PULLING STRINGS

With the Garden filled with the crowd's mixture of cheers and boos, the Iron Patriot was still conversing with Maria Hill via his helmet and was not the least bit happy on the news he received. "Hand was supposed to never let that girl out of her sight!" he hissed with brewing anger, then looked through the corner of his right eye to see that the Scarlet Spider heard him, and to his relief, he appeared to be more focused on Spidey. However, he still found his son's relationship with Gwen to be the main factor of why he was weak and knew that when this was all over, she had to be 'dealt with.'

Back in the Helocarrior, Maria was talking to the Patriot via the intercom system on the Captain's post, also appearing unhappy on Gwen's disappearance, but not quite as upset as the Patriot himself. "I know, sir. She said that she remembered feeling a prick on her neck then blacked out, which could only mean that she was tranquilized. But by who or what, she couldn't say."

On the other end, the Patriot could only let out an aggravated sigh as he came to this conclusion. "So, it appears Stark is using help from outside sources. Wonderful."

Maria was also not surprised by this. She speculated that the 'outside sources' mentioned was most likely that of her old boss, Nick Fury, who had always supported the team. "I'll alert our undercover agents in New York and have them search the city."

"No," The Patriot replied sharply and loud enough for the entire ship to hear. "There's no need to waste our time and resources in finding one pain in the ass teenaged girl! Besides, if Stark can pull a few strings, so can I!"

"Sir?" asked a very puzzled Maria at her post.

Back in the Garden, the Patriot just witnessed Ms. Marvel teleporting back into the arena and in front of cheering fans and growled in annoyance. The sight of an Avenger getting the upper hand felt like pouring salt in an open wound. But choosing to keep a calm head, the Patriot decided to use that aggravation as motivation in his upcoming match, and thus decided to cut this conversation short. "Just contact a man by the name of Phillip Masters. He owes me a favor. Tell him who the girl is, and he'll make her come to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a match to win. Osborn out." Upon saying the word 'out,' the A.I. system in the Patriot's helmet cut off his conversation with Maria, and the Patriot himself looked straight ahead at his soon-to-be opponent: Iron Man.

Meanwhile, in the Avengers corner, Spidey saw Ms. Marvel finally come over to both of him and Iron Man, but with the young hero himself afraid to approach her. For one thing, she won her match by defeating Luke Cage, their fellow teammate, and thus he shared her feelings on how this was a significant blow to the team rather than a victory. Also, he already knew that he wasn't exactly on her good side and did not want to risk making her madder than she already was.

Iron Man also believed that this was a sad moment rather than a happy one, and thus, he patted Ms. Marvel on her shoulder as some form of comfort. "Go ahead and rest up, Carol," he told her gently, then turned his attention to the Iron Patriot and angrily narrowed his eyes at him. "It's time I personally showed Osborn just how badly he just pissed us off!"

Though Ms. Marvel wanted to pound the Patriot personally, deep down, she knew that Iron Man was just as capable and thus gave him a nod. "Give him one for me, Stark."

Spidey, also having nothing but disgust for the Patriot, is the next to address the Shell-Head. "Me too!" said the Web-Head, and his serious tone changed to that of a more concerned one. "But be careful, Osborn's a lot craftier than he lets on!"

"Yeah, well aware of that, kid!" Iron Man replied, still glaring at the Patriot angrily and not forgetting what he did the rest of his teammates.

Back in the center of the stage, the announcer wasted no time in getting back in the limelight to address the crowd. "All right folks, let's close the Quarter Finals with the teams' respected leaders who prove that heroes aren't just born, they're built! For we now have the Golden Avenger, Iron Man, taking on his red, white, and blue counterpart, the Iron Patriot!"

The Patriot soon unfolds his arms, and before he could be on his way, he briefly turned to the Scarlet Spider, who still had his eyes glued to Spidey. "Well, I'm off, son," he said coldly and succeeded in getting his symbiote covered son's attention. "I trust you won't do anything rash while I'm gone?"

"N-No sir," the Scarlet Spider answered somewhat shyly, for with or without the armor, he still viewed his father as someone to both respect and fear. "Good luck, Dad!"

The Patriot gave his son a quick nod, then turned and proceeded to the teleportation pad, where Iron Man was already standing and waiting. Once both armored leaders of their respected factions were on the pads, they soon vanished out of sight and transported to an unknown destination, where they could decide who has the better armor…as well as, the better man.