Inventor, businessman, ladies' man, and super hero. Gravely injured by an act of industrial sabotage, billionaire genius Tony Stark saved his own life by designing a life-sustaining shell - the hi-tech armor that transformed him into the invincible Iron Man! Today, the world thinks Iron Man is an employee - Tony Stark's personal bodyguard - and in this dual role, he faces corporate intrigue and super-powered menaces. He is a modern-day knight in armor, fighting injustice wherever it rears its head.

The Invincible Iron Man 2.0 "Deep Blue Part 1: Discoveries!"

Scripted and Plotted by "Attitude Version 1" Michael Edwards

Edited by "The Masked Manhunter" Gary Jones

Hated by C-Dubba and Da 2 life cruisers

Note: Iron Man is the sole property of Marvel Entertainment. These stories are written for fun and not profit. Hope you enjoy them.

T-Minus two hours until launch…

Pacing the floor nervously was all he could do. It was understandable for Tony Stark to be a bit nervous as the fate of his company and that of the creator's of the Excelsior laid on the feat of making a successful flight to Mars for the press and all gathered tonight. A lot of money was put into the project and both parties wanted to benefit from it as well as see the world advance in the terms of space exploration. Space was largely unconquered by humans. Only a small percentage of this solar system had been explored and charted by regular NASA astronauts. While it was the status quo of super heroes to go, wherever they were needed. Normal humans did not have such advantages. As Stark prepared his speech in his mind, Pepper came in and cleared her throat.

"Pepper! Is it time already?"

"No, no, I just wanted to see if you are okay," Pepper replied.

"I'm a bit nervous, but hell it should be easy. I have done speeches before in front of large audiences."

"Yea, but this time is different. You will be speaking in front of millions."

"Right…"

Pepper checked her watched and nodded Tony towards the door, "Its time kiddo."

"Wish me luck."

"Don't I always?"

Stark smiled as followed the hallway out onto the stage where he was greeted with a standing ovation. A big grin crossed his face and he could feel the honesty in the people's applause. It made him all the more confident in his speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we break upon a new age where our horizons are no longer hindered by inadequate fuel based engines, limited environmental protection technology, and small budgets. Thanks to Stark Enterprises, Dekort Industries brings to life the very first working and functional interstellar spacecraft capable of not only sub-orbital flight, but also manned exploration to new uncharted territories. I gave you the Excelsior and its crew!"

The large blue curtain to the right of the podium dropped down and reveled massively tall monitors, which showed the ship in all its glory. The crowd awed at the sight of this new interstellar ship. It was shaped vaguely to the design of an Avengers Quinjet. It was long and smooth with a medium sized wingspan. Colored blue and it had the Dekort and SE logos on the angular tail fin that split down the space between the twin angular thrusters.

"The Excelsior's crew is lead by Captain James T. Quinn and piloted by Lieutenant Sashay Bernard and communications expert Sergeant Javier Zane. All three of them have been highly trained in the use of the Excelsior and were highly recommended by the government for their incredible skills and experience. Please welcome them into your hearts as in two hours time you all will witness another of their test flights."

The crowd broke into heavy cheers before slowly disbursing to get some refreshments and kill some time until the launch. Stark made his way off he podium and Cleveland Dekort greeted him by shaking his hand as he got off.

"Mr. Stark, thank you so much for everything you have done."

"You are quite welcome Cleveland, but please call me Tony. If it was not for you, I probably would not have considered this venture."

"Oh pshaw, you're the real genius behind this bad boy. You got us past the testing stages and into the next phase," Cleveland said with a smile.

"Well, I guess I can take some of the credit," Tony laughed.

"What do plan to do next Tony?"

"Next on my calendar is a charity which is close to my heart in more ways than one."

"I see. Take care and good luck in the raising."

"I will and thank you, Cleveland."

Mars…

A large spaceship floated above the orbit of Mars. Its design was shaped much like a vicious bird of prey with mounted guns on the tip of its angular wings and some form of scanning apparatus on its pointed beak. The crew aboard was unlike any life that had been encountered in this solar system. They were taller then average humans and defined by the number of armored spikes that protruded from their slanted backs. Their hair was variants of black and brown that was tied in braids, which laid down either shoulder. They were known as the X'myan and they were the deadliest hunters that ever stalked the space ways. Whatever reason they were hovering over Mars could mean certain doom to Earth and all of inhabitants.

"Warminster, I must speak with you."

"What is it Chief Councilor?"

"I am curious why we are in this primitive star system."

"Our emperor wishes for us to seek out new prey. By his command we seek worthy opponents for our stellar might," the Warminster said as he flashed a toothy smile.

"Couldn't we just go to that M class planet we detected earlier instead of wasting our time inspecting these ones?"

"We could, but we must be assured that the M class planet is the only life in this sector of space."

"I understand, Warminster."

"Helm, has our scans been completed yet?"

"Not yet sir."

"Than hurry up you curled dog! The quicker we find a suitable foe the quicker comes the battle!"

"Yes sir!"

Lift off…

Stark came back to the podium and addressed the crowd, "The Excelsior is preparing for lift off. Every one prepare for a treat courtesy of Stark Enterprises."

Digital surround sound speakers came in through open panels in the wall and the view on the monitors switched to the focus of the pilots on the inside of the Excelsior. Captain Quinn looked at the crowd and cleared his throat as he made his dramatic speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the moment you have been waiting for. The launch of the first interstellar spacecraft created by human hands. I have every confidence in my colleagues abilities and I am sure this will be a safe trip to and back from Mars."

"Engines are hot, Captain. Satellite link up with SE one is nominal and there is no problems with the communication systems," Sergeant Zane said.

"All right then, ease her up Lieutenant."

The lieutenant brought the vertical take off thrusters to half power and the excelsior slowly rose into the air. With a few finger strokes on the touch screen, the lieutenant plotted their course and activated the main engines. In quick burst of speed, the Excelsior broke orbit and the miniature cameras that were laired with in and out the ship switched to the beautiful and retreating look of the earth. The cameras switched back to the interior of the bridge where the captain checked his command chair's inboard monitors.

"Slow engines to one quarter, lieutenant. We don't want to overshoot our mark."

"Yes sir."

"As you can see, with the gravity defying power of the Excelsior we can leave orbit much swifter than it would take a normal NASA shuttle. Our preparation also takes from one third to one half the time it does for a manned space mission."

"Sir, we are nearing Mars."

"Quite the tri--zzzt Th--zzzt click"

Stark was expressionless as they had lost the signal. The crowd looked to him and he had no explanation for it. He knew he had to say something to keep the crowd from panicking.

"Do not be alarmed people. It is simply a test on our part to see the range of our communications with the Excelsior."

Stark left the stage to let Cleveland talk to the crowd and keep them busy while he personally addressed the matter. However, while Cleveland thought he was going to the control room. Stark was instead going into a private room to make a dramatic change.

"The communications system shouldn't have failed like that when I designed the system myself. The last test we ran we had a clear signal all the way to the tip of the Sh'Air border. Nothing should have interrupted the signal unless the Excelsior had a serious ship wide malfunction or they were in serious danger."

Donning his hi-tech armor, the golden avenger shoots straight into space where he enters a secret port inside the SE one satellite. Once inside the satellite, deep space armor attachments latched onto special modular ports on Iron Man's armor. Upon completion, Iron Man races to catch up with the Excelsior.

Mars…

Onboard the X'myan ship the crew of the Excelsior is brought before the Warminster who looks them over with a sinister grin. He runs a cold and slimy hand across Sashays face causing her to shiver.

"This female looks delicious."

Sashay looked at her captain who struggled with his captor.

"Take whatever you want from the us, but leave her alone."

"Oh we plan to, but she shall not leave her for we have grown quite famished."

"So you're going to eat all of us!" Zane panicked.

"No, you and your captain will be used for breeding. Your female will be the only one we feast upon."

Sergeant Zane and Captain Quinn turned their heads in disgust.

"Warminster, an unidentified object is heading this way."

"Bring it up on the main view screen, helmsman."

The view screen showed an object fast approaching consisting of a red and gold scheme color. It was sleek exo-suit with a smaller armored humanoid figure inside of it. The helmsman scanned the armored figure and brought up the statistics of the armored figure on the view screen.

"It is a terran male from the same planet as these three."

"How far is he from us?"

"Twelve par clicks."

"Prepare forward batteries. We shall see how he stands up to our arsenal."

Not far from the X'myan ship…

Iron Man started to close in on the last location of where the Excelsior had sent its signal from when his armor's onboard sensors detected an energy build up.

"Warning – energy build up detected twelve meters from current position."

"What?"

A beam of light struck Iron Man and severed his connection to his exo-suit. Another shot came towards the man of iron and he expelled the rest of his outer exo-suit and flew out of the way just in time as his space exo-suit blew up.

"What happened to the terran male?"

"The explosion sent out massive electromagnetic burst that has scrambled our sensors. It will take time to recalibrate them."

The Warminster snorted, "Take the time you need. Keep the ship on theta alert."

Iron Man drifted through the cold void waiting for his armor to reboot. He was doing his best to conserve his oxygen and remaining calm. After a few moments passed his armor kicked on, but his power was only at forty-four percent.

"It looks like the armor is running low on power so I best conserve some or old shell head will be in a heap of trouble," Iron Man said as he rerouted power from his weapons systems to his thrusters.

As soon as he stabilized his movement, Iron Man noticed the X'myan war ship hovering over the orbit of Mars.

"Now that isn't something you see everyday."

Iron Man used his boot thrusters to propel himself forward and as the red and gold gladiator made his way towards the X'myan ship; he hoped to find the crew of the Excelsior.

To Be Continued…