Stark Tower – Minutes Earlier
Stark stood in the middle of his lab, surrounded by a constellation of holographic projections. Dozens of armor schematics hovered in the air, glowing in that trademark Stark blue. He pinched two of them apart, splitting a breastplate down the middle before pulling the pieces wide. The simulation responded instantly, every molecular bond and nano-filament unraveling into a sea of tiny motes. With a flick of his wrist, they swarmed back together in less than a second, reforming the plated suit like a living organism.
"Not bad," Tony muttered to himself, taking a step back. "One second deployment. If that doesn't scream style, I don't know what does."
"Correction," Jarvis interjected smoothly. "Point eight-seven seconds. However, once integrated with the new arc lattice, the system should compress to point six." Tony smirked, raising a brow. "Always gotta one-up me, don't you, J?"
Jarvis ignored the jab, continuing: "The nano-bonding protocol is highly efficient, sir. But I must caution sustained elemental exposure could degrade—"
"Already solved that," Tony interrupted, enlarging a section of the suit until it floated overhead like a wall. He magnified the texture of the plating, showing thousands of shimmering scales, each with its own reflective sheen. "New feature. Elemental resistance. Fire, ice, acid, your mother's chili. Believe nothing breaks this down… especially not lightning. Completely invulnerable to wear and tear."
"Impressive. And unnecessary."
Tony grinned. "Which means it's perfect."
Footsteps echoed from the hallway. A moment later, Pepper appeared at the entrance, arms full of folders. She raised a brow as she caught sight of Tony gesturing dramatically to floating pieces of armor like a conductor to an orchestra.
"Tell me you're not teaching it to dance again," she said, rolling her eyes.
Tony smirked. "I mean, the thought did cross my mind. Imagine, Stark Armor: The Musical."
Jarvis chimed in before Pepper could retort. "Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark is currently refining a nano-bonding deployment system capable of assembling a fully functional armored suit in under one second, with additional resistance to—"
Pepper squinted, visibly confused. "Right. Because that's… totally something I understood." Tony tapped a hologram and let the enlarged piece shrink back into place. "Translation? It's a suit that dresses me faster than you shop. And it doesn't get ruined by the weather."
Pepper rolled her eyes again and set the folders on the table. "Well, while you're designing your bulletproof fashion line, some of us are keeping the company from imploding. These need your signature."
Tony glanced at the stack, then back at her. "Which is exactly why I left you in charge. You have the whole 'responsible adult' thing down. I just make toys." He was about to crack another joke when a sharp ping echoed through the lab. The holograms flickered.
Tony froze. "What was that?"
"Alert," Jarvis said. "Drones stationed at the Baxter Building have registered an anomaly."
Pepper blinked. "Wait a minute you have drones in the Baxter Building?" Tony didn't look at her, his eyes narrowing as he swiped the holograms away to bring up a new feed.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because Reed Richards has a habit of tinkering with things that could erase the solar system if he sneezes wrong. And I like being alive." Pepper opened her mouth, thought about it, then sighed. "Okay. Point taken."
The hologram display shifted into a grainy green-tinted feed. The Baxter Building appeared, glowing in patches as if veins of sickly energy were seeping out through the windows. Tony's expression darkened. "That… doesn't look like a new toaster, Jarvis."
"Analyzing," Jarvis said. A stream of numbers ran down the edge of the display. "Energy readings are highly unstable. Frequency spikes are consistent with dimensional bleed. Probability of breach event: seventy-three percent."
"Great," Tony muttered. "He's poking holes in the multiverse."
"Footage from interior requested," Jarvis added, sending the drone's signal into X-ray mode. The screen flickered, static warping across the image. Pepper frowned. "What's happening?"
"Energy interference," Tony explained. "It's spitting out so much exotic radiation it's scrambling the drone's frequency. Like trying to pick up a radio station during a lightning storm."
The image stabilized just long enough to show arcs of glowing green spilling across machinery inside the building before a sudden whip of energy lashed out, slamming into the drone. The feed went black.
Tony was already moving, grabbing his wrist controller. "Well, that's a dire situation."
A voice broke into the room. "Incoming call: Director Fury." The hologram shifted to show Nick Fury's face, one eyebrow arched. "Stark—"
"I'm aware," Tony cut him off, walking briskly toward the balcony. "Of course you are, get to the damn build now." Fury growled.
Tony didn't answer. He vaulted over the railing, arms spread wide. From below, a streak of red and gold shot upward, nano-particles bursting from his arc reactor like a swarm of fireflies. In less than a second, the armor assembled around him mid-fall, sealing him inside as he shot off toward the Baxter Building.
"Alright, J," Tony said as his HUD flared to life, "give me the status."
"Containment appears to be holding," Jarvis reported. The visual feed displayed the Baxter Building, now cocooned in a shimmering bubble of energy. "However, the structural integrity of the field is unstable. Protrusions suggest imminent rupture."
Tony narrowed his eyes. "Looks like Sue's handiwork. Gotta hand it to her keeping the lid on Pandora's Box." But even as he watched, jagged spikes of energy jutted outward, distorting the bubble.
"Not good. Who else is in the area?"
Jarvis brought up a tactical overlay. "Captain Rogers is en route by motorcycle. Agents Barton and Romanoff are inbound via helicopter. Additionally, Spider-Man is already assisting in civilian evacuation."
"Patch me through to them now."
A shared channel opened, Rogers' calm voice cutting in: "Stark. We're ten blocks out."
"Clint and I are three minutes behind," Natasha added.
"And I'm on babysitting duty," Spider-Man's voice in, slightly breathless. "I'm moving people away from the building, but this thing looks like it's about to go nuclear!"
Natasha asked, "What exactly are we looking at, Stark?"
Tony's tone was sharp but laced with sarcasm. "Oh, just Reed's doing what he does best accidentally turning Manhattan into ground zero for a dimensional apocalypse. Nothing to worry about. Unless you like existing."
"Where's Banner?" Tony added.
"Not even on this continent," Natasha replied flatly.
Clint whistled. "That's bad."
"Yeah," Tony said grimly. "Because if this blows up, we're going to need the big green or Thor. And right now, all we've got is me, Captain America, two assassins, and a bug-themed teenager."
The Baxter Building – Street Level
Chaos reigned outside. Police barricades and SWAT vans lined the streets as officers shouted at civilians to move back. Overhead, helicopters circled nervously.
Spider-Man swung through the mess, webbing down chunks of falling debris. A slab of concrete tore free from the building's facade as the energy bubble convulsed, but he fired a webline, yanked it clear of the crowd, and slung it harmlessly onto the street. It crashed into a parked car, crumpling it flat but at least no one was inside.
"Everyone okay?!" he called, landing on a lamppost. People nodded, frightened but alive. Then a low tear cut through the air, a sound like reality itself being ripped apart. Peter turned back toward the building and froze. The energy bubble pulsed, collapsed in on itself, then detonated outward in a blinding burst.
"Whoa—" Peter's eyes widened.
A column of green energy shot into the sky, swirling violently before stabilizing into a spinning circular portal that stretched higher and higher until it towered a thousand meters over the city. A SWAT officer whispered hoarsely, "What the hell is that?"
The answer came an instant later. From the heart of the portal, a massive figure stepped through, towering, blue-skinned, crowned with a sharp red fin, clad in insectoid like battle armor. Its eyes glowed with malice.
And it wasn't alone.
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