No-One But You (The Zephyr Endeavor)
Chapter 75: The Beautiful People (Part 5)
Tony Stark was getting closer to the continent of Antarctica. He saw the spawn of Satan just up ahead, so Tony turned up the heat and he flew ahead of Obadiah's bulky machines…
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"Sir, because of the change in temperature, I've detected a shift in the Monger's energy input. A number of the machines have tapped into a thermo-energizer, better known as a stored solar reserve."
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Oh wow, solar huh? Of course, the friggen sun was the damn energy source. DUHHhhh… Tony almost rolled his eyes when part of the big mystery was revealed to him, then he glanced back and saw the large set of Iron Mongers.
As he pushed passed the pack, one of the massive machines reached out in his direction, and Tony was known to risk it all for the sake of learning something….
He let the Monger grab the leg of his armor, and the inventor was surprised to learn that he was seconds away from losing a chunk of tech.
Tony hit that bulky machine with a repulsor blast, then he sped off toward Ezekiel Stane. He told Jarvis to check out his leg, and his nano-tech already started repairing the damage.
The Monger tried to suck up his armor, or fuse with it… just as Ezekiel described. SO, Tony's info-hunt was beginning to reel in some answers, but the math wasn't adding up as fast as he'd hoped.
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He reached Ezekiel Stane's precious suit, and Tony stopped directly beside him. They both looked out toward the Iron Mongers, and another theory suddenly sprung to Tony's mind based off what he could see….
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"Yo, Led Zeppelin, who designed the mask of the Iron Monger? Was it you, or your father?"
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Tony had Jarvis take an image of the armor. The faceplate was buggin, and the reason for that was slowly brewing. Ezekiel was having Zephyr scan for something as well, but he wasn't thinking about the Monger's design at all…
His eyes looked in Tony's direction beneath the suit. Ezekiel patched over his response after a moment…
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"The face of the Monger is my father's design, but it's based on older versions of your armor."
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"You sure?"
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Tony had to ask. His eyes turned in Ezekiel's direction too, because Tony couldn't recall creating anything with a face as medieval as that. No, something was going on in Earth Dimension 3000-21, because Tony's Iron Man armor wasn't developed in the same way…
Inside the suit, Tony asked Jarvis to run a scan for any individuals who had features that resembled the Iron Monger, and boy did he get a hit right off the bat. The solar reserve thing was something to ponder as well, and it added some additional weight to Tony's suspicion…
It felt like the perfect time to call out Bingo,but the inventor kept the bulk of his discovery to himself. The machines were getting close at that point, so Tony decided to drop a little hint.
Maybe Obadiah's baby boy already knew what he figured out? Did he know who he's been working for? Either way, the truth was coming out sooner rather than later, so…
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"I have officially found the invisible man. You know, the guy you've been working for since you were in diapers…"
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That was way more than a hint, but Tony dropped it anyway. He saw a small shift to Zephyr's posture as that information was processed. He was unable to see Ezekiel's face, but the brunette was guessing that a river of confusion was washing over the individual who was standing there beside him.
Well, Tony hoped there was confusion, cuz if there wasn't?…..wowza. That would probably start a war.
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Ezekiel kept staring at Tony's armor, then his focus switched over to a sudden alert. Zephyr informed him that Sevgili was quickly heading in his direction, so a number of emotions picked up and ran over the Jackal's young mind, body, and soul.
Tony's interesting comment unfortunately dominated the moment, because Ezekiel had no idea what it meant.
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"I don't work for anyone..."
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"You sure? Let's test that theory, cuz I think the invisible man is finally making his move…"
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Right there. Tony pointed at all the Mongers. Think of them as chess pawns, if that sort of thing floats your boat. Ezekiel understood what was being said, and unsaid, so his attention turned toward the pack of suits that were heading straight for him.
The Jackal had approximately… three minutes, then his father's machines would be right on top of him. Unfortunately, Wade Wilson would arrive in five minutes…
Ezekiel thought about explaining something to Wade, but something else was dominating his thoughts. He didn't think the mercenary would understand, so…
Tony Stark and Ezekiel Stane also had a devotion to science, and a strong devotion to answer anything and everything that was considered unknown. And with that thought, the "Iron Man" continued standing beside Obadiah's son, and together they came up with an aligned plan.
You can call it an aligned "vision" if you want. They've been down that road before, and this time Ezekiel spoke first. He said he wanted to see what happened if they allowed the Iron Mongers to fuse with their suits, and Tony agreed with the insane idea.
To make things even more dramatic, Tony smiled and he reached out for Ezekiel's hand. The Jackal had a roll to his eyes as he processed Tony Stark actually extending his hand. They definitely weren't allies, or friends, so the notion was… interesting, and Ezekiel eventually took the bait.
They both were going to take that crazy leap of faith together, and face the great unknown… so Obadiah's son quietly took his hand.
Those "Iron Mongers" did what they were programmed to do, and Deadpool arrived just in time to find a giant pile of them sticking out all over the ice.
Some of the metal was all… fused and stuck to the icy cold ground, so the mercenary started digging his way through what seemed like the middle of a giant dog pile.
He just started tossing back chunks of metal, and he kept telling his suit to patch him through so he could speak to the white rabbit…
Ezekiel had a communication link, right? Wellllllllll, Wade couldn't hear anything over the line, so he started wigging out….
Chapter: END
Thanks for reading.