Chapter 1
Rocky Volnutt Stark didn't know his father very well, because he died when he was only six. He did have some memories though, one of his favorites was the time he got a toy monkey named Data for his fourth birthday; after taking the poor thing apart to see how it worked, he got his dad and his best friend Roll Caskett to help him put Data back together again. They even used some reaverbot technology to give him a more sentient mind. Another good memory he had was when his uncle Rhodey came to visit Kattelox Island, and all three of them went fishing off the cliffs. Uncle Rhodey was a bounty hunter in a guild named Shield, and after the funeral he would come to visit Rocky and his mom at least twice a month, sometimes with his partner and eventual wife Carol Danvers. When Rocky was 14, he decided to become a digger so he could go on adventures with Roll and her grandfather, as well as support his mother. Pepper didn't like the idea of her only son leaving her at all (especially since her husband died in a ruin cave-in), but she knew that she couldn't hold on to him forever. "Well, before you go there's something I want you to have, something your father made just for you" she said. She took him to a secret compartment in the backroom of the mechanic's shop where they lived and worked. Inside it was a red & yellow digger suit that was just the right size for Rocky to wear. "Your father started working on this suit when you were a baby," said Pepper. "I guess he always hoped you'd leave the island someday and seek your fortune in faraway lands." She chuckled a little as she finished her sentence, but Rocky could tell she was fighting back tears. "I'm going to be okay Mom" he said as he hugged her, "I'll have Roll and Professor Caskett looking out for me." "I know" said Pepper wiping away a tear; "just remember you have nothing to prove to me, or your father. He loved you, and would've been proud of you just the way you are." By the time Rocky was ready to leave with the Casketts, Pepper had fully made peace with his decision, but she insisted that he take Data with him so she could have a way of contacting him. Uncle Rhodey and Aunt Carol came to see him off that morning; he told Rocky that although he and Carol had recently put away the Bonne family (the most dangerous band of sky pirates in the world), he still wanted his nephew to exercise caution and utilize brains before brawn. "And remember, your Aunt Carol and I will be out there if you need us. So if you're ever in more trouble then you can handle, just have your little monkey friend call me and I'll drop everything to bail you out." Rocky couldn't help but feel a little sad as The Flutter began to ascend; while he had every intention of returning as soon as he made a big enough score, it didn't make leaving his mother and his hometown behind any easier. "Cheer up Rocky, we won't be gone long," said Roll. "You'll see, just two or three jobs and you'll be back home in no time." Roll's words did lift his spirits a little, but neither one of them could guess what adventures & dangers awaited them beyond the horizon.
Because around the same time, the Bonne family were getting ready to have breakfast in The Raft (the largest and toughest prison island known to man), when suddenly the alarm began to sound. Tron: (the genius inventor and technician of the family), was quickly shoved back into her cell while the whole prison went into lockdown mode. She was uncertain what exactly was going on, but when she saw that most of the guards were running to meet whatever was causing the disturbance, she figured it was massive threat and began to worry about her brothers Teisel and Bon. There were still two guards standing in front of her cell just in case, but then; much to her surprise, they were electrocuted and rendered unconscious seemingly by two purple arrows. A moment later, a young blonde man clad in purple & black with a quiver of arrows on his back dropped into view and unlocked her cell door with one of the guards' security cards. "Who are you, and what's going on here!?" Tron asked, having quite enough of feeling left in the dark. "You can call me Hawkeye" said the archer, "and the name of the game is jailbreak, it's fun you'll love it." Tron immediately figured out what this guy was talking about, but she wasn't the kind of girl to run off with a handsome guy just because he was offering her freedom. "My brothers are here too, I won't leave without them" she said assertively. "I know, the master wants all three of you. My partner is breaking them out even as we speak. So makeup your mind quick; this is one of those 'now or never' kinda deals" said Hawkeye impatiently extending his hand. Tron still wasn't certain she could trust him, but she did want to get out this dump, so she took his hand. Immediately he tucked her into the crook of his arm, and leaped over the railing despite Tron's obvious objection. Before the two could hit the ground, Hawkeye shot one of his arrows that doubled as a grappling hook to his left. It latched on to one of the support beams near the ceiling and the two began to swing. "Yee-haw! This is the fun part I was telling you about kid;" said Hawkeye, trying to get Tron to open her eyes, but she wasn't enjoying herself at all. Hawkeye knocked several guards over with his feet as they got nearer to ground level. Once they had both safely landed on the bottom, he put Tron down told her to follow him. They took a right turn into the laundry room, and it was there that Tron was reunited with her brothers, as well as Hawkeye's partner who busted them out. She was a gorgeous red-headed woman in a tight black bodysuit which exposed her ample cleavage. "Hey Tron, have you met Black Widow?" Asked Teisel, expressing clear infatuation for the redhead. As they ran, Black Widow explained that her's and Hawkeye's master was having reaverbots attack the prison via advanced remote-control technology. "So that's what all the guards were running off to deal with" thought Tron; "I had no idea reaverbots could be controlled like that. Whoever their master is, they must have technological knowledge and resources far exceeding mine." They came up on what Tron thought was a dead-end, but then Black Widow fired a laser from the golden band on her right wrist. It cut a (not so) perfect circle into the wall which didn't lead into the open-air, but rather to the internal plumbing of the prison. After 5 more minutes of snaking through the crawl-space; all while Hawkeye shot out the various motion sensors and security cameras that lined it. Black Widow cut another circle into a wall, but this time it did lead into the open-air, where an airship instantly appeared as if by magic. Tron assumed it was simply dropping whatever cloaking device the ship had. They all jumped in through the ship's open panel-door, and they took off with incredible speed.
"That wasn't so hard" Hawkeye said with a smile. "Make yourselves comfortable Bonne family; no one will find you where we're going" said Black Widow as she and Hawkeye step into the cockpit, leaving Tron and her brothers alone. If she could see into the cockpit, she would've seen two men dressed as ninjas piloting the craft. Teisel and Bon were grateful enough to be free, but Tron still had some suspicions about these two characters and their cryptic master. "And what kind of weirdo calls their employer 'master' anyway?" She said to Teisel in a whisper. "Look, I know you've grown accustomed to us living by our own rules, and answering to no one. But whoever their boss is, he went through a lot of trouble to bust us out. The least we can do is hear him out" said Teisel. He then reassured her that the three of them could easily handle him if he even tried to double-cross them; just softly enough so Hawkeye and Black Widow couldn't hear them. It didn't take long for them to reach wherever it was this "master" lived. Hawkeye even permitted them to enter the cockpit so Tron and her brothers could see the approach of their master's airship. But once the cloaking field dropped, they saw it was more of a floating castle than anything. "Welcome to The Palace of the Ten Rings," said Black Widow. They touched-down in the docking bay near the base of the palace, where there were even more people dressed like ninjas to greet them. "Come, the master is awaiting you in his throne room" said Black Widow as she and Hawkeye quickly escorted the Bonne family out of the docking bay. Along the way, they instructed Tron and her brothers on the proper etiquette when interfacing with their master. "Speak not unless spoken to, look him in the eyes, keep your sentences short & to the point," said Hawkeye; it was noteworthy that his usual happy-go-lucky persona temporarily vanished as he spoke. By the time they reached the throne room, Tron's mind was racing a mile a minute trying to guess what kind of person this "Master" was, and what did he want her and her brothers for? Based on the interior design of the palace, she surmised that this guy was a big fan of Chinese culture (specifically the Ming dynasty), but then why would he have ninjas in his employ? "Ninjas are Japanese not Chinese" she thought to herself. The doors opened from the inside, and in-spite of the room's glittering extravagance the first thing Tron noticed was the man sitting at the far end of it.
He was mostly cloaked in shadow, but from what Tron could see, he appeared to have long hair and was wearing dark green robes. He had long sharp fingernails, on his left ring finger he wore a golden ring with a blue gem in its center. Then she noticed the skin of his hands, they were green! His narrow eyes were yellow, and seemed to glow in the shadow that concealed his face. Although she couldn't see said face, she could make out what looked to be two short antlers coming out of the top of his head. Both Hawkeye and Black Widow knelt down on one knee, at the steps leading up to his throne. "Master, we present to you the Bonne family, as you commanded," said Black Widow. "Excellent work Natasha" said the shadowy figure, in a voice that sent shivers down Tron's spine. "I expected nothing less from my two most loyal warriors. You may rise" he said with the addition of a hand gesture. "Please step forward Teisel Bonne, no doubt you have questions." With some nervousness, Teisel did just that, and after clearing his throat he said. "Well first of all, I just want to start by saying that my siblings and I are very grateful for the rescue. But if I may be so bold, who exactly are you?" The figure paused for a moment as though stunned, then he chuckled dryly as if he found the question funny. "I have many titles, but you may address me by my favorite, The Mandarin." Tron giggled a little but was too late to cover her mouth before anyone noticed. "How dare you laugh in the presence of the Mandarin!" Black Widow bellowed; she might've backhanded her if the Mandarin hadn't stopped her. "Peace Natasha" he said calmly; "she's only a child, she couldn't help herself." Tron was half grateful that this creepy green guy saved her from getting slapped, and half insulted by the "she's only a child" line, she was 14 which made her a woman (at least in her mind). "There's actually a funny story behind the origins of my title's naming," said the Mandarin. "You see, I am the latest in line of great men who reigned over ancient China, by wielding a set of 10 magic rings bestowed unto them by a dragon. However. western historians back then were not the best of translators, and not interested in correcting themselves when they actually discovered they made a mistake. So what would've been Man-Dragon if translated properly, was foolishly misinterpreted as the dominant dialect of China. To think for centuries, the west believed that the ancient Chinese bowed down to their own language" he said with a more humorous laugh. Teisel laughed too but it sounded awkward & insincere, like it felt like he had to in order to please his new boss. Even Black Widow and Hawkeye looked at him like he was trying too hard. After collecting himself, he asked the Mandarin what exactly was he and his siblings broken out of prison for. The Mandarin then stood up and began to step into the light.
Now Tron could see that not only did he stand head & shoulders over his henchmen, but his face was as green as his hands. He had a long thin mustache that resembled the whiskers of a catfish, in addition to a long-pointed beard. Suddenly the mantle of "Man-Dragon" made a lot more sense, especially when she remembered that he had antlers. She knew that this guy was powerful just from seeing his castle and his numerous followers, but after fully taking in his monstrous appearance she was convinced that she and her brothers were in real trouble. The Mandarin presented his left hand before the Bonne family. "You see this ring? Like I've mentioned earlier, it was originally part of a set of ten. Unfortunately, I've lost the other nine in an incident that scattered them to every corner of the globe. Worst yet, others have already laid claim to what's rightfully mine. So I need some friends who don't mind wrecking a whole town to attain what they want. My spies have already located where the nine rings are, three of them are in ruins. Hawkeye & Black Widow will retrieve the rings from those ruins, while you and your siblings extract them from the other six locations on the surface." Tron's disdain for the Mandarin was rapidly increasing, it was clear now that this pompous coward only sprang her and her family out to be his expendable thugs, so that neither he nor any of his "valuable" lackeys would have to risk capture. The Mandarin must've sensed this, but wasn't concerned since he knew there was a bonus to his offer even she couldn't refuse. "And as an additional show of my goodwill, I've taken the liberty of having your entire fleet of servbots extracted from Shield's impound warehouse." He then clapped his hands and one of his many attendants open a side door, out of which came dozens of tiny blue robots with round yellow heads. "Ms. Tron!" They happily shouted in unison, as they practically dog-piled Tron with affectionate hugs. She still didn't believe that the Mandarin could be trusted, but at least she was starting to think that working for this guy might not be so bad after all. "You'll also have full access to my mechanical workshop so you may craft whatever vehicles and weapons you might need" he said handing her a key. "Your servbots will show you the way to said workshop and then later escort you and your brothers to your chambers. I look forward to working with you Bonne family" said the Mandarin as the servbots enthusiastically dragged Tron and her brothers out of the throne room. Hawkeye and Black Widow waited until the pirates were out of the room before approaching their master as he sat back down on his throne.
"Forgive me Master, but are you sure it's wise to entrust this scum with such a crucial mission?" Asked Black Widow with both concern for her master and disdain for his new colleagues. "Clint and I can easily retrieve the rings all by ourselves." "Yeah I'm afraid I'm with Natasha on this one Master" Hawkeye added; "I mean, Teisel & Bon seem eager enough to serve you, but the girl still appears to have her suspicions. And you've just given her an army as well as full access to our arsenal." "First of all, many hands make light work" said the Mandarin, "and secondly, there's a big difference between recruiting someone and trusting someone. Your concerns are appreciated, but unnecessary. I intend to watch my new allies closely and carefully, so don't worry about me, there is no way the Bonne family can pose a threat within these walls." Both Hawkeye & Black Widow bowed before their master to signal that they understood. "You two are dismissed, you'll be summoned when we're drawing near to the first of the ruins. And Natasha, send two of your chamber maids to my private quarters." "Yes Master" she responded, and both she and Hawkeye quickly exited the throne room; unaware that they would soon be encountering someone who could pose a threat to their master's plans, much to his own surprise as well as theirs.
Author's note: for the Mandarin's design, I took inspiration from Iron Man's 90's animated series.