A/N Hi, guys! I hope you've all been well and had a wonderful Christmas! New Year is coming up; are you excited for 2017?
By the way, thank you all so much for your kindness and kind reviews upon my return. It was really heartening and that's what convinced me to keep writing. I've written more in the last week than I have in the last year! So again, thanks. It's so very appreciated.
Okay, so about this story: I was brain-storming ideas for the next one-shot I wanted to do, and I had an idea an AU revolving around season one Mandarin, Tony, Pepper and Rhodey. Well, you know how sometimes you start writing, with a clear road map of how you want the story to go, but then the characters take hold of the reins themselves? This was one of those times. What I intended to be a short one-shot took four pages just in the planning stage; and this chapter is one of the longest since I've been back. I'm incredibly excited for this story, and I hope you all enjoy it!
A brief warning, though; this story will be more introspective than many of my others, so it will be more of a departure from my normal style. Hopefully I'll grow stronger with it as the story progresses!
This chapter is mostly from Gene's perspective, though the whole story won't be like that. This story takes place at some indeterminate point after the episode "World On Fire," where Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey recover the fourth ring from the volcano. I'll take a few liberties with one or two plot points, but for the most part I'm picking up from there- including where the characters currently are in regards to one another. That will change over the course of this story- including future Pepperony, although other pairings are hinted- but no more spoilers!
IM:AA doesn't belong to me. (Ooh, look, I finally figured out the fancy line-break!)
Today was just not Gene's day.
"I don't have time for this!" he snarls in his distorted voice as he flings a gauntlet-clad hand towards his adversary. The purple ring on his index finger glows with supernatural light as he constructs a gravity field to pin Iron Man to the ground; the hero's attempt to deflect the attack with his shields is too late. Gene hears a pained grunt as the brunt force of the ring slams into him, pinning his arms to his side and binding him rigidly to the ground. As he levitates towards the hapless Iron Man, Gene reflects on the series of events that led to him being here, now.
His morning had started off as much the usual; he'd woken up at five, gotten ready for school, and then donned the rings to appear as Mandarin to the Tong before he left for the Academy. The purpose of this was both to instruct them in his absence as well as to give them a suitable reason for his departure; his default excuse was his search for the rings, which was certainly believable. The Tong were well aware of his fixation, though they didn't understand his drive, and they also knew that his personal quest had led him to neglect several duties of the Mandarin- such as dealing with their bitter rivals, the Maggia. As was his luck, it was today that his inaction had caught up with him.
"Man-dar-in!" one of the warriors had greeted him this morning, dropping to his knees, head bowed to show respect before Gene, who sat erect on his throne. Several more waited apprehensively behind as the man launched into rapid-fire Chinese, speaking of deals ruined by Maggia interference and attacks on several of their docking bays. Gene would have waved the situation aside like normal- all he cared about were the rings, not turning a profit, so why should he care?- but the unrest in the men around him was palpable. Mutinous thoughts bred like fleas if you didn't snuff them out quickly enough, and it was time that he took action before he had a revolt on his hands.
And that's exactly what he'd been doing. He'd led his men to attack a suspected base for the Maggia, if not to assuage his men's doubts, then to at least have them stop complaining. He'd been correct in the location, and within minutes his men were all involved in brawls through the streets and into the building with the surprised Maggia henchmen. Gene had been hovering about, carelessly taking out random Maggia members with the use of his red and green rings when he felt so inclined, when he'd appeared. As if this was any of his business, as if he had any right to be there at all, Iron Man had encroached on their territory, drawing out what was meant to be a quick conquest into a full-out battle with a blast from his repulsors. There was nothing to be won against a skirmish with Iron Man, but he couldn't afford to look weak in front of his men. Mandarin had attacked.
Under the weight of the ring, Iron Man was attempting to squirm free; Gene could feel the energy emanating from the armour as the unibeam began to fire. Gene clenched his fist and sent another raw wave of power to assail the armoured vigilante. He could hear the strained cries of pain and the light from the crimson chest-plate flickered and died. He took minor satisfaction in the victory.
The Mandarin descended to the ground where Iron Man lay, a wry frown carving along his lips. Why did Iron Man always have to appear when he was least prepared? He'd already succeeded in making him look weak and incompetent in front of the Tong. Now he seemed doggedly determined to stop him from obtaining the remaining Makluan rings, as if he understood anything at all about the Mandarin's objective or the combined power of the rings. It was- in a word- infuriating.
For now, Iron Man was incapacitated and at his mercy. Gene smirks as he lifts the field and promptly propels Iron Man into the side of a brick building; before he even has time to hit the ground the Mandarin has teleported in front of him, shoving him against the wall with a heavily armoured arm. Metal groans and bends minutely under the force.
"A true study of the ancient Chinese arts knows how to find his opponent's weaknesses," Gene gloats as he digs a clawed glove into a damaged part of Iron Man's armour between his shoulder-panel and neck. He pushes his glove in further, earning a shocked hiss as he punctures the pilot's flesh. "The chinks in his armour."
"Well, I never learned martial arts," Iron Man retorts with forced bravado; Gene barely has a moment to register the hum of the unibeam before it catches him solidly in the chest, blasting him backwards into the street and jarring his head beneath his helmet. "But I'm a quick study." Gene doesn't give him time enough to strike; he teleports again, this time far above where the action below is dying down. Curse Iron Man, with his meddling and infernal banter. Gene has no time for such things.
"Tong! Away!" He commands in Chinese, and a moment later all the men, shawled in dark wraps, have disappeared into the shadows. He's about to leave as well when a shout below catches his attention. Iron Man is standing on the sidewalk, clutching at his shoulder, his mask upturned to stare at him.
"This isn't over, Mandarin! Once I find out where you're hiding, you're through!"
Bold words for a guy who'd almost become a shish-kabob.
He doesn't dignify it with a response and instead opts to leave.
The headache he's adopted from the fight still hadn't gone away the next morning.
Gene fiddles with his locker combination distractedly, struggling to listen in on the discreet conversation taking place just down the hall. Stark is whispering urgently to Pepper and Rhodes under his breath; Pepper's hands excitedly wave in the air as she responds to whatever he's just told her. Tony looks exhausted, the circles under his eyes more defined than ever; he shuts down whatever objections the redhead had been pelting him with in his calm and pragmatical manner.
Although Gene doesn't care about overhearing personal drivel, he has the distinct impression they're talking about him. Over the last few days he's caught them huddled like this, always whispering, always closing down the gossip circle as soon as he arrives. Tony's deer-in-headlights look whenever Gene, with calculated disinterest, asks what's going on is almost enough to affirm his suspicions.
Whatever it is that they're so intensely debating, as long as it doesn't have to do with the rings, he's fine with it. He knows that he's not part of Stark's inner circle, nor does he have any inclination to be. Being included doesn't matter to him when he knows they're not really his friends; he's just using them until he can finally fulfill his destiny and claim all five rings. Having an actual... connection with them would make things messy and complicated in the future when he unveiled himself as wielding the rings of power. Those were emotions and attachments he couldn't afford to possess.
At least, this is what he tells himself. The truth is that his own duplicity bothers him now more than he's likely to admit. When he'd blown that up plane all those months ago, fully intending for the resulting explosion to take Tony Stark's life, it had been collateral he'd been willing to accept. But now... Now he'd grown fond of the trio, intentionally or not, especially Pepper. She was rambunctious and talked too much for her own good, yes, but Gene found her endearing all the same. On top of that, she seemed to genuinely enjoy his presence, and he, hers. They were polar opposites, contradictions, but perhaps that was what had drawn them closer together over the past few weeks; that, atop the girl's unabashed gratitude the day he'd "saved" her from the Tong. Yet another lie.
Rhodes and he weren't bosom buddies, but Gene knew that with Stark came the package deal of the overbearing brother-figure. Recently the guy seemed to have loosened up around him, maybe even trusting him more, which of course was good news for Gene. He'd been worried for a while that Stark would eventually begin to listen to Rhodes's incessant warnings to keep his distance and put down the search for the rings; but now, finally, with both Pepper and Rhodes's blessings, he'd been fully integrated into the group.
As for Stark- betraying him made Gene feel the most guilty.
For lack of a better term, Tony Stark was naive. Not just in the sense of his everyday is this a normal human thing that normal humans do? dilemmas, but also because he was entirely too trusting for his own good. All it had taken was a few chance encounters and enrolling at the Academy, and bam- Gene had one of the greatest minds of the planet at his disposal, working to locate the Makluan rings. And not only working for him, but working with him. Tony was unknowingly working side-by-side with the man who had nearly killed him in a plane crash, and had stolen his father away. And yet he was blissfully unaware of anything suspicious and Mandarin-y going on right under his nose.
It was almost too easy- if it was blatantly unethical to be using him in such a way, then it was nearly dishonourable for Gene to let him continue doing so in ignorance- even taking into account that this was just a means to an end. Tony was amiable, likable, with his easy smiles and kind eyes, but that behaviour was naivete on display. Gene was reserved and silent, sparing kindness to no one, because he knew that no one deserved it. He knew better than to trust anyone.
Or he told himself that he did.
Gene quickly turns to attention to his locker when he notices Tony break from the group and start in his direction. Had he caught him staring? He doesn't think so. Not that it would necessarily matter if he had. When Tony arrives, Gene is slamming the door shut behind his economics textbook. He glances over, pretending to notice Tony for the first time.
Up close, he looks even worse for wear than Gene had first realised. His blue eyes are dulled, eyelids drooping, his brown hair is mussed, and he all around just has a very disheveled and tired appearance. Gene also hasn't missed the sudden appearance of a jacket, red with grey trim, zipped tightly to his throat despite the warm spring weather outside. Tony leans against the lockers, and Gene notices he's holding his left shoulder stiffly. He makes a mental note to ask about that later.
"Hey, Gene. Sorry, no luck last night trying to search the books for the next location." Gene winces; even though Tony is smart enough to avoid using key words like rings and temples, he still feels uneasy talking about them in public like this. "Do you want to meet me and Rhodey and Pepper on the roof fifth period? We were going to talk about it then, see if there's anything we've come across that we're just overlooking."
Gene gives a curt nod. "Yes, that sounds fine."
Tony grins, shoving his thumbs into his belt loops and leaning forward, his eyes twinkling. "I have to warn you, Pepper is going to try to talk you into doing some lame play with her. She's already tried convincing me and Rhodey, and you're her obvious best bet." His voice drops conspiratorially. "It's too bad you have some family business to take care of that day."
Gene smirks, immediately catching on. "Ah, yes, my dreaded day for family business at the antique shop. Thank you for reminding me." He pauses, eyeing the bags under the inventor's eyes. "You don't look so good, Stark."
Tony laughs. "You don't look so pretty, yourself, Gene." Gene doesn't return the quip; it's likely true. He hadn't slept well after the attack yesterday afternoon, and his head still aches from the impact with the ground. "You ready for that final in physics?"
Gene shrugs. "As I'll ever be."
Tony offers him a disarming smile, saying something about "not sweating it." Then, the attempt at small-talk over, with a "See you fifth period!" Tony's disappeared into the thronging sea of students. Gene's lips twist with disgust as a young blonde bumps into him, giggling nervously as she apologises and shuffles away. His eyes glint behind his shades. He hates it here so much; all these juveniles with their bumbling, empty words and poor hygiene and insignificant lives. Almost all of them found Gene idiosyncratic in nature, with his sneers and haughty body language and silence, and opted to give him his space, which he'd been grateful for.
All except Stark, with his ridiculous extension of friendship.
In another world, Gene thinks, we could have been friends. Real friends. But I must do what I have to, to fulfill my destiny. To bring this chaotic world into order and peace.
A few hours later finds Gene climbing the final steps leading up to the rooftop. The others are already waiting for him there; Tony, just as unkempt as earlier, sits on the ledge beside Rhodey, who has his laptop open on his lap. Pepper's legs swing freely from the rafters as she babbles, pausing briefly to wave at Gene as he approaches.
"Kind of hot to be wearing a jacket," Gene remarks, his curiosity suddenly piqued at the reappearance of the jacket, still zipped up tight. Tony glances down at it with a sort of vindictive scowl. He pauses for a moment before his hands flits to the zipper at his throat.
"Yeah, you're right." Gene doesn't miss the sharp look Rhodes throws at the inventor, nor the purse of Tony's lips as he stares right back. He's clearly conveying a message with his eyes that isn't meant for Gene. "I'm hot," he insists as he unzips it. Gene watches the scene unfold as he takes a seat at the base of the scaffolding. When Tony peels of the extra layer, he feels every cell in his body freeze in shock.
Tony has medical gauze peeking out from under the collar of his shirt all the way to his shoulder, where his sleeve is rolled up. But that's not what has Gene's attention. Blood has soaked through both the gauze and his shirt, drying and leaving behind an irony brown colour.
The wounds are in the shape of four claw marks.
Marks that have been inflicted, he knows instantly, by the Mandarin's gloves.
Something sharp and unpleasant wrenches deep in Gene's gut, his mind reeling as he pieces together two-and-two. That's not possible- Tony Stark can't be- no, not him-
"Gene?"
But, it fits. The high-tech armour, the do-gooder persona, even the snarky wit. The fascination with the rings, and Stark's ability to survive temples- how he survived the plane crash.
"Is he okay?"
Iron Man's sudden guest appearances whenever he ran off- and all of those times Tony had slipped out of class, only for Gene to hear about another Iron Man encounter that night-
Tony Stark is Iron Man.
"Gene?" Tony whistled at him, taking to his feet, but Gene beats him to it. Wobbling unsteadily on gelatinous legs, he brusquely waves off the three's concerned looks of askance. Pepper climbs down from the scaffolding as Tony lays a stabilising hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine," Gene says quickly, frowning at his proximity to the inventor. Expression guarded, he mumbles, "Interesting cuts you have there."
"Yeah, they're- it's from a dog. Big dog. Big, mean, scary dog." Even if Gene hadn't already known what had inflicted those wounds he would have seen through the poor attempts at a lie. Tony glances to Rhodey before he turns his concerned gaze back on him. "Are you sure you're okay? You look kind of pale."
Rhodey steps into the conversation next, much to Gene's annoyance. "We should get him to the nurse."
"No I don't- I just..." He frowned, then pulled a queasy expression as he hugged his stomach. "I'm not feeling so good. I think I'm going to go home early."
"Do you need help? Can you..?" Tony steps back, lifting his hand just far enough away to let Gene test his feet on his own, hand still hovering in case he fell. Curse Stark and his darned pity. Gene looks up and makes the mistake of eye contact.
Those were the blue eyes hiding behind Iron Man's face-plate all these months. He feels some dam, locked away inside himself, break. He takes a shuddering breath and tries to reassert some control over his heart-rate, feeling altogether overwhelmed. It shows on his normally impassive face.
Concernedly, Pepper steps up to press a hand to his forehead, but Gene brushes her away. "Pepper, I'm fine," he snaps, turning his back on them so that he doesn't have to see their worried faces. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Let me know if you find out anything."
As he leaves, he can hear Tony whispering to his friends that no, Gene hadn't looked very well that morning, either. He grimaces to himself.
So, Tony Stark wasn't as innocent as he'd thought. All this time he'd been fighting feelings of guilt when the billionaire had been keeping hidden a secret of his own. He'd been played for a fool in the same way that he'd been tricking Stark. He'd been duped.
Just how he's supposed to feel about that, Gene isn't sure yet- but one thing he knows for certain is that, if handled very carefully, this could play out in his advantage.
A/N I hope you've enjoyed so far! An update will be up shortly. Be sure to review; let me know what you think!
