Freeze

"Looks like you upgraded your Iron Man Armor!"

Obadiah sounded a little surprised, but then shouted, "But I made some upgrades too!"

As he spoke, enormous flames blasted from beneath Iron Monger's feet, lifting his hulking body into the sky like a rocket taking off.

"Sir, he appears to be capable of flight."

JARVIS's voice rang out inside the Iron Man Armor.

"Thanks for the useless reminder!"

Tony let out a yelp as he watched Iron Monger draw closer.

The two flew higher and higher. Watching the billowing smoke, Hermione was speechless.

What exactly did you upgrade?

Did you just slap on a bigger engine?

The two fought from the sky to the ground, then from the ground back into the sky, before both landed in an empty lot.

At last, Tony sank to one knee, unable to get back up.

He hadn't been beaten. His temporary reactor simply lacked enough energy to keep powering the armor.

In plain English, his battery was dead.

"Hahahaha! Tony, my Iron Man Armor is still better than yours!"

Obadiah's wild laughter echoed through the night sky.

Tony raised his head and glared at him bitterly.

Better, my ass... Hermione had about ten thousand snarky comments running through her head.

Besides a bigger engine, thicker armor, and a stupid Gatling Gun, what did you actually upgrade?

The reactor at its core isn't yours, and you didn't even install the AI that gives it its soul. You only won because you had more power left, and you actually have the nerve to brag.

With skills like yours, Stark Industries would really be finished if it fell into your hands.

"What an ugly fight."

Unable to hold back any longer, Hermione muttered under her breath.

Pepper's attention was entirely on the battle. Seeing Tony defeated, she turned to Hermione in desperation.

Meeting Pepper's pleading gaze, Hermione gave a slight nod to reassure her.

Just as Tony found himself helpless, forced to watch Obadiah raise his enormous fist to end his life, a voice rang out overhead.

"Confringo!"

BOOM!!!

Without warning, a violent explosion erupted against Iron Monger's chest. A massive fireball rose, and the force of the blast sent Obadiah stumbling to the ground.

Then, before Tony's astonished eyes, Hermione swooped down from the sky on a broomstick and landed.

Pepper hurried to Tony's side. Only after seeing that he wasn't seriously hurt did she relax.

Caught in such a humiliating state, Tony wanted to crawl into a hole. But he quickly snapped out of it, forgot his embarrassment, and shouted at Pepper:

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay far away?"

Then he looked at Hermione.

Pepper immediately said, "Don't blame Hermione. I asked her to bring me here to help you."

Just then, Coulson and the others finally arrived. Seeing that everyone was safe, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Heh. Look at you. Why did you have to act so tough? Going on about how this was a fight between adults."

"Your little act fell flat, and now you've made a complete fool of yourself!"

Hermione tipped up her chin, looking at the bedraggled Tony as though he were a joke.

Tony's expression darkened.

Turning to Obadiah, Hermione looked eager to have a go. "Let me deal with him."

Everyone grew a little nervous as Hermione walked toward Iron Monger. Pepper and Tony were relatively confident, having seen Hermione's ferocious side, but Coulson was deeply worried, terrified that something might happen to her.

By now, Obadiah had climbed back to his feet. Seeing a little girl in black robes standing before him, declaring that she would deal with him, he froze in disbelief before bursting into crazed laughter.

"Hahahaha! Where did this kid come from? Don't tell me she's your illegitimate daughter with Pepper, Tony!"

Hermione sighed softly and raised her wand.

The Blasting Curse hadn't done any real damage to Iron Monger. It had merely scorched part of his chest armor black.

Apparently, piling on armor did have its uses. At least it could take a beating.

Seeing the little girl point a short stick at him, Obadiah was baffled too.

What was she going to do, beat him to death with a wooden stick?

"Listen, mister. I heard everything you said earlier."

Hermione pointed at Tony.

"First of all, I wouldn't want to be this narcissist's daughter."

Tony's expression darkened further.

"Second, I have to say, after hearing all that, I have just one thought about you."

"What?"

Obadiah asked instinctively.

"How can anyone in this world be as stupid as you?"

Hermione shook her head with a genuinely perplexed expression that was downright infuriating.

"What did you say?!"

Hermione said expressionlessly, "You can't even build a reactor, yet you dream of selling Iron Man Armor. You ripped the thing in your own chest out of his, and now you want to kill the only person who knows how to make it. I'd just like to know how you plan to mass-produce the armor once Tony is dead."

"And after causing such a huge mess tonight, how are you going to clean it up even if you kill Tony? Do you really think you can keep running Stark Industries? Getting thrown in prison for the rest of your life would be getting off lightly. Have you lost your mind?"

"Even a kid like me understands that, but you're still dreaming. If someone like you can land a top position at Stark Industries, I reckon I could do it too."

Hermione mocked him mercilessly.

"Aaaaah! You little brat! You're dead!"

Every word struck a nerve. Obadiah roared in fury and raised his fist to smash her.

Watching Obadiah howl with rage, Tony found listening to Hermione immensely satisfying for the first time.

But when he saw Iron Monger move, he immediately shouted, "Watch out!"

"Impedimenta!"

Iron Monger charged forward, then seemed to trip over thin air, falling flat on his face.

Everyone: "..."

Obadiah: "?"

Climbing back up, Obadiah shook his head and charged at Hermione again with a vicious grin.

Then he fell again.

Was something wrong with the circuitry? Obadiah had no idea what was happening.

He got up and tried again.

Flat on his face.

He got up and tried again.

Flat on his face.

Watching this strangely familiar scene, Tony seemed to recall certain memories he would rather forget, and his eyes gradually widened.

Here it comes! Here it comes!

That familiar feeling was back!

After this happened several more times, even Obadiah was smart enough to catch on. He pointed at Hermione and roared:

"It's you! What did you do?!"

He fell whenever he tried to walk. A perfectly functional Iron Monger had somehow been reduced to a half-paralyzed wreck.

Panting heavily, Obadiah finally stopped trying to charge forward.

If he couldn't walk over, then he wouldn't.

Iron Monger's shoulder armor opened to either side. Six missiles rose simultaneously, and red targeting dots lit up one after another in the darkness.

One settled squarely on Pepper's chest.

"I can't touch you," Obadiah said with a vicious grin, "but what about her?"

He had seen Hermione's shield.

One missile had shattered it in an instant.

Now there were six.

"Hermione, get Pepper out of here!"

Tony shouted and tried to stand, but his powerless armor wouldn't budge.

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finally arrived in their vehicles as well.

Coulson drew his gun. Knowing full well that it was useless, he still stepped in front of Pepper.

At the instant the missiles' exhaust flared-

"Freeze!"

Hermione gave a low shout.

White frost burst out beneath Iron Monger's feet and raced up his armor to his shoulders, sealing all six launch ports in solid ice just before ignition.

The missiles gave a muffled bang inside their launch tubes, then went dead.

"Th-this is..."

Even inside his armor, Obadiah felt as though his blood were about to freeze.

But what terrified him even more was that, beyond that strange obstruction from earlier, the little girl before him possessed power like this!

What on earth was this?

Magic? Superpowers?

"Cold?" Hermione looked at Obadiah, who was nearly freezing to death, and said mildly, "Then let's warm you up a little."

"Incendio!"

Several columns of flame as thick as buckets surged from the tip of her wand, turning into fire serpents that seemed alive as they rushed at Obadiah from every direction.

In an instant, flames soared into the sky, lighting up the surrounding night!