Chapter 129

Tony Stark

As the kid disappeared, I stepped out of the shadows and was immediately approached by several agents reaching for their weapons.

"Leave him and give us some privacy," Fury waved as he won me over. "How much did you hear?"

The agents did as told and promptly shuffled out of the room.

"Enough," I said, taking Fury all in. He was tall, sturdy, and didn't look a day over forty. I've seen decade-old photos of him and Dad. Whatever was standing before me was just as freaky as the demon kid.

"The nice agent that left me in the waiting room said you'd talk to me when the situation stabilizes. The trouble is just starting from what I hear. Demons, sorcerers, mutants, and half-demon hybrids? Sounds like the plot of a cheesy teenage romance flick."

"What'd give to read that book," he said. "The universe is a lot stranger and dangerous than can imagine, Stark."

"I've gathered," I said, walking up the stairs to the monitors. My eyes stopped on the kid I'd learned was called Dante. There were images of him ripping through waves of demons.

"I knew your father," Fury said. "I wonder what he'd have said if he was alive to see this."

"He'd probably ask why you're lying to the blue kid about your manpower shortage. Sounds like whoever this doctor is really important."

"I'd be sending them to the slaughter," Fury said. "You've seen what Dante could do. I already have my best up there. If they can't succeed, no one else can."

Fury wasn't wrong. Dante had torn through those enhanced soldiers like they were tissue paper. My prototype repulsor rifle would've put them down, but I was sure it wouldn't be nearly enough to fight him.

He could manipulate fire and move faster than the human eye could track. I'd probably be dead before I could even pull the trigger.

"We're going to lose this war, Tony, unless we start making big changes, and that's why I reached out this morning."

I raised my brow. "You're my mysterious 2'0 clock?"

"Welcome to the big leagues, Stark."

"Please," I scoffed. "I am the big leagues. Half of the tech in this building was designed by me."

Fury smirked. "Honestly, it's more like 30%, and project NEUTRALIZER is on a global scale. Imagine a robotics weapon system specifically designed to take down the strongest things they can throw at us."

Fury jabbed his finger at the monitor, pointing at the hordes of dead demons, the bodies of fallen demon-human hybrids, and Dante.

"This is just their opening move, and New York is already in shambles. They can attack us anywhere, anytime, to maximum effect without any warning. It's like World War 2 over again, only this time, it will be over in weeks instead of years, and we're starting out several steps behind. If your father hadn't collaborated with Peggy Carter and the Captain to form the Strategic Research Team we might've not survived. I need you Stark. There's no other way to put it."

I considered his words contemplatively as I rubbed my chin. He was right. The world was in deep shit for sure, but I was certain I was not seeing the full picture. I suppose that would come in time. What I was interested in was what's in it for me.

"Alright, you turned me over, but I want first choice on patents for 70% of the new technology we create and total transparency. The second is non-negotiable."

"Done," Fury said, stunning me. He stepped away from the wall of monitors and walked toward one of the side exits. He looked back at me when he noticed I was not following. "You said you wanted total transparency, didn't you? Let me show you what the boys at the lab have been working on."

I followed him with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Rin

After the first demon went splat, the tide of battle shifted immediately. On a hunch, I let the energy ripple out of me in a Burst as I threw myself at the second Sword demon. He vanished before I could shoulder-check him, and I slammed into the wall, shaking the building. The demon materialized in front of me, hoping to finish me with a double stab to the neck, but I twisted out of the way of the attack and grabbed its left forearm. Before it could take a swipe at me, Clint exploded its head with a plasma shot.

I roused myself as Captain America parried a double slash from the third sword demon. The ferocity of his swing sent it staggering, and I swept it up in a tight hug before promptly hefting up and slamming it hard into the ground. Natasha riddled its body with energy shots, and I turned to notice a panicking N'tesh pressing Wanda with a sheer multitude of attacks.

She'd turned to sending powerful red bolts of telekinetic energy at him while she held back his constant barrage. He stretched his hand at me, and suddenly, I felt a swell of energy underneath my leg. There was a familiarity to it. He was unleashing the same attack he used to kill me, and I was still nowhere fast enough to dodge it, but I didn't have to be.

Dozens of spikes punched out of the ground and dug into my skin and sections of my armor that survived. They were only a few inches deep when a strange sensation pulsed through me. It was a peculiar mix between hunger and understanding.

For the first time ever, I pulled in the energy instead of waiting for it to come to me, and the results were instant. The darkness penetrating me melted, healing my wounds, while the new blades that popped up to replace the old shattered against my skin as if they were hard as diamonds. Strength filled me, magnifying my already impressive physical parameters by another tiny notch.

The deeper I pulled, the more temporary strength I gained. The new blades were gone in a flash, and I stuffed my hand through the shadow energy pooling underneath me, connecting to N'tesh's frankly staggering pool of energy. He cut the connection before I started to drain him properly.

He reeled back in surprise as the intensity of the shadow blades he sent at Wanda wavered slightly.

"Ascended," he gasped, looking at me.

Surprised, The mutant girl used that opportunity to her advantage, stretching her hand forth for a telekinetic full-body clasp. Surprisingly, the monster switched tactics.

He sunk into his shadow and appeared behind me, swinging hard with his shadow sword. My blade barely came up in time. It rang like a gong, shoving me halfway across the room and straight into a window. I shattered the glass but held on before I tipped over it.

N'tesh bellowed as his shadow grew, and hundreds of spikes erupted around the room. They sprung out of the shadow of every object and person. Everyone ducked but didn't need to. Crimson bubbles materialized around every person, shielding them from harm.

The shadows vanished just as suddenly as it appeared, and Wanda dropped to the floor, blood pooling from her nose. At the back of the lab, a sharp crack and a visible wave of greenish energy poured out of the small reactor with many thick cables attached.

N'tesh looked exhausted, but a grin blossomed on his face. The shadow underneath her suddenly grew, and my eyes widened.

Everybody reacted. The Captain threw his shield at N'tesh, and both agents fired their rifles at him. He vanished just as Kurt did. Kurt tackled Wanda out of the way before the blades skewered her while N'tesh, surprisingly, appeared in front of me, grabbing me. I tried to shove him off, but I wasn't quite strong enough, and neither could I drain him enough to stop him.

We sunk into his shadow startlingly fast, but before I disappeared completely. I spied him to send a blade through the shadow underneath Banner. The blade went through his gut, and blood sprayed out. He had seconds if he was lucky.

---

Kurt

I heard the scream before I saw him. When I turned around, my worst fears had come to pass. I'd failed on both fronts. Rin was gone again, and Banner was bleeding out.

"Bruce!" his girlfriend hurried over and grabbed his mid-section, lending pressure to his own.

Natasha stood beside me, face white at the sight.

"He'll be dead in minutes."

"I have to get him out of here," I announced. Another crack escaped the reactor, and several pieces of shrapnel went flying. One impacted a wall containing vials of chemicals that had surprisingly survived the Cambion's onslaught. Several impacted the floor. One stray caught Clint straight in the thigh, traveling through it and hobbling him immediately.

The temperature in the room suddenly soared as a wave of heat rolled out.

"We need to get out now!" Mystique said. "That reactor is about to blow."

Shit!

With gritted teeth, I teleported to Banner, Betty, and their panicking assistant.

"What are our options!"

Betty looked down at Bruce, who was struggling to speak

"Remote deactivation is impossible now," he said. "You either need to teleport it out, or someone has to stay back and engage the emergency cooling system."

"What's that?" I asked.

"It will release 4 canisters of liquid metal that will rapidly cool the reactor. If it works, we should be able to hold out long enough until a team arrives to disassemble the reactor."

That was fantastic news, but from the look on their face, I wasn't sure they quite agreed.

"What's wrong?"

"We need at least two people to initiate the shutdown," Betty said, "but it's a gamble at best. The reactor casing is cracked and a lot of the coolant is going to waste."