Chapter 230: Forced Intervention
Bucky struggled a few times before completely losing consciousness.
He was out of the fight.
“Bucky!”
Seeing his best friend’s cybernetic arm severed, Steve’s anger and grief overwhelmed what little restraint he had left.
He roared and abandoned defense.
Gripping the vibranium shield with both hands, he drove into Tony at close range.
Shield and armor collided again and again.
Sparks flew.
Armor plating buckled under repeated strikes from the vibranium shield.
FRIDAY’s warnings filled Tony’s helmet.
“Warning: left-arm actuator failure.”
“Warning: flight stabilizer compromised.”
“Warning: armor power remaining at seventeen percent.”
Steve was in no better condition.
Even the Super-Soldier Serum couldn’t make him immune to direct blows from Iron Man’s armor.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
His uniform was torn and stained dark red.
But he refused to stop.
The fight had gone beyond reason.
…
At the bottom of the missile silo, the battle neared its end.
Tony’s armor looked as though it had been beaten with a wrecking ball, but his eyes still burned with rage.
“FRIDAY, analyze his fight pattern.”
“Analyzing.”
A stream of tactical data immediately filled Tony’s HUD.
“Analysis complete, boss.”
Tony’s movements changed.
He stopped relying purely on superior strength and repulsor fire.
Now the armor began predicting Steve’s combinations.
Steve swung the shield sideways.
Tony anticipated it and kicked the back of his knee.
Steve staggered and dropped to one knee.
Tony immediately fired at the shield’s edge.
The impact tore it from Steve’s grip.
The vibranium shield spun away and struck the floor several meters distant.
Tony advanced toward him.
“Don’t make me do this, Steve.”
Steve pushed himself upright.
Unsteady.
Bleeding.
He didn’t reach for the shield.
Instead, he raised both fists.
His voice was hoarse, but unwavering.
“I can do this all day.”
Tony’s remaining restraint snapped.
“Then die!”
His right repulsor flared at maximum output.
He aimed directly at Steve’s exposed head.
Steve lunged forward at the same moment, driving his final punch toward the damaged chest section of Tony’s armor.
Neither intended to stop.
In another second, one of them might have died.
Then—
Space itself twisted.
A ring of golden sparks violently opened between them.
Lynn stepped through.
White coat.
Gold-rimmed glasses.
Expression unchanged.
He raised both hands.
Tony’s repulsor went dark.
Not from a shutdown command.
Lynn’s Quantum Electromagnetic Domination seized the armor’s electrical pathways directly, locking the current inside the weapon systems and forcing the gathered energy back into containment.
Warning alarms screamed.
Then the suit powered down.
Tony was trapped inside a dead shell of metal.
Steve’s punch stopped less than a meter from Lynn.
His fist hung motionless in midair.
The kinetic energy of the strike had been completely arrested by Lynn’s Absolute Kinetic Energy Control.
Steve pushed harder.
Nothing moved.
It was like striking an immovable wall.
The silo became silent.
Lynn looked from one man to the other as if dealing with two exceptionally troublesome patients.
“Gentlemen.”
His tone remained mild.
“A friendly reminder.”
“The medical coverage you purchased from me does not include death caused by intentional homicide.”
Behind him, several portable medical pods floated through the portal.
Lynn ignored Tony and Steve and walked toward Bucky.
He crouched beside him.
Severe blood loss.
Traumatic amputation of the left cybernetic arm.
Extensive soft-tissue damage around the shoulder interface.
Shock.
Bucky’s breathing was weakening.
Lynn looked up.
Steve’s face had gone pale.
Tony’s expression behind the damaged faceplate was unreadable.
Two electronic contracts appeared in the air.
One hovered before Steve.
The other before Tony.
“Mr. Barnes requires emergency stabilization, vascular repair, and reconstruction of the damaged prosthetic interface.”
He glanced toward Tony.
“You require treatment for multiple blunt-force injuries, armor-interface trauma, severe physiological exhaustion, and acute psychological stress.”
Tony’s eyes twitched.
Lynn continued.
“Sign.”
Steve stared at the contract.
Then at Bucky.
His breathing had become even weaker.
“What happens if I don’t?”
Lynn’s expression didn’t change.
“I provide whatever immediate humanitarian stabilization is legally required.”
“But full reconstruction and advanced treatment are separate services.”
That was enough.
Steve signed immediately.
Whatever pride remained had no value beside Bucky’s life.
Tony stared at his own contract.
COMPREHENSIVE TREATMENT AGREEMENT: PHYSICAL TRAUMA AND ACUTE PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISIS
He looked exhausted.
Angry.
Broken.
And far too tired to argue over another bill.
He signed.
Lynn glanced at both signatures.
“A wise choice.”