Chapter Two

Thank you Okami Princess! I hope you all enjoy! :)

Steve looked at Tony who was pacing back in forth of the hospital lobby, "Did Doctor Cho pick up?"

"She says she can be on her way as soon as there's a diagnosis," Tony answered. He ran a hand through his hair, "I mean, Ro was in perfect health! He doesn't drink, smoke, anything...occasionally, he has a sweet tooth but a heart attack?"

Bruce walked in hearing his last words, "I know it seems improbable considering the circumstances..."

Tony clutched a hand tightly and then sat down next to Steve putting his face in his hands. Natasha sat next to the man and rubbed his back, "If he's anything like you, he'll be stubborn."

Clint decided to try and lighten the mood, "So how did you meet the guy?"

"I was his senior adviser at MIT. Honestly, he kept me out of more trouble than I got him into. Hell, before that it was Rhodey, but it was easy to give him the slip. Robro, not so much. I don't think I would have graduated due to focusing too much on my own projects if he hadn't locked me in the lab and stood guard until I finished my thesis paper."

Bruce smirked, "Not as mild-mannered as he seems then."

"Not at all, he's a pain in the ass at times."

Steve smirked, "That's what brothers do."

Tony scrunched his nose, "Say what?"

"Nothing, it's just that sometimes, there's that one person in your life who might as well be family because they care more about you as much, if not more than]your real family does." Steve said as they saw a doctor talking with nurses just outside the waiting room door. He seemed baffled and almost infuriated before telling the two get lost.

Tony looked up as the man walked in holding a chart, "Well...it seems that Mr. Hashiba is going to be fine."

The group of heroes had seen how blue Rowen had turned, it was shade pretty close to his own hair color, and Tony asked, "Say what?"

The man looked at his chart, "His EKG is fine. There are no proteins in his blood and his angiograph is absolutely normal. We've run every test multiple times, and we cannot come up with a conclusive reasoning for his chest pains other than maybe he had an allergic reaction, but he has no symptoms of that either."

Tony asked in shock, "Is he awake?"

"Yes, you can even go talk to him if you like." He said with an insincere smirk before walking away. "He's in the first room at the end of the hall."

Tony didn't even wait for his teammates to acknowledge what the doctor had just said before bursting into the ICU. He could see several nurses looking over charts and arguing with each other, but he paid them no mind as he opened the door. Rowen's room was empty except for the window being open to the outside. Tony heard the sound of chains rattling, and ran to the window to look out. He saw a large armored figure scaling the wall of the hospital and cursed as Steve came in saying, "Did we get the wrong room?"

Tony turned and pushed past him, sensing his urgency the two spies, super soldier, and the gamma radiation specialist followed the engineer. Suddenly, the lights when out, and every doctor and nurse seemed to vanish before their eyes. Clint seemed to be put on alert when this happened, and as Tony tried the elevator to no success, warily stated, "Well, that was weird."

Bruce asked, "Tony, what's going on?"

Tony shrugged as he headed to the stairwell, "I don't know, but I saw some sort of armored thing scaling the hospital to the roof."

Nat sighed, "How did I know none of your friends could stay out of trouble? Rhodes has had his own suit highjacked twice by the bad guys while he was still in it, and now someone seems to be after your other MIT buddy."

Tony ignored her comments and saw Steve only smirk a little bit before following him to the stairwell. There was a strange rumble through the building and Steve said, "Are you sure Rowen is all that he seems?"

Tony frowned, "Look, I get it. Obi, Hammer, Killian, they're all people that turned on me, but Ro isn't like that. His research is in astro nuclear physics, the worst he's ever done is made a blackhole in his atom smasher."

There was quiet from his team for a moment before Bruce said, "And before you knew him?"

Tony had been nosy one time and tried to dig up Rowen's school records. He was impeccable, it just seemed odd that someone who was technically smarter than he was, was attending a normal regular high school. He asked him once and Rowen said, 'Dad and I had a falling out, and I was staying with some friends. I really wasn't ready to be on my own yet.'

Was this something his Dad was behind?

Tony didn't think so. Sure, Genichirou was the Japanese version of Howard Stark but slightly more eccentric. He didn't make weapons, instead specialized in aerodynamics and space flight technology. Unless, this was his father finally entering the field of weapons technology, there wasn't really much else it could be. They slammed through the roof exit, the moon was high in the night sky and Tony noticed he could see every star in existence but it was the being that stood in front of him that made him stop cold. Whatever it was, it wasn't a suit of mechanical armor. It looked like something he had seen out of a Japanese ink prints, with long spikes and sharp edges. It towered above all of them with thick plates of metal, that was mostly browns and greens, except for a few spots of crimson red. The helmet hid the bearer's face with something that looked like fanged snake mask, and he ha six long katanas, two on each hip and a pair on his back.

The armored being held Rowen up by the neck easily with one hand, and held an unsheathed sword in the other that dripped with a crimson liquid that burned the ground it dripped on. The armored being laughed as it turned its sharp eyes on them and then bellowed with even more maniacal laughter. Nat pulled out the pistol she always carried but it locked and jammed. Tony tried his wrist band to call Jarvis and the Iron Man suit, but there was only static as Steve yanked a pole free from the roof and threw it like Javelin. The being seemed surprised and jerked out of the way, giving Rowen an opportunity to break free. Tony gave up on calling the Iron Man suit and dashed to him, pulling him back, "Ro, you okay?"

"Daijobu," he answered that he was fine as he stumbled to his feet.

Tony looked up at the being, "Should I be concerned about copyright infringement?"

"Not now!" Rowen hissed, Tony had a habit of being a jokster at the worst times. He saw Banner slowly slinking back into the stairwell, "Let's go before he makes our friend turn green!"

Tony nodded as he helped Rowen to follow after his team of warriors as the armored being yanked out the bar that was lodged between the plates, and laughed again. Steve followed behind them, jamming the door shut as he asked, "You wouldn't happen to know what that is, son?"

Rowen gasped for as they ran and decided a partial truth was better than trying to pretend he knew anything. He licked his lips, "His name is Sekhmet."

"Isn't that an Egyption God?" Clint asked glancing back as they burst through the first door onto the top floor.

Rowen wanted to laugh but coughed, "He's not the real deal though..."

The door burst open behind them and the armored being laughed once more, "I told you Tenku,that you were next..."

Rowen gulped as Tony sat him down an grabbed an oxygen tank from a cart, "Legolas!"

Clint threw a dagger from his belt at the tank just as approached the armored being and there was a loud pop. Steve could see Nat escorting Dr. Banner ahead of them without him saying anything, a code green would be the worst thing to happen in this situation. Although, they weren't off well themselves. Clint didn't have his bow and arrows, he didn't have the shield, and for whatever reason the Iron Man suit seemed to have failed to respond to Tony's signal. He couldn't speak for Clint on the subject of Clint not bringing said bow and arrows, but Steve was kicking himself for not being prepared by not bringing his shield along just in case. He heard the strange sound of chains, and Rowen yelled, "Get down!"

"Ko Rai Sei!"

The armored being shook free of the tank as all the windows in the ward broke open and a million chains burst through. Like pythons seeking prey, they wrapped the being up tight as he tried to fight back with the acid covered swords. Steve and Tony grabbed Rowen's arms as they followed Clint down an empty hall. Rowen scrambled into the empty room and rummaged through doors. Tony heard the clanking of another suit of armor and he turned away from Rowen as he pulled on a baggy sweater and tight jeans. Rowen walked out as the three saw the second armored being pass the hallway they were just down. This armor was big as well with muted browns and greys, with a terrifying red ogre like mask. This armor wore a brown and gold cloak over it, and in the bearers hands they twirled what looked like a sickle on a chain

Rowen pushed past the three, "Kay, stop! He's gone mad!"

The second being just smirked and headed forward out of sight with a subsequent shake. Rowen began to run forward but was forced to stop and gasped for air. Tony grabbed him by the arm and shoved him the other way, "What are you going to do?! You just had a heart attack! If those two want to play battle bots let them!"

Rowen cursed as he gasped again and he followed after them with Steve's help. Steve could see he was holding his chest, "Should we slow down?"

Rowen shook his head as Clint rummaged through a med cart and pulled out a bottle of nitroglycerin while saying, "Good explosive, and just in case he decides to flat line on us again."

The engineer looked at the physicist, he was as pale as his lab coat would be. Tony] helped Rowen along as he gasped for air, his lips were chapped and his skin as pale as the moonlight. They started down the stairs together, Clint behind them, Steve in front of them. Rowen's gasping growing raspier as they made it to the ground floor. Rowen managed to say, "I need to stop..."

Tony let him stop for a moment as the building rattled again. Rowen leaned on his knees and mumbled, "Kuso..."

Steve crossed his arms, "Should I ask again? I'm pretty sure I asked before, but what is going on?"

"Sekhmet is trying to kill me," Rowen managed to answer. He could tell the Captain was fairly irritated at how Rowen was stating the obvious.

"Great." Clint said. "So is he like a mad scientist or what? Because that EMP..."/

"That wasn't an EMP." Tony said. Rowen could hear the irritation in his voice too. "Was it?"

Rowen leaned against the cool wall and took several deep breaths of cool air before saying, "No, not an EMP. Those armors are not mechanical, they are something along the lines of what Thor's hammer is."

Tony asked a secondary question to his first, "And why did he call you Tenku?"

Rowen sighed, he didn't have time for long stories, and he said, "It's a long story, one that we don't have time for right now."

Clint felt the building shake again, "I agree that we shouldn't have story time just now, can we just get out of here like Nat and Banner did?"

Steve opened the door and looked around to make sure that they weren't going to be surprised. He really wished for his shield at a moment like this, but he was good either way. They slipped out, Rowen holding onto Tony again. He just felt so terribly weak, he knew now it wasn't a heart attack, it was something else. He hoped Cye was alright, but there was a strong likelihood he wasn't. They exited the emergency exit and saw Banner huddled down. Tony gulped, "Oh, shi..."

Rowen saw the man's shirt burst open and the flesh underneath turning a sickly mossy green. He had no idea how fast the transformation was, and to his surprise, all the muscles stretching and bones crunching only took moments. The 'Hulk' was gigantic beast of pure muscle from head to toe. He roared and Rowen could see why, strung up above him was Natasha, and above her standing in the moonlight was a spider like armor he knew too well. Tony looked at him, "There's more than two?"

"There's four." Rowen answered as Hulk leaped at the spider like armor.

"Koko Rou Ken Ankoku Cho Uhigri!"

A black bolt lightning hit the beast and sent him tumbling in front of them as bruised and broken Bruce Banner. Seeing the Hulk taken out of the fight so easily was a nasty shock for all of them, even for Rowen, who had also started to believe the Hulk was pretty much invincible. Clint helped Rowen up after quickly getting over said shock as the fourth armored being appeared, his armor was dark gray and black armor, with a long flowing red cape. There were claws on the right gauntlet and he carried a long blade in the other that danced with the dark electricity. He grinned, "Did you enjoy Suiko's death, Tenku? I made sure he suffered slowly for your sake."

Rowen held his chest, he could feel his breath growing heavy. He wanted to use Tenku, but it hadn't responded to him in years and even though he clutched it in his hand, it still didn't respond. He fell to his knees as an exhausted and dirty Bruce wearily said as he slowly got back up, "That's never happened before..."

Rowen growled, "Why in the world would you do such a thing! Last I checked, you all were on our side!"

The spider finally spoke as he jumped down next to the man with the long sword, "You may not know how yet, but you pose a significant danger."

"Ko Rai Sei!"

The ground split open in front of them as the chains separated them from the the two armored beings. The first armored being that had been on the roof was thrown in front of the the spider and land with a large crunch. The swords soon followed, causing a small explosion knocking all three back. Steve saw the figure who had wielded the chains cut Nat free and landed behind the three armored beings.

The spider got to his feet and said accusingly, "You're picking the wrong side!"

"Perhaps." Came a soft voice. "But perhaps you are being far too battle hungry..."

"Yes, well, next time I hope you choose the right one." he said and the three armored beings vanished. The webs and chains vanished and the hospital lights came back on. Tony jumped in surprise as the ambulance passed in front of them with its sirens on. Bruce looked around nervously, holding up his ripped up pants, as paramedics wheeled in patients.

Clint cracked a joke, "I don't like the Twilight Zone, just for future reference.

No one seemed to notice the giant armored being that set Natasha down. The instant the being did the armor began glow and Rowen realized that they were hurt. He got to his feet and caught Kayura as the armored vanished in soft spark of light. She smiled up at him with dark eyes just as she lost consciousness in his arms, "Daijoubu..."