Chapter 40: Whiplash, Mysterious man?
(Tony's Perspective)
I was thrust around the corner only to see a man armoured with an exoskeleton suit of some kind. I attempted to dodge him earlier than I need to but I could feel the momentum building along the left side of the car, threating to flip it and me through the air. This was the case until I felt a small buzz of energy run through me. The car was completely still, the momentum gone, it was a little tilted to one side as if time had frozen it in that exact moment. This wasn't the case however as I heard the concerned yells and screams coming from the nearby crowd.
"What the fuck is going on!? And who's this ass hat!?"
The car finally plopped back on four wheel after a few seconds of me confusedly grabbing for my suitcase and exclaiming about the stupidity of the man in front of me.
'Seriously!? Who the fuck enters a race track? Don't tell me he's one of the people after me.'
I stripped the helmet off of my head as I grasped the suitcase that held my new rendition of the iron man suit. I forcefully leaped out of the cockpit suitcase in hand. When I stepped out I saw the other cars come to a rather quick stop, as if they had all inertia and velocity sucked out of them.
'What in the hell is causing this?'
The image of a very beautiful woman's face emerged in my mind at that moment and the spells she could wield.
'This is certainly very powerful, got to see if I can get her to work with me in making a new suit and applying the anti-momentum thing.'
Slowly I tore my gaze away from the rest of the chaos on the track towards the man who was now calmly walking towards me. The man had black and white hair hanging at the sides of his head, a cigarette hanging from his mouth as blue arcs of electricity pulsed across the vest-like exoskeleton. This guy was obviously trying to compensate for something he lacked.
I chuckled a little as I watched the guy pull out two whips. I mean, come on, whips? Really? Was this guy okay in the head? I dropped the suitcase in my hands onto the ground, dropping my right foot onto a circle at the bottom of said suitcase.
In the next second the 'suitcase' disassembled into various metallic and mechanical parts leaving a handle for me to pull. I designed it this way for ease when trying to equip the upper torso section of the suit as when I pulled it it deployed upwards like a suit of armour. I stepped up into the other leg section with my left foot and let the armour do it's thing.
Tiny electrical channels transmitted energy from the arc reactor's core at the chest's centre to various limbs, activating metal plates and superconductive materials. This process transformed the inner layer and, subsequently, the exterior of the suit. The plates seamlessly flicked into place, executing a sci-fi-esque transformation where struts were swiftly replaced by a slick red and silver armour plating. After the main body completed its metamorphosis, the helmet, primarily housed within hollowed sections of the collarbone portion, rapidly shot out and extended to precisely fit my head shape. Fortunately, Jarvis assisted in controlling the intricate mechanical movements during the transformation, preventing any accidental mishaps that could have jeopardized my life.
During this, the man opposite me, the one with the honestly embarrassing whips, began to monologue. Something about me ruining his life and killing his father or something. I have to admit I didn't really care all that much. As he continued I simply motioned to the other drivers to get to one of the emergency exits at the side of the track.
'What is with all these weirdos and wackos getting in my life and interrupting it?'
"Sir, the individual's armour is exhibiting an escalation in energy consumption. Analysis suggests potential hostile intent; an impending attack may be imminent."
Jarvis spoke to me as I looked at the holographic screens and readings within my helmet, an image of the man being conveyed to me despite me having my back to him.
"Target him with the missiles Jarvis, don't target any vitals just target his equipment."
There was small blipping noise as I felt the mechanical movement within the suit on the right shoulder, the sound of small rockets launching thereafter. I watched with my holographic projections as the missiles shot out the front of my suit and flew up and back at the man, guiding themselves to the 'painted' target.
Whip man, or whatever, seemed completely unfazed by the action as he continued to walk forward. He was now only ten meters away from me, his hands flexing along the handles of his whips.
The miniature missiles soared across the short distance, flying right in front of Whip man and landing soon after. Well, that is what should have happened, but a flash of blue energy emerged from outside of his body and the missiles exploded against the energy shield.
'Of course he has a shield like in star wars, because why not...'
"Jarvis, analysis..."
"Sir..."
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(Back to MC's perspective)
I had teleported behind one of the men with assault rifles, his attire completely black. He had a black hoodie with obvious combat boots and duffle bag at his feet. It was honestly astound to me that he was able to get in without being caught.
'Seems someone was payed off or they have some other means.'
Without waiting for very long I started casting my spells, targeting all of the people with the range of my En that had assault rifles.
{Astra Domina}
I blue icy glow started to permeate from my hands soon becoming snow then ice as I then went on to blast the guy in front of me with pure ice, almost instantly freezing him as similarly in other areas a blast of pure ice froze the other men and women who I had identified. They all keeled over twitching from the frigid temperatures they had just been exposed to. I then began rapidly teleporting between each of them, collecting them so to speak, and then finished the chain off my teleporting them all and myself to the inside of the race track.
A beam of energy flew past me as the unconscious bodies of the people I had collected slumped around me. I quickly stepped outside of the circle of them and erected a dome of earth with holes big enough for them to breathe out of.
My invisibility had dropped when I first cast Astra Domina so I now stood in the open watching as Tony fired off repulsor blast after repulsor blast at the Whippy guy. I smiled a little at the name as it made him sound stupid. My concentration soon returned however when the Whippy guys started flinging his whips back a forth at Tony.
After several dodges one of the whips actually hit Tony, his armour searing and sparking as the blast of energy contained within the whip started to run amok within the suit's internal components.
'Shit, i suppose it's my turn to help out...'
The screaming of the crowd reached an all time high as they began running away from the track with the obvious murderous intent of the man on the track. I smiled slightly as I began to walk forwards, parallel to the Whippy guy.
I started to flex my Nen as I walked my aura becoming spiky and larger as very quickly I began to meld my emotions into it. The aura suddenly became red and black, the intent purely harmful. With intensity that came from somewhere within me, my Nen shot out to encompass the Whippy Guy who started to gasp for air as he fell to his knees. His eyes became blood shot as bloody tears started to run down his face. He looked in my direction as abject horror beamed from his every facial expression and body language cue. It was as if a man had been confronted my his worst fear and it was here to kill him.
In shock I retracted my aura. My senses came back fully to me, I looked out towards my target before noticing the colour of my aura and the resemblances it had to that 'woman'. 'No! She can't take over! Never, I won't allow it!' A calming, soothing aura soon started to cover me and spread throughout the red-black Nen of mine. I started to feel serene tranquillity replacing the violent emotions that had erupted.
When I finally looked up again Tony was standing over the unconscious body of Mister Whippy. His repulsors still aimed at the head of the man. Seconds later, he lowered them as he had made sure he was unconscious. Very quickly he took out the reactor core of the Whip man and looked over at me.
Following our win the sound of an Iron Man Suit's flight module blared from above. A blue Iron Man suit dropped from the sky with a slightly shaken and crying Illyana. Seeing this I hurriedly ran over to her, helping her settle onto the road and slowly started to sway her.
"What happened!?"
I furiously looked up at Pepper who had at this point opened the face plate of her suit.
"She used her powers on a few men who were trying to hold us hostage. She tried to merely capture them but the men quickly took out a knife and slit their own throats. She's a bit shaken."
Illyana whimpered a bit as I rocked her back and forth in my lap. My Nen slowly began encompassing her as I attempted to transmit the tranquil feelings it was emitting at this moment. Her crying slowed somewhat as she snuggled closer to my bosom. Her face was completely covered in wet tears and sweat as she squinted her eyes as if she could stop her tears from flowing through sheer will. I lightly kissed her head before whispering sweet nothing into her ears to settle her down.
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(Tony's Perspective)
I watched as the two women hugged each other, one in support and one in pain. I felt a dull ache in my heart before I quickly turned my head up towards Pepper who seemed the most hurt as she gloomily gazed at Illyana and Emelia.
'God help me, I'll have a hiding tonight...'
I grimaced at the thought as I turned to look around the course. There was an earthen dome with small holes built into it, courtesy of Emelia no doubt. Fearing the reprimand from Pepper I quickly went over to the structure and pushed my fingers into it, then scooped the earth out with the suit. The whole entire structure collapsed creating a small pile of rubble to collect on top of the people inside. I would have felt bad for them had it not been for the knives that stuck out from their throats.
'What in the fuck are we dealing with here?'
"Ahh, very good, very good! I am glad to see that you are all not so weak as to die by the hand of all things."
From my left, a resonant voice with a distinctive Chinese accent exclaimed, the sound emanating from several meters away.
Swiftly and without hesitation, I redirected my repulsors toward the source, my arc reactor humming back into full action.
"I'm glad i get to be here to declare war unto you instead of preparing a funeral service."
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Author Alex here again, thanks for all the support and I hope you all have a good day/night!
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