MSM Chapter 98 : Struggle

Lucien and Bob moved down the stairs, descending deeper into the underground facility. Each level they passed was littered with unconscious SHIELD agents and heroes—more victims of the telepath's manipulation that Lucien had dealt with on the way down.

The pattern had become clear quickly. Each floor was designed like an arena. A testing ground where the telepath could throw fighters at him, watching to see how he handled them before letting him proceed to the next level.

It was strategic. Wear him down floor by floor. Study his abilities. Find weaknesses.

It wouldn't work, but Lucien could appreciate the attempt.

Bob had barely done anything except follow. He'd offered to help several times, but Lucien had waved him off each time. No point in risking the Void when Lucien could handle it himself.

Though he and Lucien were having their own fun in between. Bob's body, even in his base form, was invulnerable. 

Lucien used him as a baseball bat for hitting the heroes. It was Bob who offered that... he was getting bored with just walking.

Lucien, at first, refused... feeling weird... but when he tried it once, it felt fun.

So many heroes were knocked out by the invulnerable bat.

They were nearing the last floor now. Lucien could sense it—the life signs were concentrated below, and the energy signatures were getting stronger. The telepath was down there somewhere, probably watching through cameras, waiting to see if Lucien would make it through.

They descended the final staircase and stepped onto the bottom floor.

This arena was larger than the others. The ceiling was higher, the space more open. Room to maneuver. Room to fight without restrictions.

And waiting for them in the center of the floor were three figures.

Vision hovered a few feet off the ground, his cape hanging motionless behind him. The Mind Stone in his forehead glowed faintly yellow, but his eyes were empty—controlled like all the others.

Wonder Man stood beside him, arms crossed. His ionic energy body gave off a faint glow, and even from across the room, Lucien could sense the power radiating from him. Stronger than She-Hulk. Considerably stronger.

And then there was Iron Man. The armor was sleek, compact—nanobots covering Tony Stark's body in that distinctive red and gold. The suit shifted slightly as they watched, weapons forming and reforming across the surface. Bleeding Edge technology at its finest.

Bob tensed beside Lucien, his eyes kept staring at Wonder Man, "That's... that's a lot of firepower."

"Stay back," Lucien said.

He walked forward, rolling his shoulders. Three opponents, all of them heavy hitters. This would be more interesting than the floors above.

The three heroes moved simultaneously.

Iron Man's repulsors fired first, twin beams of energy lancing across the distance. Lucien sidestepped, and the beams scorched the floor where he'd been standing.

Wonder Man charged, closing the gap with surprising speed. His fist came at Lucien like a meteor.

Lucien blocked it with his forearm.

The impact sent a shockwave through the room. Lucien's feet slid backward several inches across the concrete, and he felt the force reverberating through his bones.

Strong. Very strong.

Wonder Man's other fist came around. Lucien blocked that too, but the force drove him back another step.

Vision phased through the floor and came up directly beneath Lucien, his hand reaching up toward Lucien's torso.

Lucien's instincts screamed danger. He twisted, trying to avoid the attack completely.

He wasn't quite fast enough.

Vision's fingers made contact with the left side of Lucien's ribs. The hand phased through his flesh—Lucien could feel the sensation of something foreign passing through his body, intangible but present.

Then Vision started to solidify.

Pain exploded through Lucien's side as Vision's fingers became solid while still inside his body. Ribs cracked—not broken, but damaged. Flesh tore. Blood welled up instantly.

Lucien grabbed Vision's wrist and yanked him away, creating distance. He looked down at his side.

There was a hole. Not large—maybe a few inches across—but deep enough that he could see his ribs through the torn flesh. Blood ran down his side, staining his clothes.

The wound hurt. 

Vision had already phased back through the floor, disappearing.

Lucien's jaw tightened. Intangibility was annoying.

Wonder Man pressed the attack, not giving Lucien time to recover. A flurry of punches came at him, each one carrying tremendous force.

Lucien blocked and parried, but Wonder Man's strength was making it difficult. Each impact jarred Lucien's arms, and Wonder Man wasn't slowing down. His ionic body didn't tire, didn't need to breathe, didn't have the same limitations as flesh and blood.

Iron Man circled, firing repulsor blasts from multiple angles. The beams impacted Lucien's back and shoulders, not enough to seriously hurt, but enough to distract.

Then Vision appeared again, this time flying through the air at high speed. His vibranium body—or whatever it was made of—was incredibly dense when he wanted it to be. He slammed into Lucien like a missile.

The impact drove the air from Lucien's lungs. Vision bounced off and flew back, preparing for another pass.

This was the pattern. Wonder Man holding him in close combat, Iron Man providing ranged fire support, and Vision using hit-and-run tactics with his phasing and density manipulation.

It was effective. More effective than Lucien wanted to admit.

Wonder Man grabbed Lucien in a bear hug, pinning his arms to his sides. The grip was like a vice, and Wonder Man's strength made it impossible to break free immediately.

"Now!" Tony's voice came from the armor, flat and emotionless under the telepath's control.

Iron Man's chest began to glow. The arc reactor charged, energy building for a concentrated uni-beam blast.

Vision came flying in from the side, his body at maximum density. Diamond-hard.

Lucien struggled against Wonder Man's grip. The ionic being's strength was phenomenal—stronger than She-Hulk, stronger than most beings Lucien had fought.

The uni-beam fired. A concentrated column of energy slammed into Lucien's back at point-blank range. The heat was intense, the force tremendous.

At the same moment, Vision collided with Lucien's front. The impact of the vibranium-dense body sandwiched Lucien between two massive forces.

Pain flared across Lucien's back where the uni-beam had scorched his skin. His ribs—already damaged from Vision's earlier attack—protested the abuse.

Vision flew back, circled, and came in for another pass.

This time, when he hit, Lucien felt something crack. Not his bones, but close.

Wonder Man's grip tightened further, and Lucien realized the strategy. Hold him in place. Let Iron Man and Vision hit him from range. Wear him down until his durability failed.

It was working.

Not well, but it was working.

Lucien had wanted to handle this with just his physical strength. No abilities, no tricks. Just prove that even without the system's more exotic powers, he could dominate.

But Vision's intangibility was too annoying. Wonder Man's strength was too much to overcome quickly with normal attacks. And Iron Man's constant barrage was adding up.

Lucien focused, drawing on his mana. The energy flooded through his body, reinforcing muscle and bone. His stats surged upward—strength, speed, durability, all of it amplified beyond his base level

Wonder Man's grip, which had been unbreakable moments before, suddenly felt manageable.

Lucien twisted, breaking Wonder Man's hold. His fist came around in a devastating arc and caught Wonder Man square in the jaw.

The ionic being flew backward, crashing through a concrete support pillar. The entire structure shuddered from the impact.

Vision came in for another flying tackle.

Lucien's hand shot out, faster than before. He grabbed Vision by the throat mid-flight, stopping his momentum completely.

Vision tried to phase through Lucien's grip.

Lucien activated Commander's Touch.

The skill interfered with Vision's density manipulation, forcing him to remain solid. Vision's eyes widened—as much as a mind-controlled android's eyes could widen—in what might have been surprise.

"Stay down," Lucien said and slammed Vision into the floor.

The concrete cracked in a spiderweb pattern. Vision didn't get up; the Commander's Touch kept him grounded and disoriented.

That left Iron Man.

Tony's armor shifted, weapons forming across the surface. Missile pods opened on his shoulders. Repulsors charged in his palms. Laser emitters extended from his forearms.

Everything fired at once.

Lucien moved through the barrage. Missiles exploded around him, shrapnel bouncing off his mana-reinforced body. Repulsor beams scorched his clothes but couldn't penetrate his defenses. Lasers left glowing lines across his skin that faded almost immediately.

The damage wasn't significant. His pain tolerance was high, his durability higher. Iron Man's arsenal was impressive, but it wasn't enough.

Lucien closed the distance and grabbed Tony by the faceplate.

Tony tried to counterattack, his armored fist driving toward Lucien's injured ribs.

The punch connected. It hurt, but not as much as Tony probably hoped. Lucien's mana reinforcement and natural pain resistance made the impact manageable.

Lucien's fist came down on Tony's shoulder. Then his chest. Then his arm.

The nanobot armor tried to repair itself, patching the damage. But Lucien kept hitting it, again and again, destroying the nanobots faster than they could regenerate.

Tony's armor began to slow down. The smooth, fluid movements became jerky. The repairs took longer. The nanobots were being destroyed faster than the suit could compensate.

Lucien grabbed the arc reactor on the armor's chest—the slim, sleek design that powered the entire suit—and ripped it free.

The armor immediately began to shut down, the nanobots losing their power source. They fell away from Tony's body like drops of mercury, pooling on the floor in inert puddles.

Tony Stark stood there in his undersuit, his eyes still glassy and controlled.

Then he spoke, his voice flat and mechanical. "Activate reactor self-destruct."

Lucien looked down at the arc reactor in his hand.

Ten lights on its surface began to glow, each one turning red in sequence. A countdown.

Ten seconds until detonation.

Lucien's mind raced. He didn't know exactly how powerful the explosion would be, but arc reactor technology was based on the same principles as the arc reactor that had powered Stark Tower. The blast could be significant.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Lucien made a decision.

He turned and dashed toward where Vision was still struggling under the effect of Commander's Touch. The android was trying to phase through the floor again, but the skill was keeping him solid and grounded.

Five.

Four.

Lucien dropped the arc reactor directly on top of Vision.

Three.

Two.

He dashed backward, grabbed Tony's unconscious body—he'd knocked the man out with a quick strike before throwing the reactor at Vision—and dove behind a concrete support pillar.

One.

The arc reactor exploded.

It wasn't a traditional explosion. Instead of fire and shrapnel, it was energy. Pure, concentrated electrical energy that had been stored in the reactor's core.

Lightning arced across the room in brilliant white-blue threads. The electromagnetic pulse was tremendous, washing over everything in a sphere of crackling electricity.

Lucien felt the edge of the blast even behind cover. His hair stood on end. His muscles spasmed involuntarily. The sensation was like being shocked by a massive battery.

But he was behind cover, and the worst of it missed him.

Vision, who had taken the blast at point-blank range, didn't fare as well.

The android's body seized up as thousands of volts coursed through its circuits. His density manipulation failed, leaving him solid and vulnerable. The Mind Stone in his forehead flickered, its glow dimming.

Vision collapsed, smoke rising from his joints and seams. Unconscious, or as close to unconscious as an android could get.

Lucien stood up from behind the pillar, shaking off the residual electrical charge. His clothes were singed, his hair was a mess, and the wound in his side was still bleeding, but he was functional.

Tony Stark lay unconscious where Lucien had left him, protected by the same pillar.

Vision was down for the count.

That just left—

The concrete wall on the far side of the room exploded outward.

Wonder Man emerged from the rubble, his ionic body glowing brighter than before. The punch that had sent him through the pillar hadn't knocked him out. If anything, he looked angry.

He stepped through the hole in the wall, dust and debris falling from his shoulders, and locked eyes with Lucien.

This wasn't over yet.