Issue 5: Armor Wars

The Iron Nation

"Alright, Rock. You should be all ready to go." said Stark Prime, finishing up another data analysis of Mega Man's body.

Mega Man stood up and activated his Mega Buster just to be sure, "Great! I feel like I chugged an E-Tank! Thanks Stark Prime!"

"No problem, kid." the AI replied.

"Well at least you're okay, kid. I just got word, some of the Champions are on their way to patrol the House. You're fine with that right?" Iron Man asked.

Stark Prime nodded, "Sure. I could show off how genius this House is to everyone else."

"Yeah, you're me alright." Iron Man quipped.

A yellow portal opened, revealing Doctor Strange and his team consisting of Weiss, Wolverine, Shadow, Fox, Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Yang, Simon Belmont, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer. "Greetings, Baron. Is Mega Man well?" Strange asked.

"He is. We just rebooted him, his systems are fully functioning and he's back in order." Stark Prime explained.

"Hey Strange, sorry about the scare back there." Mega Man apologized. Pikachu ran to Mega Man to nuzzle his leg, the Blue Bomber appreciating the gesture.

"Do not apologize, friend Mega Man," Simon responded, "It is not your fault you fell in combat. 'Tis the fault of the unlikely alliance."

Rock said, "Yeah… Whatever happened with that? I had to miss a lot."

Yang crossed her arms, "Well we lost. Badly… and I don't think we can leave Battleworld now. It sucks."

"What?!" Mega Man gasped.

Weiss said, "We're still trying to decipher how it all happened. Stephen tried to return to Mobiant Earth but was blocked."

Iron Man crossed his arms, "That explains why I haven't heard word from the Avengers. I figured this would be the time to call them, now I get why."

Shadow said, "We're on our own now. But this time we'll be ready."

Mega Man curled a hand to a fist, "Right."

Stark Prime spoke, "Any luck finding whoever was behind that Galeem scare? Nearly gave me a heart attack, and I don't even have one."

Weiss shook her head, "No. They just disappeared."

"We haven't tracked them down yet. We're hoping someone gives us a lead." Fox revealed.

A loud blare echoed in the repair room. Stark Prime armored up and looked at the security monitor, finding that a large man in armor was causing mayhem in the House, "Oh great, he's back…" the AI sighed.

"What is it?" Mega Man asked.

"You all may have heard of Wilson Fisk, called himself the Kingpin. He got an old piece of Iron Monger's tech and wants my suits for himself." Stark Prime revealed, allowing the Champions to observe his actions.

Iron Man said, "Yeah that sounds like Fisk. We'll help you stop him if he's causing trouble."

The Kingpin laughed as he tore through the Iron Legion with ease, "Stark is pathetic if he thinks this army can stop me. They'll be more useful as reparable scrap anyhow."

"Surrender or we'll be forced to resort to drastic measures." said Bleeding Edge.

Fisk grinned under his armor, "Go ahead and try."

The Iron Legion all went after Kingpin. Extremis shot a repulsor blast at Fisk, tearing a hole in his armored shoulder. The Kingpin grunted, shooting back at the culprit, causing him to stagger in the air due to the knockback. Silver Centurion shot a Unibeam at Fisk, who deflected it with his own, leaving him open to a missile blast from Bleeding Edge. Fisk opened his palm, revealing his Proton Cannon, decimating the Iron Legion in little time following their assault.

However, once he was done, someone shot him from behind, revealed to be the Iron Nation's War Machine. Rhodey aimed all of his weapons at Fisk and said, "We warned you, Fisk." he stated, dishing out everything he could on Kingpin.

The Kingpin could do very little to fight back, wasting all of his resources on fighting the Iron Legion. He raised a palm to cover the missiles, repulsors and the unibeam. Rhodey went in close and elbowed Kingpin, denting his helmet in the process, "You insolent…" Fisk grunted in rage, ready to strike War Machine.

"You wasted your time, Fisk. I have years of experience over you." War Machine boasted, activating his shoulder cannons. The Kingpin was launched up and fell on his back.

Removing his helmet, the Kingpin laughed, "Oh please, as if I would do this alone."

"Well it certainly looks like you came alone." quipped Yang, leaping and driving her fist down onto Kingpin's arc reactor, shutting it down for good, "Alright big guy, talk. Cause I still got some rage that I could vent on ya." she threatened, reeling her fist back. The Champions arrived with her.

"Yang, relax." Weiss eased her friend, "Now, this seems random. Unplanned. That's not like Fisk at all."

"You think the Cabal will leave an assault uncoordinated?" Fisk spat, "You Champions are more foolish than I was led to believe."

Iron Man put a hand to his head, saying, "I'm detecting a large energy spike close by. He really didn't come alone."

"Who's with him?" Mega Man asked.

"Us!" cackled MODOK and the Super-Adaptoid, revealing themselves.

"Oh great…" Stark Prime groaned.

"What is that monstrosity?!" Simon bellowed in awe.

"Which one? They're both pretty ugly." Yang joked, lunging after MODOK. He shot a laser at her but she blocked it with her gauntlets, punching him right in the cheek.

"You fool! You dare harm MODOK?!" MODOK shouted.

Shadow huffed, "We do." he tossed a Chaos Spear at MODOK, dazing him momentarily.

Mega Man shot a Charged Shot at Super-Adaptoid. The large robot absorbed the attack, confusing the Blue Bomber, "...What?" he asked, noticing his arm morph into a similar shape to the Mega Buster. Super-Adaptoid shot a Charged Shot of his own at Mega Man, forcing the robot to duck for cover.

"Don't attack him! The Super-Adaptoid is capable of absorbing and copying any and all data it tracks!" Iron Man revealed.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu screamed, trying to dodge the robot's attacks.

"We need to coordinate," Fox suggested, "Focus on MODOK first!"

"Haha! As if you Champions can withstand the might of MODOK!" boasted MODOK.

"Oh shut up!" War Machine groaned, shooting at MODOK with his shoulder cannons.

Iron Man and Stark Prime shot at MODOK from the front, causing him to raise a barrier. Weiss used Dust to attack the AIM being from behind, causing him pain. She jumped back with a swift spell right as Simon threw an axe, it bouncing off MODOK's head.

"Stand down, vile head monstrosity!" Simon bellowed, smacking MODOK with the Vampire Killer.

MODOK shot a stray laser at Fox, who used his Reflector to deflect it back to MODOK, hitting his forehead, "Weiss! Use some of that Dust on me!" he suggested, Weiss nodded and did so, covering Fox in a fiery aura, "...FIYA!" he shouted, launching into the air with his enhanced Fire Fox attack and pushing himself onto MODOK, launching him into the air.

Mega Man summoned Rush and used Rush Spring. He aimed his hand down as he jumped above MODOK and used Hard Knuckle, driving him to the ground. "Did you not learn from last time, MODOK?" quipped the Blue Bomber, recalling their last fight on Wakanda Island. He landed on a knee and charged his Mega Buster, ready to strike MODOK again.

"Errgh! HYPER PSIONIC BLAST!" MODOK shouted, using all his new data and putting it all into a beam aimed at Mega Man. Before it could reach the Super Fighting Robot however, Stark Prime stood in front of him and activated a nanite shield with his armor, blocking the attack and saving Mega Man.

"Not letting you take the fall again, kid." the AI promised the young robot.

"NO! That cannot be!" MODOK grunted in frustration.

"It can be." War Machine quipped, kneeing MODOK's nose, catching him off guard.

In response, MODOK dashed towards War Machine, who was sent back. Weiss used her Dust to slide towards MODOK and used a spell to create a spire that stopped him in his tracks. Frustrated, the AIM leader shot a Psionic Beam through the small glacier in hopes of hitting Weiss. However, she raised a barrier in front of her and blocked the attack.

Diddy Kong activated his barrel jetpack and coconut guns, shooting at MODOK while he was distracted with Weiss. The being turned around only to be met with a cross from Simon, who followed the attack with a whip spin. In a haste, Iron Man ended the battle by shooting a small EMP device onto MODOK, shutting down his offensive capabilities, "What?! How?!" he shouted.

"I've beaten you time and again, MODOK. You think I wouldn't come prepared?" Iron Man quipped.

"NYAGH!" MODOK cried, trying to restart his chair in hopes of striking back.

Mega Man started a Charged Shot and blasted MODOK with it. The AIM leader fell unconscious, his systems no longer able to defend him, "That should keep him down…" Mega Man sighed.

"Pika Pi!" Pikachu yelled, moving as fast as he can to avoid the Super-Adaptoid. The robot threw a replica of Captain America's shield at the electric mouse, nearly hitting him.

Fox dashed towards the robot, asking, "Okay, we got this covered. Iron Man, you seem to know about him, what can this robot do?"

"Well he normally has data on every member of the Avengers, and it looks like the same applies to this one. The last thing we need is to give him data on Champions to replicate, otherwise he'd be unstoppable." Iron Man explained.

The Super-Adaptoid shot at Fox with a repulsor, noticing his Reflector. The robot then made one of his own to defend himself from Diddy's jetpack assault. Diddy yelped in surprise as the Super-Adaptoid grabbed the monkey with the strength of the Hulk and tossed him aside. "Diddy!" Yang shouted. She lunged towards the Adaptoid and punched it, noticing the robot absorb it, "...Oh crud…" she gulped, dodging a punch made from her data.

Creating a makeshift hammer, the Super-Adaptoid slammed it down, creating a shockwave that caught the heroes off-guard. Stark Prime managed to hover and say, "I always get tired of this guy showing up…" he sighed, keeping the robot distracted while the Champions planned something out.

"What can we do against that thing? He just does everything we can!" Mega Man asked, "That's my thing!"

"Pika!" Pikachu replied.

"I'm sure you have a great idea, little guy." Yang commented, giving the mouse a comforting pat.

"I can keep him at bay with my Mystic Arts, he is a being of technology after all." Doctor Strange commented.

"Good idea. However, he can copy any of our styles no matter how surreal," Fox noticed, "He even managed to copy my Reflector. I didn't think anyone outside of my team could do that."

"We have to give him the element of surprise. Give him something so bizarre, he couldn't possibly recreate it… Crap, I wish we brought Deadpool along…" Iron Man sighed.

"Perhaps we could be of assistance here." Wii Fit Trainer spoke up. Villager also raised his hand, "There is no reason for a robot to copy my abilities as they aren't meant to be used for combat."

"You bring up a good point." Iron Man replied.

"Think that'll work?" Weiss asked.

"It should. I feel like even Wade's taken down a few of these." Iron Man quipped.

"Hey big guy!" Yang called for the Super-Adaptoid's attention, giving a powerful right hook to its head. The robot copied her gauntlets once more and punched back, Yang blocking it. With each punch, an aura covering her grew bigger, her Semblance activating. With the robot's assault over, she gave it another powerful strike, this time causing it to slide back on the metal ground.

"PIKA!" Pikachu used Quick Attack on the Super-Adaptoid, able to dodge a punch from it and adding onto his attack with a Thunderbolt, stunning it for only a split second. Unfortunately, it copied that data and put it all into his Mjlnoir replica, uppercutting Pikachu and tossing him into the air. Stark Prime caught the electric mouse and put him back on the ground.

War Machine shot at the Super-Adaptoid, copying his cannons. As it focused on Rhodey, Diddy Kong started shooting with his coconut guns, peanuts bouncing off its body. The robot looked at the monkey and just stood there. Diddy scratched his head, then ducked as Simon used his Holy Water to burn the robot. The Super-Adaptoid recreated the Vampire Killer and struck Simon with it, causing him to stagger back, "Impossible!" Simon shouted, once he saw what the robot had accomplished to do.

With the Super-Adaptoid distracted with every other hero. Strange readied his spell, binding back the robot with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, "Stay still, foul beast!" Strange shouted.

The Wii Fit Trainer slammed a volleyball onto the Super-Adaptoid, confusing its systems, "Error: Unknown data detected." it said, trying and failing to replicate the attack.

Villager planted a tree that immediately grew and he chopped it down with an axe, hitting the robot who once again could not copy the data. Wii Fit Trainer hovered in the air thanks to her hoops and used a yoga position to strike the robot once she landed.

With each attack made, the Super-Adaptoid stuttered, unable to replicate the unique attacks being thrown at him, "Holy crap it's working," Iron Man commented.

"Error- Error-" the robot repeated, taking a bowling ball to the head.

"Alright! Let's finish this then, and shut it down! Pikachu, use Volt Tackle! ...That's the move right?" Yang said and asked Pikachu, who nodded happily.

"PIKACHU!" Pikachu shouted, turning into a large ball of electricity and striking the Super-Adaptoid repeatedly in the blink of an eye. The Super-Adaptoid tried to copy this attack, but alas it failed and the overwhelming amount of unspecified data it collected shorted out its systems, shutting it down.

"Booyah! Awesome work, little guy!" Yang cheered, giving Pikachu another pat to the head.

Strange removed the bands and put his hands down, noticing the battle was over, "That was quite a spectacle."

"It was. We'll have all these guys locked up, they are from this House after all." Stark Prime explained.

"Something tells me this was just a warning." Fox commented, "That seemed way too random and easy."

Weiss agreed, "It was… Didn't Fisk say something about a Cabal?"

"That's what he said… As if the first one wasn't bad enough…" Yang groaned.

"We should meet with Spider-Man's group, warn them that this Cabal is already attacking." Fox suggested.

"Indeed. We shall head back to the Chimera." Strange said.

"Right. Thanks for the assist, guys. And Rhodey, keep being cool." Iron Man waved to his counterpart and best friend.

"Not hard to do, Tony." Rhodey quipped back.

Doctor Strange opened a portal to send the team back to their headquarters, where they intend to discuss the Cabal's counterstrike.

MJR Here: So now the Cabal have started to make their move on multiple fronts. With this information, the next chapter will go into more detail on what the heroes and Cabal intend to do now that both sides are fighting. Another thing I intend to do with this story is showcase new Battleworld villains not seen in Realm of Smashers that fit the domains they're found in.

Next Time: Meeting at the Chimera! The Cabal schemes!