Chapter 7: Hope You Have Time to Replace That Iron Heart

"Shut up, JARVIS!" Tony snapped, his pride stinging worse than his battered ribs.

"I've slept with hundreds of cover models, and not one of them ever called me slow!" His voice carried a note of genuine indignation, as if his romantic prowess was somehow relevant to combat effectiveness.

Tony's eyes never left Bennett's position, tracking the alien's movements with desperate intensity. This creature's speed obviously exceeded his visual reaction time by a significant margin. One moment of inattention could mean the difference between life and death.

"To be precise, sir, the entity's movement velocity reaches approximately 300 miles per hour," JARVIS reported with clinical accuracy, having calculated XLR8's speed through advanced sensor analysis.

300 miles per hour—roughly 480 kilometers. In pure velocity terms, that wasn't actually faster than the Mark IV's maximum flight speed, which could exceed most military aircraft.

But there was a crucial difference between raw speed and combat effectiveness.

The armor might be capable of flying that fast in open airspace, but Tony's human reflexes were still the limiting factor in close-quarters combat!

Everyone knew that most speedster-type superhumans derived their real advantage not from movement velocity alone, but from dramatically enhanced reaction times that allowed them to process information and make decisions at superhuman speeds.

Why was A-Train from The Boys such a disappointment as a speedster? Because without sufficient reaction capability to match his velocity, he was just a fast-moving target waiting to crash into something.

It was like driving a car at 200 miles per hour on an empty highway versus trying to navigate dense city traffic at the same speed. Raw velocity meant nothing without the cognitive processing power to use it effectively.

Bennett could move at this incredible speed in such a confined space, which meant his reaction time, decision-making speed, and spatial awareness were all far beyond human limitations. Even with the Mark IV's advanced targeting systems, as long as the armor relied on human reflexes for operation, it would never be able to match Bennett's capabilities.

Moreover, 300 miles per hour was just XLR8's casual movement speed—like a human's walking pace. His maximum velocity could reach levels where even high-speed cameras would struggle to capture more than a blur.

"What kind of monster did I just pick a fight with?" Tony muttered under his breath, a cold realization settling in his stomach.

The truth was, Tony had only recently become Iron Man, and his understanding of the world was still largely conventional. The truly exotic threats—magic, cosmic entities, interdimensional horrors—hadn't revealed themselves yet.

Bennett flexed his claws and shifted into an attack stance, his body language radiating predatory confidence.

"Round two, Tony Stark!" he announced, his voice carrying through the factory's acoustics with theatrical flair.

He lowered his body into a sprinter's crouch, and his black faceplate sealed over his features with a mechanical click. Behind the mask, his voice became even more cold and menacing.

For Bennett, a few minutes of transformation time felt like an eternity. He had more than enough opportunity to toy with Tony, to demonstrate the vast gulf between human technology and alien evolution.

"Come on, dinosaur baby!" Tony taunted, trying to project confidence he didn't feel.

But in reality, knowing his reaction speed couldn't match Bennett's, Tony had already instructed JARVIS to activate automated combat protocols and transfer primary control to the AI's faster processing systems.

In his visual display, Bennett was completely locked onto by JARVIS's targeting algorithms. Simultaneously, weapon systems throughout the armor—shoulder-mounted micro-missiles, wrist-mounted repulsors, and chest-mounted uni-beam—all came online and aimed at Bennett's position.

"You said you'd finish me in three minutes. I count two minutes and fifteen seconds left..." Tony began, trying to buy time with banter.

"CRASH!"

Tony's quip was cut short as a black blur suddenly filled his entire field of vision. Before his brain could even process what was happening, Bennett's attack had already connected.

It felt like being hit by a freight train traveling at highway speeds. Tony felt his ribs compress against his spine, and he was certain several had cracked despite the armor's protection.

Tony had anticipated that his human reflexes couldn't match Bennett's speed, which was why he'd given most of the armor's control to JARVIS from the beginning. The AI should have been able to track Bennett's movements and respond with computer-fast precision the moment Bennett made any aggressive move.

But what Tony hadn't expected was that even the armor's high-speed cameras couldn't track Bennett at full velocity!

Even if JARVIS could somehow keep up with the visual data, the mechanical systems still needed time to physically respond to commands.

"Mark IV armor damage: 12%," JARVIS reported with clinical detachment, his emotionless voice cutting through Tony's disorientation.

But Tony had no time to focus on damage reports. Bennett hadn't released his grip after the initial impact. Instead, those strange claw-hands had clamped onto the Mark IV's helmet like a mechanical vise, and Bennett was now dragging the entire suit out of the factory at tremendous speed.

The sudden acceleration was beyond anything a normal human body could withstand. If JARVIS hadn't immediately activated counter-thrusters to reduce the G-forces, Tony would have blacked out instantly. Even with the assistance, Tony felt his vision graying at the edges, his stomach lurching violently, and his brain feeling like it had been replaced with cotton stuffing.

But Bennett wasn't finished with his assault.

After dragging Iron Man clear of the factory, he maintained his incredible velocity while suddenly angling downward, pressing Tony's armored form against the concrete sides of buildings they passed.

"SCREECH!"

Sparks flew like a fountain of molten metal as the Mark IV's armor scraped against concrete and steel! The buildings might as well have been made of tissue paper for all the resistance they offered to Bennett's momentum.

Even the titanium-gold alloy construction of the Mark IV showed massive abrasion damage across the back panels, and the suit's distinctive red paint job was being ground away in long, ugly streaks.

"Armor damage: 26%," JARVIS continued his damage assessment with mechanical precision.

"Thanks for the update! How about using that processing power to get this thing off me?" Tony gasped, having finally recovered enough of his wits to speak. The worst part was that the violent acceleration had caused him to vomit inside his helmet, and now his faceplate was smeared with partially digested breakfast.

"Note to self: next armor iteration definitely needs a vomit bag," he groaned internally.

Tony wrapped both armored hands around Bennett's forearms and fired every thruster in his suit at maximum power.

"WHOOSH!"

Flames erupted from his back-mounted repulsors in a brilliant display of thrust and heat.

But Tony was smarter than just trying to overpower Bennett directly. Instead, he shut down all the thrusters on his left side while keeping the right side at full power. This created an massive imbalance in thrust vectors that broke Bennett's carefully controlled trajectory.

Bennett's high-speed run immediately became unstable, his body tilting at dangerous angles as the physics of momentum worked against him. Unable to maintain his grip while compensating for the sudden directional change, he was forced to release Iron Man and tumble away at even higher velocity.

Losing control at these speeds would be catastrophic for most beings—even in Iron Man armor, such a crash would likely be fatal. But for members of the Kineceleran species, high-speed tumbles were just an occupational hazard, no more dangerous than a human tripping while jogging.

Of course, that didn't make the experience pleasant.

Bennett instinctively curled his body into a protective ball, using his natural kinetic absorption abilities to distribute the impact forces. Each time he struck the ground, he left small craters in the asphalt like a skipping stone on water, the impacts gradually becoming shallower as his momentum decreased.

Finally, after traveling several kilometers in this manner, Bennett was able to regain control of his trajectory and skid to a stop, ending up in a distinctly undignified heap.

"Now I understand why Kinecelerans have such advanced healing factors," Bennett muttered, slowly picking himself up and rotating his shoulders to work out the kinks. "If they didn't recover from injuries quickly, half the species would accidentally kill themselves just from routine travel."

Fortunately, Bennett had been careful to drag Tony away from populated areas during their high-speed journey. If they'd been heading toward downtown Manhattan instead of the industrial outskirts, the collateral damage could have been catastrophic.

Meanwhile, Tony had managed to regain control of his flight systems after separating from Bennett. His suit's stabilizers fired in precisely calculated bursts, allowing him to arrest his tumbling motion and hover smoothly in mid-air—a maneuver that would have been impossible without JARVIS's assistance.

"One minute and nine seconds remaining. Doesn't look like you'll make it back to the zoo in time, kiddo," Tony called out, apparently having kept track of the time despite everything. Or more likely, he'd simply glanced at his HUD's chronometer.

"That's more than enough time for me," Bennett replied with cold confidence, brushing debris off his alien form. "The only question is whether you'll have time to get back to Stark Tower and replace that iron heart of yours."

Tony felt a chill of premonition run down his spine. "What are you planning?"

He received no verbal response. Bennett's actions were answer enough.

This time, Bennett's target was Tony's greatest vulnerability—the arc reactor itself!

Actually, as soon as Bennett had spoken those words, Tony realized what was coming and tried to evade. But by then it was already too late.

Bennett moved like black lightning, covering the distance between them in a fraction of a second.

"CRACK!"

Bennett's razor-sharp claws pierced through the reactor's outer casing like it was made of paper, penetrating deep enough to damage the internal mechanisms but stopping just short of causing a complete breach.

300 Powerstones for extra chapter.