The interior of the Model Zero suit had ceased being a sophisticated piece of technology; it was a sarcophagus of fire and pain. The moment the Gravimetric Punch delivered its strategic blow, the catastrophic failure of the Nano-Tech reserve triggered the final, lethal stage of the RUNE Protocol. Alex's consciousness was assaulted by a firestorm of cellular dissolution, the raw, uncontained RUNE energy tearing through the organs and tissues it was meant to sustain.
[System Warning: RUNE Protocol Integrity: FAILURE. Host Vitals: CRITICAL. Time to Irreversible Systemic Collapse: T-Minus 12 Minutes.]
Alex fought the white-hot agony, his mind focusing with desperate clarity on the single, final objective. His mission was no longer about survival; it was about the Dimensional Sealing Protocol. He was flying into the core of the invasion, guided by the frenzied, rhythmic pulse of the Infinity Key locked into his chest harness, which was the only thing preventing immediate death by cosmic radiation.
Behind him, Tony Stark, now fully aware of the truth, screamed into the comms.
"Alex! Stop! You're collapsing! I'm reading zero on your internal firewall! That weapon—it's killing you!" Tony's voice was raw with horror and a desperate, frantic realization of his own strategic failures. "I can divert power! I can try to shunt the feedback! Tell me how! Don't be a damn hero, tell me the shutdown code!"
Alex maintained absolute silence. He knew Tony's help was impossible. The solution wasn't a code or a power diversion; it was a biological reboot that required hours of recovery he didn't have. He poured the last drops of the Arc Core's operational energy into the kinetic thrusters, executing short, violent maneuvers to evade the dense fire of the remaining Chitauri forces.
The Fight Through Entropy
Alex plunged toward the Tesseract's anchor—a network of high-energy emitters and alien scaffolding positioned miles above the Earth, where the dimensional tear was thickest. He was a dying man piloting the ultimate defensive weapon through a hellscape.
He was swarmed by Chitauri fighters, but without the energy for the Gravimetric Punch, he reverted to the Model Zero's fundamental function: Kinetic Redirection. He consciously allowed the impact of incoming alien fire, not deflecting it, but absorbing the force and using it to propel his inert body in a controlled, new direction. He became a stone skipping across a battlefield, weaponizing the enemy's aggression against their own formation.
He slammed into the massive body of an armored Chitauri leviathan, using the collision to launch himself closer to the anchor points. Every impact sent a blinding spike of pain through his compromised body, but every spike brought him closer to the mission's end.
"You're a genius! Why are you running into them? You're taking too much damage! Alex, I know it's you! Stop fighting Dad's ghost and fight the enemy!" Tony screamed, his voice breaking through the comms.
The accusation—that Alex was fighting the legacy, not the enemy—was the ultimate motivator. I am fighting for the legacy, Alex thought, the legacy of stability, not spectacle.
The Collapse of the RUNE Core
Alex finally reached the dense ring of alien scaffolding and high-energy projectors that were holding the portal open. The structure was secured by three primary energy supports, all guarded by heavily armored Chitauri infantry. The Avengers were too far below to assist. Alex was alone, and he had only minutes left.
He was out of kinetic energy, out of Gravimetric power, and out of time. His internal comms began to fail, filled only with the high-pitched whine of the collapsing Arc Core.
Alex's vision blurred, the image of the three anchor points wavering before him. He realized his only remaining power source was the very thing that was killing him: the raw, unstable RUNE energy of the core.
He made the final, terrifying calculation: If he couldn't fire the energy through the suit's safety mechanisms, he would fire it directly from the reactor.
With the last shreds of his consciousness, Alex manually bypassed the entire suit matrix. He accessed the RUNE Core's emergency dump valve, channeling the raw, catastrophic output directly into the suit's two forearm gauntlets—the same gauntlets designed to handle the Gravimetric Punch.
His hands glowed with an intense, terrifying white fire—the pure, unbound energy of the Tesseract's counter-frequency, unmitigated by the Nano-Tech.
[System Warning: RUNE Core Bypass: MANUAL OVERRIDE. All Safety Systems: DEACTIVATED. Host Death: GUARANTEED.]
Ignoring the final, terminal agony, Alex fired two massive, simultaneous white energy blasts. The raw RUNE force was a weapon of pure scientific chaos, designed to neutralize dimensional structures. The blasts hit the three primary anchor points, vaporizing the alien scaffolding and the heavily armored guards in an instant of blinding light and noise.
The structural anchors were gone. The portal shrieked, the dimensional fabric twisting violently as the Tesseract's power source was cut.
The Stark Confrontation
The energy feedback was immediate and absolute. The Arc Core seized, its power matrix collapsing entirely. The white fire faded, and the Model Zero suit went utterly dark. Alex's body went limp, the systemic collapse final and complete. The suit began to tumble, an inert, black shell falling through the sky.
Tony Stark, racing upward, arrived at the point of collapse, his mind reeling from the impossible, raw energy signature he had just witnessed. He slammed his repulsors to a halt and caught the collapsing suit, holding the inert form against his own chest.
Tony gently ripped the darkened, shattered helmet away, staring into the face of his estranged brother. The genius he had obsessed over, the rival he had hated, was Alex.
"Alex! No, no, no! Don't you dare! You're a genius, you can't be this stupid!" Tony screamed, his voice cracking with the emotional devastation of the realization. He was holding the only person who understood him, the hidden half of his legacy, and he was dying.
Alex's eyes were open, strained, and filled with a faint, final light. His voice was a dry, rasping whisper, forcing out the last words of his life's mission.
"The... Key," Alex rasped, lifting a weak, trembling hand. He pointed to the Infinity Key, which was pulsing wildly in the center of the now-inert chest harness. "Close... the door."
Tony Stark, holding his dying brother and the final, scientific instrument of salvation, was left with the single, ultimate command. The battle was won, but the sacrifice was complete.
This chapter successfully completed Chapter 44, detailing Alex's ultimate sacrifice and the brutal, emotional confrontation with Tony Stark, setting the stage for the final resolution in Chapter 45.