I blinked trying to clear my enhanced divine vision. I did not remember there being a Cyclops in Iron Man 2… and not the X-Men kind either. But a full-on mythological Cyclops. I didn't even look at the Iron Man as he was watching me, trying to decide if I was an ally, or not. No doubt also trying to discern my identity. I was instead looking at the mythological creature trying to pull itself off the ground.
"Cool trick," The metallic voice pulled my attention towards Tony Stark, I ignored the desire to fanboy over Iron freakin Man, the coolest hero in the MCU as far as I was concerned. "I am liking the whole mystery warrior look, though your armor could use a bit more red. And a helmet, no armor is complete without a helmet."
I looked him over, thinking over to something Thor did in Love & Thunder, not a great movie but I was getting ahead of myself. Alright, I was just as much a God as Thor was... technically. If he could do it, so could I.
I concentrated for a moment, and though I didn't need it, I called down lightning upon me... for dramatic purposes. Tony looked away as lightning washed over me, blinding him for the moment. I willed the armor to shape itself around my head, it was a magic armor, created by the Gods, I was sure it could replicate a helmet.
Motes of light washed over my head for a moment, and then I felt comfortable protective weight around my head. I couldn't see it, but I knew what it would look like, after all, I had imagined it. It was a classic ancient Greek helmet, shining gold in color, with a classic red mohawk on top of it, my memories of Jason told me it was called a crest.
Tony looked at me in silence, I liked to imagine he was blinking. "Mm, not a fan," I muttered, and the helmet disappeared.
"How are you doing that?" Tony asked, "Nanotech?"
"Don't you have something to do?" I asked back, "Leave big ugly here to me."
Tony looked towards the monster as it was climbing back to its feet. "Right, we'll talk later new guy." With that, Tony flew away at top speeds, towards his final showdown with Whiplash.
I looked back at the Cyclops as it got to its feet. It roared at me trying to intimidate me. "Ok big guy, let's do this."
I floated above the ground staring it down, wondering how to do this. I tapped into the Wisdom of Athena, seeing what I wouldn't before. And I saw... something corrupting the Cyclops, something alive... inside it... like a parasite.
My mind was going a million miles an hour when a giant meaty fist, half my size, connected with me. I felt my mind rattled inside me, I felt my breath leave me as I felt pain for the first time since I got to this reality. My body blasted down, and back hitting the asphalt, tearing chunks of the road, smacking through cars. I was hit hard, and it was nearly a kilometer before I came to a stop.
"That... actually hurt," I remarked getting back to my feet. I ignored the blaring of car alarms, sirens, and screaming of people running away. I got to my feet, a single bruise on my forehead that had already healed up.
Then rage filled me, this dumb mindless thing had dared to attack me? Along with that rage came another unexpected feeling, excitement... finally something I could let loose upon.
The Wisdom of Athena filled my mind with information about the creature. Great strength, skin that was more akin to stone than flesh, resistant to magic, but also very low-witted.
Fine, I thought, let's see how strong you really are. The speed of Hermes my mind whispered, and I rocketed off towards the giant. I pulled my arm back, and I saw the Cyclops doing the same thing. I clenched my teeth, and with anger coursing through me, I let loose my fist at my enemy. Our fists clashed, and the world shook.
It was like a bomb going off, and a shockwave blasted off in all directions. The glass in our vicinity shattered I noticed idly, and ignored the backlash going through my arm.
I pulled back, ducking under its next swing, punching the Cyclops in the side. I used my speed to slip behind the massive creature, kicking it in the head, and causing it to fall down.
It was strong... but slow, my speed enhanced by the armor, along with my reflexes made it all but impossible for it to hit me. It got back up, trying to tackle me again only to be rewarded with a flurry of punches to the face, it roared in frustration, trying to lunge at me.
I leaped to the side as its arm passed by me, summoning Stormdancer to my hand, and in the same motion, I swung my godly spear in an upward arc.
There was no spray of blood, but the spear did its job. It sliced through the skin, muscle, and bone like butter. The Cyclops roared at me, blind with pain, my hand pulled back, and I shot a blast of lightning at its face.
I flew as fast as I was able while it was blinded, ducking under its flailing, and in one graceful motion that I never would have been able to do, spun the spear slicing through the back of its knees.
The roars of pain had turned into moans of pain that sent waves of disappointment through me. Was this it? This was what was giving troubling Tony Stark?
I ignored its pitful wails walking towards its back. The monster was on its hand since its knees could no longer support it. Its arm was barely holding on, with one final feeling of disdain, I shoved Stormdancer through the back of its neck.
The roars of anger and the cries of pain turned into gurgling of struggle. With one swift motion, I pulled Stormdancer out of its neck, causing it to fall down face first, still.
I stood still, adrenaline pumping through my veins, this anger, and excitement I felt might be an issue. This warrior spirit in me, so to speak, was similar to Wonder Woman. I knew Jason used to sneak out at night to fight small-time crime, in hopes that may be discovered. Part of it was jealousy at being forced to hide, but the other part was his desire to fight, he wanted a challenge.
I was taking deep breaths to calm myself when I heard a loud voice. "Please put the spear down, and walk slowly towards us with your hands above your head."
I turned to look at men in black suits at the end of the street, with a squad of officers behind them. S.H.I.E.L.D.
I had forgotten about their presence at this event. In all honesty, I only ever remembered Natasha being involved, but it made sense there would be a backup force at the scene. If nothing else, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be present just to clean up the advanced tech that was littered everywhere.
I frowned trying to decide how to handle this, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had gone utterly slack. I heard soft groaning as I felt it get right back up.
I turned around as the Cyclops I had just killed hit me. My knees buckled as the unexpected blow caught me at the side of my head. A second blow caught me at the top of my skull before my reflexes sharpened. I raised Stormdancer above my head to block the ax-handed blow coming to squish me into a fine paste.
The cyclops now fully healed snarled at me, I could feel the stink of its breath as I struggled to shove him off me.
The Strength of Hercules filled me with a feeling of invincibility and added on top of my own impressive power, the Cyclops was no match. With a mighty roar, I shoved hard causing it to lose balance, I threw my spear at its face angled as it was above me. I missed by a fraction due to the fact that I was still off-balance when I threw it, instead of skewering it through the eye, Stormdancer cleaved a chunk out of its cheek and disappeared into the night sky.
That was fine, I didn't need a weapon to take this thing down anyway. I leaped forward and landed a haymaker to its face. For a moment I thought its neck would almost snap from the blow, but I did not wait for it to respond. I continued my assault with a strong blow to its liver, and then another to its stomach. The Cyclops doubled over roaring in pain. I had no idea how it had survived, or regenerated, but I did not care much at the moment.
I had another chance to let loose, and that was all that mattered. I slapped its head on both sides, relying on my memory to disorient my enemy. I continued my assault by pulling its head into a knee strike and capped it all off with an uppercut.
I was tired of saying Cyclops in my head, so I mentally upgraded its name to Bob.
Bob fell onto his back, but I was not done. I jumped over it, taking mount position, and started raining blows as hard as I could. Each of my hits, enhanced by the strength of Hercules impacted Bob's head, and caused shockwaves, it was like bombs were going off in the city.
Thump Thump Thump
The pavement cracked around me, and I was dimly aware of the government agents shouting behind, running for cover, or shooting at us to no avail. I knew if I didn't stop, I was going to cause a sinkhole in the city or cause an earthquake. With one final roar, I raised my fists above my head and brought them down like the final hammer of judgment, pulverizing Bob's head into a mess of gore causing nearby buildings to crumble.
As I leaned back, right in front of me... a mass of slimy darkness pooled beneath the mess of skin, and bone... and was starting to repair the damage I had done.
Fine, let's see how much it can recover from, and how resistant to my magic it truly is. I got up and grabbed Bob by the side, and with a grunt of effort lifted it above my head. My muscles burned with effort as I raised the still-healing creature above me. With a shout, I flew up, far above the city, power burning through me. I built up the lightning inside me, taking control of the weather as dark clouds gather above us.
Just as it was starting to move again, there was light.
As if the heavens had opened up, lightning filled the sky. I poured lightning through me, as well as calling it down from the sky. The entire sky was filled with the power of the storms, as dozens of lightning blasts struck the still-twitching Bob. I had to give credit where it was due, I had just blasted this thing with enough lightning to even give Thor pause, and it was still alive. It really was resistant to magic.
But I was not finished yet. Before the light had even vanished, I channeled the Fires of Hephaestus. My eyes burned as I poured fire, and enhanced the fire with the gales of my own wind point blank bathing Bob in the fires of the God of Forge.
It was like a sun rising over the city, and by the time I was done, Bob was nothing more than ash.
I let my arms fall down my side as the rain started to pour down over the city. The clouds I had gathered still hung over the city. I watched in somber silence as bombs went off, I dimly remembered Whiplash had rigged the bots with self-destruct.
Thankfully enough, there were not enough to cause significant damage, and many less than the movie, since I had thoroughly destroyed a lot of the murder bots myself. My lightning blasts defuse a lot of the bombs.
I surveyed the damage to the city, I had destroyed a few city blocks, causing many buildings in the vicinity of my battle to collapse, it was as if a bomb had gone off in the area. But my focus was not on any of those details. My mind was on the voice I heard just as I finally managed to kill the Cyclops, a dark voice that whispered something that sent shivers down my spine.
'I will see you soon, child.'
For the people questioning about the timeline, and how the Hulk was released in 2008... I dunno what to tell you. I don't remember the full timeline details, so I am following what I am finding online, and most timeline charts I see, including the fan wiki place the events of Iron Man 2, Hulk, and Thor around 2010-2011.
If that doesn't suit you, I don't know what to say. Just consider this some alternate fanfic universe timeline.
Anyway, first fight. How bad do I suck at action? Or did you against all odds like it? Let me know down below. Peace.
P.S. Brownie points if you can guess who the voice is at the end. Little, it is a Marvel character.