"You done?" Jason asked, rolling his shoulders. His shorts were torn from the brief scuffle, but he wasn't even breathing hard.
Tony's helmet reformed around his face, the nanobots crawling back into place. "JARVIS, how bad is it?"
"Structural integrity at forty-three percent, sir. Recommend immediate withdrawal."
"Not happening." Tony stood, his repulsors charging. "Kid, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you just spent the night with a civilian after breaking into our reality, beat up Norman Osborn, and now you're assaulting Avengers. That's not 'good guy' behavior."
"I didn't break in," Jason shot back. "And May wanted it. All of it. Multiple times."
Peter made a strangled sound from the lamppost. "Can you PLEASE stop talking about my aunt like that?!"
"Why? She's a grown woman. Beautiful, passionate, and—"
"SHUT UP!" Peter's voice cracked with rage.
Jason grinned. He was enjoying this. The fight. The chaos. The way these so-called heroes thought they could tell him what to do. It reminded him of his mother, of Bruce, of everyone back home always trying to control him.
Not here. Not anymore.
Tony's repulsors fired—two concentrated beams of energy. Jason crossed his arms, taking the hits directly. The energy washed over him, dissipating harmlessly. He didn't even budge.
"Okay," Tony muttered.
"Already done, sir. Hulkbuster armor is en route. ETA forty-five seconds."
Jason's grin widened. "More toys? Good. I was just getting warmed up."
Behind him, May's apartment window opened. She leaned out, wrapped in a bedsheet, her hair messy from sleep. "What's all this noise? Jason?"
"Stay inside, May!" Peter yelled. "Please!"
"Peter? What are you doing to my date?" May's voice carried that mom-tone even now. "He was a perfect gentleman!"
"A PERFECT—" Peter struggled against the webbing. "May, he's dangerous!"
"He saved my life yesterday!"
"And then he—" Peter couldn't finish the sentence.
"Pepper," Tony said into his comms. "Keep May Parker inside. Whatever it takes. Happy, clear the street. Get everyone to safety."
From down the block, Jason could hear sirens. Police. Civilians were already recording on their phones. This was about to become very public, very fast.
The sky above them rumbled.
Jason looked up to see a massive red and gold suit descending—easily three times the size of Tony's normal armor. The Hulkbuster. It landed with enough force to crack the asphalt, hydraulics hissing as it powered up.
"Last chance," Tony's voice came from the Hulkbuster now, amplified and mechanical. "Stand down. Come peacefully. We'll figure this out."
Jason floated up off the ground, eye level with the Hulkbuster's faceplate. "No."
"Stubborn. I can respect that." Tony's massive armored fist came swinging.
Jason caught it.
The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, shattering every window on the block. Car alarms screamed. The street beneath them spider-webbed with cracks.
But Jason held the fist steady, his grip denting the reinforced metal.
"My turn."
He pulled, yanking the entire Hulkbuster forward, then drove his other fist into its chest. The armor buckled. Alarms blared inside Tony's helmet.
"Critical damage to central—"
Jason hit it again. And again. Each punch drives the massive suit backward, tearing through layers of armor plating.
"JARVIS, deploy the nano-swarm!"
Dozens of smaller suits—sleek, black, each the size of a person—materialized from hidden compartments throughout the city. They converged on Jason from all directions, their repulsors charging in unison.
They fired.
The street became a lightshow of energy beams. Jason was hit from twenty different angles simultaneously, the concentrated firepower enough to level a building.
When the smoke cleared, Jason stood untouched. His eyes glowed red.
"Cute."
His heat vision lanced out in a sweeping arc. Half the nano-suits exploded instantly, their power cores overloading. The rest scattered, trying to regroup.
Jason was faster.
He tore through them like paper, his fists and heat vision making short work of Tony's drone army. In seconds, nothing but burning wreckage littered the street.
The Hulkbuster was still trying to recover, its damaged systems rebooting. Jason floated toward it, unhurried.
"Stay away from him!" Peter had finally freed himself from the webbing. He swung in, feet-first, hitting Jason with both legs in a devastating kick.
Jason didn't even turn around. He reached back, grabbed Peter's ankle, and slammed him into the pavement hard enough to crater it.
"Peter!" May screamed from the window.
Peter groaned, trying to get up. Jason pressed his foot down on the young hero's chest, pinning him.
"You're fast," Jason acknowledged. "Strong for a human. But you're in over your head, Spider-Boy."
"It's... Spider-Man..." Peter gasped.
"Whatever."
A red-white-and-blue shield came spinning through the air, striking Jason in the side of the head. It would've decapitated a normal person. Jason just turned, mildly annoyed, and caught the shield on its return arc.
Captain America stood at the end of the street, his backup shield already in hand. "That's enough, son. You're making this worse."
"Captain America," Jason said, examining the shield.
"The living legend. Tell me, old man, how does it feel knowing you're about to get your ass kicked by someone a third your age?"
"Jason, please!" May was leaning further out the window now, desperation in her voice. "Stop this! You said you were a good guy!"
Jason's expression flickered for just a second. May's voice cutting through his rage. But then Tony's repulsors fired again from the Hulkbuster, and the moment passed.
"I am a good guy," Jason said, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "I'm just done letting people tell me what to do."
He threw Captain America's shield back—not at Cap, but past him, embedding it three feet deep into a concrete wall.
Then he turned his attention back to the Hulkbuster.
"Time to unwrap my present."
He flew straight at it, his fists glowing with heat. The Hulkbuster's weapons systems fired everything—missiles, repulsors, kinetic dampeners—but Jason flew through it all. His hands found purchase on the armor's shoulder joints.
And he pulled.
Metal screamed. Hydraulics burst. With a terrible rending sound, Jason tore the Hulkbuster's left arm completely off.
"Oh, that's not good," Tony muttered inside.
Jason raised the severed arm over his head and brought it down on the Hulkbuster's chest like a club. Once. Twice. Three times. The armor split open, exposing the smaller Iron Man suit inside.
Tony ejected, his flight stabilizers firing. He landed twenty feet away, immediately scanning Jason.
"JARVIS, analysis."
"Power levels consistent with unknown species, sir. Possibly augmented with additional factors. Recommend full team engagement."
"Yeah, I got that." Tony's helmet retracted. He needed to look Jason in the eye. "Listen to me. Whatever you're going through, whatever brought you here—violence isn't the answer."
"Says the man in the weapon," Jason shot back.
"Touché." Tony raised his hands. "But you're scaring people. May Parker is watching you destroy her neighborhood. Is this really the impression you want to leave?"
Jason glanced back at May's window. She was still there, her face a mixture of fear and something else—sadness. Disappointment.
That cut deeper than any of Tony's weapons.
"I didn't start this," Jason said quietly.
"Maybe not. But you're escalating it."
Before Jason could respond, the sky darkened.
A massive ship—the Quinjet—descended from the clouds, its engines thrumming with power. The boarding ramp opened, and figures began to leap out.
First came Hawkeye, bow already drawn, explosive arrows nocked. Then Black Widow, her widow's bite crackling with electricity. War Machine landed beside Tony, his armor's weapons systems all trained on Jason.
Thor dropped from the sky like a meteor, Mjolnir in hand, lightning crackling around him. "Stark, what manner of foe do we face?"
"The stubborn kind," Tony replied.
Falcon circled overhead, his targeting systems locked on. Scarlet Witch floated down beside Captain America, red energy dancing around her fingers. Vision phased into existence next to her, the Mind Stone in his forehead glowing ominously.
And finally, from the Quinjet's hold, the ramp shook as the Hulk jumped out. He landed hard enough to split the asphalt, his massive green form radiating barely-contained rage.
"Hulk smash pretty boy?" the green giant growled.
Jason looked at the assembled Avengers. Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Every one of them is ready to fight.
He should've been intimidated. Should've backed down.
Instead, his grin returned.
"Now this is more like it."
"Jason, NO!" May's voice carried over everything else.