A little cryo problem
The night was calm. City lights flickered in the distance. Natasha held Tony's hand, ready to pull him somewhere more private.
Then it happened.
A loud explosion shook the ground. The shockwave rattled glasses on nearby tables. Seconds later, a series of sharp gunshots echoed from a few blocks away. People started yelling. Some ducked. Others ran to the edge of the rooftop to look.
Tony and Natasha turned at the same time.
A figure shot out of a crumbling building's rooftop. A man in a tight blue suit, ice-blue lines glowing across his arms and spine. He skated through the air as ice formed beneath his feet. Each swipe of his arm threw jagged blasts of ice at the NYPD officers trying to set up a perimeter.
Cops scrambled for cover, shouting over each other as bullets whizzed past.
Tony's eyes narrowed. His nanites kicked in instantly, scanning the bag and the guy.
"Money," he said aloud. "Lots of it. Humm... That guy mutated his own DNA artificially. A Cryogenic human. And his suit is customized with cryo tech."
'That guy looks familiar.'
As soon as he put pressure on his mind, trying to remember the identity of that man from the comics in his past life, the mind stone helped him remember the details. Tony now remembered...
Dr. Gregor Shapanka, Ph.D., an employee of Stark Industries, was conducting private research into a means for achieving physical immortality. He attempted to rob the private vault of Anthony Stark, head of Industries, in order to obtain microtransistor designs that Shapanka intended to sell to finance further research in his private project. However, Shapanka was unsuccessful in his theft; captured, he was brought before Stark, who fired him. [Short version. You can check the fandom for more info.]
However, in this reality, there was a twist. Tony never hired him. So, there was no way that Gregor could have made that suit on his own without the technology. 'Could it be!' He ran a quick scan on the Stark Industries employee list, but Gregor's name wasn't there. He then searched his database and found it. Gregor's name was on the list of Hammer Industries employees. With Hammer Industries shut down, that guy must have run out of money, thus doing the classic bank robbery.
Natasha didn't hesitate. She looked straight at him.
"Go," she said.
Tony paused for a second, searching her face. She gave a small nod.
"You sure?" he asked.
Natasha stepped back with a smirk. "We can finish where we left off after you deal with him."
While the guests were still watching the scene unfold, Tony slipped away from the crowd and headed toward the upper part of the building. He climbed a short maintenance stairwell and reached the roof.
The nanites inside his bloodstream responded instantly. They surged out from his skin pores, covering his body in a smooth wave. Within seconds, the classic red and gold suit formed around him. The helmet clicked into place, eyes glowing soft blue.
"Hermes, Arctic mode," Tony ordered.
[Arctic mode- Activated]
The nanites shifted, changing colors to pure white, and the suit was ready to deal with the ice guy.
He checked the trail of ice across the skyline.
"Target's moving north," he muttered.
The repulsors in his boots flared to life, and he shot off the rooftop, bursting through the air like a silent missile. He flew low between buildings, scanning ahead.
Nobody knew who he was. Some pointed their fingers at him, whispering about the Shadow Legion, and some even started taking pictures.
Tony locked eyes on the ice-skater ahead.
"Alright, Frosty," he muttered. "Let's dance."
Tony pushed his thrusters harder, and almost instantly, he zipped past Gregor and stopped before him, aiming his right fist at Gregor. The nanites shifted, forming a sonic cannon.
"Put down the money and surrender, Gregor," Tony warned.
Gregor skidded to a stop mid-air, his boots sliding on a path of ice that curved high above the building. He squinted through his visor at the figure floating in front of him. His breath fogged the inside of his helmet.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Gregor shouted. "And how the hell do you know my name?"
"I'm the guy who's going to shut you down," Tony said.
Gregor scoffed. "You can't stop me. You have no idea what this suit can do."
He raised both arms. Twin streams of ice blasted toward Tony like spears.
Tony activated the sonic cannon, meeting the attack head-on...
The ice hit the sonic wave mid-air. A loud crack echoed through the sky as ice shards exploded in every direction.
Tony hovered, stable. Gregor slid backward on his ice path, arms raised again.
"You sure you want to keep playing?" Tony called.
Gregor didn't answer. He launched forward, ice flaring from his boots. A frozen ramp formed beneath him, curving high above the city.
He jumped off the end of the ramp and came crashing toward Tony like a missile, both hands glowing bright blue with stored cryo energy.
Tony spun mid-air, dodging the first punch. Gregor's ice-coated fist missed him by inches. But the second swing clipped Tony's shoulder.
CRAKKK.
A layer of frost exploded on contact, locking up part of Tony's right arm.
"And that was supposed to do what exactly?" Tony said.
His nanites moved fast. The armor around his arm shifted, melting the frost off with a quick heat pulse. Steam hissed as the ice evaporated.
Gregor landed on a nearby rooftop. Ice spread from his boots, covering the roof in seconds.
"You're fast," he said, panting. "But you're not ready for this."
He slammed his palm on the ground. A giant spike of ice shot up toward Tony.
Tony dropped fast, dodging it, then zipped forward. He landed on the rooftop across from Gregor and formed a new weapon.
"Hermes," he said, "EMP + Sonic Cannon Combo."
The nanites on his left arm reshaped into a wide, short cannon with glowing blue rings.
Tony fired.
The beam hit the rooftop, right in front of Gregor.
Boom! The ice shattered. The glow in Gregor's suit dimmed.
"What... what did you do?" Gregor asked, stepping back.
"Shut down your cooling system," Tony said.
Gregor growled and raised his hands again. "I'm not done!"
He used his own power since his suit wasn't responding thanks to the EMP and blasted a massive wave of ice, freezing part of the rooftop and sending sharp spikes shooting at Tony.
Tony jumped into the air, spun around, and launched two repulsor blasts. The ice shattered mid-flight.
Gregor followed, skating across a new ice path. He leapt into the air, pulling two ice blades from his forearms.
He came at Tony fast.
Tony blocked the first slash with an energy shield. The second one scraped his helmet.
"Okay. You got close," Tony said.
Then he fired a point-blank blast at Gregor's chest.
The hit sent Gregor flying across the sky.
He crashed into the side of a building, his ice armor cracking. He tried to recover mid-air, but Tony was already there.
He grabbed Gregor by his throat and slammed him onto the ground.
Gregor groaned, struggling.
"I WON'T LOSE LIKE THIS!"
But Tony sent another sonic boom at him. His suit cracked open. Blood came out of his ears and nose. His eyes became bloodshot. Tony flew down. The nanites on his finger formed a needle, and he slammed it into Gregor's neck, injecting the bio-nanites.
"What are you doing?" Gregor spat.
"Just fixing your customized genetic enhancement. Not to worry," Tony pulled out the needle. The nanites shifted back into his suit. "You are now a regular human. No more cryo power. And as for your suit."
He pressed his palm on Gregor's chest. The nanites crawled over Gregor's armor, and within 10 seconds, that blue armor was turned to dust.
'Alright, data and DNA, collected. Time to get out of here." Tony was about to fly away when the cops surrounded him, aiming their guns.
"Don't move," One of the cops warned. He looked like a newbie, trying to act tough in front of his superiors.
"Really, now? What the hell is wrong with you guys? Pointing guns at the guy who just stopped a robbery and saved your asses?" Tony asked.
The young cop with a shaky grip shouted again.
"I said, don't move!"
Tony sighed inside the helmet. His voice came out through the suit, calm and firm.
"I'm not the enemy here. The guy who froze your street and almost dropped a building on you? That was him."
He pointed to Gregor, who lay on the ground groaning, still too weak to move.
The other officers looked at each other, unsure. One of them lowered his weapon slightly.
Tony held his hands up slowly, palms facing forward. The repulsors glowed soft blue, but he didn't charge them.
"I'm not here to fight cops. I stopped the threat. He's neutralized, and his powers are gone. And that gun ain't gonna do much other than make me angry. So, stand down, tough kid."
One officer stepped forward cautiously. Older, more experienced.
"You some kind of government project? Shield? CIA?"
"No," Tony replied. "Just someone who helps when others can't."
"You have a name?"
He smiled under the helmet.
"I'm Iron Man."
The cops exchanged looks. One of them muttered, "Iron Man?"
But the officer in charge held up a hand.
"Stand down. He's not attacking. And he did just save the city block."
Guns lowered.
Tony walked toward Gregor. He picked up the duffel bag filled with stolen money and tossed it toward the nearest cop.
"Return that to the bank. And make sure you put on a better perimeter next time."
Then, before anyone could ask more questions, he launched into the air. The thrusters lit up, and he flew high over the buildings, leaving a white trail across the sky.
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