Chapter 7: The Iron Monger Unleashed and a Prankster's Intervention
Chapter 7: The Iron Monger Unleashed and a Prankster's Intervention
The city was screaming. Not literally, but the collective panic was a tangible thing, even from Adam's vantage point on a nearby rooftop. Obadiah Stane, a man who had clearly skipped leg day for "giant robot suit day," was stomping through the streets in the Iron Monger, a hulking, metallic monstrosity. Tony, in his crippled Iron Man suit, was barely holding his own. Pepper Potts was trying to coordinate from below, her voice a frantic, brave squeak over the comms.
"Alright, System, this is it. Time to earn our wish days. And maybe have a little fun with the bad guy. He looks like he could use a good, old-fashioned, humiliating defeat."
[DANGER DETECTED FOR HOST! INITIATING RANDOMIZED LIFE-SAVING PROTOCOL.]
Suddenly, a stray piece of debris, a chunk of concrete the size of a small car, hurtled towards Adam's rooftop perch. He gasped, bracing for impact. But instead of being flattened, his feet seemed to slip on nothing, sending him flailing forward. He landed with a comical thud directly into a giant, inflatable statue of a hot dog vendor, which had inexplicably appeared on the roof. He emerged, slightly dazed, covered in a thin layer of plastic, and with a distinct smell of fake mustard.
[HOST SAVED! CURRENT STATUS: ACCIDENTALLY SWAPPED SHOES WITH A NEARBY STATUE, COMPLETELY UNHARMED. COST: 25 WISH DAYS.]
Adam looked down. His shoes were gone, replaced by two tiny, concrete-colored feet. He looked up at the hot dog vendor statue, whose shoes were now perfectly on his feet. "You've got to be kidding me. You swapped my shoes with a statue? In the middle of a giant robot fight? Your sense of humor is truly… unique, System." He sighed, shaking his head. "Well, at least I'm alive. And probably smell like a picnic."
He refocused on the battle. Iron Monger was about to deliver a crushing blow to Tony.
"Not on my watch, you overgrown tin can."
[WISH GRANTED: IRON MONGER'S LEFT HYDRAULIC SERVO EXPERIENCES TEMPORARY STUTTER. COST: 75 WISH DAYS.]
Just as Stane's massive fist descended, there was a sudden, high-pitched whine from the Iron Monger's left arm. The limb juddered, stuttered, and then froze, mid-air, for a crucial second. Tony, seizing the unexpected opening, blasted Stane back with a repulsor ray.
Stane roared, "What was that?! My servo! It's… it's skipping!"
Adam grinned. "Skipping. Like a record. A very, very expensive, very, very angry record."
The fight continued, a brutal dance of metal and energy. Pepper, from below, was frantically trying to get Tony to the Arc Reactor.
"Come on, Pepper. You can do it. Just a little push."
[WISH GRANTED: PEPPER POTTS' RESOLVE AMPLIFIED FOR DECISIVE ACTION. COST: 30 WISH DAYS.]
A sudden, fierce determination flashed across Pepper's face on the news feed. Her eyes, usually wide with fear, narrowed. She took a deep breath, grabbed the emergency override, and with a guttural scream, slammed her hand down. The Arc Reactor, already unstable, overloaded.
The Iron Monger suit screamed a metallic shriek as its systems went critical. Stane, trapped inside, could only watch as his stolen power source turned against him. The suit exploded in a fiery, spectacular display, sending a shockwave through the city.
Adam watched the fiery bloom, a sense of quiet triumph settling over him. Tony was safe. Pepper was a hero. And Stane was… well, he was a very large, very expensive pile of scrap metal.
[DAILY WISH DAYS ACCUMULATION: +1]
He checked his wish bank. It had taken a hit, but it was still healthy. He had influenced a major battle, saved his friends, and even managed a few laughs at the villain's expense.
He sighed, pulling off the hot dog vendor's shoes and retrieving his own from the statue. "Time to go home, Adam. You've earned a quiet night. And maybe some real shoes." He glanced back at the smoking crater where the Iron Monger had been. "That was… something. And I didn't even have to break a sweat. Much."