32ND FINALS: IRON MAN VS. MACH IV
There was no cheering crowd in the final match of the thirty-second finals of the Contest of Champions tournament. Mainly because it was taking place on the time square of the empty, abandoned ghost town that Pripyat, a city devoid of all life due to a Ukrainian SSR Nuclear Reactor that suffered a series of explosions and fallout that was described as the worst nuclear power accident in history. On this day, however, it served as a battlefield, with the same yellow energy ropes surrounding the whole city.
Once he and his opponent, Mach IV, arrived at the scene, Iron Man looked around the desolation and muttered this to himself. "Wouldn't want to vacation here."
It didn't take long for J.A.R.V.I.S. to react his creator's words with his usual programmed quipping. "A good idea, sir," he told the Golden Avenger. "Considering that it was evacuated during a radiation leak." Before continuing, J.A.R.V.I.S. pulled up a digital screen showing the schematics of this particular armor inside Iron Man's helmet. "Which I am pleased to report that the Mark IV armor will provide you with complete protection against, though I still advice that you exercise caution."
"Trust me, J.A.R.V.I.S., being contaminated is not on my 'most desired' list," Iron Man told his trusty A.I. then had a grim expression when he set his sights on Mach IV. "What but I do have on that list is beating the snot of out this punk here and sending a message to Norman to let him know what's in store for him!"
Mach IV himself was also scanning his armor, and upon looking at a small screen on his right gauntlet, he could see that it is designed to protect him from the looming radiation in the area. A fact that brought a smile on his face, because it meant he could beat Iron Man mercilessly without having to worry about being contaminated.
Suddenly, and from out of nowhere, a Ref Bot appeared and hovered right between the two combatants, with the announcer's concerned face on the screen. "Now gentlemen, even though there are no bystanders to get in the way, I must advise that you concentrate on your opponent's belt buckle and not damage your armors too badly. For given your current surroundings, that would be most unsafe. Understood?" The announcer received nods from both Iron Man and Mach IV, which was a good enough answer for him. "All right then..." the announcer wasted no time in commanding the Ref Bot to fly up high into the air and above the deserted city. "BEGIN!"
Upon hearing the word, Mach IV went on to start the match off by rocketing towards Iron Man, and more specifically the built-buckle in the waistline of his armor.
Luckily though, Iron Man spotted this at the last second, and thus used his rocket boots to shoot straight up into the air and narrowly dodge Mach IV's tackle attempt. "Wow, and people say I like to rush in head-on," muttered Iron Man as he pointed both of his open palms down at Mach IV and fired two repulsor blasts.
Once Mach IV stopped himself, he looked over his shoulder to see the blasts coming down towards him, and thus spun around, held up both of his hands to create an energy barrier which successfully blocked the blast. Afterward, he shot straight up into the air like a torpedo and zoomed straight towards Iron Man himself.
Up above, Iron Man fired more repulser blasts, this time with an increased charge of power and hoping that it'll be too much to handle for the winged Thunderbolt's barrier, but is disappointed when he saw his blasts bounce off of it. Once he sees Mach IV come close enough, the Armored Avenger had no choice but to stop firing his blast, then held his right arm right in front of him, then mentally activated an energy shield from his gauntlet.
Finally, Mach IV rammed his barrier up against Iron Man's shield, and once they made contact, it caused both of their respected shield's to burst and create a shockwave when sent the Shellhead flying backward.
It was until Iron Man fired his repulsor blast downward in conjunction with his jet boots that he was able to stop him himself, despite being knocked loopy. "Okay," said Iron Man as he shook his head. "That wasn't pleasant."
Inside the Armored Avenger's helmet, J.A.R.V.I.S. pulled up an image of the armor, with the right arm and chest area colored red, which indicated damage. "Not to mention that it caused fourteen percent damage to the upper armor, sir," he reported. "Thankfully though, it wasn't enough to create openings and allow the radiation to leak in, however..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, 'exercise caution,'" Iron Man chimed in. "I know you mean well, buddy, but I didn't program you to be a broken record!" The Shell-head then saw Mach IV, without his energy barrier, flying straight towards him and fires semi-automatic laser beams from his right gauntlet. Luckily for Iron Man though, he flew downward and easily avoided the blast by flying around in a helix pattern, like wrapping outside of a barrel, all the while flying straight towards Mach IV. Once he got close enough to his opponent, Iron Man wound up his right fist and gave the Thunderbolt a mean right hook.
Though he was knocked senseless at first, Mach IV recovered fast enough to see Iron Man going for a left cross and thus held up his left arm to block the blow. Afterward, he countered by taking his right hand, holding it in front of Iron Man's faceplate and upon opening it, it caused a flash of light, which blinded the Shellhead. Now in control, Mach IV took advantage of this by using both of his feet to kick the disoriented Iron Man's chest-plate, sending him reeling backward in the process as well as use him as a boost to perform a backflip. Once he was right side up, and a good distance away, Mach IV mentally commanded a small launcher to pop out of his right shoulder and fired a small missile at the dazed Shell Head.
Fortunately for Iron Man though, he recovered quick enough to see the missile coming his way, and thus held up his left gauntlet to produce another shield, and though it blocked it, the impact was so powerful, it sent the Shellhead flying down and crashing through the wall of a nearby building and ending up crashing into a work desk. "Well," said Iron Man, straining to sit up. "Nice of that guy to remind me that he and buddies are fighting dirty."
"Indeed, sir," said J.A.R.V.I.S., with the image of Iron Man's armor showing his left arm now glowing red. "So much so, that it's taken out your one remaining shield."
Though he knew J.A.R.V.I.S. was only trying to help, Iron Man couldn't help but grow aggravated with his trusty A.I., who as far as he was concerned, was starting to sound like a nagging mother. "Nice of you to keep track."
"One of us has to," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied in his usual quirky manner.
As Iron Man tried to get back up, he looked straight ahead and through the window, he saw Mach IV hovering in the air, and to make matters worse, saw that the winged Thunderbolt has his shoulder cannon drawn, locked, loaded and ready to fire. But rather than be worried, Iron Man just narrowed his brow in concentration. "Two can play that game, flyboy," he said determined, then held up his right hand, which caused a small compartment to open and out pops a small launcher that fired a small missile, which ended up hitting and destroying Mach IV's shoulder cannon, causing it to explode on impact.
As for Mach IV himself, he is naturally shaken by this, but even more, surprised when he spotted Iron Man himself fully recovered and flying straight towards him. Once the Armored Avenger burst through the window, Mach IV desperately held up both of his hands out in front of him and caught Iron Man by his shoulders, preventing his opponent from tackling him. The winged Thunderbolt then counterattacked by placing his right foot on Iron Man's chest plate, then flipped backward and gave the Shell head an airborne stomach throw, which sent him flipping forward uncontrollably, then crashing into the ferris wheel in front of the City Center Gymnasium.
This, in turn, caused the abandoned ride to fall to the ground, creating a massive dust cloud which covered the entire area. Once all the dust cleared, Iron Man laid on top of the rubble until slowly sat back up and shook his head. "This obviously isn't going well."
Suddenly, Mach IV hovered over the fallen Iron Man, then pointed his laser gauntlets down at him. "Iron Man? More like 'Scrap Man!" he said with a grin behind his helmet. "Or at least you will be when I'm done with you!"
For Iron Man, hearing his airborne opponent take a jab at witty banter was almost as painful then any other injury he suffered since first donning the armor. And so, with an embarrassed grown, he powered up his jet boots and flew up into the air and just a few feet away from Mach IV, taking the Thunderbolt by surprise. " 'Scrap Man?' Well, congrats pal, you made me miss hearing Hawkeye's jokes." said Iron Man, then smirked behind his faceplate as he continued. "Still, not as bad what you called yourself before Osborn gave you that costume makeover. What was it again...Cockroach man, or something like that?"
It was here that Mach IV calm nature soon turned to anger. For not only was he reminded of his failures as the Beetle, but that this 'pompous rich boy' in an iron suit couldn't even get the name right! As such, he began zooming towards Iron Man all the while firing his lasers at him.
As for Iron Man himself, he easily evaded the blast as he flew towards Mach IV. "Geez, and I thought Hulk was touchy!" he said to himself, then held up his right hand and fired a repulsor blast, forcing Mach IV to stop and flip backward to dodge it. The Golden Avenger in place as he waited for Mach IV to flip right side up and thus the two armored flyers of their respected teams were now face to face. "Cool your jets, pal!" said Iron Man, then grew disgusted with himself once he realized what he just said. "Okay, that was bad even for me. But seriously, I remember the times you called yourself 'the Beetle,' and more importantly, I remembered all the times I kicked your sorry butt all the times you tried to rob a bank or steal from government facilities! Bottom line, it doesn't matter what you call yourself, because, at the end of the day, you are just plain bad at the whole 'flying man' gig, super-villain or otherwise."
Having had enough of the Shell-Head's insults, Mach IV flew towards him while firing more laser blast from his left gauntlet to which Iron Man easily dodged. However, he used this as a distraction to resort to 'plan B,' more secretly pressing a small button in his right palm and popping out a small, circular device from out of his right gauntlet, which was a gift he received from the engineers at S.H.I.E.L.D. earlier today. Finally, on he got close enough, Mach IV threw the device underhand, which in turn, struck Iron Man's faceplate which not only caused a blinding flash of light, but also sent him down to the abandoned amusement park below.
Not wanting to crash into the ground and leave himself wide open, Iron Man managed to control his fall by flipping backward and landing hard in a kneeling position, cracking the ground underneath him in the process. Though he saved himself, the Shellhead's vision was still a little blurry, and he started to shake his head to regain focus, all the while Mach IV is hovering above him with both laser gauntlets drawn and pointed at him once more.
"Not a good flying man, huh Stark?" said Mach IV with discontent, and keeping the kneeling Armored Avenger in his sights "Well, gonna have to disagree with you on that one. And in just a few seconds, so will the rest of the world!" With that said, Mach IV fired two blasts, with the target being Iron Man's buckle.
Luckily for Iron Man though, he heard the shots fired and with a little help from his jet boots, he quickly dashed back to avoid the blast, and after stopping himself, flew straight up into the air until he ended up just above Mach IV himself. Afterward, the Shell-head fought back by bending forward slightly, where he then mentally opened two compartments in both of his shoulders and dropped two bombs in a parabolic ark at Mach IV below.
For Mach IV, he could only shake his head and laugh on how idiotic this attack was, feeling that Iron Man must be getting so desperate, he would such a slow and easy to avoid tactic. As such, he held up his gauntlets and fired two blasts at the bombs coming his way. However, once the blast hit the bombs, they exploded, but in a large flash of brilliant white light, which in turned blinded the winged Thunderbolt and forced him to cover his eye lenses in pain. "My eyes!" he yelled.
Seconds later, as the light died down, Iron Man flew straight down with his knees pointing downward at the blinded Mach IV, then rammed both of them into the Thunderbolt's chest-plate, causing them both to plunge straight down and crash into the amusement park, near the bumper cars. As the dust settled, Iron Man now found himself sitting on top of the fallen Mach IV and back in control of the fight. "That must've hurt," said the Shell-Head sarcastically.
Feeling the humiliation of not just his current state in the match, but from all the memories of his time as Beetle rushing back, Mack IV angrily powered his jet pack and sped backward on the ground, forcing Iron Man himself jump off of his opponent and rolled backward on the ground and into a kneeling position. Once Iron Man stood back up, Mach IV managed to flip backward and end up hovering a few inches off the ground and sixty feet away from the Golden Avenger. Suddenly, through the corner of his left eye, Iron Man spotted an old rundown bumper car, which already sparked to him as useful. Therefore, he used both hands to grab hold of the car, and thanks to his armor enhanced strength, he picked it up over his head and threw it at the newly recovered Thunderbolt.
However, Mach IV saw this coming his way and thus decided to unveil a surprise of his own. In that he popped out an energy-based blade from his gauntlet, then slashed upward, cutting the bumper car in two as soon as it came close enough to him. Now with a new weapon, Mach IV rocketed straight towards Iron Man, then thrust his energy blade forward, once again targeting the Shell-head's buckle.
As for Iron Man, he just stood there in a defensive stance. "Okay, he's now mighty pissed and using a lightsaber. In other words, right where I want him!"
This, in turn, caused J.A.R.V.I.S. to interject. "I fail to see how this can possibly count as a good thing, sir."
Iron Man placed his open hands in front of him as he responded. "Well, mainly because this is as good as time as any to activate 'blue streak.'"
Naturally, even for an artificial intelligence, J.A.R.V.I.S. seemed to be concern upon hearing this reply. "Sir, the blue streak blast has not even been properly tested yet."
'J.A.R.V.I.S., remember our 'running before walking rule!" Iron Man shot back and soon grew concerned as Mach IV was now closer to him. "Activate it now!"
"Very well, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, and suddenly, the repulser blasters inside Iron Man's palms all began to glow bright blue, and just as Mach IV was now inches away from him, Iron Man held his hands over his head, and at that moment, formed a bright energy ball which produced long blue streaks to pop out in numerous areas. This turn not only hit Mach IV but also appeared to lift him up and juggle him in the air and above the Armored Avenger, causing the Thunderbolt's armor to endure significant damage, namely haven his wings broken off.
As the now wingless Mach IV landed hard on to the ground, and with his armor heavily dented, Iron Man shuts off the 'blue streak' energy and lowered his arms as he turned and looked down at his fallen opponent.
"No...NO!" yelled the distressed, as well as beaten Mach IV. "This wasn't to happen! This was supposed to be my time to make you pay! My time to be famous!"
Iron Man, having had enough of Mach IV's whining, pulled his right fist back. "Yeah well, looks like your just gonna have to settle for famous!" A split second later, the Shell-head threw a downward punch which successfully connected with Mach IV's belt buckle, causing the yellow energy to spew out and freeze the Thunderbolt in place.
This resulted in the Ref Bot floating down and hovering right next to the now victorious Iron Man, pointing its screen at him for all the viewers around the world can see. "Ladies and gentlemen," said the voice of the announcer. "The winner of the final match of the thirty-second finals...IRON MAN!"
Though he heard and appreciated the crowd's cheers from the Ref Bot's screen, Iron Man himself still continued to look down at the frozen Mach IV. "You got off easy, pal," he thought angrily, then turned back to the Ref Bot to see the cheering crowd back in the Garden, and looked down on the bottom left of the screen to see the Thunderbolts' corner, namely the Iron Patriot. "At least compared to what I have in store for Osborn!"
WINNER: IRON MAN