Chapter 51: Tony: Lynn, I Would've Been Dead Without You
George Stacy, as it turned out, genuinely gave a damn about Lynn.
He might have been a hard-ass, busting Lynn's chops every day, but when Lynn was in trouble, George was the first to panic.
He knew that beneath the laziness and the womanizing, Lynn wasn't a bad guy. In fact, he was better than ninety percent of the assholes George knew.
He couldn't stand the thought of Lynn getting hurt. He'd even called in favors he hadn't touched in decades. And for what? Nothing.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark was currently full of "concern" for Lynn, too.
Having downed the 'sobering-up' potion, Tony felt the last wave of his anxiety attack recede. He sat on the floor, looking at Lynn. "I'm seriously curious... what kind of magic is this 'Death Sorcerer' gig? Does it... like... have a backlash?"
"I mean, I had JARVIS running searches on every occult database on the planet. Most of it comes with a nasty kickback. Sacrifices, demonic pacts, that kind of thing."
At Tony's questions, Lynn just took a bite of an apple. "No idea about other magic, but mine's clean."
"And another thing…"
Before Lynn could finish, the air in the room suddenly shredded.
The second his senses screamed, Lynn grabbed Tony and hauled him backward.
Not a fraction of a second too soon. The sofa Tony had been leaning on vaporized under an intense energy blast.
A spatial portal tore open, and two figures in green armor stepped through, one holding a longsword, the other an energy rifle.
Seeing them, Tony Stark immediately called for his suit.
The sensors on his arms activated, and the armor rocketed toward him, assembling around his body.
The leader, a green-skinned bastard with tentacles for a beard, faced them and started rattling off a string of guttural commands in a language Lynn didn't recognize.
"What's he saying?" Tony asked, his voice now metallic.
"No clue. But I'm pretty sure it means they're here to kill you."
"Hey! Squid-face! Who the hell are you? I don't remember sending you guys a party invite."
Tony raised his palm, his repulsor whining, ready to fire.
The alien leader tapped a device on his arm. When he spoke again, the alien tongue was replaced by perfect, translated English.
"'Cold-Blooded Destroyer.' You annihilated our homeworld. We have crossed time itself for this revenge."
"'And after we kill you, we will annihilate this pathetic planet, and its billions of souls will serve as a funeral pyre for our people!'"
The leader didn't wait for a reply, leveling his rifle at Tony.
The other alien lunged at Lynn, his blade screaming through the air.
The wind from the blade was sharp. Lynn sidestepped the blow. He was about to counter when the alien opened its mouth.
A massive beam of green energy blasted straight at Lynn.
Sensing the raw power, Lynn threw up a Bone Shield.
The beam slammed into the shield. The shield cracked, then exploded, the force slamming Lynn clear across the room.
BAM!
He hit the wall so hard he felt like his guts had been rearranged.
He looked up to see the alien leaping, sword raised for the killing blow.
A flash of pure malice crossed Lynn's eyes. "Motherfucker. You think you're the only one who can shoot goddamn lasers, you green calamari-asshole?"
The next second, two searing beams of heat vision shot from Lynn's eyes.
The heat vision slammed into the alien mid-air, blasting him back.
Lynn didn't give the bastard time to breathe.
Before the alien even hit the ground, he was on him, his fists a relentless storm, hammering down on the alien.
CRACK!
CRACK!
The crunch of armor breaking echoed in the room. The alien, pinned by Lynn, tried to counter, but Lynn just kicked him flat and went back to wailing on him.
When the alien finally went limp, Lynn pinned him to the floor with his boot.
He focused his heat vision, pouring the berserk energy straight into the green-skinned alien's eyes.
Amidst a final, muffled scream, the alien's head exploded like a watermelon.
He finished the job and immediately looked over at the other fight.
Tony was getting his ass kicked.
The alien leader was a goddamn ghost. His body would just disintegrate to avoid Tony's attacks, then reappear right behind him.
If it wasn't for the armor, Tony would have been dead five times over.
Even with the armor, Tony was in deep shit.
The alien teleported to Tony's right, kicked him clean across the room, and then unleashed a wave of green magical energy, trapping Tony in mid-air.
The classic red-and-gold armor began to crack and corrode under the unearthly power.
Tony was helpless, JARVIS screaming warnings in his ear...
...when a longsword erupted from the green alien's chest, lifting him clean off the ground.
Freed from the energy, Tony crashed to the floor. He immediately fired his repulsor, blowing the impaled alien's chest wide open.
"Haaa…"
After JARVIS confirmed the alien was finally dead, Tony collapsed, sitting heavily on the floor.
He looked at the cracks in his suit, 'corroded' by magic, and gave a bitter laugh. "JARVIS, looks like the next suit upgrade has a new priority."
"It needs to be able to handle... that weird-ass energy."
"Sir, I have already recorded the energy fluctuations of that green substance."
"Good."
Tony braced himself, getting to his feet. He watched Lynn yank his sword free and let the alien corpse slump to the floor. Tony was already stripping off the damaged suit.
"Buddy, thanks. That was... I really think I would have bought it that time."
"But how the hell did they have Elsa Bloodstone's portal trick? And what was all that 'Cold-Blooded Destroyer' bullshit?"
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