No-One But You (The Zephyr Endeavor) - Part 2
Chapter 88: Dirthouse (Part 8)
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After Ezekiel Stane tuned into what was happening on the ground level of Victor Von Doom's colosseum, someone noticed that the energy surrounding the place took a dark turn.
Victor Strange noticed it first, and he began to hold Ezekiel's right hand a little tighter. Ezekiel's vibe was getting gloomy, somber, and it seemed to spill over the pit like a dark cloud.
The Jackal didn't care to know that information at all, and a smile slowly formed beneath his suit… That smile emerged, because that "Vishanti Trio" had Doctor Doom right where he wanted him.
Quick recap: The Vishanti Trio consisted of Stephen Strange, Tony Stark, and Steve Rogers… and the three of them had combined their strength to hold Victor Von Doom in one location, for the time being.
It seemed like he was getting a stern talking to in that moment, and as far as Ezekiel was concerned… that wasn't enough punishment.
If Wade Wilson was truly gone, then Doctor Doom would be joining him in hell. Their fight would continue there for sure, and Ezekiel told himself that he would make it happen…
…
The Jackal needed to act fast, so he took a half step away from Victor Strange, and his presence beside the baby Sorcerer Supreme completely disappeared.
Victor gasped a bit after Zephyr's hand disappeared. He wasn't sure what to expect, so he loudly told his brother that Ezekiel was on the move.
Stephen heard his brother, but his focus was a bit preoccupied with what he had going on with Doom. If he let up his holding spell for even a second, the ruler of Latveria could push back and flip shit in his favor.
Thank GAWD he had Tony and Steve there with him, on top of several others.
What happened next wasn't necessarily a good thing, but Ezekiel took advantage of that moment and he suddenly SHOWED UP directly beside Victor Von Doom.
The Vishanti Trio unexpectedly gave him access, and Ezekiel's behavior came across as eerie, and borderline creepy.
He just showed up like the spooky ghosts you see in horror films, and he said something to Doom in an unsettlingly tone.
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"Harming Wade Wilson was strike three, Doc…"
…
That's all he said, then his disturbing presence disappeared once again. The only person who was HOT ON Ezekiel's moves was naturally Tony Stark.
His eyes and tech were following that shit like you wouldn't believe. He noticed that Ezekiel left one of those white orbs beside Doom, and it silently slipped somewhere beneath his armor.
Tony saw EXACTLY what Ezekiel did to Doom, and the move was slick.
Ezekiel was actually making moves ALL OVER that fighting pit, so Tony's focus started looking up. Shit. The place was already flooded with the baby Jackal's weird tech.
Tony broke a cold sweat for a second, and he had Jarvis run the numbers on how many people were technically "infected"…
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"I know you've been around the block and all, Doctor Doom, but let's remember that metal is metal… and anything built can be undone."
…
Ezekiel's creepy voice was all over the place now, so Tony's focus snapped back to Victor Von Doom.
The green clothing he had on over his metal armor had already disintegrated at that point, and the brunette asked Jarvis to further inspect what was happening to Doom's suit.
We're getting reaaaallly nerdy now, but Tony had to know if Ezekiel was overheating the metal… or introducing some sort of chloride?
Was he using a concentration of hydrogen?Sulfuric acid? Fuck, Ezekiel could even toss some salt water into the damn mix if he wanted to, but whatever he did was obviously working.
From what Tony could see, Doom's metal was deteriorating chemically, and that was happening because Ezekiel was introducing corrosive microorganisms to the surface of Doom's metal suit.
Wait. Are we dealing with a high concentration of hydrofluoric acid here too, being dished out in micron-sized… microdroplets? A cubic micron is a small as it gets folks, and manipulating something that small was no joke.
Tony Stark was inwardly trying to hide how impressed he actually was, because currently his nano-tech was just a hair smaller than being the size of a flea when compared to Ezekiel's work.
His "work" had been put on hold for a long time, but now it seemed like his abilities were back with a vengeance.
The upper layer of Doom's suit became exposed immediately, then the Jackal's micron-sized tech trickled its way around the inner surface.
As a result, the corrosion was creeping all the way to the core of that metal before anyone could friggen blink.
To make matters worse, Ezekiel Stane absentmindedly decided to start taking his frustration out on EVERYONE… Not just Doom.
Tony received an alert that his armor was affected as well, so he started looking around for some sort of shelter. Well, finding "shelter" wasn't going to help for shit, cuz Obadiah's baby boy was clearly going through a relapse back to darkness…
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"I know I'm flawed, ladies and gentlemen, but I've been paying attention to all of your assessments, and heeding all of your wonderful feedback. Charles Xavier's take on my fragile mind is still my favorite…"
…
Oh boy, here we go… Tony's worst nightmare presented itself, cuz it seemed like thousands of those white orbs had been traveling out of Ezekiel's armor.
They quickly filled the space around the entire colosseum… then they fizzled apart and started falling down on the crowd like rain.
That "rainfall" was actually acidic… and the onlookers felt it burn as soon as it touched their skin. That was a GIANT RED FLAG for Tony, so he abruptly stopped his holding spell on Doom.
Tony booked it toward the crowd, ran another scan for Ezekiel Stane, and he pitched a warning to his Vishanti brothers.
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"HEY YOU TWO, we've gotta get everyone outta here…cuz now we've got a dangerous mix of corrosive biological cells, laced with something that behaves like hydrofluoric acid."
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"What does that mean in ENGLISH, Tony?"
…
LOL Steve Rogers didn't quite catch the spitfire nerd talk. He could physically SEE what was happening amongst the crowd, and to Victor Von Doom.
Steve was also familiar with Ezekiel's abilities, but he'd never seen him do anything like that before. Getting people to safety was the best plan, so the blonde followed Tony's lead.
Stephen Strange had already released his hold on Doom, because his priority naturally fell on taking care of Clea, Sofia, and Victor.
It's nothing personal, but the former Sorcerer Supreme already left Tony and Steve behind with Doom.
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"IT MEANS we've got ourselves a microbial corrosion shower-fest of death. That's MY-CRO-BEE-UL, Steve, and that means we gotta get out of here fast."
…
Ezekiel's little cocktail of hydrofluoric acid could easily melt through flesh, metal, and bone… and Doom's "armor" wasn't the only thing corroding rapidly.
Chunks of his metal armor were corroding down to dust, and it left parts of Victor Von Doom's body completely exposed.
Ezekiel was an absolute champ at manipulating micro-synthetic alloys… and the biological entities he's been playing with since he was a kid had already invaded Doom's system.
He really had it out for his former mentor, and, from Tony's perspective, it seemed like all that progress and shiny light had disappeared from his tormented soul.
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"I am eternally grateful for everyone's heartfelt council, but I think it's time for us to go our separate ways. I'll be setting my own end date as we move things forward, Captain Rogers."
…
Ezekiel's voice was the only thing present, but he could see how everyone was reacting to his biggest move.
More importantly, the Jackal started watching what was happening with Victor Von Doom. The Vishanti Trio released their hold on him, and naturally, the man left the scene to protect himself.
Because of their hold on him, parts of his flesh had burned and melted away, but that wasn't enough.
Ezekiel wanted to inflict more pain on the man who treated Wade with such contempt and disrespect.
At times… they all treated Wade in such a manner, in one way or another, so… deep down Ezekiel needed to make them all pay.
Chapter: END
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