The air was thick with smoke and the scent of burning metal. The corridor leading to Dreykov's office was eerily silent, save for the distant hum of flickering lights and the low hiss of sparking wires. Bodies of elite guards lay scattered across the floor, their weapons still clutched in lifeless fingers.
At the far end of the hallway, a grand staircase spiraled upward to the command center. Tony moved forward. His systems had already mapped out the layout of the top floor—Dreykov was cornered.
'No escape, you bastard.'
But as he neared the stairs, his HUD flickered with an urgent warning.
[WARNING: UNKNOWN ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[HIGHLY VOLATILE – EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED]
Tony stopped in his tracks. The temperature around him suddenly dropped, his breath fogging up inside his helmet. A deep, guttural mechanical growl rumbled from the shadows above. Then, heavy, metallic footsteps echoed down the staircase.
Seven feet of towering, muscle-bound monstrosity encased in pale, cybernetic enhancements. His chalk-white skin was lined with deep, vein-like circuits pulsing with red energy. His long, unkempt blond hair swayed slightly as he exhaled, and his eyes glowed like one of those freaks from the Terminator movie.
Two thick, segmented metal tendrils unfurled from his back with a sickening clank, twitching like the fangs of a serpent.
Tony's HUD identified him instantly.
[SUBJECT IDENTIFIED: ARKADY GREGORIVICH ROSSOVICH]
[CODE NAME: OMEGA RED]
[STATUS: ACTIVE – EXTREMELY HOSTILE]
"Intruder," Omega Red rumbled, his voice carrying a mechanical distortion. He stepped forward, the floor beneath him groaning under his weight. His eyes narrowed. "You are not Widow. Not soldier. Who are you?"
Tony tilted his head. "Wouldn't you like to know, Frostbite?"
Omega Red's tendrils lashed forward.
Tony dodged, just barely. The steel whips slammed into the wall behind him, shattering it like paper. The entire hallway trembled as debris rained from above.
'Those things hit like a damn wrecking ball.'
Before he could retaliate, Omega Red lunged. His speed was unnatural for his size, thanks to his enhancements. Tony barely had time to raise his arms before a massive fist slammed into his chest.
He rocketed backward, smashing through several walls before tumbling across the floor, his suit's impact dampeners struggling to absorb the force.
[ARMOR INTEGRITY: 89%]
"Okay," Tony muttered, shaking off the hit. "That sucked."
Omega Red stalked forward, slow and deliberate. His tendrils scraped against the floor, leaving deep gashes in the steel. "Your suit… advanced technology. Not government. Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Not Red Room." He grinned, sharp teeth glinting under the red emergency lights. "I will tear it apart and upgrade myself even further."
Tony's gauntlets shifted. Twin repulsors flared to life, crackling with unstable energy.
A blinding blue-white repulsor beam lanced forward, slamming into Omega Red's chest—only for it to dissipate against his reinforced plating. The massive mutant barely flinched before one of his tendrils snapped forward, wrapping around Tony's wrist.
WARNING: FOREIGN ENERGY SURGE DETECTED
A sickly red glow pulsed through the tendril. Tony's systems screamed in warning.
That freak was siphoning power straight from his Arc Reactor.
"Shit!" Tony tried to yank free, but Omega Red tightened his grip.
"You feel it, yes?" Omega Red sneered, his voice thick with sadistic amusement. "My Carbonadium tendrils leech life. Power. Strength. Soon, you will be nothing."
Tony's vision flickered. His power levels were dropping at an alarming rate. If he didn't break free now...
With a snarl, Tony deployed a concentrated pulse burst from his gauntlet. A concussive shockwave erupted from his suit, sending Omega Red staggering back. Tony stumbled, his systems struggling to reboot.
'Jesus, he drained almost half my damn juice in seconds.'
Omega Red recovered instantly, grinning like a predator who had just found the perfect prey. "Interesting. Your power… unlike anything I have ever seen." He extended his tendrils again. "I will take it all."
Tony clenched his fists. His suit was already adapting, recalibrating energy shields to resist the Carbonadium effect. But it wouldn't hold up forever.
'Gotta end this fast.'
[ACTIVATING ADVANCED WEAPONRY]
The nanites on his shoulders shifted, forming two multi-barrel plasma launchers.
"Eat this, Snow White."
Twin streams of high-energy plasma tore through the air, searing toward Omega Red. The massive mutant crossed his arms, his cybernetic enhancements absorbing most of the impact but the sheer force sent him skidding backward.
Before he could counter, Tony followed through.
He rushed forward, boosters in his boots igniting as he closed the gap in an instant. His gauntlet morphed into a blade, vibranium-tipped, and slashed...
Omega Red roared as a deep gash opened across his chest. Cybernetic fluid and blood spilled onto the floor. But instead of retreating, he grinned.
"You bleed," Tony taunted.
Omega Red's fist slammed into Tony's ribs. The impact was devastating.
Tony felt the shock reverberate through his entire body. The nanites absorbed and released the kinetic energy out, to minimize the damage. Suddenly, the floor collapsed. Tony fell, slamming into the level below. His HUD flickered violently.
'Dang! Kinetic dampers really need work,' He noticed the flaw in his design. The nanites in charge of kinetic energy dispersion weren't working properly and the excess energy within the nanites was causing internal collision, resulting in his suit damage. Thus, the nanites in charge of fixing were working overtime, drawing more power than he calculated. 'And gotta optimize Legion further. Well, got enough data thanks to this fight.'
[CRITICAL DAMAGE: INTERNAL STRUCTURE COMPROMISED]
[ARMOR INTEGRITY: 42%]
Tony groaned. His nanites were already working overtime to repair the damage, but Omega Red wasn't giving him a chance. He wanted to use the nanite swarm, but he used too much already while healing the Widows and fighting this long. He couldn't afford to waste anymore.
The mutant descended through the hole, landing like a war machine. He lifted Tony by the throat, his tendrils coiling around his limbs, locking him in place.
"You are strong," Omega Red admitted, his grip tightening. "But not strong enough."
The Carbonadium tendrils pulsed again. Tony's suit screamed in warning.
His vision blurred. His power levels dropped.
'I can't take any more damage. Well, got enough data. Now, time to amp it up a bit.'
He had seconds before Omega Red drained him dry.
There was only one option left.
His fingers twitched over the emergency override.
[ENGAGING OVERDRIVE MODE]
Overdrive Mode: Activated
The nanites in Tony's suit shifted violently, surging like liquid metal. The Arc Reactor in his chest pulsed, drawing five times more energy than before. The nanites inside his body began to fuse with the outer suit and the Arc Reactor's energy was replenished almost instantly. His idea of creating a secondary power source back then came in handy now.
His suit transformed.
The black armor expanded, its design becoming sharper and more aggressive. Red, glowing lines etched across the plating, pulsating with raw energy. His gauntlets expanded, repulsor cores burning hotter than ever before. His helmet's HUD adjusted, adapting to the new surge of power.
His strength was multiplied.
His speed was enhanced.
His weapon systems were recalibrated for maximum lethality.
Omega Red's tendrils tightened.
"Fun's over, asshole."
With a massive shockwave, Tony released a concentrated energy beam from his Arc Reactor, blasting Omega Red away in a violent explosion. The mutant slammed through multiple walls, his body embedding into reinforced steel.
Tony stood, his Overdrive mode fully engaged, red energy crackling like lightning around his body.
He flexed his fingers.
His suit hummed like a goddamn supernova.
Omega Red growled, pulling himself from the wreckage, eyes burning with fury.
Tony smirked. "Round two, motherfucker?"
Omega Red snarled, blood and cybernetic fluid dripping from the deep wounds Tony had inflicted. His mechanical tendrils lashed violently, carving trenches into the steel floor as he prepared to strike again.
But Tony was done playing games.
His Overdrive-enhanced systems were pulling an insane amount of power from his Arc Reactor, but he got more than enough juice to run them. Every servo, every repulsor, every ounce of nanite-infused energy had been pushed to the limit. Omega Red wanted a monster?
Tony Stark would give him one.
He launched forward with explosive speed.
Before Omega Red could react, Tony's fist slammed into his gut with the force of a wrecking ball. The impact folded the mutant in half, sending a shockwave rippling through his entire frame.
The sound of cybernetics snapping filled the room. Omega Red coughed, spitting out a mix of blood and hydraulic fluid.
He grabbed Omega Red's head and drove his knee into his face. Once. Twice. A third time.
The reinforced cartilage in Omega Red's nose shattered. Blood gushed down his face as he reeled back, stunned. But Tony wasn't finished.
He reached out, grabbed one of Omega Red's infamous Carbonadium tendrils mid-swing, and ripped it out with a brutal yank.
"AAAGGHHH!" Omega Red howled in agony as sparks erupted from the severed appendage, his entire body convulsing. His nerves were directly linked to those tendrils, meaning Tony had just delivered searing, unimaginable pain.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Tony growled. "Good."
Before Omega Red could recover, Tony twisted the torn tendril around his gauntlet, superheating it with a focused repulsor blast. Then, without hesitation, he plunged the red-hot metal straight through Omega Red's shoulder.
The mutant screamed as the molten metal impaled him, pinning him to the reinforced wall behind him. His remaining tendril flailed wildly, but Tony was already moving.
He grabbed the second tendril and ripped it out just like the first.
Omega Red howled again, his body jerking violently from the intense pain.
His pride was gone now.
"You like draining people?" Tony spat, his voice a mixture of anger and disgust. "Let's see how you like it."
He raised his gauntlet and activated a powerful reverse energy siphon, targeting Omega Red's failing cybernetics. The mutant convulsed as his own life force was yanked away, his body spasming as his enhancements flickered in and out.
His invincibility—gone.
Omega Red, the infamous terror of the Soviet Union, the Red Room's ultimate weapon, now lay slumped against the wall, barely clinging to consciousness.
Tony knelt down, his helmet retracting to reveal his face. His expression was cold. Unforgiving.
"I could kill you," Tony said softly, tilting his head. "Snap your neck. Vaporize your body. Leave you as a pile of ash."
Omega Red wheezed, barely able to keep his eyes open.
"But that's too easy," Tony continued. "You don't deserve easy."
He reached down, grabbing Omega Red by his ruined cybernetic throat. Sparks flickered from the damaged implants.
"I want to kill you slowly and painfully," Tony whispered. "But sadly, I don't have time to waste on a failure like you. So, you gotta go." He yanked out the implant and then punched his fist into Red's chest, crushing the mutant's heart, and then to stop his healing factor, Tony, fried his nervous system and incenerated his body to ashes after taking his blood sample.
[Don't forget to 'favorite' the chapter.]
If you like my work, you can support me on>: www.patr eon.com/XcaliburXc
[Read 15 advance chapters] [No double billing]