Chapter 91

From Rhodey's perspective, everything seemed to blur for a moment as he was sent flying by the force of Nina's kick. The resounding thud of his armored body hitting the concrete echoed through his ears, and for a split second, the world spun around him. His onboard systems flickered, sparking back to life as his visor cleared from the abrupt impact.

"Stark," Rhodey called, his voice filled with worry, but he was met with nothing but static. Pushing himself upright, he turned to see Tony, dust settling around him, pulling himself to his feet with a wince.

"Rhodey, I swear, if you ever let a girl get between us again…" Tony started, his voice strained. Rhodey could hear the underlying humor, a veiled attempt to lighten the situation, but it didn't quite reach his friend's eyes.

The aftermath of Nina's surprise attack was stark. Twisted, scorched remains of GSG 9 vehicles littered the area, Black Panther stood still as a statue, staring at the distance where Nina had made her escape. Tony and Rhodey, two of the most formidable armored heroes, had been rendered momentarily helpless.

"Black Panther," Rhodey began, reaching out to T'Challa. The king turned to look at him, the gleaming eyes of his suit meeting Rhodey's. There was a silent, deadly promise in those eyes, a promise of vengeance. "We could use your help--"

"No," T'Challa interrupted, his voice carrying an edge Rhodey hadn't heard before. "I am not part of your war." With that, he turned away, vanishing into the shadows.

A pang of disappointment welled up in Rhodey's chest, but he pushed it aside, focusing on the task at hand. "Nina's getting away," he muttered, looking up at the sky.

"Already on it," Tony replied, his suit humming back to life. "I've got a lock on her direction."

Without another word, Tony shot up into the sky, the afterburners of his suit glowing brightly against the dark canvas of the smoke. "Catch up, Rhodey," Tony called back, his voice echoing in Rhodey's helmet.

Rhodey didn't hesitate. Activating his thrusters, he shot up into the sky after Tony. His heart pounded in his chest, uncertainty and worry gnawing at his gut. They were friends once, all of them. But now, lines had been drawn, sides chosen.

As he gained altitude, the city lights spread beneath him like a sea of stars, their radiance providing a stark contrast to the grim situation. The chase was on, and though they had the upper hand in the air, Rhodey couldn't shake off the ominous feeling hanging over them like a cloud. Nina was no pushover, and she'd proven it back there. As the wind whipped against his suit, he knew things were about to get a whole lot messier.

As they soared through the sky, Tony and Rhodey pushed their suits to their limits. The world around them became a blur, trees and buildings disappearing in a flurry of greens and grays, the wind roaring in their ears.

Tony's eyes flickered to the heads-up display projected onto the inside of his helmet, focusing on the blinking dot that was Nina. It seemed like they were gaining on her. And then, just as quickly, she disappeared. Tony's heart jumped in his chest.

The signal was gone, the display was clear. He squinted at it, trying to make sense of the sudden loss. "She's gone..." he began, but as soon as the words left his lips, the dot blinked back into existence. "Wait, no, she's back up," he said, his brow furrowing in confusion.

Beside him, Rhodey glanced over at Tony, confusion mirrored on his face. "What's she doing?"

Tony's heart pounded. The adrenaline was making his thoughts swim. He looked ahead, trying to make sense of the situation. The back and forth wasn't like Nina. The girl was as stubborn as she was brave. Why would she be running?

He took a breath. "Trying to distract us, probably. Get us away from the others," he guessed, scanning the horizon. But something felt off. Rhodey's words echoed in his mind. What was she doing?

The sight that met him was unexpected. Nina, the same Nina who'd just been leading them away, was hurtling towards them, her figure growing larger on Tony's heads-up display. The pit in Tony's stomach deepened.

Tony's hand moved to the controls, ready to maneuver away. But he paused, his mind racing. This wasn't a move of desperation. No, this was something else. This was strategic. She wasn't running, she was attacking.

The realization struck him like a lightning bolt. This wasn't a distraction. This was a confrontation. Nina was challenging them. In the sky, where they were supposed to have the upper hand. She was going to fight them.

"Rhodey," Tony said, his voice quiet but steady. "Get ready. She's coming for us."

Rhodey just nodded, his grip tightening on his own controls. As Nina grew closer, the two friends prepared for the upcoming battle, their determination hardening in the face of this unexpected challenge. The fight was just beginning, and they knew they had to be ready for anything.

Tony and Rhodey floated in place, the roar of their engines becoming a low hum. The bright blue sky stretched out around them, a canvas punctuated by the figure of Nina, her sleek suit reflecting the sunlight. The world seemed to pause, holding its breath for the coming conflict.

"Arm your weapons, Rhodey," Tony murmured, his own hand going to his controls. He felt a pang of regret as he initiated his targeting system. This was not a fight he had wanted, but there was no denying the reality before him.

Nina paused a hundred yards away, her engines pulsating in the silence. Then, an unexpected sound broke through the quiet – an old comms channel, crackling with static. Nina's voice came through the speaker in Tony's helmet, solemn and serious. "Tony, Rhodey... I don't want to do this. Please back off."

Tony's heart tightened. Her voice was full of resolve, but underneath, he heard a hint of sadness. He swallowed hard, remembering the girl who used to follow him around the lab, her bright eyes filled with admiration.

"Yeah, right. You kicking us into a bunch of cars was a friendly hello, huh?" He tried to inject some humor into the situation, hoping it might defuse the tension. "Look, Nina. You don't want to do this? Easy. Disarm, land and let's talk."

Silence fell again, heavy and filled with a tension that made the air feel thick. Tony's joke, his plea, hung in the void between them. He watched her, her figure still and resolute against the expanse of sky.

Rhodey's voice crackled in his ear. "She's not going to back down, Tony," he said, his tone resigned. But there was a fierceness in his voice, a willingness to do what needed to be done.

"I know," Tony admitted, the weight of the situation settling onto his shoulders. He turned his attention back to Nina, her silhouette now hard-edged against the glaring sun. In the quiet, his suit's systems whirred and clicked, the sounds seeming loud in the tense silence. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the battle that seemed inevitable.

The world held its breath, waiting for the storm to break. But for that one moment, everything was still. Peaceful, even. It was a cruel contrast to the imminent clash that loomed over them, a reminder of the friendships that were now on the brink of shattering. The silence lingered, every tick of the clock magnifying the tension, stretching it thin until it was near breaking.

And then, without warning, the moment passed, and the world exhaled. The storm had arrived.

With a sudden rush of movement, Nina shot forward, directly into Rhodey's line of fire. The bullets ricocheted off her armor, the sound ringing in the air like a metallic hailstorm. But Nina didn't flinch. Her focus remained solely on Rhodey, her body arcing through the sky with a deadly grace.

Just as she reached him, an energy blast cut through the air, forcing her trajectory to skew to the left. The force of Tony's repulsor beam was enough to divert her path, creating just enough space for Rhodey to avoid her charge.

Before Nina could correct herself, a barrage of mini-missiles sprung from Tony's back, arcing towards her in a lethal hail. Nina twisted and dove, evading some, but others found their mark. The resulting explosions created a shroud of smoke, obscuring her from their view.

Tony scanned the smoke, his systems automatically adjusting to cut through the haze. But it was too late. Nina had already made her move.

Out of the smoky veil, Nina rocketed towards Tony at a breakneck speed. There was no time for Tony to dodge or counterattack. The only thing he could do was brace for impact. The collision came in the form of a powerful kick that sent him careening backward, his body spinning in the air before stabilizing, his suit compensating for the sudden disruption.

Turning back to the scene, Nina focused on Rhodey, her body subtly adjusting for another charge. But instead of attacking, Rhodey's voice crackled over the comms, his tone steady and composed. "Easy, Nina," he said, his hand raised in a universal sign of peace.

His words reverberated in the silence that followed. The wind whistled in the open air, punctuating the calm before the storm. Rhodey's pleading eyes stared at Nina, his gaze unflinching despite the dangerous situation. He knew that the next moments would decide the trajectory of the fight and, ultimately, their friendship.

The calm shattered in an instant, the sudden onslaught of weaponry lighting up the sky. Rhodey, leveraging the pause, unleashed a relentless rain of munitions, projectiles whirring and whistling through the air. Nina, taken aback by this abrupt shift, had no time to react.

Plasma cannons, rockets, and miniguns lit up the air with relentless streams of gunfire. The sky was filled with the dazzling spectacle of explosions and the streaking paths of bullets, all zeroed in on Nina. Despite her advanced armor, each hit jolted her, each shockwave sending a tremor through her form.

Tony joined the assault, his repulsor beams cutting through the air like searing blades. His hands spread out, releasing micro-missiles that zoomed towards Nina, their fiery trails painting the sky. The munitions mixed with Rhodey's onslaught, blending into an overwhelming barrage of destruction.

The power behind each hit was immense, driving Nina downwards. Her descent was slow, weighed down by the ceaseless rain of fire, her altitude diminishing with each passing second. It was a gradual push, an unyielding force driving her to the ground.

Tony and Rhodey, not breaking their assault, descended along with her. The sky around them was awash with the light of their weapons, casting long, eerie shadows over the landscape below. The sight was a terrifying tableau of power, testament to the destructive capabilities at their fingertips.

The clamor of the relentless assault echoed through the area, a cacophony of blasts and detonations. And amidst it all, Nina, struggling against the onslaught, felt a growing determination within. Her resolve hardened under the barrage, the relentless drive to protect her friends fueling her spirit, even as her body succumbed to the unyielding force of Tony's and Rhodey's combined assault.

The hazy smoke began to dissipate as the barrage ceased, the echoes of their weaponry still ringing in the air. As the curtain of dust and debris cleared, it revealed Nina, battered but unbowed. She was kneeling on the charred earth, surrounded by the remnants of the onslaught. Her once pristine armor now bore the telltale signs of battle, scourge marks, and small dents marring the surface.

Tony touched down lightly a short distance away, Rhodey following suit. His metallic form glinting in the breaking dawn, Tony looked at Nina, a smirk hidden behind the faceplate of his suit.

"You ready to give up, Nina?" Tony's voice echoed, his tone light and jesting as it always was when faced with a situation of such gravity.

Nina merely glanced up at him, her eyes catching the sunlight filtering through the trees. There was a spark of defiance in them, unquenched by their assault. She returned his jest with one of her own.

"You forget my name, Tony?" she retorted, a wry smile pulling at her lips. "Ivy. Remember?"

Confusion momentarily flashed across Tony's face before he realized their location. They were in a forest, an environment where Nina, Ivy, held a natural advantage.

The surrounding landscape was a verdant sea of green, dotted with tall, towering trees and a thick undergrowth. The early morning sunlight filtered through the canopy, casting dappled shadows over the terrain. The air was heavy with the scent of earth and vegetation, a stark contrast to the acrid smell of the recent battle. In the background, the distant sound of birdsong played a melodious symphony, oblivious to the power play unfolding in their midst.

Tony looked around, the realization slowly dawning on him. The lush foliage, the wildlife, the entire forest was Ivy's domain. A bead of sweat trickled down his face within the suit, a testament to the growing tension. The battlefield had shifted, and the advantage now lay with Nina.

As Nina spread her arms, her hands turned upwards as if supplicating to the heavens, she drew deep within herself. Her eyes sparkled with an uncanny emerald light, a reflection of the vast power she now commanded. Tony, alarmed by the sudden shift in her demeanor, barked at Rhodey.

"Rhodey! Take off!"

But it was too late.

The forest sprung to life around them, responding to Nina's call. An eerie quiet descended, broken only by the rustling of leaves and the crackling of undergrowth. The ground beneath their feet rumbled and surged, as if alive, grass and vines emerging with startling rapidity to ensnare their metal-clad forms.

They struggled, thrashing against the relentless onslaught of foliage, their thrusters firing in an attempt to take to the skies. But the forest was unyielding. Branches sprung forth from the trees, extending like skeletal fingers to snatch at them, further tangling them in their wooden grasp.

Their weapons came to life, spitting fire and energy at the restraining foliage. For a moment, it would seem they'd broken free as the plants were shredded under the onslaught, but then they would regrow, faster and stronger, fueled by Nina's command. The more they resisted, the more the forest fought back.

Rhodey grunted as a vine snaked around his waist, yanking him back to the earth as he attempted to break free. Tony, meanwhile, found himself encased in a cocoon of wood and leaves, his vision obscured by the greenery wrapping around him. Despite their armor, despite their weapons, they were being bested by the very earth beneath their feet.

A sense of despair began to seep into Tony. This was Nina's domain. Here, she was queen and they were invaders. He felt the cold tendrils of dread curling in his stomach as he acknowledged their predicament.

For a moment, as he looked through a tiny gap in the greenery at Nina standing tall, her form bathed in the dappled sunlight, he felt a hint of awe. It was a cruel beauty – their friend commanding the very nature to rise against them. Her form was radiant, ethereal, her eyes blazing with an unspoken challenge. And in that moment, Tony Stark understood the true power of Ivy.

A silence fell over the forest, punctuated only by the occasional chirp of a distant bird or the whisper of leaves rustling in the wind. Nina's form, bathed in sunlight, was a silhouette of composed strength against the vibrant backdrop of nature. Tony and Rhodey, encased in their verdant prison, watched her warily.

"Relax," Nina said, a hint of mirth dancing in her eyes. "I'm not going to kill you." Her words echoed through the forest, reverberating off the tall, ancient trees and the earth beneath their feet.

She flashed them a brilliant smile, the kind that could brighten the darkest corners of the world. "Consider this a little retreat," she joked, her tone light and teasing, despite the dire circumstances. "Good for your souls. You know, breathe in, breathe out, embrace nature."

Even in the midst of the greenery's tightening grip, Tony found himself smirking at her bravado. Typical Nina, he thought, always finding the humor even when everything was spiraling out of control.

Before they could respond, Nina turned to leave, her suit humming back to life. "The vines will loosen in a few minutes after I'm gone. You'll be able to get out then. But until then, enjoy the view, fellas."

With a last lingering glance thrown their way, Nina took off into the air, a blur of color against the clear blue sky. The forest seemed to sigh in response, the plants retracting slightly as if bidding farewell to their commander. The sunlight filtering through the leaves seemed a little less bright, the chirping of the birds a little less cheerful.

And then she was gone, leaving Tony and Rhodey encased in their temporary prison. Tony let out a sigh, leaning back against the unyielding trunk of the tree, his mind abuzz with thoughts. He stared at the empty spot in the sky where Nina had disappeared, her words echoing in his ears.

What had they done? How had it come to this?

But there was no time for self-pity. As the vines slowly started to retract, Tony knew he needed to regroup, to figure out his next move. This was just the beginning. And as he wrestled himself free from the last tendrils of Ivy's command, Tony realized something else, too - their fight was far from over.

There was a sudden lightness in the air as the vines began to retreat, their once-taut grip loosening. It was as if the forest itself were releasing a held breath, the tension ebbing away to be replaced by the soft, vibrant hum of nature.

Rhodey, finally untangling himself from the last tendrils of green, chuckled lightly, his laughter echoing amidst the trees. "Well, Stark," he said, shaking off remnants of leaves from his suit, "I never thought I'd see the day when Iron Man would be defeated by... foliage."

Tony, the final vine unwrapping itself from his metal-clad foot, shot Rhodey a glare. But the corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly - a reluctant acknowledgement of Rhodey's jest. "That's off the record, Rhodes," he grumbled, dusting off his suit. "In fact, this entire incident is."

Rhodey shook his head, grinning beneath his helmet. "You got it, boss. Not a word about our forest spa retreat to anyone."

Despite the quip, a moment of silence lingered between them. It was a quiet, reflective pause, each man lost in his own thoughts. The verdant battlefield around them had once been a place of natural tranquility, but their battle had transformed it into a surreal monument of their struggle. The memory of Nina's smile, her gentle chiding and fierce conviction, hung heavy in the air. This was their reality now, filled with reluctant conflict and clashes against friends.

Staring at the spot where Nina had vanished, Tony's jaw set in determination. He hated this - the in-fighting, the divisions, the impossible choices. But they were in it now, all of them. They'd have to see it through, no matter how personal the battles got.

His gaze turned skyward, tracing the path Nina had disappeared along. One thing was certain, this wasn't the end. Their next move had to be a careful one, calculated and precise. He glanced at Rhodey, the silent understanding between them clear.

This was just the beginning. Their fight was far from over.