A Second Choice [Zenaki/TheDusk]

The moment the bullet shattered his lap top, his prototype one of a kind Stark Industries Lap Top, he yelled at Pepper, "Get out of here!" he commanded before turning around in his chair to look out the window, trying to pin point the shooter's location as he got to his feet, "Jarvis suit me up." he ordered the AI, "Very well sir." The male sounding British voice responded.

Tony held his arms out, two metallic bracelets on both wrists, glowing a light blue color, acting as a homing beacon for his armor to find him at, the gauntlets finding him first and coupling over his skin allowing him a little protection and access to his repulsor beams, the red metallic gloves coming up and aiming out of the ruined window pane, light dancing in the palms of his hands before twin beams of energy shot off toward where he theorized the shooter would be base don the bullet's trajectory. He stepped forward through the window pane and went into a free fall, only to be caught by a pair of red plated boots that boosted him up through the air while his chest piece formed over him, engulfing his thighs and biceps, the coloring being a golden yellow that reflected the sun light perfectly in their polished state.

He flew through the air, the last facial expression to be seen before his mask over took his exposed features would be anger, how dare someone attack him and make him feel weak, after everything he had done to prove he wasn't weak that feeling was plucked away in just a blink of an eye, his hands balling to fists as he rocketed onward, a blue line guiding him on his visor, picking up a electrical signature making him assume it was hydra tech. He went high upward above the target before he looked down at the shooter, he was wrong, not hydra.

It appeared to be a young man with robotic appendages and chest. Half of his face was metallic as well and he held a nice sniper rifle in his hands, Jarvis scanning the make and model in the visor and speaking its weak point into Tony's ear. "You have some under developed tech there, who sent you?!" he said, insulting the boy before demanding who or what sent this shooter, his right hand going outward with a blast charged and ready to boot out to the kid as he hovered in the air.

Ansatsu gasped as a vortex of cyan particles zoomed his direction. The skilled assassin rolled through the gravel of the rooftop as the vibrant blast tossed the tiny rocks with pure, concentrated force. His long, unruly blonde hair whipped in the gusts of wind propelled from Iron Man's repulsors. The young man looked up slowly, in awe of seeing the almighty Iron Man for the first time in person. The gold and crimson tones were glistening in the sunlight high above. His eyes glowed a bright cyan as did he palm that was aimed at the metal mercenary.
It was... strange for Ans. It seemed to him that the great man, Tony Stark was nothing more than a myth. For the first decade of his existence, he had only heard of the million dollar playboy from overseas. However, as Ansatsu had taken on the business of head hunting, the young man found himself at international levels. Soon enough, he was based out of the United States. It was simply a better place. Better business, cheaper stuff, and the foremost, freedom. That was when Ans found himself most in contact with the prodigy of Tony Stark.

Stark had come from a background he found eerily familiar. He too, had had a father who pushed him to the brink of potential to mold him in his image. Sure, Ans had been formed as a super weapon against his own kind while Tony had been formed as a super genius for the good of his kind, but they were still mercilessly molded by their fathers' dreams. And for what exactly? It surely wasn't for them. It was for their legacy to live on. It was for the name Sha to continue being known with quake and fear. Stark was to live on in his family name by being the captain of the weapons industry.

Both fulfilled their fathers' ambitions at first. Ans becoming the killing machine that his father was in his glory days. Tony became the leading power in nearly every weapons deal across the globe. However, fate played its own card. Ansatsu broke away, becoming a legend across the world for his infamous deeds. Tony became the world famous super hero, Iron Man.

The only thing that separated them was about 6 billion dollars and forty feet.

Ansatsu had grown in disbelief of such a man. Someone who had come from fatherly neglect and become so vastly famous. Then again, sometimes he'd look in a mirror and remember that that wasn't so far fetched.

The Eastern Executioner stayed in his crouched position, his sleek leather trench coat dragging the ground. He knew that he had just pissed off one of the most powerful supers he knew of. Ans would have to be ready for anything that he would throw at him. Although, with what he'd seen on television with the attacks on the city a few months ago, he wasn't sure how he could handle himself against certain attacks.

"Damn, it's been awhile since I've been unsure of myself...," His mind murmured.
He slung the sniper rifle up around his back and smiled slyly at the metal plated man floating before him.

"It gets the job done. In the underbelly, I am the Iron Man that everyone fears." Ansatsu took a moment to gloat his infamy to the man who had been previously infamous for destruction as well. His gloved hands took the sheathed blade from his side and brought it to his front. Slowly, he slid the blade out, allowing it to glisten in the sunlight. While traveling out, Ans ran his index and middle finger down the middle of the blade. Electric volts began to dance down the glistening blade. It illuminated his handsome face with a dark blue glow. His emerald eyes glared at the glowing blues of the Iron man suit.

"As for the who, he's already going to kill me for tossing the biggest hit of my career. Well, if he's in a good mood anyways...," Ans shuttered with that thought.

His eyes turned to slits behind his mask, this idiot had said the wrong damn thing, calling himself Iron Man. His left hand rose upward, the repuslor in his palm lighting up and pointing toward the kid. "I don't care who you think you are or who hired you but now you're going to get it" he said as Jarvis completed the scan of the boy's weaponry. He whistled from his mask and laughed a little bit.

"Whoever hired you is an idiot, says here your tech sucks against EMPS, let's test it." He said in his cold way, the humor dry and sarcastic. A blast emitted from his hand in a wave like fashion toward the boy, shattering the windows of the building underneath him and causing all of the lights to black out.

"How useful is your human parts when you don't have your robot half working?" He taunted, already knowing the answer. The boy was right, even though he had said it in a stupid way he was a lot like Tony.

Ansatsu smiled widely at the EMPS blast that came his way. It was no use, Orenji had already alerted him to the strength of his blast. There was no way in hell he was going to avoid that much fire power. The air itself seemed to vibrate with the electronic disruption. Orenji’s loud chirping voice faded from his visor. Ansatsu flipped back the visor, letting the systems shut down all across his body. He stood unphased as he lost access to much of his arsenal. There would be no more shock cables, no antigrav thrusts, not anything of that assorts. Orenji was the system that controlled most of his extra weapons systems. However, the EMP would put him to sleep for quite some time. Ans was no reduced to nothing more than that of a samurai from ancient China. A warrior with a sword in a suit of armor.

A heavy puff of air escaped the lips of the eighties metal haired boy. His head tilted left and right swiftly, causing distinct cracks to echo from his robotic body. The grinding of gears and metal was evident in each pop. The Eastern Executioner interlocked his fingers and spread them with loud, mechanical pops. The hands separated and lead into a wide stretch. His arms extended far outward in an aerobic exercise. He then began to trot in place like a world champion boxer for just a moment.

“You see Tony. We may both be known as Iron Men. But the difference between you and I is that without your suit, you are just a man with a major heart problem. “ he coyly began to speak. The metal mercenary sheathed his sword in a blur of motion. “I on the other hand, am a total badass from eastside Tokyo; all the stereotypical ninja BS included!” He chirped with a sly grin.

A quick swipe of his arm and the rooftop exploded with a barrage of gray smoke. It engulfed the entire top of the complex like debris from a nuclear bomb. Many flashes of human heat forms began to appear and fade from within the fog as it rolled off the rooftop. Lookers from below probably thought that another Alien incident was unfolding. The gray smoke rolled off the rooftop like the fires from 9/11. Certainly such a display would create a terror below.



A portable radio was going off into the distance of the foggy mess. Nothing short of a mini fireworks display was accompanying the fog. It seemed like Tony had been transported back to the eighties hair metal concerts. Being an ACDC and Black Sabbath fan, this wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

Unbeknownst to Tony, the heart flashes were militarized human flash bangs to imitate a human body. This was to throw off those who made use of infrared to discover opponents. The gray smoke was only a ploy so the skilled assassin could change positions. His mind was not yet in killer mode, still lightly toying and playing with his prey.

The young man was not even on the rooftop any longer. Ansatsu was displaying his throne of King of Parkour. The talented boy leaped from window sill to window sill like Spider-man. He revealed his katana for a moment to cut a long wire of electricity. His rubber gloved hand caught the wire and used it as a vine to swing back to the Stark tower. The fearless assassin paid no mind to being well over one hundred stories in the air. The professional leaped from the electric vine and onto a structural divider between glass windows. He climbed the architecture like a pipe; taking short leaps to speed himself up.

Ans smiled proudly as he let go of the divider and kick flipped off the wall. His body rotated upside down in a glorious gymnastic move that’d put olympic gold medalists to shame. His arms spread wide as his legs aimed to hook onto the metallic shoulders of the Iron man.

Tony watched as the boy vanished in the smoke covering he had deployed, he merely scoffed from behind his face plate, "Jarvis, light up the heat signatures, we're dealing with a real rookie." He said as a blue outline of the battlefield appeared in his visor, showing one heat source, then six, then twelve. Maybe this boy wasn't so wet behind the ears after all but he had ways to deal with this newest set back.

"Run scans on the heat sources, temperature and movement patterns." He commanded the AI, charts appearing next to all of the heat sources. All of them were burning at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, all moving in jerky unpredictable patterns. None humans, none save one that dipped over the side of the building, out of his line of sight.

"Track his impulse signature, now." he ordered, A blot of blue light appearing on a grid on his visor, the light being behind him. He rotated his shoulders, making his body rotate with him as he hovered in the air, now he could see the boy free flying at him in a strange way. His right hand came up, the repulsor in his palming lighting up a charge and letting it pop free like a bullet toward the helpless cyborg. "There are better ways of asking to wrap your legs around me.... if I rolled that way." He said, his tone sarcastic before he rose up higher, knowing his blast would slow the projectile boy but not stop him on his course due to the speed at which he was coming toward Stark.

Ans gasped as the smoke parted with a blinding blue illumination. He only had a brief moment to cuff his arms and legs into a ball to shield his face and body. The blast hit him hard, truly not being that of incineration or anything to that extent. However, it stung like being slammed with eight baseball bats all over his arms and legs. He was forced backwards like a bullet through a beautiful glass window. It shattered in an explosion of shiny slivers. The shards cascaded down the side of the building like dangerous rain.


Using his experience as a swift assassin, he arced his body. Scared associates of Stark Industries yelped as the blond warrior came flying through the nice office lobby. His long hair slung forward as he leaned with his shoulder forward. His body leaned into the momentum, allowing his shoulder blade to slap the desktop of an unsuspecting worker. The wood splintered as the Easter Executioner turned into the roll. He halted the momentum by kicking to his feet. Ans stood in the threshold of the panicked workers, feeling proud of himself for sticking that tumble so incredibly well. He smiled keenly at the women behind what was left of the desk he had smashed.


”I know this is probably bad timin'. But I must say that you look rather lovely today my dear!"Ansatsu keenly smiled at her.


The short brunette from behind the desk screamed. She became a fleeting blur as she stormed out of the room. The robotic man stood perplexed at her fanatic reaction to his dramatic entrance.



”Sheesh, most women claim they are looking for pizazz in their relationship, but when it hits 'em they run like bats outta' hell!”


Sir. You Missed On Purpose. I Must Advise Against This Course Of Action If You Intend to Repeat It


”Yeah yeah, Where's Iron Man Orenji?” Ans grumbled, hating the strange feeling he had in his gut. He couldn't quite understand it, but it felt...wrong to kill Tony Stark. Since when had Ansatsu had any morals? It was a question he too was asking. He had none until it came to honor the last time the blond checked. However, he stood in vacated office room with a lump in his throat for the job to come. A gloved hand glided up and through his blond locks, sighing with his dilemma.

Coming Your Way

”Well that is just fine and dandy...,” Ans stammered unenthusiastically. He carefully drew his Sogeki blade. He placed it behind his head across his shoulders. With his free hand, he ignited sparks on the tips of his fingers. There was a swift gliding motion down the blade, then it turned into a vibrant cyan. The katana now sparked with what seemed to be a contained lightning.



Considering this is the only thing I have the one up on him...


Or is it...?


His mind began to tick as the jets of Iron Man came close.

Tony watched as the kid was blasted backwards, only vaguely aware of Jarvis telling him the power percentage left from the attack, something like 99.9943% or whatever, he really never listened to the AI in his ear. "Jarvis, play me a sweet tune. I think Thunderstruck will do." He said before moving forward, decreasing the power in his propulsion so he could descend toward the lobby where the boy had so carelessly crashed through.

He cut of power to his jet boots when he was ten feet from the ground and slammed into the pavement, glass shards turning to dust under his metallic feet. His fall made him crouch a bit before he righted himself and stood up right, scanning the lobby. Watching as employees fled. "Jarvis, send them all hazard payment checks before they file lawsuits, I don't want to give Congress more fuel." he ordered, only mildly irritated from this little fight.

He walked forward through the shattered glass panes and into the lobby of his own building, "Nice toy you have there, my scan's telling me it's a type of plasma blade, super heated and obviously very compacted." He said to the blonde boy, both of his hands coming up as he stopped walking, leaving a good twelve feet between them, "Now let's see who hit's who first, you with that tech stick or me with my repulsors, unless you want to stop this BS and explain why you're here and why you missed your first shot." He said, knowing that someone this tech'd up wouldn't just miss a shot at a man like Tony Stark when he was vulnerable. It just didn't add up.