So my last chapter didn't sit well with some people, I apologise if some of the story seemed stupid, I hope I did well by you this time around, I can only hope to improve as I go, I'm really happy with how this turned out. Please let me know how you guys found this!
'Has Stark seen that thing down there?' Steve spat, 'he can't take that alone, even the Hulk wouldn't take that alone.'
Bruce nodded 'You know Stark's never been one to sit and think things through.'
Natasha put the jet in autopilot, she turned to look at the team, 'Fury wants us to bring him in.' she said flatly.
Thor looked at her, then at Clint, 'what do you want us to do?'
'He needs our help; we stick together and do this as a team.' Clint interjected.
'Agreed.' Bruce added.
'Ok, agreed.' Natasha turned back to the console.
Tony
landed in a small abandoned street, newspapers and litter alike scattered the street, runaway cats made do with leftovers from whichever trash cans they could make their way into. The whole city resembled a scene from an apocalypse movie.
He walked around taking in the sight, allowing Jarvis the time to scan every area possible. He was reckless, but he wasn't stupid. He knew what damage the creature could do and despite what it looked like, he wasn't on a suicide mission.
He looked around, the flickering of the dimming streetlights created an eerie atmosphere, he wasn't a superstitious man, but he felt uneasy. Thoughts of ghosts and monsters replayed over and over in his head, he shook them away. He thanked whatever higher power was out there, that he was safe in his suit. He made his way toward a small alleyway which Jarvis highlighted as having been a known location of the creature.
'Sir, it appears to have moved on.' Jarvis announced.
'Duly noted, Jarvis, thanks.' He muttered back. 'Where is it now?'
The HUD lit up, scanning Tony's surrounds.
'It appears there is a large mass moving three blocks from here.' Jarvis announced.
Tony nodded, he took off toward the large mass. 'Jarvis, call Pepper.'
'Oh my God, Tony, where are you?' Her panicked voice filled his suit immediately.
'Pepper, I need you to listen to me.' He said sternly.
'Tony, what are you doing, where are you-' Pepper ranted on and on.
Tony interrupted her, 'Pepper, stop.' He yelled.
He heard the small gasp on the other end.
'Please, I need you to listen.' He said quietly.
Pepper's soft voice answered. 'Tony what's wrong?'
'There's something you need to do for me,' he could hear the worried breaths on the other end of the line as he spoke, 'there's a box in my workshop, there's a lockchip I need you to get, I use it when I approve any changes in the company, there's a file with pending shareholders in it, I need you to approve it.'
'Tony, you're going up against this dangerous thing, and you're going alone and you're dying and you call me to approve a share arrangement?' Peppers voice broke.
'It's important.' He said simply.
'Why is it so important?' she questioned him. Her wavering voice failed her.
'Because it's for you, Pep, trust me, please.' He begged.
'Why are you being so cryptic? Tony please don't lie to me anymore, just come home.' She pleaded with him.
'You know I can't do that, not yet, call me when you get into the system, I'll need to walk you through it.' He disconnected the call.
He sighed; he knew she would want answers when she saw the name on the file, he had at least ten minutes to gather his thoughts before she called back, he needed to find this thing, he needed to stop it. It had already claimed several lives, and destroyed several buildings. He landed a few feet away from a large, unused shed.
He walked around scanning the building; the infrared scans showed the creature inside, he was raging against a concrete wall, not too different to how he'd seen the Hulk behave, he knew this was different though. It still looked human, but there seemed to be no soul, no humanity left inside it.
He stepped away and hid himself behind a wall, he dialled Pepper again, there was no time to wait.
'I was just going to call you.' She breathed, 'I'm logged in, how do I do this?'
'Ok, you need to view the shareholder list, there's a folder with pending prospects, in there you'll find-'
'Christine Everhart?' Pepper gasped.
'Yes, approve it.' Tony instructed.
'Tony, I'm not approving five percent of your shares to that woman.' Pepper argued.
'I don't have time for this, Pepper, just do it.' He became impatient, but his voice remained level.
Pepper raised her voice, 'no, Tony, no way, I don't know what you think you're doing, but you're not thinking straight.'
'My company, my shares, do it.' He spat.
'Tony, what's going on? Is something going on with her?' Pepper was yelling at him now.
He felt himself supress a laugh, 'that's actually really funny,' he began, 'it's quite disappointing that you would think, let alone even ask me something like that.'
'Then what, Tony?' Pepper yelled back, 'you have a desire for self-destruction, you want to take yourself out so you take the company down with you, you want to see everyone suf-'
'She has footage of you with Steve!' Tony finally yelled.
The line went silent, 'Tony.' Pepper finally breathed.
'Just approve the shares, I'll talk to you when I get back, I love you.' He still managed despite the anger in his body. He disconnected the call. He slammed his iron fist into the wall; he noticed the creature focus its attention in his direction. The infrared display indicated it moving toward him, fast.
'Jarvis, here we go.' Tony muttered, he ignited the thrusters and prepared himself, he hovered above ground, only moments later the creature slammed through the brick wall. Tony flew backwards to avoid the flying debris.
Tony couldn't believe what he was seeing, it looked like a man, 'whoa, what are you?' he was half impressed. He was like the Captain, on steroids, and turbo charged.
'They call me Mallen.' He grunted.
'Well, Mallen, it's been a brief, weird kind of pleasure, but I'm going to have to take you in now, I'm sure you can understand.' Tony quipped.
Mallen smirked at him, 'I don't think so.' He picked up a pipe which dislodged itself from the wall, he took a swing at Tony.
Tony flew out of the way, but didn't fully dodge the pipe, it clipped his foot, he was thrown off balance but managed to stay in the air. Mallen took another swing at him, this time Tony shot him straight in the chest with his hand repulsor, Mallen stammered backwards and fell into a heap of rubble. He stood up, smirking even more, he ran toward Tony, pipe in hand, Tony shot at him multiple times, he deflected each shot, Tony turned away from him and flew a few feet away, he noticed Mallen's attention was drawn to the jet, landing a few yards away.
'Great, see what you've gone and done, now we're both in trouble.' Tony yelled toward Mallen.
He took off, higher into the sky, 'Romanov, you need to get out of here.'
'Sorry, Stark, can't do that.' She replied.
'I know you have your orders to bring me in, but this is not a good time, this guy is dangerous, get out of here.' Tony tried to explain.
He was distracted and missed the large chunk of concrete which was hurled at him, it hit him in the chest, knocking him to the ground, the thrusters failed to ignite, he landed in a pile of shrubs.
'Seriously, get out of here.' Tony grunted.
He got to his knees looking around, he spotted Mallen making his way toward the jet.
'Mallen, over here.' He shouted. He fired at him to get his attention.
He turned to face the grounded Iron Man; he changed his course and headed toward him, in the distance he saw the jet take off, 'now they listen to me.' He muttered.
'Jarvis, reroute all power to the palm repulsors.' Tony stammered.
'Done, Sir.' Jarvis answered.
Mallen had reached him, he took a swing of the pole again, Tony shot at hit, Mallen dodged the shots and swung the pole at him again, this time Tony caught it, he fought against him, his strength was unlike anything Tony had ever felt, he was getting pushed down to his knees.
'Tony, Hulk is coming in.' Clint yelled over the coms.
Tony's ears were ringing, 'No, no one else has to be in this mess, just leave.' Tony yelled through gritted teeth.
'Jarvis, reroute to chest piece.' He yelled. With that he blasted Mallen away from him, he fell to his knees, exhausted. Mallen ran at him and pummelled him to the ground, Tony managed to get out from under him and back to his feet, Mallen was in front of him almost instantly trying to pierce Tony with the pole he had grown so fond of, Tony was trying to hold him off. The jet hovered above them.
'Stark, Hulk is on his way.' Steve informed.
'I said no!' he yelled as he continued his battle with Mallen.
'He's already on his way, hang in there.' Steve replied.
Tony noticed a faint hint of panic in his voice, did this look worse than what it was, he felt his arm weakening, he was getting pushed further and further down to the ground, his knee buckled beneath him, 'hurry.' He managed, he felt blood pool with his saliva, he must have been biting down on his tongue.
Sharp breaths escaped Tony's lips, he fought against the pain, the strength this man possessed was unbelievable, he gritted his teeth, 'Jarvis, whatever's left, chest piece!' he yelled.
As Tony fired the repulsor Mallen gripped Tony's arm, the blast hit Mallen but his grip tightened on his arm, crushing it beneath his fingers.
Tony screamed in pain, his voice echoed through his suit, Mallen took advantage of his opponents weakness and pushed him to the ground. He slammed his fist into Tony's chest, his gargling screams echoed throughout the com system. He tossed Tony around from side to side like a rag doll, he slammed him into the ground, and continued to slam his fist into Tony's chest.
'Tony, hold on, we're coming.' Clint yelled.
The Hulk finally reached Mallen, with a swift smash, Mallen was knocked away from Tony, the Hulk and Mallen smashed each other, until Mallen broke free and took off running. Natasha started shooting in his direction; bullets bounced off him, and did absolutely no damage.
Natasha landed the jet, she and Clint ran down to Tony and Hulk, Thor and Steve tried to chase down Mallen to no avail, Hulk had allowed Bruce to come back to aid his friends.
'Oh God, Tony, don't move, get Fury on the line, this is bad.' Natasha yelled out.
'Fury, Mallan's gone, Tony's down, we need paramedics now!' Clint yelled into the receiver.
Tony lay mangled on the ground, his face was hidden by the visor, but they could hear the muffled yells within.
Thor leaned down and pulled the visor off, a bloody face looked up at him, gargled yells escaped his lips.
'We can't move him, we don't know how much damage is done, we could really use full body scans.' Bruce tried to work out the best way to get him back to base.
'Jarvis can remotely scan him, he's still in the suit, but we'll need to call Pepper, she'll need to remotely access that function.' Steve advised.
'Do it, we don't have time to sugar coat this for her.' Natasha nodded.
Bruce knelt beside Tony, 'Tony, stay with us, we're getting you out of here, but we can't move you yet.'
'My arm, god, I can't move, why can't I move.' Tony muttered, his voice cracked, tears streamed down the side of his face.
'Pepper, we need your help, don't have time to explain, run remote body scan from home, hurry.'
They knelt beside Tony, Natasha pulled the glove off his good arm, she held onto his hand, he squeezed hers weakly. Clint held the phone out on loudspeaker.
'Ok, Jarvis is running it, what's going on? Where's Tony?' Peppers voice was full of worry.
Jarvis' voice came through the loudspeaker, 'Full body scan is complete, both lungs collapsed, third, fourth and fifth vertebrae fractured, internal haemorrhage, crushed right tibia and fibula and all digits.
'Oh my god, Tony, what happened, Tony, no, please no.' Pepper screamed.
'We're bringing him home, Pepper.' Clint disconnected the call.
'Jesus, we need to get him out of here, where's Fury?' Natasha caressed Tony's hand in hers. He shook violently, 'we don't have much time.' She breathed.
Tony closed his eyes, unconsciousness took over.
Steve waved over the med team as they landed with Fury, he helped them lift Tony, suit and all into the helicopter.
As they made their way back to New York, Natasha called Pepper to make arrangements for Tony's care. The dread in her voice was evident.
Hours had passed, dozens of doctors came and went, Pepper stood against the wall of the hospital room, she never took her eyes off Tony,
'I'm so sorry, there's nothing we can do, the damage is irreparable.' The doctor gave Pepper and the team the bad news, Tony Stark, the man who knew no bounds, who knew only passion and excitement, driven by adrenaline, lived for life, was crippled, within his own body, stuck in a life which would hold him back forever.
Pepper cried and cried, not for their life, or for the change, but for the pain which she knew Tony would be in for. He wouldn't want to have survived this, if this is what was waiting for him.
Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know :)