Chapter 10:

Tony Stark vs Hephaestus part 1:

Metal Gear

The Iron knight and the Smith exchanged a short staredown. Iron Man's face was practically unreadable, but his body language radiated confidence.

Hephaestus' lips curled up in an excited smile. The god's youth showed in that moment. At that moment he looked like a mere child ready to play with his newest toy.

"I heard stories about you, Stark," Hepheastus cocked his head to his left side. "You better make this entertaining." The god reached behind his back into the hornet's nest of weapons. From it he pulled a hammer. The hammer was deceptively small and looked rather simple, lacking any of the intriguing details or sharpness of the other weapons he carried.

"I did plan on making it quite a show." Tony said..

"Ahem," Heimdall subtly told both fighters to shut up. He put the horn to his mouth. "HUMANITY AND THE GODS ARE NOW TIED. WHO WILL WIN THE NEXT ROUND? IS IT IRON MAN THE UNPARALLELED INVENTOR, OR HEPHAESTUS, THE MAN WHO MADE THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPONS IN THE UNIVERSE? THE THIRD BATTLE OF RAGNAROK, STARS NOW!"

Iron Man immediately backed away, using his repulsors he managed to keep himself hovering in the air while he still faced the god of smithing. The god casually tossed up the small hammer in his hand.

Brunhilde bit her lip. This match was going to be a close one. Hephaestus wasn't strong, at least not physically. Most of humanity's strongest could take him out on a 1 on 1, but the problem was his weapons and tricks that could make him one of the most dangerous Olympians if the circumstances were right.

Hepheastus knelt down. A mischievous smile curled up his lips. He slowly tapped the top of the hammer onto the ground.

The ground shook violently. Dust stirred up and a shockwave of wind erupted around the point of impact. Iron Man briefly lost balance and for a brief second it looked like he would touch the ground again, but in the end he managed to recover his balance and remained hovering in place.

Heimdall pointed at the hammer. "Behold, the hammer of Hephaestus! Normally it is used to craft the weapons of divine nature, now used in Ragnarok as a weapon! But how will it stack up against mortal metals?"

"I don't see your Völundr!" Hephaestus got up. "Are you sure you can take even a single blow? I wouldn't want our fight to be over so soon. I've got so many more weapons to show."

"Come and find out." From behind Iron Man's shoulder several panels slid open. Tiny missiles, each appearing like a tiny star, burst out of their containers and shot towards the god.

Casually, with a low swing, Hepheasus brought down the hammer and a shockwave emerged. The wind knocked the projectiles off course and they flew off in different directions. Exploding somewhere behind Hephaestus.

"Let's try that again." Another panel opened up and another volley of missiles shot up into the sky.

"Come on Stark, you promised me a show!" Hepheastus raised his hammer again.

Iron Man, while the missiles flew up, swiftly brought up his left hand, his palm facing the god of smithing. The plates on his hand began to shift.

"What is that?" Ares thoughtfully tapped his chin. "I must admit, I am out of touch with modern human warfare."

Hermes narrowed his eyes. He studied the intricate design of Iron Man's glove. "You might want to look away."

Hepheastus was about to bring down the hammer when the glove of his opponent began to glow. A circular blue ring of light glowed fiercely. He heard a low humming sound. The air around him felt static.

Hephaestus' eyes widened. He raised his hammer in front of his body and shut his eyes just as the laser exploded into his face.

The entire arena lit up.

…

…

…

Heimdall removed his hand from his face and peered through his goggles. He still saw white flashes but that could wait. The fight was still going and Ragnarok needed him.

"Oh GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY! What an attack!" Heimdall coughed away the smoke that lingered. "I can barely believe it!"

The gods stared in horror at their fighter. Heoheastus' body was still mostly intact but the hammer had disappeared completely, disintegrating into ashes under the pressure. It had absorbed most of the blow, but not all of it. And what it didn't absorb was clearly seen by the whole world.

Hepheastus blinked slowly at the bloody stump that used to be his hand. His hand had been cut off to the wrist. But there was no gore or blood. His wound had been completely cauterised.

"H-how?" His voice trembled, he clutched the stump, he tried to move the fingers he no longer had, but still felt he had. His hand was gone. He turned his gaze towards the floating armoury. "Y-yo you can't hurt me." Hepheastus cried out. " Not without a Völundr. HOW?!"

Iron Man lowered himself to the ground. The mask that made up his faceplates was pulled back, but not through mechanical levers and systems, instead it retracted back into his suit like the metal was a fluid. Tony Stark swung out his right arm. The shape of his glove began to shift and change rapidly, smoothly the plating around the arm began to restructure itself until it had the form of a long sharp blade. "Nanomachines son."

A moment of silence passed.

The crowd began to murmur excitedly. Has humanity found a new way to kill gods? An upperhand?

"Ha!" Hephaestus let go of the stump and stood up straight. The crowd stopped talking. "Hahaha! I see it now." Hephaestus' eyes glowed a golden colour and he was looking at Tony Stark with an almost demonic expression, as if he was already taking apart both the suit and the person inside with just his eyes.

"Your Völgun isn't a singular weapon. It is every single nano-machine in your suit." From one of the satchels Hepheastus produced a prosthetic hand. It looked rough and unfinished, but the runes inscribed on its surface suggested that it didn't need to be finished. With a quick motion Hepheastus attached the metallic hand to the stump. Within seconds the fingers began to move and rotate freely as if it had been made of flesh. "Seems like I might get to use my more powerful tools after all."

Tony Stark didn't look intimidated or afraid. He smiled and spread his arms like the arena was a stage, and he was the main character speaking to the audience. "Behold, the Mark VII. I dedicated it to you, I call it the Godbuster Armor."

A/N Just in case it wasn't clear, I am not following any strict canon per se. It is loosely based on the MCU version of Iron Man with some of the comics thrown in where I feel it'll help the story be better.

Thus, this is not the actual Model 63 Godbuster armour from the comics.

Still, we can cook with this.

-CaptainMoonShine-