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Chapter 10 "Ambushed"
"How's it going, Tony?" Pepper shouted over the roar of the wind. The black dragon flying alongside her turned his head and grinned, displaying rows of sharp teeth.
(Going awesome, Pepper!) He spoke to directly to her mind. She had found out that, in dragon form, Tony could still talk with his mouth, (although his voice took a slight growl to it when he did) but preferred to speak telepathically to her and Rhodey. Tony had had even worked out a deal with Pepper: she doesn't try to read his memories, and he would allow her to hear his thoughts, and the same applied to Rhodey.
She grinned back at him and looked over at Rhodey, who was going a little green. (Um, Rhodey, you ok?) Tony asked. He nodded, staring straight ahead. (Fine, just a little airsick, I guess.) He replied. Pepper and Tony cracked a smile.
(You of all people! Rhodey, you're the one who took these planes in the first place!) She and Tony laughed, while Rhodey's face went from green to red, but he allowed himself a chuckle.
(So, Tony, how's flying? what's it like?) Pepper asked casually. Tony's eyes closed: flying felt so good. The wind felt like a cushion of air underneath him, so soft, and the rush of cold air left a delightful tingling sensation in his wings. Everything in the mountainous land below was so far away, the trees were like ants, vast fields of grass seemed only inches long, and even with his keen dragon eyes, the humans and animals seemed no more than mere specks of dust. (it's amazing, Pep.)
The three of them had been in the air, flying for at least two hours, and Tony wasn't the least bit tired. They had a tailwind, and that made flying (no pun intended) a breeze.
"Hey, Pepper, when are we going to break for lunch?" Rhodey inquired over the comm. systems. "I don't know, whenever, I guess." She replied. "Let's do it now, since these planes have a HUGE supply of food!" He said eagerly.
But, as they began to descend, Tony suddenly swerved to the left and just barely avoided a smoking projectile coming at him from behind.
"M.R.D.!" he screeched. And behind them, the huge Blackbird plane that had failed to catch Tony a week ago pulled up, loaded with machine guns, laser guided missiles, and other deadly toys. And, through the windshield, they could see the same angry, thin, grey-haired man who had captured and tortured Tony, smirking insolently.
Pepper cursed herself for letting them be ambushed so easily. She hadn't even bothered to check the radar, and now they were under attack! As if to prove that point, the M.R.D. plane opened several flaps on its wings, and launched a bunch of missiles, aimed at Pepper and Rhodey.
The aerial battle had begun.
Yanking the control sticks, Pepper and Rhodey expertly dodged the deadly explosives, only to have them turn around and keep going at them.
"Rhodey, I can't shake this thing!" Pepper said, panic rising in her voice.
(You don't have to.) Tony said to both of them, and, flying close to the six missiles just behind his friend's planes, opened his mouth, roared, and from his mouth he loosed a jet of blue fire, only it seemed to be made of vapor. The blue frost coated the projectiles, and in less than two seconds, ice had crept over them all, they ceased to function, and fell down to the ground miles below. He closed his mouth and grinned, clear smoke rising from his nostrils.
(I missed doing that.) He said, and the three of them banked to the right and circled around, facing the enormous Lockheed. Pepper and Rhodey activated the cloaking, and became invisible. Tony reached out and grabbed the tip of Rhodey's plane with his jaws, and he, too, vanished.
Inside the M.R.D. plane, the brown-haired man snickered and looked at the many buttons and levers on the control board that lay before him. He pushed a green one and pulled down the microphone lever, and as one of the guns targeted the three mutants, he shouted,
"Give it up! These guns will expose your position and destroy your silly little model airplanes! Come quietly, and you won't be hurt, I promise!" Unexpectedly, Tony's eyes flared with anger. Pepper sensed what he was about to do, and cried, "Tony, wait! NO!" but it was too late. He detached himself from Rhodey's plane and flew straight towards the enemy's huge aircraft, speeding ahead of them.
The evil man chuckled and slammed his fist down on the green button. Immediately, three green energy charges shot out of the Lockheed's guns. One collided with Tony's wings. He shrieked in pain and surprise and started to fall, his deep blue wings blackened and smoking. The other two headed straight for Pepper and Rhodey's planes, and before they could avoid the deadly green discs of energy, they hit, shooting green tendrils of electricity through the controls and forcing them to become visible again. "Gotcha!" He muttered, and seized the controls to the ship, steering it straight at the two small aircrafts, right onto a collision course.
Meanwhile, Tony was panicking. No matter how hard he flapped his wings, he couldn't ascend, and he kept losing altitude at a rapid rate. The thin membrane of his wings was torn and burned from the charges, and would not keep him aloft for much longer. (No…) he was going to fail… (NO…)
"NOO!" He shouted suddenly, and as a surge of anger-fueled power overtook him, he launched himself straight towards the red windshield of the Blackbird, stuck out his talons, and crashed through it, plowing into the grey-haired man at the controls.
Snarling, the two tumbled across the hard steel floor, and when the man rolled over on top of him, Tony growled and dug his wing-claws into his enemy's right shoulder. Howling, he retreated, clutching his shoulder. Tony's claws hadn't dug too deep, but the wound was enough to enrage him. He grabbed a metal pipe that had NO business whatsoever lying on the ground in the control room, and swung clumsily at Tony, who easily sidestepped. Tony launched himself at the man, who swung the pipe, and caught Tony's legs, knocking him off balance. He surged at once to his feet, but the man had gotten the distraction he needed. He grabbed the ship's communication microphone, and shouted into it.
"This is General Stryker! Breach! There's been a breach at the main control station! All armed guards report here immediately, main control station, level A-1!" with his keen dragon hearing, Tony could make out the pounding of heavy boots against metal, the clanking of weapons being loaded, and the shouts of men ready for battle.
"You've lost, Tony!" The General snarled as the teen dragon slowly got to his feet. They began circling each other.
"Give up now, and I'll spare your pathetic friends." He gestured to the two planes, unable to move, thanks to the energy charges. "They'll live. You'll live. And, you'd be well taken care of, at the M.R.D.'s headquarters. You're a genius and a warrior, Tony; I've seen what you can do. We could really use a kid like you on our side. You can breathe frost and fire, you can generate energy shields to protect you. Heck, you can survive even the most brutal wounds that a regular human would die from, and yet you have only just begun to understand your abilities! With us, our resources, you could be so much more than a confused teen, no family and no friends; scorned and hated everywhere you go." Tony's eyes flared up once more as his enemy said this, and bared his sharp teeth threateningly, lowering himself to attack.
"First of all, I HAVE friends, second, you SERIOUSLY need breath mints, dude, and third, you can take your stupid offer and-" He then called the M.R.D. and the evil man such bad names; I wouldn't dare put them into this chapter. When he was through cursing, the man, completely enraged, recklessly hurled his pipe at Tony, who caught it neatly in his teeth, then promptly spat it out. (ICK-metal does NOT taste good,) He decided. He then growled low, deep in his throat, stalked forward and backed the man into a corner. His eyes gleamed with desperation as he tried one last time to convince Tony.
"What are you doing, Tony? With us, you could have so much! You wouldn't be mistreated, I'll personally see to that, and, given time to research, we could even fix your heart." Tony must not have concealed his shock very well, for the man laughed.
"What, you think we didn't know? Oh, Tony, we've been watching you for longer than you know. We know a lot about you, for example…" He paused dramatically, then continued with a smirk.
"…that your heart is weak and can't handle much more than-"
"STOP!" Tony roared, feeling his stomach do a flip-flop. (How could he possibly know THAT much about me?) In his utter shock and rage, he hadn't noticed that the man had slowly reached towards the white backpacks that sat nearby. Suddenly he lunged and grabbed one, turned and smirked at Tony, said, "Oh, you'll join us, Tony, one way or the other! We'll meet again!" and with that, kicked the emergency door right off its hinges, and leaped outside of the plane. Immediately, a huge gust of wind tore at Tony, threatening to drag him out of the plane if he didn't hold on.
He had no time to wonder about the man, as the doors banged open and dozens of M.R.D. agents poured in, pointing their guns at Tony.
"Don't move!" one of them shouted. "Put your hands-er, wings-in the air and get back against the wall! NOW!"
"Can I have a PLEASE, Mr. Bossy?" Tony muttered, but then grinned.
This was going to be fun.
And for the next few minutes, Tony battled the M.R.D. agents, not actually killing them, of course, but rather knocking them unconscious, and soon he was done. The bodies of dozens of men littered the floor, and Tony had barely been hurt. A few scratches on his legs, a bruise on his knee from a rather fat warrior, and a large cut running from his eye to his cheek, and that was it. But wait…that wasn't it! He suddenly remembered his two friends, and ran to the windshield to see where they were, praying that they hadn't been hit.
They hadn't crashed yet, but the Lockheed was several yards away from one.
Tony yanked the control stick, and the ship tilted sharply to the left, avoiding Pepper and Rhodey's planes by just a few feet. Staggering to his feet on the dangerously tilted floor, he hit the green button that had released the energy charges, and as he did so, Pepper and Rhodey's planes came free of their paralysis, and with renewed vigor they sped straight for the Blackbird.
Tony watched them approach, and as he did, he failed to notice the large metal shelf that was sliding towards him. It made a loud BANG as it stopped sliding and tilted towards Tony, and then fell straight towards him. He yelped and tried to get out of the way, but he was too slow. It crashed on top of his right wing, pinning him to the ground. There was a sharp CRACK, Tony's wing exploded in pain, and his vision danced with spots. When his head hit the floor, his ears suddenly rang and blood flowed from a new wound on the side of his head. He had fallen onto a sharp shard of glass from the destroyed windshield. He groaned in pain and lay his head back, helpless. Gritting his teeth, he silently cussed himself out for being injured, AGAIN. At least he had gotten his friends to safety…
A few moments later, the pressure on his wing lifted and he was hauled to his feet. He felt the presence of another beside him, supporting him so he wouldn't fall.
"P-Pepper!" He gasped, as a fresh wave of pain assaulted his wing. Rhodey was next to him, helping Pepper support their injured friend.
"Come on, let's get you to the plane!" Pepper cried, and they started to move, but Tony only cried out in pain. He felt the last of his energy ebb away, and, as he did automatically whenever his strength left him, he transformed back into a human.
"Can't…make it…" he groaned, and the voices of Rhodey and Pepper, trying to reassure him became distant, and he could barely make out a fourth figure leaping through the broken windshield, coming towards him.
Then the world flipped, stars exploded in his sight as the pain in his arm sharpened, and he closed his eyes, slipping into unconsciousness.
Well, Tony got hurt again. Sorry everyone! :'( just to clear things up a bit, he only passed out because he used a lot of energy fighting the soldiers, as well as breathing ice at those missiles. Let me know that you thought, my awesome friends! =3