As Howard looked up at the misguided teenage boy hovering over his cell, he knew what the boy wanted.
"Come with me, old man," He said, sending down a ladder and opening the hatch that kept him down there. "We are going to the sixth Makluan temple."
Howard knew not to fight him. He'd tried that before; all he got was a 'if you don't cooperate with me I'll find your son, kill him and bring you his head.' And quite frankly, he didn't want to risk that.
"I must ask, what is so important about these rings that you need them this badly?" Howard asked.
"Because it is my birthright. I am the true Mandarin, and I am the only one who truly deserves to wear the rings of power." Gene explained, annoyed by the man's constant questions.
Howard nodded, acquiring a new level of understanding of how Gene had been misguided in his life. A broken promise, to put it simply.
Then as Gene finally placed his five rings on his fingers, thus transforming him into the Mandarin, he teleported himself and Howard to the sixth Makluan temple.
"So tell me, why do I have to help you?" Howard asked as they walked down the corridor that would lead them to the test and the sixth Makluan ring. Gene growled at his large amount of questions.
"Because I need your knowledge of the Makluan rings. It is valuable on my quest for all ten rings." Gene explained. Howard nodded.
"So basically I'm just helping you take over the world?"
"Yes."
"Ah. I see." Howard smirked. They reached the area where the ring and its guardian were held, and Gene shoved Howard forward.
"You will go first, Stark," He demanded. Howard swallowed, not being able to ignore the aching feeling in his gut that something was wrong with his son.
"What day is it?" Howard asked before moving forward.
"May sixth. Why?" Gene spat, annoyed.
"Today…today is my son's birthday…" Howard explained. He knew he'd been missing something. He'd been in captivity for almost a year, and quite frankly after a few weeks he'd lost track of time; and not too much longer after that, most of his hope as well.
"I do not care, Stark. Just go scope out that room." Gene demanded. Howard silenced himself and stepped into the room.
Howard sighed and moved forward. All he could think about was Tony. What was he doing right now, how was he celebrating his birthday? Does he think I'm dead? If so, has he made any new friends, and how is he doing at school? Has he dropped out? Is he doing well? Has he forgotten all about inventing, or does he waste all his free time in a lab?
These questions and more buzzed through Howard's mind. Billions of concerns and thoughts varying from optimistic to the worst he could imagine ran through his head, as well as every possible scenario that could have come out of a plane crash, an injured Stark boy and a potentially dead Stark boy's father.
What got at him most was how exactly his son survived a plane crash such as that one. He remembered Tony wanting to show him something, and he knew that must be the key to how he survived, but he didn't know what it was.
"How did my son survive the plane crash?" Howard asked.
"With a nearly indestructible suit of armor. Now shut your mouth and concentrate on the test, old man." Gene explained bitterly. Which led to more questions, of course. Questions concerning why Gene was so bitter towards Tony and what exactly had happened between them, but of course Howard knew to keep his mouth shut.
As the test began, Howard still couldn't help but focus on his son.
~…~
They had passed the test and gained the ring, and even returned home safely. But it wasn't really home, considering Howard was inside a vertical jail cell and miserable and sick.
Yes, sick. He felt weak beyond measure from being held captive for such a long time. He felt immeasurably weak and he had lost a large amount of strength. He found sometimes that he couldn't even stand up out of his cell on his own. The air in the bottom of the cell was so thin, and he kicked up dirt from the floor every time he moved. Not only that, but the food he received every day wasn't near close enough to the required level of nutrients to sustain healthy life. And he wasn't getting any exercise, which severely weakened his muscle tissue. He was like a baby duckling in a pond, waiting for an alligator to come along and snatch him away.
Howard wheezed in his cell and rested his back on the wall. In all honesty, the only way he knew he'd mustered the strength to accompany Gene to the sixth Makluan temple was to think of Tony, his dear son, who had probably suffered worse than himself by this point.
And in a way, he was wrong about that, because what did Tony gain but a valuable group of friends to keep him steady, a good future, good schooling and plenty of opportunities for himself and his friends, and on top of everything, a secret identity as a beloved superhero. And what did Howard have but an unforgiving and misguided teenage boy who had a deranged quest for power that he had been promised as a small boy. But Howard didn't realize how Tony had made out. And truthfully, Tony didn't have it all that much easier, because at least Howard knew that Tony had to live with the grief of knowing that the only family he had left was gone now and that he was all alone in the world. But, what Howard did not know was that Tony had ridden the downward spiral once more when he learned that his father was alive and that he had mistrusted someone, making himself look like an idiot.
As Howard drifted off to sleep, thoughts of Tony's suffering and possible outcomes of his side of the story drifted through his dreams.
Okay, here's the scoop. This story started with me wanting to write something about Howard's suffering while he was kidnapped, and how it tormented him to know his son was probably dead and all that, and I realize that I plain suck at writing Makluan ring test sagas, so I should probably steer clear of that. So here's what I'm gonna do…
I'm most likely going to end up redoing the first chapter to touch more on that idea, and if anyone wants to pick up on what Howard and Gene have been doing regarding the Makluan ring tests that we haven't seen, feel free and message me about it. I just feel that I haven't gotten to the point of the tests, and I don't feel that I will.
I really do hate to just quit on a story, I'm really sorry guys! I'd love to pass it over to someone else after I modify it into a one-shot. But for now, stay tuned for future chapters of other stories.
Oh, yeah, and my link didn't show up all the way. So here it is again:
http:/
marvel.
toonzone.
net/
ironmananimated
/interviews
/auman3
.php
Now if THAT doesn't show up, I just don't know what will. So review!
