BOOM!
Explosions ripped through the night air like thunderclaps. Screams echoed across the Stark Expo grounds. The crowd scattered in all directions, their panicked cries drowned beneath the clunk-clunk-clunk of metal feet pounding pavement. From the stage, Hammer drones surged like hornets loosed from a hive, their red optics scanning and locking onto targets.
One drone zeroed in on a cluster of fleeing civilians with its arm cannon whirring to life.
FWOOOOOSH!
A red-and-gold blur streaked through the air, and Iron Man crashed into the drone like a missile. His repulsors roared to life and blasted the machine into flaming shrapnel before it could fire.
Tony Stark hovered in the smoke, scanning the chaos. "Yeah," he muttered. "That's about what I expected."
Then—
FWIP!
A silvery web zipped across the battlefield, slapping a drone in the face just as it aimed at Iron Man. Its arms flailed, tangled in a sticky cocoon. The machine staggered, blinded and immobilized.
A figure landed beside Tony in a crouch. Slim, red-and-blue, masked and vibrating with adrenaline.
"Sooo… these are like your evil cousins or something, right?" Spider-Man quipped.
Tony blinked behind his faceplate. "Kid, who the hell are you?"
The masked teen stood. "Spider-Man. Friendly neighborhood edition. And, oh my God, I am so pumped to be doing this right now."
BOOM! Another drone exploded nearby.
"Whoa!" Nathan yelped, flipping backward. He web-zipped mid-air, caught a drone by the leg, and yanked. It crashed into a popcorn stand with a KA-RUNCH.
"Suck it, Skynet!"
Iron Man rocketed past, blasting another drone in mid-flight.
"You're a child."
"You're a billionaire narcissist who made robots people want to punch you."
"Touché."
Three drones boxed them in.
"Split up!" Tony barked.
"Cool! Classic team-up move. I'm gonna cry."
Nathan launched himself into the air, twisted into a double flip, and slammed both feet into a drone's face. The metal crumpled under the impact. He flipped backward, webbed its optics shut, and yelled, "Tag! You're blind!"
The drone fired blindly into the air before Tony vaporized it with a clean repulsor shot.
"Watch where you aim that thing!" Nathan shouted.
"Maybe don't stand in front of the laser cannon, junior!"
Suddenly, a drone tackled Tony from behind, pinning him.
Nathan swung in, kicking it in the head with a spin-kick. "Hey! You don't touch my favorite superhero—wait, I mean second favorite. The Thing is more likable."
Tony blasted the drone off with a repulsor burst. "Seriously? You're giving me fan rankings right now?!"
"Sorry! I nerd out under pressure!"
A drone aimed a missile at them.
Nathan gasped. "Oh no man do NOT bring missiles to my first team-up!"
He dove, grabbed a serving tray, webbed it, and hurled it like a frisbee. It clanged off the missile mid-air. The explosion knocked the drone sideways, and Nathan webbed its joints like wrapping paper.
"Boom! That's what I call precision dumb luck!"
Tony blasted two more drones behind him and muttered, "Okay, I'll give you this you're not completely useless."
"Aw, Stark! That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me while dodging gunfire!"
Above them, more drones dropped from aerial carriers.
Nathan looked up. "Oh, come on…"
"Think you can handle airborne?" Tony asked.
"Define 'handle'?"
"Stay alive. Be annoying."
"Perfect! I was born annoying!"
Spider-Man swung upward, bounding from drone to drone, using them like springboards. The crowd below watched in awe as the teenage hero spun and flipped, webbing mid-air, tagging drones for Iron Man to blast.
Tony flew alongside him. "Nice teamwork."
"Like peanut butter and expensive tech!"
Suddenly, a drone got too close.
Its cannon charged. Nathan dodged but not fast enough.
BAM!
A blast caught him in the ribs. He screamed, spiraling downward. He crashed through a scaffolding and slammed into the pavement behind a Stark Expo sign.
His vision spun. His breath came in shallow gasps.
"Ow… okay. That one hurt."
The drone hovered in, charging another shot.
But before it could fire—
BOOM! Iron Man blasted it to pieces and landed beside Nathan.
"Idiot kid," he muttered, dragging him up. "You okay?"
Nathan groaned. "Do I look okay?"
"You look like you got punched by a toaster."
"One that explodes! Also, cool save."
Tony smirked. "No problem, kid."
CRASH!
The center of the Expo stage collapsed inward. Metal and lights caved like tissue paper.
From the smoke and rubble rose a towering, hulking figure.
Armor thicker than tank plating. A glowing red core in his chest. Plasma coils flickering across gauntlets. Electric arcs danced along his limbs.
Crimson Dynamo stepped onto the battlefield.
"You think this is over, Stark?" he growled, voice crackling. "This is only beginning."
Tony hovered beside Nathan, repulsors glowing. "Oh good. The knockoff Iron Monger showed up."
Nathan's legs trembled as he stood. "Please tell me I'm hallucinating the Mega-Russian-Murder-Tank."
"Nope. You're officially in the deep end, kid."
BOOM! Dynamo charged.
The ground split beneath his boots. Plasma whips lashed out, slicing through the air.
Tony dodged left. "Heads up!"
Nathan leapt, barely avoiding a whip that shredded a nearby lamppost. He flipped onto Dynamo's back and fired webs into his helmet seams.
"Ever try turning it off and on again?" he shouted.
Dynamo roared and grabbed Nathan by the leg, slamming him into the ground.
"GUH okay! Bad idea!"
Tony blasted Dynamo's side. Sparks flew. Dynamo staggered, then whipped around and punched Tony across the plaza.
Iron Man crashed through a billboard.
Nathan pulled himself up. "Yup. Definitely the deep end."
Dynamo's chest glowed. He fired a plasma cannon.
Nathan grabbed a lamp post with his webs and yanked it down as a shield. The plasma blast detonated against it, sending fire and metal everywhere.
Nathan flew through the flames, landed on Dynamo's shoulder, and punched the side of his armor.
"I'm gonna need, like, twelve X-rays after this!"
Dynamo's armor surged with blue electricity.
Nathan screamed as he was blasted off, crashing into a parked SUV.
He coughed, groaning. "Ugh… now I know what a microwave burrito feels like."
Dynamo advanced, charging another shot.
But—
FWOOOOOM!
Iron Man returned, unleashing a double repulsor blast that sent Dynamo skidding backward.
"Hey, Ivan!" Tony shouted. "I liked you better when you were getting arrested in Monaco!"
Dynamo roared, plasma whips crackling. He lunged.
The two titans collided, steel against steel. Sparks flew. Energy surged.
Nathan watched in awe.
Then he saw it a flickering panel on Dynamo's back. A power conduit, half-exposed from damage.
"Weak point… always a weak point…"
Nathan crawled onto a busted drone and found a shattered cannon. He aimed it like a bazooka.
"C'mon… just one more shot…"
BOOM!
The blast hit the conduit dead-on.
Dynamo jerked violently. His armor overloaded with the plasma coils screaming. Electricity surged out of him in wild arcs.
Tony backed off as sparks exploded from Dynamo's joints.
Nathan swung in on a crane and drop-kicked Dynamo into the Expo fountain.
SSSSSHHHHHHH!!!
Steam hissed. Sparks sizzled. Dynamo short-circuited and slumped.
Silence.
Nathan collapsed beside Iron Man, breathing hard.
"So…" he coughed. "Team-Up Scorecard: Me? Ten drones and one lucky shot. You? Like thirty drones and three saves. Call it even?"
Tony looked at him.
"You're insane."
"You let me fight that guy in jeans under my suit!"
Tony sighed and walked off. "Get better pants."
Nathan blinked. "Was that… approval?"
Tony raised a hand without turning. "You did good, kid."
Nathan beamed behind the mask.
Bruised. Burnt. Bleeding.
But happy.
He webbed away into the night.
Later…
Nathan climbed through his bedroom window, wincing. He flopped onto his bed, peeled off his mask, and unzipped the top half of his suit. His torso was already mottled with bruises. He sighed.
"Note to self: body armor."
Then—
A voice behind him.
"Wow. You're pretty fit for a kid."
Nathan yelped, spun around—
And froze.
A red-haired woman sat in a chair by his dresser. Black jumpsuit. Emerald eyes. Calm and cool like she'd been there all day.
"W-who are y-you?" Nathan stammered, face beet red.
She smiled.
"Natasha Romanoff. I'm here to talk to you…"
She stepped closer.
"…about the Avengers Initiative."
Nathan's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Then he fainted.