Regicide and Summons

Poor Dr. Lizard was still sound asleep, but Tony, ever paranoid, had already tied him up with rope and stuffed him into the car. Once confirmed, the two suits of armor, one large and one small, shot back into the sky.

"Power low, sir."

Tony glanced at the numbers on the holographic display, then abruptly spun around and plastered himself onto the Steam Armor trailing behind him.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

Yuri did a 10086-degree spin and flung Tony off, but the latter shamelessly clung back on: "Power's low, cut me some slack, yeah?"

"Don't even think—"

"Twenty million dollars!"

"...Deal!"

And so, Yuri and Tony, birds of a feather, arrived at Stark Tower.

From a distance, Tony spotted the Iron Monger, nearly as tall as Yuri's Steam Armor, swinging a fist at the woman he loved most. He let out a roar and launched himself like a missile straight at the Iron Monger.

"Clang—!"

The Iron Monger stumbled and fell to the ground from Tony's impact, but Tony wasn't much better off: the Iron Monger was too big and too hard. Even with Tony's excellent shock absorption, the residual force rattled his senses.

"Tony?"

Obadiah climbed the Iron Monger back to its feet, ignoring Pepper's screams as he strode toward Tony, who was struggling to get up from the ground.

"Clang—Crack—!"

The Iron Monger never got close to Tony: Yuri descended from the sky, slamming directly onto its shoulder.

The Steam Armor's heavy frame, carrying immense kinetic energy, crushed the Iron Monger's two massive steel arms on impact.

"NO—!"

Obadiah watched helplessly as ten sharp fingers tore through the faceplate, heading straight for his eyes. The next moment, a grating, teeth-clenching sound of tearing filled the air—the Iron Monger's protective mask was ripped off by brute force!

"Hey, Obadiah."

Yuri flicked his bald head lightly with a finger, then controlled his strength as he grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out: "Cramped in there, huh? Come on out, your nephew's waiting."

Tony forced himself up from the ground. He first helped Pepper, who had collapsed in a heap of weak legs, to her feet, then bumped fists with the Steam Armor that was pinning Obadiah down.

"Thanks, Yuri."

Obadiah, his back pinned and unable to move, flushed red with rage at the words: "Yuri Ambrosius? Meddling in Stark Industries' family affairs—do you want to die?"

"Crack!"

Yuri applied a little more pressure with his foot, snapping Obadiah's spine without hesitation.

A sharp pain mixed with numbness flooded his brain. The next instant, Obadiah could no longer feel anything from his chest downward.

Yuri lifted his foot off Obadiah with lingering satisfaction. As a Mutant who had wiped out the dinosaurs, breaking an enemy's spine was an instinct etched deep in his genes.

"What did you do to me?"

Obadiah flipped himself over with his arms, frantically slapping at his numb body parts, hoping to feel even a hint of pain.

"Mid-level paraplegia."

Yuri kicked out, the melon-sized tip of his foot landing heavily on Obadiah's stomach: Tony might have had some mercy for this uncle, but after this blow, unless he turned into a super soldier, he'd be dead within a month.

"Thud."

Obadiah's bald head smacked into Tony's chest armor. The uncle and nephew—one paralyzed from the waist down, the other dizzy and disoriented—tumbled together in a heap, face-planting the ground.

"Tony! Tony!"

Facing death, Obadiah seemed immune to the dizziness from the passive headbutt. He pressed his upper body onto the red-and-gold Mark armor, one hand slapping Tony's faceplate repeatedly: "I'm your uncle who raised you since you were a kid! I know I was wrong! Please, spare me!"

"You're not my uncle!"

Tony grabbed Obadiah by the back of his collar, trying to pull him off, but the old man clung on tight. Even when the fabric tore, he couldn't get him off.

Tony had to flip him over and pin him down instead. As he tried to stand, he heard an odd metallic clink from his chest armor.

Looking down, Tony laughed in anger: Obadiah was holding the extractor he'd used to remove the new reactor not long ago, trying to make it fulfill its purpose one more time.

"Heh..."

Tony stood up with a cold smirk. He snatched the extractor from Obadiah's hand, crushed it with his grip, and countless shards and fragments rained onto Obadiah's face—some even landing in his mouth before he could close it.

Tony let go, aiming his humming palm directly at Obadiah's bald head.

"Fizz!"

A hole the width of a thumb appeared in the center of Obadiah's forehead. The night wind blew, and the white smoke of burning flesh dissipated into the air.

Yuri let out a long breath—the grass was cut, the roots pulled. Tonight, he could finally sleep easy.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

A flurry of hurried footsteps came from the first-floor lobby of Stark Tower. The Steam Armor and the Mark Armor exchanged glances. The latter waved a hand: "You go first. I'll handle things here."

"Uh..."

The Steam Armor shrugged comically: "I was just wondering—what about Dr. Lizard?"

Tony was silent for a moment, thinking back to the helpless version of himself in the living room. "Keep it with me for now. Once this matter is settled, I'll send it over to you."

Yuri sensed a faint trace of something off, but no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason.

"Maybe he just wants to get to know his future honorary son Spider-Man a little better..."

The sound of footsteps grew closer, and Yuri could vaguely make out a bald man at the front, rifle in hand, sprinting toward them. He hesitated no longer, exchanged a brief farewell with Pepper not far away, then looked up and let go. The massive Steam Armor shot straight into the sky.

An hour and a half later.

On a small island off the coast of New York.

The colossal Steam Armor descended from the heavens. After confirming no one was around, Yuri controlled the armor to split open and stepped out slowly.

Mysterious patterns flickered across his muscles and bones. His skin shifted from pale to cyan, his brilliant golden pupils eerily split into two pairs, and his form rapidly stretched and expanded...

"ROAR—!"

Certain information radiated outward with the sound. Having reverted to his Mutant body, Yuri stretched his limbs. The dozens of transmission tubes behind his head twisted and writhed, looking utterly terrifying under the moonlight.

"SCREECH—!"

A clear, piercing cry carried undisguised joy. A monstrous bird, its wingspan larger than a truck, dove from the sky. Its cyan-black talons sank deep into the soil, forcibly halting its immense momentum.

Yuri smiled and patted the bird's head as it kept nuzzling into his chest. He let out a series of low, unintelligible growls. The great bird flapped its wings once, twice, then shot back into the sky, circling above Yuri's head a few times before flying off into the distance.

Not long after the giant bird departed, a massive head burst through the water's surface with a low bellow: "MOO—!"

Yuri didn't even wait for it to crawl ashore. He issued the same command with a deep growl: "ROAR..."

"Go fill your belly. I will grant you another evolution!"