[Third Person POV]
As everyone finally finished preparing their meals and began settling down to eat, the savory aroma of freshly cooked curry drifted lazily through the warm evening air. Deku glanced around the lively dining area, his emerald eyes scanning the crowd of classmates and pro heroes gathered at the long tables. After a brief moment he realized one familiar face was missing. Tilting his head slightly, he turned to Mandalay, a small note of confusion in his voice.
"Hey, um… where's Kota? I don't see him anywhere."
Mandalay looked up from the plate she was arranging and offered a faint smile of reassurance. "I think he was inspired by Melissa's words earlier," she explained while carefully ladling a generous serving of curry onto a dish. "I think he went to do some secret training, so he went up the mountain. Actually…" She held out the steaming plate toward Midoriya. "Would you mind taking this up to him? Just to make sure he isn't overdoing it."
"Of course!" Midoriya replied without a shred of hesitation. His enthusiasm was almost immediate, and he accepted the plate with both hands. "I'll go check on him."
Around them, the others were already digging into their meals, the chatter of overlapping conversations creating a pleasant background hum. Mina, cheeks puffed slightly as she chewed on a mouthful of rice, suddenly looked up toward Tony with an impish grin.
"So, Tony," she said after swallowing, "how come you didn't put on a performance like last time? You know, the big flashy entrance, the fireworks, the whole 'Stark experience' thing?"
Tony raised a single eyebrow and gave an exaggerated scoff. "What am I, a clown hired to keep you entertained while you eat?" He leaned back in his seat and smirked. "If you really want a performance, I could always do a strip tease."
The reaction was instantaneous.
"Please don't," nearly everyone around the table said in perfect unison, their voices flat and deadpan. Not a single person doubted for a second that, given the right incentive, Tony would absolutely follow through.
"You guys are so boring," Tony muttered with a dramatic roll of his eyes, returning to his meal as if the conversation were beneath him.
Mina, undeterred, suddenly perked up, her bright pink eyes practically sparkling. "Speaking of boring—there's supposed to be a Test of Courage later tonight! I'm so excited!" She pumped her fist in the air, bouncing slightly in her seat as if she could barely contain herself.
Tokoyami tilted his head, his dark, birdlike features shadowed by curiosity. "What does a Test of Courage have to do with boredom? Shouldn't it be the opposite of boring?"
"That's exactly the point!" Mina countered with a mischievous grin. "It's something thrilling to look forward to. I'm mostly excited to see how scared everyone ends up. Nothing beats watching your friends scream like little kids."
"Sorry to disappoint, honey," Tony said smoothly, brushing a hand through his perfectly styled hair, "but I don't get scared. Fear is for the unimaginative."
Shoji, who had been quietly observing from across the table, finally spoke up with a low chuckle. "You know," he rumbled, "if that came out of anyone else's mouth, it might've sounded philosophical—maybe even profound. But coming from you…"
Tony froze mid–spoonful, fixing Shoji with a deadpan stare. "Oi. What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
The table erupted into a round of soft laughter.
---
Location: USA – Stark Industries
Thousands of miles away, the mood could not have been more different.
Inside the sleek, high-tech office of Stark Industries' main tower, Howard Stark stood before a wall of holographic projections, swiping through charts and data feeds with an almost mechanical rhythm. Dozens of floating screens displayed live reports on the progress of various Stark Industries branches scattered across the globe—figures of profit margins, technological breakthroughs, and military contracts all dancing in midair.
Howard exhaled heavily and stifled a yawn, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I miss my wife," he murmured to himself, the tired edge in his voice betraying the loneliness hidden behind his usual bravado. "I should call her… see how she's doing."
He tapped a command on his wristwatch, initiating a holographic connection. Just as the call began to ring, a flicker of movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He turned sharply toward the massive floor-to-ceiling window, brow furrowing.
"…Are those… rockets?" he muttered in disbelief. "Coming straight at me?"
The answer came in a deafening instant.
BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
The upper floors of Stark Industries erupted in a chain of violent explosions, the brilliant skyline swallowed by blinding flashes of orange and white. The reinforced glass shattered in a storm of shards as walls buckled and flames roared through the building.
From within the chaos, a single sentinel shimmered into visibility, its cloaking field deactivating with a cold electric buzz. The machine hovered silently, its crimson optical sensors sweeping across the burning wreckage.
"Scanning… no sign of life detected. Mission success," it droned in a mechanical monotone.
It began to pivot away, mission apparently complete—until a sudden tremor rippled through the smoldering debris. Though no life readings registered, movement flickered beneath the rubble.
Far below, terrified civilians screamed, scattering across the street like ants fleeing a collapsing nest.
Then, from the heart of the inferno, a glow appeared—bright, metallic, and ominous.
A figure stepped forward, pushing aside a massive steel beam with a single effortless motion. The figure's armor shimmered in hues of deep violet and brilliant silver, its surface alive with coursing streams of neon energy.
Howard Stark.
His eyes burned with cold fury as he tilted his head upward, locking onto the sentinel. A brief flash of violet light preceded the blur of his movement. In the blink of an eye, Howard launched himself skyward, his gauntleted fist crashing into the Ultron drone with the force of a meteor. The sentinel's reinforced body crumpled inward as it was hurled violently across the sky, sparks trailing in its wake.
"Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost to fix all of this?" Howard said coolly.
A swarm of nanobots swirled around his arm, coalescing into the sleek, dangerous shape of a high-tech railgun. His helmet's HUD flickered to life, locking onto the reeling sentinel with precision targeting algorithms.
"Probably more than it cost to build you," he added, narrowing one eye as the weapon charged with a shrill, rising whine. "I'll tell you that much."
He squeezed the trigger.
A concentrated beam of violet energy erupted from the railgun, lancing through the air and striking the sentinel dead center. The Ultron unit jerked violently, its metallic frame glowing as the energy coursed through its circuits. Purple light spread across its body like wildfire, until the machine let out one final, distorted screech.
Then—detonation.
The sentinel burst apart in a dazzling explosion of sparks and molten shards, raining down across the city as Howard hovered amidst the flames,
Howard held the still–glowing railgun across his shoulders, the violet energy humming like a living thing as he tilted his head, eyes narrowing at the burning skyline. "Now what the hell was that all about…?" he muttered under his breath.
A sudden, sickening twist formed in his stomach—an instinct that bypassed logic entirely. His voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "Maria…"
Before the thought could fully form, his legs split apart with a mechanical hiss, thrusters igniting in a burst of blinding purple light. Howard rocketed into the sky, leaving a comet-like trail of energy that streaked across the clouds. Wind screamed past his ears as he broke the sound barrier, every second spent fighting the gnawing terror rising inside his chest.
When Stark Manor came into view, his worst fear greeted him. Smoke curled in ominous spirals above the treeline, black and choking against the blue skies.
"No!!" The word tore out of him like a raw wound. He pushed his thrusters to their limit, armor plating rattling from the sheer speed as he dove toward the estate.
The mansion was chaos incarnate. Nearly twenty Ultron sentinels filled the air, their cold red optics glowing like blood-stained stars. The ground was littered with the wreckage of destroyed drones and fallen guards. One security officer had molten lava spewing from his mouth as he melted a sentinel to slag—only to have another machine slash a gleaming blade across his neck, severing his head in a brutal instant.
A streak of red-and-purple light cut through the carnage. A massive metal fist rocketed across the courtyard, smashing through a sentinel with a thunderous CRACK before snapping back to its owner.
Baymax.
The gentle healthcare bot was anything but gentle now, standing like a shield of living armor beside Maria Stark. She was encased in a protective suit of shimmering pink plating, her visor reflecting the fires of the burning manor. Energy lassos snapped and hissed from her gauntlets as she carved through approaching drones, shredding them into ribbons and glowing cubes.
Howard's heart lurched at the sight of sentinels raising their weapons toward his wife and her robotic protector. Something inside him snapped.
Weapons erupted from every inch of his suit—shoulder cannons, wrist-mounted railguns, drones unfurling like mechanical wings. His voice roared across the battlefield, raw and thunderous.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE!!"
The air exploded in a storm of violet fury. Beams of volatile energy streaked across the sky, tearing sentinels apart in blinding flashes of light and molten shrapnel. Drones shrieked and imploded as Howard tore through them with lethal precision.
He landed hard beside Maria, the ground cracking beneath his boots, and skidded to a stop. His helmet folded back with a hiss, revealing eyes wide with fear. "Maria! Oh, thank God—you're alright!"
"Howard, you're here!!" Maria cried, her own mask retracting to reveal a tear-streaked face. She stumbled forward, throwing herself into his arms as sobs broke free. "I don't—I don't know what's happening! One moment I'm in the living room, and then the whole mansion just—" Her words dissolved into frantic, breathless rambling as fresh tears welled.
"Shhh, it's alright… it's alright. I'm here now," Howard whispered, holding her tightly as his armor cooled around them.
But his eyes were already lifting past her shoulder, scanning the smoke-choked sky. That uneasy knot in his gut hadn't lessened. If anything, it was growing worse—an electric dread crawling through his veins.
A single name echoed in his mind.
Tony.
---
Meanwhile – Forest Clearing, Training Camp
"It's time for the Test of Courage!!" Mina cheered, bouncing on her toes like an overexcited spark plug. Her grin was so infectious that, despite themselves, a few classmates cracked reluctant smiles.
Tony stood between Momo and Melissa, arms crossed, watching as Mandalay and Ragdoll prepared the entrance into the moonlit forest. The cool night air carried the faint scent of pine and damp earth—but for Tony, the moment suddenly felt… off.
His vision flickered red as FRIDAY's urgent voice rang sharp and frantic in his ear.
"Boss! We have an emergency! Your family—they're under attack—!"
Tony froze. The blood drained from his face, every muscle locking tight. "What—" he started, his voice cracking under the weight of dread.
SHINK!
The sound was wet and sickening.
(Song: Monster by Kanye West)
Momo and Melissa jolted violently as a hot spray of blood splattered across their cheeks. Their breath caught in their throats, the coppery scent filling the cool night air. Slowly—fearfully—they turned, their breathing heavy and uneven.
🎶🎵 I shoot the lights out… 🎶🎵
Tony stared down in disbelief. A blade—gleaming, merciless—jutted straight through his chest, its tip bursting out of his shirt as crimson spread across the fabric. Blood pooled at his lips, trickling in dark rivulets down his chin.
Behind him, the air twisted violently, a swirling vortex of swirling black-and-purple energy crackling with electricity. From its heart extended a single, cold metal arm—the one impaling him straight through the heart.
🎶🎵 Hide 'til it's bright out… 🎶🎵
The camp froze in collective horror. Wide eyes. Trembling limbs. Pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
The arm gave a cruel shove, forcing Tony forward a few stumbling steps. From the vortex, a towering figure emerged, ducking slightly beneath the rippling edge of the portal.
Ultron.
🎶🎵 Whoa, just another lonely night… 🎶🎵
The machine exhaled a mechanical sigh, his voice dripping with a mockery of human emotion. "Inside that hard, indestructible shell you hide behind to feel special… you are just like everyone else. Weak. Insignificant. A fragile life form destined for an inevitable end. I would call it sad—pitiful, even—if I were capable of such emotions."
🎶🎵 Are you willing… 🎶🎵
Tony's knees buckled. His body slid down the slick blade's path, leaving a dark smear of blood in the dirt as he collapsed forward, a pool of crimson growing beneath him as blood escaped from his chest and mouth.
🎶🎵 …to sacrifice your life? 🎶🎵
"TOOOONY!!!"
The scream tore through the forest like a jagged blade, a chorus of voices—Momo, Melissa, Deku, and countless others.
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