[Third Person's PoV]
Tony and Melissa were sleeping in their hotel room, huddled together in bed, their bodies bare except for a blanket covering their lower halves.
A blaring alarm resounded from their phones, startling them awake. "Friday, what's going on?" Tony asked groggily as he rubbed his face.
"There's someone approaching the presidential suite from outside the building," Friday reported.
Tony sighed. "I'll go check it out…"
"I'll come with you," Melissa said, grabbing her suit disk from her side.
Tony held out his hand, and his ring flew onto his finger, instantly triggering his suit to form around his body. Melissa quickly followed suit.
"Cape," Tony called to Melissa.
Melissa nodded, taking her cape and tossing it toward Tony. The fabric wrapped around him, allowing Tony to phase through the wall and fly outside, with Melissa following closely behind.
Once outside, the cape flew off Tony's body and reattached to Melissa's back. They circled the building, spotting a man casually walking up the side of the structure. He had slicked-back red hair, wore a black jacket that covered the lower half of his face, and carried a sword at his waist.
"And where do you think you're going, mister? Do you know what time it is? You're kinda interrupting my beauty sleep," Tony sighed.
The man's shoulders slumped as he placed a hand on his sword. "Я знал, что они сказали, что охрана будет усиленной, так как это президент, но, ладно, у меня еще даже не было возможности зайти внутрь." (Translation: "I knew they said security would be heavy since it's the President, but come on, I didn't even get a chance to go inside yet.")
"Чего ты, честно говоря, ожидал? Это президент," Melissa replied, raising an eyebrow. (Translation: "What did you honestly expect? It's the President.")
The man tilted his head in confusion. "I didn't expect American heroes to speak Russian," he said in English, with a thick Russian accent. "And aren't you two a bit too young to be heroes?"
"We're kinda interning," Tony shrugged.
The man leaned back and sighed in exasperation. "I'm dealing with a bunch of children…"
"Friday, you got anything on him?" Tony asked quietly.
Before Friday could report, Tony quickly formed a shield in front of him as a red crescent of flames slammed against it.
"Now, that wasn't very nice," Tony said, shaking his head. "Here I am, trying to get some information, and you attack me."
The man crouched by the building, his shoes glowing slightly blue, holding his sword level with his eyes. His eyes glowed red as flames began to swirl beneath his feet.
"You want a name? I'll give it to you. In America, it's pronounced 'Cinder Wolf,'" he said before rocketing forward with expert precision. He slashed at Melissa, his sword catching fire.
To his surprise, the sword passed right through her.
Caught off guard, Cinder didn't have time to react as Melissa fired a repulsor from her palm, blasting him downward. He tumbled along the ground before coming to a stop, groaning.
"Утром будет больно…" he muttered in pain. (Translation: "That's going to hurt in the morning…")
His eyes widened in shock as he saw multiple constructs of guns and rifles materializing around him, all aimed at him. Tightening his grip on his sword, Cinder moved in a blur, rapidly cutting through the bullets. However, despite his speed, he wasn't fast enough to block them all and grunted in pain as several shots made contact, though his armor underneath his jacket absorbed most of the damage.
Cinder began striking down the constructs when Melissa reappeared, emerging from the ground as bullets passed through her. She punched him in the stomach with enough force to make his eyes roll back and vomit, sending him flying into a car, shattering the windows and caving in the vehicle.
A giant blue-silver hand then materialized, grabbing Cinder Wolf from the wreckage of the car.
"Poor car. I hope it has Villain Insurance…" Tony quipped, shaking his head as he brought Cinder closer, the man's head swaying side to side, trapped in the grip of the fist.
Tony then began shaking the fist as if it were a toy, an action figure of sorts. "Come on, wake up. We need to talk…"
Cinder's head was still swaying side to side before his eyes snapped open, glowing bright red. He kicked both feet up, smashing flames against the construct, shattering it and dropping back to the ground.
He landed on his feet and slid to the side with a blast of fire from one foot, making a 180-degree turn, burn marks appearing on the ground.
He blasted forward, running toward the car wreckage and grabbing his sword from the floor before running away, leaving a trail of embers.
However, as he ran, Melissa and Tony appeared flying right next to him. "You're not thinking of running away, are you?" Tony teased.
Cinder skidded to a stop, creating burn marks along the road, causing Tony and Melissa to fly ahead. He turned around and ran in the opposite direction.
"I call dibs!" Melissa said as they turned around. She flew down toward the ground, picking up speed, getting ahead of Cinder.
She spun around and looked in his direction. Once she calculated the distance, she appeared from the ground, ready to close-line him.
However, Cinder had already anticipated her move and had his sword ready to strike.
Melissa quickly realized she had no choice but to turn intangible; if she let Cinder hit her with the sword, it would have broken, injuring him fatally.
So, she let him pass through her arm, and once he was past, she quickly turned around and grabbed the back of his jacket.
Due to the speed Cinder was running at, his feet kicked into the air as Melissa held onto him, and once his feet were in the air, she pulled him down toward the ground with enough force to shatter it.
Cinder coughed up blood as he lay sprawled out on the ground. Tony then appeared, encasing his entire body in multiple chains and lifting him into the air. "Shall we try this again?"
As Tony closed his fist, the chains tightened around Cinder's body. "AHHHHH!!!" Cinder screamed in pain.
Soon, they heard a sizzling sound, causing Cinder to scream more as the chains, made of light, began heating up.
"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! Я поговорю, я поговорю, только хватит меня обижать!" he yelled in pain, causing the sizzling to stop. (Translation: I'll talk, I'll talk, just stop hurting me!)
"Why are you after the president?" Melissa asked.
Cinder panted and groaned as the chains tightened. "For money!" he grunted.
"Surely you know the president is heavily guarded. Why would you take such a mission for money? I almost don't believe you," Tony said, tilting his head in confusion as he held up his ring.
"You'd take the mission too if you knew how much money was on the line…" Cinder said, panting in his thick Russian accent.
"And how much money are we talking about? Why would someone put a bounty on the president?" Tony asked curiously.
"I don't know the reason… But the amount… It's 5 billion euros… Every assassin who's heard of the bounty will come for his head…"
"Friday?"
"I can't find any information on this bounty from any sources online. I've even scanned the dark web and black market, and there's nothing there," Friday said, showing Tony her empty search results.
Tony closed his fist again, and his ring glowed, dislocating Cinder's arm. "AHHHHH!! WHY!? I'M NOT LYING!"
"So why can't I find anything about it online?"
"Because it wasn't posted online… The person behind this bounty didn't want to risk it being traced back to him. It was done manually. We get information from brokers who alert us to big bounties in exchange for a cut of the money. So you won't find it online…"
Tony and Melissa exchanged a glance before being interrupted by Cinder laughing slightly to himself.
"And what's so funny?" Melissa asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh… Boss…" Friday called out warily toward Tony.
Tony tapped his ear. "Yeah?" he asked apprehensively, while Cinder smirked at them.
"Каждый убийца и злодей, узнавший об этой награде, не остановится ни перед чем, чтобы получить ее... Так что будьте готовы, маленькие герои, вам больше не придется спать прекрасно," Cinder said with a smirk. (Translation: Every single assassin and villain who's heard of this bounty will stop at nothing to get it… So be prepared, little heroes. You won't be getting any more beauty sleep.)
Friday showed Tony a map of their location, with red dots slowly appearing around the hotel.
"Ahhh… Iron Man…" Melissa called out.
"Yeah?"
"Look up."
When Tony did, he saw villains standing on the rooftops, looking down at them, with more appearing by the second.
Tony sighed, backhanding Cinder unconscious and dissipating the chains.
Slowly, he and Melissa began to rise until they were floating in the air, their backs pressed together as they spun in a circle. They raised their arms, their palms glowing brightly in the night, revealing their repulsors.
"We're not getting any sleep tonight, are we?" Melissa asked softly.
"I highly doubt it… Friday, bring up my superhero playlist. We might as well listen to some good tunes while kicking some major ass."
(Song: "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler)
Hearing the beat, Melissa sighed. "We seriously need to talk about your love for ancient music…"
Tony smirked before they blasted off, leaving a trail of light behind them as all the assassins surged toward the hotel and the president.
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