Still Defiant! SI [Marvel/DC] 82: Dragonseed

82: Dragonseed

A few moments earlier.

Peter had sensed it the moment he stepped out of the Quinjet: there was something dangerous inside, something that made his spider-sense buzz faintly, though with far more intensity than when he had faced the blazing lady and her dozens of henchmen.

For a moment, he considered stopping and warning the others, but just as quickly as the thought occurred to him, he dismissed it as unnecessary; they all already knew there could be a fight, otherwise they would not have come prepared for one.

So he moved forward, sticking to the plan: he climbed up the exterior wall, entered through one of the windows, and moved agilely through the facility until he reached the large hall, where he could feel the only other presence in the place.

Discreetly and skillfully, he fired several camouflaged web lines to reinforce the joints between the ceiling beams before climbing up and positioning himself there, thus managing to obtain a clear view of the entire surroundings.

'It's him!' he thought upon seeing him seated on one of the steel balconies that jutted out like walkways from one of the walls.

Although he could not recall every aspect of his presence, since his super-senses were not as well trained as Daredevil's, he was able to recognize his silhouette; even if, at the time, he had only managed to catch a quick glimpse of him before being sent flying through the air.

'No, wait; something is wrong'. He frowned. He still did not have an exact metric to measure the level of threat others represented using his spider-sense, but what he was feeling right now certainly differed greatly from the sensation he had perceived during their first encounter, brief as it had been.

'This feeling… it isn't coming from him', he realized, tensing up. He began to examine the surroundings with utmost care, but no matter how his gaze swept over every corner of the hall, he failed to spot anything unusual.

That didn't make him lower his guard, because his spider-sense was telling him: danger was present, flooding the entire place like a plague.

'It's a trap!' he concluded, his eyes widening beneath his mask. At the same time that thought was forming in his mind, Defiant and Daredevil entered the room, encountering the stranger.

As their conversation began, Peter wondered how he could alert everyone to what he had discovered, but he soon realized it was already too late for that: even with his camouflage, making any kind of significant noise would expose both him and Tony instantly.

Unless he wanted to reveal his presence beforehand and thus lose the element of surprise, there was nothing he could do until the right moment arrived.

Or so he believed, but then an idea crossed his mind. Sure, he couldn’t alert Defiant and Daredevil, but he could do it with Tony, right?

Discreetly, he brought his hand toward the man’s helmet, placing his palm over one of its eyes, partially darkening his vision. His sudden action made Tony flinch slightly; fortunately, he barely moved, since his armor was still in standby mode.

'I hope he understands this', Peter thought as he continued with his attempt at communication, covering and uncovering the helmet’s lens in a clear sequence.

“.--. .-. --- -... .-.. . --!”

To his relief, Tony understood almost instantly what he was trying to say and responded in his own way, tapping Peter’s shoulder with his finger in his own sequence.

“.-- .... .- - / .... .- .--. .--. . -. . -.. ..--..?”

Although the method was more sensory than visual, Peter understood it immediately, and soon they began communicating rapidly.

Explaining his spider-sense was somewhat complicated, but fortunately Tony didn’t ask too many questions about it, at least for now, and decided to take his warning seriously, preparing his armor to spring into action at any moment.

A moment that arrived quite soon.

The sudden appearance of the man in the white suit, followed by more than two dozen warriors of the Ten Rings, made every hair on Peter’s body stand on end; his sense of danger rising several levels.

The increase in the surrounding temperature barely registered in his mind. Even when it felt like being in the middle of a fire, strangely enough it didn’t bother him; it didn’t even make him sweat.

'Well, it looks like I won’t have to worry about hot summer days anymore', which was great, because he had always preferred winter.

Any other thought he might have had was cut short when the man in the white suit, whom he now knew was named Killian, pulled his hand from his pocket, thus revealing the ring he wore on it; the sinister green light emanating from it capturing his attention completely.

Along with the low hum of energy coursing through Tony’s armor, the warriors of the Ten Rings began to advance, the incandescent orange glow blooming from within their bodies.

That was when Defiant raised his hand, giving the signal.

Blue light filled Peter’s vision. Tony rose behind him, aiming both arms at Killian and his warriors; in barely half a second, the four arc reactors powering his armor activated in unison and fully unleashed their energy.

VZZZT!!!

Three powerful repulsor beams fired instantly from his hands and chest, merging halfway into a single, overwhelming torrent of energy that closed the distance between them and the enemy in the blink of an eye.

A fraction of a second before the energy beam struck Killian, he reacted by raising his arm and intercepting the attack with his own green beam of light, coming from the ring.

BOOM!!!

The collision between both energies unleashed an explosion that cracked the surroundings apart, tearing through everything in its path.

In slow motion, Peter watched as the building began to fragment under the powerful shockwave, his body springing into motion at full speed almost at the same instant, thus losing his camouflage.

In a blur, his figure slipped through the forming debris, leaping from side to side with speed to avoid being hit by the worst aftermath of the attack.

'All right, this didn't go at all as it should have gone', he thought with a healthy dose of panic and concern, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Tony’s figure, who had been blasted backward when his attack was intercepted.

Luckily, he had moved out of the way in time to avoid being dragged along with him, but now he was caught in his own problem.

'These guys react fast!' he complained as he saw five of Killian’s warriors charging in his direction, completely ignoring the explosion behind them and the rain of debris slamming into their bodies.

Like enraged bulls, they plowed through every obstacle in their path as if it were made of paper, using the larger chunks of rubble to launch themselves toward him at a deranged speed.

Clenching his teeth, Peter dodged the first flame-wreathed punch that came at him and countered with an elbow to the abdomen. Immediately, he fired a web that caught his attacker by the chest and, before the impact sent him back the way he came, yanked him toward himself with a sharp pull.

Then he grabbed him by the arm and swung him like a massive club against the other four. Two of them barely managed to get out of the way, but the other two were not so lucky, and the collision sent all three flying, hurled in the opposite direction from the still-unfolding center of the explosion.

The remaining warriors did not hesitate at the rapid loss of their companions, taking advantage of the opening to attack Peter with force.

‘Shit!’ he growled, crossing his arms in front of him to block their blows, the immense heat they gave off lightly stinging his skin on contact.

‘I just finished making this suit!’ he thought in outrage as his long sleeves turned to ash, the charge launching him straight into the sky, closely followed by the two elite warriors.

.

On the other hand, back with Daniel.

Before both energy beams collided, he had already realized what was about to happen and, without hesitation, grabbed Matt and his apparent new ally by the arms and dragged them with him just as the explosion began, their figures blurring and reappearing outside the old plant in the blink of an eye.

BOOM!!!

“ARGH!” Matt staggered, nearly dropping to his knees, clutching his head and covering his ears with both hands, the thunderous blast affecting him more than anyone else.

“Start talking”. With no time to worry too much about him, Daniel turned toward Shang Chi, snapping the young warrior out of his daze, who nodded to him, quickly regaining his composure.

“To put it briefly, that’s one of the ten Makluan rings, ancient magical artifacts that grant immense power to whoever bears them, each one possessing its own unique abilities. If I’m not mistaken, the ring Killian is wearing must be the one my father calls ‘influence’, capable of projecting and releasing powerful blasts of pure energy,” he explained, as quickly and concisely as he could.

“If you’re not mistaken?” Daniel raised an eyebrow, and Shang Chi could only return a slightly embarrassed look.

“My father never talks much about them; he doesn’t like revealing too much, but from time to time he would explain some of the rings’ functions to me, and something I noticed thanks to those occasions is that each one is indistinguishable from the others until they release their power, lighting up with a color of its own, green always appearing whenever he used ‘influence’.”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t made multiple attempts to find out more, because he had, but his father was far too shrewd; the full information about the ten rings and their powers never slipped from his tongue, no matter the method he tried.

Daniel didn’t press the issue despite his doubts; he would try to find out more about these ‘ten magical rings’ later, as well as why the son of his enemy had decided to switch sides. Right now, his main priority was stopping this attack before it escalated too far.

‘I know he likes being flashy, but did he really need to fire at full power?’ he thought, inwardly complaining about Tony and his recklessness in attacking without restraint.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely his fault, since Killian had counterattacked rather quickly, but still…

‘He needs to learn some moderation,’ he sighed, narrowing his eyes as he saw dozens of figures emerging from the ruins of the old power plant.

Behind them, a flash of green light illuminated the night, followed by a second, smaller explosion that finished disintegrating the surrounding debris, Killian forcing his way through the smoke looking far less elegant than before.

Tearing the remains of his white suit from his chest, he snarled as he pointed at them with a furious expression.

“Kill—!”

Daniel didn’t wait for him to finish; in a burst of speed, he shot forward, appearing in front of him in an instant.

His blade-shaped palm sliced through the air, heading straight for his outstretched arm, the very arm where he wore the ring.

¡Ziuuu!

He was too fast for anyone to react, and yet, before his strike could land, it was interrupted, stopped cold by a translucent green shield of light generated by the ring at the very last millisecond.

BOOM!

The ground caved in and a crater formed beneath their feet, followed by a tremor that shook the entire area.

“Tch!” Killian clicked his tongue, now half-kneeling on the ground, lifting his gaze to meet Daniel’s furrowed brow.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” he mocked with a wide grin, and in response, Daniel clenched his fist and threw another punch at his face.

The shield of light materialized again, blocking his attack once more, but that didn’t prevent Killian from being violently hurled backward, his legs carving deep grooves into the ground before he finally came to a stop.

“Ugh! Enough!” he growled before roaring and aiming the ring at him, firing a powerful green beam of light the size of a train.

Daniel didn’t move out of the way; instead, he rushed straight toward the pillar of energy and, without hesitation, slapped it aside with all his strength, forcing it to change direction directly into the open sky.

‘I can’t let him hit anyone else with that,’ he thought as he looked at the burned skin of his hand, the glove on his arm disintegrated up to the elbow.

The damage healed instantly; he didn’t even need to activate his core, but the fact that it could do that to him despite how strong and resilient he was now made it quite clear that the power of that ring was no joke.

Back with Matt, he staggered to his feet, his head still spinning, barely recovering enough to rejoin the fight.

Just in time, because he and Shang Chi had already been surrounded by the small army of warriors, who seemed determined to kill them without bothering to look at what was happening behind them with Daniel and their boss.

“Can you fight?” Shang asked, their backs now pressed together.

“It’ll take more than that to keep me down, kid,” he replied with a growl, raising his fists.

There was no moment of silence, no further exchange of words; with the sound of another energy beam being deflected toward the sky and the thunderous crash of several more blows slamming against Killian’s shield, everyone sprang into motion.

The extremis-enhanced supersoldiers closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, their incandescent bodies making the air crackle as they moved, the ground beneath their feet buckling with every step.

“HA!!!” Matt roared, throwing himself at them; he was less strong, less fast, but thanks to the V-element suit he wore and his super-senses, he was able to navigate the rain of attacks with inhuman agility and maneuverability, dodging, blocking, and counterattacking without pause.

His strikes targeted every weak point of the body: neck, throat, joints, pressure points. Matt held nothing back, though unlike normal humans his enemies did not fall from this; in fact, they barely seemed affected, recovering from each blow as if they scarcely felt it.

Frustrated by this, he dodged the next incoming attack and, without hesitation, grabbed the warrior’s arm and, using all his weight plus his strength, applied leverage, smashing his elbow against his knee. The crunch of bones breaking was barely audible amid the cacophony of sounds dominating the scene, but Matt felt it through the vibration that traveled through his body, grinning ferociously as he finally managed to deal some real damage.

On his side, Shang Chi did not lag behind; even while facing more enemies at once than Matt, his main targets were those warriors who could use chi, who were several times more ferocious and stronger than normal supersoldiers.

With a kick, he sent one of them flying while dodging the charge of four others, then spun sharply, striking another in the face, using the staggering body to propel himself into the air and land on the shoulders of the next enemy, slamming him to the ground.

The fight had barely begun, yet dozens upon dozens of blows had already been exchanged, the warriors of the Ten Rings getting back up almost as soon as they were knocked down, their wounds healing in a matter of seconds; even those with broken bones did not stay down for long.

“Argh!” Matt grimaced as he barely blocked a flame-wreathed kick, his entire left arm screaming in pain as the heat began to seep through the fabric of his suit, which was already heavily charred in multiple places.

The air around them was stifling; breathing was like trying to inhale flames, and the smoke beginning to form did not help either. Soon he had to retreat to try to get some oxygen, but his enemies were not going to give him that reprieve.

It was like having a mob of rabid dogs on his heels, applying constant pressure, landing more and more hits, wearing down his strength and endurance second by second.

Shang Chi fared no better; even if extremis also ran through his veins and his mastery of chi was superior to that of his enemies, there were more of them, seven attacking him from every angle, with warriors who didn't use chi helping them whenever the opportunity arose.

Fortunately, some of the chi users had disappeared during the explosion, throwing themselves toward where that blue energy beam had originated, or he would not have lasted as long holding them back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shang glanced toward the ongoing battle between Defiant and Killian, the hero striking the ring bearer from side to side, trying to break through the shield protecting him, while the latter attempted to counterattack with little success, each green beam of light he fired being easily deflected.

The clash seemed to be at a stalemate, but Shang knew better.

‘It won’t last forever,’ he thought. He didn’t know how Killian was able to wield the ring or use its power, but watching him in action, one thing was clear to him: he couldn’t unleash the artifact’s full strength. The barrier keeping him safe would break, sooner or later, and that would be the moment when the fight would end.

They just needed to hold out until then, but…

“Hugh!” His brief distraction cost him dearly when one of the warriors managed to land a solid blow to his side, forcing him back and causing him to be immediately swarmed by the entire group.

Whether it was him or Matt, both of them seemed to be on the verge of falling, but fortunately, help arrived at just the right moment.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

From the sky, the Quinjet opened fire, hundreds of high-caliber rounds striking the warriors of the Ten Rings in an instant.

Natasha aimed carefully, making sure not to accidentally hit Matt or the mysterious guy who was helping him.

She didn’t know the exact situation, but from the moment she saw the power plant blow sky-high, followed by those immense green energy beams piercing through the clouds, she knew she couldn’t keep staying on the sidelines any longer. So she put the Quinjet into the air and flew over the area, searching for an opportunity to intervene, a moment that came when she saw all those enemies clustered together, far too focused on fighting her allies to see her coming.

Her decision proved to be the right one when dozens of them fell, riddled like colanders by the Quinjet’s machine guns.

Shang and Matt didn’t stay still. As the rain of bullets continued, both took advantage of the moment to fall back and catch their breath, each watching the carnage with different expressions.

Matt was the only one of the two who was horrified, feeling how the bodies were being torn apart with every shot.

“That won’t keep them down for long.” Shang’s words made him freeze, snapping him out of his sorrow, the still-present beating of hearts revealing something surprising to him.

They weren’t dead.

Almost at the same time the machine guns stopped firing, the supersoldiers of the Ten Rings began to rise to their feet, the holes in their bodies closing, their severed limbs growing back, the metal of the bullets seeping out of their wounds like molten iron.

“Shit,” was all he could say.

“Shit.” From the Quinjet, Natasha echoed the same word, her eyes widening at the sight. Acting quickly, she tried to put distance between herself and them, but she was too slow; before the Quinjet could climb any higher, three of the supersoldiers hurled themselves at her, leaping as if they had been launched from a catapult.

Maneuvering skillfully, she barely managed to veer aside to avoid the first one, but the other two landed on the cockpit windshield, their flame-wreathed fists slamming down on the bulletproof glass, cracking it and nearly punching through.

“Tch!” Natasha clenched her teeth, jerking the controls and flipping the Quinjet upside down in an attempt to shake them off, but it didn’t work. They held on tightly, digging their fingers into the aircraft’s metal, the heat of their bodies melting the armor as if it were butter.

‘Time to get out of here,’ she thought, undoing her seatbelt, ready to crash the craft and jump.

“Sorry I’m late!” But before she could rise from her seat, the shout interrupted her, followed by an agile figure slamming into the two supersoldiers and sending them flying away from the Quinjet.

“Just in time, Spider-Boy,” Natasha said, letting out a sigh, and Peter nodded in response, giving a thumbs-up.

“I like dramatic entrances,” he remarked as he fired several webs at the Quinjet’s melted armor, extinguishing the flames and sealing the damage.

“Do you know where Stark is?” Natasha asked, regaining control of the Quinjet, leveling it out and lifting it higher.

“Uh, no?” he replied, before pausing and continuing, “but I think I know where he’ll be,” he said, pointing toward where Defiant and Killian were fighting, and then toward the river, from which a blue light was beginning to grow more and more visible.

“And here he comes!”

BOOM!

With an explosion that sent up massive waves, Iron Man’s figure burst out of the waters of the Hudson River, soaring hundreds of meters in a single second.

“Jarvis, what the hell was that?” Tony asked from inside the armor, unable to recall exactly what had happened.

“It appears the enemy’s counterattack released a high density of neutrons, sir. These passed through the electromagnetic fields of the ARC reactors and struck the Badassium cores directly, destabilizing their operation and causing the armor’s shields to collapse,” his virtual butler explained.

“And the shockwave that followed knocked me unconscious,” Tony finished for the AI, gritting his teeth.

He hadn’t expected something like that to happen, but he promised himself it would be the last time—or his name wasn’t Tony Stark.

“Alright, let’s return the favor to our ‘glowing’ friend,” he said, narrowing his eyes. He locked his gaze onto Killian’s position and propelled himself toward him at full speed.

The air tore apart in his wake, creating a vapor cone from the friction; then the sound barrier shattered, and his fist slammed into Killian’s barrier like a Sword of Damocles falling from the sky.

BOOM!

“What?!” Tony’s eyes went wide when he saw his attack being blocked before it could land. Even so, the force of the impact drove Killian’s body into the ground, forming a large crater around him.

“Yeah, I already tried that,” Daniel commented, arriving at his side.

KRA-SH!

With the sound of earth shifting, Killian rose back to the surface, slowly standing upright and lifting his gaze toward the two opponents casually floating above him.

“You! Don’t you realize this is useless?! You can’t hurt me,” he said with disdain despite his battered state.

“Funny, so far you haven’t managed to do anything to me either,” Daniel replied, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, not even a tickle,” Tony added, deliberately ignoring the fact that he had just been knocked out.

“Hahaha, fools!” Killian laughed, lowering his head. “You don’t understand at all the kind of power you’re facing. Do you think you’re winning? Let me bring you back to reality!” he roared, suddenly raising his arm toward them and firing the most powerful energy beam he had unleashed so far.

Its size was colossal, like watching an entire skyscraper suddenly rise up. Tony dodged in a hurry, moving out of its path, but Daniel held his ground, calmly watching the incoming attack as he extended his hand and opened his palm, allowing the beam of light to crash directly into it.

Killian grinned widely as he saw Daniel’s figure being completely swallowed by the overflowing energy of the ring, but his joy didn’t last long.

A shadow cut through the green light, carving its way through the searing energy as if it were nothing more than a cool breeze.

“What?!” Killian shouted in alarm, stumbling back several steps as the ring on his hand lost part of its glow.

“Impossi—”

CRASH!!!

Accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, the barrier that had protected him until that moment shattered into pieces, pierced by Daniel’s hand and dispersing into fragments of energy that faded away before touching the ground.

Killian froze, his face twisting into an expression of shock and disbelief.

“ARGH!!” With a roar of defiance, he lunged at Daniel, his flaming fist crashing into his face with all his strength, the ring on his finger flaring brightly once more.

CRACK!

The result was that his arm broke, twisting at an unnatural angle.

“Ugh!”

“Ouch, that must’ve hurt,” Tony mocked as he landed beside him, and before Killian could react, his metal fist slammed squarely into his jaw, knocking out several teeth and sending him rolling across the ground.

“Told you, that was a piece of cake,” Tony commented, patting his armor as if brushing off imaginary dust.

Daniel sighed, rolling his eyes.

At his feet, Killian tried to get up, staggering and dropping to all fours, staring at the ground in helplessness, appearing completely and utterly defeated.

Just as Shang Chi had predicted, the fight ended the moment the ring could no longer protect him.

“N-no, this won’t end like this!” Killian shouted, but Daniel wasn’t going to give him the chance to keep babbling, not even to keep fighting.

Without the barrier to obstruct his path, Daniel’s palm passed through his flesh with ease, severing the arm that bore the ring in a single clean cut. Then he grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up to look him straight in the eyes.

“I’ll accept your surrender, but if you refuse, I won’t mind settling for the men you brought with you,” he said, jerking his head toward the battlefield not far away, where Matt and Shang Chi had been fighting.

There, the situation had completely reversed from how it had been just moments ago, Peter’s arrival proving key, as he not only eased the burden on both men but also managed to knock out every enemy he faced using his bioelectric power, preventing them from getting back up again.

With their teamwork and Natasha’s help, they soon brought the small army of warriors down, ending that fight as well.

Killian swallowed, the realization that he had lost finally sinking in.

Everything had happened too fast. He thought he had the advantage, thought that wielding one of the rings would be enough to crush these pathetic ‘heroes’ and complete his mission, but how had it ended like this?

Was his lord’s power not invincible? Had all the promises he had been given been nothing more than lies?

The doubt made him shudder, as if falling into a spiral. His mind refused to believe it, but reality spat it in his face; whether he wanted to accept it or not, he had lost.

Now he had only two options: wait for his lord to take pity on him and rescue him, or surrender in the hope of prolonging his life a little longer.

To surrender, to betray his organization and abandon everything he had worked for over so many years, an act he had scorned and despised just minutes ago when Shang Chi did it, and now here he was, considering doing the same.

How pathetic.

He would have liked to stand firm, lift his gaze and smile defiantly at the false god before him, choosing death without hesitation… but he was too much of a coward for that.

So instead, he lowered his head.

“I surren—” he began, but before he could finish the words, his throat tightened, and not because of the grip around his neck.

Noticing the abnormality, Daniel narrowed his eyes, staring deeply at Killian as if searching for something, ready to kill him at any moment, ready to prevent the M-gene from worsening the situation again.

But no—there was nothing bestial in Killian’s eyes, nothing monstrous, only pure, genuine terror.

His skin began to glow orange, a sign of the Extremis virus activating, his body temperature rising.

“Y-I I-I…!” he stammered. He wanted to speak, to say something, but the words wouldn’t come.

“How disappointing…”

The voice echoed inside his mind, distant at first, like a faraway echo.

“I gave you a single task, Killian, just one, and yet you failed. But that wasn’t the worst part, no.” The sound grew louder, pounding through his thoughts like a storm.

“What is unforgivable is that you even considered betraying me! Surrendering to my enemies, doubting me, doubting the strength I granted you, even after everything I have done for you, after saving your pathetic company and handing you the key to complete your research, after granting you the power and authority you never could have obtained on your own in your entire miserable life!”

The voice became unbearable. Blood began to stream from his ears, his eyes, his mouth, his nose, his body convulsing uncontrollably.

“P-plea-se!” he begged, and Daniel released him, letting him fall to the ground as he stepped back.

“Tell me you’re not doing this,” Tony asked, bewildered at Killian’s condition, and Daniel quickly shook his head.

“Something’s happening… something is crushing his mind, his spirit,” he said, his irises now glowing with cosmic energy.

“It’s unfortunate—you were quite useful until now, but killing you outright would be a waste… No, I have a better idea. Let’s see if the blood I gave you to complete the Extremis design has been worth it. Do not resist, let The Dragonseed within you germinate! and bear witness to the power you renounced by doubting me! The power to challenge the gods!”

“NOOO!!!” Killian roared at the sky as his incandescent figure became blinding, the orange color turning white.

Whatever it was that was happening to him, it wasn’t something Daniel was going to allow to continue. Advancing at lightning speed, he lunged toward him without hesitation, his hand passing through his chest, thus destroying his heart.

“I’m sorry, but there’s no second phase for you today,” he said with relief as he watched the light of Killian’s body begin to fade.

“Hahaha! Ruthlessly decisive. You may be false, but you certainly have the attitude of a true god.”

This time, the voice didn’t remain confined to Killian’s mind; but instead resonated throughout the entire area, being heard by everyone nearby.

Thanks to his heightened senses, Daniel pinpointed its origin instantly, sharply turning toward Killian’s severed hand, which hadn’t fallen far from them.

‘It’s the ring,’ he thought, vanishing from where he stood, but before he could get close and snatch it away, it released an immense shockwave that hurled him back hundreds of meters by force.

BOOM!

“Damn it!” Tony didn’t stay still. Even though his reaction speed wasn’t superhuman, it was still quite good, and with Jarvis’s help, he managed to dodge the blast wave in time.

“WOA!” Peter reacted quickly, sensing the danger before it happened, grabbing Matt and Shang—both of them badly beaten and exhausted—and taking them with him in a leap that propelled him back toward the Quinjet in the sky.

Without pausing, he fired several webs in quick succession at the unconscious soldiers of the Ten Rings to pull them out of danger as well, but his movement was blocked when they were swallowed by several purple portals that appeared out of nowhere, carrying them off to who knows where.

On the ground, the ring continued to emit energy, the arm it had been attached to disintegrating, leaving it floating alone in the air. Then the artifact moved, traveling swiftly toward Killian’s dead body.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Matt asked Shang Chi at his side, and Shang shook his head, completely baffled.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he admitted, wondering what kind of thing his father was planning to do.

BOOM!

Followed by a supersonic boom, Daniel came flying back through the air at full speed, his focus fixed on the ring. His hands faintly glowing with the power of cosmic energy.

This time his momentum was like that of an unstoppable spear. The ring unleashed another powerful shockwave to drive him away, but it barely managed to slow him down, and within seconds his fingers were about to graze it.

“You are quite impressive. I’ll have to dispose of you for a few moments.”

The voice returned, accompanied by a purple glow that flared up in front of him. Daniel stopped short the instant he noticed it and flew backward to avoid it, but suddenly the surrounding gravity lurched, and a powerful suction wave erupted from the portal.

Being so close, he couldn’t fight it enough to pull back in time and ended up passing through the spatial rift. His figure vanished in an instant.

When he reappeared, it was only to find himself face to face with a solar eruption the size of Earth, about to collide with him.

“Fuck…” he thought, crossing his arms in front of his face before being completely swallowed by the wave of stellar fire.

.

Back on Earth, there was no time for Daniel's sudden disappearance to be processed by the others, for with him out of the picture, the Mandarin continued with his plan.

The ring flew toward Killian’s body, embedding itself in his chest right where his heart was missing. His eyes, nearly lifeless, began to glow once more with that green light, his breath suddenly returning to his lungs.

“Hh-ah!”

Then a pink light appeared in his pupils, and with it, his wounds healed in an instant, Extremis flaring across his body with greater intensity than ever before. He looked renewed—no, more than renewed.

“Is th-this…?” he asked in awe, looking down at himself.

“Only the beginning.”

The Mandarin replied, the tone of his voice filled with a sinister aura.

Around Killian, more than a dozen portals opened, the unconscious bodies of his men falling to the ground around him.

He looked at them in confusion, but he no longer had the chance to ask any questions.

Each of their bodies began to glow with that characteristic incandescent orange light. Then they woke up, screaming, writhing.

“ARGH!!!” “AHHH!!!” “HYARG!!!”

Their veins bulged, their muscles warped, the sound of bones breaking accompanying their screams, which were soon choked off. The transformation seemed to last an eternity, but in reality it took place in the blink of an eye, ultimately turning them into nothing more than pulsating masses of flesh, glowing, with crimson blood dripping from them.

Killian trembled. He wanted to step back, but he soon realized there was nowhere to go. The masses of flesh surrounded him on all sides, having trapped him without him even realizing it.

“W-wait, my lord! Please, let me correct my mistake, I know I can do it, I still have so much to offer!” he pleaded in panic, already foreseeing that what was about to happen to him might be worse than death.

On the other hand, from the air, Tony charged a powerful repulsor beam and fired it toward Killian’s location, determined to put a stop to the macabre spectacle unfolding below.

But before his attack could land, a familiar green beam of light burst forth from Killian’s chest to block it, forcing Tony to dodge and pull back to avoid being affected once again by the neutrons it released.

Killian hadn’t done that; his body had moved on its own, reacting against his will.

“As we agreed the first time you came to me seeking help, everything about you belongs to me, Killian, whether your life or your death. And with your betrayal, your life no longer interests me much. But rejoice—you will serve one last great purpose. You will help me test how strong those who oppose me truly are, and prove to the world that the new era is approaching, the era of my absolute rule!”

With that proclamation, Killian dropped to his knees, and the deformed masses of flesh surrounding him lunged toward his body like tentacles, his skin, flesh, and bone beginning to fuse into a single entity.

“NOO—ARGHHH!” he screamed, his voice filled with horror tearing at his throat, losing its shape until it became something deeper, more ancient.

A roar.

In the sky, still standing atop the Quinjet, Peter felt a chill run down his spine. His spider-sense exploded inside his mind without control, buzzing with such violence that he had to bring a hand up to his head.

“This is bad—very, very bad!” he said, watching with morbid fascination as the mass of flesh began to move, twisting in on itself, swelling and rearranging with wet, crunching sounds.

The head was the first thing to emerge, elongating in an unnatural way. Two protrusions burst from the forehead, tearing through skin and bone as they curved toward the sky. The neck stretched, vertebra by vertebra, rising far beyond what should have been possible.

Then came the limbs. Four extremities slammed into the ground with brutal weight, newly formed claws digging into the earth with a thunderous crash that shook the entire area. The impact was so violent that massive fissures split open in the ground, spreading hundreds of meters outward.

Then a grotesque bubbling rippled along the lower part of its back. The skin split open and something shot out from the spine, extending with a serpentine motion, growing longer and longer. Along that length, spines emerged one after another, piercing through flesh until they reached the nape of the neck, where they anchored themselves with a dry snap.

Finally, the surface of its body began to change. The skin hardened, cracking before being replaced by overlapping plates of a dull orange hue. One after another, they covered everything, forming a living armor that glimmered faintly under the moonlight.

What now stood before them was no longer anything human.

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Note:

First New Year’s chapter!

Sorry for the delay, guys; I got a bit carried away and ended up writing more words than I originally intended, hehehe.

Structuring the action scenes wasn’t easy either. Having so many characters to give “screen” time to certainly complicates things, but well, I think it turned out nicely.

For those who are worried about how long Daniel will be out of the picture, don’t panic: he’ll be back fairly quickly in the next chapter, I just needed him to take a hot bath in the sun for a few minutes.

Now, to clear up a few doubts that I know you’ll have—although it’s implied, I’ll say it directly here—the way the Killian of this universe managed to complete the Extremis Virus was thanks to the Mandarin providing him with samples of his blood. That blood contains the ‘Dragonseed’, better known as Makluan blood.

The Makluan are a race of immensely powerful space dragons and the creators of the Ten Rings. They (or one of them) granted the first Mandarin part of their DNA, making him capable of wielding such artifacts.

With that clarified, I think it’s now understandable how Killian was able to use the power of one of the rings, albeit not to its full extent nor being able to truly claim it as his own; after all, he only possesses a small fraction of Makluan DNA within him, compared to the Mandarin… or his children.

Now, speaking of the rings, their version in this universe is a combination of those from Iron Man: Armored Adventures and the ones used by the Mandarin in the Earth-616 comics. Anyone who checks the wiki or looks into it will know that these rings differ in capabilities and abilities; some share similar powers, while others possess completely different faculties.

At first, I considered using only one version, but then I thought it would be better to combine them. In fact, some rings felt rather simple and others far too strong, so I took the best of both to make things more balanced.

Here’s an example of the main ring seen in this chapter.

GREEN RING — Influence

(Brute force and energy projection)

Powers:

Highly destructive energy beams composed of neutrons and electrons.

(Its color changes depending on its output, green being the weakest of them)

Release of directional shockwaves with immense impact.

Direct manipulation of pure energy capable of forming force fields.

Ability to amplify the power of any of the other rings, as well as its own, when used in conjunction.

And well, for anyone who wants a small spoiler, I’ll also leave the information about the purple ring.

PURPLE RING — Remaker

(Matter and Space)

Powers

Atomic and molecular manipulation of matter (without transmuting elements).

Reordering, deforming, or reconstructing objects.

Altering appearance and clothing.

Spatial control.

Portal creation, absolute teleportation to any point on the planet, other worlds, and dimensions.

Range increased for each additional ring worn in conjunction with it.

Direct manipulation of gravitational energy and gravitational fields, capable of attracting and repelling objects.

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And for those wondering, the Mandarin currently possesses four rings: Green, Purple, Pink, and Crimson.

Summarizing the capabilities of the latter two (which are also used in this chapter), I’ll only mention their names and a brief description so as not to give away too many spoilers:

CRIMSON RING — The Liar (Mind and Perception)

PINK RING — Genesis (Life and Ascension)

That said, I don’t have much more to add. This note has already gone on long enough, so for now I’ll take my leave. I hope you all had a great start to the New Year! See you soon in the next chapter.

(Actually, I have something else to mention as a curious extra detail I remembered thanks to the release of the incredible Lady Loki skin for Marvel Rivals. Did you know that in the first version of this story Loki appeared? And in fact, he did so in his female version, hahaha!

That was an idea I took after seeing Sylvie’s appearance in the Loki series. I don’t know if that will remain in this new version of the story, but I wanted to mention it to know what you think. I’ll be listening closely to your suggestions and comments.)

Have a good morning, afternoon, or night, depending on where you are! ;D