Marvel Hunter - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Baptism of Iron

Time in Goa didn’t march; it drifted.

Three months had dissolved into the humid air like sugar in hot tea. The monsoon season had come and gone, washing the red dust from the villa’s roof and leaving the jungle around them vibrantly, suffocatingly green.

For Veer and Natasha, the villa had transformed from a house into a dojo, and then into something resembling a home.

The dynamic had shifted. The sharp edges of their initial encounter had been smoothed down by the grind of daily routine. They weren’t just the mercenary and the spy anymore. They were housemates. Partners. Friends, even, though neither would admit it out loud.

They teased. They fought over who finished the milk. They bet on cricket matches they watched on a fuzzy television signal.

But mostly, they trained.

On the terrace, under the midday sun, Natasha was walking.

She moved in a circle, her rhythm hypnotic. There was no sound. But more than that, there was a visual distortion.

As she stepped, a ghostly afterimage lingered behind her for a fraction of a second. Then another. And another.

“Focus on the cadence,” Veer called out from his lounge chair, where he was peeling an orange. “You’re thinking too much. It’s not a math problem, Nat. It’s a melody. Thump-thump-slide. Thump-thump-slide.”

Natasha gritted her teeth, sweat dripping from her nose.

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered, not breaking her stride. “You are a monster.”

She pushed harder. The afterimages flickered—two, then three—before collapsing as she stumbled slightly.

“Dammit,” she hissed, stopping.

This was the Rhythm Echo.

It was an assassination technique from the Zoldyck family, but unlike Nen, it relied purely on physics and optical illusion. By manipulating the rhythm of one’s steps to create a specific cadence, the user could trick the observer’s brain into seeing motion where there was none, creating afterimages.

Veer had taught it to her a month ago.

Natasha had fallen in love with it instantly. It was a skill made for the Black Widow. Silent, confusing, deadly.

She had sent the instructions to SHIELD securely. According to her last check-in, Clint Barton had tried it and tripped over his own feet, and a team of STRIKE agents had spent a week walking in circles until they got dizzy. No one could replicate it.

“You’re getting close,” Veer encouraged, tossing a segment of orange into his mouth. “You had three clones there for a second. That’s enough to confuse a gunman.”

Natasha wiped her face with a towel. “Three isn’t enough. I want seven.”

“Greedy,” Veer smirked.

He closed his eyes, checking his internal status.

—

[Template: Zeno Zoldyck]

[Synchronization: 64.7%]

Aura: Lv45

Power: 51 (Physical Strength Equivalent: ~25.5 Tons)

Affinity: Emitter

Abilities: Electric Resistance Lv3, Poison Resistance Lv3, Healing Factor Lv1

Skills: Assassin Mode Lv2 (75%), Snake Awaken Lv1 (0%), Silent Gait Lv3 (1%), Rhythm Echo Lv2 (34%), Claw Lv2(16%)

Nen Techniques: Ten Lv3(5%), Zetsu Lv3(2%), Ren Lv3(2%), Gyo Lv3(2%), In Lv1(0%), En Lv1(0%), Shu Lv1(0%), Ko Lv3(1%), Ken Lv2(54%), Ryu Lv1(0%)

Hatsu: Dragon Lv1(0%)

—

Veer felt the power humming in his veins. Ren Level 3 was a game-changer. He could now maintain his explosive aura output for three hours straight without exhaustion.

In terms of raw aura capacity and output, he estimated he was roughly equivalent to Gon or Killua at the end of the Chimera Ant arc. He wasn’t quite at Netero or Meruem levels, and he was still chasing the peak of Zeno Zoldyck (who was likely Level 4 or 5), but in the MCU?

He was a titan.

“Alright, break’s over,” Natasha said, tossing the towel at his face. “Sparring time. And no using Ren. Pure hands.”

Veer caught the towel. “You just want to beat me up.”

“Yes,” she smiled sweetly. “I do.”

They moved to the center of the terrace.

Veer assumed a defensive stance. He kept his Ten active (it was passive now, shielding him), but he dialed down his physical strength. If he used 25 tons of force, he would turn Natasha into a red mist.

He had to limit himself to human levels. And that was where Natasha shone.

She came at him like a viper.

A feint to the eyes, a low kick to the shin, a grapple attempt. Veer blocked the kick, but she used his block as a pivot point, swinging her body around to take his back.

She locked her arm around his neck.

Veer didn’t muscle out of it. He tried to use technique to break the hold, shifting his weight, dropping his center of gravity.

They grappled on the stone floor, a tangle of limbs and sweat.

Natasha was technically superior. Her knowledge of leverage, joint manipulation, and momentum was flawless. If Veer were a normal man, he would have been unconscious ten times over.

“You’re overextending your right hook,” Natasha grunted, tightening the chokehold. “And you telegraph your kicks.”

“I’m working on it,” Veer wheezed, tapping her arm.

She released him instantly. They lay on the warm stone, catching their breath.

“You’re getting better,” Natasha admitted, staring up at the blue sky. “You don’t fight like a brawler anymore. You fight like a soldier.”

“High praise from the Black Widow,” Veer said.

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

The peace was absolute. The sound of the ocean, the rustle of the palms, the easy camaraderie.

And then, the roar of an engine shattered it.

It wasn’t a car. It wasn’t a motorcycle. It was the distinct, throaty growl of a customized Audi R8 speeding up the winding cliff road.

Veer sat up, frowning. “We didn’t order pizza.”

Natasha was on her feet instantly, moving to the edge of the terrace to look down.

“It’s not pizza,” she said, her voice tight. “It’s Tony.”

Veer groaned. “Of course it is.”

Tony Stark didn’t knock. He didn’t wait to be invited. He practically vibrated through the front gate.

He looked different. The haunting, hollow look from the cave was gone. He looked healthy—tan, fit, his eyes bright with a manic, feverish intensity. He was wearing a tank top and linen trousers, looking every bit the eccentric billionaire on vacation.

“Veer!” Tony shouted, spotting them on the terrace. “Veer! You beautiful, mysterious son of a bitch!”

He bounded up the stairs two at a time.

Veer stood up, dusting off his pants. “Tony. To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you run out of sunscreen in Malibu?”

Tony didn’t answer. He stopped three feet away from Veer. He was grinning like a shark.

“Look,” Tony said. “Just look.”

Tony closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. His face scrunched up in concentration.

And then, Veer saw it.

A faint, wobbly layer of energy appeared around Tony’s skin. It wasn’t stable. It was leaking everywhere, flickering like a dying lightbulb, but it was there.

It was aura.

Natasha stepped closer, her eyes widening. She could see it too—the faint distortion in the air.

“He actually did it,” Natasha whispered.

Tony opened his eyes, beaming. “Do you see it? Tell me you see it. I’ve been holding my breath for like three months. I call it… the Bio-Shield. Working title. Jarvis hates it.”

Veer stared at Tony. His expression wasn’t one of pride. It was one of horror.

“Tony,” Veer said slowly. “Have you been… training this? For the last three months?”

“Every day!” Tony exclaimed, tapping his chest. “I meditated. I focused. I stopped the heat loss. I visualized the flow. I haven’t been to a board meeting in twelve weeks. Obie is tearing his hair out. Pepper thinks I’ve joined a cult.”

Veer felt a cold pit form in his stomach.

Iron Man.

The timeline required Tony to build the Mark II. Then the Mark III. Then fight the Ten Rings in Gulmira. Then fight Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger).

If Tony had spent the last three months trying to become a wizard instead of an engineer…

“The suit,” Veer asked, his voice low. “Tony. The Mark Three. Is it done?”

Tony waved a dismissive hand. “The suit? I tinkered with it. Got the flight stabilizers working. But this? Veer, this is the future! Why build a suit when I am the suit? Imagine combining this energy with the repulsor tech. I’m rewriting human biology!”

Veer closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You idiot,” Veer muttered.

“Excuse me?” Tony blinked. “I think you mean ‘You Genius’.”

“I mean you idiot!” Veer snapped, stepping forward. The pressure of his Ren leaked out slightly, making the air in the terrace heavy.

Tony flinched, his wobbly aura nearly collapsing.

“You are supposed to be Iron Man, not Monk Man!” Veer shouted. “You have enemies, Tony! And you’re here playing with chi?”

Tony looked hurt. “I’m not playing. I’m evolving. You said it yourself. This saves me.”

“This,” Veer pointed at Tony’s flickering aura, “is garbage. It’s a party trick. It’s ‘Pseudo Ten’. You haven’t opened your nodes, Tony. You’re just mentally holding the heat in. If someone shoots you right now, you die.”

The harsh reality of Veer’s words cut through Tony’s excitement. The billionaire slumped slightly.

“I… I can’t get it any stronger,” Tony admitted quietly. “I hit a wall. No matter how much I meditate, it doesn’t get thicker.”

“Because your nodes are closed,” Veer sighed. “You’re trying to fill a pool with a garden hose that has a kink in it.”

Veer looked at Tony. He looked at the desperation in the man’s eyes.

He had to fix this. He had to get Tony back on track. If Tony felt safe with his aura, he wouldn’t build the suit. If he didn’t build the suit, the MCU was doomed.

Veer needed to show Tony the difference between a trick and real power. He needed to accelerate the process so Tony could move on.

“You want the real thing?” Veer asked darkly.

Tony looked up. “Yes.”

“It’s going to hurt,” Veer warned. “It’s going to feel like I’m pouring molten lead into your veins.”

“I had my chest cut open without anesthesia in a cave,” Tony said, his jaw setting. “I can handle pain.”

Veer nodded.

“Sit down, Tony,” Veer commanded. “Shirt off.”

Tony sat on the stone bench and pulled off his tank top. The Arc Reactor glowed pale blue in the center of his chest, a machine heart beating in rhythm with his biological one.

Veer walked behind him.

“There are three hundred and sixty-one aura nodes in the human body,” Veer recited, his voice taking on the tone of a master. “Right now, yours are clamped shut. You’re only using life-force which normally comes out from the body naturally.”

Veer placed his hand on the center of Tony’s back.

“I’m going to inject my own aura into your system,” Veer explained. “I’m going to force your nodes open from the inside. It’s called Initiation. Or Baptism.”

“Sounds religious,” Tony muttered nervously.

“Brace yourself.”

Veer narrowed his eyes.

Ren.

He didn’t hold back. He channeled his aura into his hand.

He slammed his energy into Tony Stark.

“ARGHHHHH!”

Tony screamed.

His back arched violently. His eyes rolled back in his head.

To Tony, it didn’t feel like energy. It felt like fire. It felt like Veer had shoved a blowtorch into his spine and turned it on high. The heat raced through his nervous system, tearing through the blockages, forcing the microscopic floodgates of his body to blast open.

Every nerve ending fired at once. It was sensory overload.

Natasha watched, her knuckles white as she gripped the railing. She could see Veer’s purple aura flooding into Tony, and then…

WHOOSH.

Steam erupted from Tony’s body.

It wasn’t steam. It was white, blinding life force.

Tony stopped screaming. He gasped, falling forward onto his hands and knees.

The energy was pouring out of him. It rushed out of every pore, a massive, chaotic geyser of power. It swirled around him like a hurricane.

“Holy…” Natasha whispered.

Tony looked at his hands.

The world had changed.

He wasn’t just seeing a shimmer anymore. He was seeing the soul of the world. The tree leaves glowed with faint green energy. Veer burned like a purple sun. Natasha was a tight, controlled flame.

And his own body… he was covered in white fire.

“I can see it,” Tony gasped, his voice trembling. “I can feel it. It’s… it’s everywhere.”

“Control it!” Veer shouted, stepping back. “Don’t just look at it! You’re leaking life! If you don’t contain it, you’ll pass out and die in ten minutes! Ten! Use Ten!”

Tony snapped back to reality. He remembered the feeling Veer had described. The shrinking wrap.

He focused. He grabbed the wild torrent of energy rushing out of him and pulled.

Visualize the suit. Visualize the armor.

The white fire wobbled. It fought him. But Tony Stark had a will of iron.

“Close!” Tony commanded.

SNAP.

The geyser collapsed. The wild aura slammed back against his skin, settling into a smooth, flowing shroud. It wasn’t as dense or calm as Veer’s, but it was stable.

Ten: Activated.

Tony stood up slowly. He looked at his arms. He was glowing. He felt… incredible. He felt like he had drunk a hundred espressos and slept for a week.

“I did it,” Tony whispered. He looked at Veer. “I feel… heavy. But light.”

“That is Ten,” Veer said, wiping sweat from his own forehead. “Congratulations. You’re a Nen user.”

Tony clenched his fists. He felt the power coursing through his muscles.

“This is amazing,” Tony laughed. “I feel indestructible. Bullets? Bring them on! I could tank a missile!”

Veer shook his head. “You arrogant child.”

“What?” Tony grinned. “Jealous?”

“You think you’re invincible because you opened a door?” Veer walked towards him. “Your Ten is Level 1, Tony. It’s barely paper-thin. It won’t stop a bullet. It won’t stop a knife.”

“I bet it stops a punch,” Tony challenged, raising his glowing arms. “Come on. Hit me. Give me your best shot.”

Veer stopped.

“You want me to hit you?”

“Yeah,” Tony said, widening his stance. “Test the armor. I want to see what I can take.”

Veer looked at Natasha. She gave him a look that said, Don’t kill him, but maybe teach him a lesson.

Veer looked back at Tony.

“Okay,” Veer said. “But don’t cry.”

Veer didn’t use Ko. He didn’t even use Ren. He just used his raw physical strength, enhanced by his own Ten.

He calibrated the force.

10 Tons.

Roughly 40% of his maximum output. Enough to derail a train, but hopefully—with Tony’s new aura—not enough to liquefy his organs.

“Ready?” Veer asked.

“Hit me!” Tony yelled.

Veer stepped in. He threw a straight right to Tony’s stomach.

BLAM.

The sound was like a cannon firing.

Tony didn’t even have time to register the impact. One millisecond he was standing there, the next, he was airborne.

His body flew backward like a ragdoll. He crossed the ten meters of the terrace in a blink.

CRASH.

He slammed into the thick trunk of the coconut tree at the edge of the property.

The tree didn’t just crack; it disintegrated at the point of impact. The top half of the tree toppled over, crashing into the jungle below.

Tony fell to the ground amidst a shower of splinters and dust.

Silence descended on the terrace.

Natasha ran forward, her heart in her throat. “Tony!”

Veer stood still, rubbing his fist. “He’s fine.”

A groan came from the pile of debris.

A hand reached up, brushing away a palm frond.

Tony Stark sat up. He was covered in sawdust. His expensive linen pants were torn. His face was dirty.

He coughed, spitting out a wood chip.

He looked at his stomach. There was a red mark, already bruising, but… no blood. No broken ribs.

He looked at the destroyed tree. He looked at Veer.

“Holy shit,” Tony wheezed.

Natasha knelt beside him. “Are you okay?”

Tony looked at her, his eyes wide.

And then, he started to laugh.

It was a wild, hysterical laugh.

“Did you see that?” Tony cackled, pointing at the stump of the tree. “I broke the tree! With my back! And I’m not dead!”

He stood up, stumbling slightly, adrenaline flooding his system.

“Your punch!” Tony shouted at Veer. “That felt like a truck! And I’m standing! I’m freaking standing!”

Veer crossed his arms, hiding a small smile.

“You have a bruise, Stark. If I had used more strength, you’d be a paste.”

“Details!” Tony waved him off, dusting himself down. “The data! The bio-feedback! Veer, do you realize what this means? If I integrate this…”

Tony’s eyes suddenly lost focus. He wasn’t seeing the jungle anymore. He was seeing blueprints.

“The suit,” Tony muttered. “The Mark Three is too heavy. The alloys are too rigid. But if I use the aura to reinforce the structural integrity… I can make it lighter. Faster.”

He looked at Veer.

“I need to go home,” Tony said abruptly. “I need my workshop. I need Dummy. I need a smoothie.”

Veer exhaled a long breath of relief.

“Finally,” Veer said.

Tony walked up to Veer and grabbed his hand, shaking it vigorously.

“Thank you,” Tony said, his voice serious for a moment. “For the pain. And the punch. I needed both.”

“Just build the damn suit, Tony,” Veer said. “And don’t neglect your Ten training. If you stop, the nodes close.”

“I won’t,” Tony promised. He looked at Natasha. “And beauty. Nice yoga pants.”

With that, the glowing billionaire turned and sprinted down the stairs toward his car.

“I’ll send the helicopter back for you guys!” Tony yelled from the driveway.

The R8 roared to life and screeched away, leaving a cloud of dust.

Veer and Natasha stood on the terrace, alone again.

“He’s going to be a problem,” Natasha said, looking at the destroyed tree. “Why did you teach him, and no others?”