Avengers: Vengeance

Genius at Work

"Let me get this straight," Tony said as he walked a slow circle around Helion. "How is this collar is keeping you from using your powers."

"It emits a low frequency tone that disrupts and negates my inhuman genes," Helion explained.

Tony nodded and folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to regret taking it off of you, am I?"

"No," Helion assured him.

"You're not dangerous?"

Helion chuckled. "Only to certain people."

"Well, as long as you're dangerous to Ultron and Doom, I'm in."

"This plan of yours- you're certain of it?"

Tony smiled. "About ninety-eight percent. It's been a while since I built anything." He paused and looked down at his hands, a flash of guilt hitting him.

"I don't need access to my powers to know this is bringing up feelings of guilt."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Wait, is that your power? You can detect people's feelings?"

Helion laughed at Tony's skepticism. "I can assure you that I am capable of far more than psychic empathy; I can control light," he said before explaining some of his abilities.

Tony listened intently as he began to pick at the collar with his screwdriver. As he worked, Helion explained the process of terrigenesis in better detail.

"You get exposed to Terrigen mist and it crystallizes around you?" Tony continued to pry at the locking mechanism.

Helion nodded. "Once inside the crystal, terrigenesis begins. We remain in the crystal until the process is complete. Then the crystal shatters and we have what is called our second birth."

"That's pretty epic," Tony remarked. He released the lock and tossed the collar aside. "Presto," he said with a flourish.

Helion stood and lifted a hand. Tony watched as a collection of little white photons began to dance around his fingertips.

"Wait- can you weld?" Tony asked suddenly.

"Weld?"

Tony smiled. "Come on and I'll show you."

Lockjaw followed behind Helion as Tony took them deeper into his subterranean hideout. Once they reached the end of the corridor, they found themselves face-to-face with several dismembered Ultron robots.

"You've kept pieces of them-why?"

Tony beamed. "Because I always sort of imagined I'd build a suit out of them. And you're going to help me."

At once, Tony began to work at pulling the pieces he wanted from each of the robots. Helion assisted where he could, marveling at how quickly the somber and defeated inventor had transformed before his eyes. He worked with confidence, quickly assembling the pieces and instructing Helion on where to weld. Helion focused his photokinetic powers, generating beams of super-heated light to fuse pieces together. Soon, a suit of armor stood before them. Though dented and battle-ravaged, the armor looked imposing enough.

Tony stepped into it and was quickly encased. The face plate slid over Tony's face and he smiled beneath it. "I think we're in business," he announced. He stepped forward, testing his mobility. "It's a little on the clunky side but it'll do."

Helion nodded excitedly, happy to have found another ally in all of this mess.

"Can Lockjaw take us to Ultron Tower?" Tony asked, his voice sounding robotic as it filtered through the suit's speakers.