ENDPLOT | ROLL THE BONES, PART 2

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: Mid-Late November
Location: In the Dreaming
Situation: It's either Malicant or the Foreigners... and their worlds.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

Locating the Vilii Stone has been dealt with and now it's time to take on Malicant directly. It's a relatively simple interpretation that proves the answer to the conundrum of how to share the object between all involved: shatter it, and make sure everyone has a shard. It clears any remaining taint of Malicant's essence from those who still more it and makes said evil furious. They're all feeling it now-- the throbthrobthrob of his telepathic presence has swamped the caverns where the stone once lay, and the only safe harbour is the Hotel. There's only so long even the Hotel will be able to withstand that force.

Inside the Dreaming, that force can't be felt. Inside the Dreaming, the caverns are reflected on long smooth lines, riveted by sinew and muscle, a true combination of the realms in this space that becomes a living maze to work against them. There are many offshoots, and when the Foreigners arrive in the Dreaming they will find themselves separated, both willingly and unwillingly, three or four apiece to each individual set of caverns that seal behind them. They're going to have to move fast and defend one another. Their collective power is all that remains between Malicant and everything else, and every part of him must be defeated.

He's waiting, but he's not without a plan.

The Foreigners will find that they are facing the embodiments of their greatest fears and weaknesses. An enemy they were never able to defeat, a friend who betrayed them, a fateful event that they couldn't outrun, even a physical feat they could never overcome. Malicant has had a long time to study them, to befriend them as Asti, to gain their trust and exploit their secrets. Where there are individuals, these embodiments will be targeted and where there are groups, they'll be something that encompasses multiple forms.

But the Foreigners are not without recourse: they are in the Dreaming Realm, a plane shaped by willpower, by desire... and even to a degree, by the very fears they are facing. The Gha'nal venom will allow them to manipulate what they perceive as the "reality" around them, and the shard of Vilii Stone they've been given will become a weapon or tool fitting to the situation, to help them.

---

LINKS
Part 1 - Beneath The Shell/Midnight Hotel | Part 1 - Malicant’s Tools/The Vilii Stone | OOC - Plotting Post

OOC
So here's the final log! There's a lot of freedom for players to write what they feel will be their biggest obstacle to overcome, and how Malicant will appear to be challenging them. The common traits to what all players are going to face are listed in the description above. This log will be open until the end of the month, at which point an interim log and OOC post will be going up.

Comments

now entering the National Teal Deer Wildlife Preserve

[highprofilerichkid]

"'Death-aura.' Great." Tony flexes his numb hand again. It better not be permanent, Solomon. "Has anyone ever told you that this necromancy stuff is seriously messed up?"

He's trying to decide if he cares enough to bug Solomon about the other question, when the landscape starts to change.

The desert fades away, and walls and carpeting shimmer into existence. The sun is now shining merrily through floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall windows that look out over the familiar skyline of Manhattan.

Tony lets out a quiet exclamation of surprise and longing, feeling a painful stab of homesickness. His dad's office. And standing in front of the desk, swiping his fingers across the holographic display and looking thoughtful, is...

No. Not his dad, though the resemblance is startling. It's... him? Tony takes a step closer, staring at the almost-mirror-image. Older, maybe by a decade, and sporting the beard that several people had mentioned his older alternate universe selves having, but definitely Tony.

"Well that's just creepy." He waves his hand at himself. No reaction. "So, is fighting yourself some kind of big theme, or does everybody on the turtle just have really weird self-esteem issues?" His other self doesn't laugh at his sort-of-joke, and continues to ignore him. Well, fine. Maybe Solomon will think it's funny. Not likely.

Tony takes another few steps closer, shifting his gaze from his own, older face to the holographic display Not-Him is working on. His eyes flicker over the diagrams and figures, absorbing the content in a matter of moments. Armor schematics. Not nearly so elegant as his own suit: stripped of subtlety and finesse, these designs are sturdy, utilitarian, and loaded with enough artillery to outclass the freakin' Helicarrier. Beside the schematics are scrolling tables of numbers and calculations detailing the expenses for mass-production.

"Hey! You—" Tony takes one more step towards the image of his future self, suddenly angry. "You're turning the suits into weapons? And selling them?"

Other Tony glances over at him and smiles tolerantly, as if he'd known Tony was there all along and had just been waiting for him to speak up.

"That's not a very nice way of putting it. Just helping out our friends in SHIELD and the US military."

"And since when are you friends with SHIELD and the military?" Tony huffs. What kind of bullshit vision is this?

Other Tony rolls his eyes, still smiling. "Since I got over thinking I could save the world by running around the city taking out random gang thugs and two-bit supervillains." He drops into the chair behind him and leans back, crossing his hands over his stomach and propping his feet up on the desk, the perfect picture of casual arrogance.

"So now you're saving the world by selling weapons?" Tony sounds disgusted, and skeptical. Is this supposed to be a vision of the future where he's an arms dealer? Not likely. It goes against everything his dad taught him; everything the company stands for. Everything Tony stands for. He would never sell out like that. What does Malicant think he's going for with this crap?

Other Tony laughs. "Man, I was so self-righteous when I was young. Also, such a huge hypocrite. Have you looked at the armor recently? It is a weapon. It always has been. You just think you're the only one privileged enough to use it." He shakes his head and grins at Tony, and it's surreal seeing his own face smiling back at him like that, looking cheerful and friendly while spouting Stane-esque nonsense. "It's a good thing I outgrew at least some of my stupidity."

"You're not me," Tony snaps. "And you're full of shit." He's had enough of this, whatever it is.

Like Solomon had done earlier, he turns his focus to the environment, willing the office away. The illusion starts to fail. The sun through the windows dims, taking on a hue more like the luminescence of the caverns, and the office walls melt away in places, revealing the walls of the tunnel.

Tony doesn't wait for the surroundings to finish their change before raising both his hands and pointing them at his false counterpart. He fires both repulsors at full power, and doesn't even bother with a witty one-liner.

Other Tony dodges the blast with calculated nonchalance. He pushes off a bit from the desk and pulls the pneumatic lever on the chair to drop the seat, and leans back ever so slightly, evading the repulsor beam by a hairsbreadth, still grinning, like it's the easiest thing in the world.

The beam hits the cavern wall instead, and there's a loud rumble as the repulsors tear through it. Other Tony leans forward again to peer through the gaping hole, and then he turns back to Tony.

"Nice shot," he says, and this time it's definitely sarcastic.

[peacefullywreathed]

"Several times every single year," Solomon said with a sigh that made his chest gurgle and a cough to bloom up his throat. At first he thought that was all it was, amidst the shifting surrounds; but the feeling in his chest got heavier and colder, and the cough didn't let up, and the ache turned into a roar.

"Stark," he started to say and nothing came out, and his knees shook, and haziness clouded his vision. Solomon leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, and counted his breaths. They came raspy against the chill filling him up, a blizzard of magic within him seeking an exit that didn't exist. He heard Stark's exclamation and opened his eyes dizzily to see Stark step away.

Good. Solomon had managed to keep some distance between them even when Stark was playing hero, but if the boy thought Solomon was liable to collapse entirely he might try to pick him up. And if Stark did that, his soul would be gone faster than he could blink.

But Malicant was renewing his fight for Solomon's boon and magic with a vengeance, and so Solomon could only listen through ringing ears as Stark did the idiotic and engaged with his enemy. By talking to a being of chaos. Solomon would have knocked the stupid boy over the head if he'd been able to straighten up. Well, no. First he would have shot Malicant, and then knocked Stark over the head. As it was, Solomon was having trouble keeping hold of the revolver.

Slowly, breath by breath, Solomon managed to work back control of his body. The boon was still active, his magic still fighting him; when he breathed out his breath condensed in the air, and Solomon wasn't sure if that was because of the Dreaming manifesting how cold he felt inside or whether it was truth. Regardless, by the time the wall shifted under his fingers once again Solomon had managed to bring up the revolver and focus down his unsteady sight, and shoot past Stark at his older self.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene had been walking with Akito down the caverns when he heard a repulsor blast and a wall about fifty yards down exploded. A few months ago that sound would have sent him running in the other direction, but now he runs towards it. He can hear gunfire, too, and waits until whoever's firing is quite finished before emerging through the hole in the wall.

What he sees is a little confusing - Tony in the armor, older Tony with a stupid beard, and Solomon, looking like he's just gone ten rounds with a yeti. Clearly older-dumb-beard Tony is the manifestation of Malicant.

Good going, Tony, Gene would like to avoid anything that leads to that beard, too.

He takes himself quite decisively out of the line of fire, circling around near Sol and the real Tony. "I leave you alone for ten minutes and you're already destroying the scenery," he quips, unable to hold back the sarcasm. It's for morale!

[akito]

Not knowing what else to do, and definitely not wanting to be alone (especially with the thoughts that keep running through his mind thanks to his own spectre), Akito follows Gene at what he decides is a safe pace; sticks close enough to feel sheltered but not impede on anyone's fighting abilities.

The gunfire sets him on edge, mostly because he can't immediately detect the source of it. The sound makes the growing welts on his body sting in remembrance. Akito withholds a shudder and the desire to cling to someone.

[highprofilerichkid]

Other Tony stands, and Tony tenses. The older face smiles at him again, and then abruptly snaps his hand up. The other him isn't even wearing armor yet, but Tony instinctively activates his shield - just in time to send Solomon's bullet ricocheting harmlessly into the cavern wall.

Other Tony's smile becomes a smirk. "Psych."

Tony scowls, and is a fraction of a second away from firing again when Akito and Gene appear on the other side of the hole in the wall.

"Gene?" Tony sounds startled and relieved and apprehensive all at once, and he hesitates. He's not about to fire off another repulsor when Gene and Akito are standing right behind Malicant's illusion of his older self.

"Oh, company," Other Tony observes casually. "Fun. Guess I'd better put on something a little fancier." He pauses, raises his eyebrows, and spreads his hands in a 'get it?' gesture. "...Fancy like a three-piece suit, except the suit is the armor? You know, suit, suit of armor...? Okay, yeah, that was a stretch." Excuse you, Malicant, his jokes aren't that bad. Jeez.

As Other Tony is talking, something is happening to his skin and clothes. It's hard to describe - almost like a dark haze rising from his skin and coalescing, oozing and shimmering and solidifying as it surrounds him. And before Tony's eyes, the armor appears around his older self, building itself from the inside out in a matter of seconds.

...Whoah. That's the kind of nanotech Tony's been fantasizing about ever since Korra told him about her Tony's armor (too many Tonys, he's going to have to start assigning numerical codes), and it would be way cool to see it in action, if it weren't getting ready to kick his ass.

"Gene! Akito! Get out of the way!"

[peacefullywreathed]

Wonderful. Logic dictated fighting Malicant should have been easier with more people, but this many people in an enclosed space upped the chances that one of them would touch Solomon by accident, and if that happened there was an excellent chance Malicant could use the power-boost to break Solomon's magic-binding bracelets from the inside.

Khan at least had the sense to flank Malicant, but the boy who trailed after him--he wasn't unintelligent, Solomon would grant him that, but he was obviously flighty and nervous right now. Even more unhelpful.

"For God's sake," Solomon muttered, exasperated and pained in turns, and already tired of Stark's grandiose effects. He didn't need to reload the revolver, but he braced his back against the wall and let it transform in his hands to something a touch more useful. Too bad this confining space kept Malicant close in--or else Solomon was sorely tempted to try for a damned rocket. But Khan and Akito were still too close to the vision; there'd be too much collateral damage if he tried. Maybe later.

Instead the revolver transformed into a harpoon-gun, and Solomon calmly lifted it and fired. Stark's armour may have been, well, armour, but Solomon was banking on the harpoon's greater mass being more difficult for Malicant to just brush aside the way he had the bullet. The Vilii Stone had already proven to be the most effective weapon--they just needed to force Malicant into feeling its influence. If anything could penetrate Stark's technological marvel ...

Assuming Solomon's unsteady grip could land a hit.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene subtly places himself in front of Akito, rolling his eyes at the older Stark's posturing.

And when the armor is in the process of coalescing from his skin, it occurs to him that in this instant, this Tony looks more sinister than Gene ever has. Something to do with the dark haze of nanobots. (Again with the nanobots?! Small robots are a terrible idea, Stark. Every fool knows this.)

"I think your jokes got worse when your facial hair did," Gene snarks as he circles around. The rings glow, and his armor forms up in a ball of light. Well, everyone else is getting a pass to the fancy-dress ball, why shouldn't he?

Aaaand there's a harpoon.

[akito]

What the shit is going on.

Akito has no idea. Aside from this being Malicant's fault, he has no damn clue. He's just going to continue sticking close to Gene while doing his best not to make things any more difficult tactically than he already has.

[highprofilerichkid]

"They're still not as bad as your monologues," Other Tony quips cheerfully. And with inhuman speed, he knocks the harpoon out of the air. He turns to Sol. "A harpoon? Good AP, but way too slow. You should stick with the gun."

Tony doesn't waste time telling Sol that there's not much point in shooting slow-moving projectiles at a nanotech-enhanced pseudo-cyborg in power armor: he hopes that's self-evident now. Instead, while Other Tony's spending a couple seconds snarking, he pops open the shielded compartment in his armor and pulls out his fragment of the Vilii stone.

But Other Tony hasn't forgotten him, and as soon as the crystal is in his hand, the illusion raises his hand, and sends a crackling pulse of energy at Tony. He puts up a shield, but the pulse tears right through it, hits him, and sends his armor crashing to the ground. Fuck! A fucking EMP bomb! FUCK!!

While Tony's lying helplessly on the ground, rebooting his armor, Other Tony walks over to him. "Thought that's where you'd stash that." He kicks the crystal out of Tony's limp hand, sending it skittering away down the tunnel. "I mean, of course I knew where you'd put it. After all, I'm you. Just less stupid, and slightly better-looking."

With Tony briefly out of commission, Other Tony turns his attention back to Solomon. "I was kidding about the gun, by the way. I just thought you waving around that little pea shooter was kind of funny." There's a low whump, and some kind of transparent wave ripples out from the gauntlets. A high-pressure concussive blast, Tony deduces - a modification of the sonic canons. Non-lethal, but it'll hit like a ton of bricks. He can't even yell a warning to Solomon, with the suit's external speakers out.

[peacefullywreathed]

Yes, because I've always wanted your input, Solomon might have answered Malicant if he'd had the breath, but he didn't and it was monumentally stupid to get involved in a banter with an enemy at this stage to begin with. But it was obvious now that even with Stark and Khan as a distraction, any slow-moving projectile wouldn't be enough.

It didn't take a genius to recognise the thread of the raised gauntlets, and Solomon didn't need the identification--sonic sorcerers had been made all but extinct during the war, but Solomon recognised the threat. With a thought the Vilii Stone shaped itself again, and the sonic blast struck the shield like a gong, striking the wall all around Solomon but without hitting him.

He grunted with the force of it nonetheless, and debris rained down on him. Then he flicked his wrist and the Vilii Stone changed. Stark was still too close to Malicant to use anything like a rocket--but now there was clear space between Solomon and Malicant, space Solomon could use, and a whip formed in his hands. Solomon's cane wasn't precisely the same--but it relied on many of the same motions, and the whip's tip flicked up and at Malicant with far more control and precision than any weapon Solomon had used previously--fast and accurate and its tip cutting.

[wrathfulkhan]

How dare you, Other Tony! His monologues are Oscar-worthy!

The situation abruptly goes from bad to worse, and Gene takes it all in, his mind racing.

Step one, get Tony back his shard of the stone. Step one half...distract the living hell out of this impostor so the stone would slip from its awareness just long enough for Tony to get it back and do what needed to be done. Between him and Wreath, that should be a piece of cake.

Quietly, to Akito, while the impostor is talking, Gene says, "Get the stone. We'll distract him." Sending Akito to do it is a pretty good idea; the younger teen's been so quiet and inoffensive that he wouldn't be surprised if Malicant's shard had opted to ignore him entirely.

There's always the definite probability that this other Tony has a dampener built into his armor too, so Gene can't count on using the armor to distract him for long. Maybe just for long enough.

The sonic blast has barely impacted Wreath's shield when Gene makes his move. He uses the white ring to create a laser-focused tornado, hopefully enough to lift this impostor and buffet him around, to have him focusing his attention on Gene and Solomon rather than Tony and Akito.

And Gene really hopes Tony's reboot sequence won't take too long.

[akito]

Saying nothing, lest he attract unwanted attention to himself, Akito nods and begins inching away from Gene toward the area of the tunnel he recalls Tony's shard being kicked. His diminutive stature and tendency to be easily overlooked are traits he hopes to use to his advantage while he searches.

[highprofilerichkid]

Solomon's whip, formed from the essence of the Villi stone, cuts through Other Tony's shields and armor like butter. He lets out a cry of pain as it scores a huge gash across his torso and snakes around his arm, and the wounds bleed freely for a moment before the nanotech armor seals itself. Almost at the same time, Gene's whirlwind hits him, slamming him against the cavern wall.

Yes! Tony thinks, but his elation is short-lived. A beam of light shoots out the miniature vortex towards Gene - not a repulsor, but Makluan dampening energy. Then Other Tony grabs onto Solomon's whip and pulls himself to his feet. The whip is still cutting into him where he's gripping it, preventing the armor from sealing, but he doesn't seem to mind that, or the blood dripping to the floor.

Tony's reboot sequence is almost done - boy, these couple seconds are eternal in the middle of combat, he's going to have to do something about that - but it doesn't finish fast enough for him to prevent Other Tony, still grasping the whip, from sending another sonic pulse at Solomon.

And then, finally, finally, the armor comes back online. Tony leaps up and blasts off with his boot jets, tackling his mirror image with a furious yell.

[peacefullywreathed]

Keeping the whip formed was more difficult than it should have been owing to the abrupt upsurge in cold agony in Solomon's chest. A result of the prolonged contact with Malicant or simple timing, Solomon didn't know, but he only managed to dissolve the whip after Malicant had already got to his feet, intending to recreate it unleashed.

That changed almost mid-thought, and Solomon managed to get half a shield up, but one too weak--the sonic blast and the shield both slammed back into him, and him into the wall, and his head spun dizzily with the pain in his chest. He gasped for breath and didn't find it, sinking to the floor and grimly clutching onto consciousness only because of the weight of the Vilii Stone in his hands.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene roars with triumph when his whirlwind makes contact, a roar that turns into one of frustration when the dampener beam hits, too quickly for him to dodge. He goes down for the second time in as many hours (he thinks), and this time it's actually frustrating. He keeps trying to get the armor going again; it usually takes about fifteen to thirty seconds for the armor to reset. At least he'd expected this.

It's a good thing we're not really enemies anymore, he thinks dimly, trying to crane his neck to see the battle. Because now he really has an unfair advantage. Like the guy with near-limitless power can complain. He hears the sonic blast, and the sound of boot jets, and a furious yell, and he hopes - he hopes like hell - that his Tony's going to come out on top.

[akito]

It doesn't take long for Akito to find Tony's shard. He's quick to grab it, clutching it protectively to his chest as he runs back to the battle. The situation has changed a great deal in the short time he wasn't able to keep track of things; Solomon is in bad shape, and Gene is incapacitated (hopefully temporarily, but Akito isn't sure). Tony is fighting... Tony, leaving Akito unsure as to how, exactly, he's supposed to get the shard to him.

First thing's first though - making sure everyone else is safe so that Tony doesn't get distracted. Solomon is in less danger than Tony or Gene for now, but is just far enough away from him and Gene to make it impossible to cover him. If only there was better cover --

"Oh."

This is the Dreaming. They can manipulate their surroundings if they have enough focus, right? And right now all Akito wants to do is help Tony and keep everyone safe...

Solomon can have a small, curved wall to protect him from ricochet and targeted attacks. It's totally impenetrable, because it's a Dream and if Akito says it's impenetrable then it definitely is. And... that leaves Akito free to cover Gene himself, using his Vilii stone that he imagines to be a super strong shield like Captain America's to keep his sort-of-maybe-friend safe.

And because Akito has a good boost of confidence at the moment, he'll also try to give Tony a bit of help by attempting to visualize the stupid Tony's armor as cardboard. Mostly just the weaponized aspects, but Ikki was always one to dream big so that's what he's going to try to do.

i apologize to everyone for this 1.6k monstrosity

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony’s flying tackle barely fazes Other Tony. It sends them both tumbling, but Other Tony recovers much faster, and then he pummels Tony against the wall with a powerful repulsor blast.

“Wow,” Other Tony says admiringly, “that was almost teamwork. And we don’t even like Solomon. I’m so proud of myself.”

Solomon is down, Gene is down, Akito’s still (sensibly) behind cover, and Tony doesn’t have his crystal… Things aren’t looking so hot. But Tony’s been in worse binds: he’s not scared yet. He growls and pushes himself up off the ground. “You’re not. Me!” He fires his repulsors, which Other Tony’s shields brush off with ease.

“Well, technically, no. But that shouldn’t matter. I mean, you don’t get a whole bunch of doctorates and Nobel prizes in crazy theoretical physics and math by getting hung up on what’s ‘technically’” (he says it with sarcastic air quote fingers) “true, right?”

“You technically suck,” Tony replies belligerently. Okay, maybe his jokes are that bad. He tries randomizing the frequency of the repulsor beams like he did with Arthur, to see if that will have any impact on Other Tony’s shields. His sensors don’t detect any significant fluctuations in the forcefield integrity.

But, out of the corner of his eye, Tony sees Akito snatch up his Vilii shard and start to scamper back towards Gene. He silently cheers him on. For the moment, Other Tony’s attention seems to be focused exclusively on Tony, and if Tony can just keep the illusion occupied until he can get a hold of his crystal again, he can end this.

He follows the repulsor volley with a full-power unibeam blast with a rapidly-fluctuating randomized frequency, hoping that if it doesn’t hurt Other Tony, it might at least startle him.

The blast actually knocks Other Tony back for a second, but Tony can’t keep up those kinds of power levels for long, and as soon as the beam stops, Tony finds himself getting re-acquainted with the wall, courtesy of Other Tony’s own unibeam. Tony groans, and silences all the biometric and armor alerts that are suddenly going off.

“I know as much about you as you do," Other Tony goes on, sauntering over to him. Yeah, good. Keep talking, Beardo. “Maybe more, because I’m not up to my eyeballs in hypocrisy and self-delusion. Big Ugly’s seen more than enough of the inside of your head to figure out exactly what you are, and what you’re going to be. And that’s me. Not a lie: just some basic scientific extrapolation. Hate to break it to you, Little Me, but – you’re kind of predictable.”

Tony’s stomach lurches. Been inside his head? Does he mean when Extremis had been compromised? Tony had thought that Malicant couldn’t access his memories through Extremis, but then Aya had proven that it was possible… What had it seen, before it burned out the nanobots?

Tony gets up to his hands and knees. “You don’t know anything about me.” He bolsters his faltering confidence with anger. “I’d never sell weapons.”

Behind Other Tony, Akito is taking advantage of the illusion’s fixation on Tony to imagine up some defenses for their allies. Way to go, Akito! Tony takes heart from the other teen’s resourcefulness (and, though he doesn’t realize it, some support from Akito’s own dream-manipulating), and when he stands and fires his repulsors again, his sensors read a significant drain on Other Tony’s shields. Yes! It’s all about willpower, he reminds himself. The dreaming is shaped by the conscious and subconscious thoughts of its inhabitants. If he believes he can defeat this shade of his older self, he will. He pours more power into his repulsors.

If the dent in his shield integrity bothers Other Tony, he doesn’t show it. He laughs. “Yeah, sure. ‘Weapons only make things worse,’ ‘technology should be used to help people’ – says the guy flying around in the weaponized suit of power armor.”

“That’s different, I—”

“Yeah, it is. Because the rules don’t apply to us, do they? You already know that.” Other Tony returns fire. This time, Tony’s shields hold. “That’s why you got the advanced experimental medical implant when any other kid would have died. That’s why you got rub to shoulders with famous scientists and score time on the best equipment in the world for your pet projects before you were old enough to drive. That’s why SHIELD let you off the hook for stuff that should have landed you in jail for decades.”

The two of them keep exchanging fire. Tony tries to ignore Other Tony’s monologuing and focus his willpower on the fight, but Other Tony just keeps talking. Tony’s changed his mind – now he thinks he’d rather the illusion shut up and just concentrated on shooting him. Tony’ll take ‘painful’ over ‘infuriating’ any day.

“Come on, Tony – you’re screwing the Mandarin.” Other Tony sticks his thumb out and points it at Gene. “Talk about making an exception!” He snorts.

“That doesn’t— that’s not true!” Well, it is true that he’s screwing the Mandarin, but: Malicant’s illusion is twisting things around, making everything sound like some sort of… scheme, when everything was just chance and luck. Being rich and smart isn’t a crime, and with SHIELD and Gene, there had been… well, the circumstances had been complicated, it wasn’t like he’d…

“Yeah, it is. You know why? Because you’re smarter, and richer, and more powerful than most people can even imagine. When you were fifteen, your idea of ‘fun’ was inventing technology decades ahead of anything else on the planet. In high school, you were saving the world more often than you were going on dates. They don’t make rules for people like that, Tony. And you know it – that’s why you’ve been using all that privilege and brainpower to try to make the world a better place. That’s the trade-off, right? When you’re better, you give back more. You’ve got the right idea. You’re just thinking too small.”

“Saving the Earth is ‘thinking too small?’ Man, I don’t know whose brain your boss got into, but it sure wasn’t mine, if you think that’s going to convince me.” But Other Tony’s words are cutting a lot deeper than Tony wants to admit. He hates it, but the stuff this illusion is saying is really getting to him. It shouldn’t: It’s all wrong, it’s all bullshit. But it’s getting under his skin anyway.

Other Tony sighs, sounding disappointed and a little annoyed. “With Extremis, you may be the smartest human being who’s ever lived. And you’re going to waste that getting into fistfights with gang thugs and blowing up corporate data banks? Don’t get me wrong – the armor will still see plenty of action. But at some point you’ve got to grow up and stop playing cops and robbers, kid. Give the weapons to people who actually know how to use them. They’ll call you when they need you for backup.”

“If SHIELD wants weapons, they can get them from Hammer. The only way they’re getting the suit is if I’m in it. SI doesn’t make weapons anymore, and that’s not going to change. Our technology is supposed to help people, not hurt them.” To Tony’s immense frustration, his repulsors are starting to have less of an effect. If this were just a straight fight, he’d have no problem. He could take this bearded asshole, fancy armor or not. But Other Tony’s using their stalemate to get inside his head and chip away at his resolve, and Tony’s trying to ignore him but god, he just won’t stop talking.

“What, StarkPods and solar panels? Give me a break,” Other Tony scoffs, shaking his head. “You have the potential to change the world, not just save it. Launch humanity into a new age. Get us out into space, finally. Give them enough toys, and SHIELD, the military, the government – you’ll have them wrapped around your finger. Think of what you could do with the money and influence from military contracts. Anything you can imagine. And that’s what matters, Tony. The tech that will change the world, for real, for good. For everyone. Not a couple crates of laser blasters and some stripped-down assembly-line power armor.”

“It’s not worth it,” Tony snarls. “Not if it means hurting people.”

Other Tony laughs again. “You think that makes you the good guy? You seriously need to stop binge-watching Saturday morning cartoons. Being a hero isn’t about punching supervillains and saving kittens from trees. It’s about stepping up, doing what other people are afraid to do. What other people can’t do. It’s about the big picture, Tony. Using your abilities to do the most good. Being scared to make some tough choices doesn’t make you a hero. It just makes you a coward.”

This isn’t working. Tony’s losing ground again. Desperate to change things up and maybe surprise Other Tony enough to get an opening, Tony fires his boot jets and tries to tackle his opponent again. He catches Other Tony head-on, but Other Tony rolls with it, and when their tumble stops, it’s Other Tony who’s on top, with one armored hand tightening around Tony’s less-armored throat and his other hand pressed to Tony’s glowing power core, the gauntlet morphing into a configuration Tony’s never seen before but which apparently serves to nullify the unibeam.

“And, newsflash: you’ve already hurt people,” Other Tony says, leaning over him. Tony can feel his neck plating creaking under the pressure of the other armor’s grip. “When something important is on the line, you don’t really care who gets in your way, do you? You’re just in seriously deep denial about it. It’s kind of embarrassing, honestly.”

[peacefullywreathed]

It was like being a bystander in a terrible children's cartoon, forced to listen to villainous monologues the hero allowed to happen. The most irritating thing about it was that focussing on the conversation eased some of the panic inherent in not being able to breathe, so Solomon was obliged to listen to nearly every word.

Given what little he knew about Stark's background and Stark himself, Solomon couldn't say that Malicant was lying. Actually, he was very likely telling the truth; the truth always cut more than lies did. But he was only using the truth to lower Stark's guard, and that was rankling on the simple basis of the fact that Solomon, under other circumstances, might have done the same. Only to get the idiot to think, but still.

Slowly Solomon managed to get control of his breathing. The more Malicant was focussed on Stark, the more his control of Solomon's magic lessened. He'd done damage, though--Solomon took a deeper, experimental breath and choked on a cough, and taste blood not just in the back of his throat.

Solomon snarled. To hell with that. He pushed himself upright and tested his shaky hands--too shaky to be of any help anymore. But there were other options, and instead he focussed his mind and will on an animation, the sort of animation a necromancer might pull together using a corpse, or an engineer might have created with the golem. This time Solomon had nothing more or less than the Vilii Shard, but it grew and grew into a four-footed shape that lunged, roaring, at Malicant.

Lions could be weapons too, after all. It was a risk if Solomon couldn't get the Shard back--but if nothing else it would hopefully get Stark up off the ground.

[wrathfulkhan]

Wow it is nerve-racking (and infuriating!) being able to hear everything but not being able to move or see. The dampener in this other Tony's armor must have been stronger than the one he'd been hit with earlier; try as he might, he still can't get the armor back online.

And for the first time in a long while, Gene feels utterly powerless.

He tries to move, but the armor's just too heavy for him, and there's no way he can do an 'emergency eject' of any kind by taking off the rings...because he can't move.

For right now, at least, Sol's distraction will have to serve. And he hopes that Akito will succeed and that his Tony will prevail.

you guys can tl;dr i'll just sit here writing teeny tags /lame

[akito]

Solomon's distraction is perfect and amazing and really cool and probably the only opportunity Akito's going to have to get Tony's Vilii shard to him. Hiding in the wake of the lion, he rushes forward to try shoving the shard into Tony's hand while leaving his own behind to shield Gene.

/wordvomits excruciatingly detailed character meta for twenty pages/

[highprofilerichkid]

The gauntlet on Tony's chest isn't just neutralizing the unibeam - it's draining the suit's power core, and thus all of his weapons. His repulsors don't do more than spark when he tries to fire them (and he still can't use rockets or flamethrowers, for fear of catching Akito and Sol in the crossfire). Even his forceshield sputters out almost immediately when he activates it.

Tony feels the armor around his neck start to buckle, and he struggles valiantly in Other Tony's grasp. But the nanoparticle armor, though lighter, is much stronger, and Tony can't budge it. Tony is furious that he's about to get taken out like this, by his own armor, worn by his annoying imaginary future self. And he's scared, too. When the neck plating crumples it will crush his windpipe and tear his throat to shreds, and he knows from too-close experience that it'll be a horrible way to die - and not a quick one, either. Choking, suffocating, gasping for air, drowning in blood, feeling your oxygen-starved brain shutting down system by system, the process of dying drawn out over seconds or even minutes...

He's not panicking. Tony Stark doesn't panic, not even when his life is in critical danger. Especially not then. But Other Tony's attack on his psyche has done its work, and in his uncertainty and denial, he doesn't have the force of will necessary to overcome Malicant on his own.

Fortunately, he isn't on his own.

Solomon's lion lunges, tearing the illusion off him, and Tony immediately rolls over and springs to his feet. Other Tony had gotten too caught up in spouting off and neglected to keep tabs on the other players. The vindictive satisfaction Tony feels about that is just delicious.

And behind the lion is Akito, Vilii stone in hand, and Tony snatches the shard up with a triumphant laugh. As he turns to face his foe, the crystal is melting, flowing over his gauntlet to cover the metal in a thin layer of shimmering purple.

Other Tony has managed to escape the lion with the assistance of his boot jets, but not unscathed: the armor is sealing up over a dozen brutal gouges from teeth and claws.

As Tony raises his newly-upgraded gauntlet, Other Tony snarls, and fires at the ceiling - bringing a large portion of the cavern crashing down on top of Tony and Akito and the lion. Tony throws up a shield around himself and Akito. When the rubble stops falling, he turns back to Akito for a moment, grinning wildly behind the faceplate.

"Thanks, man. I owe you one." Then he shoots a beam from his shiny new Vilii repulsor at Other Tony, using his sensors to pinpoint him through the clouds of dust. Other Tony curses and staggers.

That little taste of victory is just what Tony needs. Confidence surging, he fires off three more shots in close succession. Despite his wounds, though, Other Tony is fast, and he dodges the shots and then... vanishes from Tony's sensors. Where there had been a clear outline only a second ago, there's now garbled nonsense scrambled by heavy-duty interference. And thanks to the dust, Tony can't get a visual, either. Well, that's okay. Other Tony has to show himself sometime. This fight isn't going to end until one of them goes down.

Other Tony's repulsors pierce the debris cloud, but Tony catches them on his shield - which is holding again. Tony responds with a few more blind shots, though he doesn't really expect any of them to hit. There are several seconds of tense silence.

"We're not the reason Dad gave up arms dealing, you know," Other Tony says.

Tony tries to track his voice, but the acoustics of the rubble-filled cavern aren't any good. "Give it up, asshole. You're toast." Now that Tony has his shard, it doesn't matter what Malicant's illusion says. The stones don't rely on willpower: they're all-natural grade-A canned whoop-ass. All he has to do is aim and fire.

"He stopped because he was already rich. He made enough money selling weapons for the company to coast for the rest of his life, and he was tired of being pestered by the hippies and eco-wackos. We were just a convenient excuse."

Tony frowns. "Yeah, sure. If that's what helps you sleep at night, buddy." Other Tony chuckles. Tony wonders if he can hear the uncertainty in his voice. He thinks he sees a figure through the haze, and he fires, but Other Tony just chuckles again.

"You can't beat me. I am you." Another repulsor blast: Tony barely gets his shield up in time, and he staggers back. "I'm inevitable. You'll see it, eventually. I'm not some evil mirror-universe version of you, Tony. I'm just you a little more grown-up. I'm older, and more experienced, and I understand the world a little better, that's all. Some day soon, you'll realize that. And you'll realize that I'm right."

"You know what I'm starting to realize?" The dust is still to thick for good visibility, but Tony thinks... yes. Right there.

"What?" Other Tony asks, sounding amused and curious.

Tony takes aim. "I talk too much." And fires.

Inside the cloud, there's a scream of pain. Tony turns on his boot jets and flies towards it, and the wind of his passage finally clears away some of the dust. Now he can see Other Tony kneeling on the ground, hunched over, a huge gory hole in his torso that not even the nanoarmor can cover. He looks up as Tony approaches. His faceplate melts away, and though there's blood trickling out of his mouth, he grins.

"Nice shot."

Tony raises his shard-altered gauntlet again. Other Tony laughs breathlessly and raises two fingers to his forehead in a mocking salute. "See you in ten years, kid."

Tony fires again.

The illusion disintegrates, melting into slithery, shivering shadows that then themselves dissolve.

Tony takes a few steps back, his ears ringing in the sudden silence of the cavern. Not caring about the dust, he pops open his faceplate to take a few deep breaths of unfiltered air, while reflexively rubbing the dented armor at his neck.

A few seconds later, he realizes he's been staring blankly off into space, and he shakes his head vigorously and turns back to his allies. "Is everybody okay?" Akito and Solomon had been in fighting form just a minute ago, so he's not too worried about them, and Gene— Gene hasn't been in the fight since he got knocked down by the dampener. Shouldn't his armor have reactivated by now?

Sudden terror seizes Tony's heart. What if Other Tony's dampener hadn't just been a dampener? What if he'd upgraded it to damage, not just stun, and Gene's been lying there injured or dead this whole time and Tony hadn't even thought about him?!

"Gene!!" Tony launches himself towards where he'd last seen Gene's armor, stubbornly bottling up the turmoil in his mind and putting aside it until the more pressing matter of Gene's welfare has been resolved. (And possibly until forever, if he has any say in the matter.)

[peacefullywreathed]

There's no room to attack again, with Stark in the way--even if Solomon had a weapon. The ceiling collapse forced Solomon back into the nook that had been summoned for him, his sleeve over his mouth so the dust didn't make it more difficult to breathe than it already was. Or at least didn't make him cough more than he already was.

It worked well enough that when Malicant finally dissolved and his grip on Solomon's magic eased, Solomon was able to straighten up and move out from behind the nook, leaning on the wall. He kicked aside rocks and found the Vilii Stone, chipped and a little cracked, but still--mostly--in one piece. It would do.

"Please do tell me he isn't going to appear to harass anyone else," he muttered, and then Stark shouted, proving he hadn't heard a word. Solomon sighed and lowered himself down to pick up the Stone, leaning back against one of the larger rocks. He was trapped in a cavern with three teenagers, and still felt as though someone had been tearing out the inside of his chest. Even if Malicant had been defeated, Solomon wasn't looking forward to the aftermath.

Maybe he wouldn't have to get up again. That would be nice.

2.3k!!! orz. TW: child/domestic/emotional abuse/manipulation, incitement to suicide, consent, murder

[wrathfulkhan]

With the defeat of Malicant - or at least this version of it - whatever pernicious virus had been in the dampening ray ceases to exist, and Gene dispels the armor in a flash of light. He still feels like hundreds of pounds of metal are sitting on his chest, but at least that's psychosomatic. He sits up, taking deep, heaving breaths, irritated that he missed everything but elated that Tony was victorious.

And - speak of the devil - here comes Tony now. He waves weakly at Tony as he approaches, and gets to his feet. His hand slips into his pocket, removing his shard of the Vilii stone. "I'm okay," he says, coughing, "but watch yourself. It'll come for me, next."

Truth be told, a lot of Gene's bravado in the previous fights he's been present for has been born of nerves. All of the big talk, all of the sarcasm, is his way of preparing himself for what he knows he's about to face. Gene's been bracing himself for this for a while; he's prepared for the shape that Malicant is about to take. It's a shape their enemy has taken before, when he'd taken a journey to the Death realm, and he's ready this time. He won't be cowering like a child again.

So when the form of Zhang appears before him, he bares his teeth. "You can't hurt me anymore," he says, snarling and raising the jian that his shard of the Vilii stone has formed itself into, a perfect replica of the sword Eshai had given him, and it's not clear if he's addressing Zhang or Malicant.

The replica of Zhang smirks at him. "Pitiful mongrel child," he says. "A mongrel and of unnatural tastes...I shouldn't have let you live. You were never of any use to me."

"Good, I wasn't trying to be," Gene retorts. "Let's just get this over with, you pathetic creature. Murderer of children...I'm going to enjoy this, you monster."

That startles a low chuckle out of Zhang. "The only monster I see here is you. Even without your heritage. I have to admit, I'm proud of what you've become. You've done some utterly twisted things, you know. And you pulled it off. You really pulled it off." He smiles nastily. "Even I never tried to manipulate you into caring for me. I knew it was a lost cause. But you," he says, pointing at Gene with one long fingernail, "you did more than just manipulate the Stark child until you had him wrapped around your finger. No, when he broke free of your lies, you cried crocodile tears in order to have him take pity on you so you could lure him into your bed. Twisted. Magnificently so. I'm proud of you."

"That's not true," Gene says, gritting his teeth. He knows it's not true, he knows Malicant is just lying again, because all it does is lie. "It wasn't true when you spoke with my voice earlier, and it isn't true now."

"Oh, you know it is," Zhang/Malicant says, and grins. "You have him so twisted around that he couldn't even kill you when you begged him to. He would have saved you all if he'd killed you back then, you know. I think he even knows that. And if you're so worried about me taking you over again, why haven't you just killed yourself, rather than asking someone you supposedly care about to do it? Do it, child. Turn that sword in your hand on yourself and do everyone a kindness."

Gene's face is stony, impassive, and the fact that Malicant is echoing his earlier words to Tony - it would be a kindness, in the end - is a painful proof that it's been probing around in Gene's head for anything it can possibly use against him. He refuses to rise to the bait, his sword hand steady. Zhang keeps talking. "No? Perhaps you're just as much of a coward as I always thought you were. I have to say, I've never seen that before, getting someone so turned around that they value your life over their own. Even over the good of an entire civilization! You can't possibly be that good in bed to make him fawn over you like that. Have you been using that glorious little crimson ring on him, to get him to obey your every whim?"

"Never," Gene says harshly, feeling sick to his stomach at even the implication of using Tony like that. "I'd never do that. I swore I wouldn't." He glances back towards Tony, as if to say He's lying, he's lying, please believe me, I wouldn't do that to you, I wouldn't control you like that again, I'd die first.

"You already have. You've already done it today; who knows how many other times you've used that ring to get what you want? You're so bad at keeping your promises, little monster. You promised to kill me, and I'm still here." Malicant gives up any pretense of being Zhang for a moment, and continues needling Gene. "It was so easy to get into your head and take control...it was almost like you wanted me to do it. Like you wanted to have the excuse to let the darkness in your soul run rampant. And believe me, it's there - I've seen it, and you know it exists. Tell me, did you resist, when you first noticed me slipping in? Or did you just go with it, knowing that nobody would blame you for what you did under my influence, that you could murder again, and face no justice, but pity for being my tool?"

A horde of Tong ninjas sprouts up behind him, out of the shadows, ready to hinder Gene's companions at the slightest gesture from their master, ready to prove to Gene he's hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed. "Poor Gene," Zhang croons mockingly, "poor, pitiful Gene. The tortured soul who believes that just saying he's sorry will wipe his slate clean and the red from his ledger. You like it, don't you? You like feeling a life slip away beneath your fingers." It's not clear whether Malicant is back in-character as Zhang, or simply trying to unnerve Gene. "Just like me. Just like me. I raised you better than I ever thought, and better than you ever realized. Actually, you're not just like me. You're more devious and twisted than I could ever hope to be. You've really done your old man proud." And he laughs, and the sound is ugly and discordant, and the ninjas laugh too, and the sound echoes around the cave like thunder, rolling and disorienting, hurting Gene's ears. It's laughter he's heard before, humiliation he's been subjected to at the hands of the real Zhang, and all the memory serves to do is make him angry. This isn't Zhang. And Malicant is wrong.

"We are not blood," Gene says, forcing his voice to remain calm, his grip on the sword so strong his hand is beginning to hurt. "Your research is wrong. The form you're wearing is that of my stepfather. I am not his kin. I am nothing like you, or him."

"That's right," the shade says, a look of mock thoughtfulness crossing his face. "I forgot. You never knew your father. Your whore mother must have fucked one of those lizards, zázhǒng." Zhang practically spits the word, and Gene flinches ever so slightly at the old slur he'd grown unused to being called, the slur that had been as good as a nickname for ten years. "I never knew my pet name for you would be so accurate. Half-breed. You know, it's a pity I killed her before your relatives came to visit. I could ask her which one of them is your father. Eh, bastard? Blood tells, boy - you're a whore just like her, using your body to trick power out of greater men. You unnatural mongrel child."

Gene's regulating his breathing, trying not to let the barbs from either 'Zhang' or Malicant breaking character get under his skin. "Shut up," he says, "shut up. Shut up. You're wasting time. Let's just get this over with so I never have to see either of you again."

"It was so sweet, killing her," Zhang says, not even listening to him, and the register of his voice shifts as Malicant drops the facade again. "But then again, I don't have to tell you how good it feels to kill, do I, little monster? How thrilling it is to destroy? How intoxicating? You belong to me, you always have, from the minute you accepted my little gift and let me into your worthless head. Your soul is mine."

"And you're stalling. Shut up and fight me. Or don't you think you have the guts? Are you too scared?" Gene smirks recklessly at the shade, goading it to fight, trying desperately to ignore all of the vile lies it has spouted so far, hoping that the others aren't taking its words at face value. "You're stalling because you don't think you can beat me. You're stalling, because you're afraid of this." The jian gleams in his hand in the dimness of the caverns.

"I fear nothing, and certainly not a child like you. But very well, zázhǒng," Zhang smirks. "If you're so opposed to living a little longer, let's begin."

The shade begins to change shape, and Gene tightens his grip on the sword, expecting the armor of the Mandarin to form up in front of him. His heart's pounding in his chest - now, now he's finally going to free himself from the tyranny of Zhang, the specter of abuse that hangs over his every waking moment. Even after years away from him, the patterns of thought had been so deeply carved into his brain that there was a broken record of all the ways Zhang had tried to break his spirit playing over and over. It's time to change that record.

Around him swirls a cascade of bad memories, pulled from his brain by Malicant, his weakness exposed for all to see. He grits his teeth and tries to ignore it, tries to ignore the fact that now Solomon and Akito can see what Tony's already seen, highlights of what Zhang had done to him, the beatings, the imprisonment, the abject cruelty. Here, there's a vision of Zhang, fully armored save for helmet, picking him up by his neck and throwing him across the room; there, a projection of another armored beating, a much younger Gene crouched bruised and bleeding on the floor, trying to shield his head from the worst of the blows. It shifts as Malicant rifles through his memories, specters flickering into being of gruesome dreams he's had of Tony killing him, of him killing Tony, of Makluans killing them both, of his friends - his friends, both from home and from Keeliai, those still on the turtle and those long gone, Joly, Bianca, Temeraire, Raine, Amelia, Loki, Akito, Kalliel - dead all around him, dead by his hand. You'd love to do this, I'm sure, Malicant's voice rings out over the grim images. You'd love to kill them all. The ninjas advance menacingly on Tony, Sol, and Akito, three for each of them.

His jaw is hurting with how hard he's gritting his teeth and attempting to block out the bad memories and bad dreams given form around him. He's proud, so having his weakness and anxieties exposed like this is as jarring a blow as any physical attack Malicant could unleash upon him, and his stomach twists in rage. But he forces it down and remains calm. Skul's taught him how to resist this, how to keep himself calm even when his fear and anger are raging inside him. He's dealt with this. He's ready for this. Let it come.

But instead of what Gene expects - Malicant's been in his head, after all, it knows what Gene is prepared for and what he isn't - there's no bulking up, no demonic black armor. The shape this shard of Malicant is wearing slims, and shortens, and becomes the form of a woman.

Anyone who's been in Gene's room would recognize her as the woman in the photograph he keeps by his bed. And anyone who's been in his memories would recognize her as his mother.

Gene takes a step back, then another, his sword arm lowering just a little. It's a trick, he knows it's a trick, but that doesn't mean it doesn't stab him right in the heart. He's looking at his mother, standing before him for the first time in thirteen years, the mother he'd known for a certainty that he'd never see again. Zhang's treachery had taken her from him, and Malicant's scheming has brought her back. It's a masterstroke. Malicant's masterstroke. "Stop," he says, breathing harshly, his hands shaking, trying to maintain the calm that he'd managed to settle into. "Stop. You're not her. You're not her!"

"You have failed me, Temujin," she says regally, taking a step forward. Though they are both now speaking Mongolian (his mother tongue, his mother's tongue), a trick of the Dreaming translates it into the languages the others would most readily understand, making the Altaic words into the background of all their dialogue. "You refused to kill this interloper -" her eyes flick to Tony - "and claim your destiny. He has made you weak. Lust has made you weak. It is a sin for lesser men, Temujin, not for you. I am giving you one more chance to prove yourself worthy as my son. Free yourself from this weakness. Kill him. Kill him, and take back what is rightfully yours."

"No. Stop. You're not her," he says, his voice upscaling to almost a shout in his disbelief, the sword trembling in his hand. "Stop it. Stop it!"

okay attempt no2 hope this works????

[akito]

Sending enemies at them is a cheap tactic. It pisses Akito off, but not as much as what Malicant is doing to Gene. Gene is his friend and nobody gets to treat his friends like that. A growl escapes him though Akito pays it no attention. The stupid minions in front of him are going to be shredded; he wasn't the Fang King of Bloody Road for nothing, after all. He traps one inside of an Infinity Prison - a sphere of bladed air pressure - and rips it to pieces without lifting a finger. This world is shaped by the mind, and Akito knows his is strong. He has no doubts he can crush these enemies, meaning that they will be crushed.

When the other two attack him together Akito leaps up and maims them both with a bladed helicopter kick. Not enough to 'kill' them, but enough that it's easy for him to use his Vilii shard shield to decapitate them. Whether or not that finishes them off... Well, to Akito it doesn't matter because he believes one-hundred percent that they're killed.

Which leaves him time enough to storm over to Gene's side, a low growl emanating from his throat, and address the piece of shit that's hurting his friend.

"Don't you dare belittle love and friendship, Malicant. You sound like an idiot speaking about things you don't know or understand. The only thing you understand is hatred and destruction," he hisses. "Which is perfect, because it means you'll understand perfectly when you are destroyed."

He was raised to be a weapon, a tool, an animal. Most days he represses those thoughts and memories the best that he can, but today he'll embrace it; use it to help the people who helped him. And if it gets him killed, so what? At least he tried. He won't die before proving to himself that what Kaito said to him - both the real one and the shade - wasn't true.

[highprofilerichkid]

When Tony gets close enough to see Gene, alive and more or less well, standing up and waving at him, he smiles in relief, and lands. He doesn't want to accidentally fly into Gene, so he'll walk the last few meters.

Before he gets there, though, Malicant makes another appearance - this time in the form of Zhang. Immediately, Tony's face darkens with anger. He's not surprised that this is the form Malicant is taking for Gene, but he really could have done without seeing that asshole's ugly mug again. If Tony hadn't already hated Zhang for blowing up his lab, and kidnapping him and his friends and trying to feed them to a giant stone dragon, he sure would have hated him after learning about the abuse Gene had suffered at his hands.

Tony comes to a halt, raising his gauntlet to blast the image of Zhang into oblivion... and hesitates. This is Gene's fight. These are Gene's demons, and Gene's nightmares, and he's not sure that Gene will thank him if he takes away his chance to finally face them down.

But the temptation to just cut to the chase and shoot Zhang/Malicant in the face is so, so strong. Especially when it starts saying ugly things about him and Gene. It's humiliating, listening to Malicant mock their relationship in front of Solomon and Akito, and it hits way too close to home. Especially the comment about the crimson ring. Tony knows it isn't true; he knows what the crimson ring feels like and he knows Gene would never have used it like that, even at his worst. But still, he feels a lurch of dread at the suggestion.

"Shut up," he snarls, stepping forward. "You have no idea what you're talking about, you creep. You're full of it."

Unsurprisingly, that does not deter Zhang/Malicant at all, and it continues its taunts. "Don't listen to him, Gene," Tony says urgently. "That's not true. None of it's true. It's just messing with your head."

Shadows swirl and coalesce behind Zhang/Malicant, forming into the shapes of Tong ninjas. They're not moving, for now, but Tony takes another step forward. There's no way he's letting Gene fight Zhang and nine ninjas on his own.

Zhang/Malicant keeps talking, and Tony's horrified by the things he's saying to Gene and the names he's calling him, though Gene still looks and sounds calm. Tony is impressed by his resolve, but he doesn't understand why Gene isn't attacking. Come on, don't let it stall, Tony thinks, frustrated. He doesn't want to treat Gene like he can't fight his own battles, but he'll take the first shot if he has to.

That doesn't end up being necessary. Finally, Gene goads Zhang/Malicant to attack, and it begins to shimmer and morph into a new shape. Tony closes his faceplate and raises his hand. He's more than ready for this fight to begin.

But as Malicant prepares to change its form, memories and visions flicker around it, temporarily obscuring both Gene and his foe. Some of them, Tony is already familiar with: memories of Gene's miserable childhood and Zhang's cruelty. The images of murder and destruction, of Gene killing his friends, and Tony and Gene killing each other, though - those are new. Then the ninjas start to move in. Honestly, Tony is glad to have something besides the awful visions to focus on.

He starts firing, expecting to make short work of the three Tong. Their ability to disappear and reappear at will stymies him for a few seconds, and while he's trying to get a bead on the ninjas, Malicant completes its transformation. Not Zhang in the armor, but... Gene's mother? Uh oh. Tony's upgraded repulsor takes out one ninja, and he sees Gene retreat a few steps, sword wavering.

"Gene!" he shouts warningly. Don't listen to it, Gene, don't let it get to you! Two lucky shots in quick succession disintegrate the rest of Tony's ninjas, and he rushes up with Akito to stand beside Gene, repulsor primed.

"It's just making shit up because it knows it can't beat you," Tony growls. "Come on, Gene. We can take it. Let's get this over with."