Author's Note: So here is the next chapter of Iron Hero 7. Before we begin, I'd like your opinion on something. You see, I was originally planning on pausing my updates to this chapters after the events of the original movie. But since the end of the movie leads up to the cartoon series' premier, I was wondering if I should pause my updates right there. You know, like the movie plus the cartoon series premier. Just a little something to think about.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
Alistair Krei gave a press conference at the front of his company building. He stepped up to the sunlight to give his presentation to the reporters.
"This beautiful new campus is the culmination of a lifelong dream. But none of this would've been possible without a few bumps in the road. Those setbacks made us stronger and set us on the path to a bright future!"
Krei raised a wine glass to the cheering crowd. He basked in the cameras that flashed at him. However, those cheers suddenly came to an abrupt end. The crowd quickly saw something towering above Krei Tech and ran away.
Krei looked up and saw Yokai standing above a wave of microbots. He tried to run away, but he was instantly snatched by the microbots and pulled on up to Yokai's level. His Kabuki mask was lifted up to reveal Callaghan's face. His mouth was covered, but Krei recognized who it was.
"Robert?" Krei asked fearfully. "Wha… Is this about your daughter? That was an accident!"
Callaghan tried to yell something out of anger and desperation, but not a single word escaped his gag.
"What?" Krei asked. "I don't understand! What's going on?"
Callaghan's mask slipped back over his face and the microbots forced him to hold up a phone placing it on Krei's ear.
"Hello, Krei." Stane greeted from the other end of the phone call.
"What the… Obadiah Stane?" Krei asked. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Oh, it's just business." Stane said. "When you were forced to scrap your little portal project, you should have done a better job at destroying it."
Krei looked up seeing three pieces of the portal generator held above Krei Tech by microbots. Once they were forced back together, it turned on creating a portal inside of the ring. Once it activated, little bits and pieces of the building began to fly on up being pulled into the portal.
"Enjoy the sight?" Stane asked the frightened Krei. "I hope so. Once your building falls apart, you'll be joining it in oblivion. Don't worry. What's left of your company will be in my good hands."
Krei had never been more scared in his life. Before his eyes, all his hard work was being destroyed and he was going to be destroyed too.
Suddenly, a flash of red and yellow flew right next to Krei. Tony Stark grabbed him and carried him to safety while taking the phone he was just on.
"What is going on?" Krei asked.
"Just get to safety." Tony said before flying off. He joined Hiro, Baymax, and the others on a rooftop of the building's perimeter. Everyone kept their eyes on Yokai while Tony was on the phone.
"Sorry, Stane. Krei can't come to the phone right now. Would you mind holding?" Tony asked.
"Stark." Stane growled. "I should have known you'd try to interfere. Well, it doesn't matter. I can get Krei after I finally crush you meddling kids and your robot."
"You've done some shady stuff, Obie." Tony said. "But opening an unstable portal and faking a heroic act to make a quick buck? That's a new low."
"You'd never understand how business works, Tony. That's why I can't let you inherit the company. You don't have what it takes."
"There's such a thing as going too far, Stane. Though, I'm guessing you're not far since I just pinged your location."
"What?"
"I just finished tracing the call. I know where you're planning to come in from. See ya." Tony crushed the phone in his hand and turned to his team. "Okay. I'm going to stop Stane and get the headband from him."
"Got it." Hiro said. "We'll try to save Callaghan and stop the portal."
Tony separated from the rest of his team. While they fought through walls of microbots, he rocketed to a few blocks away until he stopped at the sight of his old armor.
Obadiah Stane stood in his Iron Monger armor on top of a rooftop. It was completely covered with weapons and cartridges that were full of ammunition. Tony landed in front of Stane and the two stood face to face.
"I'm giving you a chance to turn yourself in, Stane." Tony said.
"And what? Let your arrogance ruin the future of Stark Industries? I'd sooner blow up the entire city." Stane replied. "But first, I'll blow you up."
Stane raised his hand and aimed a rocket. Tony flew upwards, but Stane kept his aim on. He fired the rocket and it followed behind Tony catching up to him. Tony managed to fire his repulsors at the rocket blowing it up behind him.
"JARVIS, look for structural weaknesses on Stane's armor!" Tony ordered.
"I shall certainly endeavor to, sir."
Suddenly, Tony felt a metal grip tighten around his leg. Stane was revealed to have jumped and grabbed Tony before falling down and slamming him to the road. Civilians were surprised at them when they fell.
Stane raised his giant, metal foot ready to stomp on his enemy. However, right before he could, Tony rolled out of the way. He then aimed his repulsors and fired several small shots at the Iron Monger helmet like they were bullets from a gatling gun. Stane acted disoriented at the attacks.
While he was blasting Stane, Tony made a call through the radio in his helmet. "Hiro, how's it going?"
"Uh, not good!" Hiro shouted. "The microbots are still putting us on the ropes?"
"What?" Tony asked stopping his blasts. "But I'm keeping Stane focused on me. How is that possible?"
Obadiah Stane seized the moment to jump right at Tony and crash him right through a wall. He then picked Tony up by his head holding him up.
"You simple fool! Did you really think distracting me was enough to stop the microbots?" Stane asked. "I fixed them so they would automatically follow their preset commands, which at the moment, includes protecting that portal and destroying your friends. By the way, when you see your Hamada friend in the afterlife, tell him I said thanks for the microbots. They're very handy."
Stane threw Tony back outside and followed. He grabbed a nearby lamp post and pulled it from the ground. He then swung it like a baseball bat right at Tony, but the young genius flew upwards and fired his repulsors again. This time, they hit Stane in his hands and made him drop the lamp post.
"Sir, try aiming for his legs." JARVIS recommended.
"Good call, JARVIS." Tony said landing back on the ground. He aimed his hands and fired repulsor blasts at Stane's shin. It was enough to make him fall on one knee.
Tony then rocketed toward him at breakneck speed. Stane tried to get back up into a defensive position, but the weight of his armor made it hard for him too. Tony managed to knock him down the street after ramming right into him.
Tony flew above the Iron Monger while he was laying on his back. He crossed his arms over his enemy.
"It's over, Stane!"
"Over for you, maybe!" Stane said standing back up. He raised his fists into the air and slammed them down to the asphalt.
The resulting impact caused a cloud of dust that quickly covered Stane. The cloud grew nearly getting Tony, so he flew backwards. That's when Stane revealed himself. He jumped right out of the cloud and caught Tony holding him between his arms and his chest. As he landed on the ground, he squeezed his arms tightening around the boy genius. Tony tried to fight out, but he couldn't move a single finger. He just gritted his teeth while he was feeling himself getting crushed.
Tony was just about to surrender himself until he heard Hiro's voice in his radio. "Listen up! Use those big brains of yours and think your way around the problem! Look for a new angle!"
"A new angle?" Tony asked still feeling crushed. "How…" Just then, he gasped with an idea. "JARVIS, redirect all power from my repulsors to my arc reactor!"
"Right away, sir."
All the power from Tony's palms began to dim and the power in his torso got brighter. Stane noticed this.
"What is this?"
"Say hello… TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"
All of a sudden, Tony let out an explosive burst from his arc reactor slot which was powerful enough to knock Iron Monger back with great force, especially since he was in point-blank range. Iron Monger flew backwards and rolled as he hit the road.
"That's putting your heart into it." Tony bragged.
"Save the jokes for later!" Hiro shouted. "For now, return to Krei Tech! I got another idea to stop Stane!"
When Tony saw Iron Monger standing back up after a powerful blast like that, he decided to listen to his friend. "Be right there." He said before flying over to where he came from.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Iron Monger shouted.
Tony regrouped with the rest of his team as they sprinted along the top of the Krei Tech building. They had just escaped from their traps like Tony did, but they were more energetic than ever.
"Okay, new plan!" Hiro said. "Forget Stane! Take out the bots! They'll get sucked up into the portal!"
"Now, that is a plan!" Wasabi said readying his blades.
Tony knew something was wrong, so he quickly turned his head. The Iron Monger just landed far behind them and ran to chase them.
"Heads up, guys!" Tony shouted. "Stane's on our tail and he looks like he's out of patience!"
"Honey, Fred, can you give us some cover?" Hiro asked.
"Like you have to ask." Fred said.
Honey Lemon fired a handful of blue balls into the air which Fred breathed fire at. It resulted in a blue cloud which quickly covered the area.
"What about Stane?" Tony asked. "Honestly, I feel a little underequipped to deal with him myself."
"I'll help you out." Gogo said making a U-turn facing Stane.
Hiro and Baymax flew up to the portal getting the attention of the microbots. Wasabi, Fred, and Honey Lemon dropped below the blue cloud to attack the microbot pillars beneath. Lastly, Tony and Gogo turned to confront Iron Monger.
"Really, Tony? You think a new set of wheels is going to make a difference?" Stane mocked before he was surprised by the flying disk that hit him in the helmet which then returned to Gogo's hand.
"Hey, Stane. Woman up." Gogo said.
"I go high. You go low." Tony said before flying toward Iron Monger.
Tony stayed above his enemy and fired his repulsors at him. Stane was about to shoot back, but Gogo slid behind him and fired both her disks at him to get his attention. He fired at her, but she always dodged them and left him open to more blasts from Tony behind him. Rinse and repeat.
Beneath the blue cloud, Wasabi sliced through pillars of microbots while Fred burned some of his own. Honey Lemon built a cluster of chemical bombs which she detonated into a large explosion.
"Now, that's a chemical reaction!"
Above the cloud, any microbot attack that tried to hit Hiro and Baymax was met with a martial arts strike from the robot in red armor.
"Back kick. Knifehand. Roundhouse. Hammerfist."
While the others were finishing up, Tony and Gogo managed to lure Stane to the corner of the building. They both stood side by side facing their frustrated enemy.
"That's the difference between you and me, Stane." Tony said. "You use your partners. I trust mine."
Stane yelled in anger. "I don't need partners! I already got microbots! Behold!"
Iron Monger raised his arms ready to present his arsenal, but was surprised when there was no response. He turned around just as the blue cloud vanished. There wasn't a single microbot left around him. He turned back and saw Tony and Gogo joined by Fred, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Hiro, and Baymax who just set Professor Callaghan down safely.
"Looks like you're out of microbots." Hiro said smugly.
"NO! YOU WON'T TAKE THIS FROM ME!" Stane shouted raising his fist to unveil a machine gun. However, Wasabi was quick enough to close the distance between the two of them and sliced his gun out of its cartridge. He swung again slicing his helmet off. Obadiah Stane's head was exposed and his face was certainly nervous and scared.
The rest of the heroes raced in close to Iron Monger and attacked him at different times. First, Gogo threw her disks at him. Then, Honey Lemon launched two explosive balls which blew up in front of him. Fred jumped onto Stane before bouncing off launching him off the building. Tony flew above him and fired two long repulsor blasts sending him straight down.
Once they were all done, all that were left were Hiro and Baymax who dived down toward Stane. He raised his hands up expecting the worst. However, Baymax stopped himself just inches away from his exposed face.
"Our programming prevents us from injuring a human being." Hiro said smugly. "But we'll take that."
Baymax removed the headband that Stane used to control the microbots and crushed it in his fingers. Without it, all the microbots that held up the portal began to fall apart. Stane lowered his head and closed his eyes looking unconscious.
The portal was still active even after it crashed in the middle of the ruined Krei Tech building. Everyone watched as it was still pulling in debris. Tony turned and saw Alistair Krei watching with them.
"Krei, the portal! How do we shut it down?" Tony asked.
"We can't! The containment field is failing!" Krei answered. "The portal is gonna tear itself apart!"
"Then we need to get out of here!" Hiro said. However, before he could leave, he noticed something that confused him. "Baymax?"
Baymax stayed in the same spot facing the destabilizing portal. He stared at it as if he was in a trance.
"Hey, Rocketman! What's the hold up?" Tony asked.
"My sensor is detecting signs of life." Baymax said. He pointed right at the portal. "Coming from there. The life signs are female. She appears to be in hyper-sleep."
Both Hiro and Tony came to the same conclusion.
"It's Abigail, Callaghan's daughter!" Tony gasped.
"She's still alive!" Hiro exclaimed.
"What?" Callaghan asked full of surprise and newfound hope. "Abigail."
"Then let's go get her." Hiro said climbing on Baymax's back.
"The portal is destabilizing." Krei reminded. "You'll never make it."
"Then we'll just have to be quick." Tony said joining beside Baymax.
"She's alive in there. Someone has to help." Hiro said repeating his brother's last words. "What do you say, buddy?"
"Flying makes me a better healthcare companion." Baymax said.
"Get ready for a flying buddy." Tony said readying his rocket boots.
Together, Tony and Baymax launched themselves from the ground. They went to the sky first to gain some momentum, and then, they circled back to fly right into the portal.
Everyone stood by waiting and hoping for their safe return. But while everyone was distracted, Obadiah Stane shot his eyes open full of fury. He picked himself with his Iron Monger outfit and activated the rockets in his boots. Everyone turned to see Stane, but they were too late to stop him. He roared as he flew right past them and followed the three heroes into the portal.
"Oh, no!" Honey Lemon gasped. "We have to help them!"
"How? None of us can fly!" Wasabi shouted.
"But the guys could be in trouble if Stane catches up to them!" Fred yelled.
"We don't have a choice." Gogo said turning to watch the portal. "We just have to hope."
"Come on, kids." Callaghan begged under his breath. "Please. Get my daughter back safely."