Arc Reactor “STARTUP CYCLE” mode Engaged

A white line connected to the centre of the chest piece, highlighting the entire area.

\Capacitors Pending:

Unibeam… 100%

Chiming rang out upon the charging sequence’s completion. It was plenty effective at bringing Tony out of his thoughts, in particular those about the fifty burned bodies he had seen just twenty minutes ago.

“Upload of related files to follow two minutes behind this message.” He took a seat in the small chair, tapping on the table impatiently. The armor’s gloves were selected next, their progress visible on the bar bellow. They finished charging before he ever got the chance to finish his sentence. The tracker moved on to the next part.

Boot Jets… 100%

Electro-Hydraulic Exoskeleton… 100%

Multifaceted Pilot Interface… 100%

“Perpetrator is in superhuman aspect, possibly suffering side-effects of process.”

Main Circuits… 100%

Life Support, Medical Treatment Override… 100%

Magnetic Field Generators… 100%

Dampeners… 100%

“Perpetrator and associates likely to be in transit from Huston to Bastrop at this time.”

Auxiliary Power Supply… 100%

Munitions [Secondary]… 100%

Control Surfaces… 100%

Secondary, Tertiary Systems… 100%

\Capacitors Charged.

“Details of superhuman aspect pending.”

Onboard Assistant A.I Loaded

Full Diagnostic Scan – All systems “OK”

Main Power Supply – Arc Reactor “POWER SAFE” mode Engaged

Backup Nuclear Battery – Radioactive Isotope “PRIMED” for Decay

\Sequence Finalized.

Variable Threat Response Battle Suit “Iron Man”, model 25, codename [Liaison] – Online & Ready

“Iron Man is available for intercept and engagement.”

The screen cleared save for the armor hologram, which had stopped spinning and was reimposed in the middle, clicking repeatedly to draw his attention. Tony closed his phone and crossed his arms, leaning forward to stare into ole Shellhead’s newest incarnation. Field tested and deployed, that was… And yet he wasn’t satisfied. There was still so much to be improved, just at a glance Tony could see where he had gone “wrong”, even though thinking that was a lie by this point in his career. If he had truly made mistakes in the design process, he would’ve died long ago, and Iron Man wouldn’t have made it to the history books.

Nothing was wrong with the armor per se, he simply couldn’t help not accepting his achievements. Tony supposed that was in part the greed talking, but that’s just how he worked.

He’d make an armor, think it was revolutionary, take it on a test ride and be thoroughly impressed with it, then the next day be disappointed and begin working on the next instalment. It was like an itch- an addiction, always bugging him to keep tinkering, to keep improving. Because that’s what he did, and staying atop the competition was his whole deal.

What competition, the PR department would remind him to say. Well, at least they had a good reason for doing that. The phrase had become the most successful marketing slogan in his company’s history.

The point being; he always needed to wear the best version of the suit, otherwise it wouldn’t feel the same. However, when one went by the name Tony Stark “best” was a relative term. It was temporary, meaning he’d never truly be satisfied with any iteration of the Iron Man, no matter how far ahead of the modern world it’d be.

Which in reality was a weird metacommentary on his own person as well as his metal persona, but the distinction between those two he still hoped to blur. If he bled the best parts of one into the other… There was no telling how much good he could achieve. Really, Tony was the only thing holding himself back. Tony kept himself from being enough.

And what a depressing little thought that was…

Pillinger’s interview echoed through his head. He had asked the man if he had changed anything, if he was certain his journalism had improved anybody’s life over the years, even by a small margin, but truthfully speaking, Tony had asked himself that.

It haunted him that he didn’t know. He should, he knew more than most people ever would in their lifetimes, but regarding this matter he just… didn’t.

…And all he wanted was to help. To not be that Ghost of the Twentieth Century. To not leave behind a legacy of corpses, all piled atop the nigh infinite cache of Stark brand weapons hidden in the grounds of war ridden countries. Whether to make up for what he had done, or out of a genuine desire to aid others- the answer eluded him. Some days it was crystal clear, others he had his doubts for a majority of the time. But he knew he wanted to be more than what he had been.

Perhaps a… beacon like Steve? Tony half chuckled internally, dismissing the idea. That was a nice fantasy, wasn’t it? For people to look up to the skies and see a red and gold knight descending from high above, knowing then and there that everything would be okay. Those were the types of dreams he used to have in his childhood, back when he’d spend his afternoons playing with medieval knights in shining armor. Slaying dragons, helping the people and many such adventures.

Life had a funny way of coming full circle. What he’d imagined so long ago had become true to some capacity, but, well... Things could be better. Or maybe that was the ungrateful perfectionist in him talking, never content with the present.

Again he would have to brandish his sword, a regular practice these days, and make sure more people lived than they died. Somehow the prospect of helping people to continue on living made the sacrifices worth it. A small blessing if he’d ever seen one.

Tony caught his reflection in the glass and narrowed his eyes. The sight was identical to the one he saw in the morning every single day, but for the moment it didn’t bother him. The more he looked, the less he felt the need to turn away.

“Oh, now you can look at me.”

o0o

He had cut off his main propulsion as soon as he’d hit about 60 miles up, entering a controlled orbit right on the edge of the mesosphere. Sadly, He couldn’t appreciate the beauty of seeing the Earth’s curvature, as he could only stay there for exactly one minute before having to fly black down. Any more and the Earth’s rotation would lengthen his trip instead of shortening it.

“…Since the station burned to the ground, there’s no security footage I could ask for.” Tony thought out loud. “And anyone who did have access to it is either dead or injured. Give me a summary of his powers from publicized witness reports. I’d like to know what we’re dealing with.” He ordered the suit.

Processing data… Main powers include standard super-soldier enhancements. Quote: “The guards were shooting at him but he was too fast for them. You could barely see him. Some got lucky and managed to nail him but he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Anyone that didn’t get out in time was torn apart or burned alive.”. Statements indicate suspect is also capable of fire breathing.

“Yeah, I gathered as much.” Tony tried not to associate what he’d heard with the pictures he had seen, but the images had already been carved into his head. He was reminded of the man whose face had been burnt off almost down to the bone. Poor bastard. “…Go on.”

Low to average imperviousness. Subsonic movement, possibly higher. Unclear if strength is a result of speed. Nature of “Extremis” compound raises the potential for further developments. Prolonged fight is ill-suited. Threat level five but remains unknown. Moderate caution advised.

Tony hummed, keeping his gaze on the countless stars hanging above. Having the armor speak to him had proven to be a good way of sorting through his thoughts. Things got messy if he talked to himself all the time.

Use his enhanced senses against him. Hit him hard and do it fast. Attempt a quick knockout or restrain him when his guard is down.

He cursed himself for not having asked Maya to explain what other stuff Extremis could do. Improving the human body was only half the equation. She’d been pretty adamant about the fact her serum wasn’t your typical Erskine rip-off. And, well, Tony could imagine the consequences… A biological compiler that could rewrite the brain to improve the body was a horrifying concept. Erskine’s serum bettered what was there to begin with, but Extremis imposed those changes, and could be made to do literally anything… What if those changes occurred during the heat of battle, or after a prolonged period of time? It’d make someone super adaptable to any environment.

What if the guy who had taken Extremis would grow more dangerous by the hour? What if he developed more powers, or cancerous mutations, or biohazardous side effects? If Extremis was still in the prototype phase, what stopped an error from forcing the brain to keep editing the body?

The guy was a walking timebomb. Every second spent out in the open could mean a potential epidemic, or worse. If he felt threatened, his brain could make him secrete poisonous gas to kill people around him and so on. The possibilities were endless…

…Okay, maybe he was being a bit too paranoid and didn’t trust Maya’s work, but how could he take any chances? He knew better than most what happened when people attempted to play God with human biology. These days the examples of such endeavours were visible at every corner.

The alert sound of his HUD’s timer snapped him back to reality.

One minute has been reached. Orbital repositioning successful. Execute re-entry manoeuvres.

And Tony did just that. He began by angling himself head first toward the ground and raised his hands to shield his helmet. Once in the proper position, he fired off into a nosedive without so much as a warning. Clocking in at Mach 6, he passed through the high-altitude clouds before the suit could even ignite into flames.

When the fires of re-entry did engulf him however, the heat was dispersed across the armor’s surface, plates further negating the melting temperatures. Tony was kept nice and cool beneath the metal, and as that was happening, the excess energy was syphoned into an afterburner for added thrust.

At the speed he was going, the ETA to Bastrop was two minutes on the dot.

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