New York City, New York - Thursday Afternoon
Rhodey
"I can't believe you went off on your own for this!" Rhodey was not going to be cheerful about this, Tony. Not at all.
Tony
Tony winced, hands in his pocket and down sheepishly. "You had school, and Gene was available, so I just thought--"
Rhodey
"Thought what? That you should wander off to Greenland with Gene? We don't even know him!"
He was using italics. This was very serious business.
Tony
Tony lifted his hands to appease him, taking a step back. Because they were in public and getting into a fight about secret, alien rings was probably a bad idea. "Look, we didn't trigger the test, we just got the ring. No harm, no foul."
Rhodey
"No harm, no--Am I the only sane person you know?" Rhodey demanded, holding a hand out.
Tony
Tony stared at the hand for a moment before he sighed and offered over the ring. "Look, the last time you got hurt, okay? I didn't want to put you in danger this time.
Rhodey
The ring promptly disappeared into Rhodey's pocket. Because that was the safest place for it when dealing with Tony 'Ooo, shiny dangerous thing!' Stark. "Oh, because I don't worry the exact same thing about you."
Tony
That got a sigh out of Tony as he looked away. "It's just--different, okay?"
Not in the slightest, Tony. Not in the slightest.
He sighed again, watching traffic go by as silence reigned between them. That was, of course, until there was a thud like something very heavy just hit the ground. And then again. If it was a T-rex, Tony was so calling shenanigans on this heroing business.
Rhodey
"Um. Tony?" Rhodey was looking past him at what appeared to be a thirty foot robot that was making it's way down the street. "Are you sure you didn't trigger the test?"
Tony
"I was way more certain before," Tony admitted, staring as the thing slowly lumbered in their general direction. "Ring. Ring now, Rhodey."
Rhodey
"Uh." Oh god, why did impending doom make him unable to form sentences? Oh, right. IMPENDING DOOM.
Overhead, the sound of jets sounded just before what he could only assume were missiles hit the robot thing. When the smoke cleared, the machine looked unscathed. In fact, started for a moment before growing even larger.
"Um. Better idea. Get the suit on while I distract it."
Tony
"Sure." Tony's brain took a moment to catch up to everything going on as he wondered just where the hell all that extra mass was coming from. It didn't make any sense! "Wait, what?!"
Rhodey
Rhodey inhaled sharply, trying to build up his courage into doing just what he'd suggested. "Go, I'll be--fine. Really."
He smacked Tony on the arm before taking off in the opposite direction of the much taller, killer robot.
Oh god, why was he so insane?
Ultimo
Because reasons, Rhodey. Because reasons.
The creature passed Tony by, seemingly careful to avoid crushing any cars or people who may have fallen in their attempt to flee from it.
Here, small human with the Makulan ring. Heeeeere, small human with the Makulan ring.
Rhodey
"Oh god, this was a bad idea," Rhodey decided, looking back at his giant pursuer. "Bad, bad, bad idea!"
The Mandarin
"Give me the ring!"
It wouldn't be a party without a large Mandarin in a very heavy metal outfit, would it?
Hello, Rhodey.
Rhodey
Oh, great. Just what he needed today. "Never!"
The Mandarin
"Give me the ring or I'll let him take it from you!"
The Mandarin threw a helpful gesture in the direction of the giant-ass robot who was trying to kill you, Rhodey.
It was in your best interest to cooperate.
Tony
Hey, guess who got his suit on and wasn't happy to see you, Mandarin. Go on, guess.
Tony sped up, altering trajectory in order to slam into the ridiculous looking armor, pinning him to the nearest building with enough force to crack stone. "You're not getting this ring, Mandarin!"
The Mandarin
"These rings are mine by right. I will have them!" the Mandarin hollered.
And then one of his rings glowed, allowing the Mandarin to vanish and Tony to... hug a wall.
Sorry, Tony. But magic rings trumphed your petty science.
Tony
MAYBE HE LIKED THAT WALL. MAYBE THEY HAD A NICE WEEKEND UPSTATE PLANNED.
SHUT UP.
Tony made a frustrated noise, twisting in place to find Rhodey before the giant robot, you know, killed him. "Give me the ring!"
Rhodey
"What?" Sorry, Tony. Someone was distracted by the giant robot walking toward him. "Look! It's not destroying anything."
And, true enough, that was the case. But that didn't mean it was stopping its very slow, methodical pursuit of Rhodey and the magic ring he had in his pocket. "Maybe--maybe if we give it the ring back, it will stop."
It was a nice thought, right?
Tony
"...Seriously?!"
Rhodey
Rhodey shot him a look that strongly implied Tony would be strangled as soon as he was out of that suit. "It's worth a shot, isn't it? Unless you have a better idea for how to defeat the giant, unstoppable robot."
Tony
But, but... Science!
Tony made a noise that he would deny to his dying day was a whine, but moved into position next to Rhodey nonetheless. "Do it."
Ultimo
As Rhodey reached into his pocket and threw the ring at where the giant robot was standing, the thing was already reaching out. Whether for Rhodey or the ring was up for debate. But it had the ring in its massive hand first, so that was the important part.
It stopped, looking down at the pair for a moment before its eyes started to glow ominously.
Tony
"Rhodey. Run," Tony said, deciding on that not being a terribly good sign for this part of the test. He propelled himself up to eye level with the thing, hand out to blast it in case it tried to attack again.
Ultimo
And was promptly hit with heretofore previously unknown lasers from its eyes. Sorry, did you think the test would be that easy?
It reached out to smash him as soon as he landed, slow but unwavering in its task.
Tony
Oh, concrete. Tony's old friend. How he'd not at all missed slamming into you.
"Great," he said through gritted teeth. "It has laser eyes. This is just wonderful. Got anymore ideas, Rhodey?"
Due to the giant hand headed in his direction, Tony was up again and moving out of the way quickly. He dived between buildings to get his bearings back before making another round at the thing.
Rhodey
"We had to try something, didn't we?" Rhodey said over the comms. "Look, we just need to figure out the test. Which would be easier if I'd seen the temple..."
Tony
"I get it! You're mad! Can we focus?"
Dodging another laser blast, Tony spun through the air in a barrel roll. He really needed to work on the maneuverability if this sort of thing became commonplace. "It was a room filled with weapons with the word 'Courage' in the middle of the room."
Rhodey
"Maybe... Maybe it's a trick. Like the last test," Rhodey said.
Tony
"What, so I'm not supposed to fight the giant robot with laser eyes?" Tony asked, edging on hysterical there. "I've been dodging the whole time! This is me not fighting!"
Incoming hand! Tony darted to the side, smacking into a nearby apartment complex to avoid it. Which, um, ow.
Rhodey
"You said it was a room full of weapons, right? Tony, your suit is one big weapon and you're still waving it at the thing."
Tony
"...are you saying what I think you're saying?" Tony asked. "Because if this is you still being mad about the temple thing--"
Rhodey
"Remember what your dad used to say about weapons?" Rhodey asked, cutting him off.
Tony
Oh sure, bring up something he'd even been thinking about this morning. Whatever response had before abruptly vanished. He swallowed back more than just a little fear at what would happen next.
"If this doesn't work, I want you to tell everyone that I died saving a bus full of orphans," he muttered, dropping into a crouch on the ground. He went through each of the systems, shutting them down once he was still. "And not being crushed by a giant hand."
With that, comms cut out and everything went dark on the HUD.
Ultimo
When he opened his eyes next, the robot had stopped in front of him, shaking for a moment as it returned to the size it had been back in the temple. Then, it went down on one knee, head bowed down as it held out the ring. Test passed, it would seem.
"Thanks, dad," Tony said quietly, starting up the systems again in order to reach for the ring.
The Mandarin
Which ring?
Because if Tony was looking for the one in Mandarin's hand...
He slipped it on a second later, accessing its power, immobilizing Tony with it. "When first we met, Iron Man. I wielded the power of one ring and even then you were nothing to me. Now I have three, and soon all five. Do you know what I will be able to do with all five rings?"
Tony
Tony really needed to work on getting less effectual villains. Though, it was always so nice to know what the new ring is capable of.
Wait, scratch that. Not so much as the armor was straining to keep from warping under the force of whatever Mandarin was doing to it.
"Set off metal detectors?" he suggested, diverting power to the motors in his arm.
The Mandarin
"Anything I can imagine," Mandarin said. He was not letting up-- how he managed to find the energy for a villainous monologue was anyone's guess.
"I could peel that armor off of you and find out who you are. But it doesn't matter now. You are but an annoyance to be crushed."
Tony
Really? Tony liked to think he warranted better on the nemesis scale. Maybe a few idle threats about unending pain, or a world of torment. But this? This was just rude.
He could hear the suit straining, metal grinding ominously against metal as he managed to force his arm up to reach for the rings on the Mandarin's hand. "I saw them first!"
Witty, Iron Man. So witty.
The Mandarin
So witty it made things explode!
Or maybe that was the Mandarin's doing. Considering he was high-tailing it out of there while the explosion distracted Tony by being in his face and incredibly uncomfortable.
[[Yes, once again preplayed with endsthegame and NFB/NFI. Deal with it.]]