Evacuation Rules

Stark stood guard at an intersection in a passageway on the lower deck of the cruise ship, holding a ridiculous assault rifle.

Right in front of him, a gigantic tentacle writhed like a giant python. Its maw, resembling the entrance to a meat grinder, made it look especially fearsome.

Large numbers of surviving passengers and crew ran past Stark. Under the direction of two S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Agents, they headed for two separate emergency exits. They needed to get to the upper deck; this was no place for humans to stay.

As an Octopus Tentacle nearly reached his ankle, Stark shouted and emptied the rifle in his hands. Then he stomped on the flower-like maw at the tip of the tentacle. A blade nearly a meter long extended from the Nanotech Armor on his right hand, and he viciously hacked off its flower-shaped head.

Watching the terrifying thing thrash around the passageway like a madman, banging against the walls with a series of "bang, bang, bang" crashes, Stark irritably glanced back and shouted to the two S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Agents, "How much longer?"

A young Field Agent anxiously helped an old woman into the emergency stairwell while calling out to several fleeing passengers, trying to get them to help support the woman, who clearly couldn't run any farther.

They should have been the last of the survivors on the lower decks. Once they got out, Iron Man could seal off the two remaining emergency stairwells and temporarily trap the Giant Octopus, buying time for the evacuation above.

In response to Stark's question, the young Field Agent helped the old woman up the stairs, glanced back to gauge the situation, and called, "Five minutes! Give me five minutes..."

As he spoke, several tall, burly Black men rushed into the stairwell from the passageway.