3Tony adjusts the speed of his thrusters, and lands on the ground with a knee. He stands up slowly surveying the scene before him. Buildings have been torn to pieces and the ruble of what remain burns brightly. Pedestrians run in a panic in different directions.
Turning his gaze, Tony finds the source of this destruction. A man that doesn't even resemble human because he burns with power of a reactor core, is laughing as he destroys more buildings. Pure energy erupts from his fingertips, incinerating anything in its path. This crazed mutation calls himself the living laser.
Tony has fought the laser before, and won. Actually, Iron man has defeated the living laser a few times, and yet he keeps coming back. It's almost as if he doesn't when to quit. Taking a few steps forward, Tony calls out to the energy being.
"Laser! Why is it always buildings? Can't you destroy anything else? Or is this the limit of your skill?" The laser turns around, and lets out a sinister chuckle.
"Let me show you the extent of my power!" Energy erupts from nowhere at his words. Tony quickly lets off a small thruster burst, sending him sideways. The energy narrowly misses his armor, and he can feel its radiating heat.
"Have you ever wondered, Iron Man, what happens when metal meets pure energy? Let's find out!" Tony activates his thrusters, and shoots into the air. Hovering, the energy blast misses again.
"C'mon, stop this and I can help return you back to normal! You don't have to be…..this…forever!" Tony shouts at his enemy. This earns only a snarl from the laser.
"What? Go back to normal just so I can be sent to a prison cell? Now why the hell would I do that?"
"No matter how this goes laser, you're ending up in a cell either way!" Tony rebuts.
"HAHA! See? That's where you're wrong stark! I have increased my power tenfold! There is no possible way you can even touch me!" The laser lets off more energy but Tony uses his agility to avoid the deadly beam.
"Jarvis is what he's saying true?" Tony says into his helmet.
"According to my scans, he has increased his power dramatically. There is no possible way to defeat him unless you-"
"Overcharge him. If I can pore enough power into him he may overload himself." Tony says, interrupting Jarvis.
"J, how are my subsystems holding up?"
"All subroutines are functioning to normal standards."
"Good, now start diverting power to the unibeam."
"All of it Sir?"
"Keep hover mode active, but that's it."
"Sir, you do realize that if this fails-"
"Jarvis I know the risks! Just do it!"
Another brightly colored beam rushes Tony, but yet again it fails to hit its target.
"Jeez Laser, I knew you were a bad shot, but-"
Tony can feel the heat on his chest, and then it floods along his body. He can feel gravity pulling him down, and finally the force of the ground beneath him. Looking at his chest, Tony can't help but cringe. The armor plating had been melted, and the inner workings of his MK-42 armor lay open.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk Stark. You always think so highly of yourself, but this time you're wrong. Always one to make quips during battle, but guess what? That leaves you vulnerable."
The glowing figure of a man slowly starts walking toward the prone Iron Man.
"Jarvis subsystems status and unibeam charge rate." Tony speaks quickly.
"Routine subsystems are offline, and the unibeam is now at 46% power."
"Is the self-repair operable?"
"Negative, all secondary systems are now offline. Suite is now running on backup power. Arc Reactor recharge time, 10 minutes."
Slowly getting to his feet, Tony looks at the damage done to his armor again. The plating has literally been melted off, and the arc reactor is visible. The area around the missing armor has been blackened and burnt. Looking up Tony sees the Laser getting closer.
"J, I seriously doubt we have ten minutes."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Five minutes before Living Laser incident"
Seth steps out of the school, and looks at his watch. The digital face says 2:45, he had just gotten out of school. Stepping onto the sidewalk, Seth starts for home. He only lives a few blocks away, so he walks. Another boy, about the same age, walks up behind him.
"Hey man, how's it going?" The boy says.
"Well, I'm doing the usual, walking home." Seth replies, a little sourly.
"Whoa, what's the matter?"
"Don't you feel like we do the same things every day?"
"Well yeah, because we do. I don't see your point."
"My point is, it's boring. Routine I mean. All we do is the same exact things every day. And I'm tired of it."
Seth stops, and turns around. His friend had stopped walking, and had fallen behind.
"Connor, what are you…" Seth stops, noticing that Connor is staring at something. He turns around, and realizes why his friend has stopped.
Just a few yards away from them a glowing man can be seen. But that isn't what worries them. The prone figure of an armored man is what gets to them. The glowing thing is moving toward the prone figure, who lays unmoving.
"Is that….."
"Iron Man." Seth finishes his friends sentence. Before he realizes what he's doing, Seth sprints forward.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Connor yells at him. Seth whips around.
"Im going to help Iron Man!"
"From here it looks like your running to your death!" Seth ignores his friend, and continues forward. The man is just about at Iron man now, that's when Seth yells.
"HEY! HUMAN TOASTER!"
His yell attracts the glowing man's attention. This is also when Seth realizes what he just did. The Laser raises his hand, and a beam of white energy flies at Seth's face.