Iron Man: Young billionaire industrialist Tony Stark was once approached by a terrorist cell to create for them a weapon off mass destruction. When he refused, they planted a bomb in his car, which exploded and sent shrapnel into his chest, after which he was taken hostage by the terrorists. With the help of a medical scientist named Yinsen, he constructed a suit of armor to both save his life, and to escape from his captors. Afterwards, he continued making newer and more advanced suits of armor, and serving in relative secrecy as the Golden Avenger, Iron Man.
Kim Possible: A teenaged girl, who can do anything and everything, and is always willing to help people out, for no personal gain of her own. Cheerleader by day, and teenaged hero by night, she not only balances the life of a normal, everyday teenaged girl, and the life of a heroine, with her own set of enemies. Aided by her best friend Ron Stoppable, and his pet – a naked mole rat he named Rufus – she's an unstoppable force for good.
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters featured in this piece of fiction belong to me, but rather their respective companies – especially Iron Man, and Kim Possible. The only real contribution I've had to this is changing Iron Man to my own version, which I thought was more suitable to this fanfiction. Also, many of the ideas represented herein are also not mine, and at all times I've tried to avoid straying too far from the characters' original personalities. Thank you for your time.
A large crowd had gathered outside of the Tony Stark Sciences Centre, partly there for the centre itself, and partly to get a glimpse at the recluse Tony Stark. Foremost in the crowd were Kim, Ron, and Rufus. They were waiting for her father, who'd gotten caught in the odd rush of traffic caused by this event, and would be a while longer. Meanwhile, a small grouping of scientists and officials were waiting on the top steps of the centre's entrance, all waiting for the man of the hour, whom they assumed was caught up in the traffic – which seemed reasonable enough, especially considering public and private opinions of the young man.
Kim was waiting patiently as always when it came to her family, even when she was getting a small bit irritated – that was partly due to all the elbowing she was receiving at the moment. She soon began growling a little uncharacteristically, but that was semi-understandable in itself. Ron wasn't going to push his luck though…he valued his safety above all else. Rufus was just chittering and moving around Ron's shoulders from time to time. Several minutes had passed in this manner, and then Kim's father appeared, pushing his way through the crowd.
"Did I miss anything?" he asked, before taking in the various bored looks on people's face. "Guess not…"
It was at that moment that finally, a black stretch limo pulled up near the Centre, and the backdoor opened, and out stepped Tony, wearing a dark blue suit and black shirt, and a blue tie, and in his left hand was a somewhat larger than average leather briefcase, which he held as though it had something very heavy in it, but in a manner that didn't arouse suspicion. He walked up the steps, soon followed by his friend, Jim Rhodes, and set the case down next to the podium in front of the main entrance. He then leaned forward, and tapped the microphone, before clearing his throat and nodding.
"Hi, everybody. I'm glad we had such a great turnout here – it may not look like much on the outside, but wait till you see the inside…not only have we got moon rocks, pieces of NASA equipment, but even some never before seen Stark Industries materials and equipment…unfortunately, our centerpiece display was stolen last night, so I can't share with you all one of the proudest achievements of my short life with me," he spoke loudly and clearly, a slight hint of regret in his voice, before smiling widely at everyone. "But that doesn't mean I still can't show you all the wonders we've put together here, so I proudly welcome you all to the Tony Stark Sciences Centre. And in case that doesn't appeal to you, we've got free food and drinks." The last part was delivered with a chuckle, and he was handed a large pair of gold scissors, which he used to cut the ribbon just behind him. As the crowd broke up to head up the stairs, he quickly picked up his case, and stood there, as though waiting to see how many people would go inside.
It was at this moment that Dr. Possible walked up the stairs, and extended his hand to the younger man. Tony looked at him for a moment, then smiled warmly, taking the offered hand, and shook it firmly. "I know this is the first time we've met, Mister Stark—"
"Please, please, Dr. Possible…call me Tony," the dark haired young man laughed, setting his case down again for a moment. "And in case you're wondering, yes, I'm a big fan of your work. In fact, we've recently sent a few forms your way – we wanted to use some of your work in the creation of a new type of rescue craft. For use anywhere and everywhere in the world. Without your input though, the project will most likely fall apart…"
"Well, since you've asked so nicely, Mister Sta—Tony, I'd be glad to do what I can. I assume you've taken the necessary steps with the United States government, of course."
"Of course I have. Went all the way to the President himself on this one. We've got the presidential seal on all the forms and papers." The young man laughed softly, grinning a bit. "I've learned the hard way if you don't take care of this stuff right away, you'll be stuck for who knows how long."
"I know what you mean. Oh, Tony, let me introduce you to my daughter, Kimberly Ann Possible…" He gestured at Kim, and Tony did a little bow, smiling in what an attempt at a charming manner. "And her friend, Ronald Stoppable." At this part, Tony reached out and took Ron's hand, giving it a firm shake. Rufus moved down and stuck out one of his paws, and Tony gave that a little shake too. "Oh, and his pet Rufus."
"It's a real pleasure to meet you, sir," Ron said, in his usual Ron fashion – which prompted a chuckle from the older youth, who nodded a little.
"No, believe me, the pleasure is certainly all mine."
Kim stepped forward for a moment, and extended her hand, which Tony also shook. She noticed it was trembling a little, and that he seemed to be breathing a little funny…like something was wrong. "Are you alright, Mister Stark? You seem a little…shakey."
"Oh, that…" he laughed dismissively. "I have a heart problem, actually…it's not something we let go public…might cause stock to drop, and that would mean downsizing. And SI is all about the people who work for us, not the profits." The orange haired girl raised an eyebrow, but shrugged to herself after a moment.
"I was just curious."
"Oh, it's no problem at all." Stark straightened his tie a little, then motioned to the main doors, which were now swinging shut. "Why don't we go inside, before everything's all eaten up? I paid a pretty penny for the buffet, and I'd hate to not get to sample it."
"Already on it!" Ron snapped his fingers, before rushing inside, accidentally hitting the briefcase on the way in. "AAOOW! What the heck is in that thing!" he yelped, holding the injured foot and hopping around like crazy.
"Oh my…I'm so sorry! The life of a billionaire isn't always that easy, and I've had to have all my briefcases custom made to be theft-proof. Really, I am sorry…" Tony apologized, picking up his case once more. "I'm sure stuffing your face would help…it does me."
At this point Ron stopped hopping, and went back to rushing inside, Doctor Possible chuckling. "Ah, that Ronald…always good for a good-natured laugh…" He nodded, before heading inside next. Kim watched Stark for a moment, then followed. The businessman coughed for a moment, a light nervous sweat rolling down his back – much to his irritation – and then went in, the last person to enter.
At least, the last person to enter by the usual methods.
The crowd was all over the place, some at the buffet, some lounging around the displays. In the center of the room was an empty display case, with a small covered plaque. Tony looked around for a moment, a broad smile on his face, then headed over to where the others were. Rhodey was already chatting it up with other businessmen and scientists – basically doing Tony's job for him. Next to the large display case containing a few various Stark Industries satellites and in between a case with a large laser blaster, used for space missions – at least it was, before its decommission – was the buffet. And what a buffet it was…all kinds of different foods, even from different cultures. And of course, corndogs. That made Ron and Rufus very happy boys. Kim gave Tony another look, and was thinking the worst…that maybe he was hiding something worse than a simple heart condition. She wasn't one to pry, though.
The billionaire kept his briefcase close, almost obsessively one could say, and wandered over to the small grouping. "Are we all enjoying ourselves?" He asked, conversationally, putting his free hand on his hip. Ron and Rufus nodded eagerly, and went back to stuffing their faces. Kim laughed a little, then glanced around herself.
"Quite the place you have here, Mister Stark."
"Please…it's Tony. Mister Stark is what my elders call me." The joke was a little lame, but he knew that – he just didn't have anything else to say. Kim was opening her mouth to speak before there was a very loud explosion, and, jumping from display to display, was Shego, now wearing a pair of dark green gauntlets, that were glowing and throwing off brightly colored sparks. They had sharp, pointed fingers, that dug into stone and metal easily, and each palm had a covered opening, which hummed softly. She started flinging her usual energy bolts around, and scattering the crowd. Kim pushed her father back, and then put a hand on Tony's shoulder, nearly yanking him back.
"I think you guys should get out of here…" Her father joined the rest of the crowd, running to all the exits, but while he passed a bathroom, he slid inside, and opened his briefcase, pulling a flat, almost soft plastic metal sleeveless top out, a frown on his face.
It was at this point that the usual fighting began, Kim and Shego each trying to smack each other silly. At one point they locked hands, and Shego pushed forward, her grip strong enough to start crushing the younger girl's bones. She yelped, and brought her knee up into the older woman's stomach, knocking the wind out of her, and forcing her to release her grip as she reflexively grabbed her waist.
"Oooh, you're so going to regret that…" she hissed, eyes narrowed and glaring meanly. It was at this point that a group of henchmen appeared, all wielding various types of blunt instruments that were throwing off energy. Unlike the usual variety Drakken employed, these were all muscular, and wore completely black outfits, with face concealing helmets, and glowing lines running across their forearms and chests. "We've got ourselves a brand-new workforce, and boy, do they go the job done," Shego chuckled, as the group of men started throwing their own bolts of energy, these more uniform and controlled than Shego's random bursts. They also caused at least twice as much damage, much to the regret of Kim Possible.
"That's interesting…They don't give me that much trouble…" a robotic voice interrupted the minions, and they gave off an impression of mild fear, as well as skewing a little. Shego and Kim both looked up, and both shared the same look of surprise.
Floating in the air was a man in armor. The forearms, hands, lower legs, chest, groin, and most of the helmet were a deep red color, with large shoulders going outside, and an almost backpack-like attachment on the back, with silver legs, silver arms, a silver triangular spot in the center of the chest, and a silver faceplate with eye and mouth slits, and currently sporting a pair of glowing hands.
"I can't believe…he really DOES exist…" Shego whistled, as the flying man (Robot?) lowered itself to the ground next to Kim, and raised its hands. This motion caused all the black-clad men to back up, and use their energy manipulation abilities to create shields. "What are you guys doing?" The woman asked curiously.
"Trust me, this part is going to really hurt…" one of the henchmen said, as the robotic figure suddenly fired off an energy blast that smashed into the shields – which crumbled. This sent the minions flying into various displays and pillars, and walls. Shego was wide-eyed at this point.
"Wow…you know, that would be even more impressive…"
"If…?" the red and silver thing asked, its left hand pointing forwards, crackling with yellow energy.
"If I couldn't do it too."
Before either Kim or the figure could reply, Shego raised up her gauntlets, which started to glow and hum disconcertingly. In the split second before the proper circuits to trigger the expected effect, the almost-machine like being shoved Kim hard, which sent her rolling along the floor. As she looked up, Shego's metal gloves blasted their own energy beams, larger than the other's had been, and smashed into the newcomer fast, and hard.
"AAGH!" it screamed, in pain it seemed, the outer coating of its armor starting to melt and bubble, before the burst cut off, and the resulting force sent it smashing through several walls, and into the limo that was parked outside. Shego gave the new henchmen a somewhat disappointed look.
"Seriously, that was what you guys were so afraid of? He folded like a house of cards…" she laughed, her gloves powering down. She looked down at them with a look of annoyance on her face. "Wow, they're dead already. This stuff IS near useless." She shook her head, leaving the gauntlets on. "Still, they recharge in about five minutes, and I don't think the bucket head is getting up anytime soon, do you – Princess?" She turned, giving Kim a big smirk, and putting her arms down at her sides, hands open, the fingertips extending outwards into sharper, more pointed cutting blades, body ready to move at an instant's notice.
"This is so not a fair fight…at least, moreso than usual…" the redhead sighed, slouching just a little.
"Yeah, I know…fun, isn't it?" her nemesis chuckled, before rushing forwards, a blur of green and black, slamming her boots heel-first into the cheerleader's chest, and knocking her into one of the display cases, cracking the safety-glass. "Huh, looks like they cheaped out on these things…get those cases open NOW! Those parts are here somewhere!" she practically roared, as the henchmen began smashing cases open, and ripping what seemed like ordinary circuit boards out of the various machines, and placing them in black pouches on their waists and upper legs. The pouches were well cushioned, and the outsides were lined with an impact resistant material, meaning that the components being stolen couldn't be broken by anything less than a massive explosion, which wasn't likely to happen here. As the last piece was pocketed away, there was a loud booming sound, and the armored person smashed a new hole through the walls, the energy trails behind him brighter than they had been before. It was at this point that Shego's gloves beeped.
However, instead of using their energy projectile abilities, she jumped, rolled, and flipped forwards, and, as her leap carried her over the head of the person, she lashed out with her claws, tearing large gouges in the metal surface, and even melting the edges of said gouges. The face plate was now scarred and battered looking, the eye slits drooping from the melting. Its hands went to its face, and with a sudden hiss, they released some kind of heat-resistant foam onto the faceplate, and the rest of the helmet. A small puff of steam shot out, and the helmet cooled down, the melting having stopped. But the damage was done – as evidenced by the sudden sputtering of the jet boots, which sent the armored man smashing down into the ground with a loud crashing noise, almost like the sound of a piano meeting cement the hard way.
"I think he's done…" the villain commented, as the men all started to climb up the ropes that dropped down into the room, and she herself grabbed onto one, being dragged up like the rest of them, laughing rather loudly, an evil grin on her face. "You know, Kimmy, this was actually a lot of fun…do it again sometime?"
The only answer she got was a weak groan, and a reaching hand, before the girl faded into unconsciousness.
It was sometime later that Kim awoke, to Ron crouching over her, worried. When he saw her blinking her eyes, he sighed in relief, then spoke up. "Sorry about that, KP…I kinda got knocked out when some rubble hit me in the head…"
"Oooh…it's okay Ron, really…you wouldn't have been much help anyway…" She moaned, rubbing the bump she now had on the back of her head. She reached out, and gave Rufus a pat on the head. "As long as you two are okay…What is it, Rufus?" The naked mole rat had scampered down to the floor, and over to a large dent in the floor. He started pulling on something, grunting and straining loudly.
Hooboy! he muttered, in his sort of talking fashion, finally dragging into view a red metal finger, then a glove. Kim's eyes opened a little, as the last few minutes came back into clear focus. She got up, with Ron's help, of course, and the two of them managed to make their way over. /all beat up…chittering./
"You can say that again, little buddy," Ron whistled, poking at the now-dented and clawed up thing in the hole in the floor. It made a grunting sound, and tried to pick itself up.
"How perfect…my butt's stuck," came in its mechanical voice, which caused a look of surprise to flash over their faces, before they could see the human eyes behind the mask. "Well, aren't you going to help me?" it asked, reaching up with one gloved hand.
"Uhm, dude…you're like, heavy."
"Ron!"
/chitter./
"Oh, just pull. I've almost got it, but…I'm stuck."
"Don't worry, man…I'm here…" another voice cut in, as Jim Rhodes reached down, and pulled on the person's other hand, as Kim and Ron pulled on the other. With a loud cracking sound, the person came out. "Sorry I.M, but you know I didn't bring my 'other' change of clothes with me."
"It's no problem Rhodey, trust me…" He placed a hand on the man's shoulder, as a low humming started to cut in. "Okay, the suit's at…71.6 output…that's the best I'm going to get without any repairs."
"Uhm, not to interrupt, but who's this guy?" Kim asked, one eyebrow raised above the other.
"This is…" Rhodes started, only to be interrupted by the armored person.
"Iron Man. I'm Iron Man, Tony Stark's bodyguard. I couldn't get here before because of…ah…air traffic problems."
"Well, I'm glad for your…help…"
"I wasn't really expecting that, but I should've…" Iron Man grumbled softly.
"Mind explaining this? I mean, they WERE after your boss' stuff after all," Kim asked, sounding somewhat suspicious.
"They were after some components that were…hidden…with good reason." Iron Man touched his damaged faceplate, sighing a little. "Well, this started with a theft at the local branch of SI. An old suit of IronTech armor was stolen…the very first prototype, in fact. Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem, but the tracking device was shut off, and now it seems that whoever stole it—"
"That would be Doctor Drakken…sorry, I'll be quiet now…" Ron mumbled when everyone else gave him a mild dirty look.
"Anyway…whoever stole it must've backwards reconstructed and enhanced the basic Repulsor Ray function built into the gauntlets…and added a few nasty changes, too." Iron Man was rubbing the back of his neck, as best he could since it was covered with many armor plates. "I didn't expect that, considering how…uhm…amateurishly the armor was stolen in the first place."
"That would probably be Drakken's fault. For an evil genius, he's not all that bright…" Kim commented, smiling a bit. This brought a chuckle from both IM and Rhodes.
"I can relate…I've been putting up with some pretty lame characters myself, in my three years of doing this."
"Three years? That's a lot of time…and I've never even heard of you…" Kim regained that suspicious look at that.
"Well, Mister Stark prefers I keep my activities out of the public eye, and keep Iron Man as more or less a fictional character used in our promotions. These days, though, it doesn't seem to work." The armored warrior sighed, hands on his hips. "Anyway, I'm sorry to have failed you the way I did. But from what I hear, you've been at this longer than I have. And a suit of hi-tech armor only gets you so far – you need to have the experience and skill to back it up."
"Well, don't feel too bad…" Kim gave him a sort of encouraging-yet-pitying look she usually gave Ron. Then she placed a hand on her shoulder, and quickly pulled it back, making a face at the goo on her hand. "Uhm, what is this stuff?"
"Oh, that…that's a special kind of fire-retardant foam SI's been working on for months now. I keep a supply of it with me in case of oil fires. I didn't expect to have to use it for…well, this…" He ran a finger along one of the diagonal slashes on his faceplate. "I'd like to know how the heck she managed to do that…"
"Oh…well, we think she can cut through titanium, if she tries hard enough. That's on her own. But now she's got those weird metal gloves, so she can probably cut even tougher…"
"And iron alloys probably don't cut it, right? Figures. The one thing this suit was built NOT expecting…getting clawed up." Iron Man sighed a bit, and rubbed the groove again. This time, though, a chip of metal fell off.
"I think if you keep picking, it'll break…" Ron pointed out the semi-obvious. Iron Man quickly pulled his hand back.
"Sorry…I guess I'll have to mention this to Mister Stark when it's time for my monthly review…" He turned to go, boot jets starting to whine softly.
"Wait! How will I get in touch with you?"
"Huh?" he turned to look back at Kim, now lifting up from the floor.
"Well, if Shego and Drakken have your technology, I think it'd be better if we worked together. You know, team up?" She nodded a little, smiling. Iron Man nodded himself, and reached into a metal pouch on his side. He took out a plastic card, and tossed it to Kim, who caught it.
"That's my number. Call me anytime, except for four AM. Man's gotta sleep sometime before the eight o'clock traffic rush, right?" He laughed, crouching a bit, then jumping, blasting off into the air with his right arm extended, and his left at a ninety degree angle to his side.
"Wow…he sure is something, isn't he?" Ron whistled, looking at the mild scorch marks on the floor. Rhodes nodded a little, and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, he is…You don't even know the half of it…" the older man sighed a little, a hint of worry in his eyes.