Author Note: A little something new for the Iron Age. Enjoy!
Marvel Iron Age: In Stryfe we trust…
Chicago,
Alan Bryce’s private labs:
“I want those drives cleared in five minutes, I want up to date reports on the Supreme Commander’s movements!” Alan ordered as his staff worked hastily in the labs. Projects had to be cancelled, operations abandoned and new plans drawn up. It had to happen fast and time was running out.
“Sir, the evacuation of sector’s twelve and ten are going as planned. The spiders are helping as much as they can.” Reported a girl in her late teens as she walked onto the labs observation level with Alan.
“You shouldn’t be here Esperanza.” Alan said without looking at her.
Esperanza rolled her eyes and glared at the older man. “I’ve fought pissed off Creed’s, Shield agents and Iron Army personnel, along with the usual wimpy purse snatcher and you think I’m just going to leave now?”
“He knows about this place, and now he’s been provoked. We know what he’s capable of. “ Alan said as he watched his employee’s scramble to abandon the facility.
“I’m not scared!” Esperanza snapped.
“You should be.” Alan said as he turned to the girl.
Ferrum HQ,
The Chairman’s office an hour ago:
“Mr. Chairman?”
The Chairman of Ferrum heard a knock at his door and a muffled voice calling for him. When not leading the company, he rules the world as the Supreme Commander. Stryfe. Much work had to be done. The world was riding a wave of rebellion and new threats seemed to appear every day. “Mr. Chairman.”
The voice on the other side of the door was sharper and impatient. The Chairman got up and tossed his chair back against the wall in frustration with his mind. “This had better be important.”
He stomped to the door and swung it open; a flash of white light blinded him. Like a blur a man dressed in head to toe in a black costume rushed in before he had time to orient himself. A fist buried itself under his ribs and palm shot upward and slammed into his chin. “Enough!” The chairman barked.
Everything seemed to freeze in mid action. The chairman regained his vision and walked toward the costumed figure. He froze the room with his telepathy and circled his attacker. “Well… the nerve on you. Speak!” He ordered.
“How did you—“ Before he could finish the bones in his body started to crack under some unseen pressure.
“You’re one of Alan Bryce’s orphan’s he trained to wander the slums at night. Aren’t you out of your element, attacking me?” The chairman asked, as he used his telekinesis to break every bone his assailant’s body.
“He wouldn’t stop you.” He grunted. “Not even after what you did in Kenosha. For some reason he sees good in you.”
“You aren’t so blind are you?” The chairman questioned as he lifted the man with his mind and began twisting his limbs and organs into paste with his mind.
In an instant time caught up with itself. Office workers scrambled to the Chairman’s office after seeing a man in black storm through the building’s security and to the chairman. When the got there the stood horrified at the pulpy blob of meat and blood on the floor; with the Chairman nowhere to be found.
Slums Districts,
North of the main city:
The Supreme Commander rode in on Warforce One, his personal aircraft. Flying as his escort was a company of Iron Soldiers. “Supreme Commander Sabre Company just raided the Bryce Technologies building and Black Company should be reporting from the enemy lab any minute.”
“Good.” Styfe answered over his communicator with the field commander. “We’re leveling this district for its association with traitors. Don’t allow a single notion of mercy to enter your head. These are disgusting people who must suffer the consequences.”
“Yes Supreme Commander!”
Stryfe would not stand for these attacks to his rule any longer. Not from some aggressor not of this world, not from Carol Danvers in New Latveria and certainly not from Alan Bryce. “This world will come under heel.”
“What?!” Stryfe grunted. His plane shuddered and felt as if it was going into a nose dive.
“Supreme Commander an anonymous signal is interfering with our systems… we can’t control our suits!”
Stryfe had, had enough. He stared at the wall and punched a hole through the plane’s cabin. The outside air rushed in and was cold. The Supreme Commander tossed himself out of the plane to the ground below. Repulsor fire surrounded him instantly. His field commander was right. His own troops fired on their leader.
The entire company descended toward him. His plane was in flames and plunged to the ground below. The Supreme Commander was infuriated. Using his telekinesis he levitated himself and shot toward his troops like a rocket. Once above them he used his power to smash his troops together. Twisting metal and screams filled the air around him as he pushed their bodies together to form a platform to land on.
Stryfe floated to the earth like an angry god standing on his platform made from the bodies and armor of his Iron soldiers. When he landed he sent out a telekinetic shock wave a mile in every direction; flattening buildings around him in his rage.
Nearby he could hear a sound like rattle snakes getting closer to him. From the rubble around him little drones shaped like tennis balls shot toward him and the rattling got louder; making the inside of his head feel like an over ripe melon. He became nauseated, blood flowed freely from his nose and he could barely stand.
“Nathan I wish it didn’t have to come to this.” He looked around and behind him not making a sound stood Alan Bryce. Dressed in the same black costume his attacker wore an hour earlier. “You crossed the line, sending your troops to that town. I have to stop you.”
Stryfe glared at him and tried using his powers. Nothing. He tried again, thinking his might just disassemble his atoms with his mind. Still Nothing. “Those drones are sending a signal to the part of your brain that controls your powers. Shutting them down.” Alan stated as his got closer to Stryfe. “This place has become like an operating table and I’m the surgeon.”
Enraged Stryfe charged the man. Alan side stepped and chopped him in the back of the neck; making him stumble to the ground. “I’m not going to make war with you like Danvers and S.H.E.I.L.D. I will stop you.”
Alan connected his boot to the face of the Supreme Commander. Stryfe scrambled to his feet and swung at Alan with his fists. An attack Alan caught. Alan extended Stryfe’s arm and sent his fist smashing into Stryfe’s elbow and bent it the opposite way; breaking his arm. Alan kept up the attack. He kicked Stryfe in the ribs, elbowing him in the throat, and sending a knee to his face and continued in a series of combinations too fast for Stryfe to even react.
Stryfe was down. He was caught off guard and without his powers at a disadvantage. He was slow, the damned machines blocking his powers must have been effecting his body in more ways than Alan stated. “Let me tell you something about this world of mine. I’ve ruled this long through some very simple facts about mankind.”
Stryfe’s body started to smoke and strange symbols started to burn through his armor. “In the past these people looked up to their heroes to save them. Not from just some regular super villain, but from themselves to. Back then they didn’t know who to trust, their leaders were corrupt, and a new threat seemed to appear everywhere.”
Stryfe wiped blood from his nose and mouth and got to his feet. The symbols glowing all over Stryfe were bright. Alan backed away slowly. “They wanted their heroes to keep them safe from it all. So it took a lot of time, but I gave the world their heroes. The Iron Army, the Supreme Commander and Ferrum.”
“When the old heroes attacked me the first time it was like a betrayal to the public they once protected. They were supposed to be protecting them. They failed and from there it was easy to demonize them.” Stryfe raised his good arm and seemed to fling a flaming symbol at Alan. The flames wrapped around him like a chain that tied him to the earth. “It was easy. Man wants to be led and it wants their heroes to save them all the time. That is what Ferrum has provided and that is what the Supreme Commander and his Iron Army continue to do.”
A triumphant Stryfe stood over Alan Bryce and looked at him like he would an ant. Alan Bryce was going nowhere and the Supreme Commander of the Iron Army still ruled the world. “Magic…has rules, yet breaks all of them. I never thought I’d ever use Mordo’s little charms.”
Alan glared at him, defiant to the very end. Stryfe stomped on Alan’s chest and held his boot there. He kneeled down and with a dark smile said, “When this is over…”
“You will beg me to stop.”
End
Log in to comment