Suits of Iron
Chapter 2 – Brave New World
Darkness. The ever bearer of life and of death. It existed before life, and will exist long after death. It is what fuels existence. The energy I crave to sustain me, where is it?
"I have lost track of it," the mechanical voice says. Find it.
"It will be found, as long as you keep your part of the bargain." My children will be yours if the energy of the one in the suit of iron is given to me.
"Good."
* * *
Anthony Stark, famed industrialist, entrepreneur, inventor, superhero. Soon to be timetraveler. Why am I following this person, called Samus Aran who claims to be from the future? He says that he needs to stop Ultron and that he needed my help, as Tony Stark, not Iron Man. Ultron must be stopped, but why go fight in a time where it won't matter to me? I guess is the little voice inside of me that can't let me do it. What am I getting myself into here?
"Is that your ship?" Iron Man asked, indicating the sleek gold ship sitting in front of them. Its lines were soft, elegant. It didn't look like any spaceship that Iron Man had seen before. Way different from the Avengers' quinjets, that's for sure. He thought.
Samus only nodded at his comment and continued to walk towards the ship. A hatch on top of the ship opened, and Samus leaped onto the top of the ship.
"Get in," Samus said. Iron Man nodded and kicked his boot jets in to get to the top, and he entered the hatch behind the armored bounty hunter.
"Cozy," Iron Man said as he entered the cramped cockpit of the ship. Samus pressed a button, and the consoles lit up in a dull light. Iron Man shifted uncomfortably while Samus was pressing buttons, and activating switches.
"There's a seat over there," Samus offered pointing towards a seat near the back of the cockpit. Iron Man moved to the seat wordlessly and sat down.
"So, this thing travels through time, huh?" Iron Man asked, looking around and admiring the technology surrounding him.
"Not on its own," Samus said. "This thing is what does it," Samus said, entering the date of her own time in the smooth rectangular black box. "Strap yourself in tight, Iron Man, you're in for a bumpy ride." Samus sat down in her seat, Iron Man strapping himself into his with shoulder straps.
Samus kicked in the ship's jets, and it lifted off with a lurch that flung Iron Man forward in his straps. Samus flew quickly through the sky, doing small tricks with the ship among the calm, puffy clouds. He's nuts Iron Man thought as Samus did a loop with the ship, the light blue sky spiraling in the viewscreen. She looked back towards Iron Man.
"Sorry," she said, her smile hidden under her helmet. "Got a little carried away there."
"A little?"
Samus didn't respond and flew the ship gently into the black reaches of space, the stars little pinpricks against the pitch backdrop.
"Here we go," Samus said as she pushed the red button on the time box. The ship lurched forward suddenly and picked up speed. Iron Man was pressed into his seat. The stars meshed into lines of light, and then folded themselves into a loose fabric. The ship rocked around heavily.
"Does it usually do this?" Iron Man asked.
"It did the last time I did it. Don't worry I got to your time, didn't I?"
"Who said I was worrying," Iron Man responded dryly. Samus let out a short laugh. He looked out the viewport and his eyes went wide.
It's beautiful he thought as he stared out at the intricate meshwork of light and color that lay before him, the patterns weaving and unweaving themselves before his eyes. The colorful backdrop faded back to the starry expanse of space.
"We're here," Samus said.
"Amazing," Iron Man said as he quickly got out of his seat and stood next to Samus. He looked outside and saw a hulking metal form moving out there. It was a long, rectangular ship, large propulsion jets moving it ploddingly along. A small beeping sound from one of the consoles got the attention of both armored figures.
"It's the Thunderhawk, a commercial freighter headed to Earth," Samus said, reading the info off of the screen. She replied by typing a message stating their purpose, and then veered off, away from the large freighter. Iron Man looked towards Samus.
"As long as we're working together, maybe we should get to know each other a bit better," Iron Man said.
"Like how?" Samus said, turning towards him.
"I don't know," Iron Man said. "Like where you got that armor from, it's incredible."
"It should be," Samus said. "Your employer, Stark made it."
I MADE that! Iron Man thought to himself. The scenes of the battle come to him, her armor dodging his attacks, and the variety of weapons that the armor held. His defeat at the hands of the remarkable piece of technology. If I can eventually make something like that, I guess my life won't end out so bad afterall.
"Stark made it?" Iron Man replied after gathering himself.
"Well, not him personally, but his company. Stark Enterprises is still operating in this time, though it's obviously run by one of Tony Stark's descendants by now," Samus said.
Okay, I don't make that armor, but it's nice to know my father's company will live on through everything.
"How about you," Samus began. "How did you become Stark's bodyguard?"
"It's a long story," Iron Man began.
"Really?" Samus asked. "We have some time." She moved her hands to the back of her helmet and undid some of the latches in the back. She took off the helmet, and, untying the hairband that held her long, brown hair in place under the helmet. She shook her head, and the hair cascaded down the back of the armor. The bounty hunter looked at Iron Man with her brown eyes. "Plenty of time."
"You're a woman!?" Iron Man exclaimed.
"Have a problem with that," Samus said with a wry grin.
"No, just wasn't expecting it was all," Iron Man said. She's beautiful, though. He thought.
"Most men don't," she replied with a smirk. "Anyway, back to how you became Stark's bodyguard."
"Shouldn't we be tracking down Ultron?" Iron Man asked.
"It'll take me awhile to track him," she said, looking a bit disappointed. "He's not easy to track down, I've had to react to him, only to get there too late," she growled. "The one time I did manage to track him down to the Gemini II, I had to go through a long channel of his lackeys to find him. I can find him, it'll just take time," she added with a confident smile.
"I have an easier way," Iron Man said.
"How?" Samus asked.
"From my previous encounters with Ultron, we managed to obtain data on Ultron's brain patterns. I have them stored in the computer in my armor, and all we need to do is imprint these into your ship's computers, and voila, we have an Ultron tracker. Assuming, of course, that he still has the same patterns"
"Makes sense since Stark created him as well as your armor that you would have something like that on you."
"Actually, Stark didn't create him," Iron Man said.
"What! Who did?" Samus' eyes went wide.
"Henry Pym actually, another Avenger. It was an experiment in artificial life that went wrong. It isn't something that we like to let out very much."
"Understood. How long will that tracker of yours take?"
"A few minutes," Iron Man said, and opened up a panel in his left arm, connected a cable from the ship's computer to his armor, pressed a few buttons and within minutes, a holographic map appeared on the console. A red square surrounded a point on the map. Iron Man disconnected the cable from the computer.
"I do believe Ultron is there," Iron Man said.
"Remarkable," Samus said. "That old armor of yours has more tricks than I thought."
"Thanks," Iron Man said dryly.
Samus looked at the holographic map.
"The Pieces III space station," Samus said, pointing to the square. "That's where Ultron is."
"Well, then, shall we pay our friend a visit?" Iron Man asked.
"Of course," Samus said.
* * *
The ship landed softly on the quiet landing pad of the deep space station, Pieces III. Iron Man and Samus Aran emerged from the top of the ship and walked in silence up to the twin metal doors that led into the station. Iron Man stood in a ready position while Samus walked up to the door to open it. It opened before she even touched the door.
"Damn!" Samus swore.
"What is it?" Iron Man asked.
"Last time this happened, Ultron was waiting for me," she growled.
"You think he's setting a trap for us then?" Iron Man asked. Samus just nodded. "Looks like Ultron hasn't changed his tactics much. The signal is still inside, so ladies first."
"Thanks," Samus said dryly as she walked into the doors, gun arm panning the walls. Iron Man followed close behind her, the door closing silently behind them. A rush of air flowed into the room, and the second door in front of them opened.
"Where's the signal Iron Man?" Samus asked, looking around in the surprisingly brightly lit corridors.
"As far as I can tell, towards the center of the station." Iron Man looked at his radar confused. "That's odd," he said.
"What?"
"I'm picking up strong life signs coming from not too far from here."
"Any clue what they are?"
"None."
"Ignore them, then and let's head to Ultron. We'll deal with them if they get in our way."
"They could be injured civilians, Samus," Iron Man said.
"Ultron first," Samus said. "That way we can safely see to the injured."
"Okay," Iron Man said with a hint of disapproval in his voice. Samus walked forward, with Iron Man by her side, both training eyes and weapons all around them. The two walked forward, their footsteps echoing down the silent corridors. The light banishing all the shadows save for the one created by the silence.
"What the..?" Iron Man asked breaking the eerie silence. A man lay crumpled on the floor ahead of them. He was wearing civilian clothes, and looked unscathed.
"He looks dead," Samus said in a calm tone.
"Yeah, but look at his eyes."
Samus looked at the man's eyes. They were white, no pupils, and no life. Samus hissed.
"That's not good," she muttered under her breath. A door leading to a large room opened next to them on its own. The room was dark and foreboding, like the bowels of space itself. Both Samus and Iron Man trained their weapons in the direction of the door. "I don't like this," Samus said, her voice wavering only slightly.
"Neither do I," Iron Man said. The sound of metallic objects falling on the floor could be heard from inside large room. A strangled voice muttered the words "help me" from the inside. "Come on!" Iron Man said as he ran into the room, Samus following close behind.
Iron Man saw a man standing up, a table next to him was knocked down in the darkness, and canisters lay on the floor, their contents spilled over the metallic surface.
"Are you all right?" Iron Man asked the man as he walked up to him.
"Help me," he said in a strangled tone. Iron Man looked down at the man's torso, and a large gaping would lay in his gut, crimson blood oozing out from it. Iron Man stood there, Samus looking over his shoulder. "Leave, now," the man said. "Ultron."
"Ultron?" Iron Man said. "Here?"
Samus swore and looked frantically around her in the darkness.
"He's dead," Iron Man said as he watched the man fall to the floor. "I don't think Ultron caused that wound." Iron Man looked behind him; his eyes and Samus' locked on the same spot. A pair of narrow red eyes appeared in the dark, a long hiss slithering its way from the shadows. Samus watched it intently.
"Get down!" Samus yelled as she hit the floor. The eyes moved forward, and Iron Man saw what they belonged to. A large, reptilian shape flew over head, a long head with a beak. Large, sinuous wings keeping it afloat in the high ceiling. A large tail trailed behind it, the stinger on the tip gleamed with blood. The beast flexed its long claws, and let out a screech.
Iron Man saw another shape emerge from the darkness. Another reptilian figure, this one larger than the first, lumbering in through a large opening. Armored scales ran down the length of its body, and horns topped its head. A mouth filled with jagged teeth let out a snarl. A spine shot out from its belly and hit Iron Man in the shoulder. He was knocked to the ground with a thud.
He looked up, and some of the dim lighting kicked in. The shape above him was colored crimson in the light, and the one that knocked him down was a dull green with a yellow under-belly.
"Iron Man, take the one in the air, I'll take this one!" Samus yelled.
"Right," Iron Man said, kicking in his boot jets.
"Look, Samus brought a friend," the flying shape said in a hissing voice. "Let's see how tough you are."
"Sure thing, ugly," Iron Man said as he ran full on into the flying shape, his fist landing on the thing's head. A claw from the beast grasped at Iron Man's armor, penetrating it slightly at the shoulder. A shot of plasma energy hit it across the head, and the creature let got of Iron Man.
"All right, Ridley," Samus started. "I don't know why you and your lackey Kraid are here, but you won't be leaving alive. Not this time!"
"Ridley huh?" Iron Man said as he blasted the flying beast while it was distracted. Ridley flew back and looked at him.
"Samus-lite wants to play, does it?" Ridley hissed. He breathed a long stream of fire towards Iron Man, which he quickly dodged.
"The name's Iron Man bulb head," he said as he fired a repulser blast at Ridley's left wing. The beast let out a cry and hit the ground. Iron Man looked to how Samus was doing.
The beast known as Kraid was taking about every missile Samus had, and then some. It let out a loud roar, and fired out more of the spines that had hit Iron Man earlier. Samus jumped out of their way, and pegged the land-locked reptile in the head; it flinched visibly and moved back.
A pull tugging at Iron Man's foot brought him back to his own situation made him look down. Ridley was there, holding onto his ankle with a clawed hand. The beast was barely keeping in flight with his wounded wing.
"Let's see what kind of goodies are in this can, eh Kraid?" A loud roar pierced Iron Man's ears as he saw Kraid barrel into Samus, knocking her down. Ridley slashed at Iron Man with his other claw, but Iron Man kicked it out of the way and kicked his boot jets into full, forcing Ridley back to the ground with a hiss. Iron Man flew towards the ceiling of the room, and saw Samus trying to get up in front of the hulking Kraid.
"Don't think so," Iron Man said as he let loose towards Kraid with everything he had. Kraid moved back, flinching. Samus got up in a ball and unrolled herself in front of Kraid, letting loose with a volley of five missiles. They hit him square in the chest. The large reptile hit some supports next to him, the twisting metal collapsing on top of Samus.
"Samus!" Iron Man flew towards her and began to remove scrapped metal from on top of her.
"I'll be fine!" she snapped. "Go after Kraid!"
"I think we'll have to cut our visit short, Samus," Ridley said in that hissing voice of his. "Bye, bye." He flew towards where Kraid went, brining more debris on top of the armored pair. Iron Man looked up, and saw patches of space through the holes in the roof as air was starting to be sucked out of the room. Iron Man and Samus managed to get the supports off of them and Samus rushed to the nearest door. It was locked.
"Damn it!" she swore. "The station security systems must have already kicked in. We're stuck. Damn you Kraid! Damn you Ridley!"
"I think I can get us out of this," Iron Man said over Samus's swearing and the rush of the air exiting the room.
"How?"
"Simple," Iron Man said strolling towards a door control panel. He thrust a guantleted fist in and started shifting his hand in the mess of wires. Where is the wire I'm looking for? Aha! He ripped one wire in two and the door in front of them opened. "Go!" Samus nodded and ran through the door, Iron Man following close behind. He closed the door behind them.
"Nice work," Samus said. "How did you manage that?"
"Trade secret," Iron Man said with a laugh. "So you know those two?"
"Ridley and Kraid? Yeah, they've been be thorns in my side for years now," Samus said. "Do you still have Ultron's signal?"
"Yes, and surprisingly, it's at the end of this corridor," Iron Man said, apprehensively. Samus immediately pointed her gun arm forward.
"I only have five missiles left," Samus said dryly. "I'm going to try my ice beam this time."
"That seemed to work on me, so why not?" Iron Man said sarcastically.
The two walked the rest of the way in silence towards the double doors at the end of the hallway. A symbol of two fish, the Pieces III logo was barely visible in the corridor's dim lighting. Iron Man led the way to the door, and put his hand forward, the door opening before his hand touched it. He stepped back. Samus tensed up.
In the darkness, a man lay in front of them. He had the same lifeless white eyes as the man from the beginning of the station. Iron Man and Samus walked in silence, their footsteps echoing loudly.
"You two make an interesting couple," a metallic voice rang through the room as Samus and Iron Man passed through the door. The door shut tightly behind them with a hiss. A small beam of light was illuminating down from the ceiling in front of them.
"Ultron," Iron Man said. "Nice to know that they haven't recycled your metal ass this far in the future," he said sarcastically.
"Iron Man," Ultron said stepping out of the shadows, and into the light. His adamantium body glistening. He looked at Iron Man with his penetrating red eyes. "I did not expect to find one of my oldest rivals with my newest. This is a surprise indeed, albeit not a pleasant one."
"One more step and your metal ass is toast!" Samus said.
"Come on, Miss Aran, are we going back to that again?"
"Step back, tin can," Iron Man said stepping forward. Ultron just laughed.
"Iron Man, all the Avengers put together can't beat me, what makes you think that you and your friend here can?"
"Just go on thinking that Ultron," Iron Man said as he kicked in his boot jets and tackled Ultron to the ground. The room illuminated for a split second as Ultron hit Iron Man with an energy bolt from his wrist cannon. Iron Man flew back a bit, landing on his feet. He fired all of his batteries at Ultron, who just laughed as they bounced off of his adamantium armor harmlessly.
"You see, Iron Man, I have made some modifications to myself while you were, let's see…. Dead!" Ultron laughed to himself. "But I don't wish to waste my time with you now, I have a special surprise for the two of you."
"What?" Samus asked, her gun trained on Ultron. Ultron stepped back, into a doorway in the darkness.
"This," the sound of shattered glass could be heard and a sound of something alive moving around. The lights came on as the door closed in front of Ultron, shielding him from view. Samus' eyes widened, and Iron Man looked towards the pile of shattered glass from the door.
Floating in front of it was something that looked like a giant jellyfish, just without the tentacles. The large transparent bulb had what looked like teeth hanging below it, and red and green, what Iron Man deciphered to be organs, could be seen within the bulb. The thing emitted a sound and flew towards Iron Man.
It attached itself to his armor as he tried to blast it. He felt it grab onto him, and let out a scream as he crumpled to the ground, swatting at the thing on his head. His armor's power supply was draining, and he felt weak and dizzy. Nausea swept over him, but as quickly as it came, it was gone. The thing hung over him, frozen from Samus' ice beam. He saw her switching her gun arm's function. He moved back, staring at the frozen thing in front of him. Samus launched her five remaining missiles at it, all five hitting, and the creature shattered to bits.
Iron Man got up weakly, and saw Samus sink to her knees, her head stooped. He walked over to her.
"Samus?"
"No, no, it can't be. I destroyed them all," was all she said. She took off her helmet, and rested her head in her armored hands. "I destroyed them all….:
Here ends chapter 2 of Suits of Iron! Chapter 3 should hopefully be up soon!