Tony stared at the computer screen and groaned again. Pepper had put up a website. A website. She'd gone and listed every plausible identity for Iron Man, and listed the reasons why the person in question was likely to be Iron Man.
Some of the suggestions were ridiculous. Peter Parker? That nerd could never be Iron Man, he runs away at the first sign of danger, and sometimes even before the first sign. Gene Khan, the Chinese astronaut? He'd disappeared in space years ago. T'challa? He'd been a student last year, and he seemed like the hero type, but he was back in Wakanda doing who knows what.
But, at the top of the list, with more reasons than any other person on the list, was Tony Stark. Tony slammed his head on the desk. That wasn't all. Pepper had put a poll up so site viewers could vote for who they thought was Iron Man. Tony must've voted for Parker a billion times, but Tony Stark was still voted most likely to be Iron Man by the public.
"Pepper's not an idiot man," Rhodey said. "She was going to find out soon enough."
"But did she have to tell the world? They don't even know for sure yet and already everybody thinks I'm Iron Man. Once they get some hard evidence? I'm doomed."
"True," Rhodey agreed. "But until then, you have a life still. Which brings up the question, who are you taking to the dance?"
"The dance?" Tony asked.
"Yes, the dance," Rhodey said slowly, as if he were talking to an idiot. "The one our school has every year, and the one you always get like five dates for."
"Oh, that dance," Tony said idly. "Eh, I don't know. Who are you asking?"
Rhodey coughed. "I was…kinda thinking of asking Whitney…"
"HA!" Tony fake laughed. "Really man, how long have you been staring at her behind her back? You'll ask her out when I–"
"Ask out Pepper?" Rhodey put in.
"Hey! That's not fair," Tony said. "Pepper and I are good friends–"
"Because you, the ladies man of the planet, refuses to ask out the girl he stares at."
"I stare at a lot of girls," Tony dodged.
"Uh-huh. But you drool with Pepper," Rhodey said.
"I do not!"
"Don't worry," Arcade assured the captain. "Iron Man is as good as dead!"
Arcade laughed like an idiot as he tossed his various pictures of Iron Man into the sky. Sending Iron Man to Murderworld would be insufficient. No, Iron Man was such a crowd pleaser; he deserved to be put in the big leagues. That's right; Arcade was sending Iron Man to the gladiator pits. But first, a little motivation…
Tony and his classmates were watching a live television presentation about sand on the class TV when the picture changed.
"We're coming to you live from New York, NY where a comet is hurtling toward the city. Experts are unable to pinpoint where exactly it will crash, but civilians are urged to evacuate to somewhere safely immediately. Oh my– It's picking up speed! It's headed right for–"
Tony didn't hear the rest, because the side of the classroom exploded with a cold burst of wind, and everybody hit the dirt.
Tony heard the armor come online inside his backpack.
"Extremis armor detected," Jarvis reported from inside the pack.
"Shut up!" Tony hissed at his backpack.
Tony looked to the whole in the wall. A small comet had crashed through the wall. Inside though, Tony could just make out a humanoid shape.
"Why now?" Tony asked.
The comet exploded, sending ice flying in every direction. A white armored figure rose from the ice, the glowing chest orb lighting the otherwise dark class. The armor was mostly white, but it had blue trim down the arms, legs, and face. The figured scanned the room, its gaze finally fixing on Tony. The young superhero gulped.
"Hello, Iron Man," the Extremis being greeted.
All the students looked at Tony, mouths open.
"What are you talking about?" Tony lied.
The figure raised his arm, the glowing disc in his palm glowing even brighter. He fired, and a beam of blue energy shot forward. Tony waited for the impact, but it never came. Instead Rhodey had taken the blast, and was now covered in a thin layer of frost. He shivered and curled into a ball.
"Rhodey!" Tony shouted. "I know you want to be as cool as me but this isn't the way to do it!"
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Tony demanded.
"Call me Blizzard," Blizzard said. "And right now Iron Man, I want you to come with me, or I'll freeze everyone in this room."
Someone ran for the door, but an ice blast from Blizzard froze the door shut…and also froze the kid's hand to the handle.
"I'm not Iron Man!" Tony insisted.
Blizzard aimed his ice beam at Rhodey's shivering form. "Sure about that?"
All eyes were on Tony, who reluctantly opened his backpack. The armor leapt out and assembled itself around Tony. The faceplate slid down, and the eyes lit up.
"I take it you want the armor now?" Iron Man asked.
"Not exactly," Blizzard said, and fired an ice blast at Iron Man.
Iron Man woke up with a start. His hands flew to his face, and sure enough, he had the armor on. He rubbed his armored head.
"Ugh. What happened?" Iron Man asked groggily.
"Accessing recent memory banks," Jarvis reported.
Suddenly, Tony was watching the helmet recording of what had happened. The city was streaking by, and Tony could hear the armor's thrusters in the background. That's when there was a flash, and the last thing Tony saw before the image went to static was a man strapped to a jetpack, wearing Extremis armor gauntlets and a weird wire helmet.
"The thief awakens," a voice said. Tony spun around in the darkness and activated his armor's night vision. Tony saw the same man from the video.
"Greetings Iron Man," the man said. "I am Controller, head of Extremis psych ops onboard the Darkwing."
"The what?" Iron Man asked.
"The Extremis battleship currently in orbit over your planet human," Controller rasped. "I must say, your connection to the armor is impressive. My Extremis amplifier couldn't override your own control. I was however able to induce a quick deep dream state to get you out here."
"Deep dream?" Iron Man asked, confused. "You mean that ice man in class–"
"Never happened," Controller assured. "Your friends are safe. Your secret is intact."
"Um…thanks?" Iron Man said, confused.
"Don't thank me just yet," Controller laughed. "I'd like to welcome you to the Slaughter House, personal space station of Arcade. Nestled on the dark side of your moon."
"Why was I brought here?" Iron Man asked.
"For the entertainment of Extremis Empire!" an excited voice shouted over a loud speaker. "That's right folks! Arcade the Amazing has found a fabulous new contender! Hailing from the planet Earth and sporting a stolen Mk VII proto type, here he is! The one, the only, IRON MAN!"
The walls of Iron Man's tiny cell collapsed, and the night vision was rendered useless as light flooded Iron Man's vision. He was in a large stadium not unlike the Roman Coliseum. Thousands of people were seated, and in truth o a lot of them looked like ordinary humans. But so did Controller and Jarvis's scan confirmed he was an Extremis.
"Underneath the armor, they're just like us," Iron Man mused.
"And his opponent!" Arcade announced. "The Cold Kick Ass! The Icy Intimidator! The Whiteout Wonder! Blizzard!"
The white armored Extremis Iron Man had seen in his dream entered the arena, arms raised as he got the crowd to cheer louder.
"Gladiators!" the announcer shouted. "Prepare…for battle!"
The crowd cheered again, anxious to see some violence.
"What are the rules exactly?" Iron Man asked.
"Rules?" Arcade laughed. "Ha! That's cute kid. But seriously, FIGHT!"
Blizzard fired an ice blast before Iron Man could blink. The joints of the armor started to go stiff, but a quick jolt of power to the shields and the ice melted away. Blizzard formed a large snow ball in his hand before tossing it into the air. It exploded, and a snow storm was now swirling around the arena. Iron Man's visibility was cut down sharply. He tried to get a fix on Blizzard, who was controlling the storm, but the storm was messing up his optics.
"Jarvis, switch to infrared vision, his armor has to give off some heat!" Iron Man ordered.
His vision changed, and Iron Man saw a vague humanoid shaped hot spot amidst the cold. He fired, scoring a direct hit. The storm died down, and Iron Man switched to normal vision.
"Would you look at that folks? Nothing gets past this human!" Arcade said.
Iron Man fired his repulsors at Blizzard repeatedly, but his icy opponent dodged and fired an ice beam, freezing Iron Man's feet to the ground.
"Ha!" Arcade laughed. "Even worse than tying shoelaces together!"
Iron Man revved his boot jets, blasting the ice off. Blizzard cursed and hurled an orb of white energy. It struck Iron Man in the chest, and he fell to the floor like a rock. The ice spread from the point of impact, quickly covering the shield generators on his chest, arms, and hips.
"Ooh. Iron Ice Pops! I like mine negative forty!" Arcade joked.
"Shields offline," Jarvis reported. "Armor temperature dropping. Sir that ice needs to come off."
"No…duh," Iron Man shivered. He started scraping his chest to free the triangular chest power core and unibeam. It was also the primary shield generator of the armor. Once the ice was thin enough on his chest, Iron Man fired the unibeam, blasting the ice off. From there the shields came back online, melting the ice
Iron Man set his sights on Blizzard and charged his repulsors. Then he thought better of it and fired his unibeam at Blizzard. The powerful blast overloaded Blizzard's shields in seconds, and still had enough punch left to slam Blizzard through the arena wall.
"Oh! See what you get for deep freezing a human?" Arcade cackled as the referee flew down to check on Blizzard. He crossed his arms in an X.
"And he's down!" Arcade shouted. "The human has won! ...Dammit."
The crowd went nuts. A chant soon rose up.
"IRON MAN! IRON MAN! IRON MAN!"
Iron Man threw his arms up, and the crowd roared even louder.
"Oh yeah! What now?" Iron Man shouted.
"And Iron Man advances to the next round!" Arcade announced.
"Yeah! Yea– Wait. NEXT ROUND?" Iron Man shouted.
"Of course, welcome to the Slaughter House's new millennia fighting tournament!" Arcade said. "You'll be competing against the best of the best, for fame, fortune, and of course your life!"
"My what?" Iron Man asked.
"Your life! The winner of the tournament gets to live, and is even given a shot at escape. The losers…get disintegrated by an eighty-five caliber particle beam!"
"Oh," Iron Man choked. "I get it."
"Alright, all competitors take five," Arcade said.
Iron Man followed a crowd of armored warriors to the break room. Iron Man grabbed a food tray and got in line, but all they had was a weird shiny goop that looked like mercury. Iron Man poked at it with his eating utensil. He couldn't decide if it was a spoon, knife, fork, or spear. The goop quivered like Jell-O, and Iron Man looked over at the girl who had taken off her helmet to eat.
"Want seconds?" Iron Man asked.
"You'd better eat," she said. "You'll need your strength if you're advancing to the next round. From what I hear, they're pitting you against Jolt."
"Jolt?" Iron Man asked.
"She's a tough fighter, and her armor's been rigged with more ARC lasers than an attack ship. Her shields feed off of energy, making energy weapons useless against her," the girl explained.
"Any weaknesses?" Iron Man asked. He also thought about asking what an ARC laser was, but he decided against it.
"None that I would tell you," she said, and with a point of her finger gave him a quick zap of electricity his shields flashed, but nothing serious happened.
Iron Man caught on. "Jolt, I presume."
"The one and only," Jolt said with a proud smile. "And you must be this Iron Man everyone is talking about."
"Really?" Iron Man asked, smiling behind the faceplate.
Jolt shrugged. "Not everyday a human cuts Blizzard's ego down to size. You did well."
"Thanks," Iron Man said. "Anything normal to drink in this place. Like water?"
Jolt looked at Iron Man like he was crazy. "Over by the fountain. They've got everything there, even that poison."
"You have something against water?" Iron Man asked.
"Before I was infected," Jolt said, "I was an electrosapien. We don't like water."
"Infected?" Iron Man asked.
"That's how the Extremis spread," Jolt explained. "They capture the masses and inject them with the Extremis virus, and it turns the host being into an Extremis. Or it kills them."
"Just like that. And you're a total Extremis once it happens?" Iron Man asked.
"Not exactly," Jolt said. "Species still retain certain traits. It creates variation in the Extremis race. Some beings even have a natural resistance to the virus, resulting in hybrids."
"Hybrids?"
Jolt nodded. "Mixes of Extremis and the infected being's species. They possess all of the technical abilities of an Extremis, but remain a member of their own species."
"What abilities do the Extremis have?" Iron Man asked.
"We can link to technology with a thought, and control it," Jolt said. "It's how we control our armors. And yet, you seem to have replicated this ability in your clothing. Interesting."
Iron Man's faceplate slid back to let him drink. He took a sip of his water.
"Well I'm an interesting guy," Iron Man said.
"I'll bet," Jolt said with a smile. "See you in the ring tiger."
"Huh? Oh right," Iron Man said as his faceplate shut again. "See you."
Jolt walked off, helmet tucked under one arm. As he looked around, he saw a lot of fighters hanging out, relaxing, and enjoying life, even if they may only have it a little longer. He made up his mind. He wasn't going to let them die. They were all getting out of here.
The alarm rang, and everybody returned to the various fighting rings. The one stadium held multiple fighting rings, so it was like an eight ring circus of ass kicking.
"Next up! The Iron Avenger, the Halfwit Human, the Knight in Shining Armor, the Invincible Iron Man!" Arcade announced, sending the crowd into uproar.
Iron Man walked out, the lights of the stadium gleaming against his armor. He pumped his fist in the air, getting more cheers from the crowd.
"And his opponent!" Arcade shouted. "The Lady of the Lightning, the Shocking Sugar girl, the Electric Assassin, Jolt!"
Jolt back flipped into the ring before sending a crackling cloud of lightning into the air. This got a lot of cheers from the crowds.
"Show off," Iron Man muttered.
"As if you're any better," Jarvis said dryly.
"Shut up."
"Ready…FIGHT!" Arcade called.
Jolt fired twin bolts from her hands, but Iron Man had already taken to the air to avoid her blasts. She fired again and again, but kept missing. Iron Man fired both his repulsors, but the blasts hit the ground on either side of Jolt.
"Will somebody land a hit already?" Arcade laughed nervously. If someone didn't get beaten to a pulp soon, ratings would plummet.
Jolt fired a cloud of lightning, covering Iron Man and wreaking havoc on his shields. Iron Man struggled against the tendrils of electricity, but soon fell to the ground with a crash. Jolt intensified her assault, but Iron Man kicked out, hitting her in the chest. She stumbled back, the electric tendrils gone.
Iron Man spun and punched Jolt across the face, and she flew backward. Jolt fired her armor's unibeam, and Iron Man went flying. He didn't get back up.
"Owch!" Looks like he can't keep up with the Princess of Power!" Arcade said.
Iron Man's armor roared to life, and he punched the wall down and raced into the next ring.
"What the? He's not supposed to do that!" Arcade cried.
"Everybody!" Iron Man shouted. "It's time to stop fighting. We're getting out of here!"
"What's he talking about?" Arcade asked.
"Show's over Arcade!" Another fighter, Spider-Man (Who wasn't wearing armor, just some ridiculous red and blue spandex.).
"I was gonna say that…" Iron Man whined.
"You think you can all just walk away like that?" Arcade said, laughing nervously.
"Who's going to stop us?" Iron Man asked.
Behind him, the fiercest fighters from across the Extremis Empire readied their weapons and took fighting stances. Everyone heard Arcade gulp over the loud speakers.
"Mother..." he whimpered. "Yes, well, the exit is right through there."
Two large doors swung open, and the fighters ran through them. The doors shut behind them and locked, plunging them into total darkness.
"Did we really just fall for that?" Iron Man asked.
"Not to worry!" Arcade shouted. "The exit really is through here, at the far side of Murderworld! AHAHAHA!"
"Murderworld? Why do I get the feeling we're not going to be surrounded by lonely supermodels and teddy bears?" Spider-Man asked.
The lights came on, revealing they were all in some kind of carnival funhouse. But there is nothing "fun" about murderous robots with energy saws for hands advancing on you.
"Oh my goodness," Iron Man said.
What's up? Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man here, and I'm about to die. Honestly, worst week of my life. One second, I'm swinging through the city and all is fine. Next thing I know I'm in some gladiator pit fighting for my life. Now I'm following a guy named Iron Man and some Jolt chick through a carnival of death in a fruitless attempt to get home! Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: Madness in Murderworld Part 2. Argh! Damn you Arcade!
Longest episode yet! They'll slowly get longer too, so be prepared for that. Anyway, Spider-Man is the show's first ever guest star! Spidey fans celebrate! So yeah, review, otherwise the network will shut us down, and then the tiki gods would win…Sorry that's the REVIEW DEPRIVATION talking. You know what the cure is? REVIEWS! So REVIEW!