Tournament of Marvels: Doctor Octopus vs Iron Fist

[Gordy]

Main Thread

This is the Battle of the Brave, the Brawl of the Best, the Clash of the Titans. This is the Tournament of Marvels.

The tournament is considered by many to be the superhero equivalent of the Olympics; the ultimate test of power, skill and talent for anyone willing to compete. Anyone is free to enter, but very few make it past the preliminaries. Even fewer, who make up the best of the best, can go even further.

Hosted in Latveria, hundreds, if not thousands of people had come to the newly-created pop-up arena, the Closed Circle, to witness a clash of power between two titans. Today, four different duels would take place. Eight competitors would battle it out try and reach the semi-finals of the Tournament of Marvels.

The third round's titans were Doc Ock and Iron Fist. Hero vs Villain. Doc Ock might not have been the most powerful villain, but his dangerous intelligence, devious mind and leadership skills made him infamous as the most respected, and recognized, member of the Sinister Six. Iron Fist, meanwhile, was a well-respected Hero for Hire, Avenger and Defender. His proficiency in martial arts, and his unparalleled chi powers, made him a favorite for the tournament. But will that be enough to conquer one of the world's most brilliant brain?

How would this match go down? Brawl to the finish? A battle of wits and intrigue? Rock-paper-scissors? Only the competitors would decide how this played out. Let's hope that, whatever they have in mind, it's going to be the biggest spectacle Latveria has ever seen since last week, when their loving dictator clashed his enemies.

A male announcer's voice echoed through the stadium: "Doctor Octopus vs Iron Fist! Would both competitors puh-lease make it to the field! It's time for bloodshed!"

[aquarius]

Otto Octavius knew that he was unlikely to win a tournament of this nature, but thanks to his recent setbacks even a place in the last few rounds would go a long way to replenishing his lost funds and give him the means to put his name back on the metaphorical 'most wanted' list that as far as he knew didn't actually exist anywhere.

He'd done well so far, but that was due to a combination of trickery and luck - his opponents until now had been unimpressive or not particularly capable of combating his unusual nature. Today though that had changed. The Iron Fist was a formidable opponent who was at least a big a threat as the cursed Spider-Man, and Octavius knew today was likely to be the end of his participation in this tournament if he was not extremely careful.

As he heard his name called he made a final check that his octobots were all still registering as in position, and walked to the arena in a cheap trenchcoat, once in position his tentacles shredded it as they burst free dramatically. If this was to be a spectacle to entertain the masses, so be it. He would play his part as best he could, in the hope that his opponent would underestimate him.

[Rift]

Danny sat cross legged on the floor, deep in meditation as he prepared for the next bout. Such contests were not something unfamiliar to him as he had been in tournament situations before, both to earn the right to be the Iron Fist and to continually test his mettle against the best warriors regardless of their discipline or style. This was little different than those contests, at least on the surface level. It was larger given the contest's host's tendency to lean heavy into the grandiose, but at least it wasn't on a mysterious island, in an abandoned farmhouse, or some dingy warehouse in a crime ridden third world country. Like several of the secretive tournaments he had been a part of there was also a money prize awaiting the winner and of course the bragging rights that went along with victory. Neither of those things interested Danny Rand.

This was personal.

A few weeks prior someone had tried to kill him, setting off a car bomb and taking a few shots at him in the ensuing chaos. He'd been injured, but not fatally. The same couldn't be said about innocent bystanders. The reason for his being a target was not the motives he would have expected. There was no revenge plot by a long time enemy, no attempt to take over his company by getting him out of the way, not even someone angered over his awkward partnership with Fisk to rebuild Mutant Town. No whoever had come at him wanted him dead or too injured to participate in this very tournament, a tournament he wasn't even sure he was going to enter until the failed hit. Whoever that person was, they were here, either as a participant or working on behalf of someone linked to the event, and Danny was going to find them. At this point the only person not under suspicion was Doom himself if only because even if he had somehow become a target of the dictator he assumed that Victor would not resort to such amateur means of removing him.

Whoever it was had not made a move since his arrival. The preliminary rounds he had been in had no sign of interference and his opponents while skilled were not terribly impressive. That meant they were still out there.

His musings were interrupted by the announcer introducing him. Standing he tightened his mask and stepped out to the cheering crowds. He cracked a smile if only because he knew that performing for a bloodthirsty audience was not nearly as Zen as he would have preferred, but he couldn't lie to himself. It was fun to get to show off a little.

Approaching the arena he eyed his opponent. Doctor Octopus was one of Spidey's recurring enemies, a genius scientist if he recalled, and no joke. He may have looked like a dweeb with his bowl cut, portly stature, and odd sunglasses, but Danny knew that even someone less imposing could be a threat. Size and appearance was no reason to underestimate an opponent, especially one that had squared off with the wallcrawler and who could launch vehicles with his mighty mechanical arms. He needed to be cautious.

Taking a deep breath he raised his fist into the air, playing to the crowd before inclining his head in a show of respect.

He may be a maniacal supervillain who regularly trashes the city, but it is only proper to honor a foe who could shred you in seconds, he thought.

"Doctor. Best of luck to you."

[aquarius]

Those who knew little of Doctor Octopus except from the media would be surprised to know that he had a definite sense of honour and respect. So when his opponent inclined his head and showed the traditional sign of someone taking this seriously, Otto reciprocated. Indeed he did so three times simultaneously, once with each set of arms, before adopting a combat stance ready for the announcer to signal the beginning of the bout.

The signal was given, and Otto remained on guard, even as one of his tentacles lashed out on a low horizontal arc, one that would be easy for someone of the Iron Fist's calibre to avoid. If he allowed it to pass him by, the tentacle would twist and curl back to thrust directly at wherever its target had gotten to by that point. Meanwhile, two tentacles held ready to defend him whilst the fourth curled around behind himself, bracing against the ground in case of an impact which might overwhelm Octavius' less impressive organic limbs.

[Rift]

Danny could not help but be impressed by the speed at which the tentacle lashed out. He had seen plenty of footage, both from official Avengers sources and on the local news that had showcased the actual danger that Doctor Octopus could present. Those arms were deadly, capable of lifting great weight, shredding through stone and metal alike, and he had little doubt that they could and likely had turned human bodies into confetti. Watching someone with the precognitive warning senses and near supernatural grace and agility of Spider-Man dodge and weave between them could almost fool a person into thinking that the good Doctor was a pushover in the physical department. Those who did not possess the abilities of a spider however would quickly learn otherwise. To think the man was only brain with no brawn was a mistake. The key, he thought, would be to get to the man behind the arms.

The bout had only just begun and already he was wary. Focusing Rand strafed to the side, feeling the air ripple past him as he narrowly avoided the metallic tentacle. Even if he could close the gap between him and Doc Ock, there were still the other tentacles to contend with, each blocking a physical attack to his person. If he was going to stand a chance, he knew he had to get several of those arms out of commission or at least sneak past them to strike at the man directly. That meant giving the arms something else to think about.

To that end he focused, drawing his chi into his fist, but as it began to glow a golden-white hue he came to a stop and punched not at his foe, but at the ground, a fissure rippling outwards from the point of impact. Maybe, just maybe he'd luck out and the arms guarding the Doctor would readjust to keep him upright as the crack raced towards where Ock was standing.

[aquarius]

A few attacks were sent towards the Iron Fist, not expected to injure but merely to determine his capacity for evasion. A decent strike from either of them was likely to all but decide the bout, so it would come down to whoever landed that blow. Octavius knew all too well his own limits, so would need to assess his enemy as rapidly as possible.

When the counterattack came, it nearly caught him off guard. Some esoteric technique for disrupting the very ground, and in a directed fashion, too. Fascinating! But this was no time to satisfy his curiosity, otherwise he would soon end up as dead as a proverbial cat.

His two defensive tentacles lashed out sideways, getting a decent distance away from this shockwave before striking the ground themselves and lifting him upwards rapidly, up and up until he was nearly twenty feet off the ground. This left him with two tentacles ready for offense, and he didn't disappoint. One lashed out immediately, followed by the other, arcing in from a different angle. Let's see how his peripheral vision is thought Otto as he was ready to move his 'leg' tentacles if they came under attack.

[Rift]

Rand could not help but yet again be surprised by Octavius. He was somewhat portly and his dark glasses and haircut added to the illusion that he was somehow merely a dangerous mind hidden behind a preposterous visage. That however had likely been the end of many opponents for whatever physical deficiencies he may have, those mechanical arms reacted with the speed and precision that even trained martial artists such as himself could only hope to match after years upon years of training and conditioning.

They almost seem to be alive and with minds of their own, as if they are not a mere prosthetic but instead an extentsion of the man himself! Danny thought.

As the Doctor raised himself high above the battlefield, Iron Fist spun on his heels and contemplated lashing out at the "arms" holding him upright, thinking a chi-powered chop may actually break through the durable metal forms. That idea quickly vanished as he found himself twisting like an ice skater to avoid one of the free arms. While he quickly back-peddled and sidestepped the second arm he was not fast enough to avoid it completely, the edge grazing his shoulder drawing blood and sending a throbbing through his entire arm.

Another mistake like that and I'm done for, he thought, careful to not fall into the fissure he had created.

[aquarius]

It was not the first time that Octavius had faced a new foe and seen the realisation on their face. The realisation that whilst his body might be roughly as intimidating as an inanimate object, his mind was terrifyingly dangerous. And with his tentacles being controlled by his mind... Well, it was like kicking sand in the scrawny kid's face, only for him to come back next week after joining the army, now calling himself 'Captain America'.

He had the martial artist on the defensive for the moment, and Otto knew he had to keep the pressure up. Giving a smart opponent time to think was akin to letting them retrieve a dropped weapon, after all.

There were only so many options available to him, though. The Iron Fist fought with a few passing similarities to Spider-Man, but not enough for Otto to consider himself in his element. He had to learn how to fight someone reputedly one of the finest fighters in the world. No small challenge. Testing the limits of his opponent seemed prudent, therefore. Staying raised high in the air on two of his tentacles, Octavius withdrew his offensive pair and began to whirl them around in front of himself at intense speeds - soon generating intense winds, probably enough to hold the martial artist back unless he was more powerful than he'd let on so far. This was a distraction, of course, permitting one of his octobots to move into position at the far end of the arena, hopefully staying in the Iron Fist's blind spot as it snuck up behind him ready to close in the rest of the distance and wrap its flexible arms around Danny in a highly effective grapple.

[Rift]

Danny had intended to follow up with another attack, to slip in close, weave between the mechanical tentacles, and perhaps strike a pressure point. He had no idea whether the arms responded to mental control or like some advanced prothesis he'd seen, to a signal from a nerve ending or muscle movement, but he was fairly certain they'd stop thrashing about once the good Doctor had been rendered unconscious.

Sadly, he wasn't going to get a chance to test that theory, at least not at the moment. Before he could put any kind of plan into action, Doctor Octopus had begun rapidly spinning the arms about, impressing Danny once more with the capabilities of the arms. Wind whipped at him throwing bits of gravel, sand, and who new what else was in the arena towards him. It was no tornado, but the pressure was enough that even if it wasn't driving him backwards, moving forwards was becoming an issue.

Those things are pretty impressive. Damn shame he's a supervillain rather than helping folks. A mind like that with the right kind of funding and the world could be changed for the better, he thought. Ironically the same could be said of the madman running this contest.

Steeling himself against the wind and closing his eyes to protect them from anything kicked up by it, he focused on blocking out all distractions be it the sound of the crowd, the wind, or the mechanical whirl of the arms. Reaching out with his senses and slowing his heart he waited, half expecting the assault to end and Ock to attack anew. It wasn't until the last second that he sensed...something. Movement from behind him and a faint skittering over the arena floor.

Realizing he was not facing Otto one-on-one he strafed to his left, narrowly avoiding the lunge of the Octobot, as he performed a roundhouse kick to the machine. A similar move from Spider-Man or someone else with enhanced strength may have sent the thing flying into the Doctor, but as it was he hoped it knocked it off balance enough to gain some distance and maybe, just maybe, it would be in the way of one of those deadly arms.

[aquarius]

Closer and closer went the autonomous tentacled drone. But at the last moment, just as it lunged in his opponent's situational awareness proved adequate, a well executed but simple move that once more reminded Octavius of his red and blue clad nemesis connected squarely with the Octobot. These things were designed more for distraction and inconvenience than durability, even unpowered combatants were capable of inflicting damage to them if they knew what they were doing. And whatever else you could say about Danny Rand, he certainly knew what he was doing.

One of the tentacles detached from the Octobot, sending the entire unit to the ground briefly, writhing as the CPU evaluated the damage and began calculating how to compensate best to continue in its pre-programmed objectives.

Doctor Octopus, meanwhile, considered his next move. His opponent was swift to react to everything he'd thrown his way so far, and keeping the pressure on him was getting less easy. Soon he was going to lose the initiative in this fight, and if that happened, he was going to lose the fight. The precise nature of this 'chi' was not fully understood by him, but if it could open up a large tear in the arena floor? It would likely be able to sever his own tentacles at least as easily. So they couldn't be relied on to block his attacks. Which only left one reliable means of attack, since this man was no doubt capable of counterattacking any tentacles that approached him.

Otto's next move was something he'd never tried against Spider-Man, partly because he knew it wouldn't work on the web-slinger, and partly because that was the whole point right now - to do the unexpected. As his wind generating tentacles stopped their flailing, one of his hands (organic, not an artificial limb) reached into a pocket and emerged with a pistol. And with that, he opened fire upon the Iron Fist.