I've been wanting to write a crossover for this, so here it is! The perspective jumps around a bit, but I won't have to do this once I get the whole plot up here. Hope you like it!
"Oh man, did I outdo myself this time." Jack muttered, arms crossed, his staff tucked in the crook of his elbow. He was perched lazily on the roof of a skyscraper, standing precariously on the ledge, grinning. New York City was spread out before him, a heavy dusting of fresh snow whirling wildly down on the bustling city.
"Let's see what's next…" He murmured, glancing around. Nine days left to complete Operation White Christmas and only the East Coast left to go. With a chuckle Jack heaved himself off the ledge head-first, skimming the surface of the windows and leaving a trail of frost as he flew. He breezed by a couple street corners before jerking up, hitting the sidewalk in a stumbling landing. Frost spiraled around him at the touch of his bare feet, following him as he wandered along the busy sidewalk, dodging the people that hurried past him, unseeing. Jack knew they'd pass right through him but that didn't mean it was pleasant, and it was instinct to move aside anyway.
"Been a while since I've visited New York." Jack muttered to himself. Sure, he made his way overhead a left snow behind, but he never took time to actually visit. To look around and see everything, and simply enjoy himself. He studied the skyline as he walked, then froze. "Well that's new." He murmured to himself, eyes wide in awe. With a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips he caught a sharp gust of wind, shooting up to the rooftop above him for a better view. There was something like a plane in the air, but that wasn't what caught his eye.
"Woa…" Jack murmured. In the distance the letter A of the Avengers Tower shone brightly.
"God damnit." Tony muttered, "JARVIS, where is he?"
"Above us, Sir, twenty meters to the right." Tony swerved in the air, the Iron Man armor glimmering as he banked right, his eyes darting back and forth between the sky and the notifications onscreen.
"Alright, JARVIS, time for a little fun." Tony chided with a grin. He raised one hand, the thrusters charging as he struggled to get an aim on the target: a practice drone. Tony had lost track of how many times Fury had told him not to practice over the city but hey, since when did Tony Stark ever do what he was told? The drone suddenly dropped off and Tony followed closely, maneuvering along over the buildings. Small clips of bystanders pointing and watching flashed in the corner of his vision but Tony had learned how to tune those out, focusing on the job at hand. "Full power to the rear thrusters, and send out the left flank missiles." There was a short sparking sound and then a stream of smoke blasted out, headed by a pair of flashy red missiles. The drone swerved again, this time to move away from the missiles, swinging in to make an attack. Tony evaded easily, skirting along the sky in an effort to get a better angle for another shot.
"Sir." JARVIS piped in suddenly, "It seems we have a jumper."
"What?" Tony snapped, somewhat distracted by the approaching drone. It was on the attack now, as it had been fully programmed to be a challenge.
"A Jumper, Sir." A video clip enlarged to take up part of Tony's vision, and he spared a glance at it, multitasking easily. There was a boy at the edge of a rooftop, looking down over the city. There was some sort of stick in his hand, but Tony was far more concerned by the way his bare foot was getting closer to the ledge and the way he was leaning towards the fall.
"Shit." Tony blurted, stopping short and snapping around, "Cut all excess functions and patch the extra power to the thrusters." Tony shot through the air like a bullet, flattening himself to gain speed. The boy hadn't made a move to jump yet, but he was shifting ever closer, one hand in the pocket of his hoodie. "I swear to fuck if this kid-" He jumped. Tony made a sharp growl as the boy's foot left the roof, shooting one last burst of power to the thrusters and jetting forward, smacking into him with all the force of the suit, sending them both rolling back onto the rooftop.
"What hell are you doing?" Tony demanded, as soon as he was on his feet. The boy sprang up fiercely, that stick in his hand raised defensively, eyes narrowed under a head of white hair. The hell kinda kid is this? Tony wondered, raising his guard a little. The final boost of power had zapped the suit, and there were power warnings flashing on the screen.
"Funny, I could say the same to you." The boy ground out. He faltered for an instant as he took in the suit, surprised that it was just a man made of metal. There was a heartbeat of tense silence before he spoke again. "There a man in there, or are you just a big tin can?" In response Tony raised the mask with a sharp clank, revealing his face.
"Care to explain to me what business a kid has jumping off a roof?" The billionaire demanded. He had almost said committing suicide, but somehow couldn't bring the words to form on his lips. He crossed his two suited arms with a clunk, looking somewhat like a scolding father. The boy looked stricken for a moment, his blue eyes seemingly torn between blurting it out and shooting back some sort of quick comeback. He settled for neither, crossing his arms and mirroring Tony's stance.
"I wasn't jumping I was-"
"Sir, the drone seems to be closing in." JARVIS announced quickly.
"Shit."
"Excuse me?" The boy asked, glaring. Tony had missed whatever he had said, but he didn't have time to worry about that.
"Duck in cover, kid. And I swear to God if you jump while I'm not looking I'll resurrect your ass just to throw you over myself." And with that Tony turned, not leaving time for argument before he dropped his mask back down and began checking the situation. In the top left of his vision Power at 65% was flashing. He had recently installed a re-charge that automatically restored power during lulls in battle, and it was slowly taking affect. The targeting system was tracing the approaching drone, options for firing listed along the side.
"You wanna play? Tony muttered, "Let's play." He shot off the roof, barreling into the drone and sending it careening backwards.
Jack watched in shock as the metal men battled in the air, completely confused as to what was happening.
"Yeah right, likeI'm waiting here. In your dreams, Tin can." Jack caught a gust of wind, staff in hand, and darted towards the fight, blasting ice at the enemy. They seemed to both be enemies, but the immediate threat seemed to be the larger silver creature. Robot? Jack wasn't up to date on technology. The red one, though he was a jerk, didn't seem to be much of an enemy.
Ice clung to the joints of the silver robot, cracking along the arm and jolting it so that the missiles it fired ended up missing, just skimming past the Red Guy's head.
"JARVIS shut down the practice program." The electronic voice came from the Tin Can and Jack raised a skeptic eyebrow.
"This thing is just for practice?" Jack demanded. The Tin Can, hovering on the fire blasting out its hands and feet, moved to face him. Words that Jack would never care to hear again dropped in a stream from his helmet as he jerked back in surprise. Finally he ended with a reluctant,
"Funny but this isn't the weirdest thing I've seen." They were interrupted by a flash in fire that darted between them, the two dodging away simultaneously as the drone came at them, arms raised and weapons ready.
"JARVIS?" Tin Can demanded.
It took a moment for Tony to get a reply, and that was never a good sign.
"Sir, it seems that the program is malfunctioning."
"Oh that's just peachy." Tony muttered, "Kid, I don't know what the hell you are or what else you can do but this is a game for big kids, so get out of here for a minute."
"Who'da thought a Tin Can could have such a foul mouth?" the boy marveled sarcastically, making no move to flee as the drone swung a fist at Tony. It was programmed to only attack the Iron Man armor, and thankfully it seemed to be sticking to that at least. There was a click as the drone raised one charging hand, getting ready to fire. The boy tried to move in to help and Tony snapped to look at him, taking his eyes off the drone even as it battered against him.
"Kid, get outta here-"
The drone fired.
Tony jerked backwards and smashed into the rooftop, burrowing into a man-shaped crater in the concrete.
"Ah, God…" The billionaire growled, sitting up with a groan. The drone landed heavily on the other side, stomping his way towards him, weapons raised. And then suddenly there was a head of white hair between them.
So..good? bad? so absolutely terrible you wanted to set your screen on fire? please review!