Marvel: Vulkanicus

New York | Stark Lab

The lab was quiet, save for the steady hum of arc reactors and the faint click of metal being tested in one of the arms. The silence wasn't comforting—it was the kind of quiet that signaled something was *off*.

Tony sat on the edge of the platform, sipping lukewarm coffee, half-distracted by a screen in front of him still compiling post-flight diagnostics. Outside, Malibu was drowning in early dusk.

"Sir," JARVIS chimed, voice calm but clipped, "there was an unauthorized attempt to access your systems. I've neutralized it. Origin appears to be routed through three blind servers… final bounce, however, leads back to a SHIELD satellite relay."

Tony's brow twitched. "So Fury's peeking into my toys now?"

"Not quite, sir. This wasn't official protocol. Whoever it was, they weren't subtle, nor successful."

Tony put down the mug and leaned forward. "Pull it up."

Within seconds, lines of frozen code filled the main screen. Not elegant. Not SHIELD standard either. Sloppy enough to raise suspicion, but hidden well enough to know it wasn't just some overeager rookie.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Someone's trying real hard to keep me out by making sure I see they're trying to get in." He paused. "Reverse it. If they're knocking, I want to see what door they were standing outside of."

"Already on it, sir," JARVIS replied. "Would you like a fresh espresso as well? You've been seated for two hours and nine minutes."

"Make it something cold this time. And pull the last SHIELD relay node in the Catskills sector. Let's see what's keeping Fury awake at night."

It didn't take long.

Firewalls cracked open one by one. SHIELD's encryption wasn't bad—but Tony built weapons for men who wanted to *stay* off SHIELD's radar. He'd broken worse with a hangover and a pair of prototype neural gloves.

Soon, the feed came in. Seismic logs. Infrared overlays. Thermal signatures clustered around a spot not far from Monticello, New York.

Tony frowned.

"JARVIS, run comparative terrain data from the last three years over that region."

"Pulling now, sir."

A three-dimensional overlay emerged. The mountain range sat still on screen, time-lapsed into motion. Normal for the most part. And then—about five weeks ago—the slightest rise, then another. Not explosive. Not volcanic in the usual sense.

More like breathing.

Tony leaned back in his chair.

"What the hell are you?"

Before JARVIS could answer, his phone buzzed. He sighed, already guessing who it was.

"Rhodey. I know that ringtone. I set it to sound like disappointment on purpose."

The screen blinked with a video call. Tony answered with a tired smirk.

"You went and did it again, didn't you?" Rhodey asked, not even bothering with a greeting.

"Define *it*," Tony replied.

"You blew up a weapons convoy outside Jalalabad and left scorch marks in the shape of a Stark logo."

"That's... not entirely accurate," Tony said, scratching his temple. "It was more of a silhouette."

"Tony," Rhodey groaned. "You *cannot* freelance international bombing runs. The Pentagon's already trying to figure out if they should thank you or court martial you."

Tony shrugged. "Tell them to split the difference and send me a gift basket."

Rhodey rubbed his temples. "And what the hell is this I hear about you poking into SHIELD data nodes again? You just *promised* Fury you'd stop."

"Correction—I promised I wouldn't break into *his* data. This is a… fringe node. Not even labeled. Which means it's hiding something."

Rhodey gave him a look. "Every time you say that, people die or a satellite gets punched."

"Don't worry, I'm not building anything yet. Just digging. There's something weird happening upstate—volcanic activity, but it's not behaving like any volcano I've seen. It's precise. Rhythmic."

"Volcanoes don't *breathe*, Tony."

"Exactly," Tony said, eyes narrowing on the slowly pulsing heat signature on his screen. "But this one does.

---

High above the Catshills, clouds parted around streaks of red-gold propulsion. The Iron Man suit cut through the sky like a missile with personality, sleek and unforgiving against the warm hues of the setting sun.

"Altitude steady. Power at ninety-three percent. External temps below threshold," JARVIS reported. "You're gliding, sir."

Tony tilted his head slightly inside the helmet. "Feels a little *too* smooth. You sure you didn't upgrade without telling me?"

"I wouldn't dare touch your suit without permission. Again."

"Mm-hm. Remind me to triple-check your code next time I catch you humming."

"I don't hum."

Tony smirked, adjusting his course. Below, the landscape unfolded — long stretches of green, clusters of small towns, and one very out-of-place red scar etched into the side of a mountain. The volcano.

"Alright," he muttered, slowing down as he dropped elevation. "JARVIS, get me a wide-angle read on geothermal patterns. I want full-spectrum, and I want to know if this rock is just gassy or hiding something nastier."

"Running scan now."

Tony hovered, letting the repulsors hum gently as the scan pulses spread. A light grid formed across the land below him, illuminating lines of fault and heat flow. What should've been random tremors and chaotic movement looked… symmetrical.

That wasn't right.

"This volcano has a heartbeat," Tony said under his breath.

"Pulse detected. Intermittent, consistent. Roughly every sixteen seconds. The energy spike is localized—originating from the lower magma chamber."

Tony frowned. "That's not magma. That's something *inside* the magma."

Then it happened.

A low rumble cracked through the air. Not like a normal quake—this felt directed. Like something had noticed him watching.

Before he could react, the suit's HUD spiked with red alerts. A sudden electromagnetic pulse tore through the atmosphere, frying sensors for a half second—just long enough.

The tremor beneath him surged upward in a pulse of air and dust. A jet of heat-laced pressure shot up from the mountainside and clipped his right thruster.

"JARVIS—"

"Compensating, but—"

Tony's flight path spun sideways. He tried to stabilize, flipped over once, then again, as smoke burst from the damaged joint. The world tilted. Trees blurred. Ground came too fast.

Everything turned black.

And then silence.

---