Spider-Man webbed another robot in the face and kicked it into a wall before yanking another robot's buzz saw arm off and using it to slice up more robots. Iron Man fired his repulsors, blasting two robots to bits. Jolt dodged a missile fired her way and returning fire with a crackle of electricity.
"I love smashing robots as much as the next guy, but can we please get out of here?" Spider-Man yelled.
"Working on it," Iron Man told him. "Jarvis, have you found the way out yet?"
"The nearest exit is currently sealed off by that forcefield," Jarvis told him.
"Anyway to shut it down?" Iron Man asked.
"The power coupling for the forcefield is exposed at the top of that carnival game," Jarvis reported.
Iron Man stole a quick glance at a test your strength machine, and at the top of it was the power coupling.
"Typical," Iron Man said. He fired a repulsor blast at the coupling, but it too was shielded.
"Ah, ah, ah," Arcades voice came over the speakers. "No cheating."
Spider-Man webbed tow robots together and swung past Iron Man to the test your strength machine. He landed in front of it, jumped up, and slammed both of his fists into the machined. The meter shot up to the top and hit the power coupling, smashing it to bits.
"Knew those hours at the gym would pay off," he joked.
The forcefield blocking the exit shut off, and the three of them ran out. Once outside, they were temporarily blinded by the flashing lights and neon signs. When their eyes–or armor optics–adjusted, they saw they were standing at the bottom of a massive pinball machine.
"This guy has issues," Spider-Man said.
"I agree," Jolt nodded.
Using his helmet's optics, Iron Man zoomed in on the exit at the top of the machine. Unfortunately, standing in the way were electric bumpers, explosive score multipliers, laser turrets, flying Extremis soldiers, and flaming pin balls that bounced back and forth across the board.
"Race you guys to the top," Iron Man said as he fired his boot jets and launched himself skyward.
A flaming pinball bounced his way, and he noticed too late. The ball hit him dead on, and his shields briefly dropped to ninety-one percent. Before his shields could recover, Iron Man was smacked out of the air by and electric bumper, causing him to careen out of control and his shields to drop further. He would've crashed into an explosive score multiplier, but another force caught him and helped him steady himself.
"New to this flying thing tiger?" Jolt asked. "Watch and learn."
Jolt flew forward barrel rolling to avoid laser blasts. One Extremis soldier flew in, about to blast her from behind. Somehow she saw it coming and spun around in time to fire first. The Extremis' shields flashed before overloading and causing the armor to explode.
Iron Man shot forward after her, using a unique combination of fancy flying and dumb luck to take weave his way through the enemy. Watching his back was Spider-Man, who darted back and forth with ease using his web lines.
Iron Man and Jolt were soon flying side by side through the giant pinball machine, with Spider-Man right behind them. Iron Man fired his repulsors, taking out two turrets. The three continued on to the exit, but were all slapped away from it by an electric bumper.
Spider-Man stuck to the nearest surface, preventing his fall. "Those things are getting really annoying."
"It's just a bumper, how much trouble could it be?" Iron Man asked as he hovered just out of its reach.
He fired his repulsors, hoping to destroy the thing, but instead the blast bounced off the bumper and back at Iron Man. His shields flashed and he wobbled for a second, but otherwise he was fine. The bumper groaned and retreated into the machine. The entire pinball machine started morphing and changing.
"Exit! Now!" Iron Man ordered.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Spider-Man yelled over the grinding of machinery.
The three jumped out of the exit, and suddenly found themselves floating around in an endless black void. Spider-Man clutched his throat with one hand while he smacked the spider emblem on his chest with the other.
"Jarvis what's wrong with him?" Iron Man asked, his voice inaudible to the others due to the silence of space.
"It would appear Spider-Man's costume is not made for extended work in outer space. His suit has been temporarily sealed and emergency electronic pulses are keeping him warm, but I calculate he has five minutes to live," Jarvis said in his normal monotone.
Iron Man opened a communication link between his armor and Jolt's. "Jolt, Spidey's in trouble. We need to get him inside now!"
"I hear you tiger, but right now his only option is to go back inside Murderworld, and I'm not sure how safe that is at the moment," Jolt replied.
Iron Man looked back at the structure they'd escaped, only to see it had transformed into a hundred-foot tall, carnival colored robot modeled in Arcade's likeness.
"So, you thought you could just walk away huh?" Arcade's voice asked over a communication link. "Well I've got news for you kids. You can leave Murderworld, but it won't leave you!"
"Coward!" Jolt shouted. "Stop hiding behind your machines! Get in your armor and face us yourself!"
"Jolt…that is his armor. He controls Murderworld like an extension of his body!" Iron Man yelled.
"Very clever Iron Man!" Arcade laughed. "But clever doesn't do you any good in a fight! It's all about strength baby."
"Yeah, yeah," Iron Man groaned. "Save it for your untimely defeat."
Jolt fired every one of her arc lasers at Arcade, but they did nothing against his shields. She kept the pressure on, but still got nowhere. Arcade's giant armor raised its right arm and fired a stream of flaming pin balls, hitting Jolt and taking a good chunk out of her shields.
"Jolt!" Iron Man yelled as he grabbed Spider-Man's floating form and flew toward her.
"I…I'm okay I think. We need to get Spider inside Murderworld, and you too. The only way to take this thing down is from the inside," Jolt told them.
"What about you?" Iron Man asked.
"I'll keep him distracted," Jolt said. "Go hurry!"
Iron Man didn't want to leave Jolt alone against Arcade, but he also didn't want Spider-Man to die from his indecision, so he flew them straight for Arcade's neck, crashing through the armor plating and into the inner workings of the armor. There was thankfully some air inside, but it was quickly being sucked out until Arcade's shields went to work, sealing the hole in the neck. It also trapped Spidey and Shellhead inside Arcade's massive armor, with no way to go back out to help Jolt.
"We need to get to the control center," Iron Man said. "That's probably in the head, above us."
Spider-Man nodded. "You go to the head, I'll go take out the weapons in the arms."
"If we split up they'll just take us all out," Iron Man told him.
"And if those weapons stay online, Jolt's as good as dead," Spider-Man said. "Just go. Besides, saving the ladies is what I do best."
Spider-Man swung jumped onto a nerve cable and crawled along it, headed for the right arm. Iron Man sighed and followed the large cluster of nerve cables upward into the head.
"Alright, take out the weapons, save the girl, don't die." Spider-Man repeated to himself. "Take out the weapons, save the girl, don't–" he was cut off when an Extremis soldier flew in front of him, wrist lasers charged and ready to fire.
"Die!"
Iron Man busted through the floor of the control room, and the automated defense turrets open fired. While the lasers slowly whittled down his shields, Iron Man counter attacked mush quicker. Three repulsor blasts later, the turrets were destroyed. Arcade cowered in fear at the front of the control room, and Iron Man charged the unibeam.
He fired, but and energy shield rose up fast enough to block the powerful blast. Arcade laughed.
"It's not gonna be that easy Shellhead. Get ready to die!"
Iron Man flew into the air to avoid the laser Gatling fire that came from two armored turrets on the walls. He barrel rolled, narrowly avoiding another river of laser fire. As he flew, he charged the unibeam again, prepping his counter attack. When the weapon was charged, he hovered just long enough to fire. It destroyed the first turret, but also gave the second enough time to bring his shields down to fifty-two percent.
Iron Man sent the armor into a steep dive to avoid taking anymore damage, and just like that he was on the run again. He flew at top speed straight for the wall of the control room before veering hard to the right and letting the laser fire tear into the machinery lining the walls instead.
Arcade clutched his head and yelled in pain. Iron Man smiled under his helmet fired his repulsors while he flew, damaging more equipment. Arcade roared in agony and fell to his knees behind the shield.
"Ready to give up?" Iron Man asked as he fired his unibeam, destroying the other turret.
"Sir, your excessive use of the unibeam is having an adverse affect on power levels. We've reached fifty percent," Jarvis warned.
"You think you can win?" Arcade snarled as he slowly stood up. "You can't touch me as long as the shield's up, which leaves me free to do this."
Outside, Jolt was flying at full speed while trying to shake the missiles that had locked onto her. She turned, batted one aside, and clenched the other in her fist. It exploded and damaged her shields, but she lived.
That's when Arcade raised his massive left arm and charged three separate particle beams. They all fired, combining to form a single, ultimate particle beam that was aimed directly at Jolt.
Her eyes widened underneath her helmet and she flew off, the beam chasing after her. The weapon began to overheat, and it stopped firing, but not before clipping Jolt's leg and overloading her shields.
She floated in space, defenseless. Well, not entirely. She routed as much power as she could into her weapons and unleashed electric hell on Arcade's shields, bringing them down to thirty-five percent.
"You're girlfriend has a lot of fight in her," Arcade complimented. "Too bad I'm going to have to blast her to bits."
"No!" Iron Man shouted. "Jolt can you hear me?"
"I'm still here," Jolt assured. "Just hurry tiger. Not sure…how much longer I can last."
Iron Man flew forward, slamming his fist against the shield that protect Arcade form Iron Man. He punched it again and again, but to no effect. Arcade laughed.
Spider-Man crashed against the coolant lines of the particle cannon inside the left arm. He'd already taken out the flaming pinball launcher, but he'd also taken a beating from the Extremis guards inside this giant armor.
"Give up insect," the guard ordered.
"For the last time…" Spider-Man panted.
He jumped into the air and punched the guard hard across the metal faceplate, actually cracking the armor from the force of the blow.
"Spiders…" he kicked the guard in the abdomen. "are…" he caught the guard with a web line, letting it go taught. "ARACHNIDS!" he shouted as he yanked, sending the guard crashing through the coolant lines. The Extremis guard was frozen instantly, armor and all.
"Stay cool," the wall crawler joked.
Back in the control room, Iron Man was pouring everything he had into his repulsors, firing them continuously at Arcade's shield. The shield was glowing brightly under the strain, threatening to overload.
"Tisk, tisk, tisk Iron Man," Arcade ridiculed. "You're only wasting your time. And I can still do this."
Outside, Jolt was swatted into a crazed spin by Arcade's massive hand before his particle beam powered up again. But with broken coolant lines, the weapon exploded, and Jolt's figure took the full force of the explosion.
"Jolt!" Iron Man screamed as he lost sight of his friend. "Jolt can you hear me? Jolt!"
"Hey tiger…" Jolt's voice was weak and strained, yet peaceful in a way. "You know…the stars look really beautiful from out here. Kinda…kinda gives you hope. Make you think everything will…will be okay."
"Everything will be okay Jolt," Iron Man promised. "Hang on I'm coming to get you."
"No…it's too late. T-take care of yourself tiger. Kill a couple of Extremis for me," she said, her voice getting fainter with each word.
"Jolt stay with me," Iron Man begged.
No response.
"Jolt…"
Jolt's communication link was painfully silent.
"Jolt!"
Underneath his faceplate, hot tears of anger ran down Iron Man's face. "ARCADE!" He punched the shield again, harder than he ever had before. The shields flashed with blinding brilliance. He punched again, overloading the shields.
Arcade stumbled back in shock, and soon found Iron Man's metal hadn around his throat. He choked, his legs twitching slightly.
"I'll break you in two," Iron Man promised. "I'll break one bone in your body for every life you've ruined. Starting with this one…"
Iron Man suddenly couldn't move his arm, or any part of his armor for that matter. Unwillingly, he released his grip on Arcade's throat. The crazed Extremis man stepped back, rubbing his throat.
"I use Extremis amplifiers to allow me to control a massive facility like this, but I can just as easily use it to override your control over your own armor," Arcade explained. "I have total control now. Let's fix your power levels shall we?"
The unibeam fired without Iron Man's consent, and went into continuous fire mode, causing power levels to drop rapidly. At fifteen percent, warning lights started to flash across the HUD.
"Jarvis, how much control do you have over the armor?" Iron Man asked.
"Not much sir. I can't even shut it down."
"Can you get me out of it?" Iron Man asked.
Jarvis calculated for a bit. "Yes, but only briefly."
"That's all I need," Iron Man promised.
The armor opened up, and Tony Stark jumped out before it resealed itself. The unibeam stopped, and Arcade slowly back away from and angry Tony.
"Pretty smart kid, but you've just given me my own armored bodyguard," Arcade laughed.
The armor turned toward Tony, and he gulped. It flew forward, and Tony dove to avoid its charge. It came around again, this time firing its repulsors as it came. Tony dodged the first one, but the second hit him in the chest and sent him skidding into Arcade's waiting kick.
"Face it, you've lost," Arcade smirked.
Tony jumped up and ran to the nearest Extremis amplifier on the wall. The armor fired off a repulsor blast after him, but Tony dodged, and the blast tore into the machinery lining the wall instead.
Arcade fell to his knees again, veins bulging in pain and stress. Tony jumped forward, and the armor rushed up to meet him from behind. It did not attack however, instead it reformed itself over Tony, and by the time he landed he was Iron Man once again.
With one punch, Iron Man sent Arcade flying across the room, and he slumped to the floor. A quick scan showed he wasn't unconscious.
"Alright Jarvis, how does this work?" Iron Man asked.
"The controls seem to work on an Extremis Amplifier basis," Jarvis reported. "Simply link up to the remaining amplifiers, and you should be able to control Murderworld as easily as you do your armor."
"Alright. Let's go home."
Rhodey gripped the bus seat in front of him like his life depended on it. Mostly because it did. The bus he was riding was hurtling through traffic at eighty-five miles an hour and climbing, while being chased by the police. The bus had been hijacked, and by the looks of the RPG-7 the driver was sporting, they were going to get away with it.
Rhodey wanted to hit himself. First his best friend disappears, then Pepper fidns another clue that points Tony Stark as Iron Man, and now this? He was without a doubt the most–
The bus crashed to a stop, and everybody jerked forward. Glass shattered, metal bent, tires screeched. It was a textbook car crash, all except for the fact that the bus had crashed into a red an silver armored superhero. With one hand, the armored man tore off the front of the bus and yanked the bus jackers out of the vehicle.
"Iron Man!" Rhodey said, surprised to see his friend alive.
"You were expecting Spider-Man maybe?" Iron Man joked, a reference to the hero he'd fought alongside recently.
"And Murderworld was stolen in the aftermath," Controller reported to his superior. "I do have good news however my lord. We've acquired enough field data from the Mk VII to complete the prototype of the next model. It is ready and waiting for you."
The captain smiled. "Excellent. As the old Earth saying goes; if you want something done right, do it yourself."
The armor assembled itself around the captain, and as the faceplate shut, he let out a low, metallic laugh. "Let us see how Iron Man fairs against…Titanium Man!"
My name is Bruce Banner. I'm not sure how much time I have…he's getting closer. Fury must have some new toy, because I've never seen this man before…if he even is a man. Oh no…it's happening…Next time on Iron Man Galaxies…Fighting For Fury! HULK SMASH METAL MAN'S FACE!