Dark storm clouds swirled above the abandoned industrial district, the wind rattling shattered windows in the rusted warehouses below. Two battlefields had formed on either side of the same cracked asphalt one a duel of time and speed, the other a contest of ice and steel. After a serum that neither owned nor should be in possession of.
Arden stood near the edge of a collapsed loading dock, every muscle poised to maintain the delicate balance of his temporal field. Cassie Red Death a dozen feet away humming with raw velocity. In her red mask, Arden could see Cassie's world moved too quickly: her entire form blurred in rapid afterimages.
He took a single step forward, no more than a foot, and activated his power. Immediately, the air around him thickened; dust motes hung motionless, distant sirens elongated into slow wails. To Arden, each fraction of his cautious footfall fed the bent time around him. If he moved too quickly, the field would prove ineffective. Too slowly, he would be exhausted like last time.
Cassie lunged in a streak of scarlet, claws aimed at his throat. Arden waited his boots shifted weight by imperceptible millimeters just enough to stretch the moment. When Cassie's talons arrived, they cut through the air like a hot knife through cream, but Arden caught her wrist in midstride, her speed reduced to a choreographed ballet of near stillness.
Her eyes blazed gold as she yanked free, flaring in that stretched moment. She pivoted and came at him again, a blurred wave of crimson energy. Arden matched her strike by stepping barely two inches enough motion to sustain this arduous fight. Cassie's fist met empty air; his form had shifted within time so she smashed through where he had just been. She snarled, mid–windmill swoop, forcing Arden to step again, careful that his pace never overtook his energy reserves.
He landed three slow, echoing paces toward her each stride a concentrated effort. The world outside remained at pace: a flicker of rain where water droplets froze like crystals. Cassie's frustration mounted; her speed, once unstoppable, felt like she was wading through glue. She forced herself to accelerate, revving her power into overdrive. But Arden, anchored by his deliberate steps, nudged the time ratio narrower each step smaller in anticipation.
When Cassie forced a final downward slash, Arden slid under her kick, landing a hand on her shoulder with precise timing. He rolled to his feet in a blink within the bubble's slow frame and pressed the heel of his boot into Cassie's sternum. The blow barely registered but she saw it and she can do nothing to stop it, but time snapped back with a jolt, and she crumpled to the ground, gasping.
Arden knelt, breath heavy. "You have to keep moving to stay alive," he said quietly. Cassie's, raw edges of red hanging alongside her. She tried to rise but realized that Arden's one cautious step had frozen her mid–moment no matter how fast she pushed, time remained anchored to Arden's deliberate motion. And with no more need to fight he could stretch this ending as long as he needed.
Across the lot, the air crackled with energy as Crimson Dynamo hovered above the rusted chassis of an old delivery truck. His red–gold plating gleamed, repulsors humming with power. Snow stood below, raising a hand. Frost blossomed at his fingertips, swirling around the Dynamo's feet like a tempest of winter.
Crimson Dynamo descended in a burst of jet–propelled flight, boots sparking against the ground's sudden freeze. Antonio shifted his stance, inhaled, and exhaled a column of subzero air. The molten heat of Dynamo's thrusters tore jagged cracks through the icy ground, but each time Dynamo landed, Snow's cold touch seeped into the armor metal groaned as frost crept into seams.
"Fight nice," Crimson Dynamo growled through his helmet's voice modulator, launching twin repulsor blasts at Antonio. The first beam shattered a glacial column; the second caught him in the shoulder, sending him skidding backward. But Antonio's aura snapped back: he thrust a hand into the freezing field, chilling the trailing edges of Crimson Dynamo's plating. The yellow–orange glow of repulsors dimmed under the frost's bite.
Crimson Dynamo clenched his fists. His armor hissed as the ice spread. He blasted off the ground, rocketing toward Antonio in a straight line. Antonio responded by slamming his palms into the cracked concrete, sending a blast of icy mist that swirled around the Dynamo's legs. Crimson Dynamo's feet skidded as metal turned brittle.
He twisted in midair and fired a repulsor cannon directly downward, overheating the frost into steam. Steam hissed as it met the freezing ground; Dynamo landed behind Antonio, repulsor gauntlet outstretched. Antonio bolted forward, palms crackling as he summoned a gas–like fog of subzero air. Dynamo's armor fractured silently as he pursued metal turning bone–brittle under Snow's relentless cold.
Antonio pushed off the frozen steel dumpster and launched himself at Dynamo's exposed knee plate. His knee drove in; the brittle armor buckled under the force, creating a gash in the metal. Crimson Dynamo staggered, releasing a plume of steam as internal circuits stuttered.
Dynamo roared and reached for his shoulder's secondary thruster only to discover it frozen solid. With a curse, he leapt backward, repulsor rays carving scorch marks above Antonio's head. The ground beneath Antonio erupted in fire–heated frost, forcing him to leap sideways, sending an outbreak of hot water steam hissing across the lot.
Dynamo landed in the clearing, one thruster knocked offline. He fired a single repulsor blast that carved a trench at Antonio's feet an attempt to drive him back. Antonio, still enveloped in his frost aura, stepped forward, raising both hands. Ice shards formed instantaneously around his fists projectiles sharper than any blade.
As Crimson Dynamo zoomed forward to finish the fight, Antonio hurled a volley of ice spears. The first shattered Dynamo's right forearm plating; the second ripped into his helmet's edges, cracking the visors. Faced with the onslaught, the armored soldier attempted a hasty retreat, but Antonio moved faster sliding across the frozen steel, he wrapped Dynamo's left leg in ice, freezing the joint in place.
Crimson Dynamo stretched in agony; his repulsor thrusters flared one final time, attempting to break the ice. Sparks flew as metal and frost battled until the brittle armor gave way with a sharp snap. Dynamo collapsed, half–metal, half–frozen slab of dented plating.
Antonio knelt, his breath turning to frost. "Yield," he said softly. Crimson Dynamo's repulsors sputtered and shut down. He slumped, plating cracking as residual heat met the ice.
As Arden surveyed Cassie bound in icy chains of suspended time, and Antonio guided Crimson Dynamo into containment netting laden with cryogenic sling straps, both warriors exhaled. Arden's temporal bubble faded as he stepped back time realigning in gentle waves. Cassie, breathless and battered, glared at Arden with golden eyes that finally recognized her defeat.
Antonio helped Crimson Dynamo to his feet; the once–mighty suit of powered armor now sat cold and fractured. The Dynamo soldier hissed as his armor creaked and cracked under the lingering frost.
Tony Stark appeared on the roof's stairwell, repulsors dim. "You two did well," he said, voice hollow with fatigue. "We got both the speed demon and the government's muscle."
Arden nodded, purple eyes still flickering with residual distortion. "Motion and restraint they each have their place."
Snow wiped condensation from his brow. "Never thought I'd freeze a super–armored soldier. But here we are."
Cassie staggered to her knees. Arden approached, kneeling beside her. "You're not my enemy, Cassie. But the X-ST is not a prize to take it's a responsibility."
Cassie's golden gaze softened. "I...understand." She struggled to rise, wings folding. Arden extended a hand; she accepted it, standing shakily.
Crimson Dynamo, minus half his plating, lifted his visor. "You win," he rasped. "But next time, I won't go easy."
Tony climbed to the rooftop's center, facing the fallen foes. "Time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to wrap up this package. Let's move."
As helicopters descended through the storm-laden sky, Arden and Antonio exchanged a knowing glance. Their battles one fought in stretched seconds, the other in frozen metal had proven that neither raw speed nor brute armor could prevail without understanding the true mechanics of power. And as they carried Cassie and the Dynamo soldier away, the future of X-ST and the world's trust rested on that fragile balance.