Suits of Iron

Well, the final chapter is up, and I made some revisions….

Suits of Iron

Chapter 1- Clash of Steel

Status Report: Mission 134

Purpose: To hunt down and destroy the terrorist known only as Ultron.

Ultron. A name that has made many shudder recently for his crimes against humanity, and I was hired to take him out. After a tedious search, I tracked him to the deep space station, Gemini II, only to have him escape out from under me. Ultron is not the madman we expected. He is a robot, one capable of who knows what.

Samus Aran paused after typing out that last line, pondering it. The scene raced through her mind over and over again. The metallic terrorist standing in front of her, laughing with that grating metallic laugh as her weapons did little more than scratch his body.

His body was made out of a metal he called adamantium. It repelled all of my attacks, and he managed to get away, but not before setting the self-destruct mechanisms of the Gemini II. He is nothing that I have seen before, and possesses power that seems beyond even mine. But he must be stopped, and I will stop him.

But how? Samus thought to herself, running her hand through her long brown hair. She reclined back in the seat of her cockpit dressed in her flight jumpsuit. Her red and gold power armor stood behind her, a silent sentinel watching over her. Samus stared back at her armor. Ultron took everything I threw at him and was still standing. What on earth is he?

Shaking her head, she glanced back to her computer screen, the report sitting in front of her. She pressed a button to save the report and cleared the screen. She typed the name 'Ultron' on the screen. She stared at it for a few seconds before hitting the search command. The computer screen blinked on and off as it silently ran through it's databases and a small message reading "Link to Ultron."

Samus opened up the link, and a stream of information flooded the screen:

Subject: Ultron

A highly advanced artificial life form (or 'robot'), its creator unknown. Has a body made out of a rare metal known as adamantium. Known for its crimes against humanity, including mass butchering of humans and other organic life. Very powerful, entire nations have fallen to it. Only the exploits of the Avengers in the 20th century kept it in check.

Current Status: Unknown. Rumored to have disappeared after a conflict with the Avengers in Slorenia.

See also: Avengers, Slorenia.

The Avengers? Samus questioned. They're just myths, aren't they? She opened up the link, and the computer started to run a short video clip:

"This is Trisha Rogers reporting live from the country once known as Slorenia. This once bustling nation was recently reduced to rubble and ashes a few days ago when the famed Avengers led a battle against the numerous forces of the robot Ultron."

Samus paused the clip there. The Avengers? Slorenia? Both thoughts stood out in her mind. Did it really happen? Was Ultron created that long ago, with that primitive technology? Her hands quickly brushed over the keyboard as she ran a search on the Avengers. A multitude of links ran across the screen. The top one read "The Avenger's roster during the Ultron Wars in Slorenia." She opened the link and a the first image was that of a man standing in a blue uniform, with a pattern of red and white stripes running down the torso, a white star sitting proudly on the chest. The emblem of an "A" was on his mask.

"Captain America," Samus whispered to herself. She went to the next page and what she saw made her eyes widen. On the screen in front of her stood a person in red and gold armor not too unlike her own. The name Iron Man spread out on top of the picture. "His armor was made by… Stark Enterprises!?" She looked back towards her own armor, surprised to find out that Iron Man's armor was made by the same company as her own armor. Could Stark have made Ultron as well? She ran through a couple more searches and found something that made her eyes widen and her breath catch. The one line in front of her said it all: "Ultron was rumored to be a creation of one of the Avengers, though the exact one is unknown." Stark. She thought. If he created that monster, than he can help me destroy him as well.

* * *

"Gryphon Labs, how may we be of service?" A voice crackled over the computer console.

"It's me, Gyllin," Samus said bluntly. No response was given. She shifted uncomfortably in her power armor as she waited for the doors in front of her to be open. In the dense trees surrounding the plain gray building in front of her, some birds chirped. The metal doors slid open silently, and a short man with snow-white hair and leaning on a wooden cane topped with a gryphon head stood there.

"Samus," he said in a raspy voice. "You decided to pay me a visit, huh?"

"Not a social one Gyllin," Samus said as she walked passed him and into the labs. She towered over him, especially when fully armored. "I need your help."

"With what?" Gyllin asked as the doors shut behind him.

"I need a way to travel back through time," she said bluntly.

"Planning a real vacation getaway are we?" He asked with a grunt.

"Funny, Gyllin," Samus said. "I need to bring back someone from 20th century Earth. He is crucial to my current mission."

"Really? Who?"

"Tony Stark."

"Stark!?" He's a genius! His prototype power armor, the Iron Man armor, was a brilliant masterpiece. He made your armor if I'm not mistaken."

"He did. He also created Ultron."

"Ultron's a robot!" Gyllin exclaimed.

"I should know, I had a run in with him on the Gemini II a few days ago, and all I could do was scratch him, if that."

"Didn't the Gemini II blow up the other day?"

Samus just glared at him from behind her armor.

"You seem to have that affect on places," Gyllin said.

"Can you help me or not, Gyllin?" She asked in a hard tone.

"Of course, I am the most brilliant scientists around," Gyllin said with a childish smile. Samus sighed and shook her head. "Follow me, please."

The short old man led Samus through some brightly-lit corridors to a very cluttered back laboratory. Papers lay strewn throughout the lab, cluttering up the floor, what Samus assumed might have been a desk at one point. Food from who knows how long ago sat in containers on the desk. Small contraptions and bits of metal towered over her in huge piles in the room.

"Don't you ever think about cleaning this place up?" Samus asked.

"And ruin my organizational pattern. Ha! Not on your life, Samus." Gyllin said. Samus watched him as he shuffled through papers and myriad of small devices and knickknacks, tossing many over his shoulder carelessly.

"Here we are," he said at last, emerging from a pile of devices. In his hand was a small rectangular object made of solid black metal. "My very own time travel device, a brilliant piece of beauty and technology. Its dimensions are 1:4:9, very stylish in black, don't you agree?"

"Does it work?" Samus asked.

"That…. I am unsure of. It's never really been tested."

"Wonderful, but I am left with little choice. How does it work?"

"Where's your ship? I'll show you," Gyllin said with the same childish smile.

* * *

Samus stood outside for what seemed like hours, listening to the clanging of metal and occasional swearing coming from Gyllin inside. The birds continued their cacophony of sound.

"It's done," Gyllin said emerging from the top hatch. His face and hair were layered with grease. "I'll show you how it works."

Samus walked up to the ship, and entered it through the top hatch. Gyllin stood by the control console. Samus noticed the small rectangular black box attached next to it.

"It's very simple," Gyllin started. "All you do is enter the date here," he brushed his hand over a clock and number pad. "And press this button here," he pointed to a red button next to the number pad. "And theoretically, you should travel through time. And if you do bring back Mr. Stark, please bring him by for a visit, will you?"

"Thank you, Gyllin," Samus said. "I owe you."

"Don't worry about it. We'll discuss the price when you get paid," he flashed a bright smile across his face.

"Right," Samus said dryly.

"Well, I have a busy schedule ahead of me, so I will wish you luck Samus Aran!"

"I'll probably need it right," she said with a smile.

"That would be a good bet," Gyllin said as he climbed out of the hatch.

* * *

The stars look peaceful, tranquil Samus thought staring out into space from her view screen. Ultron is out there somewhere, waiting. Her hand brushed passed the small rectangular box of the time travel device. Her breath held for a second as she touched it.

"Here goes nothing," she said in a hushed whisper as she entered the destination, the year 2001. She pressed the red button and again held her breath. Nothing happened. Her tense body relaxed a bit and she looked at the box, perplexed. Work damn you!

Then as if in response to her reaction, the ship lurched forward a bit, accelerating into the reaches of space. The stars turned from spheres to lines, and then meshed into a large network of light upon the fabric of space. The pitch darkness faded to a bright white light, the force of the ship pressing Samus against the back of her seat. The ship rattled and shook. Samus gripped onto her seat, fear and nervousness starting to well up inside of her.

Then as sudden as it began, silence and calm. The ship steadied out, going along at a smooth clip. The Samus looked out of the view screen, and the white light was now a myriad of colors, all meshing together, folding, moving as though alive. Patterns formed and dispersed all around her.

"It's beautiful," Samus said in a hushed voice. The colors and patterns faded, after what seemed to be an eternity, into the darkness of space. Samus could only stare at the blue and green sphere in front of her. "Earth," she said. "But what year?" She looked around. "No stations, no orbital defense platforms, no ships," she smiled at this last fact. "Gyllin, you're a genius." She laughed to herself and then made her way quickly towards Earth.

* * *

"Thank you, Mr. Summers, for your interesting presentation," Tony Stark fumbled for the right word as he stared at the man in a wrinkled suit and disheveled blonde hair in front of him. "It was quite informative, I will have my people contact you later to discuss matters further."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," Summers said as he hastily gathered up his papers and a laptop computer. "I look forward to hearing from you." With that, the man walked rather loudly out of Stark's spacious office.

They get worse all the time Stark thought to himself with a sigh from behind his large wooden desk. He stroked his short black beard thoughtfully as he slumped into his high backed chair. But business is business, and with all the negative publicity of late, I need all the business I can get. A noise snapped Stark out of his thoughts. A knock at the door.

"It's open," Stark said. In walked in a young, attractive woman with short red hair and a green dress. Her brown eyes looked forward to Stark, and she looked to him a bit preoccupied.

"Pepper," Tony said. "You look worried."

"Well, something has come up," Pepper started.

"What, someone else trying to ruin my name?" Stark said dryly, reclining a bit back in his chair.

"Not that I can tell. They just barged in demanding to see you, and then they got pretty forceful about it," she said. Stark just looked at her, wrinkling his brow. "And they are wearing armor that could be Iron Man's cousin."

"What!?" Stark exclaimed as he stood up. "Where are they?"

"Out by some of the industrial buildings," Pepper said as she moved closer to him.

"I think I'll let Iron Man deal with him," Stark said as he pushed a button under his desk. Wooden panels in the wall slid by, revealing the signature red and gold armor of the Avenger. He walked up to it, Pepper following close behind. "Inform the security guards not to engage this person."

"Will you be okay?" She asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course," Stark added with a wry grin. "And besides, how bad could this assailant be?"

* * *

A blast of energy erupted from below the guards' feet as the group of them went flying into the air, each landing with a solid thud. Other guards could be heard shouting from around the industrial complex. A few adventurous ones fired shots off.

Samus laughed to herself as the bullets bounced harmlessly off of her armor. She fired another blast of her arm cannon towards the shots, the beam hitting a guard square in the chest. She scanned the area. Just large industrial buildings with the logo Stark Enterprises on them, and the silence. Silence.

"Blast it Stark, where are you?" the bounty hunter hissed. A few clouds in the sky above her drifted wearily. The sky went dark for a moment as if hid behind one of the lazy, puffy clouds.

She looked up, and as if in answer to her question, a red and gold shape flew overhead. So you decided to send your bodyguard Iron Man after me huh? She smiled wolfishly to herself. I needed a warm up.

Samus aimed her gun arm up towards Iron Man and fired. Iron Man quickly dodged out of the way, the beams knicking the armor. Whoa there! Iron Man thought to himself Guess I've been spotted. He looked down and saw Samus sitting there. Her red and gold armor glistened in the sunlight. Pepper was right, that armor looks very similar in design to one of my own… The thought was unfinished as he dodged another volley of beams. This one's just as tough. Well Stark, you were just complaining that your day was getting boring.

Iron Man maneuvered himself to where he dove towards Samus, firing the repulser beams in his gauntlets. Samus quickly dodged the volley with backwards summersaults and returned fire, the shots hit Iron Man square in the chest, knocking him back a bit. The armored Avenger recovered with an aerial roll, and fired off a repulser blast that his Samus square in the gun arm. She stood her ground, unfazed by the shot.

You want to play, let's play she thought as she switched to her plasma beam, and quickly fired off a shot. Iron Man flew out of the way, the beam passing within a hair of his helmet.

That was close! He flew towards Samus, and before she could get a shot off, he hit her with a flying tackle, both armored figures flying backwards into one of the buildings with a loud crash of stone and metal. Samus landed on her back, grunting. Iron Man quickly got up, and pointed his gauntlet blasters at the bounty hunter.

"Had enough yet?" He said calmly. Samus looked at him, still on the ground.

"From you? I don't think so." She gave him a quick kick to the mid section, knocking him back a bit. She leveled her gun arm at him and fired. Iron Man flew upwards out of the way, the shot hitting a tanker behind him that blew in a brilliant explosion of orange flames. Iron Man flew through the explosion, the heat felt even through his armor, smoke filling his vision. He switched his optical sensors and the smoke became clear as day as he flew higher into the calm cerulean sky.

Samus ran out, and Iron Man was nowhere to be seen. Blast it, where is he? Her hand brushed a switch on her helmet, and a small viewscreen appeared in the corner of the visor. The screen was blank. He couldn't have disappeared from my radar, could he?

She moved forward cautiously, through the smoke and flames, scanning the surrounding area when she was knocked forward by a blast of energy.

"Surprise," Iron Man said as he flew over her, letting loose with the beams.

"You're finished Iron Man, no more games," Samus growled, switching over to missiles. The bounty hunter ran away from the tanker as another explosion rocked behind her. Samus walked as though she never noticed it.

"Ooohh… Is that a threat?"

Samus responded with a trio of missiles. Iron Man dodged two of them, but the third hit him soundly on the chest. He grunted as he flew backwards and landed on the ground. That's going to hurt in the morning he winced. A warning light blinked on his armor. Great, my stealth mode is knocked out.

He got back on his feet, kicked in his boot jets and flew forward to Samus, dodging a volley of missiles. He reached down and grabbed her by the shoulders.

She struggled as he carried her higher.

"Do you want to talk now?" Iron Man asked.

"Not on your life Iron Man," Samus bit out.

"I'm afraid that I'm at a disadvantage here, you know who I am, but I don't think I've seen you around before."

"That is none of your business," Samus said as she curled up in a ball in Iron Man's grasp. What the? He thought as she fell from his grip, and plowed through the roof of a building still rolled up in the ball. He watched her as she landed gracefully on in a crouch. They're as agile as a cat!

Samus got up from her crouch, and looked up. She fired out a volley of plasma shots. Iron Man readily dodged them, returning fire. Samus jumped out of the way.

"He's too quick," Samus growled. Then a smile curled on her lips. She switched to her ice beam. She ran out of the building, leaving a gaping hole within the wall of the building. Iron Man ran into her full on, and she managed a back flip landing on her feet. She elbowed him in the face plate of the helmet. Iron Man staggered back a bit at flew into the air, blasting away at her. A few stray beams hit her armor, she winced, her armor was starting to show damage.

She looked at Iron Man as he continued to fly towards her, firing, and she waited for the right chance, and smiled when she got it. The shot flew forward and hit the armored warrior in the legs, freezing them in a block of ice. He hit the ground with a thud. Samus walked over to him, gun arm pointed at his head.

"Do you wish to continue?"

"Who are you?" Iron Man asked.

"Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter. Where is your boss, Stark?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I need to ask him some questions and I didn't feel like making an appointment."

"He's out of town on business," Iron Man said, steel in his voice. What is he doing here? "Why did you want to see him?"

"It deals with a terrorist of your time, a good friend of yours. His name is Ultron."

"Ultron!?" Iron Man asked, surprise obvious in his voice. The rest of the sentence then dawned on him. "Your time?"

"I am from the future. Ultron has recently been terrorizing our colonies."

"Nice to see ole tin butt makes it into the future," Iron Man said sarcastically to himself. "But why Stark?" He asked Samus.

"I figured that he could help me to destroy Ultron since he most likely created him."

Created him? Stark thought. He must be off his rocker. But if Ultron did survive Slorenia…

"I can be of more help to you than my employer since I have actually fought Ultron many times before. I'll go with you," Iron Man said.

"You?" Samus asked him confused.

"I don't like letting loose ends such as Ultron sitting around."

Samus took her gun arm off of him. "How do I know that I can trust you?"

"I can ask the same question of you."

"Point," Samus said dryly. "Very well, I'll take you to my ship, but as such, you will do as I say. Got it?" Iron Man just nodded.

"Uh, one thing…" Iron Man gestured to the ice covering his legs.

"Right," Samus said as she went to melting the ice with her plasma beam. Iron Man got up and flexed his legs a bit.

"Much better. Where is this ship of yours?"

"This way," Samus motioned with a toss of her head. She walked off, Iron Man following close behind her. Well, Stark, what have you gotten yourself into now….

That is it for this chapter of Suits of Iron! Stay tuned for Chapter 2! (hopefully soon!)