I Am Iron Man (MHA) Chapter 378: Struggling (Patreon)

[Third Person Pov]

“Rowan,” Mr. Collen said firmly into the communicator while standing just behind Momo, both of them studying the shifting holographic projections. “I want you to take Lydia and head to the thirteenth floor, south wing. The two of you are needed there.”

“I’m on it,” Rowan replied. A sharp, audible pop echoed through the air as he vanished.

“Waah!!” Lydia shrieked in fright the moment Rowan materialized out of thin air beside her. Instinct took over—she thrust her hand forward, power already gathering, ready to blast him.

“Seriously?” Rowan asked, face completely deadpan.

“This entire place is under attack and being besieged by supervillains!” Lydia snapped back, heart still racing. “Forgive me for being a little jumpy!”

Rowan snickered under his breath and simply extended his hand toward her. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Whatever,” Lydia muttered, rolling her eyes. She slapped her palm against his, and with another sharp pop, the two of them disappeared.

They reappeared in the middle of pure devastation.

“Oh damn…” Lydia whispered, eyes widening as she took in the destruction.

The south wing of the thirteenth floor looked like the aftermath of a warzone. Massive piles of rubble dominated the corridor. Fluorescent lights hung from exposed wires, flickering weakly and casting jagged shadows across the wreckage. Unconscious employees lay trapped beneath heavy slabs of concrete and twisted metal, many of them bleeding from grievous wounds. Dust still hung thick in the air, evidence of a fierce battle that had only recently ended.

A low, ominous creaking sounded above them. Rowan’s head snapped upward.

“Oh poop—!”

He lunged forward without hesitation, scooping Lydia into his arms just as the ceiling gave way. With a sharp pop, he teleported them both several feet backward. An instant later, massive slabs of stone and metal crashed down exactly where they had been standing, flattening the floor with a deafening roar and sending a fresh cloud of dust billowing outward.

Lydia quickly pulled free from his hold, determination hardening her expression. “Alright. I got this.”

She thrust both hands forward. A torrent of shimmering bubbles erupted from her palms, expanding rapidly as they engulfed the broken pieces of stone and metal. The bubbles lifted the debris into the air with surprising ease, carefully clearing the rubble and freeing the trapped employees one by one.

Momo’s calm voice crackled in Rowan’s ear. “There’s a medical bay on the fifth floor. Sending you a visual now.”

A glowing visual feed flickered briefly in his vision. The moment he had the location locked in, Rowan got to work. He began popping in and out of existence across the ruined floor—appearing beside two injured people at a time, grabbing them securely, and teleporting them straight down to the fifth-floor medical bay where a team of medics was already waiting. Then he vanished again, racing back for the next pair.

---

“Malikay,” Mr. Collen continued, efficiently directing his students even as chaos unfolded around them. “The twins are on the floor beneath you. It looks like they could use your assistance.”

“I’m on it, Teach,” Malikay answered. Heat flared across his body as his skin hardened and transformed into a glowing armor of living magma. Rivers of molten rock pulsed beneath the surface of his new form.

He slammed a fist into the floor. A concentrated blast of magma erupted from his knuckles, melting through metal and stone with ease until a wide hole opened beneath him. Without hesitation, Malikay dropped through.

He landed hard on the level below and immediately broke into a run—only to skid to a stop when he found the twins.

Mandy and Lenny floated suspended in the air in their monstrous fused form, completely paralyzed. Thin, razor-sharp metal wires crisscrossed the entire corridor like a deadly web. One particularly taut wire was wrapped tightly around their shared neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

A villain stood at the far end of the hallway, holding the other end of the wire with a cold, warning glare.

“Take one step closer,” the man snarled, “and I’ll cut through their neck.”

The twins’ monstrous form let out a strained, choking noise as the wire tightened just a fraction more. Fresh blood trickled down their throat.

“Stop! Fine—you got me. I won’t take another step,” Malikay declared, raising both hands and closing his eyes in what looked like complete surrender.

The glowing crevices in his magma armor flared brilliantly. A sudden, searing heat wave exploded outward from his body in every direction. The razor-thin metal wires surrounding the corridor melted instantly, snapping and dripping to the floor as molten droplets.

“Arghhh!!” the villain screamed as blisters erupted across his exposed skin from the intense heat.

The twins dropped heavily to the ground, immediately collapsing onto their hands and knees. They coughed violently, one hand clutching their shared throat where the wire had bitten deep.

“Thank you—” they managed to rasp, their voices overlapping in the eerie dual tone of their fused form.

Then their heads snapped up. Hatred burned in their eyes as they locked onto the villain. Energy gathered rapidly in their open maw, building into a concentrated beam of raw power. With a deafening roar, they unleashed it fully. The blast struck the man square in the chest and sent him hurtling backward through multiple walls in a cascade of shattered concrete and steel. When the dust settled, he lay unconscious and heavily injured amid the wreckage.

---

Meanwhile, Momo continued studying the live holograms, her attention now fixed on Melissa’s ongoing battle. The feed showed her locked in combat with a towering man whose entire body appeared to be made of living metal. The two seemed evenly matched—at least for the moment.

“Melissa,” Momo said into the communicator, a faint note of amusement coloring her voice, “are you seriously struggling?”

“No, of course not. Don’t be silly,” Melissa retorted, though she didn’t sound nearly as convincing as she wanted. “I just made a small little oopsie, that’s all.”

Momo’s brow furrowed slightly. She directed one of her robotic orbs to run a rapid analysis on Melissa’s opponent. Data flooded the secondary display almost instantly—name, alias, and quirk profile.

Carl Creel. The Absorbing Man. His quirk allows him to absorb the properties of anything he touches.

Momo’s lips twitched as understanding clicked into place. “You let him touch your suit, didn’t you…?”

“Mind your business. I got this handled,” Melissa pouted, clearly sulking even as she refocused on the fight.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to send you backup?” Momo asked, her tone almost teasing now.

Melissa swung her hammer in a powerful arc against Creel’s proto-adamantium skin. Sparks flew with every impact. Through gritted teeth she growled between swings, “Like I said—I. Got. It. Handled!”

“Hahaha! This is amazing!!” Carl Creel bellowed, flexing his newly enhanced metallic form. “This is possibly the best material I’ve ever absorbed! With this, I’m virtually invincible!”

He seized his massive ball-and-chain and swung it in a devastating arc. The blow connected solidly, sending Melissa flying backward through the air.

She twisted elegantly mid-flight and landed cleanly on her feet. Straightening up, she fixed Creel with a sharp, taunting grin. “If you’re so invincible… how come I can still see you?”

As she spoke, the handle of her mallet extended and thickened, transforming into a full-sized war hammer crackling with building energy.

The Absorbing Man paused, staring at her in genuine confusion. “I—What?”

That single moment of distraction was all Melissa needed.

She surged forward at super speed, appearing directly in front of him before he could react. Her electric war hammer came around in a thunderous swing. The impact rang out like a massive peal of thunder. Lightning erupted chaotically around both of them, arcing wildly across the ruined corridor.

Carl Creel was lifted clean off his feet. He smashed through the outer wall of Stark Industries in an explosion of debris and went tumbling into the open air beyond.

Melissa didn’t hesitate. She launched herself after him, staying hot on his trail and keeping him airborne with relentless, punishing swings of her hammer.

“I’m so blaming Tony for making such great material,” she grumbled under her breath as she refused to let him escape her range. “This is all his fault.”

Back in the command center, Momo—who had been listening to every word—rolled her eyes and quietly snickered to herself.