Chapter 37: Drone Attack

"GO!"

Harvey yelled as he watched COL. Rhodes and at least half of all the drones on stage fly up after Iron Man. Throughout the air was smoke caused by his chain; Harvey was thankful he could move fast enough to stop any potential casualties from the shattered glass. Focusing back on the remaining drones on stage, he counted twenty-four left.

Scanning around, Harvey saw that the pavilion was still full of audience members. It would take a few minutes for them all to evacuate properly. Throwing back his hood, Harvey decided that the lives of the Dunphy family and everyone here mattered more than his secret. In a wave of fire, his head ignited in a familiar blaze.

The Ghost Rider turned his head and looked at the retreating forms of his friends and their parents. He saw Luke look back at him; his friend's eyes widened at his transformation. Nodding at him, The Rider turned around and looked at the advancing drones. Due to them being lifeless husks, Ghost Rider couldn't rely on his soul-sensing ability. Growling, Ghost Rider jumped forward—chains in hand.

Spinning his flaming weapon in the air, he wrapped his chain around the metallic neck of one of the drones. The drone looked confused when it could no longer move forward, but that didn't last as it was pulled up and slammed into one of its brethren. The drone looked up in time too see a boot smash into its head.

Once Ghost Rider crushed the head of the drone, he drove his fist into the chests of both drones and let out an explosion of Hellfire. Destroying both drones. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that everyone had finally cleared out of the pavilion, good. He didn't need to hold back too much anymore.

Standing up, he spun around and saw all the drones stop their March and examine him. Without wasting any time, they all started firing at him. Dashing to the side, Ghost Rider evaded all their bullets and jumped forward. He tore through one of the Navy drones with a powerful kick, causing it to explode. 

Not stopping there, Ghost Rider whipped his chains around three Hammer drones and pulled. They were yanked forward and slammed into two more Navy drones. With a wave of his hands, Ghost Rider manipulated his chains to hold down all five drones.

Dodging an explosion caused by a navy drone, Ghost Rider held out his hand and concentrated. Immediately, a ball of condensed fire formed above his palm; it spun at an incredible speed. Around the ball, two rings of white fire manifested and grew more prominent.

Tossing the sphere of fire to the trapped drones, Ghost Rider saw a massive ball of Hellfire explode from the center of the drones. Completely melting and burning anything inside it. Turning his head at the remaining sixteen drones, Ghost Rider released a chuckle.

"Ready or not… Here I come."

All the remaining drones opened fire once more, unleashing a hail of missiles and bullets onto his position. With a swing, Ghost Rider pulled himself up with his chain from one of the rafters. Looking down at the still-firing drones, he noticed they didn't see him dodge the attack. The explosions and fire from the missiles must have hidden his quick escape.

Turning his head to the left, he saw all the remaining hammer drones line up together to fire in unison. Looking down at his chain, he focused his Hellfire and summoned a large, jagged blade at the end of it. Nodding, he copied the weapon in his other hand. Jumping up into the air, Ghost Rider swung his chains in the air and slashed down in a fiery arc. The four drones never stood a chance as they were cut clean through their chests.

The Ghost Rider landed on the ground and didn't slow down in his attack. Spinning and turning his body, he slashed and tore through the drones like butter in an impressive dance of destruction.

"Seven left."

•••

"What the hell is that thing!" 

Justin Hammer yelled as he looked at all his drones being destroyed easily by some flaming skull monster. The sheer ease with which it could eradicate his drones made him angry. How could this all have happened?! Tonight was supposed to be his moment! Tonight, he was supposed to make everyone forget the name Tony Stark and remember the name Justine Hammer! Justin couldn't help but curse Ivan Vanko. Everything was going up in flames.

"Whatever it is, it's helping take out your out-of-control drones." Pepper Pots exclaimed as she, too, looked on in awe at the fight.

"Okay, we now only have to worry about the drones in the air." Pepper said as she turned back to the monitor. "Have you figured out what language they're in yet?"

The man behind the computer typed away at the keyboard. They were trying to figure out how to get access to the remaining drone systems and shut them off. Each set of drones communicated in its own language, making the task challenging.

"Well, choose one and focus on that!" The CEO of Stark Industries said.

"Have you tried Russian? Why don't you try Russian?" 

Justin said as he looked at the computer screen. From the corner of his eye, he saw two drones escape from the battle with the flaming monster. He was tempted to say something but stayed silent—no need to get involved in anything else anymore.

•••

"This way, kids!"

Phil said as he held onto his wife and guided his children through the panicking crowds. They were far away from the pavilion and away from danger. Sporadically, there were sounds of explosions going off in that direction. Phil still couldn't believe what he saw. The flaming chain that came out of Harvey's hands was unbelievable, almost as if it were magic.

"Haley! Stay close!" Claire said, running over to Haley and grabbing her by the shoulders.

Phil shook his head and focused on keeping his family safe. He would think about what was going on with Harvey later. At the sound of gunfire over their heads, Phil grabs his family and pulls them down. Looking up, he sees Iron Man fly over them all while a squad of drones follows behind him, shooting their ammunition.

"Honey! Kids! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alex said as she pushed her glasses up.

"Me too." Haley said, getting up from the floor.

Turning to Claire and Luke, they also let him know they were unharmed. A sense of relief filled Phil as he hugged his family. Pulling them up, he looks over and sees a lone child standing alone in the mass of running people. Turning to the right, Phil saw a single Hammer Drone walk up behind them. Spinning to the child, Phil saw that he was wearing a toy Iron Man helmet and glove.

"Honey! Stay with the kids!"

"PHIL!"

Phil heard his wife yell as he started sprinting toward the child. As he ran, he heard his kids yell at him to come back, but Phil couldn't. His legs just started running on their own! Skidding to a stop, Phil stood protectively over the child and held his hands up. The drone seemed to be locked onto the child's helmet!

"STOP! WAIT!" Phil yelled.

The drone ignored him and raised its large shoulder gun, it then aimed at them both. Backing up, Phil continued to hold his hands up. Was this how he would die? Doing something so stupid as running in front of an out-of-control robot? Turning to the child, Phil saw him look up at him in wonder. The child reminded him of a younger Luke.

"It's okay. Everything is going to be fine." 

Phil told the child as the drone's shoulder gun started spinning. It was about to fire. Suddenly, two blades with chains attached to them slammed down behind the drone. In the next instant, A man with a skull covered in flames crashed down into the drone. Destroying it.

"Harvey?" Phil asked. Harvey nodded and pulled his blades back into his hands.

"You alright?" Harvey asked in a deep, guttural voice.

"Y-Yeah."

"Good, get that kid out of here and protect your family. It's not over yet." Harvey said as he turned his head when numerous explosions occurred over the giant steel globe. "Hurry, Phil."

Phil nodded and grabbed the child's hand. As they both were running, he saw Harvey run toward the explosions. Turning to the child, Phil let out a shaky smile. 

"You alright, little Buddy?" Phil asked.

"Um y-yeah. I'm fine." The child answered through his helmet.

"Everything is going to be okay. I'll take you back to your parents soon. Okay?" Phil said as the child nodded at him. "What's your name, little guy?"

"It's P-Peter."

•••

"Sorry, Buddy. Had to thin out the heard."

Tony told his friend as he flew in the air. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he managed to take out all the drones that were flying after him. He was sure there would be more; that wasn't all of them on his tail. Tony turned to look at his HUD to see a holographic map of the expo. Surprisingly, he didn't see any more active drones on the map. Could they have been deactivated during the battle?

"Rhodey, What's your twenty?"

As soon as Tony finished his sentence, he felt a strong impact hit his back. Spinning out of control, Tony crashed through the expos Biodome in an explosion of glass. Tony grunted as he made landfall and rolled a few times on the ground. Turning his head, he saw Rhodey's suit stand up; without wasting any time, Tony attempted to tackle his out-of-control friend but was flipped into the ground instead.

Rhodey's suit jumped on him and started firing a nonstop hail of bullets at his face. Grabbing the minigun, he aimed it away from his head as he struggled against the hijacked suit. After a few seconds, the lights in Rhodey's helmet died; seeing his chance, Tony flew straight up to remove Rhodey from him on top of him.

"Reboot complete. You got your best friend back." Natasha said from inside his HUD.

"Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff." Tony said as he stood up and looked over Rhodey's downed form. The front of his helmet snapped up so he could breathe fresh air.

"Well done on the new chest piece. I am reading significantly higher output, and your vitals all look promising." Natasha exclaimed.

"Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you." Tony said as he made his way over to his friend. 

"What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?" Pepper said as she popped into the comms. Tony felt himself grow nervous as the one person he was trying to hide his failing health from found out the truth.

"Is that you? No, I'm not. Not anymore."

From there, an argument between Tony and Pepper broke out. Pepper kept trying to get him to explain what was going on with him for Natasha to have said he was dying. Of course, Tony, being Tony, wanted to play it all off. In the end, he promised to properly explain everything to Pepper once this was all over.

"Hey, hey. Save it for the honeymoon. You got incoming, Tony. Looks like a single drone is coming to you." Natasha said from where she was located. "This one looks different. The repulsor signature is significantly higher."

"Well, that can't be good."

Kneeling next to his friend, Tony knocked on the helmet several times. After two more knocks, the lights on the helmet eyes flashed on.

"Rhodes? Snap out of it, buddy. I need you. Something is coming. Come on, let's roll. Get up."

Tony saw Rhodey's helmet snap open. He saw his friend shake his head slightly and look up at him.

"Oh, man. You can have your suit back." Rhodey said as he accepted the hand he was offering. 

Pulling his friend up, Tony looked up and down at the suit's condition. Good, it seems to have held strong. Rhodey shouldn't have suffered any severe injuries. Tony then asked him if he was okay.

"Yeah, thanks. Tony, look, I'm sorry, okay?" Rhodey told him as he looked at him in regret. 

Tony was about to say it was okay and he had nothing to worry about when the drone Natasha warned him about crashed down a dozen feet from him and Rhodey.

"Good to be back." Ivan Vanko said as his helmet shifted off his head.

Tony looked over to Rhodey and nodded. The fronts of their helmets snapped down. Ivan took that as a challenge, so he lifted his arms and slammed two long, powerful whips into the ground. The electricity they generated produced large zaps and surges of energy.

"I got something special for this guy. I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife." Rhodey said as he walked forward, his suit's top left shoulder compartment shifted and generated a noise.

"With the what?"

•••

The Ghost Rider looked down at the fight in disappointment. This was it? This is what Iron Man was capable of? To him, it seemed like a child was repeatedly banging action figures into one another. While the one with the electric whips proved interesting, he didn't seem capable of any other attack.

The suit of armor with the whip head-butted Iron Man and whipped him across the chest. With another swing, he wrapped the electric whip around Iron Man's neck and held him in place. The black and grey Iron Man suit shot his handgun at the man with the whip from his position on the ground. He was then stomped down for his troubles.

"Pathetic." Ghost Rider said.

Iron Man then pulled the man back to give the black suit time to roll out and escape. Only to get caught instantly when he rose to a crouch. The man with the whips swung his left arm and also captured the black armor by the neck. It seems like both Iron Men were trapped in a dangerous position. The man with the whips dismissed his helmet and laughed at the two.

"I've seen enough." 

Standing up from the top of the Biodome where he watched the fight, The spirit of vengeance spun his chain while the jagged blades burned brightly at the ends. Jumping in the air, Ghost Rider looked down at his target and swung his chains. 

"Grraaghh!" The man who held both of the Iron Men screamed in pain as his arms were cut off at the bicep.

Landing on his feet, Ghost Rider turned and saw the man look at the stumps where his arms used to be. The man looked up to him and growled.

"You! The monster who destroyed my drones."

"Tony, who is this?" Rhodes asked.

"I don't know, stay on your toes." Tony said.

With another swing, Ghost Rider cut off the man's legs from the knee down. Walking slowly to the downed man, he looked closer at his features. The man had long, oily hair with a well-trimmed mustache. The man was also glaring up at him.

"You set the drones to attack." The Ghost Rider stated.

"My name... is Ivan Vanko." Ivan snarled. "Remember it when I send you to hell."

"Funny." Ghost Rider said as he picked Ivan up by the collar of his suit. "I'll see you there."

"Wait!" Rhodes yelled.

Not caring for what the Colonel wanted to say, the Ghost Rider opened his jaw and unleashed a stream of Hellfire onto Ivans's face and body. Ivan screamed in pain as he burned alive both physically and spiritually. After a few seconds, nothing was left but ash and dust.

"What did you do!?" Rhodes yelled as he raised his hand; his repulsor blast charged up.

"I wouldn't." The Ghost Rider said ominously.

"Rhodey, Stop!" Tony yelled as he held his hand up.

"We still needed him, Tony!" Rhodes said as he kept his eyes on the Ghost Rider. "He should have been brought in to answer for his crimes!"

Feeling frustrated by the babbling men, Ghost Rider turned and started walking away. Completely ignoring the two Iron Men as they tried to get him to stop. Jumping up, he swung his chain and pulled himself out of the dome. Surprisingly, the two men didn't pursue him. Running towards where he sensed his friends, The Ghost Rider wondered what he would say.