"Tony Stark."
Bant spoke through clenched teeth.
He had not expected Iron Man to appear here of all places.
"Yes, I am Iron Man. You know me?" The voice inside the metal armor sounded amused, almost lazy, as if this were an afternoon talk show and not a confrontation in a decaying factory.
"So, do they show the news at the city zoo now? Or is the zookeeper a fan of mine? Want an autograph, little lizard?"
"Sir, this does not appear to be an animal that escaped from a zoo," said JARVIS through Stark's comms.
"Thank you, JARVIS." Tony rolled his eyes, though his tone made it clear he enjoyed the banter.
The creature before him was clearly not any known Earth species. Stark understood that. JARVIS simply lacked a sense of humor.
"So, who exactly are you supposed to be?" Tony asked.
He had only gone out to test the new flight engines on the Mark III suit. He certainly had not expected to stumble upon Bant in his transformed state, racing across the city searching for Dennis Carradine.
Bant had made no effort to hide the existence of his alien form. To him, speed meant efficiency. He wanted to find Dennis quickly, and if that meant knocking around a few street thugs along the way, so be it.
Those thugs, terrified, had flooded 911 with calls claiming a blue raptor monster had assaulted them. The police wrote them off as drug cases.
But JARVIS had tracked the rapid movement patterns and flagged them mid-flight.
Tony had been curious. Very curious. And when Tony Stark was curious, he confronted things face-to-face.
"So what are you? Lizard man? Dinosaur man? A velociraptor that learned to stand upright?" Tony circled in the air, hands spread as if presenting a museum exhibit.
"Wait. Your name isn't Blue, is it?"
He let out a dramatic gasp.
"God. Jurassic World is real. Somewhere out there, there has got to be a mad scientist resurrecting prehistoric life."
He acted horrified, but the smugness radiated through every syllable. Even through the helmet, Bant could picture the smirk.
Bant ignored him. His triangular, predatory eyes were locked on Tony, but his attention flicked to Dennis Carradine lying helpless on the ground. Still there. Still within reach.
His voice came out low and cold.
"This has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it, Tony Stark."
Bant had no interest in becoming connected to Iron Man. He did not want to be a hero. He did not want recognition. Unless Stark was ready to pay him some serious money, their paths had no reason to cross.
A few months earlier he had actually considered investing in Stark Industries during its stock crash. Then he discovered that even the discounted shares cost more than his entire life savings combined.
"Nothing to do with me?" Tony repeated.
"A creature like you trying to kill someone has everything to do with me."
To Tony, Bant did not look like a human. Not even close.
Just a monster. And monsters, in his worldview, were enemies of humanity.
From the moment Tony saw him, Bant was already categorized as a threat. The only reason Tony had spoken this long was to gather information. If this creature was an alien, there might be more like him.
He raised his palm. The repulsor charged, glowing brighter and brighter.
"Hands up. Surrender."
His voice hardened.
"As long as I am here, no one dies."
"You?"
Bant let out a short, sharp laugh. Cold. Sharp. Dismissive.
He did not consider Tony a threat.
Not now. Not at the speed he possessed.
"Come try me."
Bant lowered into a runner's stance. The metallic plates of his mask slid shut, covering his face. A sharp blue X symbol shone across the black metal.
He counted the seconds in his head. Enough time remained.
Five minutes. Five minutes to kill the man who would murder Uncle Ben. Then deal with Stark. Then still make it to school before the first bell.
His transformation time had expanded recently. Last night he had maintained the Alien Kid form for nearly thirty minutes before the Omnitrix forced a reversion. The ten-minute timer seen in the cartoon was not a limit of power but a safeguard to prevent the wearer's DNA from being overwhelmed by alien genetic structures.
His partial spider-mutation seemed to give him extra adaptability. His genes were already no longer purely human.
Thirty minutes was the current threshold.
And Bant had no intention of disabling the safety protocols. If the Omnitrix was designed to protect him, defying that protection was the height of stupidity. He would not pretend he understood Azmuth better than Azmuth himself.
"You just made me angry, kid," Tony said.
The repulsor fired.
A brilliant blast of concentrated light and heat shot forward, shattering the metal platform Bant had been standing on. The explosion tore through steel, sending fragments raining down as the entire support structure collapsed in a roaring cascade.
"Done," Tony said, pumping a triumphant fist.
"Hopefully the little dinosaur did not die too easily." He sounded almost cheerful. "I want something left to study."
JARVIS interrupted immediately.
"Your attack did not connect, sir."
"What?" Tony's voice spiked, though not with urgency, only annoyance.
"Do not start that humor routine again, JARVIS. We were three meters apart. No one can dodge a repulsor blast at that distance."
"Sir," JARVIS said, painfully flat, "look down."
Tony looked.
Bant was already standing at Dennis Carradine's side, claws pressed against the man's chest.
"Drop him, dinosaur boy!"
"My name," Bant said, voice low and steady, "is Flashstar."
His claws pierced Dennis Carradine's heart.
Blood erupted across the black mask, staining the X in a bright and violent red.
The sound echoed through the hollow factory.
Tony hovered, stunned.
And Dennis Carradine's lifeless body collapsed to the floor.
Bant stepped back, looking down at the corpse.
Not with satisfaction.
Not with triumph.
But with grim acceptance.
A life was taken to prevent another life from being lost.
He had rewritten fate.
For better or worse, there was no turning back now.