[The Unibeam]
This was Tony's final means of attack—the absolute last reserve of energy remaining in the armor.
A blinding pillar of pure concussive light erupted from the Arc Reactor on his chest, washing the street in stark white. But as the energy surged outward, the HUD displays inside Tony's helmet began to flicker and dim.
"Sir, energy is critically depleted. The armor is losing power..."
With those final words, J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice cut out. The interior of the helmet fell into pitch darkness.
'Pepper, I might have to break my promise again,' Tony thought, gritting his teeth in the dark.
The last burst of the Unibeam pushed the armor back slightly, but it didn't even make the Bronze General waver. The ancient warrior's palm remained clamped around the suit's neck, completely unyielding.
The situation hadn't changed. Tony was out of power, dangling in the grip of a monster.
Just as the Unibeam sputtered and died, the sharp whistle of displaced air sliced through the vacuum.
An arrow whizzed past the dead Iron Man armor. The moment the arrowhead made contact with the Bronze General's chest plate, it transformed. Mechanical prongs snapped outward, biting fiercely into the ancient metal to anchor itself.
Beep... beep... beep...
A blinking red light illuminated the General's chest.
KABOOM!
The shaped charge detonated with tremendous force. A thick cloud of smoke and fire engulfed the General. For the first time, the massive figure's body shook.
Startled by the localized blast, the bronze fingers loosened. The dead weight of the Iron Man armor immediately slipped from his grasp.
Gravity took hold. Tony was in freefall, plummeting toward the unforgiving asphalt. Trapped inside a two-ton metal coffin with no thrusters, he could only watch the ground rushing up to meet him through the dead eye-slits of the faceplate.
'Strangely, this feels familiar,' Tony thought, his heart racing. 'I must be going crazy!'
Just as the armor was about to smash into the pavement, a second arrow shot out from the rooftop.
It streaked past Tony and slammed diagonally into the street below. The moment the specialized arrowhead struck concrete, a rapid-chemical reaction triggered. The arrow explosively expanded, deploying a massive, slanted carbon-fiber strut—a giant, rigid pole propped perfectly between the street and the rooftop.
Tony's armor slammed onto the sloped strut, the friction slowing his terminal velocity as he slid down the makeshift ramp.
Instead of being crushed upon impact, the armor slid to a heavy but safe halt at the base of the pole. Tony hit the manual release, popping the faceplate and seals. He stepped out of the dead suit, gasping for fresh air.
A moment later, Hawkeye slid down the same strut, his movements fluid and practiced.
"Fighting side by side again," Clint noted, stepping off the pole and snapping his collapsible bow open with a flick of his wrist. "Billionaire."
"Don't get used to it, Legolas," Tony panted.
Hawkeye's sharp eyes stared intently at the sky. Even without any superpowers, he stood his ground, showing no hint of fear.
The smoke above cleared. The Bronze Figure slowly descended, floating down to the asphalt as if gravity were merely a suggestion.
Looking at the two humans standing ready to face him, the warrior lowered his hands. The killing intent that had suffocated the street vanished.
"My name is Hebe Shikai," the ancient voice echoed from the helmet. "The Dragon Servant of the King of Sky and Wind."
"Humans, I hold no hostility toward you. There is no need to look at me with such eyes."
Hebe put his hands behind his back and began to pace slowly toward Tony and Clint. But even without his active combat aura, the sheer presence of the being exerted an intense, crushing pressure. When he stopped mere feet away, the air felt too heavy to breathe.
"Return the Dragon King's Bone Reliquary Jar," Hebe commanded. "Otherwise, your world will be consumed by the flames of war."
"Bone Reliquary Jar?" Tony forced himself to stand straight, fighting the instinct to kneel. "What... is that?"
The pieces fell into place in Tony's mind. This wasn't a random invasion. Someone had stolen an ancient artifact, triggering a failsafe that awakened these Bronze Soldiers.
Hebe opened his gauntleted palm. The wind around them began to swirl and condense, gathering in his hand to form a perfect, three-dimensional holographic projection made of swirling air.
It was an ancient, ornate bronze jar covered in draconic runes.
"You humans stole the Dragon King's Reliquary," Hebe stated. "Anyone who stops us from bringing it back will be destroyed."
Tony and Hawkeye studied the projection. Neither of them had seen anything resembling it during the battle. Clint discreetly pulled out his phone, snapped a photo of the wind-construct, and uploaded it to the secure S.H.I.E.L.D. servers.
"Humans do not fear war," Tony stepped forward, his voice firm and laced with anger. "But a stolen jar is no excuse for you to start a slaughter in the middle of a populated city."
All around them lay the bodies of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had died suffocating in the vacuum. Tony and Clint were entirely outmatched, but they still had their human principles.
"Report the news to your rulers," Hebe said coldly, utterly dismissing Tony's moral outrage. "Do not block our path again. This is my final act of kindness to your kind."
To Hebe, the death of a few hundred ants wasn't even enough to cover the offense of stealing the Reliquary.
Hebe floated backward into the air.
This time, the Dragon Servant did not suppress his power.
A massive hurricane howled into existence around him. The terrifying atmospheric pressure shattered every pane of glass in a three-block radius. The steel skeletons of the skyscrapers groaned under the sheer force of the gale.
BOOM.
With a deafening sonic boom, Hebe Shikai streaked into the sky, vanishing into the clouds.
The moment the winds began to spiral out of control, Tony and Clint sprinted into the lobby of the nearest bank, diving behind the marble pillars. The aftershocks of the hurricane tore through the street outside, ripping up mailboxes and flipping abandoned cars. The two heroes pressed themselves tightly against the walls, praying the structure would hold.
Minutes later, the winds died down. The two staggered out of the ruined lobby, coughing on the dust.
"A monster that can control the wind..." Tony muttered, looking at his dead, battered armor lying in the street. "This is no simple opponent. I need to go back to the lab. Next time, I absolutely cannot be this powerless."
The whine of a high-end electric engine approached. A sleek Stark Industries vehicle carefully navigated the debris and pulled up to the curb.
Tony gave Clint a weary nod of farewell and walked over to the car.
He opened the back door and slid in.
"It's a good thing you arrived in time," Tony joked, looking at Pepper Potts. "Otherwise, your boss would have had to walk home."
Pepper didn't laugh. She sat rigidly in the plush leather seat, her hands trembling in her lap. She knew she couldn't stop Tony from throwing himself at these apocalyptic threats, and she tried desperately not to burden him with her fear.
She forced back the tears burning in her eyes and managed a faint, shaky smile.
"I'm still waiting to see your spoils of war..." Pepper whispered softly.
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