30: Iron Burn

The night in Malibu suddenly turned into day for a moment as an incandescent column shot up to the sky with a roar that reverberated everywhere, and the impact shattered all the glass within a radius of dozens of kilometers.

Tony crossed his arms in front of him, watching the flames completely consume what was once his company's building.

"What the hell!?" He looked at the data on his HUD; something wasn't right here.

Daniel looked at his cape with slightly narrowed eyes.; unexpectedly, it had gotten a little scorched. He lowered the arm he had raised it with to cover himself and Natasha and looked towards where the Stark Industries building had previously stood.

"It’s better if you step back. Tell S.H.I.E.L.D. to increase the evacuation perimeter. I think things are going to get much more intense." Natasha nodded, started barking orders into her communicator, and quickly retreated. After watching her leave, Daniel moved forward, standing next to Tony and looking at the dazzling fire.

"I guess, in terms of the company, there is no company?" Daniel joked. Of course, even though this was the headquarters of Stark Industries, it didn't mean it was everything.

Tony didn't respond. Instead, he focused his gaze into the sea of fire. The ground trembled slightly as heavy footsteps began to be heard. From within the flames, a figure just over three meters tall emerged, becoming fully visible.

The dark metal with silver details reflected the flames almost like a mirror. Purple energy lines were occasionally visible, like streamers crossing its surface.

"What do you think? A bit rough, I admit, but its power certainly exceeds my expectations," Stane's voice came from the mechanical suit.

Daniel frowned. Although the suit was very similar to Tony's, there were clear differences apart from its size.

"Now you're making cheap copies of my stuff, Obie?" Tony said, annoyed. It was clear to him that the design of such armor was based on his. He quickly began trying a scan using his suit's sensors.

It looked like a much more advanced design of Mark 1, even a bit like Mark 2 in some aspects, but certainly much inferior to Mark 3.

"Cheap, you say? It's funny to hear that. You have no idea how much it cost to make this armor," Stane said with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Well, once I dismantle it and sell its parts on eBay, I'll send you some of that money. It'll come in handy in prison," Tony said, taking a step forward, the arc reactor in his chest glowing more intensely.

"Prison? How amusing." It was then that Stane noticed Daniel. He had been too focused on Tony, but once he saw him, he couldn't help but laugh out loud and point with his hand.

"Defiant! The greatest hero in the world! It's good to see you here. Once I'm done with Tony, I'll take care of you." That made Daniel raise an eyebrow. Why was he being threatened now? It seemed he had enemies without realizing it.

"Do you want help with this?" he asked Tony, who shook his head in response.

"To deal with a guy like this, I only need one hand," he said with extreme confidence. He didn't know how Obadiah had gotten the plans to build an armor, although he had an idea in mind. Even so, whether it was one or a hundred, any armor created based on his old designs posed no threat at all to him.

The thrusters on his hands, feet, back, elbows, and even legs all activated simultaneously at maximum power. The sound of the engines roaring exploded with force, his figure becoming blurry as he accelerated at an inhuman speed toward Stane.

Daniel's eyes widened slightly. At that speed… though still far from him or Carol, it couldn't be said that he was too far off.

Tony's fist shot forward, powered by over 16 gigawatts of energy generated per second thanks to the four arc reactors in his armor.

If not for the protection of his energy shields, the metal in his fist would have started to glow red-hot due to the friction.

In less than a second, such a blow collided head-on with the chest of Obadiah's armor. The air exploded, the shockwave sank the ground several centimeters and created a tremor that shook the entire place.

Tony expected his fist to pierce Stane's armor and create a hole that would allow him to reach his real body, destroying any alloy that stood in his way. He did not expect his hand to go numb, much less that the massive armor of over three meters would barely move back a few centimeters.

He looked at the spot where he had struck. Purple energy lines spread out for a moment, glowing intensely for half a second before disappearing.

Slowly, he raised his gaze to meet the face of Stane's armor.

"My turn!" Then a fist the size of his head struck him in the face.

Tony's left foot sank as his body tilted to one side, yet he remained firm despite Stane's fist in his face.

His energy field shone brightly at the point of contact. If this were the Mark 2, he would have been sent flying long ago.

"I see you've improved your technology! It's impressive," Obadiah praised, then his fist glowed with a purple light that soon turned crimson.

"But it's barely enough!" Like a volcanic eruption, an explosion similar to the one that destroyed the entire Stark Industries building enveloped them both in an instant.

This time, Tony was sent flying, rolling dozens of meters across the ground before forcing himself to stop.

"Extreme thermal energy source detected," Jarvis's voice came, and Tony scolded him.

"Yeah, I noticed." He looked at the flames and saw Stane emerging from them unscathed.

He began analyzing what had happened with the data Jarvis had been collecting.

"Energy absorption? No, it's not just that." These characteristics... he looked at the data in disbelief.

"Vibranium? How did you get an extinct metal?" he couldn't help but ask.

Tony had tried to obtain some of the metal by following the rumors he had heard a while ago. He investigated the black market but never managed to find anything concrete, so he thought it had all been a hoax and stopped thinking about it. Now he couldn't help but scold himself. Somehow, Stane must have found the real source.

"Surprised? I told you this armor has cost more than you can imagine!"

Stane felt an overwhelming euphoria seeing Tony half-kneeling on the ground in front of him, just as it always should have been.

"Warning, internal temperature exceeds 75%," the alert on his HUD made his smile diminish a bit. He needed to control himself. Thanks to vibranium and its undoubtedly impressive characteristics for resisting and storing kinetic energy, the scientists under his command had created a feedback system that extracts the heat generated by his body to power the armor, thus replacing the need for an arc reactor. It was a work that would undoubtedly be revolutionary, but it was still not perfect.

If the thermal energy released from his body exceeded a certain temperature level, the energy control and regulation system would overload. In that case, nothing would prevent the internal components from slowly melting.

He had to be careful.

Tony stood up, straightening his body easily. He looked at Stane with seriousness; this could be much more difficult than he expected.

"One hand, huh?" Daniel's sarcastic voice made him grit his teeth.

“Don't worry, performance problems, it usually happens I understand, they come with age.” Daniel stepped forward. Ever since he heard the word vibranium, he knew it was time to intervene.

"It was just a warm-up. It won't happen again," Tony said, clenching his fists.

Seeing the two standing together, Obadiah smiled.

"Both of you at the same time, huh? Fine, I'll kill you both tonight."

The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance, and in the sky, the rotors of a helicopter stirred the wind. Stane looked up and smiled.

"And it seems the world will get to see it." Daniel frowned; it seemed journalists didn't really appreciate their lives.

There was a momentary silence, a calm that was broken when Daniel accelerated forward at full speed.

His fist met the metal face of Obadiah head-on. He wanted to test how hard this metal was, of which he had only brief memories.

The air exploded. He felt his bones crack slightly and opened his eyes as he felt the protection on his gloves' knuckles shatter. The element V was destroyed on contact.

He quickly spun in the air, dodging Stane's fist. His leg shot out, striking where the neck should be. Again, the air exploded, but it still didn't seem to dent the metal even a little.

"Amazing," he couldn't help but say.

He stepped aside, letting a blue repulsor beam hit Stane.

The man barely moved back. He crossed his arms in front of him, and from his back, several large cannons deployed, beginning to glow a bright yellow.

Daniel landed not far away and, seeing Stane's actions, raised his arm and extended his palm forward. He could dodge, but he wanted to see how strong Stane's armor was. If it was just extremely tough, then defeating him shouldn't be that complicated.

From the cannons, six beams of extremely scorching energy were fired. Tony propelled himself into the air, dodging them and flying forward. Daniel saw them coming and let them crash against his open palm. The extreme heat was notable, and his suit surprisingly withstood it for a few seconds before beginning to burn.

Then the attack stopped as Tony had reached Stane and began engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

Daniel looked at his palm, mentally calculating the temperature—at least five thousand degrees Celsius, minimum. Enough to destabilize the smart atoms in his body and possibly burn him a bit.

He watched as Tony used his speed and smaller size to attack Obadiah without any success. His fist connected but only stopped abruptly.

Daniel wondered how many hits he would need to break through such an alloy.

Tony gritted his teeth, his knee driving forward with enough force to instantly crumple an armored vehicle. Against Stane's armor, it only created a shockwave and moved him a few steps back. He quickly tried to retreat, but Stane's hand rose, grabbing his arm in a powerful grip.

"Alert: energy shields at maximum power." The translucent blue light of his energy shield shone brightly. Incredulously, Tony saw the metal behind it begin to deform due to the pressure.

He opened his palm, causing his repulsor beam to fire at full power towards Stane's face. Still, this did not weaken the grip. Instead, Stane's other arm stretched out, grabbing him by the waist and starting to squeeze.

"Do you feel it, Tony?! This is the price for going against me! You should never have returned from Afghanistan! Now you'll die as you should have from the beginning!" Tony gritted his teeth.

"All energy to the chest reactor!" he ordered Jarvis.

The blue light intensified, and then a powerful Unibeam fired point-blank at Stane.

A massive explosion occurred, and both were forcibly separated, each being pushed back several meters in different directions.

"Energy at 345%!" Tony clicked his tongue but didn't hesitate. He stood up, ready to continue. Of course, it was then that Daniel rushed forward and began attacking Obadiah.

His fist struck, causing the ground to shake.

"It's useless! You'll never be able to hurt me!" Obadiah roared, but his voice was drowned out the next instant by dozens of simultaneous booms. Daniel continued punching repeatedly in different spots without stopping, his figure blurring as he created a whirlwind of air currents that stirred the surrounding debris.

Daniel felt his knuckles break, his skin tear, his gloves having ceased to exist long ago. Still, as quickly as he was injured, his core healed him. With each punch, the force in his fists grew a bit stronger.

It felt like hitting Carol. No, Carol still had flesh; this was pure indestructible metal.

Despite that, he had no intention of stopping, not until he made this metal soften.

Obadiah couldn't move. From all directions, a barrage of punches began enveloping his entire body, faster than he could think or react. A tornado started to surround them, created by the rapid movement, his armor beginning to lift into the air by itself.

"External temperature increasing, energy storage capacity at the limit," an alert came up on his HUD. Incredulously, he saw the outer metal of his armor begin to glow red-hot. He couldn't let it continue like this!

"Release excess energy!" he roared.

Daniel threw another punch, but it didn't land because before it could, his fist was stopped by an invisible energy wall. Suddenly, from every part of Stane's armor, an explosion of kinetic energy began to release in the form of an omnidirectional circle.

His fist struggled against the kinetic barrier that began to ravage everything for an instant before his arm broke and his body was sent flying through the air. Everything within a 500-meter radius, with Stane as the epicenter, was forcibly repelled.

Tony crossed his arms in front of him, but even then, his body was dragged backward, crashing into a building that then collapsed on top of him.

Stane took a deep breath, his armor crashed to the ground while still standing upright. He lifted his gaze, looking at the surrounding terrain. A massive crater had formed with him at the center, forcibly displacing everything around it. Several buildings collapsed and crashed into others, starting a chain reaction of destruction.

He didn’t see Tony or Defiant and wondered if that had been enough to kill them both.

“See, Tony! No matter how hard you try or how much help you bring! I’m the one who will stand in the end!” his voice filled the night.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

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Carol had been practicing the various movement sequences of Torquasm-Vo just as her mother had shown her. There were different types of movements, some more complicated than others. Even so, following Lara's example, Carol had quickly learned all of them. Now she just needed to familiarize herself and get her body accustomed to executing them naturally.

“Kora,” her mother’s voice made her stop. With her leg raised, she looked toward where her projection had formed.

“What’s up?” It was strange to be called by a different name than the one she had used all her life. She hadn’t asked about it before, although she knew she must have one just like her brother did. Still, her mother had let it slip while teaching her, thus revealing her birth name. Since then, she had started using it more often.

“Something is happening. I thought you’d want to know,” she said, gesturing with her hand. Several projected screens then unfolded in front of Carol.

Carol lowered her foot, straightened her body, and looked at the different screens.

“The sky over Malibu suddenly lit up, the main building of the industries Stark seems to have been destroyed by a strong explosion. People have been evacuated in advance by unknown authorities—”

“Strong explosions and earthquakes have begun to shake the surrounding streets. Authorities recommend staying completely away—”

“We have images!”

Then one of the screens focused. Carol opened her eyes and paid full attention upon recognizing Daniel standing next to what appeared to be the person with whom he had destroyed the Ten Rings army in the Middle East.

The terrain where they were standing looked like a war zone, with several craters of different sizes scattered around, clear signs of a previous battle.

Both were looking at a large column of fire from which another much more robust and tall figure was emerging, with heavy steps that seemed to shake the ground.

“What is this?” Why did she keep missing these things? Weren’t they supposed to be a team? Weren’t they in this together? So why was she always away when Daniel got into trouble? Why hadn’t he called her?

She couldn’t help but bite her lip in frustration. In the images, it seemed there had been a brief exchange of words before the figure next to Daniel immediately rushed to attack what was clearly the enemy.

It was a bit fast, but only a bit. Even so, the enemy seemed much stronger as he easily ignored the blow and counterattacked.

Then, out of nowhere, a huge explosion shook the entire area, causing the news helicopter broadcasting live to pull back a bit.

Flames rose high into the sky, and Carol frowned.

She wasn’t worried about Daniel; an explosion like that couldn’t hurt him. Even so, she was anxious, wondering if she should go.

As she contemplated this, the image cleared again, and she was able to see how Daniel had rushed and attacked. She expected the armor to break, for the fight to end right at that moment. She couldn’t help but widen her eyes when she noticed Daniel’s punch didn’t even dent the metal.

“Impossible,” she said quietly.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Lara was also immediately intrigued. Although she didn’t know exactly how strong Daniel was, from Carol’s words, she knew he was at least not much weaker than her daughter. Of course, she didn’t fully believe that, but she still knew the boy’s power wasn’t something to underestimate.

Was there really a material on this planet capable of resisting him?

As if to answer her question, the fight continued, with more blows exchanged until Daniel seemed determined to attack seriously. His figure became completely blurry as he began attacking his enemy from all directions, the wind stirring and debris flying, the news helicopter nearly losing control.

Daniel unleashed thousands of blows in an instant, clearly seeking to penetrate the seemingly indestructible armor.

Carol watched the scene in disbelief. Then everything changed in an instant. Something happened, something that caused everything within a 500-meter radius to be blown away without any resistance. The image seemed to distort, and the news helicopter had to pull back much further to avoid being hit.

Others might not have noticed, but she saw Daniel's figure being thrown uncontrollably. She cursed the poor camera quality since she couldn't see his condition clearly.

“I need my suit.” No, she couldn’t just keep watching. She didn’t think about anything else, only that she had to go there and help now.

“If you go with just the suit, you’ll risk your identity,” her mother’s voice stopped her for a moment. She was right; she didn’t have her “normal” suit here, just the version without the hood and mask.

She thought for a moment about flying to the farm to get her other suit, but that would waste too much time. If Daniel really needed help, she didn’t want to be delayed.

“I’ll risk it,” she decided impulsively. Lara almost sighed but quickly spoke.

“Or you can take this,” she said, pointing to one of the walls. The crystalline structure instantly changed, revealing several mannequins. One had the suit Carol had rejected, another had the suit Daniel had made for her, and several others had different suits whit different styles, all clearly Kryptonian.

Lara pointed to one in particular with a dark gray helmet that seemed to cover the entire head, leaving only the mouth and lower jaw exposed.

“It’s one of the exploration suits Krypton used in its golden years. You can ignore the rest of the outfit but should take the helmet. It’s connected to the fortress, so I can keep in contact with you if necessary. It also has some other special features that aren’t important to explain right now.”

Carol didn’t hesitate. She quickly changed clothes and took the helmet without a second thought. The helmet seemed to respond to her touch, opening in two parts so she could easily fit her head into it.

Once she put it on, the helmet closed over her head in an almost airtight seal, leaving only her semi-long hair flowing out the back. the dark visor obscured her vision for a moment before a strange HUD appeared and her vision cleared.

“I don’t need the HUD,” she said, but her mother still manipulated it to show a map of the world and a clear path to where she needed to go.

Well, maybe she did need it.

Without hesitation, she took off at full speed, leaving the fortress in an instant.

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Tony tasted his blood. That impact had gone beyond his shields, and it didn’t help that a damn building had fallen on him afterward.

“Status,” he spoke, and several data points displayed in front of him on his HUD.

“Suit integrity at 87%, power at 280%.” Damn, that was a hit.

He tried to move, but the rubble pressing against him felt like a confining prison seeking to crush him. Even so, his suit slowly began to lift, moving the hundreds of tons of debris.

“Let’s get out of here!” His thrusters activated, and with an explosion, his body flew through the debris, breaking free.

He saw the starry sky and clumsily landed, seeing the surrounding disaster.

“D-Boy!” he shouted, but there was no response. Then he looked toward the center of it all where Obadiah was strutting.

Without hesitation, he began to approach, ready to continue fighting.

“So you’re still alive. Impressive, truly a genius among geniuses. Once I kill you, I’ll have my scientists study the suit in depth. It will undoubtedly bring great improvements to my design,” Stane mocked, starting to walk towards him as well.

Then the thrusters of both armors roared to life, accelerating rapidly until they met head-on in the air. The air exploded, and a shockwave propagated as their arms clashed in a struggle of strength.

The flight engines of the Mark 3 roared with more power, causing Obadiah to start retreating slowly.

“I’ll admit, your armor is tough, but that’s all. You’re a turtle trapped in a shell, Obie! And that’s your biggest weakness!” Tony roared.

The Mark 3 gained ground and soon rammed Stane straight to the ground, creating a loud crash upon landing and making them roll several meters. Even so, they didn’t separate. Tony aimed his palm at Obadiah’s face and began firing a concentrated energy beam. He knew there was no way he could break the vibranium, so he hoped to melt through it.

The problem with that was that his own armor might end up melting first if he wasn’t careful.

Obadiah closed his eyes from the dazzling light hitting his face. His vision was blurred, but he still moved, grabbing Tony in a strong embrace.

“You want heat, Tony!?” he asked with a smile on his face.

"Then take this!" Without hesitation, he let the flames burst forth from his chest in something very similar to a concentrated heat beam, much like the ray Tony had fired earlier but also different.

Alerts began blaring wildly in Tony's HUD. While his energy shields were impressive, the less energy they had, the less effective they were. Stane's crushing embrace was already consuming a lot of their power to keep him from being torn in two. The incandescent fire beam that began striking him head-on simply pushed them to their limit, causing them to fail and send red alerts everywhere.

"Fuck!," he stopped attacking and tried to pull away, his breath growing short. It was getting too hot.

"How does it feel, Tony?! Being boiled alive!" Stane laughed harder, enjoying the groans of pain from his former "godson."

"Energy at 180%, internal suit heat has begun to exceed the limit your body can withstand, deploying countermeasures," Jarvis's voice sounded, and suddenly air began to be sucked from the back of his armor at high speed.

Then, at a controlled high pressure, it was released as a stream of white mist. In any other circumstance, it would have frozen everything in front of him in an instant. In this case, it only momentarily reduced the searing heat threatening to burn him alive.

But just a few moments were all Tony needed. He released dozens of micro-missiles from his back, causing them to explode simultaneously without hesitation.

The powerful explosion managed to slightly loosen Obadiah's grip. Tony took advantage, activating his thrusters and shooting away from him. His body soared through the air clumsily, crashing to the ground shortly after.

"Shit," he felt something break but didn't know what.

He felt the ground trembling and slowly stood up, keeping his guard up.

"This only delays the inevitable, Tony. Why fight so hard? It will only make the process more painful," Stane said with clear mockery.

Tony laughed. This guy talked too much.

"Yeah, well, I've always been a very sore loser," he prepared to continue the fight. Then, from behind Obadiah, he saw a figure flying at high speed towards them in the distant sky. The air around it ignited from the friction of its flight, making it look like a meteor about to strike with the wrath of God.

Tony smiled and, without hesitation, jumped back, confusing Obadiah with his movement.

He didn't realize in time what was about to happen, even when the warning alarms blared in his mind.

His head turned just in time to meet a punch that sent his body flying uncontrollably. The strong impact rattled his brain, causing his vision to darken for a moment.

“You were taking a while; I almost thought you had—” Tony smiled, seeing obadiah being hit hard, He wanted to joke with Daniel, but when he looked more closely at the figure that had arrived, he couldn't help but blink in confusion.

“Uh, you’re not D-Boy.” Either Stane had hit him too hard, and he was hallucinating, or someone else was in front of him.

The suit was similar, with almost identical colors. The most notable difference was the helmet covering almost the entire face. Well, that and the fact that there were curves instead of male muscles.

Carol didn’t speak. She didn’t know who this person was or what relationship he had with Daniel, and honestly, she didn’t care much. Instead, she focused on searching for his heartbeat, which was actually getting closer.

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What does it feel like to be hit thousands of times by yourself? Daniel supposed he felt something close to that when Obadiah's strange kinetic energy explosion hit him.

His arm broke, his suit tore, and countless microfractures spread throughout his body.

Without a doubt, a blow that would have seriously injured him… if he didn't have his core, of course. In less than a second, all the injuries healed, his broken arm returned to normal, and his body regained all its energy.

He could have returned to the fight instantly, but he didn't. Instead, he began to meditate on his next plan. Without a doubt, if he kept hitting him, sooner or later his fists would penetrate that armor. But if Stane kept unleashing explosions like that, then there would be no city left standing once it was all over.

While SHIELD had done a good job evacuating the area, evacuating an entire city in the middle of the night was still something even they couldn’t do quickly.

That left him with few options.

“Should I take him into space?” He hoped suffocating his enemies to death wouldn’t become his signature move.

While meditating on this, he observed Tony’s fight with Stane. After all, this was Tony's enemy. If the billionaire genius found a way to defeat him on his own, Daniel would certainly let him try.

With that thought in mind, he watched the fight calmly, debating whether Tony could defeat Stane or not.

Of course, that was when someone else joined the fray. Daniel noticed Carol long before Tony did.

“What is she doing here?” Stupid question; she must have seen the news and rushed over.

He sighed. He wanted her to stay hidden a little longer, at least until there were many more heroes around. Well, it didn’t matter anymore. At least she had the foresight to come wearing a helmet. He wondered where she got it from.

The ground shook violently. Stane was sent flying, and Daniel decided to stop wasting time.

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Carol ignored Tony and quickly flew to Daniel, who appeared suddenly. His suit was torn in several places, and though he didn’t seem truly hurt, she still looked him over carefully just to be sure.

“Are you okay?!” Feeling her hands on him, Daniel sighed, placing his hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

“Not a scratch,” he said simply.

Tony looked between them, confused for a moment.

“So I wasn’t hallucinating,” there were two of them. Were they siblings or something?

But before he could ask that question, Stane's roar was heard. Fire rose again, and the man emerged from the crater his body had made when Carol sent him flying, clear anger in his eyes.

“Who the hell are you?” The familiar symbol on her suit told him who she was related to, and that didn’t bring any good feelings.

Carol looked at him and then at her fist. It was really tough; now she understood why Daniel hadn’t killed him with a single blow.

Receiving no response, Obadiah mocked.

“Fine, don’t talk. Not that it matters.” Even so, he couldn’t help but have doubts. His enemies had increased, and though Tony seemed injured, Defiant appeared to be completely fine.

"Well, I have an idea," Tony said, looking at Stane and then speaking to Daniel and Carol.

"What do you suggest?" Daniel asked.

"We need to crack open that thick shell. Just hold him still for me and I'll do the rest," he still had enough energy for a concentrated beam.

Daniel thought about it, intuiting what Tony wanted to do, and decided it was a good plan. He would have suggested that Carol help, but with the helmet she was wearing, she couldn't use her heat vision without risking revealing her face.

"Just make sure you aim well," he joked, looking at Carol and nodding toward Obadiah. She understood and nodded, ready to follow him.

Of course, Obadiah heard them and scoffed.

"You think you can—" but before he could finish his sentence, Daniel and Carol vanished in a burst of speed, appearing instantly at his side. Each of them grabbed an arm and pressed down on his shoulders with a hand, the ground sinking as Stane was forced to his knees suddenly.

"What?!" He tried to break free, but even if his armor was extremely tough, that didn't mean his strength was equivalent. His struggling didn't even budge Daniel or Carol, who held him down firmly.

"No!" he roared, seeing Tony aiming at him with both palms, the blue light in them starting to intensify. He clenched both fists, glowing with yellow light, causing fire to explode in an attempt to free himself.

And though the ground shook and the flames once again lit up the night, neither Daniel nor Carol loosened their grip in the slightest.

"Release excess energy!" he roared, and with him as the epicenter, a dome of kinetic energy began to spread out in an omnidirectional circle.

Carol's eyes widened slightly as she felt an invisible energy field trying to push her away. It was strong, no doubt, but she was stronger. Her muscles swelled as she added even more force, completely resisting the push.

Daniel, for his part, resisted in the same way. He had been taken by surprise the first time, which caused him to get a bit seriously injured, but now that his body had healed and grown stronger, he could ignore the push and stand firm easily.

"Ahhhh!!" Stane roared furiously, his temperature rising too much.

"Warning, internal temperature above 98%."

He ignored the alert; he needed to break free. Of course, it was then that the kinetic energy push ended, and Tony was ready.

Both his palms glowed along with the reactor in his chest, and then three energy beams were fired, converging into one as they traveled.

"Let me go, NO!" Stane's scream was drowned out when the beam struck, creating a loud boom.

The temperature increased, the metal began to glow red-hot, and the vibranium, which has a melting point far higher than any other metal on Earth, began to slowly melt.

Stane felt heat, but not the heat of his body, rather the heat of the beam starting to bore into his armor.

"Warning, internal temperature exceeds the set limit, dangeeerr—" the suit's system shut down as the internal components started to get damaged.

The last thing Stane saw was a blinding blue light.

The beam melted the vibranium, passing through the armor, penetrating Stane's chest, and exiting the other side with force.

The power was so great that in less than a second, the entire chest of the over 3-meter armor melted, dripping to the ground like liquid metal, nearly splitting the armor in half.

"Energy at 23%," Jarvis' voice came through. Tony lowered his hands, looked at his gloves that were glowing red-hot, and felt his skin starting to burn, not just on his hands but the chest plate of his armor also glowing red-hot, burning his chest.

Daniel appeared at his side in an instant, blowing cold air over him, making the heat disappear.

Meanwhile, Carol looked at the body she was still holding by the arm, two halves barely joined at the waist. Without much thought, she let it fall to the ground and flew over to Daniel without looking back a second time.

"Are you alright?" Daniel asked, and Tony nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.

"It might leave a scar," he hoped not; he already had enough with a hole in his chest.

"In that case, it's better to get medical help," Daniel supported the staggering Tony ready to leave.

"Before that, we need to clean up that mess," Tony said, pointing to Stane's remains. He didn't want to leave something like vibranium lying around within reach of anyone.

Daniel nodded in agreement with his words, Anyway, he planned to quickly take Tony to the hospital and leave Carol on watch until he returned.

"Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it. You need a hospital now," he said, making it clear that there would be no more discussions about it. Tony sighed at his tone.

"Sure, Mom," he said sarcastically.

Then he looked at Carol and nodded towards her.

"See you later, D-girl."

Carol blinked in confusion, D-girl?

"Ignore him, he likes giving people weird nicknames," Daniel said simply, then put Tony's arm over his shoulder and started to fly.

"My nicknames aren't weird."

Carol watched them leave, shrugged, and walked over to Stane's remains. It seemed she had to stand guard now.

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The Mandarin turned off the projected screens that had been showing the recent events and sighed.

"So, he failed, huh? I didn't expect them to be so strong. Besides, there's another one like him," he thought of the third person who came to help, how mysterious.

"Sir, what should we do now?" Aldrich Killian asked in a trembling voice, kneeling at the foot of his throne.

The Mandarin tapped his fingers on the armrest of his throne for a few moments before speaking.

"For now, we must be cautious. Whether it's Stark or those who bear the D on their chests, they are problems we need to deal with one way or another. But there's no rush; Stane was just a test. Now that I have a better idea of who will oppose me, I know without a doubt this world will be mine," he said, then stood up and looked at Aldrich Killian.

"Prepare more soldiers. The Extremis formula is now completely stable. I want my entire army to have it. Once the time is right, we will act."

"Yes, sir," Aldrich Killian responded, gave a salute, and left, ready to carry out his orders.

The Mandarin then clenched his fist, purple light surrounded it, causing the space around him to distort. His body disappeared the next instant, traveling to an unknown place.

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Note:

A little over 6,000 words!

The mini-arc of Tony Stark is about to end! But of course, the problems won't. What is the Mandarin planning?

I guess we'll find out later. As always, leave me your opinions and suggestions. If you notice any errors, don't hesitate to tell me and I'll correct them. If you liked the chapter, leave a like.

And remember that you can find the next chapter (and some more chapters) of this story on P)atreon (p)atreon. com/EmmaCruzader) All the support received helps me a lot ;D