A/N: I know I have to finish the one fic I am writing, but I just had to write this one as well. I got the idea from a song on the Avengers Assemble album, and I just had to put it down. I don't know how long this story will be, I don't know if there will be any pairings, but I hope you enjoy. Oh, and I don't own the characters, MARVEL, or anything.
Smoke clouded the air, burning the lungs of the Avengers as they stood in the middle of the street in New York City. It had been a while since the last invasion to New York, but this one was unlike any of the others that they have had to deal with before. No, this little catastrophe was more like one of the Hulk's rampages, yet the big, green, rage monster was on the side of good now. Yet, just like those time, all the walls around the Avengers were crumbling, fires spreading through rooms and stores, into the streets and causing small explosions in cars, holes were still being knocked into the street as debris flew everywhere and destroyed everything in its path.
All of this, all of the destruction that was being caused, was because of one monster, a creature only half the size of the Hulk, yet with all the strength of the monster. The appearance of said monster was close to that of a werewolf, something out of folklores and myths, but so real that it was standing right there in front of all of them, roaring and growling as it ripped through the city. It had been a few hours since they began the battle, all of them exhausted to the point where they may not be able to push any further, yet they all kept trying. There was nothing that would make them give up just yet. The safety of the people was at stake, and none of them wanted to risk that.
SHIELD had sent back-up a few times, trying to help the Avengers as they battled against the monster and tried to fight it back, subdue it, or even kill it. But every time a plane or vehicle came into play, the beast directed its attention towards the machine, destroying it in a matter of seconds and nearly killing the people in the vehicle. The lucky ones died. Everything was dying, being destroyed, around them, and their hopes were slipping. The doubt that they could actually do this was infesting all of their minds, even the strongest and more willed of Thor's, and none of them could stop it. However, as the Hulk attacked the beast one more time and was sent flying through the air and across the city, all of them were floored with the realization that this couldn't be done.
Even though this revelation came to each and every one of their minds as they watched the green rage monster fly through the air, Tony kept his ground, flying in the now abused Iron Man suit and heading towards the best. There was a passion for getting this beast out burning in his eyes, driving him to push not only the suit, but himself to the limit.
"Cap, if you don't know what the hell you want us to do, I'm pulling out all the stops in attacking this thing," Tony said as he flew in with the suit, shooting a few miniature missiles to the beast before having to dodge a fairly large chunk of the road hurtling towards him. Letting out a string of curses, as some of the debris had struck him and knocked him in the air a few feet back, he came right back in and fired another round as he waited for Steve to reply to him.
"Stark, no one knows what is going on at the moment. But you are not allowed to put yourself in any more danger than the rest of us have been through with this thing. You saw what it did to Bruce."
"Yeah, I did, and that's why I'm going to attack it with all that I have." With that, and shutting off the com, Tony took a headlong dive towards the best and pulled out all the missiles, rockets, and any armed device he carried in the suit, letting loose on the creature and firing all that he had. The beast seemed to back down and shield itself with its arms as everything came flying at it, a large plume of dust and smoke surrounding around it and blocking it from view. Though Cap was shouting at him over the com and everyone else could hear it, Tony was left in the silence of the halted destruction, watching the smoke gathering before starting to fade. He hovered down closer to the ground to try and get a better view of the creature, wondering, hoping, that the attack he dealt had worked. As he watched, he turned the com back on to tell them the creature might be dead.
Tony didn't expect it to work, though he prayed for such a thing, but he also didn't expect the monster to come flying out of the smoke and towards him, grabbing the suit and dragging Tony down. The vice like grip was crushing the suit, squeezing his body and making it hard to breathe. Tony Stark very rarely got scared, but as he gazed into the blood red gaze of the wolf like creature, he felt fear strike through him and shake his body. The beast let out one more roar before opening its mouth as wide as it could and biting one of Tony's arms that were trying to make it release him.
Never had he felt a pain like this before, not even when he was caught in the explosion that made him have to put the arc reactor in his chest. Not only was it bone crushing, the grip the other's teeth had on him making him scream bloody murder as the pain overwhelmed him, but blood immediately began to seep from the suit, metal digging into his flesh as the creature maimed his arm. If this beast could do that to his arm, who knew what it could do to the rest of his body.
Almost as if on time, though, a SHIELD copter flew in and shot at the beast, making it turn its head and let go of the suit, Tony dropping to the ground with a loud thump and another pained scream. The beast soon took off towards the copter, the machine flying up as high as it could and just barely avoiding the grip. It started to fly away, towards the water where the helicarrier was positioned over, the monster following it all the while.
It was finally over; the monster was headed away from the city and towards captivity. Everyone should have been happy, ecstatic that this was all done with, but the screams of pain that Tony had made were shot through the com, worrying each and every Avenger and having them all scream into the ear pieces to ask where Tony was.
He could hear their voices, just a whisper as he started to fade to the darkness. It was soft, comforting that he could still hear them. Maybe it was his time to go. He was losing too much blood as it was and even if he could be saved, he would be crippled for life. As he continued to fade to unconsciousness, he wondered what it would be like to die, what it would be like as he had been so close to it so many times, only to be pulled back to reality.
Slipping more and more, the suit shut down, the arc reactor started to go dark, and as he fell into the black abyss of his mind, the last thing he felt was something warm spreading through his body, sensitizing every nerve in his body. The last thing he heard was a deep, dark voice, chuckling as a pair of red eyes shone through the darkness and implanted themselves in his subconscious mind.
