Prompt#339 –Head Games- Room for Improvement - Tekia – Exalted/the Avengers

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Room for Improvement
Fandom: Exalted/Iron Man
Prompt: Head Games
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: After falling into a trap, the first order of business it to find out where you are. But, if where you are makes no sense, then what are you supposed to do? Traveling to the future is easy, just fall asleep, right? Waking up to a whole different world is harder. Luckily, Tony Stark can adapt to any environment.


Tony held up one hand, as if that would stop Wisp from approaching. Wisp merely tilted his head to one side, his black hair just long enough to brush his collar. “I much prefer to be alive.”
Wisp smiled indulgently at him. He dropped the blade, holding the hilt loosely in his opposite hand so that the blade arched through the air with a low moan. Tony shivered at the sound, recognizing the moan as a sound of pain.
Tony nodded. “Right.” He held up both his hands, palms out and shoved all his extra Essence into another blast. Wisp was faster, ducking away from the full force of the blast, and then swinging the black sword through the rest. The blade screeched with agony and sucked the golden Essence right out of the air like a vacuum, the magic swirling around the blade before sinking in like water to a sponge. Tony gaped, the bottom of his stomach clenching with fear.
The way the others had talked about the Dragon Blooded had lent false confidence to Tony in that fight, but both White Song and Iron Dust had warned him against the Death Knight. They had both warned him that Wisp was not a challenge to accept lightly, for the man was far stronger than Tony, aged and about twice the size.
Tony set JARIVS to watching Wisp’s Essence, looking for any advance notice he could get against him. The man moved far faster than a man of his size had a right to, flicking into movement like a shadow set dancing by a flickering flame. Before JARVIS could warn him, Wisp was moving, sword arching through the air toward Tony’s head. He bent over backwards, in a bend that he could never have survived before his second breath, and continued with the momentum and flipped. He clipped Wisp in the chin with one boot and heard the crunch even through the armor’s thickness.
Wisp dropped away, one hand to his bloody chin, blue eyes on fire with anger. Then he doused the fire and wiped the blood away. He made a grand gesture of moving his jaw before nodding to Tony. “You’re learning more.”
“Oh, I always knew how to do that. It was just that I was far too old to be trying something like that.” He grinned. “Exaltation has given me my youth back.”
The purple glow that represented Wisp’s Essence spiked down the blade in the HUD, giving Tony yet another warning. He readied himself for the sword’s attack, and when it came, he caught the blade with his gauntlets. The force behind the blow jarred his arm, but he didn’t release the grip he had on it. He was braced for the blow, and, although his knees nearly buckled, he held his ground and pulled. Wisp nearly came with the sword, but he caught himself, one foot firmly planted on Iron Man’s boot, and the other coming up to kick him in the chest.
Tony released the blade and fell with the kick, his back hitting the floor. He gasped struggled to get out of the way of Wisp’s next attack, that frightening blade of his coming down at him from right above. He rolled over and scrambled to his feet, taking the flat of the blade to his side before he was out of the way. He cursed and held up his off hand, aiming the rocket. It worked still, and Tony breathed a sigh of relief as the missile fired and chased the sword.
Wisp’s eyes widened at the sight of something so clearly foreign to this time, and Tony used the precious seconds it gained him to escape. He skidded around a bend and heard the explosion and he really, really hoped it hadn’t hit the walls of the manse. With as much damage as he was causing, this thing wasn’t going to survive into the future at all.
The stone was a warm point in his gauntlet, and Tony glanced down at it as the archway through which Iron Dust was waiting came into view. He tossed it up and caught it, wondering idly what the thing did that made it so important to all these people.
He heard Wisp’s pounding footsteps coming up behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, waiting for him to appear around the bend in the hall, heart still pounding in his ears. He didn’t know what Iron Dust was planning, and the mystic hadn’t seen fit to share with him the full of the spell, but Tony just knew that he would want Wisp in that room with them. How he was going to draw him in there without getting all of them killed by trying to trap the lion, he didn’t have a clue. Yet.
JARVIS flashed a warning, and Tony spun about to face the hall that led to the exit. Stone’s Throw had charged at him, small axe held in both hands, alight with golden fire. Tony dodged out of the axe’s arch, hearing it whistle like a normal blade through the air as it cut right in front of him.
“Wait,” he pleaded, “We’re not enemies!”
“That stone is mine,” Stone’s Throw snarled, charging again. Tony cursed and knocked the axe’s next throw away with his fist. “This manse is mine,” Stone’s Throw went on. He swung the axe about in one hand, and, despite his darker coloring, he reminded Tony of Thor with his hammer.
The next attack Tony nearly didn’t escape unscathed, as JARVIS popped up with another warning. He nearly screamed with frustration as Wisp joined their fight, his dark Essence clouding the air.
The two blades clashed over his head, the howling and the clang of metal loud in the manse. Tony finally struggled to pull his own sword free of the scabbard at his hip. He had taken a few lessons from White Song, but he knew that it wasn’t going to be something he was going to excel at any time soon, but with all the blades seeking his blood, he was going to just have to take his chances.
His blade sang free, the metal clean and clear and polished to a high shine. His body, his Essence, told him what to do before he could think about it, and he blocked both axe and sword as they came at him, all three blades a blur of metal in the air.
For some strange reason, the two of them seemed to come to an agreement not to fight each other as they fought him. What the hell had he done to deserve this?
With his back to the wall, he held out, but it was a fruitless endeavor. They were both more skilled than him, and their magic better controlled than his own. All three of them had extended their Essence until the hall glowed with their magic. Tony’s Essence was red and gold, and that pleased him beyond reason. Stone’s Throw’s was gold as well, but there was a brilliant violet surrounding him. Wisp’s was dark, of course, but it was also as bright as theirs.
Iron Dust had said that Death Knights were the same as Solars, only different. That they were brothers, in a way. Through their Essence, Tony could clearly see the connection that made them brothers. Wisp had no gold; black Essence instead. And dark blue. He had bruised his face where Tony had kicked him, and somehow had gained a bruise on his forehead.
And then Yinsen was there, catching the axe by its handle in mid-arc. He nearly pulled Stone’s Throw from his feet, so abruptly did the axe stop moving. With Stone’s Throw still attached to the axe, Yinsen threw it away from him. Stone’s Throw went flying back to the ground. He pushed himself up to his elbows and stared at Yinsen with wide eyes. The glow that had begun to emanate from his body disappeared as the fight clearly left him. Which left Tony still with Wisp to fight off.
With renewed confidence, Tony stepped forward and focused on him wholly. JARVIS watched his style, giving hints and pointers to Tony, his voice a steady, comforting tone. With the sword in his hand, Tony was far outside his comfort zone, but he had to succeed at this. He had to win his way home.
Distantly, he saw Yinsen kneel next to Stone’s Throw, murmuring to him softly. He pointed to the chamber they fought just outside of, and Stone’s Thrown nodded. Yinsen motioned him into motion. Stone’s Throw skirted them as they fought, blades clanging with little bursts of colorful Essence, and disappeared into the room.
Tony trusted Yinsen, he trusted him with his life twice before, and he was willing to trust him with his life a third time, but seeing Stone’s Throw, who had tried to kill both him and White Song going into that room where Iron Dust was alone, made him break out in a cold sweat. He really hoped Yinsen knew what he was doing.
And in the next instant, he proved that he didn’t, as Wisp whipped around, feet a blur of shadow as he danced out of the reach of Tony’s sword and behind Yinsen. Before Tony could shout, the blade bit into Yinsen from behind, piercing him through the chest, crimson blood streaking the black blade, but not dripping off. It was being drunk by the blade.
Time seemed to still for Tony as he looked on in horror as Yinsen was killed in front of him again. Again! And he was powerless to stop it. Again! The breath on his tongue felt like nails. His throat tightened until he thought he was going to suffocate.
Yinsen’s hands came up to frame the tip protruding from his chest; he took a deep gasping breath that sounded far too wet to be healthy. It all sounded distant to Tony as he finally blinked his dry eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, Wisp was falling forward, his sword having missed Yinsen. Yinsen spun out of the way, his cloak fanning around his feet, his arms spread wide as he stood in a martial arts’ stance, at the ready for Wisp to turn on him again.
Tony blinked several times at the sight before him, unable to connect the two images he had seen. Yinsen had clearly been hit by the sword, blood staining his chest, but it was surreal how he stood there, unharmed and not a drop of blood in sight unless you counted the black blood staining Wisp’s brow as he stood. The mark on his head, Tony only just now realizing hadn’t been a dark bruise, was now dripping blood between his narrowed eyes. His mark of Exaltation. Tony brought a hand up to his brow, the gauntlet hitting his helmet as he wondered if his mark was shining like Iron Dust had warned him it would.
But Yinsen was alive. He hadn’t taken the hit Tony thought he had, and that was a miracle.
Wisp faced Yinsen, took one step forward, and Yinsen slammed his bare fist into Wisp’s chest. The force of the blow knocked Wisp off his feet and into the air. Right at Tony.
Tony ducked just low enough to catch Wisp on his back. He stood, his hands catching Wisp’s ankles, and used his upward momentum to throw him into the room. Wisp went tumbling heels over head into the room and landed with his chin on the floor. He braced himself with his hands to push himself upright, but froze at the sight of Iron Dust standing over him, his whole body surrounded with a deep yellow halo, his eyes two bright spots of yellow fire, and his brow cast with his mark of exaltation. Iron Dust frowned down at him and shook his head once.
Wisp didn’t move.
Tony turned to Yinsen and poked him in the chest with one finger. “I saw you die. No Jedi tricks, no head games; how the hell did you do that?”
Yinsen’s lips turned up at the ends. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I said no Jedi mind tricks. You got stabbed right here in the chest. You should be dead.”
The smile grew. “That didn’t happen. Clearly.”
Tony gaped at him. “I saw it. I saw you take a hit.”
Yinsen shrugged. “Did you? Maybe you saw a fate that wasn’t meant to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’ve been given a chance. Don’t waste it.”
Tony frowned at the words, so deeply etched into his soul. In that voice. Yinsen walked around him and into the room, and Tony turned in place to watch him. “Guardian,” Tony stared, but didn’t know how to go on.
Yinsen stopped and sighed. He shook his head and then faced Tony. “I have, moments ago, looked upon my death, and I saw your face.”
Tony hissed in a breath, his heartbeat loud in his ears. He shook his head. “No,” he said, but his voice had lost all power behind it and it came out in a whisper.
Yinsen took pity on him and smiled gently. “You and I have tied our fates together, here. I will meet you again, and when I do, I will know that my death is upon me. This, I accept. My thread has been set, and there is nothing about it I would change.”
Tony nodded. These people were all about fate and following their paths. As much as he hated it, there was nothing he could do to change his past. He eyed Yinsen. Maybe he could change his future, though. “Guardian, you shouldn’t save me.” Yinsen shook his head before he could finish. “To live, don’t save me.”
Yinsen slapped a hand over his mouth. “You know nothing, Lost Path. You were meant to be here, to exalt. You were meant to live, for I have seen it in your stars. Through all that befalls you, there are things you must be alive for, and if my life is in payment for yours, it is both heaven’s will, and my will. There has come upon us a time that the Lawmakers and Kings must return to power, and it is my job to see to it that they have what they need to save us all.”
“That sounds like treason,” Iron Dust said from behind them.
Yinsen turned to face him with a scowl. “I don’t need to hear that from you.”
Iron Dust begrudgingly accepted that with a nod. “Come,” he said, motioning to Tony. “I have completed the spell. Let us see you home.”