Hello everyone! I've decided to take a short break from the Tag-Team Battles for a moment, just to give you a special story. I just couldn't keep this little secret from you, the readers, forever. So, I decided to make this, in the hopes that I can create lore.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers Academy, or My Hero Academia.

Although Tony Stark is on his way to becoming the Invincible Iron Man, there was one certain hero before him. Famous for his heroic deeds on his own, and with the Avengers, this Iron Man was famed through song and story!

But, unfortunately for this veteran, he's too old.

Can Iron Man keep up with time? Or has he become obsolete?

It was an average day in New York.

The sun was bright and cheerful in the cloudless sky. The streets were filled with people of all kinds. The people bustled about, all of them engaged in one activity or another, whatever those were.

Unfortunately for the people of New York, there was also a very unpleasant common occurrence: Villains.

And so today became just like every other, when crooks all decided to scheme and bring mischief and misfortune upon innocent people.

The Vulture was no exception.

(Vulture/Spider Man: Homecoming)

He roared with laughter, as he flew off with his ill-gotten gains. This was just perfect! No Heroes, the Police were hapless against him, and no Scarlet Spider to get in his way! "C'mere, you!" Vulture heard from behind. Suddenly, a gray object the size of a man streaked across his vision, and rammed him right out of the sky.

"Iron Man!" He snarled.

Sure enough, the Armored Avenger hovered above him, ready to attack again.

(Iron Man Mark 1/Avengers Academy)

"Seriously? Robbing a bank?" Asked Iron Man. "Hey! I need to eat too!" Retorted Vulture. "If you really want money so badly, get a job!" Vulture picked himself up. "You really wanna go through this again?" Challenged Iron Man, "You're outmatched Vulture! Just give up already!"

"Funny you should say that," Vulture said confidently, "Because you're the one who's outmatched!"

Suddenly, Rhino charged out from nowhere, and sent Iron Man flying into a wall.

Then, Scorpion coiled his tail around Iron Man's torso, and threw him around.

(Scorpion/Spider Man PS4)

Electro sent burst of electricity that dropped Iron Man when he tried to get up.

(Electro/Spectacular Spider Man)

Shocker fired a powerful shock-blast then knocked Iron Man into a parked car.

(Shocker/Spider Man PS4)

Sand Man piled his grainy body around Iron Man. Suddenly, the pile of sand became wild, and enveloped the Avenger completely.

(Sand Man/Spectacular Spider Man)

This put Iron Man in a serious situation. If too much pressure was applied, Sand Man would crush him alive. He needed to fight back. "Sir!" A British voice crackled over his communications. "Jarvis, give it to me straight."

"You're being pummeled, you need to escape! You can't take them all on by yourself-!"

"Watch me."

"I'm coming to assist you-!"

"I got this. Stay where you are, Jarvis!" Ordered Iron Man.

Iron Man then fished through the sand to reach his belt. He pulled on his hip, and manually triggered the flares. This quickly super-heated Sand Man's body, and fused it together. With the power of hydraulic strength, Iron Man flexed his arms, and smashed the glassed Sand Man to pieces.

"Alright then," Said Iron Man, as he quickly switched to combat mode, "Who's next?"

The rest of the Sinister Six all formed up, ready to pound Iron Man into submission.

Minutes Later...

The five villains all ganged up on Iron Man.

Despite his best efforts, Iron Man couldn't hold them off for very long.

His ARC Reactor's power was dwindling, and doing so quite quickly. Dents, nicks, and scrapes littered the Armored Avenger's armor. Vulture would blast him if he tried to get airborne, Shocker made him lose his balance every time he stood up, Electro simply dropped Iron Man any chance he got.

Rhino, ready to finish off Iron Man once and for all, wrapped his arms around the hero, lifted him up, and began to hug as tightly as he could. Everyone could hear a cracking sound over the crumpling of Iron Man's armor.

Iron Man cried out in pain, his ribs were being crushed. He had only one chance to escape.

"Deploy Flares!" He called.

Suddenly, the armor plating on his hip popped outward, revealing a rotary flare launcher. The Flares all fired in rapid succession, effectively blinding Rhino. Rhino dropped Iron Man and covered his eyes and he stumbled around.

Iron Man quickly recovered, and then attacked Electro.

Electro began to charge up another attack. Iron Man quickly installed a radio antenna on his back. Electro fired his biggest electrical onslaught yet, right at Iron Man. The electricity suddenly dispersed around the Armored Avenger.

"Wha-?! How?! You're entire body is covered in metal!" Shouted Electro.

"Yeah! But the antenna I just set up is like a lightning rod! It's generating a disruption field around my armor, and negating it!" Taunted Iron Man.

Iron Man then pulled out a U-Magnet, and fired a Repulsor Ray at Electro. This effectively knocked the villain out cold.

This left Rhino, Shocker, Vulture, and Scorpion left. They all squinted at him, giving him death glares. Shocker sent another blast at Iron Man. Unfortunately for the hero, he couldn't dodge in time. Iron Man was once again sent crashing into a car.

Scorpion leapt upon Iron Man, his stinger tail ready to pierce Iron Man's armor. Scorpion thrust his tail into a stab. Iron Man caught the stinger with both hands, the point centimeters from his face.

Iron Man activated his Magnetic Repeller. This sent Scorpion flying back. Iron Man launched himself at Scorpion. The villain was too slow to escape. Iron Man wrestled with his stinger tail, and eventually broke it off of Scorpion's suit completely. Iron Man then used the broken tail as an improvised club, and slugged the disabled villain unconscious.

The hero stumbled, exhausted and low on power.

What set him apart from other heroes was that he didn't have a Quirk. Coincidentally, only one of the Sinister Six had and actual Quirk. The rest all got their powers through technology. And when Heroes and Villains didn't have Quirks, they used Super-Suits to even the odds.

One would wonder, what would happen if Quirkless Heroes clashed with Quirky Villains?

"Gettin' tired, old man?" Taunted Shocker.

"I'm just getting warmed up!" returned Iron Man.

Iron Man activated his Anchor Boots, and rooted himself to the ground. Shocker unleashed his most devastating attack upon the hero. Although his Anchor Boots almost failed, Iron Man managed to stand firmly through the attack. When Shocker finally let up, Iron Man struck. The Armored Avenger deactivated his Anchor Boots, and launched himself at Shocker. With a powerful knee, he hit Shocker in the solar plexus, knocking him out cold as he flew onto the ground.

Vulture growled angrily, and quickly disappeared from sight.

Rhino rushed Iron Man. This time, the giant villain punched Iron Man. Iron Man crashed onto the ground. Rhino began to mercilessly beat Iron Man with his fists, punching as hard as he could for as long as he could.

This quickly tired the Rhino out.

Iron Man couldn't take much more. The armor integrity had just dropped to 5%, if Rhino recovered, there'd be no chance. Iron Man struggled to get on his feet. Rhino was slowly but surely getting back up as well.

There was only one weak point that Iron Man could see: Rhino's face.

Thinking quickly, Iron Man re-routed power from his suit into its hydraulics. Rhino got to his feet, ready to turn Iron Man into a metal cube. Rhino slowly began to jog towards his adversary. The jog turned into running, and the running became sprinting.

Iron Man took his chances, and swung his fist.

His desperate gamble was successful, and he smashed Rhino right on the nose. Rhino's hands covered his face, the big oaf stumbled back and hit the ground hard. Iron Man fell back, and sat down. He panted, exhausted.

He needed a better suit. This one was too heavy, and took too much power from the ARC Reactor and the pilot himself to merely support the weight. It was too bulky and awkward, and sometimes became hard to move in. It was also too manual, and forced him to take time to perform one of the armor's functions.

It was then the Armored Avenger realized Vulture was nowhere to be seen.

Iron Man got to his feet, and took a few steps. He analyzed everything he could see, Vulture was not among them. The rest of the Sinister Six was all unconscious, hopefully the police would show up soon to arrest them.

Suddenly, Iron Man was tackled from behind. He grunted as he hit the pavement. It was none other than Vulture, angry and dangerous. Vulture's mechanical talons pinned Iron Man to the ground. "It was supposed to be an easy score!" Screeched Vulture, "We were gonna just take the money, and go someplace nice! We wouldn't even be bothering you anymore! Hell, we probably wouldn't even need to come back to America! But no~! You just had to pick a fight with us! You just had to ruin everything! It's all your fault! I just wanna chill out, and relax on a beach somewhere exotic! But you just have to go and blow it all up!"

The talons' griped tighter, and began to dig into Iron Man's shoulders.

Iron Man had to think of something, he really couldn't do much with such little power. Suddenly, Vulture's talons let go of Iron Man's shoulders. But just as abruptly, the talons then pinned Iron Man's head and back. "I hate you! Why won't you just die already!" Vulture spat as the talon pinning Iron Man's head began to crush the helmet. The HUD shorted out, leaving the pilot blind. The helmet was crushed, and no longer served a purpose other than dead weight.

Iron Man then rolled over, forcing Vulture off his back and onto the ground. Iron Man stood up, and began to remove his helmet. "You didn't have to squeeze so damn hard!" Complained the pilot, "Now I can't see with this thing on!" The pilot removed his helmet, and revealed his face in public for the very first time.

Vulture gasped as he mumbled, "Howard Stark?!"

The CEO of Stark Industries, Howard Stark, was Iron Man all along?

"Now," Said Howard, "You're gonna get it."

The revelation was too much for Vulture. Howard crossed his arms over his chest as it began to light up. Vulture realized what Stark was about to do, and desperately tried to claw his escape to safety.

"Ultimate move-UNIBEAM!" Shouted Howard Stark.

Howard's arms moved away from his chest, and a massive repulsor blast shot from the ARC Reactor on his chestplate.

Vulture was simply too late to flee from the attack.

Stark Mansion

Howard sat in bed, wrapped in bandages.

Jarvis entered the room, carrying a tray of food for Howard's lunch.

(Jarvis/Avengers Academy)

Howard broke the tension, "I need to build a better suit. I'll be a better Iron Man by doing that."

Jarvis simply said, "You'd also make a better father, if you were to interact with Young Anthony more often. He doesn't have another parent, and I can't raise your child for you."

Howard fell silent. Jarvis was simply too correct. When he looked back, he neglected Tony a lot. He missed his son's birthdays, was too busy to play a game of Catch. The boy didn't have many friends, all he had was one.

Perhaps Jarvis was right. But Howard's work was simply too important.

"Master Howard," Said Jarvis, "I understand your desire to continue being Iron Man. But I simply can't let you continue to destroy yourself. You're becoming too old, and soon, a villain might finally prevail against you in battle."

Howard paused before finally saying, "You're right."

And so, as soon as Howard could walk again, he tasked himself with repairing the suit. But unlike before, instead of putting it in a nearby kiosk, to await deployment, he simply sealed it away in the basement. He then took all of the Iron Man Project, all the prototypes, all the spares, and the equipment, and left it in the basement. He walked up the steps, his hand rested on the light switch.

He turned back, taking one last look at Iron Man, in his entirety. So much history, triumph, and struggle. It was too hard to believe he was finally putting it all where it belonged: In the past, never to be seen again.

Howard turned back to the door, flipped the light switch, and walked out of the basement, closing the door on the way out.

And so was the end to the Armored Avenger, Iron Man.

A/N: Finally! I wanted to write this, since it'll help to give the main story more lore.

Don't worry, Howard Stark won't stay retired forever.

I've been planning this since long before I even started writing this story. Howard Stark will play a role in future chapters, as will the other Avengers, which I will reveal later. I hope that I can write the rest of the story ASAP. But in other news, Illegal Justice chapter 3 is coming soon, as is the Tales of Fantasy chapter 3. So be on the lookout for those!

I'm running out of things to say.

If you have any requests, suggestions, or questions, tell me!

Leave a review, they're much appreciated and show that you care!