[Red Room's Widow's training base]
Tony soared through the night sky, the nanite armor molding seamlessly around his body. His HUD displayed a real-time map of the Red Room's training base. The power grids, security networks, personnel movements, and every last digital vulnerability he had cracked open like an egg were being displayed before his eyes.
He wasn't just going to burn them down.
He was going to erase them.
"Hermes, status update."
"All security measures are under your control. Turrets, surveillance, automated drones—everything is now running on a falsified loop. As far as they're concerned, tonight is just another night."
Tony smirked. "Perfect."
Hovering high above the base, he engaged his suit's cloaking function. The armor shimmered briefly before rendering him invisible to the naked eye and infrared scans. He wasn't about to storm in guns blazing. No, this was going to be surgical.
"Hermes, begin Phase One."
"Executing, sir."
The first sign that something was wrong came when the automated sentries along the perimeter began dropping offline one by one. Not disabled, just reporting normal functionality while being completely blind. Guards patrolling the walls had no idea their overwatch had gone dark.
Then, the base's internal security grid started feeding falsified data to the command. Doors that were locked showed as open, and guards were reported in places they weren't... a complete digital illusion.
Tony descended, landing silently on the rooftop of one of the command buildings. He knelt down, his armor shifting and adapting, integrating into the shadows of the night.
"Bring up scans. Mark the Widows and the other trainees with priority tags. I want to know where everyone is and what they're doing at all times. No surprises tonight. We go in fast and hard, kill those bastards, and rescue the Widows and those unlucky girls. So, I want accurate results," He said.
With the security under his control, his AI began analyzing the base's personnel movement and feeding it to him through his HUD. Hermes was able to locate the Red Room's personnel with ease, marking them with a green tag on his HUD and the female trainees with orange tags.
"There are one hundred and thirteen Widows-in-training currently in the Red Room underground level. And four hundred and fifty Red Room operatives" The AI reported.
Well, none of the agents were leaving here alive.
"Hermes, execute Phase Two."
"Affirmative, sir."
The carnage began in silence.
Every turret lining the corridors turned on its owners. Suppressed gunfire echoed through the steel halls as rounds tore through agents before they even had time to scream.
Hallways were sealed shut, trapping squads in isolated kill boxes where poison gas seeped in through the vents. Colorless. Odorless. By the time they realized what was happening, they were already choking on their own blood.
Drones, reprogrammed and weaponized, descended from the rafters like mechanical predators, slicing through panicked agents with pinpoint accuracy.
Some tried to fight back.
It didn't matter.
The security systems Tony had rewritten turned every safeguard against them—electrified floors frying agents alive, reinforced doors slamming shut with enough force to crush bones, and automated turrets unloading pinpoint kill shots.
It was merciless. Efficient. Over in five minutes.
The HUD counters in his helmet ticked down with every confirmed kill.
450 agents. All dead.
Tony stood amidst the carnage, exhaling slowly. It was too easy.
Then came the hard part.
The Widows.
...
[Underground Level]
Tony stepped through the ruined security doors. The underground level was massive, stretching out into the distance like a twisted military academy. Rows of young women in identical combat uniforms stood at attention, their faces blank, their postures eerily perfect.
And at the front of the room, two figures stood apart from the rest.
One was an older woman with sharp, angular features, dressed in a white, high-ranking officer's uniform. The Headmistress. A woman who had shaped generations of Widows with brutal efficiency.
The other? Lyudmila Antonovna Kudrin. A name Tony had dug up while tearing through the Red Room's files. She was the mind behind the program's Super Soldier Serum variant—an enhancement that made the "perfect" Widows stronger, faster, and deadlier. If Dreykov had been the mastermind, she was the executioner.
Both women turned to face him as he entered.
Tony smirked beneath his helmet, already activating the nanite swarm.
Invisible to the naked eye, the microscopic machines streamed from his armor, dispersing through the room and entering the Widows' bodies without them even noticing through the air, integrating with their nervous systems.
One command, and they'd all drop.
But first, he had a show to put on.
The Headmistress stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. "Who are you?" Her voice was steady and cold, but beneath it, Tony could sense the edge of unease.
"You can call me Iron Man," Tony said casually, rolling his shoulders. "And before you ask how I found this place? Let's just say your firewalls need an update."
Her gaze flickered to his suit, analyzing it. "This technology… I've never seen anything like it."
Tony smirked. "Yeah, you're about to see what it can do."
Before she could respond, his repulsor flared and a focused laser beam sliced through the air.
Zing!
"ARGGGG!!"
A scream tore through the chamber as the Headmistress collapsed, her legs severed clean from the knees down. Blood pooled beneath her, and the cold, composed mask she had worn shattered into raw agony.
"Attack!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with rage. Well, she passed out in pain.
The Widows moved instantly. Like a single organism, perfectly trained, perfectly conditioned.
Guns raised.
Blades unsheathed.
Bodies launched toward him with terrifying speed.
But Tony was faster.
The nanites activated.
In the blink of an eye, every Widow froze mid-motion. Their bodies seized, their limbs locked up, their weapons falling from their hands. And then, as if struck by an unseen force, they all collapsed into a perfect, synchronized coma.
Silence.
The only sound in the room was the Headmistress's ragged breathing as she clutched at the stumps where her legs used to be. The laser burnt her flesh, so there was minimum blood loss, but the pain... Well, it was just the beginning.
Lyudmila, to her credit, hadn't moved a muscle. She simply studied Tony, her expression unreadable.
He walked toward her. "So, Lyudmila, I have to ask—how's it feel knowing your perfect little program is about to burn?"
Her lips curled into a thin smile.
"You have no idea what you've just started."
Tony smirked. "Do you?" He grabbed her throat and pulled her off the ground, her feet dangling beneath her. "I have to say, it must be nice to live in such a delusional world where you think you're safe, protected by these girls who'd gladly die for you. But let me tell you something... You're not. None of you are."
As much as he wanted to kill her, she still had the formula of the SSS. If he can get his hands on it, then he should be able to perfect it and replicate it.
Tony threw her on the floor and her body crashed against the ground. She was in so much pain that she didn't even try to fight back, instead, she crawled to the nearest wall and leaned her back against it while she glared at him.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice low and laced with anger.
"I want the formula for the Super Soldier Serum you've developed." Tony crouched before her. "Or should I start pulling out your nails one by one? You will scream and beg in pain. I will simply stuff your mouth with a sock to muffle it. Then I will chop your fingers, sprinkle salt to make it more painful, and you will still scream... But it'll be muffled, and no one will hear you. Do you know if you cut off a human's big toe, they won't be able to maintain their body's balance? In short, you won't be able to walk. But you can crawl, so I'll have to cut your tendons and break your knees just to keep you immobilized."
"You will kill me even if I give it to you," she said, glaring at him.
"Yeah, I'll kill you either way. But do you really want to die screaming in pain as I break your body little by little? Or..."
Tony's eyes went toward the medical labs lined up at the far end of the facility.
"...die even more painfully as I inject every single serum in that place into your bloodstream one after another? Now, how many times have you tested them on a human? Hundreds? Thousands? Maybe more? The first couple will be painless but then you'll start feeling your muscles tearing and your organs rupturing. Blood vessels breaking and lungs shredding as you fall to the floor and struggle in pain, gasping for breath. But my nanites will repair your body over and over again. You will want to die, but you won't be able to. Imagine it, your body burning in agony and healing at the same time..."
"There is no such thing as that. You are bluffing."
"Do you want to try?"
"..."
"So... What's it gonna be?"
She opened her mouth and began reciting the formula, her words were laced with hatred and anger.
Tony punched her, smashing her nose in anger. Blood sprayed from her broken nose, staining her uniform. "You bitch! You think I am stupid? Well... Doesn't matter. I will extract the formula out of their blood." He grabbed her hair and dragged her through the halls.
Then he stopped. As much as he wanted to put all those serums into her body, he thought it was only fair for the Widows to take their revenge with their own hands.
Tony made a video call to Natasha. She picked up the call on the second ring.
Natasha's eyes widened as Tony focused on Lyudmila's face and then on the Headmistress' face. Then he showed her the unconscious Widows.
"You... Are they?" She stuttered. She couldn't believe the scene before her.
"They are alive. And these two... I'm pretty sure you'd like to take your time with them," Tony said, turning back the camera to face him.
"The girls? How many are there?"
"There are one hundred and thirteen of them. They are still alive."
Natasha sighed in relief. "Tony... I..."
"No time. Do you have a way to persuade them or maybe extract them somewhere safe for a while? I can't leave them alone in their condition. They are completely brainwashed."
"I... Yes, I think I can."
"Okay, I'll wake them up."
However, before he could do that a massive kick on his back sent him crashing through the walls, breaking through several layers of concrete.
"What the fuc-" Another kick sent him crashing through another wall. This time, he broke through several reinforced steel girders, cutting his back and chest.
"Sir! It appears to be-"
Tony grunted as he got back up, "Yeah, I know!"
"Tony, you alright?" Natasha's voice came over the comms. "What happened?"
"A fucking bear?!"
....
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[Read 15 advance chapters] [No double billing]
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AN: Starting at this point, Tony will face multiple hard battles and he'll start to see his weaknesses and shortcomings.