THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER. I may do an epilogue later... but for now...
Also, I am absolutely horrible at fight scenes and endings. You have been warned.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY FAMILIAR CHARACTERS. ONLY THE PLUNNY, KAAAAAY?
CHAPTER TEN
So Much For An Emergency Response Team.
A roar is what follows; an earsplittingly loud noise that has Tony and Johnny darting backward a few steps, and Doom's cry is drowned out by the audacity of it. Tony can't really find it within himself to be annoyed at Hulk, however, because inside he's cheering at the top of his lungs. Doom's just been flung across the roof of Stark Tower by the sheer force of one of Hulk's punches.
But it's not enough to keep the guy down, apparently. Not that Tony really knows how, since if he'd been slammed in the face with one of Hulk's fists, he'd be out cold. His only hope is that Doom's gotten himself a concussion of some sort.
"Ka-bam." Johnny hoots quietly, eyes sparking with mischief. His whole form explodes into flame and he darts about a foot into the air. It's something that Tony's a little jealous of, really. He can't glow as bright, burn as hot or move as fast as Johnny when he's activated his own fire. He feels more sluggish and slow. More powerful, but much, much slower.
Tony blasts a jet of fire at Doom, who recoils slightly as he staggers toward the two fire users and the Hulk who's flared his nostrils in annoyance. "HULK SMASH!" He spits, but Tony holds out a hand to silence the beast.
"Just wait, Hulk." Tony says quietly, taking a few steps forward and peering interestedly at the 'super-villain'. "Smashing didn't quite work."
"It fucking did." Doom snorts. "My head hurts like a…" He trails off, not being able to quite find the right word for it. Tony grins slightly.
"In that case," says Tony slightly. "Hulk, smash."
Doom won't ever admit it, but he whimpered.
So, screw emergency response team. Steve knows that Tony's probably wondering where they are, mostly because their coms are all screwed up right now. When Magneto escaped, (and yeah, straight after Tony and Johnny had left), he'd crunched up all of their coms and everything else with it.
Hawkeye's arrows? Gone.
Nat's guns? Screwed.
Steve's shield? Hopefully Tony could fix its shape up later.
Tony was lucky he'd decided to go without his suit. Or, not. Magneto had pried the thing apart and tried to fit himself inside it… but JARVIS had forced the thing to explode with the mutant still inside, so Erik was now sporting some pretty horrendous burns.
Thor's hammer was safe. There was something in the strange Asgardian metal that had protected the thing from Magneto's metal manipulation – thank God.
"I do wish you still had your… Iron Man with you." Magneto snarls dangerously, and he strides in through the Helicarrier doors with Mystique trailing along beside him. He'd also managed to rescue Pyro, so the guy storms in not long after them. Storm is glaring at him from beside Thor, eyes dark and stormy. "But I guess, even without the suit, he'll still be fun to toy with. He still has that reactor deep within his chest." The mutant laughs softly.
"You won't touch him." Natasha snarls.
"No." Magneto agrees. "Not if he chooses to join me. If not… I won't touch him – but I'll rip his heart to shreds. Or not. The shrapnel will do it for me, I suppose. If I let it."
Jean scowls. "You won't."
"Fuck off, bub." Logan snarls. With a look from Magneto, he's paralysed in place. Not for the first time, the man inwardly curses the mutant to hell, as well as his metallic bones. Screw them.
"Language." Pyro tsks gleefully. "Watch it, bub." He mocks, then.
Logan growls, deep in his throat, and Jean makes a stapler fly off the table and smack into his head. Because she can, you know? Ororo has the nerve to laugh. Thunder shakes the Helicarrier, and everyone notices Steve's wary look at the noise. Maybe he's worried about the aircraft being caught in a storm or something. Which, you know, with Ororo on board…
"Mutants," Magneto announces, glaring at Pyro who's rubbing his head grouchily. "We're leaving." And before anyone can do anything, they've shot out the window. Fury curses them to hell and announces that the damage repairs are coming out of Stark's pocket.
There was a flicker of gold, and then a crash that seemed to rock the tower to its very foundations. Doom had lunged to the side, barely missing a blast of fire from Johnny's palms, and his eyes met Tony's for the briefest of moments. There was something cold in Tony's eyes; a look that confused even Hulk, and Doom's skin crawled as he looked at it.
"I'm going to enjoy watching you burn." Tony snarled. His palms heated up.
"Stark!"
While the fire burning in his palms didn't relent at the outburst, Tony's attention was diverted to the source of the exclamation. His eyes met those of Magneto's and a wary look crossed the industrialist's face. "Stay away, Erik." Tony hissed. He was barely surprised by the mutant's presence, as he'd figured that SHIELD would lose him sooner or later.
"But you're such fun to mess with." Magneto laughed, and Tony swallowed as his reactor twisted slightly in his chest. He registered how odd it was to see Magneto without his signature helmet, but also felt relieved knowing that Charles could get into his mind now. It was a small comfort; but everything helped right now.
Tony opened his mouth to respond, eyes darkening. He was saved from his cold retort, however, by the sharp noise of the Avengers quinjet. Steve was the first to land, followed by Thor in a sharp burst of thunder, and then Clint and Natasha dropped down beside them. The quinjet flew off, Magneto watching it with amusement.
"How can you fight me, Avengers?" Magneto chided. "Without the aid of your all-important weapons? I cannot stress how important you seem to find them in all of your battles. What use is a hawk without his bow? Or a spider without her bullets? Or even an American patriot without a shield to defend his country?"
"And what use are you, without your face?" Tony spits.
"Not much use, I expect." Magneto says coolly. "Just like you are no use alive; except for the uncanny ability to make things explode."
"And the ability to revolutionise the country." Tony adds, just to make sure everyone knows.
Clint's lips quirk into a wry smile.
Steve rolls his eyes.
Magneto sighs. "That too, I suppose." He admits.
He allows himself to hit the ground, and his fellow mutant allies all fan out behind him. Hulk snarls and Natasha places a hand on the rippling green of his forearm to calm him. The snarl turns into an aggravated snort.
"Flame on…?" Johnny mutters, only to be followed by a loud agreeance from Hulk.
"HULK SMASH!" The green monster yells once again, and then everything happens faster than Natasha can process. Before she knows it, a fist slams into her shoulder, and she spins to find herself face-to-face with a blue-skinned girl with bright red hair and intricate patterns woven all over her body. Mystique.
Natasha follows through with a harsh kick to Mystique's upper body, and then is sent backward with a palm to the cheek. A wooden arrow pierces her attacker's thigh, and she internally thanks Clint for being smart enough to remember those arrows.
He reaches down to help her up, and she grins at him as she staggers to her feet.
Tony can't remember the last time he felt so alive. He's whirring through the mutants on the roof of his tower, flame burning around him and fire flickering from his palms. He can see his eyes reflected in those of the mutants who he blasts, and they're a dangerous gold. Everyone he touches explodes on impact, and his veins feel alive with more power than he's known for many, many years.
He spots Mystique out of the corner of his eye pulling a wooden arrow from her thigh with a horrific screech, but Clint and Natasha are onto her faster than blinking. Steve's working side-by-side with Thor, stunning the enemies with electricity and lightning, only to be kicked back down with a beating from the super soldier.
Tony spurs himself over to Clint and Nat, blasting a girl backwards and turning to the Black Widow expectantly. "Care to explain how Hulk managed to get here? You know, despite him being all… not himself?" He finishes his sentence with a wary look at Clint.
"Clint triggered it." Natasha grinned. "He accidentally slapped Bruce in the face, and while we were all freaking out about him"-she delivered a harsh kick to a guy that Tony recognised as Toad-"Hulking Out, he just sort of sat up all dazed. So; either that was the release action, or cognitive recalibration worked once again."
Tony snorts. "What I would've given to see that." He mutters, kicking Toad off of Clint and blasting a girl who he didn't quite recognise.
"Yeah, no." Clint snaps. "It was scary."
There's a sharp pain in Tony's arc reactor again, and he spins to face Magneto.
The metal-bender smiles eerily, and forces Tony to the ground by increasing the pain in his chest with a sharper tug at the arc. Magneto bends over Tony's form, and everyone would've jumped forward; but then they're all flanked harder by the mutants on Magneto's side. Natasha yells out viciously as she's pinned down by Toad, and Clint is too busy trying to force him off of her than to assist Tony. Steve and Thor are busy with around ten of Magneto's and Hulk is literally trying to climb back up the building after being flung down by a surprise attack from Doom.
Tony yells in pain as his arc twists, and then moans as it makes a sharp click and then is removed slowly from his chest. He shuts his eyes, the pain too overwhelming for him to focus. Magneto is bending the metal in his chest; the casing which the arc usually settles into.
Then, when he thinks he's going to die at Magneto's mercy… everything halts.
A glance upward shows that Magneto is frozen, literally, in place. His eyes are glassy, and the arc falls back comfortably into Tony's chest. The genius lurches upward as the arc settles back into place, and then turns around to see Charles rolling into the scene, a finger to his temple. All of the mutants on Magneto's side scramble backward as Charles holds out a pair of plastic cuffs and tosses them to Tony. It's not long before Tony has them attached quickly to Erik's wrists, and every mutant on his side looks wary and slightly lost as their leader is apprehended before them.
Something snaps in Tony's eyes as he realises that only one person isn't moving away.
Doom, who's eyes are on Magneto and the plastic cuffs digging into his wrists, doesn't see the harsh look in Hell's eyes. Tony's got his mind set on the man now, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him. The burning starts slow, right at the tips of Doom's toes, and spreads quickly up his legs. His body gives off sparks as Tony forces the whole process to happen slowly, and then his body rips apart. There's a crackling noise, and a white hot explosion that reminds Natasha of a star twinkling in the night sky. Doom is screaming and pleading for mercy, pain evident in the involuntary tears sparkling in his eyes. Then, there's a thunderous boom, and when the dust clears; Doom is gone.
The cry fades as the lights of the city below flickered on and the sun vanishes beneath the horizon. Everyone is horrified; staring at the playboy as he looks at the place where Doom had just vanished in satisfaction and amazement.
"Ah." He murmurs softly. "So that's how it happens."
"Tony!" Steve gasps in horror. "What…?"
"Steve." Natasha barks. "Shut up a moment."
Finally, Tony smiles in amusement and Natasha finds her own lips quirking up into a smile of her own. Because that smile of Tony's?
It's real.
(They'll just have to deal with everyone else in a moment. For now; Tony's allowing himself a moment, and that's all that matters in his mind right now.)