Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1
Chapter 5: Mark One
Biting into his apple, the soldier walked down the cavern hallway alongside his partner. The delectable juice ran down his gullet as he crunched down on the flesh of the fruit. Munching as he walked, the soldier adjusted his shoulder, over which was strapped his assault rifle. Taking another bite, he tossed the core against the wall as he continued to chew. Coming up to the large metal door, he looked over at his partner, who nodded. He raised his hand and knocked on the door twice with his knuckles. After that, he swallowed his food as he opened the eye slit and peered into the room.
"Yinsen!"
He could not see either Tasha or Yinsen. Narrowing his view as he scanned his pupils horizontally, eventually he noticed a small amount of movement behind a large pile of machinery.
"Yinsen?! Are you there?"
"Yes!"
Yinsen moved his head so that it was into view. He was facing the door.
"What's going on in there?!" shouted the soldier. "Wong-Chu says he can't see you on the camera!"
Yinsen shook his head.
"We're working! Come back later!"
"Show yourself! Both of you, or we're coming in there!"
Yinsen moved his head back. The soldier could hear what sounded like a whisper.
"Where's Stark?! Yinsen!"
The other soldier shook his head and scowled.
"They're up to something," he said. "Open the door."
"Yeah . . . . Yinsen! We're coming in, right now!"
He reached for the door handle. Yinsen looked back at him as he gasped.
"Don't . . . .!"
The soldier twisted the door handle. As he did, the explosive device that Tasha had planted there earlier detonated, incinerating both of the soldiers and blowing the door wide open. As their last seconds of feeling left their bodies, all that was left was the excruciating sense of burning. Yinsen winced as he looked at the remains of the door.
"How did it go?" asked Tasha.
"It worked exactly as intended," replied Yinsen.
Yinsen ran back up to Tasha's armour and finished buckling the straps on the legs. Taking a moment to look at their creation, the entire steel-forged suit looked like a monolith of death. Carrying a conduit for the arc reactor in her chest plate, the entire suit was dirty, but somehow, had a certain element of elegance to it.
"Where did you even get this idea?" asked Yinsen.
Tasha smirked.
"Little project I used to work on, that I . . . . don't, anymore. My company got in trouble because of it. Long story."
Yinsen wiped the sweat off his temple as he looked at the destroyed door again.
"They're going to be here any second," stated Yinsen.
"Then let's go."
Tasha exhaled and dropped the metal mask over her face. Yinsen stood back as the fully charged suit powered up. Making a loud humming noise, Tasha stepped off the pedestal and straightened out the armour's back. Suspending her body in the air, the two meter tall armour fully encased it. Tasha took a step forward as Yinsen looked at her in awe.
Shouts were then heard from down the corridor. Tasha turned around to face the door.
"Stay behind me," ordered Tasha.
Her voice was deepened into a booming echo by the armour. Yinsen crouched behind her as she clenched her fists. As she watched the shadows of the approaching soldiers stretch around the corner of the rock hallway, she narrowed her eyes and hardened her facial muscles. She then raised her left arm and pointed it towards the door.
A group of six soldiers ran towards the doorway. Each one was carrying an assault rifle. As they arrived at the door, some of them looked down at the ground in dismay at the remains of their comrades, while the rest looked forward in shock at seeing the armour.
"Hi there," said Tasha, smirking.
A tube ejected from the side of Tasha's left forearm. Loaded inside it was a miniature rocket, which immediately lit up and fired out of the tube. The soldiers gasped as the rocket was launched towards them. It hit one of the soldiers right in his ribcage, causing him to explode into gibs of bloodied flesh. The rest of the soldiers were torn apart and charred into crisped, smoking corpses. Lowering her arm as the tube receded into it, Tasha began to walk forward as she heard more screams coming down the hallway.
Yinsen, still crouched, shadowed her footsteps. More soldiers approached from the front as she marched out of the room. A group of three stopped in place as they stared at her in amazement. They then raised their assault rifles and opened fire, rocking the armour with bullets. Tasha winced as she took a step backwards from the sheer number of bullets ricocheting off the armour. Holding up her arms to deflect some of the bullets, Tasha continued walking forwards.
As she reached the group of soldiers, one of them turned and ran off. She threw her arm forward and punched at one, crushing him against the wall. As his body collapsed, the other tried to flee. Before he could escape, she grabbed his head with one hand and lifted him off the ground. He screamed in fear as she punched his chest with her other hand, sending him flying down the hallway. The impact of her punch liquified his bones as his mangled body crumpled on the ground.
Continuing forward, the hall gave way to a large loading room with plenty of boxes of equipment, supplies and weapons. Tasha glared around as she noticed several containers that had her company logo on them. Several soldiers in the room took aim at Tasha. More bullets hit the armour, but they just bounced off with little effect. Yinsen looked to the right as his eyes widened.
"Look out!"
Tasha turned to see a soldier running with an RPG. Raising her right arm, she squeezed the internal pressure trigger in the armour's glove. The heat tank attached to her back activated, and the flamethrower on her arm let out a steady stream of flames. The stream almost instantly reached the RPG soldier, and his clothes caught on fire. In his panicked state, he slipped and fell to the floor, accidentally firing his RPG into the ceiling. The explosion rocked the cave, and caused several chunks of rock to break loose from the cavern walls.
Tasha looked to the left and squeezed the other internal pressure trigger. With both flamethrowers active, she created a large wall of fire which she rotated forwards, trapping and burning several soldiers, which forced the rest to retreat. Stopping the fire, she looked over at a set of Stark Enterprises containers. She scowled as she lifted her fist in the air and smashed it down, obliterating the crates. She then punched with her other hand, scattering the pieces everywhere.
"I'm not going to let these terrorists use my tech," said Tasha.
"Tasha!" yelled Yinsen. "Look!"
Yinsen pointed to the left, and Tasha turned to see a cage full of village prisoners. There were around twenty people inside the large iron bar cage, including men, women and children. Their clothes were torn and their bodies looked dirty and malnourished. They were all staring at her, with faces ranging from fear to awe. Tasha walked over to the cage.
"Stand back," she ordered. "I'm going to get you out of there."
Grabbing onto the bars with the armour's hands, Tasha pulled outwards, ripping the iron bars apart and creating a large hole in the cage. The prisoners didn't move.
"Come on."
The prisoners still didn't move. One of the children, a young girl, stared directly at Tasha's helmet. Tasha sighed and lifted the helmet, revealing her face.
"It's okay now," she said. "I'm getting you all out of here."
After a few seconds, the young girl stepped forward, and exited the cage. The rest of the prisoners followed suit as Tasha put her helmet back on.
"Too late, Stark!"
Tasha looked forward to see Wong-Chu standing at the entrance to the cave, holding a grenade launcher. Raising it up, he fired a grenade round directly at her.
"Get down!" she shouted.
Tasha quickly turned her back to Wong-Chu, and threw up her arms. Shielding Yinsen and the prisoners, Tasha took the grenade directly to the back of the armour, shrieking in pain. Small pieces of the armour on the back fell off as the heat smoldered the metal. Yinsen's jaw dropped as Tasha exhaled and turned around to face Wong-Chu.
As he raised his grenade launcher again, Tasha held her right arm forward, and loaded the remaining missile. Firing the rocket at the same time Wong-Chu launched another grenade round, Tasha took the grenade to the right side of her waist. While the prisoners had moved back out of the blast radius, Yinsen was knocked back by the force of the explosion. Tasha's rocket hit the wall behind Wong-Chu, knocking him to the ground as part of his face was burned.
"Yinsen!"
Tasha turned around to see Yinsen crumpled up against a pile of bags. He was breathing slowly as blood filled up his shirt.
"Oh no . . . . no no no . . . ."
Tasha opened her face plate and crouched down next to him.
"Yinsen . . . . hold tight, I'm going to carry you out . . . ."
Yinsen put up his hand momentarily.
"Don't . . . . it's okay . . . . get these people to safety . . . ."
Tasha shook her head as a couple of tears dripped down her face.
"You said we're getting out of here together," she protested.
"It's okay, Tasha," replied Yinsen. "I've lived my life . . . . these people need your help . . . ."
Tasha closed her eyes for a moment.
"I wanted to tell you . . . . what I meant . . . . when I said you were . . . . selling yourself short."
Tasha opened her eyes and looked directly into Yinsen's.
"You said that you only helped me because I saved you . . . . I don't believe that," said Yinsen, coughing. "You helped me . . . . you helped them . . . . because you have the heart . . . . of a hero."
Yinsen weakly put up his arm and tapped the arc reactor twice with his finger. Tasha looked down at it and then back at him.
"Don't forget that . . . ."
Yinsen's eyes started to flutter.
"Don't . . . . forget . . . ."
Yinsen exhaled and then rested his head back. His eyes stopped moving. Tasha frowned as more tears streamed down her face.
"I won't."
Tasha stood up and closed her face mask. She looked over at the prisoners, who were staring at her. She then turned around to see Wong-Chu pulling himself off the ground. Tasha glared at him.
"You."
Wong-Chu looked back at Tasha in terror before turning around and running outside, his right arm pressed against his waist. Tasha ran after him as fast as she could. As Wong-Chu ran out into the sun, he began shouting.
"Ready the tank!" he yelled. "Aim for the armour and blow it apart!"
Tasha reached the exit of the cavern, and looked down to see Wong-Chu running towards a large, steel, battle tank. On the side of it was emblazoned a symbol of a yellow hexagon. The tank had a top section with twin cannons. As Tasha walked forward, the cannons started moving to aim towards her. Her eyes widening, she ran forward as the armour clanked in response. Aiming both of her arms forward, she ignited both of her flamethrowers, setting the front of the tank ablaze. The twin cannons fired, but with their view shrouded in flames, they missed Tasha and hit the rock face. She used this time to close the distance between her and the tank, before uppercutting the front end, knocking the entire vehicle over.
As the tank collapsed on its side, Tasha reached at the bottom and pulled outwards, tearing a massive hole in the metal. The driver inside screamed as she punched him, smashing his skull against the inside wall of the tank. She then took a moment to look around
"This looks way too advanced for this group," she said. "Who is supplying these guys?"
Tasha looked over the dashboard of the tank. In the corner of it, she saw a small logo imprint.
AIM.
Furrowing her brow, she stood up straight and heard a moaning sound. Walking around the tank, she saw that Wong-Chu was on the ground, his legs crushed under the weight of the tank. Completely immobilized, he looked up at Tasha with a face of sheer terror.
"Stark!"
Tasha glared at him.
"Please . . . . don't . . . ."
"Hey master. This is for Yinsen."
Tasha lifted her leg over Wong-Chu's face. He screamed as she lowered it, twisting his head sideways. She heard a loud snapping sound as Wong-Chu's screams stopped. Taking a moment to breathe heavily, she looked up to see the prisoners exiting the cave. They began to smile and embrace each other. Smiling weakly, Tasha then activated the rocket boots. Her feet igniting, she blasted upwards into the sky.
Killian rolled his eyes as he picked up the phone.
"What is it?" said Killian, sighing.
"We've just received confirmation," said the voice. "Stark's alive."
Killian exhaled slowly.
"Well . . . . that's legitimately disappointing. I should have known those cavemen would be incompetent."
"What do we do now, sir?"
Killian took a moment before responding.
"Initiate Phase Two."