Fool's Gold, Finale

It had started when the Americans had stolen from him.

Not him directly, of course. But his father had worked all his life on the fabled Fusion Reactor, had devoted almost all of his waking days in cracking the code, working in tandem with his partner from overseas. And he had been there, been present to witness the birth of a new age of clean, effortless energy. So when his father died, and the American had copied the blueprints and unveiled their joint creation as his own, it may as well have been plucked right from that child's hands like candy taken by the school bully. But unlike most children, who would have crawled off to weep in a playground corner, Ivan simply grew bitter and hateful at a world that seemed to thrive on parasitism, lies and backstabbing.

How he smuggled himself aboard the ship bound for America, he could only remember faintly. But building the harness, with it's energy whips that would cut the lying businessman down like wheat... He could still remember every intricate piece and screw and wire. And dressed for war, he strode upon the shores of the enemy and cut them down as he headed for the lair of his hated foe. Even when the police surrounded him, guns pointed for his head and screaming orders, he felt himself untouchable.

Then his powers awoke. And his world became crushing, breathless pain.

When he awoke, the stranger in blue was standing over his body, washed upon the shoreline of some foreign land. The metal would never come off, he was told, for his powers had come too strongly, and that was all there was. And the chance for vengeance might never come again. But, said Rapture, there was a far better target for his anger - the world which had seen fit to allow a man like that to come into existence and poison good people with their greed and lies. Better to attack the root then waste time on individual leaves.

Thus did Ivan accept the mantle of Mr. Silver of the Magpies.

But even in their employ, Ivan lived the life of a hired gun. It had been his life long before that fateful trip to America, how he had built up the simmering anger that had motivated him. And he had no real respect for Godfather, who cackled like a kid playing with action figures and seemed detached from literally everything. So when the contract came - from an incensed former warlord named Spinal, no less - to kill off the Destined Hero, the symbol of all that was wrong and pestilential with the world... The hunt had been the best part - following eyewitness accounts and news reports, faking passports and hiding being false identities all in the name of chasing his prey down.

A shame his current location had to be built upon a Rift.

Because then he'd met the one called Ash, and things had gone to hell.

Up until then, Ivan had been like a tank. Unstoppable, impregnable, crushing everything that came his way. And now, here was a thing that, no matter what he did, continued to stand tall and punch back with just as great a force as he could muster. The unstoppable force had met the immovable object, and it was with frustration and not a little fear that Mr. Silver had retreated that day. Godfather shrieking at him for dropping his duties for the sake of a contract had been the least of his worries.

And then, whilst awaiting fresh orders, the call came that he had to be responsible for an important prisoner, taken during the invasion of the new world. And who should it be but Ash? Ivan knew, then, that his chance to break this pompous idiot had come, to prove that he was indeed the superior man and to destroy the foundation on which his beliefs were built. Godfather said he had to be alive, never intact, and the Russian was nothing if not capable of exploiting loopholes.

He'd forgotten how long it had taken for triumph and scorn to turn into simmering rage as the man refused to break.

Torture did nothing. Sending Hannah to pummel him did nothing. His beliefs remained unshaken and undeterred, no matter what was thrown at him. It had been Ivan who had crumbled, growing more and more angry with every instance his victim refused to give way or snap, and the anger seeped out of him and made even his own subordinates afraid. Who or what was this blonde idiot, who seemed made of Divinium itself? What kept him going through all of this?

But Ivan knew one thing. Even as Rubble turned against him for slipping the pill into her drink, even as his own scientists questioned his motives, he would find it. That chink in the armour of the man known as Ash Brynn-Marsello, that supported everything he believed and thought and said. The crack that held together a man who was the opposite of him in every way possible.

And then he, Ivan Vanko, would tear him in two.

It seemed inevitable.

Ash's hands made a dull thwapping sound as he smacked them against Ivan's chest in repeatedly strikes. Hwump-hwump-hwump-hwump. Each blow as ineffective as the last; all they were doing was pushing Ivan back a few steps.

"Ha, now you see idiot, you cannot-!"

Ash zipped in, sliding a leg behind Ivan's and shoving with his shoulder. Normally, it would have just knocked Ivan to the ground, except Ash had made him fall down at a precise angle, the Ironsides leader smashing his head against the edge of one of the portal's computer banks. Nowhere near a knockout blow, but it enraged the Russian-esque superhuman again, Ivan roaring as he swung a leg at Ash, the prisoner dodging out of the way.

"HOW? You have NO POWERS!"

"True. Can't blast you or up my strength to rip your armor apart with my bare hands. But you couldn't take away the residual powers in my body. Still can't."

Ivan snarled, remembering the chains...

And something else. His rage became a dark chuckle, and then a segment of metal ripped off the wall and flew into him.

"Balls." Ash said, and then he was flying into another wall.

"Ivan!" The voice of another Magpie - thickly Spanish, and throaty like a corpse - cut into Ivan's reverie at that moment. "Quit screwing around, tonto, and neutralise the prisoner!" The Russian growled, but otherwise made no sign he'd acknowledged the other man as he pulled himself upright.

The spanish voice was about to say something else when the door he was standing nearby abruptly closed in his face. Ash had recovered and run for the lever-esque door switch, flipping it to seal himself and Ivan in the room.

For two seconds. Then the switch flipped itself, courtesy of Ivan's powers. He chuckled again, Ash looking dismayed as the door opened back up to show all the Magpies (which now included one of Ivan's peers) still there.

"Well, you have to admit, was worth a shot."

Ivan picked up a trash can, crushed it into a ball, and hurled it at Ash. Ash dodged, only for the metal can to bounce off the wall and smash him in the back, sending him sprawling on the floor.

"WATCH THE SWITCH, IDIOT! You break that and the damn door will be stuck closed until the whole system's rebooted."

"Suka, suka, suka..." Ivan said, and as Ash tried to get up he tore another panel off the wall and flattened him again, moving to stomp on his ankle...

Ash got out of the way, grabbing the sheet of twisted metal, spinning up to his feet, and hammering Ivan with it as a makeshift bludgeon. Whack. Whack. Wha-

Metal wall. Suddenly it was flying back and smacking Ash in the face. Blood flew.

"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" Ivan said.

"What are you, ten?" Ash said.

Ivan's response was to hammer Ash with a mighty punch. He thought he saw a tooth fly out.

He also saw, rather than heard, the portal opening back up. Ivan was nothing if not impatient. The override code opened the door and shut down the portal system, but without follow up programs, for something as complicated as the portal machinery it was more like a sleep mode than a shut off. Something must have 'woken' the network back up. For a moment, Ivan debated crushing it, leaving the fool wholly at his mercy.

It was then the stranger who had spoken before stepped in. Through blurred vision, Ash caught a glimpse of blood-red armour and night-black cape, of a gurning skull mask framing mad, narrow eyes. Obviously another of the Magpie leaders - he vaguely recalled seeing that face somewhere before...

"Ivan, you idióta! Don't touch that! If the computer systems are damaged...!"

"Stay back, Harold. He's mine!"

"Whatever." said Harold. Ivan turned back to his target...

Who was gone.

Not through the portal. Instead he'd snuck behind him.

Leaping. Driving a knee into his back, sending the top heavy semi-Russian falling onto his face. Ash seized onto the Russian's helmet and began slamming his face into the floor. Again. Again.

No Hannah this time, but also not an equal amount of surprise. Roaring, Ivan seized his own armor and threw himself upwards, all the way to the ceiling, smashing Ash between him and it. Ivan landed on his feet when he came back down. All Ash could say was he didn't land on his face.

Ivan did that for him, pouncing and hammering down with another punch. Wham. Wham. Blood splattered on his knuckles, even as his own blood roared in his ears and his heart thrilled.

"IVAN! GODFATHER WILL BE PISSED ENOUGH OVER THE PERSONEL LOSS! DO NOT KILL HIM!"

Harold again. Funny how someone so obsessed with death wanted to keep him alive. Then again, who knew what went on inside his head. But Ivan's...Ash knew that very well, a fog of murk and pain floating over his vision.

"I know not what you did," he heard the man growl behind ringing ears. "Or even how. But when I find them, I will not be as kind to them as I was to you. If I cannot break you, then I can at least scar you!"

The fist, briefly, stopped.

"You think you know regret? How it works? Stupid man. I will introduce you myself!"

Ivan pulled Ash up, pointing him at the portal, his lone escape. One way. No one was coming back through it to save him.

"So close. Watch it slip away."

Ivan threw Ash down before it, turning him over and clamping his hands down on Ash's throat once more.

"YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE MADE AN ENEMY OF ME."

Ash garbled something.

"...what?"

A low whisper, beyond Ivan's hearing.

"...WHAT?" Ivan said, bending his head down.

Ash's hand clamped on his face.

"I said, fucking magnets, how do they work?"

But you couldn't take away the residual powers in my body...

Including the powers of a Center. You just had to pick the right time. How do magnets work?

Opposites attract...flesh and steel. Good and evil. Right and wrong.

Likes repel.

Ivan didn't bellow this time. Ivan SCREAMED, the feeling not like when he was remade, except instead of the metal flying to him, it was flying WITH him, his own powers turned on him as Ash shoved him backwards and sent him flying into the doorway and the hallway beyond, Harold barely able to react before he was flattened and the Magpies behind him were smashed aside like bowling pins, Ivan's lament and rage getting farther away as Ash staggered to his feet.

To the door. He helped himself to some of the fallen Magpies' strength, and then grabbed the door lever and flipped it again, Harold looking up dazed and angry as it closed in his face again.

Ash ripped the lever clean off. An explosion of sparks seared his skin, and the door whined and emitted an odd grinding noise. Ash blearily looked back at the portal. Still open.

"Right back at you, Mr. Silver."

Ash limped over, as he tried to recall Tracy's ways. Just make sure the portal was stable...

The door bent inwards. It wasn't a striking noise so much as an OVERWHELMING noise. Ash glanced back at it. Metal. Ivan surely could have just pushed through it like paper...unless?

"Must be one of those non-ferro metals. Smart woman, that Godfather." Ash muttered, as he repeated Tracy's steps on the keypad. Ivan's bellows echoed in his ears, but the door was holding.

Somewhat. Ivan had gotten a hand in and was starting to crush the door to his side. Was he now so mad that he would wreck the portal? Wouldn't he have done so already?

Well...nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was why Ash was here to begin with, as he stumbled towards the portal.

"I WILL USE THE BOMBS!"

Those words cut through to Ash. He stopped, despite himself, he looked.

"IN THEM! THE SWITCH IS RIGHT HERE!" Ivan snarled, the door having been halfway bent out of place, allowing him to reach his upper body through. "IT HAS A RANGE OF A HUNDRED MILES!"

"Think they're a bit...outside that." Ash said.

"You think you are smart? That you've WON? Then tell me, fool! How are you going to CLOSE THE PORTAL WHEN YOU GO THROUGH IT?"

"You want to come say hello? I'm sure some people will be glad to see you..."

"Idiot! You think I will let the portal remain one way? I will simply have it adjusted to go both ways! So run! Run to them! You can tell them how you doomed them all, before I step through, press the switch, and step right back! How considerate of you to place them on another world! It will ensure I don't kill any of my LOYAL troops!"

"...You're bluffing."

"Heh." Ivan rasped, continuing to crush the door so he could fully enter. "No. I just know you, prostak. So good, so kind! You will NEVER allow harm to come to them! You won't even take the chance! So the only chance they have is if you destroy those machines, trapping yourself here and giving them time to scatter away from my wrath. Or will you finally give in? Trade your life for theirs? I think not. You will stay, and you will bear the brunt of their failures, and Godfather's failures, LIKE THE FAILURE YOU ARE."

Ash could say nothing. He looked at the portal, then at Ivan. His shoulders slumped, as his eyes fell downward. He was suddenly...very very tired.

Good man...

"Hah. Even when good knight wins, his blade breaks. Any last words, little knight?"

"...................they were sometimes known as the Twelve Peers."

"...what?"

"Now, historically, they were the foremost members of Charlemagne's court. Although many of their most famous exploits are largely fictitious. Propaganda, to demonstrate Christian martial superiority over the Saracen hordes."

"WHAT ARE YOU BABBLING ABOUT?"

"Well my friend..." Ash said, bending down.

Picking up Blindspot's grenade harness. Yanking the wire that pulled every pin on the numerous flashbangs and normal grenades he had on the vest, the action also releasing them to clatter and roll across the floor.

Even with the mask, Ash could see Ivan's expression.

"THAT'S a paladin."

KABOOM.