Chapter 17

Jax was in excruciating pain, nothing like he's ever felt before ever since unlocking his X-gene. Then the words his mother spoke to him about his weakness being light-based attacks, as he realized he might be even more fucked than he thought.

'Isn't all of Ironman's attacks either light energy or fire-based? Shit, what's worse, is that it seems to screw with my healing factor too, which means I just can't tank the attacks as I do with Deathstroke. I'll have to stay on my toes for this one.'

With his back still raw, Jax used Dark Healing on himself, fixing himself completely. Looking up at Ironman hovering in the air, Jax realized that he could just get away using a Mark, but with the frustration from having to kill for his Master and Stark getting a cheap shot on him, Jax wanted a little payback.

Extending his claws, held off on teleporting, for now, wanting to keep it as a trump card, and crouched low before he leaped high in the air, tackling Ironman. Surprised by Jax's speed and agility, Ironman was unable to react in time to dodge Jax tackling him. As they were still falling backward, Ironman added extra power to his boot jets, flying higher into the air, where he assumed he would have more of an advantage.

"How dare you attack me without knowing the full story. I caught that man trying to rape a child and he ran! What I did was right!" Jax growled as he lied, using Telepathy to implant the idea inside of Stark's head. The only thing is, Jax's Telepathy skills were too low at the moment to completely manipulate a genius like Stark, so all he did was cause Tony to heavily doubt things in his mind.

"You can fucking speak?!... Still, you had no right to kill him! Evidence has to be gathered, a trail had. You alone are not justice!" Ironman yelled as he flew higher into the air.

Reaching one hand over, Ironman shot a blast at Jax, only to miss as Jax leaped off of Ironman at the last second and formed his shadow wings, stunning Ironman yet again.

"Oh c'mon, you can fly now?!" Ironman asked incredulously.

"I can do a great many things, Metal Guy," Jax said as he mocked Ironman and dodged another blast. Jax was finally getting used to maneuvering with his new wings.

"No, no, no! I refute that name with all of my power!" Ironman said, enraged, as he pushed his jets to the max and flew towards Jax, firing multiple blasts from different angles.

In a great show of his agility, sent out Dark Slashes of his own, taking Ironman by surprise as one of the slashes hit Ironman's right boot jet, sending him spiraling, before he stabilized himself by transferring more power to the jets on his hands, balancing himself in the air just a few feet in front of Jax.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity when Ironman's guard was down, Jax retracted his claws from afoot to just 6 inches long, to not risk outright killing Stark, as he slashed at his stomach with his claws, causing Sparks to fly as he dug into the thick metal and drew blood. As the smell of blood and Starks growing fear hit Jax's senses, it made him go into a somewhat feral state, as he continued to wail on Stark.

The pedestrians watching below were terrified, as the metal armored hero who was fighting the scary-looking "Monster" was starting to lose. Film crews and anchors broadcasted the battle, narrating as Ironman barely defended himself.

"You can do this Iron man! Kick that weird monster's butt!" shouted a small child in the crowd trying to cheer on Ironman.

Thanks to his super hearing and clouded judgment from his feral state, Jax stopped attacking Ironman and turned around to growl at the child.

"What the hell did you call me you little Crotch Goblin?! Your mother should've swallowed you!" Jax roared, frightening the child and the crowd, as with his intimidating voice thanks to the voice changer and the monstrous look of his armor and his demonic wings, Jax really looked like an evil space monster.

Panting heavily and barely conscious, Ironman funneled most of his remaining energy into his hand cannons and aimed at Jax, priming up the massive blast.

"Hey, Darkclaw! Why don't you leave New York alone and burn in hell where you came from!" Ironman shouted for all to hear as he released his devastating blast at Jax's back.

With his Danger Sense snapping him out of his feral state, Jax barely had time to open a portal back to his training room, but he was too late. The light-based energy blast hit Jax, instantly evaporating his armor, flesh, and his bone, as it knocked him into the portal that closed behind him. But, due to the size and brightness of the blast, to everyone else when things settled down, Jax had been completely evaporated.

After a moment of silence, the streets began cheering for their new hero, Ironman, who the media painted as single-handedly saving them from a demonic, alien monster that wanted to take over the world. Dramatic? Very much so, but the world ate it up, as news and videos of this battle spread all over the world.

Meanwhile, the blast continued to ravage Jax in the now-destroyed Training Room, but it soon lost power. And not a moment too soon, because on the floor was Jax, or a piece of him, writhing in pain as his entire left side and most of his bottom half was gone, leaving nothing but a bloody, molten mess behind.

Luckily, Jax designed this room to be extremely soundproof and resilient so none of the damage and chaos shook the actual tower, waking up his family.

"Ahhh! Fuck, fuck, fuck! 001, bring the Medic droid!" Jax shouted, knowing that 001 and most of the Builder droids were nearby working on expanding.

A few moments later, 001 and the Medic droid that he built moved as fast as their bodies let them reach him. Jax built the feminine Medic droid for emergencies if he wasn't at the tower and for future use in hospitals.

With the help of the Medic droid, It numbed his body with a heavy dose of morphine and stabilized his injuries. After what felt like forever, Jax's body started regenerating, until he was back to 100%. But, he still felt phantom pains from nearly being killed by the light-based attack.

This experience was a true eye-opener for Jax as he realized that even with highly advanced technology and his mutant powers for help, it still wasn't enough to protect him from a rich guy in a metal suit. No, for him and his loved ones to truly be safe, he was going to need something more.

After taking a quick shower to wash away all of the dried blood, Jax crawled into bed with the still sleeping MJ and quickly passed out.

The next morning, Jax had a very awkward breakfast as Jada and MJ both saw the morning news that showed clips of Jax's battle with the now-famous Ironman. After lying to them, saying that he was trying to stop crime and Ironman mistook him as a monster and started attacking him, Jada and MJ were less angry with Jax and now livid with Ironman for hurting their beloved Jax.

Jax was seriously touched that these two women loved him so much, but he felt bad for lying to them. He didn't know how to explain that he had to go out and purposefully kill someone for a ghost in a metal cube. Who would accept that?

After placating Jada and MJ and convincing them to not go on a crusade to go find Ironman, as he didn't tell them his secret identity because, how the hell would he know, they were able to stay the day, as Jax and MJ made their way to school.

The school was exactly what Jax expected it to be, nothing but chatter about what happened last night. Students were excited, saying how Ironman whooped Darkclaw's ass, while he was surprised to hear some students defend him and say that it was Darkclaw who won most of the fight.

It turns out that in typical Stark fashion, Ironman did a post-fight interview where he stated that Jax was stopping a criminal from raping a child, but went too far when he killed said criminal, leading to the fight. It was this interview that split the world in a great debate saying that Darkclaw was right and justified to kill a pedophile, while the other half-day that he had no right to take justice into his own hands.

It was truly baffling how things turned out to Jax but one thing was sure, he was glad he used Telepathy to affect Starks mind, our he would be painted in an even worse light.

Sitting at his desk, Jax turned to see that Peter didn't come to school that day. Either he was still knocked out where he left him or he was at home mourning the death of Uncle Ben.

"Hey, Jax! Did you see the crazy fight last night on the news?" Natalie walked over as she waved good morning to both Jax and MJ, but MJ only gave her a curt nod as she held on to Jax like he would float away, making him chuckle slightly.

"Yeah, I saw it. It almost felt like I was there." Jax said coyly as he thought back on the fight.

"I know! It was super intense! Tell me, what do you think about it? It seems everyone is pretty split on how they feel about the whole Ironman and Darkclaw thing." Natalie asked, her eyes flashing as she watched Jax for any facial tells. She still didn't know much, so she wanted to gleam more of his personality from this question.

"Hmm, well I'm honestly torn. I do agree that he wasn't wrong in killing the pedophile and that he was indeed winning most of the fight, but he made an idiotic decision to turn around in the middle of a battle to yell at a small kid that his mom should've swallowed him. I can't really tell if he was a nut job or a good guy with anger issues." Jax said as he gave his honest opinion.

He was seriously kicking himself for losing himself to his rage and losing the chance to kick Ironman's ass just to yell at some kid.

Natalie and the whole class who listened silently nodded as Jax's opinion was actually sound, but many of them still believe that Jax had no right to kill anyone he wanted.

The rest of school went on just like that, as the school day soon ended. As they were saying get to Giles and about to enter the car, they were stopped when someone called out to them. They turned around and MJ immediately frowned as she saw Natalie running up to them.

"Hey, thanks for waiting! Hey, can I ask a huge favor?" Natalie asked, holding her hands in front of her, pushing up her massive chest, making MJ frown even more.

Jax did his best not to look, caging his eyes to only look at Natalie's big, juicy, bouncy blue eyes. But, if he had stats, his peripheral vision level would be at max, as Jax was practically salivating at that point.

"Uh... sure, Nat. What can we do for you?" Jax asked, secretly hoping it was to help her break her back.

"Well, It's kind of embarrassing. I really want to go to your expo tonight, but I don't really have a way of getting there since I'm low on money-" Natalie said until she was cut off by MJ

"Oh no! That's such a shame! We would've loved having you. Anyway, we don't have much time so-"

"You really would love having me over?! That makes my question so much easier! May I rude there with you and stay for the expo?? I promise I won't get in the way, and I'll help in any way you need!" Natalie said, frantically trying to plead her case like a damsel in distress.

'This fucking bitch tricked me! I knew she was trying to get close to Jax! And he's too damn nice and gullible to see she's trying to work her way close to him! I have to send this slut away before-' MJ thought before what she feared already happened.

"Uh, sure! There's plenty of room in the car, and I don't see anything wrong with it, do you, babe?" Jax turned to ask MJ, putting her on the spot.

MJ wanted to badly say hell to the no, but as Jax told her before, she actually hadn't done anything and could just be overly friendly because she's from the south.

"Sure! What could possibly go wrong?!" MJ said through the fakest smile she's ever produced in her life.

After that, they all hopped in the car to ride to Natalie's apartment so she can grab a bag with her outfit and then rode straight to Umbra Tower.

The whole ride, MJ was smoldering because Jax was being a sudden comedian and Natalie was laughing hysterically at all of his jokes, occasionally resting a hand on him as she laughed.

What she didn't notice were the ever subtler movements of Natalie brushing against Jax, "Accidentally" touching his hand and leaving it there, or as she started leaning on him, her breasts just so happen to be touching his arm.

All of this while, Jax was is a place no faithful man would even wish on his worst enemy. On his left was the love of his life, MJ. And on his right, was one of the sexiest women he's seen in two lifetimes, practically pushing herself on him. Jax was stuck between imagining a long, healthy relationship with MJ, and fantasizing about bending Natalie over to breed her right there. A true conundrum no man should ever face.

After the longest car ride ever, they finally made it inside of Umbra Tower, and Natalie's eyes sparkled, as not only was this one of the most impressive places she's ever been inside of, she was also in the next step of her mission, infiltrate Umbra Tower.

As they walked through the spacious, beautifully decorated lobby, Walter scurried over to Jax, very excited about something.

"Lord Wolfe, it's done! Operation: Starshine is officially complete and underway. We are finally ready to start Operation Darkstar!" Walter said excitedly.

Jax wanted to curse at Walter for breaking protocol and speaking of top-secret operations in front of guests, but looked off and saw Natalie tilt her head cutely, in a confused way.

"Walt, we have a guest with us today, so we'll speak on this later. Tell everyone else to act accordingly. We'll be in our suite." Jax said as he was about to start walking to his suite, but was stopped again by Walter.

"Yes, Walt. What is it?" Jax asked pointedly, as he was slightly frustrated with Walter. He understood Walter being excited, but there was never an excuse for breaking protocol.

Knowing that he messed up badly and that Jax was mad at him, Walter hopped this next piece of news would make up for his mistake.

"I have a young scientist here I was looking into recruiting, but he wished to prove himself first by winning the competition at the expo. Go on, young man, introduce yourself." Walter said as he gestured to a young man Jax didn't even realize was standing there.

The young man was like most nerdy scientists, unassuming. He had an average frame, slightly above average height, dark brown hair, and pale skin from constantly being inside.

"Hello, Dr. Wolfe, it's a pleasure to finally meet you! My name is Victor Von Doom, and I can't wait to win the competition and prove myself to you!" said the young man named, Victor.

But, at this name, Jax froze, as he knew exactly who this young man was. Or, at least who he will be.

'Doctor fucking Doom?!' Jax thought in slight panic and excitement, as this just might be the answer to his problem.