Iron Man 3 part one.
I own only my original characters, nothing else. Credit for the idea of this story belongs to sketchywolf.
Several months have passed since New York, and Christmas was right around the corner.
While Max seems to be alright with what happened and what he went through, Tony was a different story. He almost never slept, always down in the shop in their home in Malibu, working on new suits.
Now, Max couldn't sleep at the moment so he thought he should research and develop his theory more. That is he was until he began to hear slight pained yelling coming from the shop.
"JARVIS, what is my dad doing?," Max asked.
'Installing his new micro-repeaters into his arms,' the AI answered.
"Implant repeaters?"
'For his new suit, sir.'
Max rolled his eyes and sped down to see his father indeed implanting micro-repeaters into his arm.
'Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate-,' JARVIS tried to reason.
"No. Forty-eight. Ah!," Tony said, injecting another repeater into his left arm. "Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete."
'As you wish, sir. I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore.'
"Which I will. Right, let's do this."
"Having fun?," Max asked, saying the same thing he had said four years ago, and Tony was so surprised, he fell out of the chair he was sitting in. "What are you doing, Dad?"
"Oh just... trying out a new suit. Feel free to stay and watch," Tony offered and Max shrugged at this and walked into the shop completely as Tony looked to Dum-E sweeping the floor with a dunce cap on. "Dum-E!! Hi, Dum-E. How did you get that cap on your head? You earned it."
"Dad, how may suits have you made?"
"Hey. Hey!," Tony said, still talking to the robot arm whilst hitting his Wing Chun dummy. "What are you doing round in the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat, handle it."
"JARVIS, how many suits has he made these past few months and how long has he been up?," Max asked as Tony walked over to the platform.
'Your father is currently on Mark 42, and has been awake for nearly seventy-two hours,' the AI answered as Tony turned the first six Iron Man suits in the glass cases behind them.
"Dad..."
"I'm fine, Max. I promise. Now, good evening, and welcome to the birthing suit. I'm pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, bad-ass, baby brother."
"...Okay then," Max said and took the camera from the arm and began recording. "Like old times then."
"Okay, awesome then. Start tight and go wide, stamp in time. Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence," Tony said and wiggled his fingers and the pieces of the new suit came on. "JARVIS, drop my needle."
The record player then turns on as well and begins to play the Bombay Dub Orchestra Remix of Jingle Bells. Tony began to move to the music and then points his left arm towards the table with the left arm part of the suit on it... but nothing happened.
"Are you sure the implants are working properly?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
Tony hit his arm a little and then pointed his arm at the table again and this time, the piece of the suit came flying towards him and it attaches itself to his left arm as another piece attaches itself to the rest of his arm.
"Hmm... not bad," Max said as Tony points his right arm to another table and his right forearm was covered by the suit then. " Not bad at all. Maybe I should override your suit codings and try it out myself.
"Haha... tell you what? If you can make the implants without using your speed, I'll recalibrate the suit to work for you as well."
"Challenge accepted. Alright, JARVIS, send everything else."
A leg piece flew towards Tony and attaches itself to his keg and another flew over him and crashed into one of the Iron Man glass cases. Another part comes towards him, but he avoids it by deflecting it and causing it to crash into the floor next to Max.
"Probably a little fast, slow it down. Slow it down just a-," Tony said and avoided yet another piece flying at him. "...little bit."
"You're fine, Dad. This'll train you to have a faster response time and better reflexes," Max said and Tony then had a look of fear on his face as the other leg piece came on and then a piece forcefully attaches itself to Tony's crotch and then one to his back.
The forcefulness almost pushed Tony off the platform, but he stopped his fall and flew back to the center of the platform.
"Cool it, will you, guys?"
The rest of the suit then flew towards him and attached themselves to him until finally only the faceplate remained. It missed him at first and struck the record player, ending the song and then it flew back up and faced Tony.
"Come on. ...I ain't scared of you."
It begins to fly towards him, only for it to hit a table on the way and flip upside down and backwards and so Iron Man flips over and the plate attaches to his face and left him in a hero pose.
"...I'm the best," Tony said to himself.
"Missed a spot, JARVIS," Max said and a stray piece flew towards his father.
This knocks him down and causes the suit to fall off, apart from the head piece.
'As always, sir, a great pleasure watching you work,' JARVIS said and Max helped his father up.
"See where I'm getting at now?"
"...Yeah, maybe seventy-two hours is a while. Can we at least watch some TV first?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"By the way, why are you still up?," Tony asked.
"Haven't been able to sleep much since New York," Max explained. "I've been working on this theory since then on the Tesseract and the possibility of other similar powers."
Max began to explain his theory to Tony, but soon, he began to notice that his father was turning slightly pale at the mention of what happened in New York and related things.
"Dad, are you okay?"
"Yeah... yeah..."
"No, you're not. You're turning white."
Tony then fell to the floor and and began having difficulty breathing.
"Dad, Dad, just breathe. Breathe in slowly," Max instructed as he tried to calm him down and Tony did as he asked. "Breathe out slowly."
He did as his son said and exhaled slowly, beginning to calm down. He repeated the process a few more times until he began breathing normally.
"...Yeah, okay. I'm good now," Tony said and he tried to get up quickly, but his son then stopped him.
"Get up slowly as well."
He did so and Max helped him to the couch. And sat in a chair next to him.
"What's going on, Dad?," Max asked. "That seemed like a panic attack to me."
"Oh, please. It's me we're talking about, no way would I have anxiety," he said and he then turned on the TV and then... he happened.
Rough footage of a man in green robes and long beard and hair in a ponytail appeared on the screen, him walking past a row of hostages to his left and with a firing squad to his right.
"Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher," the Mandarin said on the footage and the firing squad killed the hostages and then showed footage of Americans and then old photographs of Cheyenne people from the 1800s. "America, ready for another lesson? In 1864 in Sand Creek Colorado the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter their families left behind, and claim their land."
Then it showed footage of an explosion in Kuwait.
"Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I... I... I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. ...The soldiers were out on maneuver... the braves were away."
The footage changed again to show the current President of the United States, President Ellis and continued switching from him and then back to the Mandarin.
"President Ellis... you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am... you don't know where I am... and you'll never see me coming."
The footage ends and Max and Tony were left in semi-shock at what had just happened.
"Holy shit," Max said and Tony nodded in agreement as the news then showed the president addressing the threat of this Mandarin.
"Central to my Administration's response to this terrorist event, is a newly minted resource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes, the American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot," the president said on TV and then showed War Machine coming into view, but his suit was now red, white and blue.
"What the hell?," Tony said. "What has he done with my suit?"
"Technically, it's his suit considering the fact that you gave it to him."
"For the last time, he took it."
"You let him take it," Max countered. "Anyway, are we gonna make fun of Uncle Rhodey's new name anytime soon?"
"Hahaha... sounds like a plan. I was gonna go meet him for lunch tomorrow. you can come with me if you'd like."
"Sounds good. I'm gonna go to bed now. Promise me that you'll do the same."
"...I'll try," Tony said.
"I'll take it," Max said and walked back upstairs. "Goodnight, Iron Man."
"Goodnight, Arc. Damn, why didn't I think of that name for myself?"
"Because you were busy being thrown around by Stane, Vanko at the time. Also whatever you were doing when I was in Wakanda."
Max then went back to his room and laid down on his bed as he began to text Shuri.
"Hey, how's your day going?"
"Alright so far. You?," Shuri answered.
"The usual. Doing research on my theory on the Tesseract. Helping my mom move in completely into the house after about four years of her and Dad being back together officially. But mostly, I'm worried about my dad."
"Is he dying again?"
"Thankfully no," he answered. "I installed a biomonitor into his reactor when he was asleep when I first got back. So no more secrets on that part cause I'll know then. Anyway it's worse than that. I think he might have PTSD."
"Hmm... it would make sense, considering the fact that he had a near-death experience in New York. What's happened that makes you think that?"
"It's been the little things really. As of now, he's been awake for three days straight. Then as I explained to him my theory to him, he freaked out a had a panic attack."
"You should tell your mother. Maybe he'll listen to you both," Shuri suggested. "But if what you say is true, I recommend professional help."
"I agree. Now, I gotta get some sleep. I, myself, have been losing track of time and have stayed awake for at least a day. Goodnight, Shuri, or good morning for you."
"Goodnight, Max."
The next day, Tony and Max met up with Rhodey at a local restaurant.
"Hey, Tony. Hey, Max!!," Rhodey exclaimed and got up to hug Max, who immediately returned it. "Have seen you in so long."
"Yeah. Guess we've both been busy," Max said and Rhodey nodded in agreement as they sat down. "Speaking of which... Iron Patriot?"
"Oh... God. It tested well with focus groups, alright?"
"I am Iron Patriot...," Tony said in a mocking voice. "It sucks."
"Listen, War Machine was a little too aggressive, alright? This sends a better message."
"War Machine sounds more badass."
"Agree 100% on that one, buddy. So, what's reall goin' on? With Mandarin? Seriously, can we talk about this guy?"
"You know you can trust us, Uncle Rhodey," Max said and they moved closer to him.
"It's classified information, guys," Iron Patriot said. "Okay, there have been nine bombings."
"Nine?"
"The public only knows about three. Here's the thing, nobody can ID a device. There's no bomb casings."
"They must've found something," Max said.
"Yeah. Silhouettes on the walls of the people closest to the blast. At least within several meters from it."
"Silhouettes? That would mean the explosion reached a temperature of at least 3000C. They would have to have been vaporized instantly for that to happen though. If that's true, then you're dealing with some pretty heavy stuff."
"You know we can help, just ask," Tony offered. "I got a ton of new tech, I got a prehensile, I got a...I got a new bomb disposal. Catches explosions mid-air."
"When's the last time he got a good night's sleep, Max?," Rhodey asked.
"Three days ago," Max answered.
"Three days?!"
"Einstein slept three hours a year. Look what he did?"
"People are concerned about you, Tony. I'm concerned about you."
"So am I, Dad. He had a panic attack last night," Max informed his uncle as his father tried to stop him. "I think he might have PTSD."
"Are you kidding me? You're both gonna come at me like that?"
"No. No, look, I'm not trying to be a dic-," Rhodey said then Max gestured him to change what he was saying as some kids had come up to them. "-tator."
"Do you mind signing my drawing?," the older kid asked.
"If Richard doesn't mind," Tony said, mocking his best friend. "You alright with this, Dick?"
"Fine with me. What about you, Arc?"
"Not a problem."
"You're an Avenger too, right?," the kid asked.
"Yup. I'm
the fast one," Max answered as she handed the drawing to Tony.
"Okay, what's your name?"
"Erin."
He nodded and then saw the boy next to him.
"I loved you in A Christmas Story, by the way," he joked as the kid actually did look a lot like Ralphie.
"Hey, Erin," Max said, getting her attention. "While he's signing your drawing, could you help us with something?"
"Sure."
"What sounds cooler? War Machine or Iron Patriot?"
"War Machine, definitely," she said and the boy next to her nodded in agreement as Max turned to Rhodey.
"There, see? They get it. Thank you," he said and Rhodey just rolled his eyes and turned to Tony.
"Iron Patriot sounds like Captain America with an Iron Man suit."
"...Yeah, it actually does. I've gotta talk to him about that," he said, talking to himself.
"Listen, the Pentagon is scared," Rhodey said as Tony continued to sign the drawing and listened to Rhodey. "After what happened in New York... aliens, come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is priority, but it's not..."
"It's superhero business, I get it."
"No, it's not, quite frankly. It's American business."
"That's why I said I...got it," Tony began to say but then he began to look ill and broke the crayon, and Max knew what was about to happen.
"Are you okay?"
"I broke the crayon."
"It's alright, Dad. Just breathe," Max said, trying to get him to calm down.
"Are you okay, Mr. Stark?," Erin asked.
"Take it easy. Tony...," Rhodey said and everything faded into silence for Tony, that is until the boy whispered into his ear.
"How did you get out of the wormhole?," he asked and suddenly Tony rises and starts walking off.
"Wait a minute! Tony!," Rhodey yelled and got up too.
"Is he okay, Mr. Arc?"
"Yeah, he's okay," Max assured them. "My Dad is just going through some things, neither of you did anything wrong. How about I finish up what he was doing, huh?"
She smiled and nodded and he walked back over to the table.
"Hey, watch this."
He then used his speed to finish what his father was writing and then wrote 'You are also one Earth's Mightiest Heroes.' He then handed it back to the kids and they thanked him and Max paid the bill and ran out to find only his uncle there.
"Where'd Dad go?," Max asked.
"I don't know, he just flew off," he answered. "What's going on with him? You said he had a panic attack last night?"
"That's right. Let's talk about this somewhere else. Don't worry, I already paid."
The two then began to walk through the city.
"I've only begun to notice what's been going on, sadly. I've been busy as well, though not as much as Dad."
"What do you mean?"
"He's gone from Mark VII to Mark 42 in the past few months. Like I said, I think he has PTSD. I told Shuri about it and she said I should tell Mom and get him professional help."
"I think so too. It's likely from almost dying in New York. Let's avoid saying New York for a little while as it seems to be a trigger word for an attack."
"See this often?," Max asked.
"Too often sadly. This is a bad case. Keep an eye on him," Rhodey said. "I gotta get going now."
"Me too. I'll head to Stark Industries and tell Mom now."
He nodded and Max sped off towards Stark Industries, where he then saw Happy doing his new job as Head of Security, though rather too seriously as he was repeatedly reminding the staff to wear badges among other things.
"Hey, if it isn't the Bighead of Security," Max said and got Happy's attention.
"Oh, hey kid," Happy said. "Hate to do this to you, but... badge?"
"Wouldn't that suffice?"
He points to behind him and there was portraits of Howard, Tony and himself there, along with one of Pepper as well.
"Oh, yeah. Okay. Why is your portrait even there? You've never been CEO of Stark Industries."
"I had it made and placed here in case of a situation like this so don't have to wear a badge. Where's my mom?"
"She should be coming out here soon."
As if on cue, Pepper immediately walked out into their view.
"Hey, Mom."
"Oh, hey Max!," Pepper said, walking up to them. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you. It's about Dad."
"...Okay then. But first I have one last person to meet then we can on the way home."
"Okay," he said as Happy walked over to an employee. "So how's he been doing as Head of Security?"
"While I'm thrilled he has the job as it's perfect position for him, let us just say that our staff complaints have increased by three hundred percent."
"Three hundred?? Okay, either someone is hiding something or Happy is doing his job a little too well."
"Probably the latter," Pepper said and her son nodded in agreement as she walked to her office.
"Listen, Mom, Dad and I were at a restaurant with Uncle Rhodey-."
"I'm sorry, Max, but we have to talk about this later. Right now I have to go deal with this very annoying thing."
"What do you mean?," Max asked as Happy came up behind them.
"I used to work with this guy, and he used to ask me out all the time. So it's a little awkward."
"Yeesh, doesn't sound good."
He opens the door for her to find a man in a light colored business suit, about five feet ten inches tall. He had long dirty blond hair that was combed back and he looked to Pepper with a confident smirk on his face. Immediately, Max knew who he was.
"Pepper," the man said.
"Killian?," she said, shocked as he looked a lot different than when she last saw him.
"You look great. You look really great."
"God, you look... you look great. I-I-I can't... What on earth have you been doing?"
"Nothing fancy, just five years in the hands of physical therapists. And please, call me Aldrich," he said, then looked to Max. "And you must be Maxwell Stark. Aldrich Killian."
"Yes, I know. You're head of Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM," Max said.
"That's right. Always nice to have at least a little recognition. So, this is your son, huh Pepper?"
"Uh...you were supposed to be issued a security badge," Happy pitched in and then Pepper gently pushed him and her son out.
"Yes, he is my son. It's okay, Happy. Just... both of you wait outside," she said before closing the door and Max and Happy sat at a nearby bench. "It's very nice to see you, Killian."
Near them was a bald guy they had never seen before and Max could only guess that he was with Killian.
"Hey, guy," Happy said and the man looked to them and he pointed to his badge. The man then showed his badge was right next to him and Happy seemed content with it, though he still watched him with suspicion.
"So, what did you want to talk your mom about?"
"About Dad. He's been scaring me recently. New York affected him more than he's letting on, then again it affected me quite a lot too."
"I'd be concerned if it didn't, buddy," Happy said and then saw Aldrich activate a hologram of a brain and quickly read his credentials. "You know I've seen that guy before."
"Oh, yeah? Where?," Max said as Happy's tablet went off and they saw it was Tony.
"Hello?," Happy said with the tablet a little too high and only showed his forehead and eyes.
"Is this Forehead of Security?," Tony joker and he lowered the screen.
"What? You know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working, I got something going on here."
"What? Harassing interns?"
"And taking care of Mom when you're not around," Max added.
"Oh hey, Max."
"Feeling better?"
"Yup. I'm good now."
"Well I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better from whatever was wrong with you, but moving on. Do you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Man's bodyguard? They would laugh in my face."
This just caused both Max and Tony to laugh a little.
"I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job, I'm watching Pepper."
"What's going on? Fill me in."
"Well, based on what limited lip reading I know, this guy by the name of Aldrich Killian is showing Mom something of a new program called EXTREMIS. Some sort of program to upgrade the brain and improve the body. Recode the DNA."
"Hmm... sounds familiar for some reason," he said.
"Yeah, I couldn't make his face at first, right? You know I'm good with faces," Happy said.
"Oh, Yeah, yeah. You're the best," both Max and Tony said.
"Yeah. Well, so I ran his credentials, I made him. Aldrich Killian, like Max said. We actually met the guy back in... where were we in '99? The science conference?"
"Um...Switzerland. Killian? No, I don't remember that guy."
"Of course you don't. He's not a blond with a big rack. At first it was fine, they were talking business, apparently about that EXTREMIS thing, but now it's like getting weird. He's showing her a big brain."
"His what?"
"Big brain, and she likes it. Here, let me show you. Hold on. See?," he said and held up his tablet but all Tony saw was him looking at Pepper and Aldrich.
"Look at what? You watching them? Flip the screen and then we can get started," Tony instructed.
"I'm not a tech genius like you."
Max then took the tablet from his friend and flipped the screen for him and gave it back to him.
"Ohh... a hologram. Interesting."
"Yeah, okay. Now, I don't trust this guy. He's got another guy with him, he's shifty."
"Relax. Just secure the perimeter. Tell him to go out for a drink or something?"
"You should take more of an interest in what's going on here. This woman's the best thing that ever happened to you, and you... you're just ignoring her."
"Do you ladies need a moment?," Max joked and happy repeated what he did before and now both he and Tony looked at him with annoyed looks.
"...Anyway, I'm gonna follow this shifty guy. I'm gonna run his plates and if it gets rough, so be it."
"I miss you, Happy," Tony said.
"Yeah, I miss you too," Happy said. "But the way it used to be. Now you're off with the 'superfriends', I don't know what's going on with you anymore. The world's getting weird..."
"Hey, I... I'd hate to cut you off. Do you have your taser on you?"
"Why?"
"I think there's a girl in HR who's trying to steal some printer ink, you should... probably go over there and... zap her."
"Yeah, nice," he said then he hung up when he saw Tony had left his phone in a wine cooler.
A little while later, Pepper and Killian came out, though Killian seemed a little disappointed.
"Well, I can't say that I'm not disappointed," he said as they walked out of the building. "But then as my father used to say, 'Failure is the fog through which we glimpse triumph.'"
"That's very deep," she said back. "And I have no idea what it means."
"Well, me neither. He was kind of an idiot, my old man. I'm sure I'll see you again, Pepper."
Aldrich then did something Max did not expect, he kissed his mother on the cheek before walking over to his car and began to leave. Pepper then saw her son and Happy behind her.
"Oh, hey guys..."
"The car is ready, if you're ready to go," Happy said and Pepper takes another glance at Aldrich as he got into his car.
"Yes. I just um... God, I forgot my other thing, so I'm just gonna..."
She walked back into the building, and Happy took a glance over at Aldrich's car as it drove away. He quickly took a photo of the license plate.
"Be careful, Happy," Max said and he went over to Pepper's car.
Pepper later came out and got in the car and they were soon on their way home.
"So, what was it about your father that you wanted to talk about?," Pepper asked.
"He's been having panic attacks. And no doubt you've noticed the sleepless nights, right?"
"...Yeah, I have. Is it about New York?"
"Not a doubt in my mind. Also that seems to be a trigger for attacks so let's avoid saying New York unless he says it."
"Okay. And what about you? I've noticed your sleepless nights as well."
"That's mostly because I'm researching something on the Tesseract," he answered and she accepted this answer, though she did want to have some fun.
"Are you sure it's not because you talk to Shuri all night?," she teased and Max just went red in the face. "Hahaha!! I'm just messing with you. Anyway, I'll be home for the next few weeks now, for Christmas."
He nodded as they got home to find the most unexpected thing ever. A gigantic stuffed rabbit at the front porch that had a tag on it saying that it was for Pepper.
"...Okay...," Max said, unsure of what to think of the rabbit.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I was... What the...? What is that?!," Pepper exclaimed when she saw Tony in his newest suit, sitting on the couch. "You're wearing this in the house now? What is that, like Mark 15?"
"Uh...yeah. Something like that," Tony said, looking at his arm that said MK42. "You know everybody needs a hobby."
"Okay, while you discuss your hobbies, I'm gonna go in my room," Max informed them then he looked to his mother and mouthed something. "Talk to him."
She nodded and he sped back into his room and got back to work. Only thing wrong was that he just couldn't focus at the moment. All he could think about... was the Mandarin.
"Oh... damn it. JARVIS, bring up everything that SHIELD, the FBI and the CIA have on the Mandarin."
'Very well, sir,' JARVIS said and did so. 'Upload complete. Showing a map of the United States depicting where the Mandarin has attacked.'
Like he said, a map appeared and Max began studying it all. Then his phone went off and it showed to be Shuri messaging him.
"Hey, have you heard about this Mandarin?," she asked.
"Yup. My Uncle Rhodey is looking for him now. I'm doing my own research on him right now."
"Be careful. Not even Wakanda can find much information on him."
"Don't worry. I'm always careful."
"...Seriously??"
"Yeah. Why do you think I'm still alive?," he said back.
"...You scare me sometimes," she said and logged off.
Max began to work through the night. That is until he began to hear his father making noises in his sleep. He got rid of everything and quickly moved towards his parents' room. He arrived just as Pepper was attempting to awaken Tony. Then the Mark 42 appeared out of nowhere and pushed Pepper off of Tony as if she was a threat to its creator. Max quickly sped over and got between it and his parents.
"Power down!!," he ordered and it did so.
Once this was done, he pushed it and it fell in pieces on the floor. He quickly turned back to his parents, Tony now being awake and both seemed quite startled by what happened.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Your father was having a nightmare," Peppr explained. "I was trying to wake him up but then that thing attacked me."
"I must have called it in my sleep," Tony said, breathing hard. That's not supposed to happen. I'll recalibrate the sensors. Can we just...just let me...just let me catch my breath, okay?"
As he was talking, Pepper grabbed her pillow and a blanket and began walk out.
"Don't go, alright? Pepper?"
"I'm going to sleep downstairs. Tinker with that."
She went downstairs and Max looked back at his father.
"Guess it's a good thing I used my speed to make those implants and was able to code the suit to respond to my orders as well," Max said and sat next to him on the bed. "...New York?"
"...Yeah," he answered. "It's New York every tim I sleep. Pathetic huh?"
"No... not pathetic. Human. Try to get some more sleep. Just try. I'm gonna go check on Mom."
Max got up and sped downstairs to see his mother in the kitchen, getting some water.
"You okay, Mom?"
"Yeah...," Pepper said. "Just shaken up is all. You and Rhodey are right though. Something is wrong with your father. How many has he made?"
"How many suits?," he asked and she nodded. "...He's currently on Mark 42."
"Mark 42?! He was on 7 a few months ago!!"
"I'm just upset I didn't see it sooner. But don't worry, I'm gonna find him some help after the holiday season is over."
"Okay, that makes feel a little bit better. Why don't we both get some sleep?"
"Alright. Goodnight, Mom."
"Night," she said and he sped back upstairs and decided ti get some sleep.
The next morning however, Max was awoken by his parents.
"W-What is it?," he asked groggily.
"...It's Happy," Tony said in a way that made Max wake up immediately.
They all went downstairs and saw another Mandarin message. It first showed the Mandarin smashing several fortune cookies on a table in front of him.
"True story about fortune cookies. They look Chinese, they sound Chinese, but they're actually an American invention. Which is why they're hollow, full of lies, and leave a bad taste in the mouth," he said and it changed to footage of the Chinese Theater and then showed it up in flames. "My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knock-off, The Chinese Theater."
It then changed back to the Mandarin and then to him greet a bunch of children.
"Mr. President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close."
Once again, it changed to him shooting at a picture of President Ellis between his eyes and instructing his soldiers to do the same.
"And don't worry, the big one is coming... your graduation."
The footage was then cut and went back to the regular news.
"We just found out that Happy was there at the time of the explosion," Pepper explained. "He's at the hospital right now."
Max however barely registered what was being said though, as his anger was now reaching new levels.
Tony and his son went to hospital and found Happy there as he laid in a bed, critically injured and in a coma. They sat in the room for sometime until a nurse came in to check on their friend.
"Hi," Tony said, startling her a little. "Uh...mind leaving that on?"
"Sure," she said as she knew he was referring to the tv, which had Downton Abbey playing at the moment.
The two got up from their seats and Tony stopped for a moment, but Max continued to walk out, but not before looking back at Happy.
"I'll find who this to you, Happy," Max said mostly to himself as he walked out of the hospital, his father not far behind, with the press ready to hound them.
"We're awaiting the arrival of Tony Stark and his son, Maxwell Stark. We're hoping they'll give us the reaction... their reaction to the latest attack," a news reporter said as Max came out and the press immediately attacked him with questions.
Tony walks out as well and started to lead his son back to their car. That is until one reporter asked something that made Max stop.
"Hey, Mr. Stark? Max? When is somebody gonna kill this guy? Just sayin'," a reporter asked as he held his cellphone up and Max turned to him with pissed off look on his face.
"Is that what you want?!," Max said and Tony looked at his son. "...Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. Just didn't know how to say it nor did I have a real reason to until now. My name... is Maxwell Stark and I'm not afraid of you. And guess what... you are a coward. Want to know something else? You just died, I just need to get the body. There's no politics in this; it's just good old-fashioned revenge!! There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me!!! And on the off-chance you're a man, this is my home address: 10880, Malibu Point. 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked. That's what you wanted, right?"
Max then grabbed the phone from the guy and threw it against the wall as Tony grabbed his son and put him in the car.
"Bill me," Tony said as he quickly got in the car and they drove off. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!!"
"The Mandarin almost killed Happy!!! I knew he was gonna follow that one guy from yesterday, and he was there because of that. And I wasn't there to help him!!! This is the least I can do."
"...You just put your whole family in danger."
Max barely listened to the rest of the lecture and soon enough, Max was back home and went down to the shop and he and JARVIS began to review the Chinese Theater crime scene.
'I've compiled a Mandarin database for you, sir. Drawn from S.H.I.E.L.D., F.B.I., and C.I.A. intercepts,' JARVIS said and holograms began to form around him. 'Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction.'
"Alright, let's see what we know. His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning 'adviser to the King'. South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher. There's a lot of pageantry going on here... a lot of theater. Alright, close this."
'The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly.'
Holograms of the blast was projected and showed people being vaporized into shadows on the walls.
"No bomb parts found in a three mile radius of the Chinese theater?"
'No, Max.'
"...Talk to me, Happy," Max said and a hologram of Happy appeared, pointing to something. Max looked to see a fragment of the crime scene and he went over to see what was under the rubble. "When is a bomb not a bomb?"
He begins to remove the layers to find dog tags.
"Any military victims?"
'Not according to public records, sir,' JARVIS answered.
"Bring up thermogenic signatures across the US, factor in three thousand degrees."
A map of the US appeared and lines appeared vertically at different heights.
'The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now.'
"Okay, now take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack," Max said and the AI did so and he began to look at the few remaining heat signatures until he came across one that was in Tennessee. "What about that one? Are you sure that's not one of his?"
'It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide. The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius.'
The info on the combing indicated the bomber was also military.
"Two military guys. Ever been to Tennessee, Jarvis?"
'Creating a flight plan for Tennessee," JARVIS said and the virtual images were then gone and then the doorbell rang and a face message from Tony appeared.
"Are we still at 'ding-dong?'," Tony asked, still upset along with Pepper. "We're supposed to be on total security lock down!!"
"Yeah, come on, I threatened a terrorist today, JARVIS!!!"
'There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address.'
Tony got into the Mark 42 and met up with their guest, a woman he hadn't seen for a while.
"Right there's fine," Tony said as she was being scanned and took a good long look at her and then lifted the faceplate. "...You're not the Mandarin, are you? Are you?"
"...You don't remember," she concluded. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Don't take it personally, he doesn't remember what he has for breakfast," Max said, speeding upstairs.
'Gluten-free waffles, sir,' JARVIS reminded.
"That's right."
"Okay, look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent."
"Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed relationship," he said as they walked further inside and then packed bags fell to the floor. "...With her."
"Good timing, huh?," Max commented and the woman nodded slightly in agreement.
"Tony, is somebody there?," Pepper asked as he walked out of his suit.
"Yeah, it's Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely," Tony answered and walked closer to her and said something quietly. "Please don't tell me that there is a twelve year-old kid waiting in the car that I've never met."
"He's thirteen," she answered and he gasped in fear. "No, I need your help."
"What for? Why now?"
"Because I read the papers, and, frankly, I don't think you or your son will last the week."
"We'll be fine," Max said as Pepper came up to them.
"I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests. And old girlfriends."
"We weren't."
"Yeah, it... it was just one night."
"I wish you'd not talk about this stuff around me," Max complained.
"Well, let me tell you now... you have saved yourself a world of pain. Trust me," Pepper said and she turned to her son. We're going out of town.
"No way. I'm waiting for him to come to me."
"Nope!! We're leaving immediately and indefinitely!!," Tony exclaimed.
"Great idea. Let's go. I'll...," Maya said and was about to grab the bags.
Max beat her to it and got them all in the car and ran back to them.
"Better idea. You all get to somewhere safe and I stay here."
"Oh no, no, no... you are coming with us. We're all leaving!! That isn't even up for discussion!!"
"I said no!!!"
"Guys, can we um..."
"What?," Tony asked.
"Do we need to worry about that?," Maya said as she pointed to the tv where the news showed a missile coming towards them.
It then blew up and everything slowed down around Max. He avoided flying debris and grabbed his parents and Maya and got them into a car and pushed it far away. He ran back and got himself in the Mark 42.
"Guys, get out of here now!!! I'll keep them busy!!," Max said into his coms.
"Max, don't do this!!," Tony yelled.
"I'm already doing it. And I'm doing to save you all from my dumbass mistake. NOW GO!!!"
Reluctantly, they drove off a little further so that the three helicopters that were attacking the house did not see them.
"Jarvis, where's the flight power?!"
'Working on it, Max. This suit is a prototype,' JARVIS answered and Max slipped and began he piano slid past him.
He quickly stood up and threw it at one chopper, causing it to crash and blow up. Then he forcefully pulled out a missile out of one of the suits arms and threw it at the second chopper, only this time it came crashing into the house. This caused already falling floor to collapse completely and max recovered just in time to see the first seven Iron Man suits blow up in front of him. Meanwhile, Tony, Pepper and Maya were then on their way back as the final helicopter left and the main floor fell off the cliff and into the waters. Max attempted to stop it but then metal wires pulled him down into the abyss with it, the giant stuffed bunny landed near him.
Tony and Pepper quickly ran to the edge of what was left of the house and looked down, but they did not see their son.
"MAX!!!!!," they both yelled.
Water began to fill the suit and Max knew that he wouldn't make it if he did get out fast. However, since he was underwater, he couldn't phase out as the water would slow down his movements and he would get to the surface in time.
'Sir, take a deep breath,' JARVIS said and the right arm of the suit came off, turned around and pulled him out of the rubble he was under and quickly went back into his arm as the suit's flight system came back online. 'Flight power restored.'
When no one was watching, Max inside the Mark 42 suit flew off and headed east.
"Thank you, JARVIS," Max said, barely able to keep himself awake. "...I owe you one."
'You are most welcome, Max, sir. Now rest, and I'll fly us out of here.'
"Okay... no argument here. Oh, boy..."
It was at this point that Max was then rendered unconscious from exhaustion and shock. Max's next adventure had begun again.
Hope you liked this. Yes, Max will take Tony's place in much of this story. He'll be using iron Man suits mainly in this, at least until the final fight. Hope you like what I do. Until the next chapter is up, see y later.