Author's notes: I write to get stories out of my brain. If you're a loyal reader you know that I get stuff out of my brain and have no idea what to do with it because my muse goes back to sleep and stop's bothering me. I'm going to be realistic and say there's a 90% chance I never finish this story, so if at any time I don't update for like a month, feel free to ask my permission to adopt it. I'll respond, tell you my ideas, hell I'll even beta it for you.
Author's note #2: Go read Moon Knight. He's one of the best characters in the Marvel Universe and nobody even knows or cares about him. Go read some Moon Knight. It's better than another recycled cliched Wolverine comic. I like Logan just as much as the next guy, but they need to leave him alone for awhile.
Author's note #3: Reviews keep my muse more interested. If you liked the story tell me what you like about it. If you don't like it tell me why not.
Author's note #4: This could probably be considered AU. It's set generally some time during Civil War but some events are out of order, and Spider-Man hasn't come around yet so it kind of screws things up. I thought I did a nice job with it. If you have any questions, ask in a review I'll get back to you. I'm not an expert, I'm just a guy with a year long subscription to Marvel Digital Comics. Best Birthday gift ever.
Disclaimer: Guess who doesn't own Marvel? If you guessed me, congratulations you're between Kurt Wagner and Marc Spector on the IQ scale. If you think I do own Marvel, you and Toad have a lot in common.
Prologue: Out With the Old
Tony Stark had been in a lot of fights in his life. As Iron Man, as a member of the Avengers, he'd battled everyone from Stilt-Man to the Hulk. He'd thought he'd battled everything the world had to throw at him and come out alive, not always on top, but always alive.
In a way, that gave him a sense of righteousness. He wasn't a religious man, but he'd seen enough gods and devils that he would be a fool to deny the idea that there might be something out there watching him. In a way his continued survival while everyone around him dropped dead seemed to be a signal to him that whatever God or spirit really was running the show, was on his side.
He had begun to doubt that divine intervention though as it seemed like all of his friends abandoned him, saying that his actions were morally reprehensible. He was firm in his beliefs though, The Super Human Registration Act needed to be passed; it was too easy for people with powers to dominate the lives of normal people. Maybe it was because he didn't have any powers of his own, but he had an innate fear of those with powers and he felt that it was only rational for the government to have some control over these people.
He should have known that one of his former friends would have a problem with what they perceived as a betrayal. He entered his office with a sigh of frustration about another round of negotiations with the Senate. The liberals of the Senate seemed to find the act to be perfectly acceptable, but the radical conservatives and their antiquated beliefs about individual rights stood steadfastly in his way.
He looked up from a pile of documents he was reading to see a figure clad in white standing on his desk holding a staff in his hands. Tony wasn't sure what was going on but he pressed the button in the pocket of his business suit, and his Iron-Man suit began to attach itself to his body. The figure's face was covered with shadow's but Tony thought he saw a small smile stretch across the hidden face.
The figure jumped off the desk and Tony noticed that he was the figure known as Moon Knight. He'd read the file on Moon Knight, just like he had on every Avenger, even the Avengers who played on the JV West Coast Avengers. Moon Knight had gone from a B-List hero to a D-List Hero after he was injured in a battle with the mercenary Bushman.
After a few years off he'd somehow managed to attain a Registration Card despite a history of mental disturbances a mile long. His bloody rampage had been one of Captain America's main points of evidence as to how the Registration Act hadn't worked. He eventually threw Carlson Knowles/Black Spectre off of a forty story building on the hero day parade. After that Tony had had no choice but to declare him a criminal.
Apparently Moon Knight didn't appreciate that and was here to hash things out. Tony somehow doubted that hashing things out with a psycho like Marc Spector would end peacefully.
He was right, because Marc Spector leapt off the desk and brought his staff around in a wide swing that connected with Tony's shoulder. Tony backed away, rubbing his shoulder. It wasn't broken, his suit was good for that much, but it was hurting, and he had no doubt that there'd be a large bruise there tomorrow.
Tony raised his arm up and out popped a large machine gun which he leveled at Moon Knight's chest and opened fire. Marc Spector took the shots on the chest and swung the staff again this time, driving the staff into Tony's helmet with all the strength his body could muster.
Tony stumbled back with his head ringing like a church bell. His bullets hadn't seemed to bother Spector, so he had to be wearing an adamantium chest plate. Tony continued to step back as Moon Knight advanced. He knew that Spector didn't really have a ranged weapon so he planned to take Moon Knight out with a powerful energy blast and stay away from the staff and spiked knuckles.
He rerouted a little bit of power into the feet of his suit and rose up almost to the ceiling of the two story apartment. At the same time, he stuck out his left arm and began charging for an energy blast that he hoped would leave nothing but an adamantium chest plate.
Moon Knight didn't give him the opportunity because he reared back and threw three crescent disks like ninja stars. The first missed completely, passing wide over his shoulder. The second clipped him in the chest but didn't penetrate the armor enough to make a difference. The third however found itself wedged into the power conduit of Tony's glove. The blaster cracked and all the power that was being built up to launch an energy blast exploded outward out of his glove, shattering the metal and turning it into a rather effective grenade.
Tony screamed in pain as his shattered armor tore into his hand leaving it a bloody mess. The energy explosion temporarily messed with the power routing of his suit and he began to fall to the floor from eighteen feet up. Spector followed up on his advantage, getting up into the air with a jump that an Olympic athlete would have been impressed with, and bringing his staff right down onto Tony's chest and driving him into the ground.
Tony lay winded on his broken coffee table feeling desperately for his chest piece. He fingered the armored glass that protected his power supply, finding it neither cracked nor blemished, he gave a sigh of relief. He was battered and bruised but no matter how much of a beating he'd taken he was still in good shape. Other than his left gauntlet and hand he hadn't taken a blow that would decrease his performance. He felt himself being lifted up and groaned as the suit dug into his hurting shoulder.
Then Moon Knight started talking, "The world wants to know Tony, How will you act when the pressure's on?" Spector then drove one of his spiked fists into his face. The helmet protected him but the screen was cracked and his head hurt pretty bad.
"How will you act when the chance for victory is almost gone?" Another punch to the face.
"How will you respond when fortune's star refuses to shine on you?" Another blow
"How will you act when it's you and you alone, and no one is coming to save you?" Another punch
"Like this." Tony said, raising his right hand and hitting Moon Knight in the chest with a fully charged Energy Blast.
Spector flew off of him and continued to fly until he hit a wall and sank to the floor with little sign of getting up. Tony began charging another blast and fired it at his dazed opponent.
The ability to take a punch was always Mark's best quality as a hero though and he managed to shake off the first blast and spin out of the way of the second. The second blast ruined most of the exterior wall of the penthouse and a large portion of the roof went with it.
Tony pushed his advantage though and tackled Mark with all the force that his own momentum and the suit could muster. He pinned Mark to the ground, holding him down. Mark's hand's wrapped themselves around the neck of the suit but he couldn't apply pressure through the armored Iron Man suit.
"You're finished Mark. You're crime spree is at an end." Tony said huffing for breath. He wasn't used to getting so much of an individual workout, much less from a C-list villain. He'd obviously gotten some good licks in though because Spector's hood had come off and the man's eyes were closed in agony.
Then to his concern, Moon Knight started to laugh. It started out as a choked chuckle and gradually progressed into a full belly laugh. "What's so funny, Mark? You can't escape and you're going to spend the rest of your life in prison for trying to assassinate the head of SHIELD." Tony demanded of the pinned former hero.
"Marc Spector isn't here right now." Moon Knight said in a deeper and older voice than Marc would have been able to produce.
Moon Knight's eyes popped open and Tony noticed that the normally bright blue eyes had begun glowing. With startled panic he noticed that the moon light was touching the tips of Moon Knight's fingers, and with the moon full like it was tonight, Moon Knight would be much more powerful.
He experienced this first hand, because the formerly pinned hero ripped free of Tony's hold, and drove his spiked knuckles into the side of his helmet. The Iron Man helmet crumpled like a tin can, but it still provided some degree of protection because the spikes didn't penetrate all the way through. They cut up the side of his face a little bit, but other than some annoying blood that was building up in his helmet he was fine. Tony went flying however and hit the wall with a heavy thud. Tony collapsed to his knees breathing deeply. His head was pounding, and he doubted that his helmet would protect him from another shot like the one he'd just taken.
"So this is what happens to the great Tony Stark when he takes a beating. His spirit lags, and he quits when the breaks aren't coming. But we knew he wasn't a real hero. A real hero doesn't betray his friends. A real hero doesn't get taken back behind the woodshed by two people in one week." Moon Knight mocked.
"How do you know about that?" Tony demanded angrily
"You know, us immortals talk. I've got to say, I've never really been a fan of the Norse Gods. They don't act like proper Gods should, but Thor taking Mjolnir and beating your ass with it. That was a thing of beauty. You're the laughing stock of the heaven's Tony. You're no Steve Rodgers, but we already knew that." Moon Knight laughed mockingly.
Two feelings shot through Tony simultaneously. Fear was the first. Moon Knight's new voice, combined with the way he'd said, 'us immortals' made Tony realize that he was no longer dealing with Marc Spector dressed up as the avatar of a god. He was dealing with the god. He was facing off against Konoshu, and no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he was a better fighter, he knew (From very recent personal experience) that not very often did a human come out on top in a battle with a god.
The second feeling was anger. Tony Stark was one of the richest, smartest and most powerful men in the world. Along with those features came pride and his pride refused to allow him to be mocked, even by an ancient Egyptian god. That rage filled him with strength and eventually overpowered and freed his mind of fear. He stood up with defiance and drove at Moon Knight with all of his strength.
He powered up his suit and he passed Moon Knight's defenses. He landed at Moon Knight's feet and took off with all of the strength the suit had to offer. His right fist slammed into Moon Knight's jaw, and he knew as soon as he connected that Moon Knight was dead. He'd hit so hard that he'd actually ended up twelve feet in the air, and he watched as Moon Knight flew backwards, with his head turned at an unnatural angle and landed on his head further damaging his neck.
Tony landed with a sigh of relief, and collapsed exhaustedly into the chair at his destroyed desk. He closed his eyes, wanting to gather himself before he had to deal with his security. Then he heard movement.
He opened his eyes with dread clutching at his soul. Moon Knight climbed out of the pile of rubble he'd fallen into. His neck was bent at such an impossible angle that there was no way for him to be alive but yet he approached Tony like the un-killable monster in a bad slasher film.
Tony fired another energy blast but Moon Knight jumped over it and landed right in front of Tony, driving his spiked fist into Tony's right arm. The Iron Man armor had fought a tough battle but even it buckled under enough shots from someone with super strength, and it finally gave in. Moon Knight's spiked knuckles cut through the bicep with ease and fractured Tony's humerus as well. Tony tried to take advantage of his opening by firing an energy blast out of his left hand but as he brought up his arm he realized he'd lost his gauntlet early on in the fight.
Konoshu gave him a smile that sent shivers down his spine. He pulled the knuckles out of Tony's arm, before driving them forward right into the middle of Tony's chest. Tony fell backwards from the force of the blow. At first he thought he was unhurt, that Moon Knight was a fool for punching the most heavily armored part of the suit. Then his head started to go foggy. He touched the center of his chest and felt that the glass that protected his power supply had cracked, and the supply itself had been damaged.
For the first time in his life, Tony Stark was convinced that he was going to die. He panicked and began scrambling blindly and clutching at his chest. Moon Knight looked down at him with his glowing eyes and taunted him, "You now know what happens to those who try and command my avatar. Your death will secure my security over his allegiance."
Tony unhooked the damaged power supply as he could feel that it was no longer functioning and he reached for the desk drawer which held several spares. He knew he couldn't reach it but he refused to accept that his death would be at the hands of a man who, even in his prime, had never been anything more than the bottom of B-list. Moon Knight was perfectly content to watch him struggle until his last breath and that's probably why he failed.
Natasha Romanov, The Black Widow, entered the room with her pistol drawn. There had been a security alarm when the wall and ceiling collapsed and as the person responsible for the Head of Shields security she was the first person to respond. She moved through the room using all of the decades of experience and training she possessed. She stopped just short of the madman determined the life of her boss. She rose up to a perfect firing stance and put the entire clip of fifteen rounds right through Moon Knight's head.
Moon Knight collapsed, but even with his skull fractured like a clay pot and his brain leaking out of his head like some disgusting gray soup, he refused to die. He clutched at a broken piece of the desk and tried futilely to stab Tony through the armor. Natasha, cool as can be, loaded another clip into her pistol and fired another fifteen rounds into what was Moon Knight's head.
Tony began to sputter and black out and Natasha noticed that her boss's heart was no longer attached to his body. She knew where the extra power supplies were kept and she quickly and efficiently reattached one to the Iron Man suit. Tony lay on the floor of his office neither conscious nor unconscious. He wasn't really awake but he could feel that he was in pain.
Natasha orchestrated the clean up of the office. The disposal crew came and burned Moon Knight's body to the point that there was nothing left but ashes and an adamantium set of armor. The office, would have construction crews working on it by tomorrow morning and it would be finished by the time the week was over. A quick call to the X-Men and a request to borrow Josh Foley later his body was in as good a shape as it was before the fight started and he sank into his bed with as positive an attitude as one could have for someone who had almost died earlier that night.
Moon Knight wouldn't be causing him anymore problems, and no one would even know that he was almost beaten by a guy who two weeks ago was outmatched by Taskmaster. Tony Stark smiled to himself. He was still rich, still popular, and still healthy.
Konoshu was in a good mood as well. Marc Spector had outlived his usefulness and the man's new attitude was becoming irksome. So he did what he always did when he wanted new blood. He sacrificed his old avatar in some plot to get himself lots of publicity. The only thing the public liked more than a hero was an anti hero and by the time he was done spinning this, Marc Spector would go down as a beloved figure, and Marc Spector couldn't be talked about without mentioning Konoshu.
Pulling the security clips was easy. He simply possessed a security guard, pulled them from the archives. He then emailed copies of Tony Stark getting humiliated to: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, BBC, and every other major media market on earth. He posted the video on the internet, erased the guards memory and left to go find a new avatar. Immortal life was good.
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