So sorry about the missing last weeks update. Your reward for waiting? New chapter, a fabulous guest star, and a quick peek at the next season of Iron Man Galaxies. You know you love this. Read, review, favorite, etc.
Iron Man crashed through multiple trees before slamming hard into a rock and then clattering into the snow. His shields were offline, his sensors weren't working right, and he felt like vomiting which, in the helmet, wouldn't turn out very well.
"Ugh, what just happened?"
A loud, animalistic roar filled the air, and birds scattered. An enormous green goliath exploded from the trees, crashing to a halt right in front of Iron Man, fist cocked back.
"Oh yeah, now I remember."
"For the last time, I am not Iron Man!" Tony told the mob of reporters following him home.
"That's not what people are saying on the net Mr. Stark," a reporter told him.
"Well the net is lying," Tony responded.
"If you're not Iron Man," another asked, "who is?"
Tony was about to answer, but then smirked. "I dunno. Ask him yourself."
The reporters whirled around to see Iron Man hovering above them, looking down at them a stream of questions and camera flashes hit him, but he just jetted off into the sky.
The reporters grumbled and turned back to Tony Stark, but he was already gone. In the nearby alley, Tony met up with the waiting Iron Man.
"Thanks you Jarvis," Tony told the AI as he climbed into the armor.
"Always a pleasure sir," Jarvis dryly responded.
"I'm sure. Where's that disturbance now?" Tony asked.
"The anomaly is currently flying over Canadian wilderness, headed south for New York," Jarvis reported, and brought the GPS location of the anomaly onscreen.
"Alright, any confirmation that this is Extremis?" Tony asked.
"None sir, but the anomaly has remained undetectable by most humanly accessible means."
Iron Man flew off for whatever it was Jarvis had detected earlier. When he came upon where it supposedly was though, he found himself staring at open sky. If there was anything flying there it wasn't visible…in any spectrum.
"You sure we're in the right place?" Iron Man asked.
"Affirmative."
Iron Man sighed. He couldn't see anything, but Jarvis insisted it was there. Iron Man aimed and fired a quick repulsor blast, nailing something. The air seemed to flicker, and suddenly Iron Man was looking at de-cloaked SHIELD transport.
"Aw geez…"
"Something wrong sir?" Jarvis asked.
"We just made very important people, very mad at us," Iron Man explained.
The transport turned to Iron Man and open fired at Iron Man, sending a spray off bullets. The hero nimbly flew, spun, whirled, and dodged, only getting clipped now and again, and his shields took care of those.
Just when Iron Man was about to jet out of there, the rear end of the ship exploded, and a massive green humanoid leapt out, bullets briefly chasing him until the ship began to spiral out of control. Iron Man shot forward, using his strength and thrusters to guide the careening transport as best he could. They still crashed and the transport exploded, knocking Iron Man back. Flames danced across the wreckage, and for a moment Iron Man believed everyone on board to be dead.
That's when a lone SHIELD agent yanked himself out of the wreckage and pulled off his cracked helmet. The agent looked young, late teens with dark brown hair and an eye patch.
"Nick?" Iron Man asked, forgetting that only Tony Stark knew Nick Fury from high school.
"Hello Tony," he greeted. "Don't even play dumb, we know it's you under there. Why do you think SHIELD sent its top agent back to high school? To keep an eye on you."
"I'm flattered," Iron Man joked.
"Not to look after you Shellhead, to make sure you don't do more harm than good. Right now you're saving a lot of lives and us a lot of trouble by fighting the Extremis, but if that changes, I guarantee you and I will have a problem."
"Good to know. On to what just jumped off your transport…"
"The Hulk," Fury told him.
Iron Man didn't believe his audio receptors. "Come again?"
"The Hulk," Fury repeated. "My team and I were assigned to track him down and bring him back to base for containment. All but two of us died bringing him down."
"How many of you were there?" Iron Man asked.
"That's not important," Fury told him. "Anyway, then you showed and blasted us. I told James not to open fire, but he didn't listen until it was too late. The excitement of the dogfight brought the Hulk out again, and now he's on the loose."
"You're joking."
Fury just stood there when an angry look on his face.
"Okay, not joking," Iron Man gave in. "So, what do we do now?"
"I'm calling for a new transport. You're going to bring the Hulk back here before it shows up," Fury told him.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Iron Man asked.
"Figure it out," Fury told him. "And do it fast," he added.
"Why?" Iron Man asked.
That's when a roar shook the ground and trees toppled as the Hulk charged forward. Iron Man fired both of his repulsors out of reflex, but they had no effect on the Hulk. Hulk kept coming, and punched Iron Man in the gut as soon as he was close enough. Iron Man flew backward, crashing through trees and sending forest creatures running.
Iron Man used his thrusters to brake mid-air and hovered, searching for Hulk.
"How does something so big disappear so fast?" Iron Man asked.
"HULK SMASH!" a voice shouted, and Iron Man felt two massive fists slam him into the ground.
Iron Man grabbed Hulk's wrist and threw him off of him. Hulk crashed to the ground with a growl and jumped to his feet. Iron Man charged his repulsors and fired at Hulk's face, but still to no effect other than make Hulk angry. Hulk punched Iron Man across the face once, twice, and a third time before grabbing the metal man and slamming him into the ground with the force of twenty jackhammers. Iron Man struggled in vain to break free of Hulk's grip, but without success.
"Jarvis, I need ideas," Iron Man panicked.
Hulk threw Iron Man like a baseball, sending him crashing through more trees. Iron Man staggered to his feet and brushed the snow off of his armor.
"Well?" Iron Man asked.
"The Hulk own physical seems to be increasing at phenomenal rate," Jarvis reported. "Scans are showing his strength is direct related to his adrenaline levels."
"So I just have to calm him down," Iron Man reasoned. "Easy. I hope…"
Hulk exploded through the trees and into view with a loud roar of anger.
Iron Man held his hands up. "Easy Hulk. I don't want to fight."
Hulk grabbed Iron Man in his fist and started crushing him. Iron Man could feel his armor straining, but he did his best to stay cool.
"Quite a grip you got there," he managed.
"Hulk strongest there is!" Hulk proclaimed.
"I know. You're very strong. You're kinda hurting me there big guy," Iron Man said.
Hulk breathing slowed and his grip loosened. " Stupid Metal Man try to hurt Hulk…"
"My mistake, won't happen again," Iron Man said quickly.
Hulk let go of Iron Man. "Good... Metal Man not so stupid after all…"
Hulk's muscles started to shrink, as did the rest of him. His green skin turned to a pale human skin tone, and standing before Iron Man was Bruce Banner, human alter ego of the Hulk.
"Ugh, wha– who are you? Where are we?" Banner asked.
"Bruce Banner, the gamma radiation scientist? You're the Hulk?" Iron Man asked.
"Don't remind me," Banner told him. "They've been hunting me down for years…all because of the Hulk."
Iron Man thought of Nick Fury waiting for the delivery of the Hulk. Could he really stab Banner in the back like this? But then again, what choice did he have? Hulk was a danger to everyone. It had to be done.
"I'm sorry," Iron Man told him as he charged his repulsors.
"What are you doing?" Banner asked, and then he noticed the repulsor. "You're just like them. Heartless. Don't you people get it? The Hulk isn't the problem, you are! All he wants, all I want is to be left alone! Why can't you just…grr…HULK SMASH METAL MAN!"
Iron Man fired his repulsor a little too late. Hulk wasn't done transforming, so the blast did hurt him, but it didn't take him down as intended. Hulk roared and punched Iron Man across the forest.
The fist hit Iron Man in the gut, and he went flying into the air. He fell hard, leaving a small crater. He groaned and stood once again.
"Jarvis, connect me to Fury," Iron Man said.
"Connecting…"
"What do you want Iron Man? The transport is already here."
"Fury, you're on your own. I'm not hunting an innocent man," Iron Man told him.
"First off Stark, the Hulk isn't innocent! And second, if you don't comply with my direct orders, I'll make sure the entire planet knows who Iron Man really is."
Had he stopped to think it through, Iron Man might've been able to work things out with Fury and Hulk. But because he went on impulse, this happened:
"Kiss my iron a** Fury! I'm done playing your games!"
Iron Man shot into the sky, searching for the Hulk. When he found him, he fired off a quick repulsor to draw his attention. Hulk roared in anger.
"Hey Hulk! Got some new friends for ya!" Iron Man shouted.
Hulk jumped into the air and snatched Iron Man out of the sky. As they fell, Hulk repeatedly punched Iron Man anywhere he was exposed.
"I ow! know ow! you ow! don't ow! like ow! me ow! but I bet you ow! hate ow! SHIELD more ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!" Iron Man said in between fist impacts.
"Who?" Hulk asked as they fell. He stopped hitting Iron Man.
"Mean men with guns!" Iron Man explained hastily. "They've been chasing you, remember!"
"Hulk remembers…" Hulk slowly recalled.
"Good," Iron Man said. "Because we're about to crash in front of them in three…two…one…"
The two heroes crashed to the ground, surrounded in seconds by SHIELD agents. Iron Man and Hulk slowly rose up, and forty SHIELD agents clicked off the safety of their weapons in unison. Hulk growled lowly, and Iron Man charged his repulsors. The two heroes stood back to back, and Fury stepped forward.
"Hulk, Iron Man, I'm placing you both under SHIELD arrest," Fury told them.
"You really think you can arrest us?" Iron Man asked.
"Hulk smash One-Eye," Hulk added.
Fury shook his head. "Cute. I don't think you know what SHIELD arrest is," he told them. "Let 'em have it!"
The agents open fired, but their bullets did little against Iron Man's armor or Hulk's hide. Iron Man returned fire, downing an agent with each repulsor blast. Hulk jumped forward and pounded two agents into the ground with one punch. Another sweep of his arm sent three more flying. Fury readied his own weapon's grenade launcher and fired.
The grenade caught Iron Man in the back, and without his shields the high-tech explosive damaged even his armor. The exterior plating was shredded, the paint was scorched off, and scratches criss-crossed the inner layer. Iron Man fell to his hands and knees, and the next grenade hit the ground in front of his face.
The faceplate tore and buckled, and Iron Man fell backward and crashed into the ground. The HUD flickered on and off, going to static every other second. Iron Man didn't get up, just lied there and watched Hulk tear into SHIELD ranks. Fury switched the clip of his weapon and open on Hulk. Several bullets tore into the Hulk's side, and he groaned in mild pain.
Fury sent another stream of fire at Hulk, and more rounds penetrated Hulk's chest. Hulk roared and charged Fury, but he dodged fired again. Hulk stumbled and fell as the rounds embedded in his back.
"Jarvis…what's going on?" Iron Man asked.
"Nicholas Fury is firing gamma absorbing bullets tipped with a rare metal known as adimantium," Jarvis informed.
"No he's not…" Iron Man said, and raised his repulsor.
The repulsor fired, and Fury was knocked to the ground, groaning. Hulk stood uneasily and sauntered over to Fury. He raised his fist.
"Hulk!" Iron Man shouted. "Don't…"
Hulk looked to Iron Man, then to Fury. He lowered his fist. "One-Eye never chase Hulk again?"
Fury glared at Hulk, but nodded. "Yes. But only if–"
"One-Eye stop talking," Hulk told him. "Or Hulk smash."
"Just do what he says," Iron Man told him.
Fury nodded, and slowly stood up. "Both of you…get out of here. As far as SHIELD knows, Iron Man was killed battling the Hulk, and Banner was later shot. One screw up though, and I'll come down on both of you."
"Understood," Iron Man said, and shot off into the sky.
Hulk grunted and leapt off in a different direction, roaming the globe once again.
"What is this?" Rhodey asked.
"The armor was damaged, I mean, really damaged," Tony explained. "So…I took apart what was left and I'm reconstructing it. Obviously I don't have access to the same tech the Extremis did when they built it, but I can get it back to working order on all levels."
"You're rebuilding the armor," Rhodey said, pouring over the table that was littered with components. "Wow…"
"We've lost track off the Mark VII's signal sir," the drone reported. "It must've been damaged."
"No," Titanium Man said. "Iron Man is still alive. I will not rest until I've pried the Mark VII off of his cold, lifeless corpse!"
Argh, the pain. It started with a visit from a guy called Titanium Man. Pretty soon I'm on an Extremis ship with no armor, no way off, and an overdose of Extremis virus injected in my chest. Next time on Iron Man Galaxies: More than a Man. What's happening to me?