The Steel Handshake: Part Four

by DarkMark

Piotr Rasputin faced the three men before him and stood his ground. "Unhand that instrument," he said, "and stand down. This is your last warning."

Iron Man had already given a warning to Al Bare on his helmet radio, advising him to evacuate the area and alert SHIELD and the Avengers. His metal boots pinged against the ground not far behind Peter. "Sounds like good advice from my viewpoint, Unicorn," he said.

The Unicorn, taller than either of the heroes who faced him, stood in his green and orange-armored uniform and laughed at them. The Wrecker and the Destroyer each vouchsafed a smile, but they weren't brave enough to laugh yet.

"Tell the young one about us, Iron Man," said the Unicorn. "Tell him of our current allegiance."

Iron Man shot forward, propelled by his jets, and pushed Piotr back briskly but gently. "Let me handle this, son," he said. "The Unicorn and I are old playmates."

"The Unicorn?" Piotr's face was wrought by surprise. "That one is the–"

The Golden Avenger held his two mailed fists forward, expecting to run into the Unicorn's power horn blast any instant, and calculating the power he'd need to push through it. But he wasn't expecting the two dully-uniformed guys flanking his foe to whip out weapons of an unfamiliar design and train them on him. Before he could reach the Unicorn, beams from their guns touched his armor.

He felt the power of his jets and suit systems lessening. The visual readouts just above his eyeslits in the helmet indicated that power was dropping to near-emergency levels. Damn!, he thought. They've got their own version of an Enervator.

With the power of Iron Man reduced, the Unicorn triggered his own weapon almost nonchalantly. It smashed at the red-and-gold superhero with the power of a falling meteor. Iron Man felt the impact through his armor, tried to change course to lessen the impact, and was still thrown for a loss.

Peter Rasputin had already torn his shirt off and, bare-chested, armored up in seconds. The flesh of the young Russian was replaced by the armor of Colossus.

"Good Lord!" The Destroyer, not used to anything above the power level of the Human Torch, was awed. "Did you see how he did that?"

"I saw, yes," said the Unicorn, and blasted the X-Man off his feet and rolled him head over heels for a short distance. Colossus whumped up against the wall of a nearby building. He righted himself, and seemed to show the effects of the battering.

Iron Man was struggling to pick himself up. The Wrecker said, "Ready to get this thing to the pickup point?"

"In a moment," said the Unicorn. "First, I want to impress something upon the youth." He faced Colossus, then pointed to the gong-machine beside him. "You see this, young man?"

"I see it," said Peter, not taking his eyes off the Unicorn. He had shifted back to his human mode, but was ready to rearmor in an instant.

"This is a machine by which human beings may be sent into parallel worlds," said the Unicorn. "Into entire new universes. My superior learned that the Avengers had brought it with them a week ago after an altercation on another Earth. Is that not so, Iron Man?"

"You seem to know...all about it," said Iron Man, with an effort. "Why not...carry on?"

"We need to get out of here," insisted the Wrecker. The Unicorn silenced him with a glance.

"We will be taking this ourselves. But we will be taking it for ourselves. Not for the Motherland. Do you understand this, young man?"

"Da," said Piotr. "You are not even KGB. You are just common thieves."

"Keep him talking, Piotr," whispered Iron Man. "I'll be building back my charge in a few minutes."

"That will not be necessary, my friend," said Piotr, sotto voce. With an effort of will, he replaced his flesh with organic steel. It slid into place with the sound of many shutting window blinds. The Wrecker turned his enervator gun on Colossus, and the Destroyer followed suit.

Their weapons had no effect. Colossus's power was natural, not mechanical.

The Unicorn sighed. "Seems as though I have to do everything around here." He turned on his power horn again.

Before it could contact Piotr Rasputin, Iron Man threw himself in front of the young Russian. He was not fully powered up yet, and the blast took its toll. Piotr took the Avenger in his arms, offered his back to the Unicorn, and took a powerburst to the spine as he lay Iron Man on the ground. "Kid–" said Iron Man. "Send for help. Don't take him alone..."

"I have been hired to provide security, my comrade," said Piotr, gently. "I will perform my job."

Then he turned. And even the Unicorn had to flinch at what he saw in Piotr Rasputin's metallized eyes.

"Unicorn, go ahead and kill him," urged the Destroyer. "I don't like the way this is going."

The Unicorn blasted away at Piotr's chest and head. But this time, the Russian mutant had set his feet firmly and adopted a stance which he had often taken at home, while braving the terrible winds and snow of his native land. That was the image he called up to himself, now, placing one foot in front of the other, fighting against the thrust and impact of the Unicorn's ray.

And, step by step, he moved closer.

"Kid," Iron Man called out. "Peter. Colossus!"

The power horn's output grew more fierce, but Colossus held his hands like a wedge, deflecting its energies around him. The Unicorn thought about trying to take it on the lam, using his boot-jets to get away with the dimension-spanning machine and letting the two flunkies take the rap for him. After all, Iron Man was down, and their intelligence indicated this one he faced couldn't fly.

But, damn it, the kid had made it personal!

Too personal, as it turned out.

Colossus's arms reached out, snatched the Unicorn's metal belt, and tore it off him with a wrench of parting metal. Two wires inside the villain's suit parted. The primary power source for his horn was lost to him. He could run on auxiliary power stored in a helmet battery, and did so. But he'd have to finish things up quickly.

There wasn't that much time. Piotr's steel hand reached up, grabbed the power horn on his helmet, and bent it upward, crushing it at the same time. The Unicorn had to shut it off immediately, or risk an explosion.

"You've ruined everything, blast you!" snapped the Unicorn. "Now, [expletive deleted] your mother, see what happens when you stand with one of them!"

The Unicorn's strength had been augmented by radiation treatments in Russia to make him at least the equal of Iron Man. His fist lashed out, its steel-mesh glove catching Colossus across the cheek. He winced at the pain, even as Colossus's head was knocked to the side. But that was only for an instant. A silvery fluid was seen at the corner of Colossus's mouth. His face was as grim as Siberian winter. He began to speak.

"Once, I saw you and yours as heroes, Comrade Unicorn. But I was wrong. Heroes do not harm innocents, and you have done that. Heroes do not thieve, and you were about to do that. And once I saw the Iron Man as a villain, but he is not that. He sought to shield me from your horn, even though he had been stricken."

"Your point is?" sneered the Unicorn. "Tell me, before I rip your head off."

"I do not think you will do that, Unicorn," said Colossus. "For I know a good man from a bad one–"

The Unicorn's fist darted out. Peter's hand caught it and squeezed it, painfully.

"–And Iron Man is a good man!"

With that, he smashed a punch that sent the Unicorn all the way back into Building 16. Knowing what he was about to do, Peter leaped in after him, and promised himself to spend as little time as possible there.

"That's it," said the Wrecker, grabbing the Destroyer by the wrist. "We're out of here!"

Before they could take three steps, a repulsor blast cut in front of them. It wasn't at full power, but it didn't need to be.

Iron Man sat on the ground, a fine plume of smoke coming from one metal palm. "You boys wouldn't be thinking of leaving, would you? Not before the sack race and the apple bobbing? I swear, you spies get more and more unsociable every year."

The Wrecker and the Destroyer stayed where they were.

The Unicorn came sailing out of the building, not under his own power.

A second later, Colossus leaped after him. One of his pants legs was torn and the knee was out of the other one. He still looked like he was getting the best of things. The Unicorn stumbled back to his feet, determined to face his foe and see what dignity he could pull out of this fiasco.

A metal fist drove an uppercut into his chin, ratcheting his head back. "That is for Mr. Stark, who has first rights," explained Colossus.

A powerful jab to the labonza drove the wind and whatever the Unicorn had for lunch out of him. "That is for Mr. Hogan, who is my friend, and whom you hurt," Colossus said.

It was all the Unicorn could do just to stay on his feet, but he managed to do it long enough to see the Siberian express coming at him, fist upraised.

"And this...is for Comrade Iron Man!"

THWAMM!!

From the size of the furrow the Unicorn's body plowed in the ground, and his inability to move more than his lungs afterwards, all present judged that there would be no need for further dedications.

The Wrecker and the Destroyer made a last valiant attempt to sneak off, but felt two iron-gloved hands on their shoulders.

"Ever get the feeling that you two should really have stayed in retirement? Oh, and Peter?"

Colossus looked at Iron Man.

"Good work."

The Russian grinned, wiping his mouth. "I think you should let me have one of them. That would give each of us a free hand apiece."

"What for?" asked Iron Man. "Oh, wait. I get it. You take this one." He handed over the Destroyer to Piotr, who grabbed him by the collar with his left hand. His right he extended to Iron Man.

Iron Man stretched out his own hand.

They performed a steel handshake.

"I tried not to notice what was in Building 16," said Piotr. "Except for the Unicorn, of course."

"Don't worry," said Iron Man. "Mr. Stark is very understanding."

-C-

And so he was. A few minutes after the bad guys were remanded to the cops of the Special Task Force, the Avenger took his leave of the X-Man. Piotr was subsequently relayed a message from Mr. Stark to meet him at his office. For all the man's carefully-tailored image, Piotr sensed something a bit messy about his aspect at the time, but didn't remark on it.

"Mr. Stark, I went into Building 16," Piotr began. "There were extenuating circumstances."

"Yeah, I know all about them," said Tony Stark, with a slight smile. "Iron Man told me all about them. I appreciate the fact that you gave one of those circumstances a hit for me."

Peter smiled.

"I'll waive the penalty if you can assure me of what you saw in there, and if you'll give me your word that you won't reveal it to anyone else. Even the X-Men," Stark confirmed.

"You are prepared to accept my word?" said Peter.

"Why not? You put yourself on the line for this factory, for Iron Man, and for me. You stopped three bad guys from stealing a top-security machine. As far as I'm concerned, you look pretty trustworthy to me."

"Mr. Stark...I..."

"Yes, Peter?"

It took a few seconds for Peter to formulate the words, but he finally managed it. "I still do not wish to defect. But I do have an observation to make. Two, as a matter of fact. First, even if Iron Man is an enemy of the state, he is not an enemy of mine."

"And he assured me that you're not an enemy of his, either," said Stark. "What else?"

"Second, that you are my favorite capitalist." He strode over to where Stark sat behind his desk and picked him out of his office chair, grabbing him in a big bear hug.

"Uh, Peter, thanks, Peter," said Tony Stark. "Now, before the guards break in on us, do you think you could put me down?"

"Of course," he said, depositing Stark back in his chair. "By the way, Mr. Stark, if I may be allowed the observation, you seem to have a very sturdy chest for a man your size."

Stark grinned wryly. "It runs in the family. Now. If you want, I can let you have the rest of the day off. Heck, the rest of the week off. With pay. So...what do you say, Peter?"

Piotr Rasputin looked surprised, and even a bit offended, and Stark wondered if his teeth should have stepped on his tongue before he spoke.

"Bojemoi. Excuse me, Mr. Stark, but I have been engaged as a worker for one week. And one week's work is what I shall give you. So, whenever we are finished here, if you will excuse me, I will report back to Mr. Bare."

Tony Stark's smile held warmth enough to melt the snow of the Steppes, Piotr thought. "That'll do, Peter. Thanks from me, and from Iron Man. And now...back to work."

The American held out his hand.

The Russian took it.

And he thought, idly, that it was not unlike shaking the hand of Iron Man.

-C-

By common consent of both workers and boss, Piotr Rasputin got Employee of the Week honors, and kept the plaque that Tony Stark gave him for the rest of his life.

The Unicorn was broken out of confinement by a large and mysterious personage who, much later, would be identified as the Titanium Man. They didn't bother with the Wrecker and the Destroyer, who, at last note, were still working on their sentences at separate federal prisons.

The dimension-spanning apparatus, which had been brought by the Avengers from the Squadron Supreme's world, was destroyed later by Stark, who thought it was too big a temptation for future saboteurs. Besides, after studying it, he knew how to make another one.

And though, in the future, Colossus's loyalties would be severely tested more than once, he never put up with anyone making smart remarks about Stark Industries, or Tony Stark, or Iron Man.

And when any of the newer Avengers asked Iron Man about the foes he fought in the Cold War, he would say, "I fought a lot of Russians, but I'd rather talk about the one I fought beside."

Then he would tell them the story of himself, and Colossus, and the Unicorn.

And some of them would begin to understand...

...and, when one Avenger was present at an X-Man's funeral some years later, no one had to ask why.

back to DarkMark's stories | X-Men archive | comicfic.net