A/N Song for this chapter: 1 hour of Not A Heart, But An Engine (youtube)

Chapter 11:

Tony Stark vs Hephaestus part 2:

Phoenix

Tony recalled the helmet and covered his face. Immediately graphs and bars filled his visions. Automated systems whirred inside his suit. Energy was circulating throughout his entire body.

"You missed your chance," a Valkyrie's voice chided him. More data was brought into his view as the battle was being analyzed live: the shot of Hephaestus' hand being cut off by the laser, the direction his missiles flew and the new prosthetic arm he had equipped.

"Mmm, that new arm of his seems dangerous," Svipul murmured.

The Valkyrie had replaced F.R.I.D.A.Y. Saying she was his armor was an understatement. The Valkyrie and the Avenger had combined their souls for this battle and her consciousness flowed through both him and his suit, functioning almost as an extension of his mind.

Tony couldn't help but to think about Pepper. She must be somewhere in the audience but he refused to look. A distraction like that would cost him everything here, including her.

"Your story is a strange one," Svipul noticed. "From merchant of death to a man who risks his life for the fate of the world,"

Memories flashed through Tony's head. Selling weapons, being stuck in that cave, putting together his first suit of armor, improving it and assembling the Avengers. Rapidly more fragments of his life flooded him. Ultron, Madame Masque, the tear in the Avengers, Peter and then the Mad Titan.

Now he was fighting Hephaestus. It should be just another opponent but it felt different. He radiated confidence but internally Tony couldn't help but feel doubt seep through. Was his suit strong enough this time? Was his tech adept enough, would he be able to keep up with a literal god?

His enemy was divine. The gods had judged humanity and now he was fighting on his own in the arena. A fight to the death.

"Not alone," the Valkyrie reminded him. "It's been quite a journey since you crawled out of that cave. It doesn't have to be just you."

It was strangely unnerving for him to hear someone in his ear. He usually fought his battles alone, or with A.I companions. To find himself yet again on the battlefield with this otherworldly creature inside his head, soul and around his body in the form of a nanomachine suit…well it was quite something.

"Let's focus on the fight. His new prosthetic is composed of an Orichalcum alloy and inscribed with several runes and I even see a few hieroglyphs. This would be his new toy."

The arm was interesting. The metallic device was wholly solid and had springs and pulleys running over its side with symbols engraved into the gears.

Hephaestus smiled like a fox and pushed his first forward and steadied it with his free and working hand. The runes began to emanate a bright green glow. A barrel was pushed out into the front.

"HEPHAESTUS MAY HAVE LOST HIS HAND BUT IN RETURN HE GOT A HAND CANNON! THAT'S THE GOD OF CRAFTSMANSHIP FOR YOU PEOPLE!"

"That doesn't look like a toy," Tony murmured as the repulsors charged up.

A bright green flash exploded out of the canon and streaked past Tony's feet. Tony flew up further. Below him the fire had left a long wing shaped scorch mark that spread out from Hephaestus. The sand directly underneath the fire had turned into glass.

"Greek fire," Hepheastus aimed his hand cannon up and released another charge. "One shot is all I need to pulverize you, regardless of your Völundr."

Tony swung to the side. A green smoke trail was left in the blast' wake. He aimed his own hand cannon forward and released a volley of small missiles. They only soared for a brief second before the green explosion ate them and rendered them to dust.

Through the smoke cut a blue laser and tore towards Hephaestus.

"You think I would fall for that trick twice?" Hephaestus dodged to the left. "I've improved, and I'll continue to improve with every step I take." He fired a couple of large blasts towards Tony Stark. Hephaestus let out a laugh as one of the shockwaves knocked Iron Man down to ground level.

Iron Man landed only a few meters away from Hephaestus. The god of Craftsmanship readied his fist. Flames lit up around the prosthetic arm as both his divine power and the magic inside intertwined and charged him forward, launching the god at an ungodly speed towards the fallen knight.

He was going to end this fight right there and now.

Without Iron Man even willing it the suit moved on its own. Excess nanomachines spurred forward and reshaped themselves and molded into a shield. It generated a holographic shade around Tony in the instant he had hit the ground.

Hephaestus' fist collided a split instant later and the arena lit up. For a brief second the holographic field halted the god, slowing down the fist.

"No, not now!" Hepheastus yelled. Green flames flared up around Hephaestus and he pushed his fist forward. It shredded through the shield, severing the nanomachines and burning them to dust.

Tony winced, the Greek fire seared his flesh inside the suit. He had lost a significant amount of energy but he gritted his teeth and delivered a kick towards the god's misshapen leg.

Immediately the blond boy buckled and let go of Iron Man. He let out a cry of anguish.

Iron Man flew up, leaving behind only a small explosion to cover his escape. Hepheastus stumbled out of range and fired his hand cannon up. He released multiple charges and the sky flashed green.

The audience held its breath as Iron Man was forced to weave past several deadly shots, each one threatening to eat through him upon impact.

Even as Tony dodged them, he could feel the heat from the fire trying to cook his flesh from outside his armor.

The repulsors on his hands and feet fired up and Iron Man rose even higher into the air until he became only a mere blip against the boundless blue sky.

The sun shone relentlessly upon the arena but going again the light Iron Man kept flying up.

Hepheastus fired again but his target was out of reach.

He frowned and lowered his arm, the cannon slid back into the metal folds. "Where are you going?"

"I CAN BARELY SEE IRON MAN. LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THIS FIGHT HAS GONE TO UNSEEN HEIGHTS!" Heimdall yelled, Excitedly. "TONY STARK HAD THE UPPER HAND BUT IS NOW SENT ON THE RUN. WHAT CAN HE DO TO TURN THE TABLE?

Both the gods and the humans strained their necks to look up, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on up there.

The next move could decide the fate of the Earth. The sky was open and massive, and against it Iron Man looked insignificantly small.

Steve prayed.

"Don't pray, the gods are our enemies," Natasha said. Her expression was stolid, though it didn't take much effort for Steve to see through it.

"Those are not gods." Steve shook his head.

"He was sent running."

"Oh he's not running." Bruce suddenly spoke up.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "You know something I don't?"

"It doesn't matter what kind of suit Tony has, it requires power," Bruce grinned. "And what is the sun but one giant battery?"

"What's the damage?" Tony asked.

"I think you can feel the damage." Valkyrie replied. Multiple red system alerts popped up on screen. Tony hand waved them all away.

His arm felt raw. Bone, flesh and nanomachines had molten together into an imobile mess. He couldn't feel anything. He knew that the medic surgery bots, shrunken down with Pym particles, were working on stitching together what they could inside his suit, but even they could only do so much.

"Okay, well, I definitely feel that. How about we return the hurt? How much energy do we have?"

Svipul smiled. "The sun fed us quite well. We're at 1000000% right now."

The plates on Iron Man's back began to shift.

"What do you think?" Hermes partially covered his eyes as he looked up. Iron Man had positioned himself in front of the sun. The flying fortress hovered there like an angel, the glaring sun behind his back made it hard to look at him.

Sweat pearled down Hermes' forehead as the sun continued to beam down. The air felt musky, static and dangerous.

A small smile curled up on Hermes' lips. He was sweating harder now, but he figured it wasn't the sun that caused the world to heat up.

It was the air being supercharged inside the arena.

Behind Tony his suit began to eject several smaller devices that spread outwards around him in a crescent pattern.

"Ever heard of Daedalus?" Zeus finally asked..

"Are those wings?" Göll gazed up with blatant disregard for her own safety.

It definitely looked like Iron Man had grown a massive pair of mechanical wings. 6 elongated plates that circled around him.

Brunhilde chuckled.

"Those aren't wings."

"What are you playing at?" Hephaestus reached for his stash of weapons.

"Activating the Phoenix Cannon." Svipul announced.

All 6 cannons began to shine.

A/N I did so much research for this chapter, so I hope some nerds here pick up on them. If not, I hope you all just love the fireworks.

Also, while writing I listen to some battle music and I thought to share it with the readers. I can't exactly play a song per segment but I can give the general song that does set the tone and enhances the reading experience in my opinion. All of it can be found on youtube.

I'll do this more from now onward.

-CaptainMoonShine-

(Reviews)

Kiyan Tribe: more chapters of this pls

A: Aye!

Shadow Joestar:

KO awesome chapter, the third round of the tournament has begun with Iron Man showing off the newest armor that is also his Völundr which is the coolest thing ever and the like Tony did was amazing too! Let see how the amity God fairs against this mighty armor.

A: Nanomachine's son.