The concrete dust was thick, choking. Water from the ruptured conduit immediately flooded the narrow service tunnel, turning the floor into a slick, ankle-deep mess. Alex barely registered the stinging pain in his ribs as he scrambled through the broken wall. All that mattered was the sheer, breathtaking freedom of movement.
He heard the immediate, controlled chaos behind him. Romanoff's voice, sharp but calm, barked over a comms link: "Code Red. Target is mobile, armed with kinetic energy projection. Do not engage hand-to-hand. Seal all sub-level exits. Repeat, seal all sub-level exits."
The word "repulsor" was a misnomer for his gauntlet; it was a kinetic displacement shield. The truth was, he'd never run with it. He needed a propulsion system, and the gauntlet was the only thing he had.
"System," Alex gasped, crawling over a pile of rebar, his chest burning. "Give me the optimal kinetic thrust for vertical climb—compensate for structural damage."
[Warning: Host physical capacity at 70%. Vertical climb calculation requires a 45% power spike. Risk of neurological overload: 25%.]
"Better than being dissected," Alex snarled, ignoring the System's protest.
He reached a narrow maintenance shaft. Looking up, he aimed the gauntlet skyward. He channeled the Arc Core's amber power, not as a punch, but as a pure, focused burst of propulsion.
KTH-WOOMPH!
The resulting kinetic force slammed against the ceiling of the shaft. Instead of launching him cleanly, the surge was too violent. He shot upward, but slammed painfully against the rough concrete wall before catching the railing of a ladder thirty feet up. He clung there, dizzy, his lungs burning, his right shoulder screaming from the impact.
It works. It's just messy.
Duel in the Darkness
He climbed out onto an intermediate utility level. The darkness was his ally, but the flashing red glow of emergency lights revealed two figures advancing from the corridor—SHIELD agents, heavily armored, moving slowly and methodically. They weren't panicking; they were professionals.
Alex couldn't outrun them. He had to displace them.
He aimed the gauntlet, focusing the energy. He didn't want to kill, but he needed them gone. He fired a wide-area kinetic burst, aiming at the structural column behind them.
The column groaned under the pressure, shedding dust and concrete chunks. The violent, unseen push of the kinetic field hit the agents, not like a bullet, but like a sudden, massive gust of wind. They tumbled backward, their momentum violently arrested, their helmets clanging against the floor. They weren't injured, but they were certainly dazed.
Alex sprinted past them, his heart hammering against the Arc Core. His ribs felt like knives in his side.
He reached the main corridor where Romanoff had left him earlier, only to find the blast doors sealing shut with a thunderous CLANG. Trapped.
He whirled around. Romanoff was standing fifty feet away, illuminated by the flashing red light. She wasn't running. She was waiting.
"Stop, Alex," she called, her voice clear and calm despite the chaos. "You have nowhere to go. The entire building is on lockdown. You can't fight the whole agency."
"I don't need to fight!" Alex yelled back, his voice ragged. "I just need the time Tony bought me!"
He knew she wasn't armed with a traditional gun. She was too smart for that. Romanoff pulled out a specialized taser baton, the ends crackling with blue energy.
"The kinetic field is impressive," she said, taking a slow step forward. "But it requires focus. You're exhausted. Let's see if you can concentrate with a few thousand volts running through your suit."
The Breaching Push
Alex knew he was running on borrowed time. The energy spikes were making his head swim, a blinding headache fighting the power of the Core. He had one last trick.
He aimed the gauntlet not at Romanoff, but at the massive, reinforced hydraulic door that had just sealed.
[Warning: Door Breach requires 95% power expenditure. Extreme risk of Arc Core instability and Host collapse: 40%.]
Worth it.
He focused all the amber power into a single, focused point in his palm. He pushed. Not with a burst, but with a sustained, growing pressure.
The gauntlet roared silently. The kinetic wave hit the steel door. It didn't explode. It began to buckle—slowly, horribly, the thick steel twisting and warping under the sheer, relentless force of his will. The metal screamed in protest.
Romanoff lunged. She was incredibly fast. Before Alex could complete the breach, she was on him. She dodged his desperate, wide kinetic blast and brought the taser baton down on his arm.
A searing, blinding PAIN shot through Alex. His muscles seized, his vision went white, and the power flow to the gauntlet instantly failed. He fell to his knees, his jaw locked.
Romanoff stood over him, breathing heavily. "Too slow, Alex. You're predictable."
She reached out to grab the gauntlet.
But Alex, driven by pure terror and a desperate will to survive, wasn't out. He was down, but he had one last card.
He couldn't use the gauntlet, but the Arc Core was still running.
With a primal, guttural cry, he channeled a tiny, uncontrolled burst of raw energy, not through the projector, but through the surface of his forearm. It was uncontrolled, pure discharge. The shock hit Romanoff's hand with the force of a static discharge, forcing her back a critical half-step.
That was all the time he needed. The hydraulic door, still warped and buckled, groaned under the cumulative stress. Alex shoved his battered shoulder against the steel, and the door finally gave way with a screech of tortured metal.
He plunged through the gap and kept running, plunging into the dark, unsecured maintenance shafts of the upper floors. He was hurt, dizzy, and utterly exposed, but he was free.
He collapsed in a dark corner, the Arc Core flickering dangerously. He was too weak to move, too weak to hide. He pulled out the Stark PDA, his vision swimming.
[System Warning: Arc Core Stability at 60%. Host requires immediate medical attention and resources. New objective required for survival.]
Alex stared at the PDA. He had escaped SHIELD's physical cage, but he was dying faster than he could run. He needed more than armor. He needed something portable. Something small.
He stared at the schematics on the tiny screen, his genius mind finding a desperate, final solution. If I can't build a full suit, I'll build a completely new kind of defense.
He needed to find technology that could integrate into his body. A new path.
He whispered into the empty darkness, his voice strained: "
System Evolution: Nano-Tech Path. Activate."
End of chapter :>
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