Iron Man vs. the Tyranid Swarm
"Mr Stark," intoned J.A.R.V.I.S "I've just been notified by S.H.I.E.L.D" that an unknown vessel has just entered our solar system."
"So what? I'm busy, Jarvis," he downed his glass of wine and smoothly took another from a passing minor politician. The man opened his mouth to complain, then saw who it was and tried to pretend he'd brought the drink for that very purpose.
"It is approaching at a rate that will have it at earth within half an hour."
"Why do I need to be involved? I make guns, not spaceships," he complained.
"Apparently, S.H.I.E.L.D is rather concerned. It has a mouth."
"A what?"
"A mouth, sir."
"J.A.R.V.I.S, ships don't have mouths," said Stark, flatly "fins, yes, big-ass rocket boosters, yes. Mouths? No."
"It would seem this one does."
He sighed, finishing his drink again.
"I suppose S.H.I.E.L.D wants me to have a look when it comes down then? Fine, I'll suit up."
He headed towards the exit, smoothly replacing the now-empty glass in the politician's hand as he did so. He wondered what had got S.H.I.E.L.D so worked up over a lone ship. The must know more than they were letting on…
"Mr Stark. The unknown vessel is now entering the atmosphere. It will enter visual range in 49 seconds and counting."
Tony adjusted his altitude slightly, expertly manipulating the Iron Man suit's thrusters. He was currently hovering 30,000 feet above a small, hastily evacuated tourist island.
"Yeah, I can see. It is on the HUD"
"I-"
Suddenly the simulated voice shut off as another interrupted it. A large blinking logo appeared in the centre of the display.
"Stark," said the voice heavily, "sorry for shutting down your AI but this is urgent. What you're about to face is like nothing you've ever seen before. We brought you here to examine a crash-landing. What you're going to be doing is heading off an invasion."
"Then why am I only the one here?" he sighed, slightly bemused. He was hardly a stranger to holding off alien invaders.
"You aren't. We have 20 birds in backup and teams on the surrounding islands, but we don't have anything with air-combat capacity like you. And God knows we need air superiority when we're dealing with these things."
"What exactly am I fighting then?"
"Tyranids, Stark." Said the voice, dramatically.
There was a pause.
"Is that meant to be significant?"
"I suppose not for someone outside of S.H.I.E.L.D." the voice sighed "Just… be careful Stark. We've lost far, far too many good men to these things."
"Then I'll need my AI back"
The glowing logo disappeared and J.A.R.V.I.S' monotone was audible once more.
"Mr Stark? I was overridden. My apologies"
But he wasn't listening to the AI anymore. He was focussing on the black dot far above that was slowly growing larger and larger. He zoomed in and saw with a slight stir of alarm that it was less of a conventional spaceship and more of a living creature, fleshy and bulbous and spewing black fluids from rents in its 'back'. It did indeed have a mouth, a grotesque, oversized rent, filled with teeth.
"J.A.R.V.I.S. Is that thing alive?" he asked with apprehension.
"It would appear so sir"
He checked the suit's readout; green across the board. The alien ship was coming closer and closer, plummeting uncontrollably earthwards. Suddenly through his magnified vision he could see a great black swarm of what looked like winged creatures separate themselves from the doomed ship and dived behind it, following it towards the ground. He powered the repulsor rays built into his gauntlets as the ship approached, trailed by the swarm.
The thing roared past him, screeching some alien scream, then the winged creatures were on him. He began firing indiscriminately, dodging what seemed to be large, black bullets fired from their weapons.
As quickly as he fired more were appearing, blocking his vision. They were overcome by some savage, selfless purpose, throwing themselves at him despite the devastating wounds his weaponry was causing.
Claws scratched across his back but failed to penetrate, scraping across the armour. He dived downwards, trying to get out of the heart of the swarm, and managed to pull away somewhat.
Below, the alien vessel collided with the island with cataclysmic force, bursting open and spewing strange fluids onto the island's white sands. Suddenly the beasts were confused; what had before been a pursuit was now a confused rabble of wings and fangs. He wouldn't have a better chance.
The metal covers on his shoulders flipped up, revealing two dozen missiles. The rockets fired, and they soared towards the mass of aliens, detonating and consuming several score in white hot flames. The remainder scattered, seemingly trying to escape, until suddenly a much larger creature swooped upwards from the wreckage of the vessel below. Instantly the creatures rallied, opening fire again on him. Was the large creature controlling them telepathically?
One of the large black bullets hit him in the shoulder, and he saw that it wasn't a slug at all. It was a shiny black beetle. The insect scrabbled desperately at the armour plating, succeeding in making a small hole before spasming and falling away. That was bad news; if they could burrow through his suit, they could cause some serious damage if they hit a weak point.
He dodged and weaved, firing whenever he could, but there were still hundreds left, and he felt more beetles hit him, filling his head with the noise of their frantic scratching. The swarm caught up to him again, surrounding him with bodies. Although he could hardly miss at this range, neither could they, and he was far outnumbered.
Claws scraped across his visor and he spun in mid-air, firing in a circle. Another dozen burnt, but more replaced them, firing black beetles and biting madly at him. Suddenly one screeched directly in his face and he recoiled, reflexively firing a repulsor beam through its chest. It choked acid, spitting the stuff onto his neck and chest before tumbling away.
"Power at 70%," intoned J.A.R.V.I.S, "this acid is potent enough to melt through the gold-titanium alloy, sir. Try and avoid it"
He dodged a black beetle.
"What do you think I'm trying to do? Eat the stuff?"
As if on cue, another alien spat the acid directly onto his visor. He cut the power and dropped, burning the stuff away with a low power repulsor shot, but the HUD flickered alarmingly as the corrosive liquid bit at important conductors. He reactivated his jets and aimed upwards, just in time to see the huge creature that seem to control the swarm swooping towards him. He fired at it twice but it shrugged off the beams and a huge claw closed around him, yanking him towards a huge, bleeding-black maw. His armour buckled slightly in the creatures grip, but then he was at the perfect angle and he fired his unibeam. It burnt straight through the monstrosity's head, vaporising it and killing the creature instantly.
The claw, however, stayed determinately clamped around his middle.
The pair fell, Stark scrabbling at the massive claw as they shot towards the island 20,000 feet below. 15,000 feet below. 10,000 feet below…
He finally got a decent grip and wrenched himself free, pushing away and activating his thrusters again, but red lights were glowing in his HUD.
"Sir, thruster system has sustained acid damage. I recommend landing as soon as possible"
"Good plan." he said, as a jet sputtered and almost cut out. He turned downward towards the island, leaving the swarm of aliens in the metaphorical dust and quickly coming down to ground level. He landed on a sand dune within sight of the deceased alien ship just as the thrusters gave out, and he looked upwards at the remaining few hundred beasts scattered, bereft of a leader. He glanced at the power. 45%.
"S.H.I.E.L.D, those ones are running off, can your birds intercept? S.H.I.E.L.D?" Through the speakers returned only deafening silence.
"Sir, communications is damaged. They cannot hear us"
"I'll just have to hope they aren't completely useless then," he looked around, "I don't suppose any survived that crash,-"
A sickening blow smashed into the back of his head, sending him tumbling face first down the sand dune. He rolled to his feet, staggering slightly, and span round to see… nothing?
"J.A.R.V.I.S system disabled, J.A.R.V.I.S system disabled" an alarm sounded in his ears, showing severe damage to the back of the helmet and the AI's critical systems that resided there. He span in circles, trying to locate his enemy as his visor flickered through different spectrums but there was nothing there. Slowly, he lowered his hands.
And it was there directly in front of him, chameleonic skin that had lent it practical invisibility suddenly turning black as it attacked. He tried to dodge but the claw punched straight through his armour and into his stomach, ripping through flesh and tissue in an explosion of pain. He fell backwards, blood spurting onto the sand though he tried to stem the flow with an armoured hand.
Stark clambered to his feet, holding an arm up defensively as the alien circled him, watching his vitality pour from the punctured suit. He coughed wetly. If this went on any longer he was finished.
He leapt forwards, the jets on his feet lending him a quick burst of speed, and despite the creature's unnaturally fast reflexes thrusters were always faster. He collided with the thing and both of them thudded into the ground, and Stark started punching. Almost immediately hooks of what looked like bone burst from the monster's torso and jabbed into his suit, yanking him too close to get any power in his blows. The tendrils around its mouth jabbed against his visor, searching for weak spots and secreting acid, whilst the claws bit into his shoulders.
He hit the thrusters again, and the two were propelled along the ground, flipping through the sand. The sinuous hooks ripped away from the thing's body as they smashed through a tree, and Stark rose into the air. For a second he hovered gracefully, then the damaged repulsors cut out and he collided face first with the ground.
He rolled over and went to get up, but the monster was on him, raining blows onto his visor, cracking it. Acid dripped through onto his chin, burning though the flesh. He went to shoot it, put it slammed his hand down with a talon, impaling his palm. It raised the other, poised to slam down through the splintered face-plate.
He fired his unibeam, expending all the energy the arc reactor embedded in his chest had left in one lethal beam of pure burning power, immolating the creature instantly and sending a blazing beacon into the sky. Ash scattered in the wind as Stark pulled away the front of his helmet with his one good hand, feeling the cool wind on his face even as the shrapnel long-embedded in his chest began its journey towards his heart once more.
He gazed upwards, at the jets above tearing apart the remaining monsters, and at the plumes of smoke where the swarm overcame the pilot's skill. He coughed blood, feeling it trickle down his acid-damaged chin.
Now he understood the reverence in the S.H.I.E.L.D agent's voice when he'd told Stark he'd be up against "Tyranids". They must have been holding off these things for far longer than just today; perhaps for decades before, these things had been coming to earth. His vision dimmed as poison and blood loss began shutting down his nervous system, and he wondered almost without caring whether today was the day Iron Man died… whether today the world lost a hero…
Then he saw the helicopter approaching out of the corner of his fading eyes, and he smiled almost grimly. S.H.I.E.L.D would never let him have the luxury of death; humanity would always need heroes, and that was their job.
To be there, when no one else could be. To fight the alien, and the monster, and the dark unknown from under the bed. To be an inspiration.
With superheroes, perhaps, the human race could endure.