Iron Man charged his repulsors as his four armored opponents closed in on him.
"The Extremis right?" Iron Man asked. "So what, here to exterminate the impurity that is mankind, enslave humans, destroy the planet in order to create some space short cut? Oh no wait! You're here to spread some sort of infection and turn us all into Extremis aliens just like you!"
"Return the Mk VII human!" one of the Extremis scouts ordered. "It belongs to the Extremis!"
"Seeing as how you're going to use it to hurt people," Iron Man reasoned, "I'm gonna have to say no."
The Extremis scouts open fired their wrist lasers, but Iron Man launched into the sky with his boot jets. The scouts soared into the sky after him, firing as they flew. Iron Man pulled a tight barrel roll followed by a loop, now flying straight for the scouts. His repulsors charged and fired, knocking two of the scouts to the ground.
The last two scouts looped back and flew away with Iron Man hot on their trail. The targeting systems locked on, and Iron Man fired, taking another one down. Just for the heck off it, Iron Man grabbed the body of the downed scout, and hurled it at the last scout. The two armors collided and exploded, leaving the Iron avenger victorious.
"Oh yeah!" Iron Man shouted. "Take that alien scum! Nobody can beat Iron Man!"
"And you want me to capture this…Iron Man?" Whiplash asked.
"Correct," the captain conformed. "You are to bring him to us, armor more or less intact. The payment as you know is quite high."
"I know the payment!" Whiplash barked. "So where do I start?"
"His current position is unknown, but we know he likes to play hero, and we know where his "friends" can be commonly found," the captain reported. "Manhattan West Academy. A place of learning for younger humans."
"This should be interesting," Whiplash said. "Send down a team of soldiers, not scouts. Draw him away from the school. I've got a plan."
"Can you believe it?" Pepper asked as they ate lunch. "They're calling Iron Man a menace! True he did destroy Times Square and he doesn't seem to operate under any chain of command and no one really knows who or what he is…"
"That doesn't mean he's a bad guy," Tony insisted. "Those people calling him a menace have no idea how hard it was to fight that thing without causing collateral damage."
"Right," Rhodey said. "And you know how hard it was how exactly?"
Tony wanted to smack himself for nearly blowing his secret. "I don't know it just…looked hard I guess."
"Uh-huh," Nick muttered, not impressed with Tony's lie. "What aren't you telling us Stark? What do you know about Iron Man?"
Tony found it hard not to be intimidated by the senior with the eye patch. It gave him the creeps.
"Nothing," Tony said with a straight face. "Other than he's a hero."
Nick looked out the window and almost casually said, "If he's such a hero, how come I don't see him out there helping with that fire in the city?"
"What?" Tony gasped, looking outside.
"Wow, that whole building's gonna come down," Pepper breathed.
"No it's not…" Tony muttered to himself. "I gotta go to the bathroom. The uh…school nachos go right through me and I think they put something in the cheese."
"Mild food poisoning no doubt," Nick suggested. "Always run your food through a chemical analysis before eating it Stark."
"Whatever!" Tony shouted as he ran to the bathroom. Tony opened his backpack and the helmet's eyes glowed blue. The armor assembled itself automatically around Tony in seconds, far faster than he could've done on his own.
"Welcome back sir," Jarvis greeted. "I trust there is something urgent requiring our attention?"
"You know it," Iron Man said as he dashed out of the school and took off into the sky. "Jarvis do we have any flame retardants onboard?"
"A minimal supply of oxygen depriving foam yes," Jarvis confirmed. "But if you're referring to extinguishing the fire I just picked up on the emergency frequency, you're foolish to think we can put it out."
"Jarvis, what did I say about reading my mind?" Iron Man asked as he hovered in front of the flames.
"Not reading your mind sir," Jarvis defended, "merely predicting your thoughts based on known knowledge of your thought patterns."
"Show off," Iron Man grumbled as he tried to figure out how to help.
He looked at his repulsors. It was a stretch but…
Iron Man aimed carefully, and fired his repulsors at a fine, wide spread frequency. The energy he gave off from his repulsors blew out the flames, but didn't structurally hurt the building. As he fired, he wasn't aware off the three Extremis soldiers flying toward him until their wrist lasers peppered his shields.
"Sir–"
"I see them!" Iron Man shouted, and took off, leaving what was left of the fire to the fire department.
Iron Man fired his repulsors at normal level, hitting a soldier in the chest. The soldiers struggled for a few minutes to remain in the air, then stabilized. Iron Man gritted his teeth now that he knew he was facing tougher opponents.
"Maybe I should be a little more hands on," Iron Man joked before flying straight at his pursuers. He punched one on the face and kicked another before dodging a laser blast from the third and countering with his repulsors.
One of the soldiers flew forward, tackling Iron Man onto the roof of another nearby building. Iron Man shrugged him off and kicked him over the side of the skyscraper, and started firing his repulsors at the other two.
They dodged expertly as they flew toward him, and Iron Man shot up into the sky to avoid being tackled again. Laser blast followed him as he flew away, some glancing off his shields, but most just missing and hitting skyscrapers instead. Iron Man turned and blasted his right repulsor, scoring a hit to a soldier's power core. The soldiers shields held briefly before giving out and letting the repulsor hit the power core, blowing the soldier to smithereens.
With one opponent left, Tony turned back around and flew off even faster, goading the last Extremis to follow.
"Sir, I recommend you stay below speeds of Mach 3. Extremis Mk V battle armor isn't designed to achieve higher speeds. However, if running away is your strategy, I suggest accelerating to the approximate speed of–"
"We're not running Jarvis," Iron Man assured. "Just waiting for an opening."
The Extremis started firing his wrist laser. "That would be my opening."
Iron Man slammed on the air brakes and diverted as much power to the shields as possible. The Extremis, who had been focused on firing, didn't stop flying fast enough, and crashed into Iron Man. The two armored figures fell from the sky, crashing into the ground and leaving a massive crater that was going to back up traffic for a week.
Iron Man stood up, but his opponent didn't.
"See you around suckers," Iron Man said before leaving back to school.
Whiplash stood outside the school's cafeteria. According to his armor's sensors, the human children were still consuming nutrients. And what was that? A mild food poisoning was found in some of the cups of nacho cheese.
Whiplash extended one of his energy whips from his right had and swung it, cutting through the wall like butter. Another swing, crossing with the first slash in a perfect X. With a powerful crack of the whip to the center of the X, the wall imploded, leaving a good sized whole for Whiplash to walk through.
The various humans screamed and ran for cover at the sight of the black and red armored figure. Whiplash smiled and cracked his whip, cutting a table in half.
"Where is Iron Man?" Whiplash demanded, and the energy faded from his whip, leaving a still very dangerous metal cable.
Whiplash cracked the whip forward, and it wrapped around the neck of Pepper Potts. She struggled in vain to get it off her neck, but Whiplash snapped hard, giving her a nasty cut on her collar bone. Rhodey ran forward to help her, but another depowered whip shot out of Whiplash's other hand wrapping around Rhodey. The whips lifted the two teens into the air as they continued to struggle in vain.
"I won't ask again," Whiplash warned as energy sparked at the base of the whips. "Where…is…Iron–"
Whiplash was cut off when two repulsor blasts hit his wrists, severing the whips and freeing Rhodey and Pepper.
"Iron Man!" Pepper cried at the sight of her knight in shining armor.
"Pepper we have to get out of here!" Rhodey shouted.
"But–"
"Move!"
Pepper grudgingly obeyed, and the two took off running. But she had decided too late. Whiplash fired off a length of cord, which wrapped around Pepper's ankles and caused her to trip.
Whiplash extended two new whips, now crackling with energy. Iron Man charged his repulsors.
"So you're Iron Man," Whiplash said, unimpressed. "I figured someone who could cause the Extremis so much trouble would be a little more…impressive."
"And I was hoping for an Extremis goon who would be a little less ugly," Iron Man shot back. "Seriously how can you guys make something as ugly as that, and then come up with something as sweet as this?"
"I can't let you keep that armor," Whiplash informed.
"That's too bad," Iron Man said. "Because if you want this armor, you're going to have to rip it off my cold, dead corpse."
"Gladly."
Both whips shot forward, wrapping around Iron Man and straining his shields. As the red energy crackled across the armor, the usually invisible shields shone blue, creating dazzling red, blue, and purple effects.
Iron Man struggled to remain standing as the energy tore into him.
"Shields at forty-three percent and falling. User intervention required."
"Working…on it," Iron Man grumbled.
Iron Man wrapped his arms around the whips and gave them a good snap. The whips were ripped off his body, and the backlash smacked Whiplash in the face, causing his own shields to dance.
"That all you got?" Iron Man asked weakly.
The assassin attacked with his whips again, cracking the left one to hit Iron Man in the ribs, and wrapping the second one around his neck. Whiplash swung the whip up and over his head before bringing it, and the super hero attached to it, down hard to the ground. Iron Man ripped the whip off of his neck and aimed his repulsors, but an expert whip crack sliced into the repulsors, causing them to back fire.
Iron Man stumbled back, dazed by his own weapons. Whiplash cracked both his whips, which struck Iron Man in the chest and sent him flying.
When Iron Man finally crashed in the middle of the highway, Jarvis spoke.
"Shields at fifteen percent, recovery in ten seconds."
"We haven't got that much time," Iron Man grumbled as he saw Whiplash streaking through the sky toward him.
Iron Man fired off his repulsors, but the Extremis assassin dodged and lashed out with his weapons. They wrapped around Iron Man's arms, crackling against his dying shields.
"Give up human," Whiplash laughed. "I am Whiplash. I have bested warriors far greater than you."
Iron Man struggled to focus against the pain he felt even through the armor. He charged the unibeam in his chest, waiting to fire. Whiplash tugged on the whips, pulling Iron Man forward like a dog on a leash. Another tug, and he was pulled closer. With a final tug, Whiplash pulled Iron Man within striking distance. Iron Man rose and aimed the unibeam. The blast shot out, hitting Whiplash in the face and penetrating the villain's shields with ease.
Whiplash flew backward, his whips ripped off as he flew. Iron Man shrugged off the dead whips and cautiously approached the assassin. The Extremis groaned and tried to stand, but fell.
"Tell your bosses that if they came to Earth for a fight, they've got one. And that if they're smart they'll back off of me and Earth."
Iron Man started to walk away, but was stopped by an evil, tortured laugh from Whiplash.
"You don't know who you've challenged boy," Whiplash laughed. "The Extremis have laid waste to civilizations! All who oppose them are converted or destroyed. We are the single most powerful force in the galaxy! Who are you?"
"The human who just figured out how to shut you up," Iron Man said, and fired his repulsor in a continuous stream at the glowing power core in Whiplash's chest. The energy of the repulsor poured into the core, until finally…
BOOOM!
Iron Man walked away from the smoking fireball that was once Whiplash. He figured that beating Whiplash would send a clear message to the Extremis: Back off.
Back at the school, Tony saw a mess. Police cars surrounded the area, and parents were coming to pick up their children for the day. Rhodey and Pepper were both still there though.
"Tony!" Pepper shouted when she saw him. She threw her arms around him in a hug, and Tony did his best to remember how to breathe.
"You're okay! That whip guy showed up and none of us could find you…where were you?" Pepper asked, suddenly curious.
"I…I was…" Tony looked to Rhodey, who was shaking his head as if to say, No! don't tell her! Don't tell her!
"I was hiding," Tony lied. "I guess I'm not that brave."
Pepper gave him a look that Tony knew meant she didn't believe him, but she also had no clue what else to believe.
"Let me see if I got this right," Rhodey said. "There's an alien race called the Extremis plotting to invade Earth."
"Yup," Tony confirmed.
"They've conquered all kinds of planets before us."
"Uh-huh."
"You somehow acquired their latest and greatest armor."
"The Mk VII I'm told."
"They want it back, and now you're the only one who stands a chance against them."
"Technically, if anyone was to put on both the tech interface suit and the armor, they could go off an be Iron Man too. But as you know that's not happening."
"Right," Rhodey said. "You talked to Pepper since yesterday?"
"No, why?" Tony asked.
Rhodey showed Tony his computer screen. It read: Iron Man's True Identity by Pepper Potts.
"Oh crud," Tony groaned.
"Tell your bosses that if they came to Earth for a fight, they've got one."
The captain played portion of the helmet recording back over and over. So the little human boy wanted a fight? The captain knew just what kind of a fight to give him.
"Get me Arcade," the captain ordered.
Greetings, I am Jarvis, Mr. Stark's personal aide in battle. When we are captured by Extremis stealth units, Mr. Stark and I are forced to fight in gladiator pits for the amusement of a twisted Extremis man called Arcade. In addition to these threats, the only way out of the gladiator pits is through the treacherous Murderworld. Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: Madness in Murderworld Part 1. Incoming assault!
ANNOUNCEMENT: The greatest Iron Man story is now on a new day: Friday. Catch the next episode Friday, August 20.
If you haven't noticed, Nick is a teenaged, conspiracy obsessed version of Nick Fury. Is he an actual agent of SHIELD? We may find out soon. Poor Tony, can't tell the girl he "secretly" likes about his double life. Anyway, REVIEW! Oh and if you have an idea for an episode I'd love to hear it, because season two has a lot of empty slots and there are still a few spots open in season one.