The Walking Iron Man
Chapter 1
A Possible Cure
Author's note: There will be some flashback and flash forwards, but too far. Hope it doesn't get too confusing. This chapter is focused on the Marvel characters, but Rick and his group will be in the next chapter.
In the beginning of the plague, Pepper and Tony's penthouse, New York City...
Pepper Potts awoke to a burning sensation.
"Oh! God it's so hot!" Pepper complained.
But when she looked at her hands and body, she could see it flaring up like it did after she fell in the fire. Then it stopped and she suddenly felt better.
"Huh, wonder what that was about?" She questioned, but remembered that she still has extremis, which saved her life that time, but now she wondered why it was doing it now. Then again, there seems to be an epidemic of the flu since half the employees of Stark Industries called in sick.
As Pepper began to recall, she hasn't gotten sick since Aldrich Killian of AIM gave her extremis. If that is the case, she considers herself lucky. The employees however, are another story.
She calls out to her secretary, "Jan!"
"Yes Miss Potts?"
"Could you call a cleaning service for me? One that does deep cleaning and sterilization."
"Is this because of the flu going around?"
"It is. I just want to make sure it doesn't spread around anymore."
"Sure thing. Though speaking of the flu, I think I may be coming down with it too."
"Well you can go home if you're not feeling well."
"No that's OK, I can tough it out for today."
"You're a real trooper Jan! Though we are severely short handed, we're getting behind."
"We could call the temp agencies, or we could scout the colleges for willing interns."
"Good idea! But make sure they know they must be able to jump in right away! As for the interns...let's make it so whoever does the best job gets to stay on as an employee."
"I'm on it." Jan said, and then she coughed.
But little did they know what was to follow the next day. Jan had died and turned as did most of the sick employees.
"Well that takes care of one problem, now I just have Tony to deal with." Pepper thought.
Two weeks later at Tony's Safe House, Miami Florida...
Details were still fuzzy of how he got turned in the first place, or even what he was doing before it happened. Yet he still had his long term memories, from his playboy lifestyle as a young man, his time in the cave with Yinsen, to becoming Iron Man and then joining the Avengers. Another memory he still had was Pepper Potts, his most loyal employee and current girlfriend.
Though they have had their ups and downs and has been told that couples who survive the worst times can get through anything. Tony however doubted that because they are currently going through a real rough patch that would only seem to end in a break up. But how do you break up with someone who is also your employee and runs your company? They would still see each other almost everyday and it could get awkward if they both started dating other people.
Now none of that seems to matter since Tony has a new problem, which is trying to figure out how he got turned and why he still has his mind. The others that he's managed to capture and do brain scans of showed that they have no brain activity except on the stem of their spines.
The phone rings and he sees that it's Pepper calling him again. He panics at the thought of her seeing him like this.
He calms down as he tries to take a deep breath, only he can't because he's dead. He hasn't even realized that he's not breathing anymore. He panics again. His heart doesn't beat either.
"Come on Tony, get it together!" he tells himself as he tries to answer, finally he picks up.
"Pepper, hi!" Tony answers.
"Tony! You finally decide to answer, Where are you!?" Pepper asked frantically.
"I'm at the safe house. Everything's fine, I'm just working on finding a cure for this epidemic, but I warn you that I may be here for a while."
"It's been two weeks! How much longer is it going to be?"
"I need more time!" Tony blurted.
"Fine! But please remember to get some sleep, oh and definitely don't forget to eat! Also be sure to check in and let me know you're still alive, OK?"
"OK, will do." Tony said as some of her advice hit him in a different way.
"Are you by yourself?" Pepper asked.
"Yes I am." Tony answered.
"You shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. Why don't you call Reed Richards, he's working on the same thing in finding a cure." Pepper suggested, and then hung up.
Tony put his hands on his head as he had to figure out a way to keep her at bay. She was right about him needing to eat, but his food has changed to a different kind. He had discovered that to keep his mind, he had to eat the living, and that was not an easy thing to do.
At first he thought of trying out animals, but he was in Miami, so it's not like there were any farms nearby. Sure there's alligators, but he would have to go to the everglades, and that's too far from his place. There were dogs and cats, but that thought of eating someone's pet horrified him, then again...so does the thought of eating a person while they're alive. But he had to do something fast before he eats an innocent person, because once he goes hungry, he can go after anyone. He had already killed his housekeeper and the gardener.
A few screams outside drew his attention from his thoughts. He looked down from his balcony and could see people running away from the living dead. He wanted to grab his arm pieces from his Iron Man suit, but he refrained as he wanted to remain hidden away. Another noise caught his attention, someone or something was breaking in.
He could hear muffled voices, "Whoa! This place looks so much better than I expected! Let's see what we can find."
"Hey! There's a plasma TV!"
"We don't have time to get that down, see if there's jewelery or cash."
"Burglers." He thought as he put on his Iron Man suit.
Things were starting to get worse in Miami with the living dead running rampant among those still alive. Some were obviously taking advantage of the chaos by looting the stores and breaking into homes.
Tony orders FRIDAY to have his doors locked so these guys couldn't escape.
"There's nothing here, let's go." said the first burglar.
The second one tried to open the door.
"Well come on!"
"I can't! The door won't open!"
"That's because I locked you guys in." Tony said.
They both whip around and see Tony standing there.
"Holy shit! It's Iron Man!"
"Hey man! We're sorry about robbing this place, but this place looked abandoned."
"That's the idea, so no one can find me." Tony said about his place, which on the outside looks like an old loft with boarded up windows. The places on the Miami strip would have been too obvious for finding him.
"We did." the robber said.
"Yes you did, but you weren't looking for me, you wanted to steal my TV." Tony said to the guy who is carrying his plasma screen.
"Here, I'll put it back." the guy said as he sets the screen down.
"Oh don't worry about it, besides..." Tony says and then lifts his Iron Man mask up and continues, "I need to eat."
"What the...?" the robber said at the horrific site of Tony's pale face and glazed red eyes.
"You can't be one of those things! You're still talking!" the robber screamed.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out, but unfortunately, I have to eat to keep my mind, and fortunately you guys happened to break in."
The two guys make a run for another way out, but Tony stuns them and then drags them to his lab. He puts one of the men in a small locked room, and the other one he eats. The guy wakes up and screams while Tony apologizes over and over again, "I'm sorry! I hate doing this, but I have to! And you guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time!"
After he finished, Tony thought that Pepper may be right. He should ask for help. So he gives Reed Richards a call.
Meanwhile in Latveria...
Victor von Doom has also been hard at work in trying to figure out what ailment was causing his people to get very feverish and dying, only to come back from the dead. So far he knew that if anyone gets bitten or scratched by them, they end up turning into one.
He was sure that his frenemy Reed Richards was also hard at work, because of the reports from Reeds' own daughter Valeria. Ever since he had helped deliver Valeria safely to keep Susan alive, he was made her godfather, but Valeria had become very attached to him and became his informant.
He had received a call from her telling him about the conversation she overheard between her father and Iron Man.
At the Baxter Building, the headquarters of the Fantastic 4, New York City...
Valeria was busy at work, checking and cleaning the weapons that she had finally been permitted to use. At first, Reed didn't want his daughter to handle any, but after a close call while coming back to the building, he changed his mind, but insisted that she be properly trained in using them.
So after finishing up, she went to put them away and saw that her father was talking to Tony Stark over a video com.
"Wait? He's alive?" she asked herself.
Last she had heard, he was sent on a mission, which she doesn't know what it was because of classification. But she did hear that it went wrong and he may have gotten killed.
"Tony! You're alive! But I thought you got bitten?" Reed exclaimed.
"I did, but there's something you need to know." Tony said.
"Where are you?" Reed questioned.
"I'm at the safe House in Miami, but don't tell SHIELD or the Avengers! So far only you, Bruce, and Pepper know of this place." Tony answered.
"How did you survive?" Reed asked.
"Something is keeping me alive." Tony said.
"You mean you have found a cure?" Reed asked.
"He's alive? Oh that's great!" Valeria exclaimed.
Reed turns to Valeria and scolds, "Valeria, go to your room! This is a private call!"
"I'm going, I'm going! Sheesh!" Valeria talked back.
Valeria and her father don't always get along. She felt like Victor was more of a father to her since he was there when she needed one. She even uses his last name as her own, despite the objections of her mother.
She walks out right before Tony explains that he's not really alive. Valeria is left to believe he has a cure, and she just has to tell Victor so that he could save his people.
She runs up to her room and calls him up on her smart phone.
"Hello Valeria." Victor answers.
"Hi Vic!" she replies.
'How are you doing?" Victor asked.
"We're still alive if that's what you mean, but things are getting even worse outside. There seems to be more and more walking dead everyday!" Valeria answered.
"Same here. I'm still no closer to finding a way to treat this disease." Victor said.
"Well I have some good news. I overheard my dad talking to Tony Stark, and I think Tony may have found a cure."
"Wait...? Tony Stark? I heard he had perished." victor said surprised.
"I saw him on the screen with my own eyes, a few bruises, but there he was." Valeria said.
"That is good news. Thank you Valeria. I'll see if I can get this cure." Victor said.
"Then you can help your people! I'm sure he'll understand. So does this mean you'll be coming down here?" Valeria asked excitedly.
"Yes, but did you find out where he is?" Victor asked.
"He said a safe house in Miami, but he mentioned that Bruce Banner, my dad, and Pepper Potts knows of it." Valeria told him.
"Thank you sweetie!" Victor said, and then hung up. He now had formulated the plan to capture Pepper to use as a bargaining chip to get that cure. He's not going to hurt her, in fact...he admires her for the way she runs Stark Industries after so much hard work she put in to get there.
Back at his castle, Victor summons his trusty assistant Boris.
"You called?" Boris said.
"I am heading to New York City and then to Miami. Have my plane ready to go." Victor ordered.
"As you wish, anything else?" Boris asked.
"I may be gone awhile, so have my Doombot running things in my place. I don't want this country to fall In the wrong hands. But...in case I die...I want the crown to go to Valeria Richards. I've been training her for it." Victor said.
"She will be an excellent Queen. The Doombot is ready to go. But what do we do about the survivors? We just lost 100 more yesterday." Boris said.
Victor instructed, "Go to the weapons vault and issue the men...and the women who are willing to shoot, these weapons and tell them to only shoot if absolutely necessary, and make sure it's in the head! That is the only way to take them down. If it gets worse, then go ahead and let them stay in here. Tell my people that I am seeking out the cure."
"You should tell them yourself before you leave, they'll love you more for it." Boris suggested.
"You're right, I'm just...afraid that there may be no cure, then what?" Victor said.
"Then don't come back until you find one. But I know you can do it." Boris said.
"You always believe in me, I hope I do. Thank you Boris, I don't know what I'd do without you." Victor said.
Back to the Baxter Building...
Susan returns from a run she made to Avengers Tower. Her invisibility powers gave her an advantage to be able to walk amongst the dead, though they can still smell her, but she dodges them as they try to feel for her.
Ben Grimm, also known as Thing, also had an advantage since his body is made of rock, which makes him completely invisible to them. Plus he can easily clobber their heads.
Johnny Storm, the Human Torch and Susan's brother, had the advantage of burning them. But he ended up learning that it takes more than fire to kill the walkers after ending up with them walking around burnt to a crisp. But they do back up when he shoots out flames like a torch.
"What is it?" she asked her husband.
"Tony is alive. He's also working on a cure, and he needs my help." Reed answered.
"When are you leaving?" Susan asked.
"Now." Reed answered.
"Now?" Susan questioned.
"Yes." Reed answered.
"I'll go with you." Susan said.
"No!" Reed exclaimed.
"What? Why not?" Susan asked objectively.
"He doesn't want anyone else but me to be there." Reed answered.
"Did he say why?" Susan asked.
"I'll explain later. Just keep the kids safe and do what you can here." Reed said as he packs up his equipment.
Susan just lets him go. There was no point in arguing with him.