Chapter 23:
Tony had unsurprisingly decided to hop into his sponsored race car and participate in the Grand Prix. Was that allowed? Who the hell knows. He's Tony Stark, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. Pepper and I were currently as close to the track as we could get. We were standing next to it with the pit crew. The poor woman wasn't doing so well mentally. She was biting her fingernail as she continued to pace back and forth in worry.
"Oh God! Why did Tony have to participate in the race himself!? Especially when he knows that something bad might also happen soon!" She said that last part to me with a hushed tone.
I shrugged at her. "You only live once?" I jokingly answered her rhetorical question. Pepper gave me the stink eye.
VROOM! VROOM! WOOSH!
The line race cars on the track blew by us going extremely fast. I could see Tony's car currently in the middle of the pack. He actually wasn't doing that badly all things considered. Most people thought he'd crash in the first few laps. Here he'd been going strong for around 20 minutes now. I voiced my thoughts to Pepper and she finally cracked a small smile.
"You're right I suppose. He actually is pretty skilled behind the wheel. Maybe nothing bad will happen. Maybe there will be no attack at all." Pepper said hopefully as she shifted back and forth in place nervously watching the race.
'The mission hasn't been canceled has it?' I asked in my head.
[No.]
Well, that was that. The stadium was secretly filled with armed SHIELD agents and I was next to the track ready to jump in at any time. Tony's briefcase Iron Man suit was also sitting on the ground next to me and Pepper. We were as prepared as we could be.
…
It was the shifting of the crowd's tone that alerted me that something was wrong. Where before they had been wildly cheering in excitement of the race, now there were thousands of people calling out in worry. Someone had stepped out onto the track. He had a metal harness on his chest with a glowing arc reactor in the middle. Trailing behind him were two sparking energy whips that were leaving deep burns in the track as they dragged along it.
I heard Clint's voice speak through the SHIELD issue earpiece that I had been given. "Was this who we are here for? It's just one guy." Clint asked over the radio. "I've got a shot on him, I'm taking it." He called out.
From the top of the spectator stands, an arrow flew true and with perfect accuracy went right towards Whiplash's head. Before the arrow could connect, it was stopped short as it collided with a shimmering energy barrier a foot from Ivan Vanko.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "That guy figured out personal energy shields!" That was technology straight out of Star Wars! I would have rushed over there and asked him how he even made that if he wasn't looking so murderous right now.
The race cars were finally rounding the bend and were just now noticing that someone was on the track. Over a dozen cars slammed on their brakes, but they were going so fast they wouldn't be able to stop in time. Whiplash didn't seem to care as he drew his arms back and slashed one of his energy whips forward. A race car that would have hit him was perfectly split down the middle as both halves of the car went around his body. He swung again and another car exploded as the plasma whip hit its gas tank. There was an explosion of fire and fuel that completely engulfed Whiplash. I would have thought he was dead if he didn't emerge from the inferno a second later without a scratch on him. The rippling blue energy barrier around his body completely protected him.
"Holy fuck!" Clint exclaimed in my earpiece. Yeah, that was a real supervillain entrance right there…
Natasha started to speak. "All agents, move in and–"
"WAIT!?" I cut her off as I pressed my earpiece. "No agents should show themselves yet! He's here for Tony Stark. He's not going after the crowd at all!" Was he dangerous? Absolutely–far more than his MCU counterpart even. But I didn't think that he was the one that would be causing the 'massacre' the quest had warned me about.
Natasha huffed in irritation. "Nevermind. Hold that order. We will wait."
True to my words, Ivan was not targeting anyone but Tony. All the race cars had stopped on the track. Their drivers were fleeing in droves and yet Ivan didn't so much as spare any of them a second glance. He menacingly approached Tony's car. I grabbed Tony's Iron Man briefcase off the ground and ran out on the track. Pepper screamed at me to come back in panic. I think she temporarily forgot what I was.
"Anthony Stark!" Ivan screamed out with a heavy accent. "Today I will have vengeance. Today, a symbol of oppression and capitalist greed will die!" He shouted as he swung one of his whips and severed the entire front of Tony's car off the frame.
"Holy fuck!" Tony shouted with a scared look on his face. He scrambled out of the car window and tried to back away from Ivan.
"Tony heads up!" I shouted as I threw the briefcase towards him. His eyes widened as skidded on the ground and stopped right in front of him. His scared look turned into a confident one when he noticed he had his suit.
"You're in trouble now, sparky." Tony slammed his foot down on the briefcase and his suit immediately deployed around his body. It only took a few seconds for Iron Man to fully emerge. In that time Ivan could have attacked Tony, but he didn't. He just waited for the transformation scene to play out like this was an anime…
People in the stands started cheering at seeing Iron Man. A bunch of the smarter spectators had fled, but about half had stupidly stayed to watch this play out. Tony raised one of his hand repulsors before blasting it at Ivan. The beam traveled forward quickly and slammed into Ivan's energy shield. There was a small clash of energy, Tony's yellow blast versus Ivan's blue energy shields. Tony's beams petered out, and Ivan stood there unharmed and smirking victoriously at Iron Man.
POP… POP! POP! POP! POP!
"All agents! All agents! We have a bunch of beings that are teleporting into the stands and track! They're all over the area! They're wearing black cloaks with silver masks!" Hawkeye shouted in my earpiece.
…
Death Eaters were here…
XXX
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