Charlie's "Spider-Sense" skill, inspired by Spider-Man, was now fully equipped, allowing him to detect threats in advance or feel out malicious intentions from people around him. Yet the ability wasn't straightforward; it didn't specify the nature of the danger, the direction it was coming from, or how soon it would hit—just a quiet warning urging him to stay alert.
Alongside this instinctive skill, Charlie's reaction speed surged, almost like his reflexes were on permanent overdrive. In the game world, Spider-Man's heightened reflexes allowed him to dodge bullets with ease, and equipped with the same "Spider-Sense," Charlie could do the same.
This wasn't a skill he had to consciously activate; it simply responded when danger was imminent. When the sense flared up, the world around him would slow, every hostile movement highlighted in near-freeze-frame, giving Charlie the chance to react before any attack could reach him.
Charlie was thrilled to see that this skill also applied to his remotely controlled armor. Unlike the other skills that functioned only with his personal characters in the game, this sense extended through the armor itself, creating an incredible synergy with his piloted suit. It was nearly a cheat mode, and with his latest test, Charlie could confirm that the ability worked flawlessly with his Steel Bat armor.
Recently, he'd upgraded the armor's arc reactor to a new model, with better energy efficiency and even higher power output—bringing an ancient weapon to a modern tech fight.
"AHHH!" a roar jolted Charlie out of his thoughts. Dedalus launched himself into the fray, his legs coiled like springs, propelling him toward Charlie with impressive speed. In a flash, Dedalus's right hand morphed into a blade aimed straight for Charlie's neck.
People expected Iron Man-style armor to be a high-tech ranged weapon, practically a human-shaped battleship. It's designed for overwhelming firepower, advanced tech support, and exceptional agility, not close combat. In fact, anyone with experience would think of it as a high-tech "mage," lethal at a distance but vulnerable up close. Dedalus, using his blade to press the attack, believed he'd found the armor's weakness.
But this Steel Bat wasn't a typical ranged weapon.
After too many hand-to-hand defeats in earlier iterations, Stark had made substantial improvements to the Iron Man models. By Suit No. 46, he'd developed a dedicated combat module and trained Friday's AI with thousands of fighting techniques that no single human could master in a lifetime. The suit's AI could now analyze enemy moves, predict attacks, and counter them in real time. Even Marvel's top hand-to-hand fighters found themselves at a disadvantage against Iron Man's AI-assisted fighting capabilities.
Charlie didn't have Suit No. 46 yet, but he did have Friday, the AI.
As Dedalus swung his blade, Charlie instinctively read the move halfway through. Rather than backing down, the Steel Bat sidestepped, parrying the attack with his left hand and sending a brutal right hook into Dedalus's face.
When Dedalus aimed another attack, transforming his blade-arm into a vicious spike, Charlie's Spider-Sense lit up in warning. The moment stretched, giving him just enough time to dodge the move, the spike barely missing his armor and embedding into the wall behind him.
In a follow-up move, Charlie struck Dedalus's chin with a powerful left uppercut. As Dedalus reeled back, Charlie turned his right hand, firing up the thrusters for a propulsion-boosted punch that smashed into Dedalus's face, nearly flattening his head. For the first time, Dedalus felt completely outmatched, questioning his strategy.
"Hold still, or I'll blow this entire block sky-high!" Dedalus snarled, staggering to his feet, his voice a mixture of desperation and anger.
Charlie raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
[TL Note - Most of this chap was a repeat of last chap so... delete]