The moment Howard realized they were being followed, he knew something wasn't right. Maria, too, had grown visibly tense in the passenger seat beside him. This wasn't the first time he regretted the kind of life he had chosen to live, but it was the first time the regret was so intense, so overwhelming. Because his job had never put Maria in danger before. Not like this.

"It's just a rider," he said to calm her down.

"Howard, he's chasing us!"

"Just act natural. We'll be at the airport soon." It was a lie, of course. They weren't anywhere close to the airport, and they weren't going to be for at least another fifteen minutes. He tried not to panic, and kept both his hands on the wheel. All he had to do was to drive fast, but carefully. Once they made it to the airport, they would be safe. Maria would be safe.

But the rider was approaching, and the damn car was just not fast enough. "Maria, listen to me. If we get—"

The sudden impact sent the car crashing into a tree before he could regain control of the wheel. The engine had already caught on fire. Instinctively, he looked at his wife. She was alive. She was bleeding, and she seemed horrified, but she was alive.

"I'll get you out of here," he promised her, and crawled out of the car with one final effort. He indeed hated being human at times like this. He needed to be strong. His wife needed him to be strong. But he was just an old man. And even in his youth, he hadn't been much of a fighter. His solution was to pay other people to do the fighting for him, but if that wasn't an option, the other guy—or, girl—would always kick his ass. He just didn't have it in him.

He had made a mistake by choosing to be subtle about this. They were traveling with the first supersoldier serum that had been produced since Dr. Erskine's death; he should have hired an army of bodyguards to escort them to the Pentagon. Now that mistake was going to cost him everything.

In the meantime, the rider had opened the trunk, and was taking the serum. At this point, Howard didn't give a damn about what happened to the serum, or himself, as long as HYDRA didn't touch his wife. Desperation was an odd thing. He decided to play dumb, although he very well knew that it wouldn't work.

"Help my wife. Please, help…"

"Howard!" he heard Maria cry. It hurt him more than his injuries. She was only here because he had been arrogant and stupid enough to think he could keep her safe. He should have left her at home with Tony. Tony… Had HYDRA sent someone for Tony as well? Maybe they were going to wipe out the entire Stark family tonight. History was full of great families who had been slaughtered by their enemies like this.

"Howard!"

The rider was approaching him. He wondered what the face of HYDRA would look like. But when he lifted Howard, and forced him to look up, he realized the face was much more familiar than he had expected it to be.

"Sergeant Barnes?"

Barnes was holding him up with one hand, and his other hand—the metal one—was ready to punch him. But when he heard the name, he hesitated for a split second.

Then he punched Howard.

It was sickening, to hear and feel your own skull being cracked open like an egg. Still, it hadn't killed him. The metal fist landed again, on his broken face, like a hammer.

"Howard!"

Before he could even fully register the pain, darkness claimed him. The last thing he had seen was Sergeant Barnes' face, and the last thing he had heard was Maria's terrified voice, calling his name one last time.

…

Wasn't darkness supposed to be the end?

He didn't know how this could be possible. He was pretty sure the second punch had killed him. And yet, here he was, in a cold, dimly lit cell with black, stone walls, strapped to rusty chains hanging from the ceiling. And he couldn't believe he was worried about this right now, but what had happened to his clothes? His feet were bare, and all he wore was a dirty rag that barely covered anything. What kind of sick game was HYDRA playing with him?

"Maria!" he called, struggling against the chains. If she, too, had found herself in a cell like this, his poor wife must have been so scared. "Maria, I'm here! It's alright, I'm going to find you. Just hang on."

The chains might be rusty, but they were still quite sturdy. In the end, all he had been able to do was to cut his own wrists. He stopped. Even if Maria could hear him, how could he expect her to believe him to keep her safe, after what had just happened? He felt an urge to touch his face, to see if it was still intact, but he could feel that it indeed was. He had been completely recovered somehow. There was no pain. It didn't help him feel any safer, though. Something was very, very wrong. To add to his confusion, his bleeding wrists fully healed in a matter of… what, minutes? Hours? He had lost the sense of time.

It could be hours, days, or years, but finally, the door opened. Those who entered wore hooded black robes, and their faces were covered as well. Howard asked them who they were, but they made no reply. They unshackled him, and then dragged him along the long, narrow, dark hallways. Some stairs, and then more hallways, until they reached some kind of main chamber. The torches painted the walls and the floors crimson red, and there were more of these hooded creatures here.

One would think after a lifetime of dealing with aliens, their artifacts, and other weird phenomena would prepare him for this, but the sight of the throne at the other end of the chamber, and the gigantic demon—Howard didn't know how else to describe that thing—sitting upon it left him speechless. The minions threw him at his feet, then retreated.

Howard blinked a few times, then studied the demon from head to toe, until he was sure this wasn't some kind of nightmare. He had the face and the body of a male human, only he was at least three times bigger than an average man. His skin was red, his horns and spiky hair black. A crimson cloak partially covered his muscular torso. He had to be immune to fire. Otherwise, that fiery throne would be pretty uncomfortable for him to sit upon.

"Oh. You're not HYDRA, are you?" It was some relief, to realize that his sense of humor hadn't left him.

The demon smirked, obviously entertained. "You have left that world behind, Stark. You belong to me now."

"And you are…"

"I'm Mephisto, the Lord of Hell."

"The Lord of Hell," he repeated, then burst into laughter. The whole thing was a bit funny. He had thought he was dead, but he had somehow been sent to another planet instead, and was now having a chat with an alien fellow who called himself "the Lord of Hell." He just couldn't stop thinking about Sigyn's and Peggy's faces when they found out what he had got himself into.

"You count on that little stonekeeper friend of yours to save you," he said, as if he could read his mind. "But even if she knew where you were, she could not use the Tesseract to get here. There is only one way to enter my realm."

"What way is that?"

"Death."

His grin faded. Things were starting to make more sense. This wasn't some kind of accidental trip to another planet. Mephisto had said he had left "that world" behind. And by "that world," he had meant the universe he knew. That also explained why Sigyn couldn't use the Tesseract to save him. The "Space" Stone only allowed one to travel through space, not dimensions. One would probably need another Infinity Stone for inter-dimensional travel, though he wasn't sure which one.

Howard had died.

"I'm in a different dimension, aren't I?"

"A quick learner. You don't disappoint, Stark."

"I know I deserve to be here after everything I did. So, let's just get down to business, shall we? Whatever punishment awaits me, I'm ready."

"You are not here to be punished. You are here because you are worthy."

"Worthy of what?"

"To be my servant. I only welcome those who achieved greatness in their lifetime. And you… You lived an impressive life, for such a feeble creature. But your greatest achievement, to recreate the power of an Infinity Stone… I could not have let such a mind perish now, could I?"

The element. Shit. That was how he must have got caught in Mephisto's radar. Tony… Howard wished there was a way to send Sigyn a message, to tell her to destroy the film reel and the Stark Expo diorama…

"I assume it is obvious by now. Swear loyalty to me, and your suffering will end. Who knows, perhaps one day I will even help you avenge your poor wife."

Howard gulped. Maria… He hadn't forgotten about her, of course, but he hadn't wanted to mention her to this freak either. But of course, Mephisto knew about her, too.

"Where is she?"

"Gone. Unlike you, she wasn't worth saving."

"Wasn't worth saving." He gritted his teeth furiously. How could his lovely, sweet Maria not be worth saving? He refused to imagine a Cosmos where Maria didn't exist anywhere, in any form, especially now that he knew there was life even after death. No, she had to be somewhere, anywhere. Mephisto was lying. At least he hadn't mentioned Tony, which led Howard to think he was still alive for the time being.

"We can change that, too, of course," Mephisto added. "The Darkhold can show you how, if you truly want her back."

"The Darkhold?"

"Oh, it is a beautiful thing… A book of infinite knowledge. It was forged in this realm, a long time ago… Therefore, it cannot be read here, but it is still in your former world, anyway."

The Darkhold… Now that he thought about it, he remembered some HYDRA leaders had searched for such a book during WWII. And if it was really on Earth…

"Come on, Stark. It does not have to fall into the wrong hands."

Howard raised his head defiantly, and looked into Mephisto's terrifying eyes. Enough, he thought. All his life, almost everything he had created had fallen into the wrong hands. He had thought he successfully manipulated people for the greater good, not realizing he was the one being manipulated. By the government, the SSR, Vanko, HYDRA… They all had used him. But no more.

"I refuse."

Mephisto didn't ask a second time. The minions appeared again, and dragged him back to his cell. The torture began.

…

They flogged him, burned him, flayed him, mutilated him. The pain alone should have killed him—again—by now, but he healed. Completely. No matter what they did to him, he healed completely. He thought of starving himself to death, but it didn't take long for him to realize he didn't need food or water anymore. He didn't need need to sleep either. Mephisto had said he wasn't being punished, but Howard couldn't help but think that ironically, this was the perfect punishment for him. All his life, he had been obsessed with creating a supersoldier. Everyone had told him to let go of Steve, but he had refused. The obsession had ruined his relationship with his son. His friendship with Peggy and Jarvis. Ultimately, it had got Maria killed. At the hands of another supersoldier. Howard still didn't know what had happened to Sergeant Barnes, but HYDRA had enhanced him, that much was obvious. Now, death had turned him into the best supersoldier imaginable. And it was his curse. There was no escape from the pain. He had to feel every single moment of it. This was how he was going to spend the rest of eternity.

At least his mind was still his. The good memories helped him cope with his new reality, the everlasting uncertainity. The problem was, there weren't many of them. The first time he had seen Maria, playing the piano at Joseph's wedding, their first date, first kiss, first lovemaking… How his heart had almost stopped when he had seen her in her wedding dress… The day she had announced her pregnancy, then watching their child grow in her womb… Tony's birth, the first time he had held him in his arms… Well, that was all. Then he had messed it up.

It was impossible to say how much time had passed, for he still didn't have any sense of time, but at some point, they moved him to another cell. This part of the dungeons was different. Now he could see that he wasn't alone. There were many other prisoners like him. He still couldn't see them, but he could hear their screams when they were tortured.

The usual minions never came for him again after he was put in this new cell. They hadn't shackled him either, but the cell was very small and empty, so there wasn't much to do. After being ignored for a while, a woman came to his visit. He was wearing the same long, black robes, but her face was obscured with a golden mask, instead of a hood. Her curly blonde hair reached past her shoulders.

"You don't even remember me, do you?" she asked.

"Should I?" If this was one of the flings from his youth… Well, he wouldn't really be surprised.

She removed the mask. Again, a familiar face from the past, but certainly not one of his flings.

"Whitney Frost?" he gasped. Whitney Frost had died in that asylum. It had taken many attempts, but she had been able to bleed herself to death. Her lover and Howard's childhood friend, Joseph Manfredi, had been devastated at first. He had mourned, he had suffered, but in the end, he had moved on. Howard had never thought much about her after that.

The slap dislocated his jaw, but he didn't care. He would probably be as good as new before even the actual torture began. "It's Agnes," she snarled. "Agnes Cully."

"Whatever," he sneered, just to spite her.

She laughed, and showed him something dark and intangible dancing around her fingers. "Remember this?"

Of course he did. Zero Matter. Later, Sigyn had told them that its actual name was "Darkforce."

"How did you get it back?"

"Well, it took me a lifetime, but I finally met someone who appreciated my genius."

"Mephisto?" Her experiments with Zero Matter must have put her under Mephisto's radar.

"This is a gift from him. And he wants to give you something even better. You should be honored." Her voice was full of envy. Howard wasn't surprised she wanted the Darkhold for herself as well. It had to be Frost's favorite kind of book.

"Why don't you read it yourself, then? That would save me from a lot of trouble."

"The Darkhold cannot show you anything beyond your comprehension. I might be a genius, but unlike you, I've never been lucky enough to get my hands on an Infinity Stone. The Lord wants you to finish what you started."

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"He wants you to create the other five elements."

"Oh." Yes, it made sense. So, that was why he was really here.

Damn it. Sigyn had warned him. She had said there would be consequences even she couldn't foresee. An eternity in Hell… That was the consequence. Once again, he hoped she had destroyed that film, so that he wouldn't have to have a reunion with his son here one day.

"I suppose you haven't changed your mind?"

"No."

"Very well. Let's begin."

Howard had thought he had seen the worst of Hell, but when Zero Matter touched him, he realized how wrong he had been. There was nothing new about the physical pain, of course, but it didn't end there. Zero Matter had also captured his mind, and it was showing him the worst things about himself. Now, he truly had nowhere to escape.

First, he saw himself as that young, brilliant, ambitious boy who had been born to the wrong parents. He had broken their hearts repeatedly, by constantly telling them how much he was ashamed of his family. He had accused them of being stupid, lazy, and not ambitious enough. Then there were all those people he had wronged, the lives he had destroyed, just to be able to climb the American ladder. Whenever he felt guilty, he would promise himself that he would become a true philanthropist and redeem himself once he became rich.

But he never became a true philanthropist. The government loved his weapons, and he loved their money. He dreaded having to go back to the lower east side.

"Coward," Frost scoffed when she saw his fear, and he was right.

And then came Captain America. The first good he had brought into the world. But then, he couldn't really take the credit. It was Dr. Erskine's formula, not his…

"Jealousy… Interesting. The poor Dr. Erskine died trying to save the world from the Nazis, and you remember him with jealousy. Shame on you."

Shame on me. Frost was absolutely right. If Steve had known… But there were worse things Steve had never known about him.

The Battle of Finow, for example. The victims of the Midnight Oil, one of the most dangerous things he had accidentally invented. He had seen the aftermath with his own eyes. The massacre.

"Do you know what your creation does?" Johann Fenoff would ask him later.

"I saw it afterwards."

"And I saw it while it happened. I was only spared because I had a gas mask to protect myself. My comrades were not so lucky, my brother wasn't so lucky... When I found him he had no eyes. Pieces of his flesh had been bitten off. Can you imagine this?"

The guilt became so intense that Howard gouged his eyes out, tore his own flesh open, so that he could feel the pain of his victims.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… That's not good enough, Howard. You know you will heal. Those soldiers in Finow, or the civilians in that movie theater, they weren't so lucky."

Frost kept going. He was blinded—temporarily, he knew—but he could still see the atomic bomb he had created. The Manhattan Project. He recalled Oppenheimer's famous words after the Trinity test. Howard had heard them with his own ears.

"Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."

"Let's move on to something more… personal, shall we?"

Steve Rogers' blood. How Peggy, or even Jarvis had not trusted him with it. Had he not been so untrustworthy, she wouldn't have poured it away, and Sigyn would have used it to locate Steve. Yes, Steve could have been back with them if Howard had been more decent.

And Sigyn… She had been such a loyal friend, and all he had done was to break her heart with his outbursts. Hers wasn't even the only heart he had broken, though.

Tony. There was a time Tony would kiss the ground Howard walked on. But with each outburst, the admiration had slowly been replaced with fear, and in the end, it had become permanent. This was Howard's greatest shame. A child was supposed to feel safe around his father, not scared. Fatherhood was such a blessing, and Howard had been so ungrateful, especially considering the things the Jarvises had done to be able to have a child. They had traveled to another planet, for goodness' sake, while Howard had thoughtlessly hurt the greatest gift he had ever received. At least the Jarvises had deserved the love Tony had given them…

"You're jealous of your butler, too… Pathetic!"

Of course he was jealous of Jarvis. Tony had never feared him. He trusted him more than he trusted his own father. And Howard had always envied the bond those two shared. Who could blame them, though? Howard was the one who had forced Tony to find another father figure.

At least Howard had been able to protect him. Yes, he had pushed him away, but it had kept Tony safe. Or, he had thought it had. Now, HYDRA was out there, along with all those other enemies he had made. Tony was surrounded by sharks, and Howard wasn't there to protect him anymore. Perhaps Obadiah would teach him how to deal with enemies…

"Obadiah?" Frost scoffed. "He only tolerates your brat because he needs his genius. For now. Who knows what might happen once he gets tired of him? Or, if Tony discovers the secret deals he makes with the enemies of the U.S. government?"

Shit… Obadiah was a traitor, too, then. Tony was going to be stabbed in the back.

"You're so blind, Howard. You couldn't even see how Obadiah lusted after your wife. He tried to steal her from you. If Maria hadn't loved you so much, he might even have succeeded. A pity… You know you never deserved such a fine woman. You killed her. She died because of you."

"STOP!" he screamed. "STOP IT!"

"Interesting. You never begged anyone to stop before… Well, I believe this is enough for one day."

With his newly-regenerated eyes, he watched Frost leave, then collapsed on the floor. He had to be in a really bad place if even Whitney Frost took pity on him.

…

Another thing he couldn't do was to cry.

No matter what Frost did to him, he couldn't shed a single tear.

He might not be able to tell how much time had passed since his death, but at least he could keep a count of Frost's visits. 225, he thought when he heard the door being unlocked. This was going to be their 225th torture session together.

She looked at him, and sighed in disappointment. "What a waste of genius…"

"You know, that's funny, because I could say the same about you."

"I never wanted to become a monster, Howard. The world gave me no other choice. Not that I expect you to understand. Maybe you would, if you had a daughter… or, granddaughter."

He straightened up where he sat. The implication in her voice was impossible to miss. Granddaughter.

She smirked. "You heard me right. I learned the other day. She is a bit older than a year old now. Tony is raising her well, you should be proud."

For a second, he thought his dead heart would start beating again. Tony had a kid. Who was the mother, though? Had Tony married her? He was a bit too young for that responsibility, but it didn't matter. Oh, what wouldn't Howard do, just to be able to hold that little girl in his arms for once… But then, Tony probably wouldn't even let him anywhere near her, not after everything Howard had done to him. He was always so protective of those he loved. But Howard would never hurt her. He would do anything for his son's forgiveness. He would beg him on his knees if he had to. If only Maria could see them. She deserved to know. In fact, she deserved it more than Howard did.

Frost went on, "When you died, I'd advised the Lord to bring Maria here as well. To… motivate you, you know. I imagine you wouldn't be so stubborn if she were here. Still, he is patient. Just a couple of more decades, and maybe you'll be reunited with your son here. Or granddaughter… Or, both. Maybe I'll even make you choose."

Howard had always prided himself on being calm and composed no matter what. But after these words, he jumped to his feet and lunged at Frost, only to be impaled by Zero Matter. One would think he would have got used to the pain by now, but with Zero Matter, there was no such such thing as "getting used to the pain."

After she released him, and he staggered back into the corner, Frost left the cell. She knew she didn't need Zero Matter to torture him today. "Maybe I'll even make you choose," she had said. The threat was obvious. When they died, Mephisto was going to bring them here as well. Then he was going to give Howard a choice to spare one of them the pain. How could he make a choice between his son and granddaughter? At least, judging by the way Frost had spoken, bringing Maria here didn't seem like an option for Mephisto anymore, which was some relief… And a sign that Mephisto's powers had limits.

"Yes. You can escape Hell."

What the… Had he started hearing voices in his head? Alright, this wasn't good. He was immune to many things now, but perhaps madness wasn't one of them.

"You are not going mad. You did something right. And you shall be rewarded for that."

"Who are you?"

"I am what you know as 'Zero Matter.'"

Zero Matter… Was it talking to him? Well, Joseph had once said Zero Matter was whispering things to Whitney Frost. Jason Wilkes had said he had heard voices in his head while under the material's influence as well. "What did I do right?"

"You managed to steal a drop of me from her."

"Did I?" he asked, confused. He hadn't even thought such a thing could be possible, how could he have done it?

"There was something different inside you today. Something that wasn't there before. A desire to fight. You have someone to fight for now, don't you?"

Right, his granddaughter… The news must have triggered something within him. Frost had wanted to torment him, but she had also given him something to fight for. Damn, he didn't even know her name. He didn't even know what she looked like. And she was never going to know she had a grandfather who loved her more than anything else.

"You are going to need more of me."

"For what?"

"Let me show you."

And it did. All the properties of Zero Matter, its laws, how could he use it both as a weapon and a tool to open an inter-dimensional portal… It made him understand all in the blink of an eye. This could be the most effective crash course he had ever received.

He quickly did the math in his head. 1087. If he was to keep stealing a small amount of Zero Matter from Frost without her noticing, he was going to need to go through 1087 more torture sessions. But after that, he was going to be powerful enough to open an interdimensional portal. Now there was only one problem: Zero Matter had also shown him how to hide his thoughts from Frost, bury them in the depths of his mind, but where was he going to keep the Zero Matter he collected? If he stored it in his own body, Frost would surely notice.

"Your neighbor. The one who never gets tortured."

His neighbor? Well, now he thought about it, he had never heard any screams coming from the cell next to his. He had just assumed it was empty.

After a brief moment of consideration, he pressed his forehead on the wall. "Hey? Hey, you…"

"Yes?" a deep, haunting voice answered.

"Are you a prisoner here, too?"

"I am."

"Then why are you never tortured?"

He chuckled bitterly. "If only that were true…"

"But Whitney Frost doesn't hurt you, does she?" he asked impatiently. He could hear the story of this prisoner later. Right now, he had different priorities.

"She is not allowed to touch me."

"Good."

"Why?" he asked, obviously intrigued.

"I was able to take some Zero Matter from her. I'm going to need more to escape this dimension. Let's just say I need someone who can hold onto it for safekeeping."

"Hmm." He seemed to have understood. "So, you want to make a deal with the Devil?"

"Are you the Devil?"

"I used to be an angel once. But now, yes. Yes, I am the Devil."

"What do you want in return?"

"I want you to take me to your realm. There, I'm going to need a host. You can be my host. You have a score to settle, don't you? We can settle that score together."

"Host?"

"Your body."

"Why do you want to help me? You don't even know me."

"It is not about you. I crave vengeance. It doesn't matter whose vengeance it is. This is what my time here did to me."

So, the "Devil" was some kind of parasite who was obsessed with the concept of revenge in general. He thought for a moment. Of course he had a score to settle. He had a lot of scores to settle. But he couldn't roam Earth as some kind of undead creature. He wasn't just a random person that would go unnoticed; he was Howard Stark. Sooner or later, the secret would come out. How was he going to explain his return to Tony? He deserved a peaceful life with his daughter.

"I will open a portal to Earth for you. I will not be your host. I cannot go back there. You're going to help me find another place to hide. This is my condition."

The "Devil" didn't reply immediately. Howard waited. Finally, he heard him say, "Very well. We have a deal. Send me the Darkforce."

He closed his eyes, and focused on bringing the Zero Matter in his body to his right palm. Damn, he was going to need a lot of practice with this thing… After some struggle, he managed to send it to the other prisoner through the wall that separated their cells. The effort had left him exhausted, though, and he didn't think it had anything to do with his old age.

He heard his new friend wince in pain.

"Are you alright?"

"I am. It is done."

He sighed in relief. "So, does the Devil have a name?"

"You can call me the Spirit of Vengeance."

"That's more like a title, not a name."

For some time, no reply came. Howard concluded that the Spirit of Vengeance wasn't going to give him his name, even if he had one. But suddenly, he said, "Zarathos."

"Nice to meet you, Zarathos."

"Nice to meet you, too, Howard."