The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 20: Revelations

"You don't deserve to wear one of these," Rhodes snaps viciously as he continues to move towards Tony, a clanking noise filling the air with every step that he took. "Shut it down!"

I prayed inwardly that Tony would just do as Rhodes said and take off the suit to avoid any more trouble that he was going to get into. But I should've known that he would do the complete opposite in this, as he instead turned around towards the empty DJ booth mounted on one of the marble steps, a carefree smirk spread across his face.

"Goldstein?" He slurs into the microphone in his hand, and too my surprise, the DJ suddenly shoots up from behind the booth, a nervous grin on his face as he assesses the situation in front of him. "Yes Mr Stark?"

"Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass too," Tony requests in response, bursting in a fit of chuckles as he does so.

Goldstein gives a quick nod of his head before he then types a way at the keyboard of his laptop, and I close my eyes in both frustration and annoyance as the sound of Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust', plays throughout the speakers of the house.

I open my eyes to see Goldstein sink back below the booth as Rhodes suddenly lunges for Tony and grabs him from behind, his arms snaking their way around Tony's torso. "I told you to shut it down!" Rhodes orders firmly.

Tony's smirk only widens as he shoots Goldstein an approving nod before dropping the microphone from his hand and reaching up to place both of his hands on Rhodes' arms around him. The mask of his suit suddenly flips down on his face and before I can even begin to guess on what exactly it was that he was trying to do, Tony's boots fire up and he jumps up in the air, taking Rhodes with him before taking off backwards, straight through the wall on the other side of the room.

My feet are moving before I even comprehend that they are as I race back down towards the stairs as the sound of smashing glass and wood fills the air along with the beat of the music. I kick my heels off as I run, making sure to keep pressure on my wound before I finally reach the wall that Tony and Rhodes had crashed into. I only dare to stick my head around the corner, where I am met with the sight of Tony walking back in the direction where I was standing, while Rhodes was reaching for one of the heavy weights from a stack beside him- they had flown right into Tony's gym. The ground was covered with glass and broken pieces of wood, but Tony only kicked these out of the way, clearly unfazed at the current state of his gym.

"Now, put that thing back where you found it before someone gets hurt," Tony says condescendingly, just as Rhodes throws the weight directly towards Tony, hitting him square in the back of the head. Tony freezes on the spot and turns back slowly, and though I can't see the expression that he was wearing under the mask, something told me by his clenched fists and tight posture that it wouldn't be a pleasant look.

Steve walks warily down the street,
With the brim pulled way down low,

I watch helplessly as Rhodes picks up another weight and hurls it directly at Tony, who merely leans back and avoids getting hit in the face, only to have the weight go crashing through one of the sauna doors in the wall beside Tony. He stares it momentarily before turning back to Rhodes. "Really?"

Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,
Machine guns ready to go.

Tony slowly walks over to one of the sets of weights on the stack beside him and knocks the bottom weight off the bottom of the pole before he then slowly makes his way back to Rhodes, who rushes at him with the intention of meeting him half way. He stretches out his hands but they never make contact as Tony swings the weight back-

Are you ready,
Are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

-and hits Rhodes square in the front who goes flying back and through the barriers of the boxing ring, coming to a crashing halt against the wall on the opposite side, hitting barbells as he does so.