Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 2

Chapter 8: Lethal Legion

Pepper stormed her way up to Rhodes as he walked in through the front door of the lobby. Her freckled cheeks were even more splotchy red than usual due to the tears streaming down her face. Happy and Stane, who were standing in front of the lobby desk, didn't follow, but kept their sullen eyes on her. The SHIELD Quinjet that dropped off Rhodes flew back up into the sky.

Rhodes did not have time to speak before Pepper began futilely stamping both of her fists repeatedly against his chest. Rendered unable to move not by physicality but by emotion, Rhodes just stood there and allowed Pepper to continue. After a couple of minutes, she wore herself out and simply slumped her face against his chest, bawling into his shirt.

Sighing and reaching out with both arms, Rhodes placed his hands on the back of her shoulders, holding her close. She dug both sets of fingernails into his shirt, scrunching up the parts of fabric that she had seized. Happy looked up over Rhodes' head to see the pink energy storm in the distance. Stane had his hands in his pockets and was staring at the ground, with his eyes closed.

After another moment, Stane's eyes burst open.

"I know what to do!"

Stane then grabbed at Happy's arm before running towards the door. Happy followed him with a confused look on his face.

"Where are you going?!"

"We can help her! We can help her!"

Stane ran through the front door, with Happy not far behind. Pepper stopped sobbing and raised an eyebrow. Before Rhodes could go after Stane, Janice's voice was heard.

"Colonel Rhodes . . . ."

Rhodes looked upwards.

"I believe I may be able to supply a way to assist Miss Stark."


Anya took another step forward, slamming her foot down on the gravel beneath it. The shockwave from the pressure she exerted with her step startled Tasha, who was still struggling to stay on one knee. She pawed at the ground with both hands, trying to stop herself from falling on to her side. Her vision was muddled and her breathing was laboured, and she felt like she could pass out at any given moment.

Arthur started to giggle with unbridled glee at seeing Tasha stumbling about. Anya continued to spin her rotating hand cannons, but did not take aim. Chen sneered as he regarded the compromised foe before him. He then pulled a small metallic orb from a pouch on his hazmat suit and tossed it into the air. It floated a few metres away from Tasha, who looked up at it with uncertainty.

A few rays of light shined through cracks in the orb before they formed a fully sized hologram of Sunset. She had her hands behind her back, and unabashedly grinned upon seeing the state that Tasha was in. Wickedly laughing under her breath for several moments, Sunset then wiped her mouth with one of her gloved hands.

Opening up her face plate, Tasha glared at her new archenemy.

"Sunset Bain."

Sunset slowed clapped her hands together.

"Come now, Stark. Even you have to admit . . . . this is spectacular, isn't it?"

Tasha furrowed her brow, but otherwise didn't respond. Sunset laughed again, this time at a lower volume.

"Not feeling so invincible now, are we?"

"Go to hell."

"I'm disappointed. Where's the famous Stark wit? Finally realized that it can't save you?"

Tasha gritted her teeth against each other, knowing that she honestly couldn't answer the question.

"You really should have seen this one coming," continued Sunset. "For all your alleged brilliance, you were completely unprepared for the retaliation that was coming your way. It was inevitably going to happen sooner or later. After all . . . . you've made many enemies, Tasha Stark."

Tasha gulped and looked from each villain to the next in turn as her breathing quickened. Sunset scoffed at her before starting to turn away.

"Tear her apart."

The hologram dissipated, and the orb flew back into Chen's hand. With one hand clutching her chest plate and the other pressed against the ground, Tasha stared down her three opponents. Anya's rotating hand cannons started spinning faster. Chen's palms glowed with green, irradiated energy. Arthur's entire body began surging with pink and white electricity.

Tasha then closed her face plate.

Arthur, Anya and Chen all attacked simultaneously.

Arthur fired a laser blast from his left hand.

Anya unleashed the full power of her rotating laser cannons.

Chen emitted streams of focused radiation from both palms.

All of the attacks struck the ground where Tasha was, creating a large cloud of dust. Anya immediately started scanning the cloud with her internal heads-up display, but didn't detect any movement. Just as the scan turned up negative, she heard the sound of two cluster bombs being launched.

All three villains looked up to see Tasha flying high above them, with her cluster bombs dropping directly downward.

"Ayugh!"

The bombs blew away Chen, who crumpled to the ground on his side. Arthur was split apart by the sheer force of the explosions, turning into his mist form by necessity. Anya's armour was slightly scathed, and she was knocked back. She quickly recovered and began firing both of her rotating hand cannons at Tasha, who started flying in a circular pattern to dodge them.

"Shoulder rockets!"

Twin sets of miniature rocket launchers equipped themselves to Tasha's shoulders, and she unleashed the full payload of both salvos. Having reformed himself, Arthur boosted into the neon lights of a nearby building to dodge the attack. Anya tried to deflect the missiles with her arms, but the large amount of them blasted her backwards and into a parked truck, splitting it in half.

Tasha boosted down to the ground, seeing that Chen had recovered from the cluster bomb attack. She fired two repulsor shots at him, but he absorbed them with his radiation shield. He counterattacked with a radiation blast, which Tasha leaped over before landing a rocket kick on his chest.

The force of the kick caused parts of his suit to nearly buckle. Spinning around with the attack, Chen slashed at Tasha with a charged hand chop, gashing at part of her chest plate. He tried to grab her face with her other hand, but Tasha ducked under his attempted grapple before landing an uppercut that was powered up with her musculature servos.

"Urgh!"

Staggering backwards, Chen again emitted a stream of radiation from his right hand. Tasha braced herself, and looked at the internal radiation shield metre on her heads-up display, which read that it had absorbed the attack. Smirking to herself, Tasha then jumped over Chen and reached for the crimson canister on his back, with the green radiation valves.

"Let's take you out of . . . ."

Tasha punched at the valves, causing a loud clanging noise. She groaned in pain, having miscalculated how hard she was supposed to punch. Laughing, Chen reached up with both hands, grabbing her and throwing her off.

"My canister has been reinforced since last time! You won't be able to . . . ."

Tasha fired a quick unibeam blast, knocking Chen to the ground.

"Shut up!"

She barely had time to register her minor victory as Arthur charged at her from behind. She boosted into the air as he fired a downwards laser blast, hitting the spot where she was only a few milliseconds earlier. Pushing herself off of the truck that her armour had decimated, Anya's heads-up display targeted Tasha as she was being chased by Arthur. Locking on, Anya then fired a set of homing missiles from her right hand.

"Target locked, ma'am!"

"Launch flares!"

Four flares jettisoned themselves out of her shoulders, creating a blinding vortex of light. Most of the missiles were diverted from their path, harmlessly smashing into empty roads or sides of buildings. The flares also caused Arthur to shriek in pain.

"RYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAARRRRRRUGH!"

Doubling back, Tasha blasted through Arthur, who was then hit by the last two missiles. The physical collision did nothing, but the missiles then exploded upon hitting each other, blasting Arthur into his mist form.

Anya growled under her breath as Tasha headed straight for her.


The bloodthirsty rage in Sunset's eyes continued to grow as she watched the battle through DeWitt's monitors. Her arms were folded over her chest, and she was relentlessly clicking the fingernails on her right hand against her left forearm. DeWitt gulped when he looked up at her, not daring to speak.

"This shouldn't be this hard," said Sunset, forcefully spitting her words through her grated teeth.

She then instantaneously broke into a furious roar.

"DYNAMO! KILL HER ALREADY!"

Brandt shied away from Sunset, feeling as if the enraged woman could lash out and personally massacre everyone there in the shuttle at a moment's notice.


Anya aimed both of her cannons forward, but they were blasted away by Tasha's repulsor shots. Startled for a moment, Anya was then on the receiving end of a powered haymaker punch from Tasha, which struck her hard enough to seriously stagger her. Anya fell back onto one knee, her internal techno-organic form jostled by the force of Tasha's attack.

Chen, who was standing nearby, charged both of his palms with radiation and fired two blasts at the ground, launching himself upwards. Tasha looked to the side in surprise at seeing his new ability, and she was too shocked to react as he tackled her out of the air. Jabbing her in the throat, he then manoeuvred himself so as to slam her body face first into the pavement.

"AGH!"

Jamming his left fist against her back, Chen let the radiation from his palm seep into Tasha's armour. Unable to take the gruelling pain, she fired a unibeam blast, which blew both herself and Chen into the air. As Chen stumbled onto his back, he fired off a radiation beam, which struck Tasha in the side.

Cringing, she was unable to dodge two pinpoint laser shots from Arthur, which knocked her out of the air and back onto her knees. Anya, stepping forward, equipped her power beam cannon module for her left hand, and fired a single concussive shot, which hit Tasha square in the body. She was sent flailing through the air before she crashed against the ground. She opened up her face plate to spit out blood as unspeakable agony reverberated through all of her bones.

"Ma'am, your armour integrity is at critical levels . . . . might I suggest that you retrea . . . ."

For the first time ever, Tasha muted Janice. Laying on her side, she just breathed in and out a few times, letting herself fester in her own thoughts. She then pushed herself to her knees and stared at the ground in front of her. She could feel the three supervillains slowly approaching her from behind, but did not turn to face them.


Rhodes and Pepper walked towards armour containers at the side of the penthouse apartment. They looked at each other in confusion.

"Alright, Janice," said Rhodes. "What do you got?"

"I was unsure if my course of action would be appropriate, Colonel Rhodes, but I feel now that I have no choice but to act."

"What does that mean?" asked Pepper.

"I was programmed to assist Miss Stark in any and all ways possible. Her safety is my utmost priority. However, her recent behaviour and commands have led me to . . . . an impasse, so to speak. I now am charged with protecting Miss Stark from herself by performing an action that she may not approve of."

"If it keeps her safe," said Rhodes, "then you're doing the right thing."

"Very well, Colonel Rhodes. I had considered something along these lines before, but after the tumultuous conversation you and Miss Stark shared last night, I decided that it would be most pertinent of me to finally put my idea into practice."

Both Rhodes and Pepper stood back in shock as one of the armour containers opened, revealing something they were certainly not expecting. It was an armour designed specifically for a male, with broader shoulders and a flat chest plate in comparison to the typical Iron Maiden models. It had a gun-metal grey colour scheme, a square arc reactor, and a twin-barrel cannon affixed to the left shoulder.

Pepper dropped her jaw upon seeing the armour.

"Is . . . . is that . . . ."

"I had been searching for suitable nomenclature for the armour, but decided upon a particular phrase you used whilst on the SHIELD helicarrier," explained Janice. "I believe you shall find it most agreeable. I present: the Mark One War Machine armour."

Rhodes took a step forward, looking at the armour in awe.

"I . . . . I don't know what to say."

"You are not required to say anything. Miss Stark needs your help, Colonel Rhodes, and this is the best way to give her that."

Rhodes steeled himself as he considered Janice's words. He then nodded and approached the armour container.


Anya malevolently chuckled as she took another step towards Tasha, who was still on her knees, facing away.

"You were barely able to defeat any of us when we fought you alone," remarked Anya. "What hope have you to survive against all of us?"

Tasha's response was beleaguered by her heavy breathing.

"Maybe none, Anastasia. Maybe . . . . there's no way I survive this one. Doesn't matter . . . . because either way . . . . I'd never back down from the likes of you."

Tasha closed her face plate again, and charged both of her repulsor palms with energy.

"I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!"

Turning around, Tasha started to relentlessly fire repulsor shots at all of the villains, who were stunned by the ferocity of her attack. Activating her booster jets and agility servos, she managed to keep up the offensive pressure while avoiding both radiation blasts and laser shots. Charging forward, she landed on double kick on Chen's chest, knocking him away.

Arthur tried to fire a large laser burst at Tasha, but she dodged by performing a backflip. The burst struck Anya's side, who groaned at the friendly fire. Tasha then quickly turned and fired two repulsor blasts at Arthur, causing him to stumble. Her heads-up display temporarily scrambled by Arthur's laser, Anya was unprepared for Tasha's physical assault, which consisted of a dozen punches to the body powered by her suit's musculature servos.

"Get . . . . away!"

Anya blindly lashed out with her arm, bashing her hand against Tasha's chin, who yelped upon feeling the force of the blow. Boosting backwards to regain control of her flight, she saw that Arthur was again chasing after her. This time, she flew directly towards him, meeting him head on. Just as they were about to collide, Tasha fired a quick shot at a fire hydrant that was beneath them.

The hydrant exploded, causing it to emit a large jet of water into the air at high velocity. Tasha then flew under Arthur, allowing him to crash right into the water stream. His body was refracted as he phased through the water, and when he emerged through the other side, he was disoriented and screaming.

Picking himself off the floor again, Chen growled upon seeing that Tasha was still not beaten. He charged his palms with radiation and was about to attack her from a distance when he heard the screech of a turning car.

"Huh?"

Chen turned his head just in time to see Happy's car barrelling towards him. He didn't have time to move, and was struck by the front end, sending him careening backwards. He crashed into a bus stop shelter, and was finally knocked unconscious. Stepping out of the driver's seat, Happy aimed his pistol at the fallen villain.

As Tasha was again punched away by Anya, she then turned to see Stane clambering out of Happy's car.

"The hell are you doing?! Get outta here!"

"Not without this!" yelled Stane.

He rushed around the car, revealing that he was holding the Proton Cannon. Glancing from Arthur, who was recovering from being refracted, and Anya, who was arming her rotating hand cannons, Tasha made her choice.

She fired a wrist rocket at Anya's chest, knocking her off balance. She then flew straight for Stane, who tossed the Proton Cannon into the air. Grabbing it with both hands, she set the power level to maximum and aimed it at Arthur, who was about to regain full control of his form.

"I'm sorry, Arthur."

Arthur looked at Tasha, seemingly incognisant of what was happening. She then fired the Proton Cannon, which struck Arthur square in the chest.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYGH!"

Frozen in place by the force of the beam, Arthur shrieked as loud as he could. Slowly unfurling his limbs, Arthur sustained his yell as the pink energy within his body turned all white. His agony was finally ended when he violently exploded, dissipating into hundreds of tiny flickers that quickly faded into nothingness.

Falling to the ground with exhaustion, Tasha was woefully unprepared for Anya's counterattack. The villain threw a downward punch that stomped Tasha against the ground, before she stepped on and crushed the Proton Cannon.

"No!"

Happy fired five shots from his pistol, but they had no effect on Anya, who backhanded him. Happy was then knocked into Stane, and the two fell to the floor in a heap. Tasha pleadingly reached out her hand, but she knew that she could do nothing to help her friends.

"I've had enough!" yelled Anya.

Reaching down, Anya grabbed Tasha by the legs. Holding her up, Anya then savagely smashed Tasha against the ground four times before throwing her back to the floor. The bestial force of Anya's attacks shattered most of the armour, with many of the pieces breaking off of Tasha's body. Moaning as her entire body went numb, she was completely incapable of struggling any longer.

Anya then grasped Tasha's helmet and tore it off of her face. Looking down at her enemy, who was now stripped of her armour, Anya then held her fist back for the finishing blow.

"Wait!"

Anya halted upon hearing Sunset's voice.

"What?"

"I have a better idea," said Sunset. "Bring her to me."

Anya clenched her fist even tighter for several seconds before finally relenting. She then reached down and picked Tasha off the ground as the AIM shuttle hovered nearby. Holding Tasha close to her chest, Anya transformed into her rectangular transportation module, which placed the unconscious Tasha safely inside her.

A squad of Risk Control troopers picked up both Happy and Stane, and brought them onto the shuttle. The shuttle then flew over to Anya's still form, latching her to the bottom of the craft. The AIM shuttle, with Anya and by extension Tasha in tow, then flew off into the sky, just out of reach of multiple SHIELD Quinjets that had arrived on the scene.