Sorry I didn't update the other night I was swapped! But I hope you like this next chapter, but be warned…not everyone makes it to chapter eight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Gene, please don't do this!" Gene turned around very angrily to face Tony; the look of sheer rage shocked him,
"Why do you need to think about it? He is your Dad, who was dead and now isn't you have the chance right here to get him back, why aren't you taking it, Stark?" Tony knew he should have picked his dad without a second thought but it wasn't anyone else, it was Pepper, "It's Pepper; I can't just make a decision like that! Who would you save, your mother or Pepper?"
"That is completely different!"
"THE HELL IT IS! ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION GENE!"
"Pepper, because I know for a fact my mother is dead!"
"But what if she wasn't, huh? What if your mom was in my dad's position? Then you make an easy decision and I will decide on the spot!" Gene fell silent. Tony smiled, "That's what I thought." Gene tightened the gel surrounding Tony; Tony clenched his teeth together trying not to show how much it hurt, "Don't forget Stark, I wouldn't have let her down in the first place." Pepper, overhearing this, tried not to gasp…a gasp could be fatal in her case anyway.
"You just crossed the line! I did not let her down!" Tony yelled,
"You didn't check everywhere was safe, you didn't put up much of a fight at the van and you did Iron up at the school you just lay under the lockers, face it , Stark, you let her down! She would never admit it but you and I both know you did." Gene yelled back, Tony was left silent, did he let her down?
"I couldn't get to her, I tried but…"
"You lost."
"Wait a minute, Dad is getting gasps of air, why isn't Pepper?" Gene sighed,
"Fine to be fair she can have 30 second of air then both of them should be engulfed in water."
Pepper had a plan to get both her and Howard far enough away from Gene than Tony could do his hero thing and get out. Gene had just let the water down, she gasped for air then set her plan in motion, she made a running jump at the bars and grabbed hold of them, Tony seeing this she shot him a 'distract-the-armed-thug' look. "Gene, you're such a fu….." Pepper laughed at Tony's very long very colourful conversation with Gene, He kicked in one of the bars and used it to knock out another, she wriggled through the hole, 10 seconds, she ran over quickly and quietly to Howard's cell, he had hurt his foot pretty bad when he fell in, he was clutching the bars trying to get what little air he could, Pepper smiled at him and kicked in one of the bars, a little too loudly because Gene's head spun around, "You little…"
"Don't even finish that sentence" Tony glared at him, Gene raised his arm and Pepper was surrounded by water again, the shock made her fall back, crashing through the bars she had weakened. Gene walked over to the cell as Howard tried to clamber out, lending his hand to Pepper, He grabbed the billionaire looked him dead in the eye and smiled, he threw him both back in the cell and fixed the bars, adding a bit of strength to them, "Gene, c'mon she is in the flooded cell, at least take of the ring surrounding!" Gene thought about this, it is only fair, he dropped it around Pepper as she swam for the top, she didn't know if there would be air but she knew if you kept going up there was be some sign or life, air, movement. She burst on the surface gasping for air; she looked around the surface, "Mr Stark? Hello?" he was nowhere to be seen, "Howard?" Tony over heard this,
"Dad? Oh no….Pepper check under the water he may have got caught!"
"Shut up, Stark, maybe I have just made your choice easier" Gene taunted, Tony struggled to no avail, "The great Iron Man, nothing but an indecisive child!"
"The Mandarin, Not a force to be reckon with no, nothing but a child throwing a temper tantrum!" Tony returned in the same patronising voice.
"Mr Stark? Can you hear me?" Pepper saw a hand raise above the water, thrashing, she swam over, Howard's foot was caught and he could get to the surface. She dove down trying to get him out, "Neither of them have come up for a while…maybe you lost both." Gene laughed. Pepper burst to the surface, she spluttered out between gasps,
"For crying out loud, Tony just pick your Dad!" Howard managed to get his head above the water for a second,
"Don't worry about m…" he jerked back under the water,
"CHOOSE!" Gene yelled,
"Tony!" Pepper cried as the water filled the whole cell, Tony was so confused he was about to say a name when War Machine burst in, "Rhodey!" Tony smiled, War Machine shot at the un-helmeted Mandarin and he grip on Tony died. Tony ran over to the cell and shot at the bars, kicking and pulling them off. He retracted the armour to dive in after them, the water was freezing and he saw his Dad's foot stuck in the wall, eyes barely open, he swam over and pulled his foot out pushing him towards Rhodey waiting at the entrance to the cell as Rhodey's armour didn't retract. Then Tony saw Pepper, sinking towards the bottom, he didn't have time to take a breath as he dove deeper and deeper to get her, scoping her up in his arms he hoped they were both alright, he couldn't lose someone, not again…
FLASHBACK
"TONY! Are you and your father still in the lab?" Maria Stark called, Howard and Tony laughed in their lab, "No..." they said in unison. "Well I'm going to turn of the power if you two aren't doing any..."
"Noooo!"
"Thought so, dinner, now!" she laughed at them. Tony and Howard walked in with suit and dust all over them,
"Told you I could blow up the table with just a light bulb and some helium." Tony nudged his dad, Howard shook his head, "I still say you cheated!" Maria shook her head, boys she thought.
"Shoot, I forgot to get the dessert, well you boys tuck in I'll run around to the store and get some..."
"JELLY AND ICE-CREAM!" Tony and Howard yelled in unison again,
"Who's the 10 year old here? You or Tony?" she laughed, "I will be back in ten minutes okay?"
"See you later, Mom!" Tony ran up and gave his mother a hug, for some reason it felt differently to him, like special.
A while after Maria left Howard turned on the news, his face fell when he saw the headline, "There has been an accident on the road heading towards the Stark Estate." Tony's head popped up from his dinner and the mention of his last name, A policeman came to the door, Howard answered it, "Good evening Mr Stark, My name is Virgil Potts, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you..."
END OF FLASHBACK
Tony ser Pepper next to where Rhodey had his Dad, Tony quickly put the armour back on to assess the amount of damage caused to them both. Rhodey saw Gene getting up, "Computer, prep side winder missiles...again."
"Missiles are ready," The cheery voice said
"Fire!"
"OWWW!"
"Direct hit." Rhodey smiled. Tony sadly couldn't,
"Pepper needs to be charged like now, And my Dad..." Tony coughed and wouldn't open his faceplate, "He has a lot of water it his system, Rhodey you're the CPR guy, I don't know what to do here, His ankle is badly broken and he has burns from over exposure to the rings, probably testing on them and bad reactions." Schematics and computers, that was what Tony was good at, but drowning? How do you save someone from that? "Don't worry, follow my lead," Rhodey started the chest pumps for CPR, Tony copied. Pepper coughed and sat up, breathing heavily she looked dazed and confused, she looked down at herself, "Why am I soaking wet?" then she saw Howard, "Never mind." Tony hugged her, "Tony, you're in a suit of armour, owww?"
"Sorry." He smiled.
"T-t-tony?" his Dad stuttered, Tony opened the face plate,
"Yeah it's me."
"What happened, how did you survive the plane crash?" Tony gestured to his armour,
"This was what I was going to show you at the testing grounds."
"Colourful,"
"Rhodey said the same." Tony laughed, Pepper's watch started to beep as did Tony's,
"Dude, you need to recharge as well." Rhodey stated,
"Recharge? What do you...?" Tony retracted the armour and showed his Dad his heart implant, "Pepper needs one two thanks to Gen...Mandarin." but then the unthinkable happened, Howard stated coughing and gasping, Tony looked over to see Gene controlling a bubble of water around his father's head, "NO! GENE DON'T!" Tony raised his arm to fire then forgot he didn't have a suit on, Gene smiled and did the same but shot at Tony, he flew back against the wall the when everything was quiet Gene zapped out.
"Tony!" Pepper cried, rushing over to him, Tony rubbed the back of his head,
"I'm fine but, DAD!" Tony ran over to find his Dad not breathing, he was starting to panic, "Rhodey, do something!" Rhodey's head dropped,
"I-I can't Tony. He's gone." Tony was mad now; he hit his fists against the floor,
"NO! I just got him back he's fine! C'mon wake up, wake up!" Tony shook his Dad, Howard open his eyes, "Tony, I'm so proud of you, I love you."
"No, no, no you're not going to die, stop acting like you are, you're going to go back to my new lab with me and we're going to fix you up Okay? You're fine!" Tony cried, tears streaming down his face, Pepper covered her mouth with her hand and Rhodey put his arm around her. "Rhodey, Take care of him for me?" Howard asked. Rhodey nodded, "NO! C'MON STOP TALKING LIKE THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE FINE!" Tony yelled crying harder now,
"Tony I'm taking Pepper to the lab to get her heart charged,"
"Yeah, go ahead we'll met you back there in a minute."
"Tony, don't make this nay harder than it needs to be. I am so proud of who you have become, and you're strong enough to get though this, in two years Stark International will be yours and you can fire Stane for me." Tony laughed at his Dad's statement, "But New York needs Iron Man right now, and I am so proud to be your Dad, Tony." Pepper was crying, Rhodey was the one who wouldn't open the face plate. He picked her up an before leaving, "Goodbye Howard, we'll take care of him." Pepper said. "I promise we will, Bye." Rhodey choked out. Tony sat there, armour retracted beside him, holding his Dad's hand, "I could get you fixed up I know I could..."
"Not this time."
"But, i finally found you I can't lose you now." Howard sat up a little, he did what he had done with Tony when his mother died, he brought both their hands to his heart, and "We're both in here." Howard scrunched his face up, "Dad?" He fell down motionless, "Dad!" His chest stopped moving and there was no noise besides Tony, "DAD! NO, NO ,NO PLEASE WAKE UP!" He sat there for hours, begging, praying, Rhodey had to fly down again and pick them both up, At least they could finally bury the body not a picture of Howard. The whole flight home Tony never let go of his father's hand.
~~
Yeah, sad ending to this chapter but it will probably get better; do you think the right person died? REVIEW PLEASE!
