Hey everyone. I finally graduated from college, so now I can work on these stories. Let's see if I can successfully continue to build up my version of the Marvel universe.

I don't own Marvel or its characters.

Chapter 6

Location: Stark Industries, Malibu, California

Time: 3:00 p.m.

As I flew to my company I could see columns of smoke rising in the distance. This newcomer didn't waste any time at wrecking my company. "J.A.R.V.I.S., I see smoke rising from my company. What's the damage?"

"It appears that this newcomer is attempting to force herself into Research and Development, sir."

"Whoa. Did you say this was a woman?"

"That was the most obvious conclusion from the build of her figure."

Was J.A.R.V.I.S. imitating me? Scary thought. "Is the building clear?"

"Negative. I've done a scan, and it appears that there are twelve scientists trapped by the onslaught of this new threat."

That complicates things. "Any interesting tidbits on our uninvited guest?"

"She's wearing red, sir."

I rolled my eyes. "Just be ready to turn on the speakers." As we got close to the Research and Development wing I got a good look at the perpetrator. Yep. The figure was feminine, but that wasn't the strangest thing. What was strange was she was in this red bodysuit that covered everything, even her head. It also looked as if it could take a beating and then some. She also had on this red cowl with a cape attached to it. "Here goes." Turning the suit at an angle I flew towards Ms. Red Tights. I could see how this was going to turn out. I would tackle this woman, fly off with her, and drop her in the closest jail cell. No way that could go wr…

"Gah!" I cried out as something hard hit me on the head. I then found myself spinning because in split seconds my line of sight changed from ground to sky to ground to sky until all I could see was the ground followed by aching pain everywhere.

As I struggled to get up, I raised my head to see that woman walking towards me. "Not even one minute into the fight and you're beaten."

"You got in a cheap shot, lady." I growled as I staggered to my feet. "But I'm about to give you –."

"No witty comeback? No banter?" The woman looked at me. "Used it all up fighting the Grey Gargoyle?"

"J.A.R.V.I.S., are the speakers on?" I asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You haven't told me to do so, sir."

"Well, turn them on."

"Sir, I should warn you –."

"Turn them on, you piece of digital trash!"

"What did you call me?" The woman sounded really offended.

It was a good thing my faceplate was down because it hid my expression at what I had just done. "You heard that?"

"I did. Now listen up." She held out her hand as an ominous red glow appeared around it. "No one insults Crimson Cowl and lives to tell about it. No one."

"Your name's Crimson Cowl?" I asked before the red glow shot forth from her hand and blasted me back. I crashed into someone's S.U.V. and set off the car alarm.

"Warning. Heavy damage to chest plate and helmet. Repairs advised." J.A.R.V.I.S. told me as an image of my suit appeared on my screen, the damaged areas flashing red.

"Yeah. I feel it." I groaned as I held my side. "Run a scan on that glow of hers and find out what it is."

"I just did, sir." The results flashed on my screen.

I could see Crimson Cowl… wait. Was she floating? Did she have some sort of propulsion gear that gave her a weightless appearance? It had to be some sort of technology because there was no way she could fly on her own. "So tell me this. Why are you attacking Stark Industries? Couldn't you blow off steam at Roxxon or something?"

"My reasons for attacking this upstart are my own." Was her response as her hands glowed again. Before I could feel the pain I rolled to the side and another dent appeared in the S.U.V. that wasn't caused by me. Holding up my hands, I fired a couple of repulsor blasts at Crimson Cowl, knocking her back into someone's station wagon.

"Shall I make a note to pay for the damage being done to this parking lot, sir?" The A.I. asked me.

"Yeah, fine." I said as I reviewed the data J.A.R.V.I.S. did of my enemy, while flying around Mrs. Scarlett's attacks. Hold on. According to this, it looked as if she was somehow harnessing the energy from the sun, the wind, anything around her and focusing it into… oh no. Glowing hand. Bad news. I dove to try and avoid her blast, preparing to hit her with a repulsor blast instead, but a pain in my right foot and the sound of metal being bent out of shape filled my ears.

The alarm sounded in my armor. "Alert. Right boot has been damaged. Flight mechanisms down." J.A.R.V.I.S. told me as I plummeted to the ground. Thankfully my fall was broken by a Nissan.

I tried to get up, but I gave a cry of pain as I felt something sharp in my right arm. "Please don't be fractured." I said as I looked. It wasn't broken, but it did have something and red and sharp sticking into it. What the? I followed it to see… it was a corner of Crimson Cowl's cape? How is that possible?

"How does it feel, Iron Man?" Crimson Cowl asked me. "To see that you're not invincible like people say? To know you've been beaten by your superior?" When she said that she thrust the other corner of her cape into my left leg, and that made me writhe in pain. It was like getting acupunctured with daggers. A glow appeared around her hand. "I could kill you right now. Show the world the man behind the mask."

"Then why don't you?"

The glow faded as she scoffed. "That's too easy. You'd become a martyr, and people would only honor you. No, I'll let you live as a message to Tony Stark. When he sees you like this he'll know his company has no one to hide behind. He will realize he is vulnerable, and he will sweat once he sees you beaten and broken, a tool he can no longer trust." With that the two corners of her cape receded and she floated up. Before I could do anything she flew away. However, there was a high probability that I would see Crimson Cowl again.

Location: 10880 Malibu Point, Malibu, California

Time: 4:16 p.m.

"Sir, I warned you what would happen if we diverted all remaining power to the suit's flight."

"J.A.R.V.I.S., I know. I was there as we leaked energy." I told the A.I. as I struggled to stand up in my lab. "Now get me out of this armor before power runs out."

"As you wish, sir." The mechanical arms went to work removing my armor while I went over Crimson Cowl's words in my head. She was right. Iron Man failed to stop the bad guy, or girl in this case, for once. What if next time I couldn't walk away? What if I couldn't protect anyone from the next attack?

"Tony?" Pepper's voice echoed as she came down the stairs. "Tony, something's happened at… what the heck?" She didn't say heck.

I was only halfway done getting out of my armor, but for a laugh I covered my groin with a piece of metal even though I was dressed underneath. "Pepper. Don't you know it's rude to walk in on someone like that?"

She wasn't amused by my antics. "Tony, y-you're Iron Man?"

"Yeah. Guess it's obvious." I said as a mechanical arm tried to grab the armor I was currently covering, but pinched my hand instead. "Ow. Stop it."

"Tony, you know what you're doing? You're taking the law into your own hands like some vigilante. What you're doing here is illegal."

"How?" I asked. "I'm protecting my company using my tech. There are no laws against that."

"That doesn't mean running around in a red and gold suit of armor is legal, either. That's what the police are for."

"The police can't handle threats like this. You saw what the Grey Gargoyle did to people. You weren't there as the Mandarin's forces butchered soldiers using my tech. Now you're telling me the right thing to do is let innocent people get slaughtered by these super powered threats? Yeah. Sounds like the country has its priorities straight on what's legal."

"It's not about whether this legal or not. It's about your safety." Pepper looked at the pieces of armor that were now hanging around my lab. "Look at this. What did this to you?"

"Some crazy lady called Crimson Cowl." I said as I got out of the rest of my armor. "I swore as my injured leg and foot gave out and I fell over. Pepper moved fast to catch me, but we both fell to the floor.

"Oh, my gosh." She said as she saw my arm, leg, and foot, although she didn't say gosh. "Tony, we need to get you to a hospital."

I shook my head. "No, no hospitals."

"Sir, Ms. Potts is right about –."

"No hospitals." I insisted. "Get me over to the Genesis Chamber."

"The what?" Pepper asked me.

I pointed. "The sarcophagus thing over there."

"Tony, I –."

"Chamber. Now."

With a sigh, Pepper helped me to my feet and escorted me over to the Genesis Chamber and got me inside. As I laid there my secretary watched as I tore my shoe off, rolled up my pant leg and shirt sleeve, and had the machine get to work. "What is this?"

I looked at her. "A little project I've been working on. The Genesis Chamber takes damaged organic material and repairs them on a molecular level. Amputation? History. This thing's going to revolutionize modern medicine."

"Are you sure this thing's safe?"

"We'll know in a few hours."

"You mean this thing's untested?"

"Giving it a test run now."

Pepper did a face-palm as she shook her head. "Why do you do this? Why do you insist on doing everything yourself?"

"You know why. My weapons, my inventions, got out and were used against American soldiers who were only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For all I know the Ten Rings and the Mandarin are out there getting their hands on weapons and using them to attack civilians." I looked at her. "I can't bear the thought of people getting hurt because of what I've made. Not anymore. That's why I'm doing this."

"Tony, you don't have to bear the weight of the world. You're just one man. You can't be expected to avenge every wrong in the world."

"Yes, I can."

"Okay. I know when you're like this nothing can be said to make you change your mind." She turned to leave. Before she opened the door, Pepper added, "Just remember you can't change the world if you're out on the street."

As she left, I thought about what she said. She was right. If Iron Man was to get stronger, Stark Industries needed to sustain itself. That wasn't going to happen if another company was the only one trusted with the funds. Using my free hand to pull up the holoscreen, I sent a two-word e-mail to Justine.

No deal.