Nick Fury imdiately sent people to bail Tony Stark out.
The U.S. military was not going to do anything serious to Tony, Fury knew that. What worried him was everyone else.
After all, rational people were always the minority in this world.
Hydra had wanted to take Tony away, but they were not confident they could keep it hidden from Nick Fury. And with the Insight Project only just getting started, Hydra did not want to stir up extra trouble. In the end, they could only watch as Fury's people escorted Tony Stark out.
Tony's first campaign had gone nowhere fast.
As a result, he was forced to endure a very long lecture from Fury, though he did not really listen to a word of it.
"Did Drex Valen help the military upgrade its radar system, or was it the War Machine's own sensors that picked up?" Tony muttered once he got ho.
His Iron Suit had no anti-radar coating, but J.A.R.V.I.S. could normally breach and suppress most systems, so Tony had never bothered designing around radar detection before.
Now that the War Machine's AI could not be hacked, his most effective advantage was gone.
"Drex Valen probably has his own artificial intelligence too," Tony thought, scowling. "And it's probably more advanced than J.A.R.V.I.S...."
That said, Tony Stark was never going to admit that Drex Valen was smarter or more gifted than he was. He was the smartest man in the world. Obviously.
So Tony made a decision.
He was going to upgrade the Iron Suit and throw out the Mark 3 design entirely.
While Tony buried himself in research, Drex Valen's second monster finally appeared.
Its enormous body destroyed a city with absurd ease, a towering, writhing thing that looked like a living nightmare.
The Centipede Elder.
Its black shell had an almost impossible toughness to it.
Within an hour, the phones at the U.S. military command were blowing up nonstop from higher-ups. There was no need for civilians to report anything and then wait for police to pass it along. The Centipede Elder was too large to miss.
"Holy shit, what is that thing?!"
The cops who arrived at the scene saw a giant centipede slicing through a building like it was paper and imdiately dove for cover.
"I've seen a lot of monster movies. That has to be sothing that escaped from a lab."
"Damned scientists."
"Run! It's coming for us!"
The Centipede Elder plunged downward, ready to swallow the people on the street whole. Most of them froze on instinct, too terrified to move.
Pffft!
A burst of white webbing slapped across its face.
Spider-Silk had arrived.
"Move!" she shouted.
She managed to pin the thing's face in webbing, though she had no idea how long that would hold. So she yelled for everyone behind her to run.
The crowd scrambled.
Normally so of them might have stayed to watch, but the Centipede Elder was the kind of thing that could flatten or kill them just by moving. Better to go ho and watch the news livestream. The reporters would risk their lives for the footage anyway.
"Little bug!"
The Centipede Elder roared and dove again.
Spider-Silk leaped aside, barely escaping. The monster's massive body whipped past her and the air pressure from its movent hit like a hurricane. Even though it did not strike her directly, the force smashed her into a wall. She grunted and tumbled hard onto the street.
Just as the Centipede Elder turned to devour her, a bus slamd straight into its face.
Because the thing's shell was so hard and the bus was moving so fast, the bus itself tore apart on impact. The Centipede Elder's head still jerked sideways from the blow.
"Eddie, are you sure we can actually beat this thing?"
Venom had landed on top of the Centipede Elder and was trying to tear into its face, only to get slapped away by its tail.
"Damn. That is one big centipede."
Johnny Storm had arrived too, and he stared in disbelief.
What was wrong with New York? The Deep Sea King had barely been dealt with, and now another giant monster had shown up.
And this one looked even worse to fight.
He tried roasting the Centipede Elder with fire, only to nearly get swallowed for his trouble.
"Shit, its shell is insanely tough, and it does not even care about fire!"
Fortunately, Susan Storm and Reed Richards arrived right after that.
Last ti, because they had not been able to deal enough damage and Ben had refused to beco the Thing again, Reed had unleashed his own "I think therefore I can" logic and built a weapon powerful enough to make up for the lack of raw force.
Drex, watching from the sidelines, focused sharply the mont Reed pulled out a sci-fi-looking rifle.
Boom!
Reed fired one energy round and blew a huge hole clean through the Centipede Elder's body, nearly splitting it in half.
"Jesus, Reed, since when did you make sothing that nasty?" Johnny blurted.
He had not expected his brother-in-law to quietly co up with sothing that brutal.
"I built it because of the Deep Sea King incident," Reed said. "Though it looks like I may have overdone it."
He raised the weapon again, aiming for the Centipede Elder's head. He knew arthropods had ridiculous survival instincts.
But then the Centipede Elder's body began shedding its outer shell at high speed.
It was regenerating.
A brand-new Centipede Elder erged in full view of everyone.
"That thing can regenerate too?" Johnny shouted.
That was ridiculous.
Reed re-aid for the head this ti, but the Centipede Elder was on guard now. It dodged the shot and charged straight at him.
Susan reacted at once, throwing up an invisible force field to block the impact.
"Reed!"
Susan shouted when she felt the strain on her barrier.
"Hold on! It needs to recharge!" Reed answered, already tense.
That was the problem with crazy high-tech weapons. They still needed ti to charge.
Drex could only think that Reed was, as usual, the kind of brilliant man who sohow found a way to trip over the finishing line at the worst possible mont.
Then an intense soundtrack kicked in.
"Looks like you could use a hand."
With that ridiculously dramatic entrance, a red-and-gold Iron Suit hovered above them all.
"Who are you?" everyone asked at once, the Centipede Elder included.
"Tony Stark."
The Mark 4 Iron Suit. Anti-radar coating. A more advanced system.
Tony had barely finished it when he heard that a monster had appeared in Manhattan. He had thrown the suit on imdiately and rushed over, only to find the Centipede Elder waiting for him.
"Okay," Tony muttered, staring at it. "That is seriously huge."
He opened his shoulders. Inside were missiles he had specially prepared after watching the news, armor-piercing explosive rounds. They could also be called bunker-busters.
The Centipede Elder lunged.
With J.A.R.V.I.S. assisting him, Tony dodged just barely. Then six missiles launched from both shoulders and slamd into the monster's body.
"Hey, Tin Man," Johnny snapped, "that is not enough. This thing regenerates. You have to destroy its head completely!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers