No matter how hard he accelerated, he couldn't shake the missiles iron monger had fired, and with his propulsion system damaged, Tony was about to be hit.
At that moment, Tony felt almost hopeless.
Was… today really the day he died here?
Damn it—if only The Punisher were in New York right now!
With that guy helping, taking down iron monger would be child's play.
Just as Tony was thinking that—
Rat-tat-tat!
The rattle of machine-gun fire echoed from afar.
The missile chasing him detonated instantly.
The blast hurled Tony through the air.
He wrestled with the sputtering thrusters, but Stark Tower's roof was still too far away.
He was seconds from cos-playing a human cannonball and face-planting fifty floors down when—
Swoosh—
A strand of webbing slapped onto his chest plate, and a tremendous yank followed.
It flung him onto the open rooftop.
"Whew—"
The near-death thrill drew a long, shaky breath from Tony.
Following the web to its source, he saw Ghost-Spider land gracefully.
At the sight of Gwen's athletic, lithe figure, the playboy's radar pinged.
While he scrambled for a killer opener, an icy stare drilled into him.
He shivered before he even turned his head.
The owner of that glare: Peter Parker himself.
The realization snapped the day-dreaming Tony back to reality.
He might be a womanizer, but he had lines he wouldn't cross.
A friend's girl is sacred.
Besides, Peter wasn't just a friend—he'd just saved his life.
Opening his faceplate to prove his innocence, Tony called out:
"P—Punisher, you're finally here."
"Help me out! I'm really on my last legs here!"
Peter's cold grunt told Tony the joke had landed—he'd already figured out Gwen was with Peter.
Feigning indifference, Peter said:
"I can help—but my appearance fee isn't cheap. What are you paying this time?"
Tony's eye twitched.
He'd dealt with Peter before and knew exactly what he was like; he also knew he'd been in the wrong.
If Peter had leered at Pepper, he'd have reacted the same way.
So, after a deep breath, he grumbled:
"Once I scrap that pile of junk over there, I'll custom-build a suit of Iron Man armor for you and the Ghost-Spider lady—any specs you want, full service and updates included."
Satisfied, Peter decided to let him off the hook.
He vanished in an instant.
At the same moment, the Vulture—mid-sneak-attack—saw a blur.
The next second, a crushing force slammed into him.
Curled like a shrimp, he plummeted faster than he'd taken off, smashed into a distant wall, and couldn't get up.
Only Kingpin's high-tech flight suit saved his brittle bones from shattering.
After drop-kicking the Vulture, Peter reappeared beside Tony and pressed a hand to the pock-marked chest of the mark iii.
"Don't—"
Seeing Peter power up, Tony wanted to play tough.
He meant to say, Don't heal me—the shrapnel in my chest is my problem!
But when the white light flared, nothing happened to his body.
Instead, his mark iii began refurbishing itself at lightning speed.
Gouges and craters melted away before his eyes.
Not just the plating—damaged thrusters and empty weapon pods refilled as well.
Moments later, the battered mark iii looked factory-fresh, its red-gold paint gleaming under the moon, not a scratch in sight.
"Beep-beep-beep…!"
Red exclamation marks popped on the HUD.
Jarvis spoke in Tony's ear.
Though it was only AI, Tony could swear he heard human bewilderment:
"Sir, unknown energy detected. Armor damage… zero percent."
"All systems nominal, power at one hundred percent."
"Data anomaly… initiating virus scan."
"No threats found. Sir, I suspect my core has been compromised by an unknown virus!"
Tony: …Buddy, you're making this awkward.
How exactly do you explain magic to an AI?
And seriously—when I said don't heal me, you took it literally?
Couldn't you show a little initiative?
After several false starts, Tony gave up trying to lecture Jarvis on the unscientific and simply ordered:
"Jarvis, stop diagnostics—battle mode, now."
He'd vent every ounce of grievance from Peter straight onto iron monger and Obadiah.
"At once, sir!"
With that, the fully charged mark iii snapped into combat stance.
Whoosh—!
The red-gold form shot skyward, charging iron monger head-on.
Obadiah still believed bigger meant better; his iron monger would crush the mark iii.
He grinned and met the charge.
Then… tragedy.
The mark iii's full-throttle thrusters left the knock-off in the dust.
The instant the suits collided, iron monger was flipped by the superior tech.
They tumbled off Stark Tower's roof and waged a dazzling mid-air slugfest.
Missiles and repulsor blasts lit the night like daylight.
While the Military and NYPD gaped at the aerial brawl, the Sinister Six shook off their shock.
Bullseye licked his lips at Peter:
"Punisher, we meet at last. Hope you're tough enough to entertain all six of us."