Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 2

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 2

Chapter 1: Sunset

Clicking her fingernails on her right hand repeatedly against the tabletop, the woman patiently

waited. She was sitting alone at a gorgeous, Brazilian mahogany table in an elaborate meeting room,

with one of the walls being formed of a gigantic glass window. The transparent wall allowed her to see

a stunning alpine landscape, composed of numerous frosty mountains and a seemingly endless blanket

of trees. It was a landscape that she knew quite well, having studied it many times during her tenure at

the installation she was currently inside.

The woman's facial features instantly gave away her Chinese heritage. She knew that she would

generally be considered classically beautiful, by most standards. Lacking any major natural blemishes,

her skin was as clear as the most crystalline bodies of water. Her brown eyes were highlighted by

elongated eyelashes and a deep, glittered lavender eyeliner. Supple, moisture-laden lips adorned her

mouth, carefully painted with the same fuchsia tone as her stringently manicured fingernails.

Matching the shade of her eyes, her hair was medium length, parted on the right side with left

swept bangs and pulled back into a partial bun. She was wearing an elegant, knee-length, mandarin

collared, bottle green cheongsam dress, with a variety of colourful floral and butterfly designs

illustrated on it. The silk dress perfectly showcased her slender figure. Framing both sides of her face

were four-centimetre wide, golden hexagon earrings.

Letting out a sigh, she continued to click her fingernails as she waited for Killian to arrive.

* * * *

A tiny bell rung as the door opened and then closed behind them.

“Be out in a moment!”

The shopkeeper bustled out of the backroom, and saw that two customers had entered his store:

a mother and her six year old daughter. They were wearing matching dresses, and the family

resemblance was almost astonishing. The man smiled at the mother, who took off her sunglasses to

look at him. His name tag read 'Aidan'.

“Hello, hello, welcome, welcome!” blurted Aidan. “And what might we be looking for today?

New or upkeep?”

“New,” said the mother.

“Good, good! Splendid!”

Aidan's gaze flitted over to the daughter, who seemed to be intently taking stock of everything

in the room.

“Is she looking for anything specific?”

“No,” said the mother, a sullen look in her eyes.

She then glanced back at her daughter before leaning closer to Aidan.

“She has trouble making friends,” whispered the mother. “Doesn't talk to the other kids. It's

been this way ever since she started school. We're getting worried. Father and I agreed she needed

something to keep her company.”

Aidan nodded in understanding.

“Right, right. Okay. Okay. I get it. Yeah. We'll take care of it. Make sure she finds something

she likes.”

“Thank you.”

Aidan turned to the girl, who was staring down the aisle where the majority of the cages were.

He stepped out from behind the counter and smiled warmly at her.

“Ah, enraptured already, yes? Yes. All manner of wonderful pets here!”

The girl did not turn or respond in any way. Flustered, the mother called out to her.

“Sunset!”

Groaning, Sunset turned to acknowledge Aidan, who awkwardly laughed off her rudeness.

“So, your mother tells me that you're looking for a new friend. We have all sorts here! Come

along now, let's see if we can find the right one for you.”

Sunset glared at Aidan with disdain for a moment before shaking her head and turning to walk

down the aisle, huffing as she went. Either from obliviousness or tolerance, Aidan continued to ignore

Sunset's obvious contempt. He lead her down the main aisle of the store, showing off the numerous

animals in their cages.

Sunset's eyes glazed over as they walked from cage to cage. Dogs barked at her. Cats hissed at

her. Birds met her stare for a few seconds before returning to their own little worlds. Lizards and turtles

seemed to pay her no mind, milling about within their confinements. As they reached the end of the

aisle, Aidan looked back down at her.

“See anything you like?”

Sunset turned around to look at her mother, who was standing at the front of the store and had a

pleading face on. Sunset then turned back around and looked at the fish tank at the back end. She raised

her finger and pointed at some of the fish darting around the tank.

“That one.”

Aidan glanced at Sunset's mother, who was rubbing one of her hands against her forehead,

clearly distressed.

* * * *

Sitting alone at her desk in her dormitory room, Sunset was scribbling a large series of

equations inside of her personal journal. The room itself was spotless, her bed meticulously made, with

everything else organized and cleaned to an obsessive degree. The only things on her desk were her

personal computer, a circular metal mesh pen container, and her small fish tank. The only things on the

walls were a personal calendar with various floral arrangements as the monthly images, and a

Massachusetts Institute of Technology logo poster.

Sunset was trying to focus on her equation work, but was repeatedly distracted by the noise

coming from down the hall. Fuming to herself, she tried to continue writing but was put off by another

intense boom of music. Rolling her eyes, she looked over at her fish, who blew out a bubble in retort.

Tossing her pen into the mesh container and slapping her journal down on her desk, Sunset stood up

and exited her room.

The music naturally got louder as she walked down the hall towards the source. She arrived in a

large residence hall stuffed with people, engaged in various, frivolous party-like activities that Sunset

couldn't quite understand. Surveying the crowd, she saw several faces that were vaguely familiar, but

no one that she knew very well.

Biting the inside of her lip, Sunset started walking amongst the crowd of people, an unseen

intruder who phased through the celebration like a ghost. She continued on for a few moments before

stumbling into a girl with a salmon-coloured shirt and long black hair.

“Ugh . . . . pardon me.”

The girl turned around to look at her.

“No . . . . pardon me,” the girl said, her voice husky and enticing. “Hey.”

Sunset was standing still as the girl continued to dance, looking at her with mildly-drunken glee.

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the girl's wanton friendliness.

“Hey,” Sunset flatly responded.

“How's it going?”

“Well enough.”

“Seem familiar,” said the girl. “Met before?”

“Not really.”

“Good. Was hoping to introduce myself,” said the girl, taking a moment to run her eyes up and

down Sunset's slender figure. “Tasha Stark.”

“I'm aware.”

“So how about you? Got a name? Or am I just gonna have to call you Green on account of that

gorgeous dress?”

Sunset took a moment to exhale before responding.

“Sunset Bain.”

“Ooh. Nice. I like it.”

Tasha whipped her hair side to side at a particularly beat-heavy part of the song. She then

grinned at Sunset with desire in her eyes as she continued to dance in a seductive manner.

“Don't feel like dancing?”

“Not really.”

“Awh, come on, term's over! Everybody's gotta let off some steam sometime. Come on, I'll get

you a drink. What do you like?”

Sunset folded her arms.

“Are you . . . . trying to pick me up?”

Tasha giggled.

“Caught me,” she replied, licking her lips. “Don't tell my boyfriend. Or my girlfriend.”

Sunset's eyes widened, clearly startled.

“Come on, I'm kidding!” laughed Tasha. “Just tryin' to get ya to laugh. Don't have to do

anything you don't want to. Just a friendly girl.”

Tasha's shirt clung to her skin via the sweat that was building up from the atmosphere of the

party. She closed her eyes and pulled off a few dance moves. Sunset caught herself mesmerized by the

movements of Tasha's breasts for a brief second before shaking her head and looking back up at her

face.

“Besides,” continued Tasha, opening her eyes, “I would regret it in the morning if I didn't try.

Granted, might regret it in the morning if I do, so, might as well just do what I want.”

“I see.”

Tasha held out her hand.

“Come on. Dance with me. Can't hurt, right? Maybe tonight's the night you come out of that

shell of yours.”

Sunset looked down at Tasha's hand as she considered the offer.

“Ready for your date with destiny?” asked Tasha.

Sunset gulped, running the fingers on her left hand through the hair over her ear. She made a

slight gesture as if she was going to take Tasha's hand, but pulled back at the last moment.

“I . . . . I'm, I'm sorry.”

Tasha withdrew her hand.

“Eh, it's alright. No problem, Green. Maybe next time. And hey . . . .”

Tasha reached into her pocket, pulling out a small beer pong ball. She tossed it at Sunset, who

awkwardly caught it.

“Something to remember me by,” said Tasha, winking.

Tasha then danced her way back into the crowd and out of sight. Sunset held the ping pong ball

in her right hand, studying it for a long time before returning to her room.

* * * *

The next day, Sunset walked towards the graduate studies office on campus. It was early

morning, and she knew that the results had been posted outside the main foyer. She strolled with

uncertainty but also hope, and she was holding the ping pong ball in her right hand.

Only a couple students were already there. Sunset had made a point of waking up extra early to

get to the results before the inevitable rush. Clutching the ping pong ball, she walked up to and looked

at the board.

HIGHEST ACADEMIC RESULTS – GRADUATE STUDIES

1. TASHA STARK

2. SUNSET BAIN

Sunset didn't bother looking further down the list. Nothing else mattered. Her heart sinking in

her chest, her feelings of shock and sadness quickly turned to resentment, as she crushed the ping pong

ball in her hand. She then tossed it to the floor and stormed away from the building.

She repeatedly ran her fingernails across her scalp in frustration as she walked down the

sidewalk. Stopping near the curb to the street, she breathed in and out several times as the reality of her

situation sunk in. For several minutes, she stood still, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes closed,

and her head facing downwards. She couldn't hear anything that was happening around her, until one

specific phrase was uttered.

“Miss Bain?”

Sunset's eyes darted open, and she turned around to look behind her. Standing next to a

limousine was a handsome, blonde man with slicked hair and a strong jaw line. He was wearing an

impeccable beige suit.

“Excuse me, Sunset Bain, if I'm not mistaken?”

Sunset blinked several times.

“Y-Yes.”

The man smiled at her, stepping forward.

“Good morning,” he said. “My name is Aldrich Killian. I represent a technological think tank

named Advanced Idea Mechanics.”

Killian took a card out of his breast pocket and held it out to her. She took the card and looked

at the logo for the company.

“We've had our eye on you and your work since you entered MiT. I was hoping that we could

talk. You're a brilliant mind, Miss Bain, and we'd love to have you on our team. So . . . .”

Killian held out his hand.

“Interested?”

Sunset looked up from the card. She glanced back at the graduate studies building for a moment

before returning her gaze to Killian. She then reached out with her free arm and shook his hand.

* * * *

Sunset clicked her fingernails on the tabletop one last time before Killian walked into the room.

She stood up and nodded at him with respect, and he returned the gesture. Ellen Brandt was standing

behind him.

“Miss Bain,” said Killian.

“Mister Killian.”

“Sorry for the delay. I was . . . . otherwise occupied.”

“It's no trouble at all, sir. This way.”

Sunset led Killian and Brandt to the other end of the meeting room. Going through the double

doors, they then arrived in a control room overlooking a sleek and polished factory production floor.

There was a central command console in front of the window to the production floor, and a fish tank

installed in the back wall.

Sunset grabbed a datapad off of the command console and began her presentation.

“After years of studying the Alma Wade files, I've finally managed to develop a working way to

co-opt the mind signals of human subjects. I give you . . . . the Protocol chip.”

Sunset pulled a small blue microchip out of her pocket, holding it in her free hand. It was about

the same size as her earrings.

“Once installed into a subject's brain, it permanently overwrites the subject's ability to think for

themselves, and instead implants a bio-mechanical command signal that can be directly programmed,

creating utterly loyal soldiers who can be fed orders and reprogrammed at will. I introduce . . . . AIM

Risk Control.”

Killian eagerly looked through the window at the production floor. Dozens of individuals were

being fitted with combat gear that completely covered their bodies. The gear had a gold, white and

black colour scheme, with small, red glass visors for sight.

Sunset pressed a button on her datapad, and a display overlay appeared on the window, showing

multiple variants of soldiers, holding assault rifles and shotguns. Killian grinned to himself as Sunset

continued talking.

“Given that we are continuously being sent subjects from our homeless shelters and refugee

camps around the world, I will soon have access to thousands of cheap to produce, easily replaceable

and completely loyal shock troops. Three variants each per gender. For males, we have squad leaders,

assault troops and engineers, with those last ones capable of constructing automatic turrets.”

The display screen then switched to show multiple female soldiers holding sniper rifles, and

other crouching ones holding swords.

“For females, we have snipers, pilots, and, my personal favourite: agile, sword-wielding stealth

operatives that I like to call Wraiths.”

Killian slowly clapped as the display screen turned off. He turned to look at Sunset, who held

her hands and her datapad behind her back.

“Multiple field tests have confirmed that the Protocol chip has a one hundred percent success

rate. They'll be ready for deployment by the end of the week.”

Killian laughed under his breath. Brandt looked at him but did not speak.

“My, my, Miss Bain,” said Killian. “You've done incredibly well. I knew that you would do

great things here with us.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“There are very bright days ahead of us, Miss Bain, and remember . . . . we'll have you to thank

for them.”

Killian and Brandt turned to walked out of the control room via the door they entered. Sunset

accompanied them, but stopped at the meeting room and watched them leave. She then turned to look

out the window again, as the evening sun started to set behind the mountains.

* * * *

“I don't have any other appointments, do I?”

“Not until tomorrow, ma'am,” replied Janice.

“Nice,” said Tasha.

Tasha was standing in the penthouse suite at the top of Stark Tower. Downing what was left in

her champagne glass, she then looked hungrily at the supermodel in her bed. The girl tossed her bra at

Tasha's feet.

“Do enjoy yourself, ma'am.”

“Always do.”

Tasha jumped onto the bed as the evening sun started to set over the Los Angeles skyline.


Chapter 2: Exchange

“Full three-dimensional display.”

“As you wish, ma'am.”

Tasha held out her arms as the blue hologram operating system expanded across the room,

showing display screens, data files and holographic images all around her. Her hands behind her back,

she walked throughout the system, the blue light beams that formed the images receding themselves out

of her path as she moved. For a couple of minutes, she looked around at all of the data she had on

Advanced Idea Mechanics.

“Sure this is all of it?”

“All of the data that I am privy to at this time, ma'am. I must admit, even I am somewhat

perturbed by their elusiveness. Mostly small data caches and internet speculation. I can only surmise

that they are in possession of an incredibly durable electronic security system.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“I am still working on finding more leads as we speak, but I don't know if I'll find any workable

information anytime soon.”

“Keep trying,” said Tasha. “Has to be some way of tracking these guys.”

Tasha approached a hard-light hologram data screen, grabbing it with her palms. She started

twisting it around as she read the information on it, detailing her secret appeal to the United States

government where she claimed that AIM was behind the attack on Stark Tower. Due to lack of

evidence, it was dismissed. She sighed before tossing the data screen away.

Folding her arms and concentrating, she didn't notice Happy walking into the room with a

McDonald's bag. He approached her, but stopped just outside the radius of the hologram system.

“Uh . . . . Tash?”

Tasha perked up and looked at Happy.

“Lunch to order?” said Happy.

Tasha scratched her head for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.

“Oh yeah, thanks,” replied Tasha. “Could use something to munch on. Help me think.”

Happy awkwardly gestured towards the hologram system.

“Uh, will I, uh . . . . break your video game if I walk in there?”

“What? No! Get over here, dammit.”

Happy hesitantly stepped through the blue line of light at the edge of the hologram system.

Noting that nothing happened, he then breathed a sigh of relief and continued to walk up to Tasha,

holding the bag out to her. She seized it from his hands and pulled a burger from inside the bag,

greedily gobbling it down.

“You're welcome,” said Happy, once she finished the rest of her food and tossed the bag in the

trash.

“Thanks, bud.”

“Who always gets you whatever you need, huh? Me! I'm an enabler, I tell ya.”

“You're so good to me.”

“I know. What do I get for it?”

Tasha raised an eyebrow before counting off several items on her fingers.

“A very tidy salary. Competitive benefits package. Free room and board. My eternal

friendship?”

Happy shrugged.

“Eh. Guess we're even then.”

Tasha and Happy shared a hearty laugh.

“Thanks, Happy. You do help. A lot.”

“It's what I'm here for.”

“Excuse me, ma'am,” said Janice.

“What's up, Queen Victoria?” asked Tasha.

“There's . . . . an incoming call, ma'am,” said Janice.

“So? What's with the hesitation? Don't tell me it's my landlord.”

“You have a landlord?” asked Happy.

“No, genius,” scolded Tasha. “It was a joke. Thanks for ruining it.”

“No problem.”

“The incoming call isn't from any conventional line. It's funnelling directly through the hard-

light hologram system.”

“What? To do that, you'd have to have one of your own,” said Tasha. “Who would . . . .”

The hologram of a man faded into existence in front of Tasha. His entire form was tinted blue

due to being made of the light of the hologram system, but she could immediately tell who it was.

“Killian.”

“Hello, Tasha,” responded Killian. “I heard you've been looking for me.”

“Hey,” said Happy. “Hey, hey, that's the guy. The guy, right?”

Tasha responded without taking her glare off of Killian.

“Yeah. That's him.”

“Good thing your lapdog has a certain level of visual comprehension,” said Killian. “I'd hate for

the slaves of the great Tasha Stark to be incompetent.”

“Stow the fancy words, slick,” retorted Happy. “You wouldn't be talkin' like that, you were

facing me man to man.”

Killian let out a disingenuous chuckle.

“Stand down, Happy,” said Tasha, gently pushing Happy aside. “I can deal with this.”

“You say so, Tash. I'll uh . . . . be outside if you need me.”

Happy turned away and walked out of the room. Tasha furrowed her brow and folded her arms

as she stared at the holographic man standing before her. He smugly smiled to himself as he looked

away from the door and back at Tasha.

“Surprised to learn I have a holographic operating system?”

“No,” answered Tasha. “Surprised you called.”

“Yes. I suppose that is the question of the hour.”

Killian looked around at the various data feeds regarding AIM.

“You've certainly spent a lot of time trying to find me.”

“I have. Why step into the light now?”

Killian took in a deep breath, placing his hands behind his back. He started to pace around the

room as he spoke.

“Because something has changed that could affect the both of us going forward. We've been

playing our little cat and mouse game for some time now, Tasha, and for the most part, I've enjoyed the

sport. But now, there's something that could shift the balance of power in ways that might prove

difficult for Advanced Idea Mechanics . . . . and for you.”

“What would that be?”

“I have my suspicions that there is a splinter movement within my organization. Someone is

trying to oust me, or at least undermine my authority. I've heard rumours of back-handed deals being

carried out by some of my operatives. I don't know how far the corruption goes.”

Tasha snorted.

“So? AIM people are rebelling? Try serving better food in the cafeteria.”

“It goes beyond that.”

“Okay. Then I have a better suggestion. Tell me why should I care.”

“Because it involves you. Peripherally.”

Tasha gritted her teeth, readying herself for whatever information Killian was going to hit her

with.

“I'm listening.”

“Whoever these traitors are, they've gotten bold. I have information that they've stolen some

prototype tech from my labs and are planning to sell it to a third party. I have the location and time of

the deal, as well as the intended buyer, but the identities of the traitors are still unknown.”

“Waiting for the part where this involves me.”

“The tech that they stole . . . . is an arc reactor. Based on your design.”

Tasha's eyes widened.

“You son of a bitch! You're getting pissy because your own people sold you out by stealing what

you stole from me?! You ransacked my building! Killed my people!”

“I'm not denying any of that, at least not to you,” responded Killian. “But this is more important

than you or I. I know that may be difficult for you to believe given your ego, but you haven't yet heard

the most crucial bit of information. The buyer.”

“Who is it?”

Killian inhaled before answering.

“Victor Von Doom.”

Tasha gulped, feeling the blood drain from her cheeks.

“Shit.”

“Thought that might get your attention.”

“You're serious.”

“You know what he's capable of. What he did to the UN. What he's still doing now. Doom is

one of the most intelligent people on the planet. Imagine what he could do . . . . what he would be

willing to do . . . . with a working version of your tech.”

Tasha fumed. Killian stopped pacing and stood in front of her.

“You make it sound like this is my fault. These are your people.”

“Not anymore. They stopped being my people when they betrayed me. We may be enemies,

Tasha, but neither of us want to give Doctor Doom an edge.”

“So, what? You're gonna give me the information? Can't take out your own trash?”

“I would take care of it myself, but right now, I don't know who to trust amongst my operatives.

Ironically enough, you're the most trustworthy person I know right now who has the ability to deal with

something like this.”

“How do I know this isn't a trap? Seems like the sort of sleazy plot you'd pull.”

“You're a smart girl, Tasha. Tell me, why would I risk contacting you directly if this wasn't

legitimate? Don't you think there are a thousand more subtle ways for me to lay a trap? I'm charting

perilous territory just coming to talk to you. Whether you believe me or not, it doesn't really matter.

Regardless of what you think of me or my organization, I know that you would never allow Doom to

walk away with your technology. You and I both know he's the bigger threat.”

Tasha looked away from Killian, turning around and thinking to herself. After a minute of

rumination, she turned around and stared into his eyes.

“I'll get my tech back. But I'm doing it for me, not for you. I see AIM people there, I take them

down.”

“Go ahead. They betrayed me, remember?”

“Janice! Grab the info and hang up on this prick.”

“As you say, ma'am.”

Killian gave Tasha a villainous smirk.

“Goodbye, Tasha.”

Killian's hologram faded away. Tasha then marched over to her armour containers.

“I have the location pinned to the map in your heads-up display. The deal will be happening

within the next two hours, at a coastline location near the border of Mexico.”

“Time to give the new girl a test drive.”

“The Mark Three, ma'am?”

One of the armour containers opened up, revealing Tasha's latest suit, with a red and silver

colour scheme.

“You make it sound so sterile, girl. She needs a real name, just like her sisters. I'm thinking,

Mark Three, designation . . . . Juliet.”

* * * *

“This is a terrible idea.”

“Don't wanna hear it, Rhodey.”

“You listening to yourself, Tasha?” yelled Pepper. “You're going after Doctor Doom!”

“I knooooow!”

“I don't think you remember. I don't think she remembers.”

“She probably doesn't remember,” said Stane.

“Obadiah and I were at the United Nations during his attack, Tasha!” shouted Pepper. “He had

an army of evil robots! And he fought the Fantastic Four! And got away with it! I almost died! It

sucked! Right, Obadiah?”

“Fairly accurate, yeah.”

“Yeah!”

“Relax, Pep,” said Tasha. “I know he's a dangerous bastard, but the Mark Three is a dangerous

bitch.”

“I admire your bravado, Tasha, but this is different,” scolded Rhodes. “Doom isn't like one of

AIM's flunkies. He's the most feared man alive for damn good reasons. Going into this without backup

is a mistake.”

“Pffff. Have you seen Juliet's upgrades? I am the backup!”

“Pardon my boldness, ma'am,” interrupted Janice, “but I believe it would be most prudent to

consider the wise counsel of your friends at this juncture. They are, after all, most concerned as to your

personal well-being. Victor Von Doom is generally considered to be the most dangerous supervillain on

the face of the planet. The entire Fantastic Four working together were only able to fight him to a

stalemate.”

“But he's never fought me.”

“Confidence is one thing, ma'am. Brazenness is quite another.”

“I'm not gonna listen to this anymore. I have to do this. Don't wait up for me guys, and Janice,

don't argue with me.”

“Understood.”

The com link shut off as Tasha flew towards the warehouse on the docks. The Pacific Ocean

was beyond the pier, only moderately visible given the night sky. Landing on the edge of the

warehouse's roof, she then slowly walked across to the far side. Peering to the dock below, she saw

Brandt standing there, along with two AIM operatives in their beekeeper outfits.

Standing across from them, next to a hi-tech shuttle, was Doom. He was flanked on his left by

Lucia von Bardas, and on his right by Lily Madison, the Beetle. Tasha sneered upon seeing the Beetle's

armour, and how remarkably similar it was to her own. Brandt walked up to Doom, holding a metal

suitcase. She opened it and showed its contents to Doom.

“Stark's miniaturized arc reactor,” said Brandt. “As promised.”

Doom stepped forward to examine the reactor. Unable to hold herself back, Tasha then leaped

off the roof and boosted downwards. Taken aback, Doom retreated a step as Tasha flew between him

and Brandt. Tasha looked down at Brandt, whose mouth dropped at the sight of the flying hero.

“Hey, hussy!” chirped Tasha.

Tasha then kicked Brandt across the face.

“Ugh!”

Brandt dropped the suitcase on the floor and spun around in the air multiple times before

landing on the concrete. The two AIM operatives dropped their weapons and ran off. Tasha then turned

to face Doom.

“As for you, Vic . . . . two tips for you. One. You want Stark tech? Get it from the source. Two.

You want Stark tech? Don't bother! I don't make a habit of selling my stuff to supervillains.”

Doom didn't respond to Tasha. Rather, he looked down at the arc reactor, which was now on the

floor. Tasha followed his gaze and aimed one of her hand repulsors at him.

“Don't even think about it.”

Lucia immediately held up her arms, which transformed into laser cannons.

“None may threaten Doom!” she yelled.

Lucia opened fire with both of her arm cannons, and Tasha boosted into the sky to dodge the

onslaught of pink lasers. Tasha fired two repulsor blasts at Lucia, who sidestepped them. Lily unfurled

her wrist energy blades, and took off into the sky. Doom stood still, both motionless and silent as he

watched the battle.

“Oh, look! A female assassin hit squad! The hallmark of any fashionable dictator!”

Lily yelled as she tried to slice at Tasha's gut, but was outmanoeuvred by Tasha's agility

thrusters. Tasha punched Lily across the face, but Lily quickly recovered and attacked with a chain of

combination strikes, several of which sliced at Tasha's armour. Tasha tried to blast Lily away, but was

struck from behind by an energy blast from Lucia.

“Get outta here, you wannabe!”

Tasha performed a vertical spin kick, connecting her foot with Lily's chin. As Lily was knocked

away, Tasha somersaulted backwards so that she was behind Lucia before firing a cluster bomb from

her wrist cannon. Lucia jumped away from the flurry of explosions, but was still blasted into the air.

She crashed into the side of the warehouse, but landed on her feet and spun around, continuing to fire at

Tasha as she flew overhead.

Lily then boosted straight towards Tasha, vaulting over her and grabbing both sides of her head.

Tasha yelped as Lily spun over her and performed a guillotine throw, smashing her against the ground.

Lily then tried to land a downward strike on Tasha with her energy blade, but Tasha rolled out of the

way just in time. Tasha then aimed her repulsors at both villains before getting blasted in the chest by a

green beam fired from Doom's hand.

“Ayugh!”

Tasha stumbled to the floor. Doom then finally spoke.

“Enough.”

Tasha looked up at Doom to see him standing, holding the arc reactor in his right hand. Both

Lucia and Lily immediately returned to his side. Panting as she glared at Doom, Tasha watched as he

then crushed the arc reactor in his hand and tossed it to her feet. She looked down at it in dismay before

looking back up at him.

“I no longer require your technology, Stark. It seems that my own has already surpassed it.”

Doom then turned around, calmly approaching his shuttle.

“Come,” he said. “We're returning to the embassy.”

Doom, Lucia and Lily all boarded the shuttle, which then blasted off into the night. Severely

weakened by the fight, Tasha fell to one knee, grabbing at her chest piece. Remembering Brandt, she

looked all around at the dock, but the woman from AIM was already gone.


Chapter 3: Pity Party

“Reckless.”

“Idiotic.”

“Dumb.”

“Brash.”

“Somewhat impertinent.”

Tasha downed another shot of brandy as she listened to the criticisms being hurled at her. Sitting

back in her lounge chair, she massaged the armrests with her palms while her friends continued to

speak at her. Rhodes, Pepper and Stane were sitting in the other chairs that made up the circle, while

Happy was standing at her side with his arms folded.

“Tasha,” said Pepper. “Are you listening?”

“Yeah, sure, yeah. All ears, Pep. Can't wait to hear how terrible and shitty I am from whoever's

next in line.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. Rhodes sighed.

“Come on, hit me with whatever you got,” slurred Tasha. “What's next? I made AIDS? I was

behind Rwanda? What now?”

“You're missing the point,” said Rhodes.

Tasha took another shot, and gestured for Happy to get more. Frowning, Happy turned to grab

more brandy from the bar at the side of the room. Rhodes stood up.

“Hogan, stop. I think she's had more than enough.”

“Fuck right I have!” shouted Tasha. “Enough of this shit!”

Tasha burst up and kicked over the table at the centre of the circle of chairs. Pepper shrieked

and jumped up as the glass smashed across the floor. Stane frowned but otherwise didn't move. Wiping

her mouth and nose, Tasha then stomped past Happy and approached the bar herself. There was a

brandy bottle in front of her, and her helmet was on the far end. Seizing the brandy bottle with her right

hand, she tried to pour it over her glass far too quickly, and the liquid sloshed all over the table and on

the floor.

“Shit!”

Tasha's surprise at spilling so much caused her to drop the bottle on the floor. Shards of glass

and streams of alcohol spilled onto her feet.

“Fuck! Stupid, bitch, cunt, fuck, cocksucker, motherfucker . . . .”

Pepper shook her head before grabbing her purse off of the armrest of her chair.

“I'm done. You lot can reason with her. Come on, Obadiah.”

“But I . . . .”

“Now.”

Stane let out a relenting sigh and followed Pepper out of the room. Tasha placed both of her

hands on the bar, closing them into fists. Her back was facing both Happy and Rhodes. Every breath

from all three people seemed to elevate the level of tension.

“Hogan.”

“Yeah.”

“Get out of here. I need to speak to her. Alone.”

Happy was silent for a moment, considering whether or not to protest. He then turned and

walked out of the room. Tasha did not respond to his departure. For several minutes, Tasha continued to

breathe, angrily glaring at the wall in front of her, refusing to turn around and face Rhodes.

“Come on, Rhodey. Say it. Whatever you got. Gimme your worst. Let's hear it.”

Sniffling, Tasha waited for a response. Not receiving one, she finally turned around to face

Rhodes. His face was stern and his arms were crossed.

“Pfff. Same old Rhodey. Fuckin' buzzkill.”

“Some things never change, do they?”

“Yeah, like you and your straight edge bullshit.”

“We both know this isn't about me. If you stopped acting like a whiny child for half a minute,

you'd realize that your friends and I were trying to help you.”

Tasha sulked in response, clearly annoyed by the fact that she didn't have an intelligent retort to

his assertion.

“But you could never admit that. No, not the infallible Tasha Stark.”

Tasha gave Rhodes a death glare.

“Sometimes I wonder why we, your friends, the people who have stood by you through all this .

. . . I wonder why they stick around. I don't think you even see how much this hurts them.”

Tasha swallowed what was in her throat as the anger slowly left her. She then wiped the sweat

and spit off her mouth and started to gesture towards a bottle of bourbon that was behind the bar.

“No you don't.”

Rhodes marched forward and grasped Tasha's forearm, holding it in the air.

“Let go of me.”

“No.”

“Let me drink in peace, fucker.”

“I don't care if you drink. You do it all the time as part of your lifestyle. I've never had a

problem with that.”

Tasha turned her head to look into Rhodes' eyes.

“What I have a problem with is when you get like this. When you get lost in it. Remember the

last time it got this bad?”

Tasha wriggled her arm away from Rhodes, but put it back down on the bar rather than make

another attempt for the bourbon bottle.

“I told you to never bring that up.”

“You want to go this route? Want to back yourself into this gutter again?”

Tasha clenched her jaw as she turned her face away from him.

“I've seen you at your absolute worst. Not there yet, but you're getting damn close.”

Tasha shook her head and wiped off some of the moisture gathering around her eyes.

“So I'm gonna ask again. You want to go this route?”

Tasha turned to look at Rhodes again. He saw that all of the anger in her eyes had melted away,

and she looked like little more than a scared and saddened woman.

“No.”

“What happened, Tasha?”

Tasha swallowed her own saliva a couple of times, trying to somewhat soothe her sandy throat.

“I . . . . I got . . . . thrashed, Rhodey. J-just . . . . the people, you know? They all look at me . . . .

kids . . . . fans . . . . they, they call me the, the Invincible Iron Maiden. Imagine that. Me. S-some

sorta . . . . hero, I guess.”

Rhodes tilted his head to the side slightly as he listened to Tasha speak.

“And how stupid was I? I believed them. Thought I could . . . . keep it going. Live the dream. I

don't know. Don't know why I bought it . . . . why I wanted it. I just don't know. But like an idiot, I just

charged in . . . . look what happened.”

Tasha sighed and closed her eyes, placing both of her elbows on the bar as she leaned forward.

“Was on top of the world. For a time.”

Her mouth closed, Tasha licked her teeth.

“Then this shit happens . . . . Doom made my tech look like a bargain bin toaster. Didn't even

bother to take it after he beat me. Said he didn't need it. Like I was so insignificant.”

Tasha rested her forehead against her right fist. Rhodes unfolded his arms.

“So much for invincible.”

“I know you're used to being the most intelligent person in the room, but you have to accept that

you might not be the most intelligent person in the world.”

Tasha scoffed.

“So that's it?” asked Rhodes. “All this cause you got your ass handed to you?”

“Not just that. I screwed up.”

“I know why.”

Tasha blinked.

“You've been running yourself into the ground. Rushing from one thing to next. Partying, tech

projects, AIM hunt, superhero stuff . . . . you never stop, and you always do it alone. You don't have to

take the whole damn world on your shoulders, Tasha.”

“Telling me I should take a vacation? Do what? Book a fantasy cruise?”

“I'm saying . . . . you don't have to do it all by yourself. Look to your friends. The people who

want to stand at your side and help you.”

Tasha chuckled.

“What? Want a suit? Got a couple extra Mark Threes. Might not fit your body type.”

“Not what I meant,” replied Rhodes, clearly unimpressed with her attempt at comedy.

“Colonel Rhodes' suggestion is one I advise you take very seriously, ma'am,” interrupted Janice.

“I have been politely observing this entire altercation, but I feel that my intervention is now required. I

also care most for your well-being, ma'am, and I believe that it would be most appropriate to show him

our latest security feature.”

“What would that be?” asked Rhodes.

Tasha's arms seized up. Groaning, she then turned around and tapped a point on the back of

neck, along the spine.

“Sensor link to Janice's mainframe,” explained Tasha. “Implanted in the bone. Completely

removed from the armour systems. Allows Janice and I to interface, and for her to monitor my vitals,

geographic position, all that shit. Now I can't get away from her.”

“I proposed this sensor link not as a means of surveillance, but for safety concerns, ma'am,”

retorted Janice. “Considering your recent bout of unbecoming behaviour, I am most certain that

Colonel Rhodes would agree that this is a most prudent precaution.”

Tasha rubbed the back of her neck as she turned back around to face Rhodes.

“Yeah. Didn't give me much say in that.”

“One of my priority directives is to keep you safe, ma'am. Even from yourself. I will do

everything within my power to satisfy that directive, even if you don't necessarily agree with all of my

methods.”

“Technology. Has a mind of its own these days.”

Rhodes put up his hands.

“Just, stop. You're arguing with your own AI for doing what it's supposed to. There's no getting

through to you right now.”

Rhodes turned around and marched towards the door. Tasha lazily flipped him off while his

back was turned. He got to the door, and one hand on the knob, he glanced back.

“You have your presentation tomorrow at the San Francisco Tech Expo,” said Rhodes. “Just

making sure you don't forget.”

Closing his eyes, Rhodes then stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Tasha

immediately waltzed back to the bar and grabbed the bourbon bottle.

“Ma'am . . . .”

“Don't want to hear it. Not tonight. Just make sure I'm awake on time tomorrow.”


Turning on her music and holding the bottle in her hands, Tasha trudged over to one of the

chairs and sat down, staring out of her windowed wall. She let large swigs of bourbon fill her stomach

at the same time the music filled her ears.

“I'm tired of being what you want me to be,

Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface,

Don't know what you're expecting of me,

Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes . . . .”

Finishing her bottle and placing it at her feet, she then looked at the helmet sitting at the end of

the bar. Standing up, she grabbed it with her left hand and threw it as hard as she could against the wall,

shouting as she did so.

“Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow,

Every step that I take is another mistake to you,

Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow,

And every second I waste is more than I can take,

I've become so numb,

I can't feel you there,

I've become so tired,

So much more aware,

I'm becoming this,

All I want to do,

Is be more like me,

And be less like you . . . .”

Tasha slumped back in to her lounge chair, revelling in her stupor as a small, automatic cleaning

bot swept up the many shards of glass.

* * * *

Killian scowled as Brandt was dragged into his office with her hands behind her back. Two Risk

Control troopers were standing at either side of her. Sunset and Yelena were also in the room, with the

Russian agent wearing her white tactical suit. One of the Risk Control troopers spoke, his voice slightly

distorted by a technological filter.

“We've recovered Miss Brandt, sir,” said the trooper. “She was the one who arranged for the

selling of the arc reactor to Doctor Doom. Her accomplices are still unknown.”

“Thank you,” replied Killian.

The troopers then walked to the side of the room opposite Sunset and Yelena.

“So,” started Killian, “This is legitimately disappointing.”

Brandt stared at Killian with resentment in her eyes. Killian leaned forward, placing his hands

on the table. Yelena glanced at his gesture.

“When I had heard about the possibility of some traitors in AIM's midst, I sincerely hoped that

you were not involved. I have no idea why you would do something like this to me, Ellen. I've done

nothing but try to give you the world. I loved you.”

Brandt returned Killian's glare.

“Loved me? You picked me out like a fucking pet. Decided I was yours from the moment you

saw me. Never had any say. Never payed attention to what I wanted. It was all you! You! You and your

need to satisfy every want you could ever have.”

Killian frowned, shaking his head.

“I hated you,” stated Brandt. “Hated every moment I had to spend with you, but I did it because

I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen if I spoke up, if I fought back. But not anymore.”

Brandt then let her hands fall to her sides, revealing that she wasn't handcuffed. Killian saw this

and was startled.

“Wait, what?”

Unsheathing her military grade combat knife, Yelena immediately slammed it down on Killian's

palm.

“AGH!!!!”

His hand now fixed to the table, Yelena then seized Killian around the throat, holding his entire

body in place. He looked pleadingly at the troopers, but they were utterly still. Smirking to herself,

Brandt then stepped aside and allowed Sunset to take centre stage in front of Killian's desk.

“Sunset.”

“For a man who believed that he had anticipated all of the angles, you must admit, this is a

brilliant move.”

“You . . . .”

“You really had no idea of Miss Brandt's contempt for you, did you?” asked Sunset. “No idea at

all. Since I believe in full disclosure, I will tell you that she's been seeing Doctor Sallis from the

biology wing for some time now. Apparently they have a very healthy relationship, yes?”

“We do,” said Brandt, nodding.

Killian grunted as he vainly struggled against Yelena's superior physique.

“You bitch. I took you in. Helped you. All of you!”

“Awh,” replied Sunset, her soft voice suddenly carrying a menacing weight. “Would you like a

medal for that? I have one . . . . right here.”

Sunset pulled a small injection device out of her pocket. It had two prongs at either end, and a

Protocol chip held in the middle. Stepping to Killian's side, she then jammed the device against the left

side of his head. The device placed the Protocol chip against his skin, and it then started digging a hole

through his skull.

Yelena let go of Killian, knowing that it was over for him. His head wobbled as the Protocol

chip started rewiring his brain from within. Sunset crouched next to him and began whispering into his

ear.

“Can you feel that, Mister Killian? That's the feeling of the Protocol chip . . . . my Protocol

chip . . . . burrowing its way into your mind . . . . replacing the organic neural network with my own. I

suspect that you can sense your own consciousness slowly but irreparably slipping away . . . .”

The veins in and around Killian's eyes started to take on a more pronounced blue hue as his

pupils began fading.

“Once it starts, there's no way out,” continued Sunset, licking her lower lip. “Once it starts,

you're mine . . . . forever.”

Sunset then stood back up and walked back around Killian's desk as the process completed.

Brandt looked at Sunset with a confused face.

“Why didn't you just kill him?”

“I hate to waste any resource, Miss Brandt . . . . regardless of how insignificant it might be.”

Sunset then looked back at Yelena, who tapped her earpiece.

“I have word from Vanko and the others,” said Yelena. “The transition has been made. Vanko is

now preparing for her Expo appearance.”

“Excellent. Agent Belova, make sure to get Mister Killian to processing. Ensure he gets his

weapons and combat gear. I'd hate for our esteemed leader to miss his big debut.”


Chapter 4: Crimson Dynamo

The mid-morning sun brought a pristine glow upon the San Francisco Bay Area. Flocks of

seagulls acted as watchful sentries, calmly observing the entire coastline. The grand gateway between

civilization and the untamed wilderness that was the Pacific Ocean was the perfect stage for an

exposition. However, no one realized just what kind of exposition it would end up becoming.

Tasha put on her sunglasses as she stepped out of the car. Stane got out of the opposite side and

approached her. Happy was in the driver's seat.

“Gotta park,” said Happy. “Go on ahead.”

Tasha gave him a thumbs up in response before he drove off. Walking together, she and Stane

headed towards the outdoor presentation area that had been prepared for the expo. Stane was holding

his hologram tablet, reading a list of items on it.

“Guest list for this thing is staggering,” said Stane. “Quite a turn out.”

“Is Hammer here? Tell me he's not here. I'd really prefer to not have to deal with that clown

today.”

“I don't know, I can check . . . .”

Tasha then stopped in her tracks before they got to the seating area. Large crowds of people had

already arrived, and were bustling about. Taking off her sunglasses, she turned to Stane.

“Hey.”

Stane blinked a couple times and looked up from his tablet, returning an awkward smile. He

adjusted his glasses before speaking.

“Hey.”

“Look, Obadiah . . . .”

Tasha scratched the side of her head.

“Sorry about the . . . . you know. The mess last night. I, I was . . . . I treated you all like trash,

and I was completely . . . . wrong. None of you deserved that. Especially you.”

“Hey, Tasha, I . . . .”

“No,” interrupted Tasha. “I don't want you making any excuses for me this time. It was really

shitty of me to act like that. I mean, yeah, sure, I was drunk, and angry, and totally self-absorbed, but

none of those are good reasons, for, for . . . . for not respecting your friends. Especially one who's been

at my side since high school.”

Stane's left eye twitched for half a second.

“So . . . . so, yeah, I feel like I say this way too often, but . . . . sorry, I'm sorry. I know I can

be . . . . egh . . . . the worst, at times. Just . . . . the worst. And I mean, of course, you know . . . . I care

about you. A lot, a lot . . . . and . . . . I never want to hurt you. I would never try to hurt you.”

“You might still do it unintentionally.”

“Yeah, well . . . .”

“It is what it is,” said Stane. “And we can get past it. Like we always do.”

“We've been through a hell of a time, haven't we?”

“We have.”

“Oby . . . . I know you hate that name, but it's always been an endearment term. You know, like

when I call you a nerd. You're, you're my best friend, man. You've helped me get through so much . . . .

and I don't know if I'm always . . . . let's go with appreciative. I just needed to tell you how much I care,

since, well, my actions don't always make it that obvious.”

Stane smiled and placed his hand on Tasha's shoulder.

“It's you and me, right?”

“Always,” answered Tasha.

Tasha and Stane were silent for a couple moments, still standing in the same spot. Stane then

gestured towards the presentation area.

“Know what you're gonna do?”

“Some fancy tricks with the suit,” answered Tasha. “You know, for spice's sake.”

“That really the best idea? I mean, you were fairly intoxicated not that long ago.”

Tasha scoffed, waving one of her hands down in a dismissive manner.

“Bah. So what? I might be a teensy bit hungover. I operate like that on a daily basis.”

“Teensy bit?”

“Yeah . . . . what?”

“Janice told me you downed the whole bourbon bottle after we left. Top to bottom.”

Tasha's jaw dropped.

“You kidding me? That English tart ratted me out?”

“Afraid so.”

“I can hear you, ma'am,” said Janice, speaking directly into Tasha's mind through the sensor

link. Tasha's head vibrated, indicating that she was startled by the utterance.

“Damn, wasn't expecting it to be that clear,” said Tasha. “Feels like you're in my brain.”

“I am now. You cannot escape me.”

“You're enjoying this.”

“Naturally, ma'am.”

“Wait, what?” asked Stane.

Tasha then looked at Stane with concern.

“Oh, right. You can't hear her. Talkin' to Janice. In . . . . my brain.”

Stane nodded and blinked, seemingly unsure of what to say.

“Let's just go in.”

“Yeah.”

* * * *

Having finally found a spot in the gargantuan parking lot, Happy sighed with relief as he

stepped out of the car and locked the doors. He then started making his way back to the presentation

area. He wasn't even paying attention when a stunning red sports-car drove down the street past him.

Had he bothered to look, he most likely would have been surprised to see that the car had no driver.

* * * *

Stane was sitting next to Pepper in the audience seating. She was running through scheduling on

her phone, and he was twiddling his thumbs as he waited. A crowd of around two thousand people was

in attendance, including a special seating box for President Ellis and his security detail. Rhodes was

one of the security officers in the seating box. He turned around and gave a small wave to Stane, who

returned it.

The presentation stage played host to a metal cannon affixed to a firing platform. The cannon

was about two metres long, with various wiring components visible on the outside of it. It was pointed

directly downwards, into the hole that had already been cut out of the stage. Stane was thinking about

how he had helped Tasha construct it when his thoughts were interrupted by Pepper speaking.

“Let's see,” said Pepper, reading from her phone and oblivious to everything else. “Up next is

Trask, then Oscorp. After lunch is Project Pegasus . . . . oh, even Hammer is here.”

Stane put on a tiny smile and shook his head as Pepper continued to talk to herself. Happy

arrived, and sat in the empty seat Stane had saved for him. Stane nodded at Happy before he looked

over his left shoulder, seeing some of the audience behind him. He entertained the idea that he was

being watched, but after a brief moment, he dismissed it and looked back forward. From the far back

corner of the seating area, Brandt observed him from behind her sunglasses.

She then looked upwards, along with everyone else in the crowd, as Tasha soared into view in

her Mark Two armour. Most members of the crowd burst into raucous applause at her arrival, but

Brandt and a few others abstained from participation. Whirling about in spectacular fashion, Tasha then

climbed for several dozen metres straight up above the stage.

“Showboat time.”


Tasha ejected herself from the suit, which promptly boosted upwards and exploded. The entire

crowd gasped, and even Brandt participated. Her eyes closed and her arms outstretched, Tasha

somersaulted several times in free fall before her Mark Three armour flew up to and latched itself to

her body. Forming around her, it locked into place just in time for Tasha to land in a three point pose on

the stage.

She threw up her arms as the raucous applause returned. Tasha then stepped out of the armour

and took a bow.

“I believe the phrase is . . . . nailed it, ma'am.”

“You got it, girl,” whispered Tasha.

Tasha allowed the crowd to quiet down, putting her hands together and waiting. She then

gestured towards and leaned against the cannon with her left palm.

“Well, as if that wasn't enough of a presentation, I also have this to show you! This, ladies and

gentlemen, is the latest masterwork from the House of Ideas, Stark Enterprises. Inside this veritable and

very quantifiably powerful device is a beam cannon, with a laser energy matrix composed of multiple

prisms that divert the lasers in a crossing pattern to exponentially increase the output of the primary

beam. I know, jargony, but what matters . . . . is the results.”

The crowd murmured as they digested the slab of information Tasha had just doled out. She

then flipped a switch on the side of the cannon, and the device responded by radiating with pink energy.

The beam then fired down through the hole in the stage, seamlessly slicing through the earth below.

“A fully customizable, energy-efficient and pinpoint accurate mining laser,” continued Tasha,

now leaning her back against the cannon. “For the purposes of excavation, construction and resource

retrieval. I present, the Proton Cannon.”

Tasha smirked as the crowd applauded in approval. Rhodes endorsed her with a subtle nod,

which she acknowledged with a snap of her fingers.

“I can even change the colour of the beam,” remarked Tasha, eliciting some laughs from the

audience.

As the cannon powered down, a loud engine noise was heard from the right of the stage. Tasha

turned her head to see a stunning red sports-car barrelling down the highway towards the presentation

area. She raised an eyebrow in confusion as the car drove off the road and onto the concrete pavement

that led to the stage.

The car then started to transform.

The wheels receded into the vehicle as two metallic arms emerged from the sides. The glass

panes from the windows reformatted themselves into a dome-shaped carapace. The carapace itself was

translucent, showing a vaguely humanoid head shape with an angled visor inside the dome. The right

hand reached out and dug its fingers into the pavement, slowing the approach of the vehicle. Legs then

came out from the bottom segment as the final metal panels locked into place, and within seconds the

car had finished its transformation into a three metre tall robotic humanoid.

Tasha was unable to move upon seeing what was in front of her, a trait that was shared amongst

most of the audience members.

“The fuck . . . .”

The robot's gloved hands retreated into the arms before they were replaced with rotating laser

cannons. The robot then wordlessly started firing with both cannons into the crowd. Pandemonium

ensued on the part of the audience, which split apart and spilled in all directions like a herd of

distressed cattle. Rhodes and the security detail hurried Ellis away as the robot continued its attack.

Finally breaking out of her daze, Tasha leaped back into her armour and aimed both of her

repulsors at the robot. The twin beams struck the robot's front, causing it to stagger backwards. Tasha

then looked to the side to see Happy scrambling to help Stane and Pepper.

“Go, Happy, go! Get Obadiah and Pepper out of here!”

Happy led Stane and Pepper away from the battle zone and towards the parking lot. Rhodes and

the security detail had already placed Ellis in a limousine and raced off the presentation area as

everyone else fled. Taking a step back, the robot reoriented itself and looked down at Tasha, who was

crouching with both repulsors ready to fire again.

“Iron Maiden,” said the armour, in a distinctly female voice with a Russian accent.

“I'm guessing you're not a robot,” replied Tasha. “Who are you supposed to be? Iron Blimp?”

“You do not recognize me. I am not surprised. It has been some time since you ruined my life!”

“I did? Pretty sure I haven't seen you before. Unless I was really drunk . . . .”

“Who I used to be no longer matters,” interrupted Anya. “You destroyed my body. Only thirty

percent of my organic matter survived our last encounter. To save my life, AIM turned me into

something new, something far improved . . . . the Crimson Dynamo!”

“AIM? Killian did this to you?!”

“Hahahaha,” laughed Anya. “Have you not heard? AIM has a new leader now.”

“Since yesterday?!”

Anya took a step forward, her hand cannons starting to spin again.

“Look lady,” started Tasha, “Whoever you are, I'm not just gonna stand still and let AIM get

their grubby paws on my tech again. So back off, Anastasia!”

Anya froze in place.

“H-How . . . . how did you know my name?!”

“Huh? Uh, lucky guess? I dunno, you have that accent, and Anastasia is a fairly common name

for girls in . . . .”

Tasha was interrupted by Anya punching her in the face.

* * * *

Standing behind an office building, Brandt peered around the corner to see Tasha and Anya

battling as the remnants of the tech expo crowd fled the scene. She unflipped her cell phone and put it

to her right ear.

“Crimson Dynamo has engaged and Ellis is on the move. Send the teams in now.”

* * * *

“Understood,” replied Sunset, before she clicked off the call.

She then turned to Yelena, who was in her full-body tactical gear, along with a katana inside of a

leather sheath that was strapped to her back. They were standing inside of one of several AIM shuttles

that were flying in formation over the Bay Area. A female Risk Control trooper was piloting the shuttle,

and twelve regular Risk Control troopers were readying their weapons.

“Take your teams and destroy anything that gets in your way,” commanded Sunset. “Bring him

to me. Alive.”

Yelena grinned as she placed triple-optic stealth goggles on her face.

* * * *

“Unibeam, now!”

Tasha pumped her chest forward as a charged laser blast fired from her arc reactor. The blast

singed multiple sections of Anya's armour, causing her to fall to one knee. Tasha then boosted forward

and punched Anya's dome carapace, knocking the villain back but not causing any major damage.

“What is she made of?!”

“Scanning,” said Janice. “The Crimson Dynamo armour appears to be made out of a specially

tailored titanium, cobalt and tungsten alloy, laced with trace amounts of carbonadium. Certainly this

would have cost an inordinate amount of capital to construct, and therefore would not be anywhere

near cost-effective for market level mass production . . . .”

Tasha flew in a circular pattern to dodge the hail of laser fire from Anya's hand cannons.

“Didn't ask for the economics lesson, Jan! Just tell me how to break it!”

“Given its unique qualities, I would say that the armour is nearly indestructible.”

“Fucking wonderful.”

Tasha armed a wrist rocket and fired it at Anya, striking her square in the chest. The rocket

explosion did nothing but temporarily jostle her. Agonizing over how to attack next, she then turned

around with surprise to see four San Francisco Police Department squad cars approaching the scene.

She threw her arms forward as the officers exited their vehicles and brandished their weapons.

“No, don't!” she shouted. “Get back . . . .!”

Tasha was then swiped aside by a backhand from Anya, causing her to smash against the side of

the same office building that Brandt was hiding behind a few minutes earlier.

“Fire!”

The officers unloaded their weapons on Anya, but she was unfazed from marching forward by

their meagre assault. She then kicked forward with her left leg, flattening the closest squad car and

sending it zooming down the street. Her hand transforming into a rocket launcher, she then launched a

missile at another squad car.

Flying as fast as she could, Tasha grabbed the officer in front of the targeted car and flew him

out of the way of the explosion.

“Get out of here!” ordered Tasha, as she set the officer on the sidewalk. “Tell your people to

stay away!”

“You got it! I don't wanna tangle with that thing!”

“Me neither!”

Boosting back into the battle, Tasha then landed a fully powered kick to Anya's torso, knocking

her back with enough force to cause her to somersault backwards. Landing back on her knees, Anya

responded with a laser beam that blasted Tasha to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Activating her foot thrusters, Anya soared a couple metres above the road and flew horizontally

forward, parallel to the ground. Seizing Tasha around the throat, she then lifted and slammed her

against the pavement, dragging her along and ripping up the road as she did so. After continuing this

vicious attack for a couple hundred metres, Anya was then double kicked in the right knee by Tasha,

and she lost grip and tumbled over.

Violently coughing, Tasha pushed herself off the ground as Anya stood back up and equipped

her hand cannons.

“I had hoped for a bit more sport, Stark.”

Breathing with tremendous weight, Tasha then looked up to see Anya in her battle ready pose.

Peering behind the villain, she saw that the Proton Cannon was still on the stage, only a few metres

behind Anya.

“You don't want the Proton Cannon,” said Tasha.

Anya hesitated. Tasha then looked past her to see several AIM shuttles in the distant sky, flying

towards San Francisco International Airport. She immediately flew upwards and over Anya, boosting

over the coastline and towards the shuttles. Anya watched her leave and snarled before opening her

com channel.

“This is Dynamo. Stark figured it out. I bought you all the time I could. She is headed for the

airport.”

“Understood, Dynamo,” replied Sunset. “Head to the rendezvous and get your suit looked at.

The next phase has already begun.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Anya transformed back into her sports-car configuration and drove back down the highway.


Chapter 5: AIM’s Plot

“Deploy.”

The AIM shuttle hovered a few metres above the ground; over the sidewalk that surrounded

Stark Tower. Six Risk Control troopers, including a squad leader, all jumped out of the open side door

and then rushed towards the main entrance. The squad leader kicked the door open, and he and his team

then breached the foyer.

Bambi, who was sitting behind the entrance desk, gasped upon seeing them enter.

“Security!”

One of the troopers immediately aimed his submachine gun at her and fired off a triple-burst

shot, with the bullets piercing the bone between her eyes. The squad leader checked the data-stream

that filtered in through the heads-up display on the inside of his face mask.

“Green asset’s intel shows that the package is this way. You three, keep this foyer secure for our

exit.”

“Yes, sir!”

The group split into two fireteams, one for offense and the other for defense. In perfect unison,

the offense squad moved through the hallways, gunning down two security personnel before they

arrived at the containment chamber.

“Breaching!”

One of the troopers planted an explosive charge on the door. The squad then moved back behind

a corner, and waited a few seconds for the device to explode. After it shattered the door, the squad

moved in and found what they were looking for.

It was an arc reactor inside of a containment cube, glowing with surges of pink light.

“Package secured!”

One of the troopers holstered his gun and grabbed the containment cube, holding it with both

hands. The fireteam retreated back to the foyer, to find the defense team engaging more of the security

force.

“We’re leaving!” shouted the squad leader. “Back to the shuttle! Now!”

The defense team provided covering fire for the rest of the troopers to escape. One of the

troopers was shot down by a security guard as the rest sprinted out of the building towards the shuttle

that was waiting to fly them to safety.

* * * *

“Happy, do you read?”

“I’m here, Tash.”

Tasha was flying at full speed towards the airport. She could see at least six AIM shuttles in the

distance, having already arrived.

“AIM’s here, and they’re trying to hit San Fran Airport,” explained Tasha. “I think they’re after

the President. The giant armour was a diversion. I need you to go back and retrieve the Proton Cannon,

just in case.”

“What if the robot’s still there?!”

“My scans indicate that the Crimson Dynamo is no longer near the presentation area,”

interrupted Janice.

“Hear that? Grab it and then get Oby, Pep and yourself out of there.”

“What if AIM sends more guys? I'm supposed to keep these two out of danger!”

“Tasha's right, Happy,” said Stane. “We can't let the Proton Cannon fall into the wrong hands.”

Happy was silent for a moment before he responded.

“Count on me, Tash.”

“Always do.”

Happy switched off the com channel.

“Ma’am, I have just received a security alert from Stark Tower. It was triggered by Miss

Arbogast.”

“Bambi? The hell is happening?!”

“Unknown at this time.”

“Alright, keep monitoring that, but we need to focus on . . . .”

* * * *

“. . . . getting us the hell out of here!”

The secret service agent in the passenger seat of the limousine looked back at President Ellis,

who was being covered by Rhodes and several other security personnel. Rhodes was peering through

the rear window of the vehicle, and he saw one of the AIM shuttles flying low to the ground in pursuit.

He could do nothing but watch as the shuttle armed its frontal cannons, and the familiar green targeting

lasers started to zero in on their quarry.

Torrents of bullets shredded the street right behind the wheels of the limousine. Try as she

might, the driver was unable to outrun her relentless stalker. As the one shuttle hounded the limousine

from behind, another one flew unseen overhead, and opened its side door. Taking a moment to tune

herself into her bio-mechanics, Yelena then hurled herself into the air.

She landed directly on the hood of the limousine in a crouched pose. The driver shrieked in

surprise at her newfound passenger, and the agent next to her aimed his gun forward. Simpering at him,

Yelena then drew her sword and slashed it through the windshield in a single, instantaneous motion,

slicing off his weapon arm and carving a deep gash through his chest.

Smiling at the now hysterical driver, Yelena then thrust her sword into the vehicle's engine with

the strength of both arms. The limousine skidded to a halt just outside of the airport, with everyone

inside thrown forward by the inertia. The driver slammed her face against the steering wheel, leaving

her unconscious.

“Stop that lunatic!” yelled Ellis.

Brandishing his Beretta M9 pistol, Rhodes dive rolled out of the stalled vehicle and took aim at

Yelena, firing off four shots in quick succession. The AIM operative responded by twirling her sword in

front of her, deflecting each of his bullets. She gave Rhodes a taunting grin, which gave him a moment

of opportunity to fire again, this time aiming for her hilt.

“Ugh!”

The shot blew the sword out of her hand. Startled for a mere millisecond, Yelena then

performed a backflip off of the hood of the limousine, sprinting for her fallen weapon. Rhodes pressed

his advantage, firing off several more shots, but Yelena was far too fast. She swiped her sword back

from pavement and then launched a grappling hook from her wrist, which carried her to the top of one

of the airport's main buildings.

Rhodes could only watch as she performed a somersault kick to destroy a window and allow her

access, before slinking into the building to set up a new ambush. Multiple police squad cars arrived as

the secret service agents moved Ellis into the closest building, and the AIM shuttles descended upon

the airport.

Rhodes then looked into the sky, seeing Tasha fly overhead.

* * * *

“Wrist cannon, armed.”

Tasha fired a rocket from her wrist launcher, which blasted towards the AIM shuttle in front of

her. Colliding with the front end, the rocket caused an explosion that sent the shuttle spinning out of the

air, smashing headfirst against one of the empty runways. Satisfied with the shuttle's destruction, Tasha

turned around and boosted through one of the glass windows, arriving inside one of the large terminal

buildings of the port.

The place was in utter chaos. Dozens of security guards and police officers were engaged in a

ground war with just as many Risk Control troopers, of all varieties. The battle was further complicated

by the hundreds upon hundreds of civilians desperately trying to stay alive amidst the downpour of

bullets flying in all directions.

A voice was heard over the loudspeaker.

“Emergency evacuation procedures are underway. All civilians . . . .”

The voice was cut short by a gunshot. A new voice, this one slightly distorted by a technological

filter, took over.

“Attention! We have seized control of this port. All civilians are to disperse themselves

immediately. Do not interfere!”

Tasha blasted the closest trooper in the chest with a repulsor shot as she dived into the fray.

“Who the hell are these guys?” asked Tasha. “Don't look like the AIM goons from before.”

“Unknown, ma'am, but apparently AIM has undergone some significant recruiting since your

previous entanglement at Stark Tower.”

“Yeah, sure,” remarked Tasha, as she shot down another trooper. “Probably took out an ad in the

Lonely Hearts Column. Wanted, evil minions, willing to battle society and superheroes for the glory of

some wackos with second-grade tech. Rhodey, you seeing this?”

Rhodes' voice came in through the com channel.

“Seeing?! We're right in the thick of it! Just trying to keep the President alive long enough to get

him to Air Force One, but this place is a goddamned war zone!”

Tasha's shoulder was grazed by a round from a sniper who was perched on one of the building's

internal balconies.

“Yeah, I noticed!” yelled Tasha, as she returned fire with a precision repulsor shot, striking

down the sniper.

Hovering above some of the members of the fleeing crowd, Tasha noticed a pregnant woman

who had fallen to her hands and knees amidst all the commotion. One of the troopers approached her,

holding his submachine gun close to her head. Yelling with righteous fury, Tasha boosted towards him

and punched him across the face with full force, snapping his neck.

The woman looked up at Tasha, too stunned to react. Tasha placed both of her hands under the

woman's armpits.

“Come on, lady! This ain't a place for on-the-way mommies.”

Tasha flew the woman out of the warpath of the Risk Control troopers and outside the terminal

building. After being placed on the ground, the woman turned to Tasha and thanked her in a language

she did not understand. Tasha nodded in response as the woman rushed away from the airport with the

rest of the crowd.

As Tasha flew back into the airport and continued to engage AIM's forces, she forgot about the

trooper whose neck she had snapped. What she nor anyone else would ever know is that the face

behind that mask was that of Aldrich Killian.

* * * *

Rhodes was leading the team of agents moving Ellis through the halls of the airport, with six

secret service members covering the President's body from all angles. Turning a corner, Rhodes was

startled to see a Risk Control engineer deploying an automated turret. The metallic turret unfolded and

immediately unleashed a hail of bullets down the hall.

Stepping back just in time to avoid being shredded, Rhodes took cover behind the corner.

“Turrets?! Come on!”

The engineer crouched behind his turret.

“Fireteams!” he said. “I have the target pinned down at my location. Box them in from the other

side!”

Responding in near perfect unison, a squad of troopers appeared from behind Ellis' escort, all

holding submachine guns. The secret service agents engaged the troopers, forcing both sides to try and

take cover the best they could. One of the agents was shot twice in the chest just as one of the troopers

was gunned down by multiple shots to the head.

Ellis was on all fours, covered by the escort agents. He looked up pleadingly at Rhodes.

“Get us out of here!”

“Stay down, sir!”

Rhodes tried to blindly fire a handful of bullets at the turret, but his shots either missed or were

ineffective against the turret's armour. Looking behind him and knowing that the troopers would

overtake the secret service escort at any moment, he tapped his earpiece.

“Tasha, we need you! Now!”

Just as he finished his sentence, a rocket struck the turret, blowing it apart. The explosion

engulfed the engineer, who shrieked in agony as he was burned alive. Tasha then flew down into the

hallway from above, humming the theme song for The Last of the Mohicans to herself as she fired

multiple repulsor shots at the enemy troopers, before facing Rhodes.

“Look who it is! My favourite damsel in distress!”

“Very funny.”

She then hovered next to the secret service escort, and gave Ellis a tiny salute.

“Sir,” she said, before looking at the agents. “Now, you lot, get him out of here! I've got you

covered!”

Rhodes led Ellis and the secret service escort down the hallway as Tasha boosted towards one of

the troopers. She kneed him directly in the stomach, smashing him against a wall. Rhodes saw that Air

Force One was just outside the terminal they were in, and that it hadn't been touched. He let out a tiny

sigh of relief, not noticing the three Risk Control agents stalking him from the rafters. They were all

Wraith-class troopers, female stealth operatives with swords.

As Tasha returned to the escort, the three Wraiths descended from their hiding spots. One of

them struck her sword straight down, skewering one of the secret service agents through the sternum.

Another swung her sword in an attempt to behead Rhodes, who was barely able to duck under the

attack.

Tasha fired a repulsor blast at one of the Wraiths, who back-flipped out of the way.

“Ninjas?! Really?!”

Another Wraith tried to slice down on Tasha's arms, but was gunned down by Rhodes. Tasha

boosted backwards before aiming and firing a precision repulsor shot, which exploded the cranium of

the first Wraith. The final Wraith dodged several bullets from the escort agents, retreating down the

hall.

“They're over there!”

Tasha turned her head to the right to see a dozen more Risk Control troopers approaching from

the far side of the terminal. One of them was a sniper, who got down on one knee and quickly fired off

a rifle round, which struck down another secret service agent with a shot to her throat.

“We got no cover!” yelled Rhodes.

“You do now!” responded Tasha.

Flying in front of the escort, she aimed both of her wrist cannons at the wave of incoming

troopers. With both wrists armed, she fired twin sets of cluster grenades as the troopers desperately

tried to backpedal out of range. The resulting chain of explosions decimated the troopers, bloodying the

entire terminal.

Tasha looked over her shoulder at Rhodes.

“Get him to the plane! Go!”

Rhodes, Ellis and the three surviving secret service agents all rushed for the aerobridge that led

to Air Force One. Tasha faced front again, looking over the carnage she had left behind.

“Any survivors?”

“None that I can see, ma'am.”

As Janice finished her scan, Yelena leaped down from the rafters she had been waiting in.

Holding onto the ceiling via her grappling hook, she swung down and kicked forward with both legs,

landing a forceful attack on Tasha's chest.

“Agh!”

Tasha was whacked out of the air by the attack. Rolling backwards, she was barely able to

dodge two shots fired from Yelena's customized handcannon pistol. Tasha cleared her throat as she got

into a battle ready pose.

“How many supervillains do I have to fight this week?!”

Yelena smirked at Tasha before whipping her hair back.

“Miss Bain sends her regards,” she said.

Tasha raised an eyebrow as Yelena then tore into a sprint towards the aerobridge. Tasha was

about to take off after her when she was struck from behind by the third Wraith, who dug her sword

into the armour's right shoulder blade. Tasha shouted in pain before throwing her right elbow behind

her head, smacking the Wraith across the face.

Her enemy dazed, Tasha then turned around and grabbed the Wraith by both shoulders before

flying up and tossing her towards one of the windows overlooking the runways. The Wraith screamed

as she plunged through the window and towards the ground several metres below. Knowing how little

time she had, Tasha boosted into the aerobridge.

Yelena had already gained on Rhodes and Ellis' escort. Firing three shots into the chest of the

closest agent, she then leaped forward with her sword, cleaving another agent in half along his

waistline. The last surviving agent aimed his gun at her, but before he could fire, Tasha tackled Yelena

from behind, and they both crashed through the wall of the aerobridge to the runway below.

Breaking free of Tasha's grasp, Yelena rolled along the runway behind Air Force One. She

landed in her battle pose, and held her military grade combat knife in front of her as Tasha readied her

repulsors. Tasha then looked up in dismay as two AIM shuttles soared overhead.

“Shit.”

Both Tasha and Yelena were then startled as a set of twin missiles annihilated one of the

shuttles. A Quinjet flew into view, heading around for another pass to target the second shuttle.

The pilot of the shuttle spoke into Yelena's com link.

“We're retreating! Get on-board, now!”

Groaning, Yelena jumped up and fired her grappling hook into the underbelly of the shuttle. She

was then airlifted away as the shuttle blasted off and out of view.

“Ma'am . . . .”

Tasha then turned around to see the SHIELD helicarrier hovering over the airport.

“Yeah,” said Tasha. “I noticed.”


Chapter 6: Repercussions

Standing inside of her personal shuttle, Sunset watched as the glowing pink arc reactor was

placed inside of a large containment unit. Once the unit was completely sealed, she turned to look at

DeWitt, who was sitting at a console next to her. Brandt was standing on her other side, and she was

looking at her datapad.

“The helicarrier's gone,” said Brandt. “So is Air Force One. All remaining Risk Control forces

have fallen back to rendezvous co-ordinates and are ready for reassignment.”

“Good,” replied Sunset.

She then turned to look at DeWitt.

“Are we ready?”

“Containment unit will hold,” said DeWitt. “Won't be able to move without your say so.”

“Let's pull him out.”

DeWitt typed in a command string on his console, and the containment unit started charging

with electrical energy. Several arcs of miniscule blue lightning all struck the arc reactor at the same

time, and once the core cracked, a loud, distorted shout was heard. Within moments, the humanoid

form of the Living Laser materialized, hovering inside of the containment unit.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.”

Brandt took a step back in fear. Sunset grinned ear to ear.

“Mister Parks.”

“Who . . . . who are . . . . no . . . . that's . . . .”

“Mister Parks?”

“That's not . . . . MY NAME ANYMORE!”

Arthur pulled in his limbs and then fired a pulse of energy from his body, but it was halted by

the containment unit. The feedback from the imploded energy left him writhing in pain.

“GYRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAGHHHHH!”

Sunset scoffed, unimpressed with the display.

“What . . . . did you do?”

“Mister Parks, I would advise that you not try that again,” said Sunset. “I'd also advise that you

not try my patience, considering what I'm about to offer you.”

Arthur was silent for a minute. Sunset didn't let her gaze break off of him for a single second.

“Who are you?”

“That's better. My name is Sunset Bain, and I am the leader of Advanced Idea Mechanics, an

organization which I believe shares a particular interest with you, Mister Parks.”

“And . . . . what . . . . would that be?”

“Tasha Stark.”

“RRYYYYYYYYYYRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUGH!”

Ripples of white energy surged along all the appendages of Arthur's body. Brandt breathed in

and out a few times as she kept her eyes on the powered being before her. While she was unable to stop

the quivering in her hands, Sunset was utterly unmoved.

“Iron Maiden . . . .”

“Yes, Mister Parks. I was told that she defeated you in your last encounter.”

“Defeated?! She . . . . TRICKED ME! Said she was my friend . . . . but she only wanted to

control me . . . . confine me . . . . because she was . . . . scared . . . . of . . . . MY POWER!”

“Indeed,” replied Sunset. “That appears to be what she does best, doesn't it? She claims to be a

woman who wants what's best for her friends . . . . but she always ends up betraying them in the end.”

“Yes.”

“She hurt you.”

“Yes.”

“She humiliated you.”

“Yes.”

Arthur's entire body glowed brighter and brighter with each affirmative response.

“She did the same to me, Mister Parks . . . . but her betrayal goes further.”

“How?”

“She stole from you,” continued Sunset. “My allies tell me that she was showing off her latest

project . . . . a Proton Cannon, with a laser matrix based on your design.”

“WHAT?!”

“She stole your ideas . . . . used them for herself when she said that she would help you.”

“RYYYYYYYYYRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!”

“You and I have both been wronged by Stark . . . . but I have a plan to get vengeance for both of

us.”

“How?! Tell me HOW!”

Sunset clenched her right fist and slammed it into her left palm.

“We're going to run her through the gauntlet! She bested you last time only through trickery,

you say? Well . . . . she's been battling my allies all day. She's weak. She's tired. And this time, you

won't be alone. You're going to find her. Draw her in. And then, once we've worn her out, once we've

drained every last ounce of energy she has . . . . then, then . . . . then we're going to shatter her!”

“Yes . . . . yeeeeesssss . . . . YES!!!!”

“I knew you were a smart man, Mister Parks.”

“Please . . . . call me . . . . Living Laser.”

Sunset gave a small, respectful bow.

“Very well.”

Sunset turned to face Brandt.

“And the others?”

“They're ready. We'll be in Los Angeles airspace in ten minutes.”

“Excellent.”

Sunset chuckled with malicious glee as she felt the pieces fall into place.

* * * *

“Dead?”

“Yes, ma'am. Miss Arbogast and three of the security personnel. I am still trying to piece

together the reason for the attack. The only location that was broken into was the containment lab, but

all on-record items are still in stock.”

“O-Okay.”

“Shall I make preparations for funerals and calls to the families?”

“Do it. Tell them . . . . t-tell . . . . tell the families that I'll pay for everything. Charge all expenses

to my personal account. Let them keep the life insurance. They lost enough as it is.”

“As you say, ma'am. As well, Mister Hogan, Miss Potts and Mister Stane have all arrived back

at Stark Tower safely via the private jet. They'll be ready to meet you once you've finished your

business with SHIELD.”

“Thanks, Jan.”

Having taken off her armour and left it to the side in idle mode, Tasha turned her attention to the

room she was standing in. The helicarrier's command centre housed four rows of data terminals, all

situated around the central hub, which was a circular platform with an eagle logo emblazoned on the

floor. The front end of the room was formed of a transparent glass wall, looking out into the clouds that

the flying aircraft carrier was currently wading through.

Fury was standing on the central hub, with his hands behind his back. Several other agents were

also in the room, performing their duties. Fury himself was looking at a holographic video screen

playing from his main terminal. Looking side to side, Tasha then clicked her tongue and put her hands

in her front pockets. Rhodes was standing behind her, with his arms folded.

“And how are you now?” asked Fury.

“Fine, all things considered,” responded Ellis, whose face was displayed on Fury's terminal.

“The plane is secure. We're lucky those madmen didn't cause it any harm.”

“Fly safe, Mister President.”

“You too, Director.”

The video screen shut off, and Fury got off the central hub and approached Tasha.

“So . . . . big place you got . . . .”

“And just what the hell did you think you were doing?!”

Tasha's eyes widened in response to what Fury said.

“What do you . . . .”

“For a woman who prides herself on her intelligence, you sure pull some pretty stupid stunts.”

“Excuse me, I'm pretty sure I just helped save the Pres . . . .”

“I'm not talking about the President, although you handled that like a damn amateur. I'm talking

about how you almost caused a diplomatic incident that could have set one hell of a fire under the ass

of the whole country!”

“I . . . .”

Tasha turned to look at Rhodes and shrugged before turning back to Fury.

“I really don't know what you're talking about. Did I take the wrong person's lunch money?”

“Can the glib, Stark. I'm talking about your little confrontation with Victor Von Doom. Sound

familiar?”

“Uh . . . . o-oh.”

Tasha guiltily scratched the back of her head before letting out a weak laugh. Fury had both of

his hands on his hips, and was giving her an extremely stern glare.

“Yeah . . . . about that . . . . well, he was, he was . . . . he was taking my tech from AIM,

and . . . . wait, why are you mad about this? Doom is the bad guy!”

“You really have no idea what you've waded into, have you?”

Rhodes unfolded his arms and walked up to Tasha, standing beside her.

“Doctor Doom is the ruler of his own country,” explained Fury. “He has diplomatic immunity.

Attacking him, especially on American soil, is a violation of international law.”

“Wait, what?!” blurted Tasha. “International . . . . and him leading an army of robots into the

UN wasn't?!”

“In case you haven't noticed, the UN doesn't exist anymore,” retorted Fury. “Tensions are at an

all time high. But despite Doom's transgressions, Latveria is still one of the most technologically

advanced superpowers on the planet, and he has strong military alliances with several important

nations. We cannot afford open war with Latveria right now. That's why the US has granted him

extended access to the country via the Latverian embassy in New York.”

“Uh, okay . . . .”

“Without the UN, international relations are up to the governments of each individual country,

and we're trying very hard to keep the peace amongst all the political fallout . . . . and you nearly

jeopardized everything!”

Tasha frowned, and made a pleading face at Rhodes.

“He's right, Tasha,” said Rhodes.

“Well . . . . sorry? Wait, no . . . . no, I'm not sorry. While you're up here in your ivory . . . .

helicarrier . . . . whatever, while you're busy serving lemonade to dictators who want to level entire

cities, I'm out there trying to stop them! I went after Doom because he was trying to get his tin fists on

my technology from AIM, who, I might add, happen to be international terrorists who just tried to kill

the fucking President!”

Fury moved his head slightly to the side in a suspicious gesture.

“AIM? This again?”

“Look, I know my appeal got tossed out, but listen to me, alright?” stammered Tasha. “They

were behind the attack on my Tower, and they were behind the attack today. They had the exact same

shuttles, exact same tech, just . . . . improved. I'm telling you, they're the bad guys here. Okay, I know, I

know they're considered a legitimate business, but they've been after me since day one, and I would

stake everything I own on them being the real force behind all this.”

Fury considered what she said for a few seconds before looking upwards.

“Hill?”

“Yes, Director?” replied Maria Hill's voice through the intercom.

“Tell Romanova to get up here.”

“She's on her way.”

Within a minute, Natalia walked into the room, wearing her tactical gear.

“You called?”

Tasha took a step back upon seeing Natalia.

“You . . . . you look just like her!”

Natalia shrugged.

“Like who?”

“Like the woman who was leading the AIM army that just ransacked San Fran International!

She had the same style of suit, but it was white instead of black, and she was blonde . . . .”

Natalia's face flushed of all colour.

“Tasha,” said Rhodes. “Where are you going with . . . .”

“Did she have a sword?” interrupted Natalia. “A katana strapped to her back?”

“Yeah!”

Natalia rushed over to one of the terminal consoles and typed in a few keys. An image of Yelena

appeared on the display.

“Her. Is this her?”

“Yeah, yeah!” answered Tasha. “Who is she?”

“An old enemy,” replied Natalia. “A very old enemy.”

“Did you see her, Colonel Rhodes?” asked Fury.

“Yes sir,” responded Rhodes. “Fought her personally when she attacked the President's

limousine. She nearly killed us all.”

Tasha looked back to Natalia.

“You two go to the same high school or something?”

“Something like that.”

“Yelena Belova,” said Fury, sneering as he looked at the screen. “Haven't seen her for a while.

Well, Miss Stark, I believe your theory may have just been given a bit more weight.”

“Why? We all friends now?”

“Not necessarily, but Agent Romanova here has done investigations in the past that have caused

her to run into some of AIM's shady dealings. We could never get anything solid, but I knew they

weren't completely legitimate.”

“Belova,” continued Natalia, “has been rumoured to have had ties with AIM for years now, via

a mutual associate . . . .”

Natalia tapped a button on the keyboard, and the image changed into a profile bio for Sunset

Bain.

“Sunset Bain.”

Tasha pointed at the image.

“Hold on a tick . . . . Sunset Bain? Who is she?”

“A very elusive businesswoman,” said Natalia. “Former CEO of a small technology firm named

Baintronics, which was bought by AIM after two years of business. She's relatively disappeared from

the public sphere, but has been continuously followed by allegations of underground arms dealing and

manufacturing. Nothing was ever proven.”

“Well tip me over and screw me sideways,” said Tasha, “cause that's our girl, right there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because your blonde beauty buddy? Belova? She specifically said to me during our scrap that

Miss Bain sent her regards.”

Fury and Natalia looked at each other.

“And when I was fighting the Soviet lolita death-bot? One that hit the expo? She said AIM had

a new leader. If Aldrich Killian is gone . . . . I'd say dear little Sunset must be his replacement.”

Natalia blinked a couple times as everyone let the information sink in.

“I'd say she's right,” stated Natalia. “It makes sense.”

“I know,” replied Fury. “That's what irks me.”

Maria Hill's voice was heard over the intercom again.

“Director.”

“What is it, Hill?”

“Science Team has something. They said they need to speak to you.”

“Put them up on screen.”

Tasha, Fury, Natalia and Rhodes all turned to face the transparent glass wall, over which a

massive holographic display appeared. It showed a laboratory inside of another segment of the

helicarrier, with the bodies of two Risk Control troopers on medical tables. The only things in the room

that were moving were the two scientists, a man and a woman: Fitz and Simmons.

Fitz was scanning the head of one of the Risk Control troopers, and Simmons was staring right

into the display.

“What do you got for me?” asked Fury.

Tasha leaned towards Rhodes' ear.

“That's SHIELD's Science Team?” whispered Tasha. “Look like they just got off the set of

Buffy.”

Rhodes rolled his eyes, with a tiny smile on his face.

“Sir,” started Simmons, “We've analyzed all of the raw data, and as far as we can ascertain, the

brains of the subjects have been radically altered.”

“She sounds just like Janice,” remarked Tasha.

“I don't acknowledge the resemblance, ma'am,” said Janice via the sensor link.

“Altered how?” asked Fury.

“Well, I'm not sure we can even classify them as organic anymore. There are a multitude of

technological components that have been integrated into every facet of the brain's chemistry.”

“Tell him about the explodey thing,” said Fitz.

“Right,” continued Simmons. “Unfortunately right now we only have a hypothesis, because we

can't verify all our findings. When we tried to perform an autopsy, most of the technological

components self-destructed, leaving . . . . a bit of a mess, actually.”

“Crazy bugger nearly took off my whole hand!” yelled Fitz.

“So what are we looking at?” asked Fury.

“Sir, I can tell you that I have never seen anything like this,” answered Simmons. “But given the

amount of modification made to the brain, even from the small amount of it we were able to see . . . .

these people were not able to think for themselves. The only possible explanation I can think of is that

whatever was injected into their brains essentially turned them into programmable machines. It's . . . .

horrifying, sir.”

“Alright,” said Fury, allowing the information to digest for a moment. “ Good work. Keep doing

what you're doing and let me know if you find anything else.”

“Will do, sir.”

The display screen turned off.

“Programmable human beings?” asked Rhodes. “What kind of sick crap is AIM doing?”

“I don't know,” replied Fury. “But we've got to . . . .”

“Oh no,” interrupted Tasha.

Tasha was still staring at the transparent glass wall. With the display screen gone, she could see

the Los Angeles skyline clearly, and the pink energy storm that was surging between some of the

buildings.

“What is that?” asked Natalia.

“Something terrible,” answered Tasha.


Chapter 7: Light Show

“Another bum patrol, Sarge?”

“Looks like it.”

Juliette shook her head and scoffed as she leaned back in her seat. She scraped her hat off of her

head with her right hand and let it fall to her lap before running her hand through her hair a few times.

Officer McGee, who was driving the police cruiser, gave her a tiny smile before returning his gaze to

the road.

He took a left on to Hollywood Boulevard.

“Don't worry, Jules,” said McGee. “We'll get you some action.”

As he said this, a large pink laser zoomed over the car. McGee slammed on his brake, and after

putting the car in park, both he and Juliette got out and looked up.

“What the . . . . hell . . . .”

Lines of magenta coloured mist began to swell and consume the air between the buildings as

surges of pink electricity ran along the windows. A fevered buzzing drowned the rest of the noise from

the atmosphere as the pulses of energy grew more powerful with each passing moment. Glittering

ripples of light danced back and forth through the air, forming schizophrenic zigzag and crisscross

patterns at random.

Clutching her gun with both hands, Juliette trepidly glanced at McGee.

“S . . . . S-Sarge? A-Any . . . . any idea, w-what, what this . . . .”

“No, kid. I don't.”

The sky was then set alight, burning with a wave of pink fire that felt like it was nearly as bright

as the sun. McGee, Juliette and the hundreds of people on the ground all looked away in pain, covering

their eyes from the ocular onslaught. The energy supernova was accompanied by a startling, garbled

shriek that pierced the eardrums of everyone within its radius.

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!!!”

McGee moved his hand away from his eyes as he watched the wave of pink fire transform into

a humanoid construct of light energy. The construct floated twenty metres in the air, in front of a tall

building. McGee narrowed his eyes and dropped his mouth in awe as Arthur finished his transition into

his construct form.

A massive image of Arthur’s face and torso was then displayed across all of the windows of the

building behind him, mirroring his movements.

“PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!”

Juliette felt her breathing slow to a standstill as she listened to Arthur’s bellows.

“I AM . . . . I AM . . . . THE LIIIIIIIIVING LAAAAAAAASER!”

Everyone on the ground was transfixed by what they saw before them. Even the dogs didn’t

bark because of how stunned they were. There were no sounds but Arthur’s.

“I was . . . . once one of you . . . . a meagre being of flesh and blood . . . . but I have been . . . .

REBORN! RENEWED! I have become that which is greater than all of your worthless lives

combined . . . . I . . . . AM . . . . POWER!!!!”

McGee and Juliette looked at each other for a brief moment, and they could feel each other’s

fear.

“I have . . . . only one . . . . question for you,” stated Arthur.

Everyone’s heart skipped a beat.

“WHERE . . . . IS . . . . TASHA STARK?!?!”

* * * *

“Tasha!”

Tasha shook her head at Rhodes as the Juliet armour finished wrapping itself around her body.

She walked towards one of the airlocks at the side of the helicarrier.

“Don’t you see, Rhodey? This explains why AIM attacked my building. They broke into the

containment lab and stole something that was off the record . . . . the arc reactor that was storing

Arthur.”

“If that’s true, then you know that this is way too dangerous!”

“It doesn’t matter. I have to do this. Look at what AIM already did today! Attacking the

President? Giant indestructible armour? Armies of mind-controlled soldiers? And now Arthur, one of

the most powerful beings I’ve ever seen, is out there, because of them? If I don’t stop him, Arthur will

hurt people . . . . and if AIM is helping him . . . .”

“Listen to yourself!” yelled Rhodes.

Tasha looked at Rhodes with concern. Fury was standing beside him, his arms folded.

“You barely survived this morning!” continued Rhodes. “Who’s to say what AIM has waiting

for you this time? They want you gone, Tasha. You're not some kind of war machine. You’re gonna get

yourself killed if you go out there alone!”

“Colonel Rhodes speaks truthfully ma’am. We don’t know if . . . .”

“Shut up, Janice!” snapped Tasha, turning around and standing in front of the airlock. “Fury,

open the door.”

Fury didn’t respond.

“Open the door!”

“Tasha!” chided Rhodes.

“You can’t help me!”

Rhodes took a step back at the volume of Tasha’s voice.

“What are you gonna do? Shoot your gun? Arthur is made of pure energy! I’m the only one who

can stop him! You can’t help me with this. SHIELD can’t help me with this. No one can help me with

this.”

“But . . . .”

“I've beaten him before. I'll find a way.”

Rhodes frowned, unsure of what to say next.

“I have to do this . . . . alone.”

Tasha looked at Fury.

“Open the door, Fury, or I make my own.”

Fury scowled for a moment.

“Hill.”

The airlock sealed behind Tasha before opening on the other side.

“Tell your people to stay back, Fury,” ordered Tasha. “They can't deal with something like this.

I guarantee it.”

“You'd be surprised,” replied Fury.

Tasha then flew through the open door before it closed again. Rhodes sighed in frustration as he

wondered if his friend was heading towards her own certain death.

* * * *

“GIVE ME TASHA STARK . . . . NOW!!!!!!!!!!”

The crowds screamed and fled in terror as multiple streams of light energy cascaded through the

air and struck the ground, annihilating vehicles and pieces of the road. Grimacing with both unbridled

anger and sadistic delight, Arthur fired another ricochet laser blast from his right hand, which lashed

against the ground several times, just behind the feet of fleeing civilians.

“Get more back-up down here!”

McGee put down his radio and took aim at Arthur again, firing all of the bullets in his clip at the

villain. Juliette did the same, but they had zero effect.

“This ain’t workin’, Sarge! It doesn’t hit him!”

McGee looked at his empty gun and threw it against the ground.

“Sarge?! What do we do?”

Juliette looked up at McGee as she waited for some form of direction. For the first time since he

was assigned as her superior, he honestly didn’t have any. Looking up past her, he saw Arthur firing

another laser blast from his left hand, and that it was headed straight for them.

“Get down!”

McGee seized Juliette around the torso, before pulling her to the floor along with him. The laser

blast struck their squad car, which they had been using for cover. The car split in half, with both

segments soaring over their bodies. Arthur followed up with another blast, which sent another car into

the air.

McGee and Juliette looked up from their prone position to see that the car’s trajectory would

land it right on top of them. Juliette yelled in fear as McGee held her close. Mere moments before the

car would have landed on them, Tasha flew overhead and caught the car, before heaving it away from

the two officers.

“You two!” she shouted. “Get out of here! Tell LAPD to stay back! You can’t handle this!”

McGee nodded in understand before helping Juliette to her feet. McGee grabbed his radio off of

his belt and started yelling into it as they ran off with the rest of the crowd. Tasha then turned around to

face Arthur.

“Arthur!”

Arthur stopped firing lasers and looked at Tasha, laughing with satisfaction upon seeing her.

“Iron Maiden . . . . at long last, we finally meet again.”

“Arthur! Stop this! You wanna fight? Fight me, but leave these people out of this!”

“Oh, of course, of course . . . . I was only trying to draw you out . . . . so I can PUNISH YOU

FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE!”

“What did I do, Arthur?!”

“YOU . . . . SSSSSSSTOLE FROM ME! YOU USED ME! YOU SAID YOU WOULD HELP

ME, BUT INSTEAD . . . . YOU TOOK MY WORK, MY DESIGN, AND STOLE IT FOR

YOURSELF!!!!!!”

Tasha shook her head.

“That’s what this is about?! The Proton Cannon?”

“YES! My new friends . . . . Advanced Idea Mechanics . . . . they set me free and told me what

you did. How you stole my laser grid design . . . . FOR YOUR OWN PROFIT!”

Tasha hovered closer to Arthur, noting in her head that the street and surrounding area was

nearly clear of civilians.

“Arthur, listen to me . . . .”

Arthur growled at her. Tasha held out her hands in a calming gesture.

“Listen . . . . the people from AIM are not your friends. They don't care about you. They're using

you, can't you see that? They just wanted to give you a reason to fight me, because they want me dead!

As soon as they have what they want, they'll get rid of you too!”

“No . . . . No . . . . they want me. They need me. You were the one who wanted me gone . . . .

that's why you hid me away . . . . so you didn't have to help me . . . .”

“I wanted to help you, Arthur! I tried! I did! But I needed more time to study and understand the

laser matrix . . . . I had to work with the tech to find a way to reverse the process . . . . I wanted to do it.

Not just for you, but for your sister, Judy!”

“NO MORE LIES!!!! You never would have helped me . . . .”

“Arthur!”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT! ARTHUR PARKS . . . . IS DEAD!!!! THERE IS ONLY . . . .”

Arthur held out both hands, and light energy from neon signs and other sources started draining

into his body.

“THE LIVING . . . . LASER!!!!”

Arthur combined both of his arms and fired one gigantic laser blast, which Tasha boosted out of

the way of with her shoulder jets. The massive blast left a large, crater-like sear across both lanes of the

road.

“Match energy signature,” said Tasha. “And reverse unibeam polarity!”


In his true laser form, Arthur bounced from building to building before slashing past Tasha's

waist. She fired off a repulsor shot from her right hand, but he avoided it. She fired off several quick

shots with both hands, but he weaved through all of them before leaping directly at her from the front.

Tasha held her chest open, ready to fire the unibeam vortex.

“Not this time!”

Arthur exploded into mist just as Tasha activated the vortex. She looked around in confusion for

a few moments before the mist reappeared behind her, and Arthur reformed himself. Tasha turned

around just in time to see Arthur as he punched her across the face.

“Ugh!”

Tasha aerially rolled backwards several times before she regained her hovering position.

“I've learned a new trick since our last encounter,” said Arthur, waving a finger side to side.

“Your little trap won't work this time!”

Arthur fired a pulse of energy from his body, which turned into a dozen prismatic lasers, all of

them aimed at Tasha. She held both of her arms in front of her face, activating her defense shield. The

shield absorbed the laser attacks, before converting all the power to her unibeam, which she fired

directly at Arthur, striking him in the chest.

“Ayugh!”

Tasha tried to follow up her attack with more repulsor blasts, but Arthur started moving too fast.

She then boosted away from him, leading him along as he gave chase. She continuously tried to hit him

with repulsor shots, but he always bounced away or turned into his mist form before they could land.

* * * *

Sunset, Brandt and DeWitt were watching the battle through the display screen, inside of the

shuttle that was hidden nearby. As the struggle continued, Brandt began chewing on her left index

fingernail. Sunset did nothing but slowly narrow her eyes.

A man in a red hazmat suit walked up behind them. It had a domed facial section, showing that

he had green skin, with his bones visibly glowing through it. He had an internal gas mask over his face,

and his breathing was heavy and laboured.

“Is it time?” asked Chen.

Sunset licked her lips.

“Go.”

* * * *

“This isn't the sorta light show I typically like! Any suggestions, Jan?!”

“I might be able to come up with something, but I would hate to be told to 'shut up' again, as

you say.”

“Oh, come on!”

Flying close to the abandoned street, Tasha lobbed a cluster grenade from her wrist, which split

into a dozen spherical explosives that rolled along the street under her. They started a chain reaction of

explosions that tore at Arthur, but they only slowed him down. Wailing with fury, Arthur caught up to

Tasha and seized her by the throat.

“This time . . . . YOU DIE!!!!”

Holding her with his left hand, Arthur started to climb higher and higher into the sky, until he

was well above the precipice of the tallest buildings in the city. His hand repeatedly surged energy

through Tasha's suit, with the pain lashing at her skin. Once he reached a suitable altitude, Arthur held

her up with both hands.

“And now . . . . everyone . . . . will see me . . . . DESTROY YOU!”

Tasha groaned as Arthur tried to suffocate her.

“N-not . . . . t-this . . . . time!”

Tasha placed her hands on both of Arthur's temples, firing both repulsors at full power. The

double attack to Arthur's head caused him to let go of her and fly away, reeling in pain.

“RYYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAARGH!”

Gripping his head with both hands, Arthur shook it back and forth. Tasha fired a unibeam blast

at him, knocking him further away. He then boosted downwards, and Tasha followed suit. When he

landed on the ground, he punched down with one fist, creating a massive energy shockwave that fired

in all directions for almost a hundred metres.

The shockwave tore apart all of the vehicles and other items, littering the streets with debris. It

even broke apart the sections of the some of the nearby buildings. The high end of the shockwave

struck Tasha, causing her to crash into the ground, rolling over almost a dozen times before she came to

a stop.

Sputtering profusely, Tasha found herself nearly out of breath as she struggled to pull herself

together. Her armour was gashed at several points, and she was physically exhausted. She was only

able to get herself to one knee as she looked up at Arthur, who was now floating in the air, laughing.

“Ma'am . . . . suit integrity is decreasing rapidly,” reported Janice. “You will not be able sustain

this battle for much longer.”

“I know.”

Tasha then felt her heart sink in her chest as she saw a red sports-car driving down the street

towards her. She barely had time to register that threat when she saw that Chen Lu, the Radioactive

Man, was being airdropped by an AIM shuttle high above the city. He landed on the ground, and

looked up at Tasha with a sinister glare. Anya transformed out of her car mode and into her armour

form before equipping her rotating laser cannons.

All three supervillains stood side to side, all of them looking directly at Tasha. For the first time

since she was inside that tiny cave in China, Tasha felt true fear.


Chapter 8: Lethal Legion

Pepper stormed her way up to Rhodes as he walked in through the front door of the lobby. Her

freckled cheeks were even more splotchy red than usual due to the tears streaming down her face.

Happy and Stane, who were standing in front of the lobby desk, didn't follow, but kept their sullen eyes

on her. The SHIELD Quinjet that dropped off Rhodes flew back up into the sky.

Rhodes did not have time to speak before Pepper began futilely stamping both of her fists

repeatedly against his chest. Rendered unable to move not by physicality but by emotion, Rhodes just

stood there and allowed Pepper to continue. After a couple of minutes, she wore herself out and simply

slumped her face against his chest, bawling into his shirt.

Sighing and reaching out with both arms, Rhodes placed his hands on the back of her shoulders,

holding her close. She dug both sets of fingernails into his shirt, scrunching up the parts of fabric that

she had seized. Happy looked up over Rhodes' head to see the pink energy storm in the distance. Stane

had his hands in his pockets and was staring at the ground, with his eyes closed.

After another moment, Stane's eyes burst open.

“I know what to do!”

Stane then grabbed at Happy's arm before running towards the door. Happy followed him with a

confused look on his face.

“Where are you going?!”

“We can help her! We can help her!”

Stane ran through the front door, with Happy not far behind. Pepper stopped sobbing and raised

an eyebrow. Before Rhodes could go after Stane, Janice's voice was heard.

“Colonel Rhodes . . . .”

Rhodes looked upwards.

“I believe I may be able to supply a way to assist Miss Stark.”

* * * *

Anya took another step forward, slamming her foot down on the gravel beneath it. The

shockwave from the pressure she exerted with her step startled Tasha, who was still struggling to stay

on one knee. She pawed at the ground with both hands, trying to stop herself from falling on to her

side. Her vision was muddled and her breathing was laboured, and she felt like she could pass out at

any given moment.

Arthur started to giggle with unbridled glee at seeing Tasha stumbling about. Anya continued to

spin her rotating hand cannons, but did not take aim. Chen sneered as he regarded the compromised foe

before him. He then pulled a small metallic orb from a pouch on his hazmat suit and tossed it into the

air. It floated a few metres away from Tasha, who looked up at it with uncertainty.

A few rays of light shined through cracks in the orb before they formed a fully sized hologram

of Sunset. She had her hands behind her back, and unabashedly grinned upon seeing the state that

Tasha was in. Wickedly laughing under her breath for several moments, Sunset then wiped her mouth

with one of her gloved hands.

Opening up her face plate, Tasha glared at her new archenemy.

“Sunset Bain.”

Sunset slowed clapped her hands together.

“Come now, Stark. Even you have to admit . . . . this is spectacular, isn't it?”

Tasha furrowed her brow, but otherwise didn't respond. Sunset laughed again, this time at a

lower volume.

“Not feeling so invincible now, are we?”

“Go to hell.”

“I'm disappointed. Where's the famous Stark wit? Finally realized that it can't save you?”

Tasha gritted her teeth against each other, knowing that she honestly couldn't answer the

question.

“You really should have seen this one coming,” continued Sunset. “For all your alleged

brilliance, you were completely unprepared for the retaliation that was coming your way. It was

inevitably going to happen sooner or later. After all . . . . you've made many enemies, Tasha Stark.”

Tasha gulped and looked from each villain to the next in turn as her breathing quickened. Sunset

scoffed at her before starting to turn away.

“Tear her apart.”

The hologram dissipated, and the orb flew back into Chen's hand. With one hand clutching her

chest plate and the other pressed against the ground, Tasha stared down her three opponents. Anya's

rotating hand cannons started spinning faster. Chen's palms glowed with green, irradiated energy.

Arthur's entire body began surging with pink and white electricity.

Tasha then closed her face plate.

Arthur, Anya and Chen all attacked simultaneously.

Arthur fired a laser blast from his left hand.

Anya unleashed the full power of her rotating laser cannons.

Chen emitted streams of focused radiation from both palms.

All of the attacks struck the ground where Tasha was, creating a large cloud of dust. Anya

immediately started scanning the cloud with her internal heads-up display, but didn't detect any

movement. Just as the scan turned up negative, she heard the sound of two cluster bombs being

launched.

All three villains looked up to see Tasha flying high above them, with her cluster bombs

dropping directly downward.

“Ayugh!”

The bombs blew away Chen, who crumpled to the ground on his side. Arthur was split apart by

the sheer force of the explosions, turning into his mist form by necessity. Anya's armour was slightly

scathed, and she was knocked back. She quickly recovered and began firing both of her rotating hand

cannons at Tasha, who started flying in a circular pattern to dodge them.

“Shoulder rockets!”

Twin sets of miniature rocket launchers equipped themselves to Tasha's shoulders, and she

unleashed the full payload of both salvos. Having reformed himself, Arthur boosted into the neon lights

of a nearby building to dodge the attack. Anya tried to deflect the missiles with her arms, but the large

amount of them blasted her backwards and into a parked truck, splitting it in half.

Tasha boosted down to the ground, seeing that Chen had recovered from the cluster bomb

attack. She fired two repulsor shots at him, but he absorbed them with his radiation shield. He

counterattacked with a radiation blast, which Tasha leaped over before landing a rocket kick on his

chest.

The force of the kick caused parts of his suit to nearly buckle. Spinning around with the attack,

Chen slashed at Tasha with a charged hand chop, gashing at part of her chest plate. He tried to grab her

face with her other hand, but Tasha ducked under his attempted grapple before landing an uppercut that

was powered up with her musculature servos.

“Urgh!”

Staggering backwards, Chen again emitted a stream of radiation from his right hand. Tasha

braced herself, and looked at the internal radiation shield metre on her heads-up display, which read

that it had absorbed the attack. Smirking to herself, Tasha then jumped over Chen and reached for the

crimson canister on his back, with the green radiation valves.

“Let's take you out of . . . .”

Tasha punched at the valves, causing a loud clanging noise. She groaned in pain, having

miscalculated how hard she was supposed to punch. Laughing, Chen reached up with both hands,

grabbing her and throwing her off.

“My canister has been reinforced since last time! You won't be able to . . . .”

Tasha fired a quick unibeam blast, knocking Chen to the ground.

“Shut up!”

She barely had time to register her minor victory as Arthur charged at her from behind. She

boosted into the air as he fired a downwards laser blast, hitting the spot where she was only a few

milliseconds earlier. Pushing herself off of the truck that her armour had decimated, Anya's heads-up

display targeted Tasha as she was being chased by Arthur. Locking on, Anya then fired a set of homing

missiles from her right hand.

“Target locked, ma'am!”

“Launch flares!”

Four flares jettisoned themselves out of her shoulders, creating a blinding vortex of light. Most

of the missiles were diverted from their path, harmlessly smashing into empty roads or sides of

buildings. The flares also caused Arthur to shriek in pain.

“RYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAARRRRRRUGH!”

Doubling back, Tasha blasted through Arthur, who was then hit by the last two missiles. The

physical collision did nothing, but the missiles then exploded upon hitting each other, blasting Arthur

into his mist form.

Anya growled under her breath as Tasha headed straight for her.

* * * *

The bloodthirsty rage in Sunset's eyes continued to grow as she watched the battle through

DeWitt's monitors. Her arms were folded over her chest, and she was relentlessly clicking the

fingernails on her right hand against her left forearm. DeWitt gulped when he looked up at her, not

daring to speak.

“This shouldn't be this hard,” said Sunset, forcefully spitting her words through her grated teeth.

She then instantaneously broke into a furious roar.

“DYNAMO! KILL HER ALREADY!!!!”

Brandt shied away from Sunset, feeling as if the enraged woman could lash out and personally

massacre everyone there in the shuttle at a moment's notice.

* * * *

Anya aimed both of her cannons forward, but they were blasted away by Tasha's repulsor shots.

Startled for a moment, Anya was then on the receiving end of a powered haymaker punch from Tasha,

which struck her hard enough to seriously stagger her. Anya fell back onto one knee, her internal

techno-organic form jostled by the force of Tasha's attack.

Chen, who was standing nearby, charged both of his palms with radiation and fired two blasts at

the ground, launching himself upwards. Tasha looked to the side in surprise at seeing his new ability,

and she was too shocked to react as he tackled her out of the air. Jabbing her in the throat, he then

manoeuvred himself so as to slam her body face first into the pavement.

“AGH!”

Jamming his left fist against her back, Chen let the radiation from his palm seep into Tasha's

armour. Unable to take the gruelling pain, she fired a unibeam blast, which blew both herself and Chen

into the air. As Chen stumbled onto his back, he fired off a radiation beam, which struck Tasha in the

side.

Cringing, she was unable to dodge two pinpoint laser shots from Arthur, which knocked her out

of the air and back onto her knees. Anya, stepping forward, equipped her power beam cannon module

for her left hand, and fired a single concussive shot, which hit Tasha square in the body. She was sent

flailing through the air before she crashed against the ground. She opened up her face plate to spit out

blood as unspeakable agony reverberated through all of her bones.

“Ma'am, your armour integrity is at critical levels . . . . might I suggest that you retrea . . . .”

For the first time ever, Tasha muted Janice. Laying on her side, she just breathed in and out a

few times, letting herself fester in her own thoughts. She then pushed herself to her knees and stared at

the ground in front of her. She could feel the three supervillains slowly approaching her from behind,

but did not turn to face them.

* * * *

Rhodes and Pepper walked towards armour containers at the side of the penthouse apartment.

They looked at each other in confusion.

“Alright, Janice,” said Rhodes. “What do you got?”

“I was unsure if my course of action would be appropriate, Colonel Rhodes, but I feel now that

I have no choice but to act.”

“What does that mean?” asked Pepper.

“I was programmed to assist Miss Stark in any and all ways possible. Her safety is my utmost

priority. However, her recent behaviour and commands have led me to . . . . an impasse, so to speak. I

now am charged with protecting Miss Stark from herself by performing an action that she may not

approve of.”

“If it keeps her safe,” said Rhodes, “then you're doing the right thing.”

“Very well, Colonel Rhodes. I had considered something along these lines before, but after the

tumultuous conversation you and Miss Stark shared last night, I decided that it would be most pertinent

of me to finally put my idea into practice.”

Both Rhodes and Pepper stood back in shock as one of the armour containers opened, revealing

something they were certainly not expecting. It was an armour designed specifically for a male, with

broader shoulders and a flat chest plate in comparison to the typical Iron Maiden models. It had a gun-

metal grey colour scheme, a square arc reactor, and a twin-barrel cannon affixed to the left shoulder.

Pepper dropped her jaw upon seeing the armour.

“Is . . . . is that . . . .”

“I had been searching for suitable nomenclature for the armour, but decided upon a particular

phrase you used whilst on the SHIELD helicarrier,” explained Janice. “I believe you shall find it most

agreeable. I present: the Mark One War Machine armour.”

Rhodes took a step forward, looking at the armour in awe.

“I . . . . I don't know what to say.”

“You are not required to say anything. Miss Stark needs your help, Colonel Rhodes, and this is

the best way to give her that.”

Rhodes steeled himself as he considered Janice's words. He then nodded and approached the

armour container.

* * * *

Anya malevolently chuckled as she took another step towards Tasha, who was still on her knees,

facing away.

“You were barely able to defeat any of us when we fought you alone,” remarked Anya. “What

hope have you to survive against all of us?”

Tasha's response was beleaguered by her heavy breathing.

“Maybe none, Anastasia. Maybe . . . . there's no way I survive this one. Doesn't matter . . . .

because either way . . . . I'd never back down from the likes of you.”

Tasha closed her face plate again, and charged both of her repulsor palms with energy.

“I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!”

Turning around, Tasha started to relentlessly fire repulsor shots at all of the villains, who were

stunned by the ferocity of her attack. Activating her booster jets and agility servos, she managed to

keep up the offensive pressure while avoiding both radiation blasts and laser shots. Charging forward,

she landed on double kick on Chen's chest, knocking him away.

Arthur tried to fire a large laser burst at Tasha, but she dodged by performing a backflip. The

burst struck Anya's side, who groaned at the friendly fire. Tasha then quickly turned and fired two

repulsor blasts at Arthur, causing him to stumble. Her heads-up display temporarily scrambled by

Arthur's laser, Anya was unprepared for Tasha's physical assault, which consisted of a dozen punches to

the body powered by her suit's musculature servos.

“Get . . . . away!”

Anya blindly lashed out with her arm, bashing her hand against Tasha's chin, who yelped upon

feeling the force of the blow. Boosting backwards to regain control of her flight, she saw that Arthur

was again chasing after her. This time, she flew directly towards him, meeting him head on. Just as they

were about to collide, Tasha fired a quick shot at a fire hydrant that was beneath them.

The hydrant exploded, causing it to emit a large jet of water into the air at high velocity. Tasha

then flew under Arthur, allowing him to crash right into the water stream. His body was refracted as he

phased through the water, and when he emerged through the other side, he was disoriented and

screaming.

Picking himself off the floor again, Chen growled upon seeing that Tasha was still not beaten.

He charged his palms with radiation and was about to attack her from a distance when he heard the

screech of a turning car.

“Huh?”

Chen turned his head just in time to see Happy's car barrelling towards him. He didn't have time

to move, and was struck by the front end, sending him careening backwards. He crashed into a bus stop

shelter, and was finally knocked unconscious. Stepping out of the driver's seat, Happy aimed his pistol

at the fallen villain.

As Tasha was again punched away by Anya, she then turned to see Stane clambering out of

Happy's car.

“The hell are you doing?! Get outta here!”

“Not without this!” yelled Stane.

He rushed around the car, revealing that he was holding the Proton Cannon. Glancing from

Arthur, who was recovering from being refracted, and Anya, who was arming her rotating hand

cannons, Tasha made her choice.

She fired a wrist rocket at Anya's chest, knocking her off balance. She then flew straight for

Stane, who tossed the Proton Cannon into the air. Grabbing it with both hands, she set the power level

to maximum and aimed it at Arthur, who was about to regain full control of his form.

“I'm sorry, Arthur.”

Arthur looked at Tasha, seemingly incognisant of what was happening. She then fired the

Proton Cannon, which struck Arthur square in the chest.

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYGH!”

Frozen in place by the force of the beam, Arthur shrieked as loud as he could. Slowly unfurling

his limbs, Arthur sustained his yell as the pink energy within his body turned all white. His agony was

finally ended when he violently exploded, dissipating into hundreds of tiny flickers that quickly faded

into nothingness.

Falling to the ground with exhaustion, Tasha was woefully unprepared for Anya's counterattack.

The villain threw a downward punch that stomped Tasha against the ground, before she stepped on and

crushed the Proton Cannon.

“No!”

Happy fired five shots from his pistol, but they had no effect on Anya, who backhanded him.

Happy was then knocked into Stane, and the two fell to the floor in a heap. Tasha pleadingly reached

out her hand, but she knew that she could do nothing to help her friends.

“I've had enough!” yelled Anya.

Reaching down, Anya grabbed Tasha by the legs. Holding her up, Anya then savagely smashed

Tasha against the ground four times before throwing her back to the floor. The bestial force of Anya's

attacks shattered most of the armour, with many of the pieces breaking off of Tasha's body. Moaning as

her entire body went numb, she was completely incapable of struggling any longer.

Anya then grasped Tasha's helmet and tore it off of her face. Looking down at her enemy, who

was now stripped of her armour, Anya then held her fist back for the finishing blow.

“Wait!”

Anya halted upon hearing Sunset's voice.

“What?”

“I have a better idea,” said Sunset. “Bring her to me.”

Anya clenched her fist even tighter for several seconds before finally relenting. She then

reached down and picked Tasha off the ground as the AIM shuttle hovered nearby. Holding Tasha close

to her chest, Anya transformed into her rectangular transportation module, which placed the

unconscious Tasha safely inside her.

A squad of Risk Control troopers picked up both Happy and Stane, and brought them onto the

shuttle. The shuttle then flew over to Anya's still form, latching her to the bottom of the craft. The AIM

shuttle, with Anya and by extension Tasha in tow, then flew off into the sky, just out of reach of

multiple SHIELD Quinjets that had arrived on the scene.


Chapter 9: Bain of Your Existence

Standing still with his arms outstretched, Rhodes patiently waited as the mechanical limbs

assembled the armour around his body. After stepping into the boots, which latched around his ankles

and formed themselves up to his knees, he felt the line of metal plates for the arms unfold and wrap

themselves around his limbs.

Rhodes stretched out his fingers as the metallic gloves were locked into place. Turning both of

his palms over to look at the repulsors, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. The pelvis plate was lined

up and placed as the chest plate unfolded so as to fit over Rhodes' torso. The two chest segments locked

into each other, connected by the square arc reactor.

Branching off from the chest plates were the shoulder guards, stomach lining and back plates,

all automatically fitting themselves to the contours of Rhodes' chiseled form. He held his head up high

and straight as a mechanical arm lowered the helmet to the base of his neck. After the helmet wrapped

itself around his head and the face plate locked into place, the internal heads-up display appeared

before Rhodes' eyes.

Many blue, holographic data feeds and graphs formed all at once. Rhodes was initially put off

by the amount of information he was being bombarded with. Janice's voice then spoke to him through

the armour.

“Do not be perturbed, Colonel Rhodes. I shall do everything in my power to ensure that you

adjust quickly to all of the armour's functionality.”

“Right.”

Stepping down from the assembly platform and towards Pepper, Rhodes then put both of his

fists on his hips and pumped out his chest, smirking at her.

“So . . . . how do I look?”

Pepper would never admit it, but she felt an odd mixture of awe and arousal upon seeing

Rhodes pose in the armour. Before she could think of a suitable answer to give him, Janice spoke

through the apartment's loudspeaker.

“Colonel Rhodes, Miss Potts.”

“What is it?” asked Pepper.

“I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news . . . . Miss Stark is gone.”

Rhodes' eyes flared up.

“Gone?!”

“AIM has taken her. They have done the same with Mister Stane and Mister Hogan. They're

gone.”

Pepper placed one of her palms on her chest, emotionally overwhelmed but silent. Rhodes

steeled himself before asking his question.

“Where's SHIELD?”

* * * *

“This is a goddamned mess.”

Fury was standing on Hollywood Boulevard, in the aftermath of Tasha's battle with Anya,

Arthur and Chen. Natalia was standing next to him, with her arms folded over her chest. Most of the

surrounding blocks had been evacuated, and now police forces and clean-up crews had started to filter

into the area.

Large chunks of debris were scattered across the entire block. Many of the buildings had

suffered moderate to severe damage from laser blasts or missile collisions. Over a dozen wrecked

vehicles littered the ground, including a truck that was on fire and split in half that was being hosed

down with water by a team from the LA Fire Department.

“At least Hoag will be happy,” said Natalia.

“Yeah,” said Fury. “She's making a killing the last couple years. Tampa, New York, now this?”

“Maybe we should start investigating her,” chided Natalia. “Maybe she's the true mastermind

behind it all.”

Fury shook his head, deflecting her attempt at humour. He then watched as an unconscious

Chen was loaded by four officers into a large truck with a radiation containment unit. Natalia glanced

from the truck to Fury.

“Ravencroft?”

“Yeah. Science Team's already designing his cell.”

“Director . . . . what do we do about Stark?”

“Given what's happened here, I'd say we have to . . . .”

Fury was interrupted by the sound of something flying above him. Knowing that it wasn't one of

the SHIELD Quinjets, both he and Natalia looked up and saw an armoured humanoid hovering

overhead. They both silently gasped, not knowing who it was.

The armoured figure then landed on the ground next to them, and the face plate retracted to

reveal Rhodes.

“Director.”

Fury took a moment before responding.

“You know, Colonel . . . . it isn't often someone surprises me.”

“You think that I thought I would be in this armour today . . . . you'd be wrong.”

“I didn't think Stark would build someone else a suit.”

“She didn't.”

Fury raised an eyebrow.

“Long story,” said Rhodes. “What's the report?”

“Probably around a billion dollars in property damage and one kidnapped superhero,” answered

Natalia. “We tried to get a lead on the shuttle's location, but they got away.”

“Not for long,” said Rhodes. “Janice! What's the status on Tasha's sensor link?”

Janice spoke in external mode, so that Fury and Natalia could hear her.

“The sensor link is non-damaged and functioning perfectly. I have Miss Stark's exact

geographical location. I can upload my tracking system to SHIELD's servers if given access via a

terminal on the helicarrier.”

“More than we had a minute ago,” said Fury.

“How is she?” asked Rhodes.

“Still unconscious, but she is alive.”

“Where's she now?”

“She has stopped moving. I believe the shuttle has arrived at its destination. They are in

Colorado, specifically within the Rocky Mountains.”

“The Rockies?” asked Fury. “The hell they doing out there?”

“I do not know, Director,” replied Janice. “However, given Advanced Idea Mechanics'

preference for secrecy, I believe that they may have constructed a covert base in the middle of the

mountain range for their illegal research. It would be appropriate, given that it is extremely unlikely

that anyone would stumble upon them, especially if the base has a way of cloaking itself to look like a

part of the scenery.”

Rhodes lowered his face plate.

“I'm going after her.”

“With what?” asked Natalia. “Just you? All we know, that base might have heavy defenses, or

armies of troops!”

“Doesn't SHIELD have an army for something like this?”

“We're not as big of an organization as you think,” said Fury.

“So what? You gonna let her die? You gonna let AIM get away with all this?!”

“No.”

Fury sighed and stroked his chin.

“I don't have an army . . . . but I know someone who does.”

* * * *

The world was blurry.

Vague shadows of white and grey floated in and out of vision, seemingly non-committal about

whether they wanted to be seen. Violent light poured into Tasha's eye sockets, and then was stripped

away. Sounds that were garbled words of gibberish tickled the tips of her ear drums, not bothering to go

any further.

Then, as she was about to fall back to sleep, she heard something she could make out.

“Wake her up.”

The world was clear.

Tasha was secured to a vertical medical table, with all four of her limbs latched to it via metal

braces. Her clothes were soaked with sweat and blood, and her arc reactor glowed through her thin,

weathered shirt. Much of her skin was bruised with splashes of deep blue and sickly yellow, and she

was covered in cuts from her battle in Los Angeles.

None of that mattered to her, for she was too busy staring into the eyes of her archenemy.

“Good morning, Miss Stark,” said Sunset.

“You.”

Sunset grinned upon being addressed by Tasha. They were standing inside of a relatively

nondescript medical room, with four Risk Control troopers standing near the only entrance, two on

each side of the door. Tasha scowled as hard as she could at Sunset, but she was well aware that her

facial gestures would not improve her situation.

For her part, Sunset zealously laughed to herself, revelling in her victory.

“I do work fast, don't I?” asked Sunset. “Less than thirty six hours after seizing control of this

organization, and here I have you, delivered right to order.”

Sunset indulged herself in another few seconds of joyous laughter before continuing.

“Killian was after you for years . . . . what did he accomplish? Nothing! I should have ousted

him a long time ago . . . . but, patience is a virtue, I suppose. Doesn't matter now. I've wanted you for so

long . . . . and now I finally have you . . . . the Invincible Iron Maiden . . . . the great Tasha Stark . . . . at

my disposal.”

Tasha squinted her eyes as she thought about Sunset's last statement.

“You know, for someone I've never met, you seem kinda obsessed, lady. Not that I haven't

gotten that before.”

All of the joy in Sunset's face was immediately flushed away. Her lower jaw fell as her left eye

incessantly twitched.

“N-Never . . . . met?”

“Yeah . . . .”

“You mean . . . . you . . . . y-you . . . . you don't remember me?!”

“Should I?”

Sunset's eyes widened in absolute shock.

“Was it at a technology conference in Switzerland? Please tell me it wasn't. I feel like I've

forgotten too many people from that thing . . . .”

Tasha was cut off by Sunset screaming and backhanding her across the face with one of her

gloved hands. The stinging pain of the slap made it feel like her entire right cheek had been scalded by

burning liquid. Wincing and breathing fast, she could only glare again at the woman standing before

her.

Sunset was not looking at Tasha, instead staring off at the wall. Both of her hands were at her

sides, with her arms tensed to the point that it seemed like they were going to snap off. Her fingers

were outstretched, curled and locked into place, and her palms were violently vibrating along with her

shoulders.

She was hyperventilating through grated teeth, clearly seething with uncontrollable indignation.

It took her a couple of minutes to recover from this vexed state, upon which she slurped down a heavy

dose of oxygen. Closing her eyes, she wiped one of her hands down the front end of her dress, and after

straightening her back and reorienting herself, she turned back to Tasha.

Sunset opened her mouth to speak, but still needed another minute before she could address

Tasha again.

“No. Not Switzerland.”

Tasha licked a cut on the inside of her cheek.

“Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” said Sunset, her voice raspy and contemptuous. “Your

graduating year. The night . . . . before . . . . the final grades were announced.”

Tasha shook her head once.

“We met . . . . in the dorm house. There was a party . . . . and you . . . .”

“Party?” asked Tasha, giving Sunset a jovial smile. “Girl, you met me at a party, especially once

term was over . . . . I mean, I know me. I woulda been wicked drunk, heh heh. I wasn't gonna

remember anything from that.”

Sunset breathed in and out several more times, finding it more and more difficult to maintain

her composure.

“Did I say something to you?” said Tasha. “Steal your boyfriend, maybe?”

“The marks . . . . they w-were posted in the morning . . . . you were . . . .”

Tasha blinked.

“. . . . First.”

“And I was . . . . not.”

“That's what this is about?” asked Tasha, genuinely surprised, but also disgusted. “You went to

all this trouble . . . . cause you came in second place? That's a loss to you?”

Sunset roared with wild abandon, slapping Tasha on the left cheek this time.

“YOU'RE THE ONE WHO LOST!!!!”

Tasha winced at the pain.

“Without your armour, you're nothing!” yelled Sunset. “Without your inventions, you're

nothing! Without your tools, without your gadgets, without those pathetic little servants you call friends

. . . . YOU'RE NOTHING!!!!!!!!”

Sunset ended her tirade with both of her hands held in front of her, squeezing on invisible orbs

of air in frustration. Tasha spit on the floor in front of her.

“So what now?” asked Tasha. “Gonna indulge your little revenge fantasy? You really think that

gives you power, don't you?”

Snarling at Tasha, Sunset pulled out her pistol and shot a bullet through the brain of one of the

Risk Control troopers. The dead trooper slumped to the floor, while the rest did not move in any way.

Sunset placed her pistol back in her belt.

“At attention!”

The three remaining Risk Control troopers all stood at attention in response to Sunset's order.

Sunset smirked at Tasha.

“That . . . . is power. Absolute control. That . . . . is what I have . . . . what I'll use against you.

You're next, Miss Stark. But oh no, I'm not going to use just any Protocol chip on you. No, no . . . . you

deserve something better. Something much more personalized.”

Tasha didn't bother responding. Sunset started to pace side to side in front of Tasha as she

continued her speech.

“You see, my current design has its . . . . disadvantages. It becomes glaringly obvious when

someone has a Protocol chip . . . . their face turns blue, for one. They don't retain any higher level brain

function. No personality. I have to program all of that. Great for foot soldiers . . . . disposable

bodies . . . . but not for someone as special as you.”

Tasha felt a wave of revulsion flow through her entire body upon being called 'special' by

Sunset.

“I'm working on a new version. The Protocol Chip Mark Two. No more visual giveaways,

and . . . . personality and brain functions intact. I had planned on using it on President Ellis once it was

finished, but then I realized . . . . who better to test it on than you? You'd still be you. Your mind . . . .

your essence . . . . it'd all still be there. Would all be the same . . . . with just one small difference . . . .”

Pulling out her pistol again, Sunset placed it against Tasha's left temple. She then spoke directly

into her right ear.

“You would live to serve me,” whispered Sunset.

Sunset stepped back, once again breaking into self-indulgent, maniacal laughter. Tasha looked

down at the floor, unsure of how to process what Sunset had said. She didn't even have the time to

before the woman spoke again.

“And don't worry,” said Sunset. “You won't be alone. Your friends Mister Hogan and Mister

Stane will be . . . . accompanying you to your new position within my organization.”

Tasha's eyes immediately flared with rage.

“What have you done?!”

“Oh, nothing yet, Tasha,” retorted Sunset. “But soon, let's just say . . . . they'll be more willing

to agree with my line of thinking. Particularly Mister Stane. I think he could become quite an asset to

AIM, given the proper . . . . motivation.”

Sunset clenched her fists and bent her elbows to her sides as she flagrantly laughed at the top of

her lungs. As she did so, an alarm then sounded. Sunset broke off her laugh and looked up at the

ceiling.

“What's happening?!”

“Ma'am,” said one of the Risk Control troopers. “I've just received word that hostiles have

breached the security perimeter. This base is under attack.”

“What?! How?! Who?!”

“According to the scouts, the insignias match the United States Armed Forces.”

Sunset quickly jerked her head to glare at Tasha, who didn't say anything. Considering her

options for a moment, she then turned back to the trooper.

“Initiate full defensive counter-measures. Evacuate all science personnel.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

The three Risk Control troopers ran out of the room. Sunset was about to follow them before

she turned to Tasha and pointed at her.

“You . . . . stay put.”


Chapter 10: Full Frontal Assault

Flying through the night sky and over the frosted mountains of Colorado, Rhodes was at the

front of a large, aerial convoy. The SHIELD helicarrier was hovering at the edge of the mountain range,

and the convoy was flying away from it, towards the geographical marker that Janice had placed at

Tasha's location.

Rhodes had since gotten used to flying the armour, and was leading the way. He had an Iron

Maiden Mark Three suit, which was packed up into a transportable cube form, strapped to his back.

Behind him were three SHIELD Quinjets, and behind them were six United States Armed Forces attack

helicopters, all carrying a squad of soldiers.

Fury was standing in the helicarrier's command centre, watching the convoy head off towards

the AIM base. Standing next to him was an older man with greying hair, a meticulously square jaw, and

a general's uniform.

“How long?” asked Fury.

“Colonel Rhodes and the convoy will reach the base within three minutes at current speed,

Director,” said Janice. “The base's defenses are unknown, but the force that we have managed to put

together is quite formidable.”

The man behind Fury grumbled.

“You don't even know what you're sending my men in to, Fury!” yelled Ryker.

“General . . . .”

“We should be searching for the Hulk, not wasting our time rescuing pampered party girls.

What would the Council say about this?”

“They wouldn't say anything, General, because this isn't just about Stark. You think the Council

would want to hear back from Ellis saying they didn't bother going after the woman who tried to kill

him earlier today?”

Ryker growled under his breath, knowing that Fury had a point he could not refute.

“We take care of this,” said Fury, “and we get back to business.”

“We better.”

* * * *

The AIM base was built into the side of one of the larger mountains in the area, overlooking a

pristine, frozen lake, a large blanket of frosted trees, and fellow mountains in all directions. The frontal

segment consisted of a mostly flat wall, with multiple transparent glass sections. The only major

entrance point was a rectangular docking bay, from which the shuttles entered and departed.

Rhodes saw an incoming call come in on his heads-up display.

“Rhodey?”

“I hear you, Pepper.”

“Bring her home.”

“I will.”

As the convoy flew within range of the base, two defense towers emerged from the rock of the

mountain that the base was implanted within. The towers were equipped with anti-air cannons, which

unleashed a barrage of weapon fire towards the approaching force. Rhodes' heads-up display scanned

the cannons as the convoy drew closer.

“Anti-air defenses confirmed,” said Janice. “Priority targets marked.”

Rhodes boosted forward, flying under the cannon fire. The SHIELD Quinjets broke off their

approach, flying in different directions to avoid being shot down. The helicopters followed suit, but not

before one of them was shredded by the cannons. Natalia, who was flying one of the Quinjets, scowled

as she was forced to break off her flight path.

“We can't get any closer with those cannons online, Colonel!”

“Leave it to me,” answered Rhodes. “Janice . . . . let's see if this armour lives up to the name.”

Flying between the visual range of the two cannons, Rhodes then hovered in place. He reached

out with both arms, each one aimed at one of the cannons. Equipping a wrist rocket with both hands, he

then fired them off simultaneously. Both cannons were destroyed in the same instant, reduced to heaps

of smouldering metal.

“Priority targets confirmed destroyed,” said Janice. “Convoy may proceed with attack

formation.”

Ryker's voice was then heard over the com channel.

“All convoy forces. This is General Ryker. You are authorized to use any and all means

necessary to destroy that base and capture Sunset Bain. She has been declared United States public

enemy number one, and our orders come straight from the oval office. She is to be taken alive. No

exceptions. Aside from her . . . . destroy that base. I want nothing left but a smoking hole.”

The convoy reformed, and continued the approach. Rhodes flew towards the hangar, swapping

wrist modules on both arms from the rocket launchers to the chain guns. As he burst inside, he heard

the alarm sound. He also saw that dozens of Risk Control troopers of all varieties were waiting from

him, already setting up defensive positions within the hangar.

Two Risk Control engineers were setting down automated turrets, with a whole squad of snipers

taking perched positions on a high balcony. Many of the standard assault troops were taking cover

behind crates and parked shuttles. Steeling himself, Rhodes then aimed both of his wrist cannons

forward and opened fire into the crowd.

He was only able to sustain his attack for a few seconds before he started dodging side to side to

avoid the targeting lasers of the snipers and the streams of bullets from the turrets. Punching out a

trooper near one of the shuttles, Rhodes then activated his shoulder cannon, which targeted and blasted

three more troopers in quick succession, scoring successful headshots on all of them.

“Move forward!” yelled one of the Risk Control troops.

Reloading his weapons, Rhodes then burst up and over the shuttle as he continued to battle the

legions of Risk Control soldiers. By this time, the SHIELD Quinjets had arrived, and they fired a

synchronized salvo of missiles into the hangar. The resulting explosion annihilated ten Risk Control

troopers and two of the parked shuttles.

One of the automated turrets targeted the closest Quinjet as it entered the hangar, and fired a

missile in return. The missile struck the right wing of the Quinjet, which then crashed against the floor

of the hangar. Natalia kicked open the cockpit latch of her jet and leaped out of it as more bullets and

rockets collided with the downed craft. The two remaining Quinjets backed off as the attack helicopters

started to arrive and unload, deploying squads of military troops.

The next few minutes were utter chaos, as Rhodes, Natalia and the armed forces fought a

gruelling ground war with the Risk Control troopers. Rhodes used his shoulder cannon to destroy the

remaining automated turrets. He also suppressed the snipers with a sheet of bullets from his chain guns,

allowing the armed forces to press forward.

As the battle continued, the voice of a woman was heard over the loudspeaker.

“Attention! Attention! This facility is under attack. All science personnel, follow emergency

evacuation procedures. Extract backups of all major project files before destroying local copies. All

Risk Control operatives, delay the intruders at all costs. Casualty counts are not a concern.”

Rhodes blasted away another Risk Control trooper as Natalia and a handful of soldiers made

their way to him. The soldiers easily dispatched a squad of Risk Control troops who were entering the

hangar from one of the nearby doors. The troopers continued to attack in a brazen, suicidal manner,

seeking only to delay the invaders.

Once the hangar was clear, Rhodes looked at Natalia.

“I've got Tasha's location! You all head that way and take as much of the base as you can!”

Natalia nodded and led the soldiers down the right path as Rhodes flew towards the left.

* * * *

Brandt hurriedly dashed into the laboratory chamber, shoving both of the double doors open as

she entered. Sallis was there in his lab coat and full uniform, frantically typing on his computer. A

couple of aides were packing up their belongings, ready to rush out of the room at a moment's notice.

Brandt approached Sallis as a handful of Risk Control troopers entered the room behind her.

“Ted!” Brandt yelled, grabbing at Sallis' shoulder. “We've got to go!”

Sallis kept typing as a loading bar on his screen continued to fill up.

“Ted! Now!”

“Just one more moment to extract my data!” yelled Sallis. “Can't afford to lose it now! This is

years of research, Ellie!”

The loading bar finished. Brandt looked at the screen and noted the data files that had been

moved.

-ADVANCED IDEA MECHANICS-

-SENIOR RESEARCHER: DOCTOR THEODORE SALLIS-

-MAJOR PROJECT RESEARCH DATA: BIOLOGY & CHEMISTRY DIVISION-

-EXTREMIS PROJECT-

-TECHNOVORE PROJECT-

-PROJECT SULFUR-

-LOCAL COPIES DELETED-

Sallis then pulled the data drive out of the computer and placed it inside of a protective

briefcase before turning to Brandt and the Risk Control troopers.

“Doctor Sallis,” said one of the troops. “We are to escort you, Miss Brandt and your aides to the

emergency evacuation area. A shuttle will be waiting for you there.”

“Lead the way.”

* * * *

Sunset peered through the window on the control room, overlooking the Risk Control

production floor. The fighting had spilled into that area, with the armed forces slowly but steadily

exerting pressure on her Risk Control troops. Fuming to herself, she then turned around to see two

troopers loading her fish tank from the wall onto a gurney.

“Get that tank to the evac area, now!”

“Yes, ma'am!” shouted the troopers in unison.

The two troopers started moving the gurney to the meeting room. Another trooper was standing

next to Sunset as a personal guard. Sunset logged in to the central command terminal, which then

displayed DeWitt.

“What's the evac status?”

“Burchill, Forson and I are all on board,” answered DeWitt. “Still waiting on Sallis, Brandt and

Hayward, but I've got confirmation they've extracted all major research data.”

“Get word to UK headquarters. We need them ready for us when we arrive.”

“Understood, ma'am.”

Sunset groaned to herself as the video call ended. Watching the raging battle below her for a

few seconds, she then turned to the trooper standing with her.

“Come with me. We need to get Stane before we leave.”

The trooper nodded in understanding.

* * * *

Wielding her beige, metallic wrist gauntlets, Natalia fired several shots at an incoming squad of

Risk Control troopers, hitting three of them in the chest. She then performed a sideways cartwheel to

get out of the line of sight of an automated turret that had just been placed by an engineer. The engineer

then took out his shotgun and fired two shots at the conveyor belt she had taken cover behind.

The battle inside the Risk Control production floor was quickly getting out of hand. Both the

military and the Risk Control forces had started to use copious amounts of explosives, with several of

the squad leaders trading in their assault rifles for rocket launchers. Natalia cringed as two soldiers

were blown into fleshy chunks by one of the rockets.

Peering over the conveyor belt, she saw two Risk Control snipers in position on a balcony

overlooking the production floor. The first sniper fired a shot from her rifle, right through the heart of a

soldier. The second sniper followed suit with a shot to the throat of another. Ducking back down,

Natalia unfurled her sniper rifle from her back.

Readying herself, she then bounded up and took quick aim at the first sniper, firing a shot that

blew apart the woman's skull. Natalia speedily swapped her aim to the second trooper, but was

interrupted by a sword swinging down and slicing the rifle in half in her hands.

“Agh!”

Natalia was barely able to avoid being seriously injured by the sword strike, backflipping out of

range. She then scowled upon seeing Yelena standing across from her, in her full tactical gear. Three

Wraiths were standing behind her, all crouched with their swords drawn in battle ready poses. Yelena

smirked at Natalia from behind her triple-optic stealth goggles.

“Yelena.”

“Little Black Widow,” said Yelena, breaking out a large smile. “Still slumming for SHIELD?”

“As if you do any less for AIM.”

Yelena held up her sword and aimed it at Natalia.

“This ends, here and now,” claimed Yelena. “By the end of today, there will be only one Widow

left.”

“You're right . . . . but it won't be you.”

Natalia and Yelena both yelled as they charged at each other, with Yelena's Wraith squad ready

to back up their leader. Feigning a high attack, Natalia then ducked under Yelena's overhead sword

swing, rolling on the floor. Coming out of the roll, she pulled out her twin pistols, and jammed one of

them against the chin of a Wraith before pulling the trigger.

A loud squeal of feedback from the Wraith's Protocol chip was heard as her head exploded.

“Urgh!”

Yelena twisted around and tried to kick at Natalia, who parried the blow. Natalia jumped

backwards and fired off several shots from both pistols, but Yelena blocked them all with her sword.

The two Wraiths moved forward and tried to slash at Natalia next, but she was too quick for their

attacks.

Using her right leg to perform a high kick, she launched one of the Wraiths into the air. The

second Wraith reached out to grapple Natalia, grabbing her by the shoulder. She tried to run Natalia

through with her sword, but the spy moved so that the sword harmlessly cut through the air under her

arm, before lowering her elbow down, cracking the bone in the Wraith's wrist.

Tossing the incapacitated Wraith behind her, Natalia was then forced to roll to the side to dodge

multiple shots from Yelena's customized pistol. The final Wraith, having recovered from Natalia's kick,

was then shot at by a soldier. She turned around responded with a horizontal slash, decapitating him

completely.

Natalia fired a twin set of shots from her wrist gauntlets, gunning down the Wraith from behind.

Yelena tried to shoot at her again with her pistol, but Natalia responded by launching her grappling

hook, which dug into Yelena's shoulder, spilling blood on her white suit.

“Agh!”

Retracting the cable, Natalia was pulled towards Yelena, and she landed a double kick on her

chest, whacking her away. Yelena rolled backwards with the attack as the hook was pulled out of her

shoulder. Natalia landed on her feet, and made a beckoning gesture at Yelena, who had dropped her

sword and was picking herself off the floor.

Infuriated, Yelena pulled out her combat knife and pounced towards her enemy.

* * * *

Tasha grunted and continued to uselessly struggle against her chains as the sounds of shouting,

explosions and gunfire seemed to draw closer to her. She had no idea who was attacking the base, or

what they had to do with her, but she was still determined to use the opportunity to escape. She had

been left alone by Sunset for almost ten minutes now, and no one else had entered or approached the

medical room she was in.

Then the door exploded.

Knocking over the body of the dead Risk Control trooper that Sunset had shot, the fragmented

pieces of the door scattered to the ground. Breathing in and out, Tasha felt both anticipation and

trepidation as she waited for someone to enter through the smoke.

She then gasped upon seeing a grey, metallic armoured figure hovering into the room. The

figure landed, before retracting the face plate.

“Well,” started Rhodes, “look who it is. My favourite damsel in distress.”

“I didn't built that,” stated Tasha, seemingly unaware of what Rhodes had said.

“Really? I was hoping for a 'hardy har har', or maybe a 'wow, never heard that one before'.”

“Of course you didn't build that suit, ma'am,” said Janice, her voice filtering both through

Tasha's sensor link and Rhodes' armour. “I did.”

“You WHAT?!”

“Tasha, we really don't have the time,” said Rhodes, as he reached forward and broke off the

shackles on Tasha's wrists and ankles. “Short version: Janice built me a suit, called War Machine.

SHIELD, the Army and I are here to break you out and get Sunset.”

Rhodes grabbed the spare suit off of his back and handed it to Tasha.

“Now suit up and get moving.”

Tasha raised an eyebrow at him, still stunned by seeing him in armour.

“We've got a villain to catch.”


Chapter 11: Schadenfreude

Ducking under Yelena's horizontal slash, Natalia threw a straight punch with her right arm.

Yelena used her free hand to catch Natalia's fist, before trying to swing her knife down into her enemy's

arm. Pulling back with all her strength, Natalia threw Yelena off balance, causing her to drop her knife

and fall forward, still gripping Natalia's arm.

Seizing the opportunity, Natalia drew up her knee, smashing it against Yelena's chin. More

blood spurted from Yelena's jaw as Natalia kneed her a second time before throwing her to the side.

Yelena was forced to barrel roll sideways to recover her footing. Natalia returned to a defensive posture

as she watched the anger grow in Yelena's face.

Knowing that said anger was making her less adept in combat, Yelena took a moment to reassert

herself within her mind. Clenching both of her fists, she then launched herself off of a nearby wall

using her feet, straight towards Natalia for a spin kick. Natalia was able to dodge the blow, but Yelena

spun around again on the floor, connecting her other leg against the side of Natalia's ribcage.

“Ugh!”

Yelena pressed her advantage, throwing several punches in quick succession. The first two

struck Natalia's face, but she recovered by the third and started to block each of Yelena's attacks with

her wrist gauntlets. Yelena tried for a body shot, which Natalia countered with a powerful elbow strike

to Yelena's face, further punishing her jaw.

Springing back and gripping her face in pain, Yelena seemed ill prepared for another attack.

Natalia put all of her weight into a forward kick, but Yelena surprised her by seizing her foot with both

hands and heaving her sideways. Completely off balance, Natalia was helpless as Yelena flung her

against the wall, crashing into it without any way to cushion the blow.

As Natalia slumped to the ground, Yelena snatched her knife from the floor and pointed it at her

enemy. Grinning like a schoolgirl, Yelena was poised and ready to finish Natalia off.

“I'll enjoy cutting your heart out, mladshaya sestra.”

Gripping her knife in her right hand, she dived down as if to plunge the knife into Natalia's

chest, but was knocked away at the last second by a boosted punch from an armoured figure, who

swooped in just in time.

“Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!”

Natalia's eyes widened as an unconscious Yelena collapsed to the floor, and a hovering Tasha

turned to look at her. She then held out her hand, and Natalia took it. Rhodes also flew into the room,

and he started assisting the military forces in fighting off the Risk Control troopers.

“Had a nice talk with sword chick?” asked Tasha, as she helped Natalia to her feet.

“Quite nice.”

“Yeah. Seems like quite the charmer.”

“Tasha!” shouted Rhodes.

Tasha playfully sighed.

“Back to work.”

Tasha blasted off into the air. Hovering beside Rhodes, both of them fired their repulsor

weapons at the line of Risk Control troopers, putting a severe dent in their numbers. The military forces

tried to push forward, but another wave of Risk Control troops poured into the room from all sides.

Tasha then put her back up against Rhodes'.

“Janice, you and I are going to have a little chat about your initiative, but right now . . . . let's

see what your armour can do!”

Back to back, Tasha and Rhodes engaged the entire incoming force of Risk Control troops.

Natalia and the military soldiers ducked as the armoured avengers took over. Laser shots, chain gun

bullets, shoulder cannon shots, concussive missiles, cluster grenades and unibeam blasts all came

together in a symphony of technologically advanced violence, shredding an entire platoon of enemy

forces.

As the last few Risk Control troops fell down dead, Rhodes swapped out the cartridges in his

chain guns. The soldiers secured the room and started to filter out into the adjacent hallways. Tasha

took in a deep breath as the smoke started to clear.

“War Machine, huh? Okay . . . . I'll admit, that was definitely adequate. Solid seven out of ten,

at least.”

“You shower me with praise, ma'am,” remarked Janice.

“Yeah, don't get used to it, ya damn egomaniac. Now, let's . . . .”

She was cut off by a loud explosion as the fighting resumed in the nearby halls.

“How many does she have?!” shouted Tasha.

“A lot,” replied Rhodes. “We've got to . . . .”

Rhodes was interrupted by being struck in the back by a charged electric shot. As he was

stunned by the attack, Tasha looked around to see that Yelena had revived, kicked away Natalia, and

was using her grappling hook to smash through the window to the central command room. Growling in

frustration, Tasha blasted off in pursuit.

Rhodes recovered, and started to go after her.

“Tasha, wait . . . .”

“You help the soldiers!” she yelled. “I got this one!”

“We still need to . . . .”

“Go!”

Rhodes grumbled, but went after the soldiers. Natalia chased after him on the ground level.

Tasha flew through the shattered glass leading to the central command room, noting an empty socket in

the wall where a fish tank used to be. Turning to the right, she burst into an elaborate meeting room,

with a gorgeous, Brazilian mahogany table at the centre.

There was only one other exit, so Tasha rushed towards it, and blew it open with a repulsor shot.

She then flew into a hallway, and saw three people standing at the end of it: Sunset, Yelena, and a

single Risk Control trooper. They were all looking to the right, where they were to turn a corner. Sunset

then glanced at Tasha and stopped moving.

“Well, look who it is.”

Tasha flew closer, but hovered in place about ten metres away.

“It's over, Sunset!”

“Not yet, it isn't.”

Sunset then turned to Yelena.

“Go,” she ordered. “Get to the shuttle. I'll handle this.”

Yelena nodded and ran off around the corner. Sunset then turned to Tasha and held her hands

together in front of her. Tasha lowered herself to the ground and opened her face plate.

“I'm leaving this place, Tasha,” started Sunset. “I'm sorry that I won't be taking you with me, but

unforeseen circumstances have forced me to be pragmatic.”

“And how exactly are you getting away? You think one of your tinker toy soldiers can stop

me?”

“Yes.”

Sunset then pushed a button on the side of the trooper's helmet, retracting the mask section to

reveal the face.

Tasha's heart stopped.

“Happy.”

Happy's skin was bleached, with his pupils completely gone. Streaks of aquamarine flooded out

from them, like tears that were painted on. His breathing was uncanny; regimented to the point of being

utterly mechanical. She could not believe what was standing before her, but also unequivocally knew

that it was true.

Happy was dead.

Giggling to herself, Sunset then turned and calmly walked around the corner, as Tasha fell to her

knees. Happy did not move, emptily staring at the air where Tasha's head used to be. As Tasha looked

back into what was left of his eyes, she remembered all the memories they had shared.

The bountiful times they had at clubs.

“Dancin' up a hurricane, Tash.”

“Not yet, I'm not! Not til you're out here with me!”

“I . . . . I don't really do that well at . . . .”

“Get over here, dammit!”

A drunken adventure at a drive-thru.

“Get me a Whopper. Tell the guy I want a Whopper.”

“Tash, it's Wendy's.”

“I WANT A WHOPPER! I DON'T CARE WHAT PLACE IT IS!”

Obadiah Stane's doctoral thesis defense.

“He has this. No revisions. Ten bucks on it.”

“You want me to bet against him? What if he finds out?”

“Ah, Oby can take it. Come on, ten bucks.”

“But I think he'll be fine!”

“Betting ain't about what you think. It's about who bets on the winner first. Come on.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

Their conversation just a couple days prior.

“You're welcome.”

“Thanks, bud.”

“Who always gets you whatever you need, huh? Me! I'm an enabler, I tell ya.”

“You're so good to me.”

“I know. What do I get for it?”

“A very tidy salary. Competitive benefits package. Free room and board. My eternal

friendship?”

“Eh. Guess we're even then.”

“Thanks, Happy. You do help. A lot.”

“It's what I'm here for.”

By the end of this, Tasha was bawling into her hands, the cold metal numbing her unguarded

face. Happy had still not moved. She then stood back up, with both of her cheeks drenched in tears.

“Ma'am . . . .”

Tasha ignored Janice, and walked up to Happy. She placed both of her hands on either side of

his face. For a full minute she just looked into his dead, vacant stare.

“Happy . . . .”

No response.

“Happy . . . . please . . . .”

No response.

“Say something . . . . anything . . . .”

No response.

“Just . . . . just call me Tash. Just once. Please . . . .”

Tasha's eyes gushed as she pressed her forehead against Happy's.

“Please . . . . j-just . . . . just once . . . .”

The pain was too great for Tasha to keep her eyes open. She then took a step back, and looked

him over. He was but a statue. Her friend was long since gone, his mind eaten away by Sunset's

invention.

“Ma'am . . . .”

Janice was again ignored. Swallowing both her saliva and her pain, Tasha pressed the button on

the side of his helmet, and the mask covered his face again.

He was just another Risk Control trooper.

Just another life Sunset had stolen without a second thought.

Still, Tasha could not bear to gaze at him any longer. She closed her eyes and turned her face

away as she aimed her repulsor at his head. She continued to uncontrollably sob as she held her hand in

place. After a few moments, she realized she could not do it.

“Ma'am . . . .”

This third time, Janice was not ignored.

“Janice . . . .”

“Allow me.”

“W-What?”

“If you cannot do it, I understand. So . . . . allow me.”

Tasha took a moment to consider her offer, before lowering her head again and nodding. After a

couple seconds, the repulsor fired without Tasha activating it. Once it was done, she immediately flared

up with untold fury and an unquenchable thirst for vengeance, the likes of which she had never felt

before. She had previously been angered, frustrated, and even at times, infuriated.

But now, she was enraged.

Blasting into the air, Tasha relentlessly rocketed down the hallway. Clenching her jaw and her

fists at the same time, she turned multiple times until she could see the emergency evacuation hangar.

The open window of the hangar overlooked the other side of the Colorado mountain range. A large

AIM shuttle was being boarded by a handful of stragglers, amongst them Sunset and two Risk Control

troopers.

She then saw that Stane was with them, standing between the two troopers.

“OBADIAH!”

Stane turned his head in surprise, as did Sunset. Knowing that another friend was in her enemy's

clutches, Tasha yelled as she boosted forward into the hangar. Her seemingly unfettered momentum

was then shattered as she was tackled in the side by Anya, nearly being crushed in the process. Stane's

eyes widened and he instinctively reached out, but Sunset turned to glare at him.

“Get him inside!”

The Risk Control troopers shoved Stane into the shuttle. Sunset looked back at Anya, who had

tumbled to the ground with Tasha in her grasp.

“This time, finish her! She's not worth trying to capture anymore.”

Sunset then clambered on to the shuttle as the loading bay door latched up. The shuttle took off

and flew out the open hangar window. Anya chuckled to herself as she smashed Tasha's body against

the wall.

“Ugh!”

Anya then let go of Tasha and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying across the hangar.

She landed on her chest and grunted in pain. Anya took a couple steps towards her fallen foe, equipping

her rotating laser hand cannons.

“We have fought twice now, Iron Maiden,” declared Anya, “and you've never been able to beat

me. What makes you think you can win?”

Her elbows and knees wobbling, Tasha pushed herself up.

“S-Sure, I-I haven't beaten you . . . . but you haven't killed me yet, either. And this time, I have

something you don't.”

“What would that be?”

Tasha drew in a deep breath as she prepared to call out.

“RHODEY!!!!”

Within a a few seconds, Rhodes burst through the wall of the hangar, charging right at Anya.

She was completely bewildered by the attack, and did not put up any defenses as she was blasted with

three shots: one from his shoulder cannon and one from each hand repulsor. The triple attack knocked

her over, and and Rhodes flew over to Tasha as she stood up.

“You rang?”

“You wanna prove yourself in that thing?” asked Tasha. “Help me take this bitch down.”

“Tasha Stark . . . . asking for help?”

“Yeah. I am. You said it yourself . . . . I can't do it all alone. So, you and me. How about it?”

Rhodes smiled, feeling relieved.

“Anytime.”

“Then let's do it!”

Anya picked herself off the ground as Tasha and Rhodes flew towards her. Shouting in anger,

she activated her rotating hand cannons and started firing wildly into the air. Tasha and Rhodes flew

around her shots before returning with lasers of their own.

“Call yourself War Machine?” asked Tasha. “Then do some damage!”

Rhodes got behind Anya and fired shoulder cannon blasts at the backs of both of her knees.

Anya fell forward onto her hands, and Tasha launched a musculature servo charged uppercut on her

facial dome. Anya's internal form was rocked by the repeated blows, but she stopped herself from

behind staggered.

Swiping away Rhodes with a backhand, she then brought down a hammer fist with her other

hand, which Tasha dodged by jumping to the side. Tasha then fired several repulsor shots at Anya from

the front, but they were deflected by the armour. Anya then seized her with both hands, and started to

try and crush her between her palms.

Anya then squealed as she was blasted from behind by a unibeam blast from Rhodes. Tasha then

shouted and fired a unibeam blast of her own. The two powerful beams striking her at once led Anya to

drop Tasha and fall again to her knees. Before Tasha or Rhodes could attack again, Anya furiously

punched the floor with a charged fist, which sent a shockwave reverberating throughout the room,

knocking both heroes to the ground.

The entire floor was jostled by the shockwave, and a couple of crates near the edge of the

hangar window fell out. Tasha saw this, and looking back at Anya for a moment, she then turned to

Rhodes.

“Rhodey! Shoot a missile at that corner!” she ordered, pointing at a nearby ceiling corner.

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Rhodes aimed his rocket, and Tasha aimed one of her own at the corner adjacent to it. Anya

looked at them in confusion as they fired their rockets simultaneously. The multiple explosions

destabilized the entire hangar, and the floor was suddenly on a forty-five degree angle. Looking side to

side, Anya wobbled and then started to tumble downwards, unable to compensate for her weight.

Tasha and Rhodes both started hovering and looked down as Anya desperately struggled. She

tried to dig her large, stubby fingers into the floor, but was only able to maintain grip with one hand.

The rest of the crates fell out of the hangar window. As Anya looked down at them, she felt fear for the

first time since being placed inside her indestructible armour.

She tried to activate her booster jets, but they were only meant for brief flights, and she was

unable to keep herself balanced before being forced to grab hold of the floor again. She then looked up

at both Tasha and Rhodes, who were staring down at her from the safety of their hovering positions.

Anya tried to give a look of pleading, but knew that they could not see it from behind her visor.

Glaring at Anya, Tasha then activated another wrist rocket, aiming straight at her. Rhodes

followed suit.

“Ready?” asked Tasha.

“Yeah,” said Rhodes.

“Hey, Anastasia!”

Anya frowned at Tasha, but otherwise did not respond, for she knew that nothing could save her

now.

“Do svidaniya.”

Tasha and Rhodes both fired their rockets, and Anya screamed as they struck her at the same

time. The twin explosions blew her away, and she helplessly fell backwards and out the back of the

hangar. She crashed repeatedly against the mountains, tumbling down for thousands of metres, until she

was lost in a crevice of ice and snow.


Chapter 12: Sunrise

“Anya!”

Tears in her eyes, Brandt screamed upon seeing Anya fall down the side of the mountain on

DeWitt's display screen. Sallis stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder as she sobbed. Burchill,

Forson, Stane and a red-haired woman in a lab coat were all sitting in the same room on the shuttle.

Yelena and two Risk Control troopers were standing guard at the door that lead to the cockpit. Sunset

was standing in the middle of the room, looking at the screen over DeWitt's shoulder.

Stane gulped to himself as he looked from person to person within the room. He had seen most

of these AIM agents before, aside from the red-haired woman sitting next to him. Looking over at her,

he saw that she had a lanyard around her neck, with an identification tag attached to it. The tag had a

picture of her, and read “Doctor Debbie Hayward”. She noticed his glance and gave him a brief, half-

hearted smile.

Sunset showed no emotion as she watched the video of Anya falling to her doom. DeWitt

looked up at her, and then back at Brandt, who was still crying. Wiping the tears off of her cheeks,

Brandt's eyes then flared with rage as she turned to Sunset, pointing a finger at her face.

“You left her to die!”

All Sunset had to do was turn her head to face Brandt, and instantly everyone else in the room

felt a sudden aura of menace pulse through the air. For a few seconds, even Brandt felt an icy tingle

snake down her spine as Sunset glared at her. Then, the woman blinked and took in a deep breath as she

pulled out her datapad.

“I did no such thing,” replied Sunset, pressing a button on her datapad. “Team Two.”

The slightly distorted voice of a female Risk Control pilot came in through the datapad.

“This is Shuttle Team Two.”

“Have you located the Crimson Dynamo?”

“We have. Locking in on her energy signature now.”

“Is she alive?”

“Vital signs are green. She's alive.”

“Excellent. Pick her up and then follow us. We'll patch her up when we get to UK

headquarters.”

“Understood, ma'am.”

Sunset turned off her datapad and put in on DeWitt's desk. Reeling her arm back in, she then

looked over at Brandt again.

“Satisfied, Miss Brandt?”

Brandt swallowed before sniffling and nodding her head. Putting his arm around both her

shoulders, Sallis sat her back down and allowed her to lean into him. Stane watched this sign of

affection between the two with a slight glare in his eyes. Sunset then turned over to DeWitt, who was

still sitting in his chair in front of the display screen.

“Get Hansen on the phone.”

DeWitt nodded and typed in a command string. Within a few seconds, the screen went into

video call mode. The face and torso of Maya Hansen was then on the screen.

“Maya.”

“Sunset Bain,” said Maya, with a hint of derision in her accented voice. “Pleasure as always,

although, I suppose it's not as pleasurable for you.”

Sunset grumbled to herself, and gave a look that displayed how unimpressed she was. Maya

smirked as she continued to taunt her.

“And to think you had such high hopes when you took Killian's position. Maybe I should have

stepped in instead.”

“All of my top researchers and major project data were salvaged.”

“I would certainly hope so,” chided Maya. “If you lost anything on Extremis, I'll . . . .”

“It was a minor setback,” interrupted Sunset, punctuating each word for emphasis. “Nothing

more.”

“Yeah, that's what I would call the complete destruction of my headquarters. We try to keep

things running smoothly up here.”

“And you'll continue to do so . . . . under my command.”

Sunset and Maya both stared at each other for several seconds.

“We'll see,” said Maya, “when you get here.”

Maya terminated the video call. Stane rubbed his hands together as he tried to keep himself

calm. Sunset sneered to herself as she crossed her arms.

“She's always been an insufferable bitch.”

* * * *

Chen was sitting down on the bench inside of the radiation containment unit. Ever since he

realized that his radiation blasts were not able to break through the walls of the containment unit, he

had been silent and docile, simply waiting for whatever would come next. Two officers were sitting

outside of the containment unit, which was inside of a police van.

One of the officers looked at Chen as the van continued to to drive along the road. Staring at

him for a few minutes, she then looked over to her partner.

“What time you got?”

He looked at his watch.

“Six o'clock.”

The female officer chuckled.

“Good morning.”

The male officer scratched his hair. She gave him a smirk.

“Yeah, sure look it, don't I?”

“Verified stud,” she said, before looking back at Chen. “He's awful quiet, ain't he?”

“Yeah. Good for us, though. Probably get annoying, he was poundin' on the wall the whole

trip.”

“Yeah, that would definitely . . . .”

The female officer was cut off by the sound of a loud explosion and the entire van hurtling into

the air. Both officers were slammed into the floor as the van landed on its side. Chen fell to his knees,

but most of the shock was absorbed by his radiation suit. As he stood up, he looked over at the officers

on the ground. The male was unconscious and the female was stirring.

After a few seconds, a gunshot was heard from outside the van. Then, a superheated rod

punctured the wall of the van and carved a circle, melting the metal it touched. The circle segment of

the wall was then kicked in, and the female officer darted up her head in response. She couldn't see

anything through the smoke before she was gunned down by two pistol shots.

Chen sharply turned his head as he heard the shots go off. He then watched as a humanoid

figure stepped through the smoke and in through the freshly cut circle in the wall. The figure seemed to

be mostly metallic, with certain sections covered in leather clothing and modular armour. A black, grey

and maroon colour scheme dictated most of the figure's appearance.

The figure was holding a pistol, which it used to fire a shot into the head of the unconscious

male officer. It then turned to look at Chen, who finally got a look at the facial section. It was decidedly

masculine, but also mechanical. A torn piece of fabric, similar to a bandana, was wrapped diagonally

over three quarters of the face, with only the left eye section visible. However, what was visible was

metallic, with a silver skull plate and a red, ocular targeting lens over the eye.

Chen stood back as the man reached out with his right arm, which was covered in metal plates

and tubes. His hand then transformed into the superheated rod, and he sliced open a hole in the wall of

the containment unit. Chen narrowed his eyes as he watched the man work, wondering if thinking

about him as a man was the correct thing to do.

After he finished slicing open a hole, the superheated rod transformed back into the metallic

hand. Chen did not approach him. After a few seconds, the man spoke to him with a mechanized voice.

“Doctor Chen Lu.”

Chen nodded, but did not speak.

“Come with me. My employer would like to speak with you.”

The man then turned and walked back out of the hole he had made in the side of the van.

Looking down at the two dead officers, Chen then followed him. Stepping out of the van, he held up

his hand over his face to block the morning sun. The man was walking away from him, towards a car

parked on the side of the street.

Chen looked to the left and right, but saw no other activity in the area. The road they were on

was surrounded by hills and trees on one side, and a cliff on the other. He then watched the man get

into the driver's seat of the car. As Chen walked up to it, the passenger side door opened.

“Come inside.”

Chen ducked his head and sat down in the passenger seat, feeling slightly bulky because of his

suit. The passenger side door closed by itself. Chen looked at the dashboard, but was surprised to see

that the car had no steering wheel, pedals or anything that would indicate that it could be operated

normally.

Instead, there was a large, cylindrical socket between the two seats, which the man placed his

right arm in. Several small mechanical appendages locked the arm into place, and then lit up with a

blue hue. The car started up, and drove off as the man stared forward. Chen breathed in and out as he

pondered his predicament, but did not speak for several minutes as the car took him to a place he knew

not where.

Finally, he could not repress his curiosity any longer.

“Who are you?”

The man turned his neck to look at him.

“You can call me . . . . Deathlok.”

* * * *

Tasha was standing on the roof of her tower, watching as a morning sun rose over the Los

Angeles skyline. She was still in her armour, with the only piece not equipped being her helmet. The

tips of her toes were hanging over the edge, dangling a hundred and twenty stories in the air. As she let

out a deep breath, she closed her eyes.

“Tasha.”

Opening her eyes again, she then turned her head to look behind her. Rhodes and Pepper were

standing there, with Rhodes still being in his armour. Tasha frowned at her friends, but could not bring

herself to respond.

“Tasha, what are you doing?” asked Rhodes.

“I . . . .”

Pepper blinked and tilted her head as she waited for Tasha's response. For a few moments,

Tasha could only shake her head.

“I don't know,” she said. “Honestly . . . . I don't know.”

“Tasha . . . .”

“Honestly guys, I . . . . I . . . . I have no idea how I'm supposed to handle this. The last two

days . . . . everything's changed.”

Pepper sullenly looked down. Rhodes frowned, but kept his eyes on Tasha.

“And I thought I could . . . . I thought I could be . . . . the person who could plan for . . . .

anything. Everything. I thought . . . . I . . . . but I was wrong. So, so wrong. Now so much has changed .

. . . so much lost.”

Pepper closed her eyes as she listened to the pain in Tasha's voice.

“Happy . . . . Bambi . . . . Arthur . . . . all because of me.”

“Hey!” called Pepper. “That's not true! This wasn't your fault!”

Tasha glanced at Pepper, who was staring at her with both anger and tears. Swallowing, Tasha

then looked down and shook her head.

“I . . . . I don't know if I believe you, Pep. Really . . . . I wish I could.”

Pepper closed her eyes again and placed her right hand on her face. Rhodes took a step towards

her and put his hand on her shoulder before looking back at Tasha.

“What are you going to do?” asked Rhodes.

Tasha took several moments to consider her answer.

“Sunset is still out there . . . . her base is gone, but she's not done. And now . . . .”

Tasha's voice trailed off for a few seconds before she resumed speaking.

“A long time ago, I made a promise. I promised to keep Obadiah safe . . . . no matter what. I've

lost so many people . . . . I can't lose him too.”

Rhodes silently listened, waiting for what Tasha was going to say next.

“So I'm going out there, and I'm gonna track that bitch down . . . . I'm gonna find him . . . . and

I'm gonna bring him home.”

“On your own?” asked Rhodes. “I thought you just learned that you can't do this alone. We can

help you.”

“And you will,” answered Tasha. “Stay here with Pepper. Keep this place . . . . the whole

city . . . . keep it safe. Keep her safe.”

Pepper opened her eyes and looked at Tasha in confusion.

“She'll need to be, since she'll be running the company from now on.”

Pepper's eyes widened.

“Wait . . . . what?”

“Oh come on,” said Tasha. “You practically do it anyway. Official promotion, at least for a

while. So . . . . can you two do that for me?”

Pepper and Rhodes looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Tasha. They then

nodded in unison. Tasha smiled and turned back to the skyline. Rhodes exhaled before speaking again.

“When will you be back?”

Tasha looked over her shoulder.

“When I find him.”

Tasha's helmet locked around her face as she blasted into the air. Rhodes and Pepper silently

watched as she flew off into the distance, her armoured suit bathed in the rays of the morning sun.

THE END

Iron Maiden Will Return

Epilogue

Maria Hill walked up to Fury, who was standing on the central command hub inside the

helicarrier. She stood near him with her hands behind her back. She waited for a few seconds before

speaking.

“Sir.”

He turned to look at her.

“Hill.”

“Sir, I have a report.”

“I'm listening.”

“I'm afraid it's all bad news,” started Hill. “The Council is not pleased that you and General

Ryker lost track of Sunset after the AIM base was destroyed . . . . Doctor Chen Lu's police escort was

attacked by an unknown party, and he's escaped . . . .”

“And?”

“And . . . . she's been spotted again. The leader of the Syndicate.”

Fury raised an eyebrow. Hill held out a datapad, which he took from her. He looked down at the

image, which was a blurry reconnaissance photo of a woman with long black hair, a black and blue

bodysuit, and a white, blank ceramic mask over her face. Fury sneered.

“Madame Masque,” he said. “Well, today just keeps getting better and better.”

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 2

Documents

Transcript of Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 2