A/N: Here's the big story. It's not a dream. It's not a metaphor. It's a battle.
I Sing the Battle Electric
Tony Stark squirmed within the Iron Man suit. "Guys, I'm stuck. I can't break free of these forcefields."
The other Avengers — Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow — regarded the situation with alarm. Iron Man was pinned in midair like a bug on an invisible spider web.
Earlier:
Discarded by the destruction of Insight, a Hydra scientist had resorted to experimenting on himself. He gave himself lightning powers, but apparently also drove himself insane. Or maybe he was already insane; Stark wasn't going to judge.
The mad scientist turned a tank into a forecfield generator and turned his robot assistants into an army, then he began to march on Washington D.C. to get revenge for the fall of the helicarriers.
No one understood his logic. The scientist was mad, after all. The politicians and important people had fled the city in helicopters, leaving only national monuments and innocent, ground-bound civilians trapped in a nightmare traffic jam to face his wrath.
The mad scientist's forcefield disintegrated everything it touched, demolishing a wide swath around the tank as it rolled along, unstoppable.
The battalion left a trail of bare earth in its wake, tearing up fields and knocking down forests and farm buildings as it moved. Nothing so far could stand against it. The Army tried to stop the mad man, but tank shells bounced off the dome of force. The mad scientist just laughed and fried the tanks with his electrobolts.
With lightning flying like the worst thunderstorm ever, the military pulled back to let the Avengers take over.
The scene wasn't as strange as flying space whales, but it was close. Something that looked like a white enameled tank projected a pale yellow domed forcefield wide enough to protect a company of bright yellow robotic foot soldiers. Their general was a masked man wearing what looked like a black wetsuit with forked lightning sparking across his costume — not an image of lightning, but real electric current shifting up and down his legs and across his chest.
"Gaudy outfits," Steve Rogers commented.
"Says the man dressed like a sparkly American flag," snarked Iron Man as he hovered above the group.
"Says the man in the red and gold tin can," countered Clint Barton, confident in the obscurity of his drab, sleeveless vest and dark pants.
They all heard Tony's intake of breath as he prepared another jibe.
"Save it," Natasha Romanoff advised.
"Right. Then let's see what this thing's made of." Iron Man launched four tiny missiles from his left epaulet. They hit the forcefield from four directions. The explosions didn't even make the dome flicker, but returned a lot of useful data to Tony's computer.
The power levels made him whistle.
The tiny missiles also attracted the attention of the lightning man. He sprang to the rear of the tanklike forcefield generator and made some adjustments. Two appendages extended to and through the forcefield, which molded neatly around them. A spark appeared at each tip, and then suddenly Iron Man was caught.
"Something's got me!" Tony gasped. "Forcefield. Trying to crush me."
He sent full power to the suit's structural integrity fields, but the crushing force was draining his power.
"Now, Iron Man, you will know the power of Lightning Strike!" the mad scientist gloated. "First I will knock you out of the sky, then I will obliterate the American government."
All the time he was speaking, the forcefield dome continued to move slowly but inexorably toward Washington, destroying vegetation and fences in a wide path.
"Who is he kidding? The people will evacuate. They are evacuating. He'll only destroy the buildings," Natasha scoffed.
"Nobody touches the Lincoln Memorial on my watch," declared Captain America.
"That's just too cliché, Cap," Tony gasped, ready to spend his last breath on a quip.
"I mean it. I love that monument," Steve protested.
"I think I'm offended that he hasn't even bothered to attack us," commented Hawkeye, as he fired arrow after explosive arrow at the wands outside the forcefield. Cap threw his shield at full force. There was little that could withstand its sharp vibranium edge, but it merely took a chip — more like a fleck, really — off the wand.
"Must be adamantium," Natasha said grimly.
The minor scratch made Lightning Strike screech with fury. Another wand shot through the forcefield, aimed at Cap.
"Oh good, now we got his attention," Clint said cheerfully.
Electricity crackled around the tip of this wand.
"Look out!" Cap yelled. Clint and Natasha ducked behind his shield, because it was the only cover in the field plowed clean by the moving forcefield. Lightning zapped from the wand. It struck the shield and rebounded, scorching shrubbery outside the cleared swath.
Answering lightning forked across the sky. Thunder boomed. Captain America looked up in sudden hope. Lightning Strike misinterpreted his expression. "Are you afraid of storms, Captain? I love the lightning and its power!" he gloated.
"You might not be so happy about what comes after," Cap warned.
Hawkeye had been scanning the clouds. His keen vision spotted the oddly shaped missile flying their way.
"Incoming!" Clint said into the comm and shoved Natasha into the shelter of Cap's shield again. The three Avengers ducked low.
The arcane might of Mjolnir blasted through the merely Midgardian adamantium. The ray arms shattered, cutting off the forcefield snare. Iron Man dropped heavily, sitting down with a crash. A muscular form with flying blond hair dropped beside him with a force that left dents in the ground beneath his feet. The Asgardian god raised his hand and the hurtling hammer returned to its owner.
"My friends, you started the festivities without me," Thor chided jovially. His free hand lifted Iron Man to his feet and steadied him until he could stand alone.
"You know how it is," Tony answered, his jesting tone a little breathless. "You live too far outside cell phone range. Think Asgard could make room for a small cell tower? I'd spring for the construction costs."
"I do not think it would suit the décor," Thor answered solemnly. Jane Foster's lessons in life on Midgard were paying off.
"Yeah, NIMBY is a bitch," Tony agreed.
Jane hadn't gotten to "not in my backyard," yet, but Thor knew to let Tony's unfamiliar references drop when they were in mid-battle.
"Are you well, my friend?" he said instead.
"Feeling a little … compacted," Tony decided. "And power's low. Otherwise, tip top."
"Glad to hear it," Cap interjected. "Good to see you, Thor. Your timing was perfect."
"Yeah, how'd you know we needed a lightning expert?" Hawkeye asked. "Did the all-seeing eye of your friend Heimdal spot our trouble?"
"No, it was the all-seeing eye of your television news that said my comrades were going to face a manipulator of electricity, so I thought I would contend with him to see which of us is the true master of lightning."
"Hey!"
"Oh look, the villain is miffed that we're ignoring him," Tony snarked. "You never were good enough to hang with the popular kids, were you?"
Lightning Strike raged at the insolent Iron Man.
"Why are you doing this?" Steve asked.
"Because you can't stop me!" the villain taunted.
"That's no reason." Cap being Cap had to try to reason with the madman.
"It's the best reason!"
Steve's eyes were fixed on Lightning Strike, in case he tried another electric attack. Cap felt rather than saw Natasha lean close to Hawkeye, saying something outside the comm. Clint turned away from her and Steve heard the whir and click of the quiver turning, a noise inaudible to anyone except a Super Soldier standing at his side. And then Natasha vanished from his perception.
It took all of Captain America's discipline to refrain from looking for her and possibly tipping Lightning Strike to her actions — whatever they were.
"Yeah, yeah," Tony said dismissively, holding the mad scientist's attention while Black Widow slipped away. He clapped a metal-clad hand on Thor's brawny biceps. "Listen, my buddy has forgotten more about lightning than you'll ever know."
Lightning Strike made a wordless sound of rage and sent lightning flashing toward Tony. It grounded on Mjolnir instead. Lightning Strike yanked a lever and a bolt flew toward Steve and Clint who ducked behind the shield, unnecessarily. Thor didn't even gesture, but the lightning curved away from his friends and danced around Mjolnir's head instead.
Thor smirked. Tony smirked — sure, Lightning Strike couldn't see the smirk behind the faceplate but he sensed it all the same.
"Well, if I can't stop you, you can't stop me either!" the mad scientist pouted. Honestly, Steve expected to see him stick his tongue out at them.
He turned his back on them and resumed his inexorable march toward D.C.
"What …?" Tony started to ask Clint about Natasha, but the archer made the director's throat slitting gesture that meant, "Cut!"
"No comms," Clint said tersely, shutting his off. Cap followed suit and Tony raised his faceplate. Of course, Thor didn't have a comm because he'd come late to the party.
"Widow thinks Lightning Strikes Out is eavesdropping," Clint said.
"Electromagnetic spectrum, why not?" Tony muttered to himself. "Everyone's got the channel off. Widow, too?" he asked. Getting a reassuring nod from Clint, Tony went to work. With eye movements and a muttered word to JARVIS, who was always on a separate and secure channel, Tony poured feedback into the Avengers' comm channel that none of his friends were using. Lightning Strike clutched his ears in agony then threw something on the ground.
"What do you know? Widow was right," Tony smirked. "You know, I don't think this guy has lightning powers after all. He has gadgets, though. Lots of gadgets."
The others nodded.
"So, what's the plan?" Tony directed his question impartially to Cap and Hawkeye.
"We need to keep the forcefield in one place," Clint said. "It's only a dome. Widow's looking for a way under it."
She was playing the stealth card, one of her most winning hands, Tony thought. Maybe he could dig her a hole, he said aloud.
"But you can't be obvious about it," Cap pointed out. "We'll need a big distraction. Any way you can punch a hole through the forcefield?"
"Not at current power levels, sir," JARVIS reported in his ear. Tony dutifully relayed the information. "What about you, Point Break? You can attract lightning. Can you pull electricity out of the forcefield?"
Thor regarded the energized dome thoughtfully. "I can, but it renews itself constantly. I cannot make a hole, but perhaps a soft spot?"
Tony remembered his first meeting and battle with Thor. "Then pull the electricity out and put it in me. I need a recharge. Light me up, big guy!"
Thor made a beckoning gesture with Mjolnir. A spark jumped from the forcefield to the hammer and then a stream of lightning began to flow.
Lightning Strike jumped up and down, screaming in fury. His army halted, waiting for the next order.
Clint fired arrows as a distraction. One exploded against the forcefield right in front of Lightning Strike's face. As he covered his eyes against the flare of light, another arrow skittered off the dome and dove point first into the dirt. It blew a hole in the ground — by coincidence (not), this hole was right in front of Natasha, giving her a hole beneath the forcefield.
Thor aimed Mjolnir at Iron Man. Energy crackled around the suit. "Energy levels at 52 percent, 67 percent, 76 percent," Jarvis recited. "One hundred percent, 125 percent." The numbers continued to grow.
Natasha slithered under the rim of the forcefield dome, taking supreme care to not touch the pale yellow gleam.
As Jarvis' count reached 189 percent, Natasha leaped on Lightning Strike's back.
"Nap time," she announced and zapped him with her Widow's Bite bracelets.
The villain laughed. "You fool!" he roared. He raised his chin defiantly. "My suit makes me impervious to all electricity …"
Ignoring the ranting, Natasha slashed with her knife. Lightning Strike cried out as she drew blood, but the purpose wasn't to slice his throat, it was to open a gap in his suit. Natasha jabbed her Widow's Bite against the flesh just under his jaw and shocked him again.
Mr. Impervious' eyes crossed and he toppled backwards, stiff as a felled tree.
The robots looked at their fallen leader, then all their eyes turned on Black Widow — and those eyes began to glow!
"No! Tasha! We've got to get in there!" Hawkeye shouted as electroblasts shot from the robots' eyes.
Black Widow flipped and dodged, moving faster than the clunky repair droids could follow, but she couldn't keep it up forever. There were too many robots. Their blasts began to press her back toward the forcefield, which would annihilate her.
"Sooner would be better than later, boys!" she called.
"Suit power at 212 percent. Forcefield integrity at 39 percent," Jarvis reported.
"That'll have to do," Tony said, as he launched Iron Man at the weakened spot of the dome.
The Avengers threw up their arms to protect their eyes as a sun-bright blaze of light obliterated their vision. It confused the electrodroids momentarily, long enough for Iron Man to plant himself between the Widow and her enemies.
The robots' energy blasts focused on Iron Man. The suit continued to absorb the power but it was already supercharged.
"Approaching overload," Jarvis warned.
Tony would have liked to snatch Natasha to safety, but now his suit was white hot and pulsing with energy. Now he was as dangerous to her as the robots, and the energy bolts kept coming.
Then Mjolnir crashed through the weakened dome and crushed the tank. The dome flickered and faded. A red, white and blue shield sheered half a dozen electrodroids in half, before rebounding off the tank remains and returning to Captain America's hands. At the same time, explosive arrows made holes in the ranks of the robot army.
When his hammer returned to his hand, Thor threw it again, scything down the row of robots closest to his friends. Then Cap was racing among the scattered remains of the army, smashing them down with his shield.
The head of the last robot exploded, courtesy of one of Hawkeye's arrows. Victory belonged to the Avengers, but they didn't have a moment to celebrate.
The Iron Man suit was pulsing with power too strong to be contained.
"Overload in 16 seconds," Jarvis reported.
"The suit's going to blow," Tony said. "I'll get as far away as I can."
"Fear not," Thor said calmly, before Iron Man could launch into the air. The thunder god placed the hand holding Mjolnir on Iron Man's shoulder. Electricity crackled around the hammer's hilt seeming not to affect the hand that was holding it. The frightening aura faded from around Iron Man. Lightning leaped to the heavens. Clouds boiled, flashing eerily, and then, with a deafening crack of thunder, rain began to pour down. Tony's suit began to cool to safe levels.
"Thanks, big guy," Tony said in relief.
The heroes were getting drenched. The torn-up field was turning to mud. But no one minded. The cool rain actually felt good after the heat of battle.
"The God of Thunder has little to fear from lightning," Thor pointed out.
"Didn't I hear that Dr. Foster's assistant — Darcy, is it? — Didn't I hear that she tasered you?" Natasha asked Thor.
"Yes. The irony is not lost on me," Thor replied. "Laid low by a weapon of electricity. But that was when the All Father had punished me by taking away my powers, leaving me little more than a mortal." His eyes twinkled to show his mortal friends he was teasing.
"We're glad that you have your powers back," Cap said, clapping a hand on Tony's metal-clad shoulder. "Things would be too quiet without Tony around."
"Hey!"
"Yeah, the Iron Man sacrifices himself ploy is getting to be a cliché. You need some new material, Stark," Clint said affectionately.
"Talk to the screenwriter," Tony threw back.
A/N: OMG, I can't believe I finally finished this story. This was the third Avengers story I started, after A Very Good Team (chapter 1) and The Girl He Left Behind. It was, rather obviously, inspired by the first movie's battle scene between Iron Man and Thor. I started it in July 2012, and got stuck because the villain didn't want to cooperate. (That villain!) Mad or not, his march on D.C. didn't make sense. But then, after Winter Soldier and Ultron, I thought of this story again in light of Hydra and my In Between Time series. Suddenly, it seemed to work. I'm so relieved. I hated to waste all the witty battle chatter.
