Son of Iron Man

Shout-Outs:

Thank you to ItsZokune for your character suggestions for the sons of Hulk. They may not appear in this chapter, but they will appear very soon. To the rest of you, let me assure you that these characters will be very interesting to read about. I'm excited for them having only read the profiles, and I'm the one writing this story.

To everyone:

Welcome back! Have you all had a good day? I have, but of course you guys don't care about that – you're here for the story. And so we begin!


Chapter Three: Superhero Training

The yellow school bus pulled up in front of Stark Tower and Toby jumped off.

"See you tomorrow, Ben!" he called back, and he saw the bespectacled boy waving at him through the window.

An elevator ride later and Toby was in the living room.

"Hey!" he called, swinging his backpack off and tossing it into a corner.

"Hey, Toby!" called back his parents. He immediately followed the voices to find his parents on the couch.

"So, ready for training?" he asked, raising his left wrist upon which the red-and-gold watch was strapped.

"Whenever you are," Tony said, standing up and walking across to his son. "Follow me."

Tony and Toby walked out onto the helipad, Tony having picked up his suit along the way. They stood there, waiting for someone whom Toby had no idea could be.

"Uh, are they coming tonight?" Toby asked sarcastically.

"They'll be here," Tony assured his son. They stood together in their suits, looking expectantly out over the city.

After a few minutes of silence, Toby began to hear rugged breathing. He watched the edge of the helipad, which was where he judged the sound to come from. A red hand suddenly came over the edge, gripping on and pulling up the rest of the body. A red-and-blue clad man flipped up over the edge and stood before Toby and Tony, his white 'eyes' taking up the majority of the web-patterned mask.

"Spider-Man?" Toby asked, looking up at his father, who shook his head.

"Spider-Boy."

After looking around to make sure no one else was watching, the masked figure removed the mask to reveal a bespectacled boy with mid-length, messy, dark hair and a muscular form. Toby recognised the face immediately.

"Ben?!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Ben admitted. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before, but the 'Spider-Man' who has been swinging around the city recently wasn't my dad."

"What?" Toby asked, surprised.

"Could we head inside?" Ben asked, replacing his mask and looking around as if someone was going to appear at any moment. "I'll explain to you there." Toby nodded and led his friend into the living room, Tony walking with them.

"How did you get here?" Toby asked once they were inside and on the couch, Ben's mask taken off once again.

"I climbed up the side of the building," Ben answered. "It's taller than it looks," he added.

"But the last time I saw you, you were on the bus," Toby said.

"I got off at the next stop, and then ran over here. Never mind that, though. Tony tells me you need a training partner," Ben replied. Toby wasn't ready to move on yet, however.

"You never told me you had powers!" he protested.

"My dad kept them secret in his day-to-day life, and so did I. I was born with the Spider-Gene, but dad made me keep it secret," Ben explained.

"I'm sorry, I still don't understand. Do you have all your dad's powers?"

"All of them. I even have my own web-shooters," Ben confirmed.

"So if I tried to throw something at you…"

"I'd dodge it."

"Then how come you're always the first out in dodgeball?" Toby asked. Ben sighed softly.

"I learned to control my powers; otherwise people would figure out that I had them," he answered.

"OK, I think I understand now," Toby said, trying to regain his cool composure.

"Good, then shall we begin?" Ben asked.

"Now?"

"Immediately," Ben said, putting his mask on.

"Dad, are you coming?" Toby asked his father, who was pouring himself a drink at the bar.

"No, I'll let you two try and figure out your own training style for now," Tony said. "Once you're ready to learn combat skills I'll join you, but for now I expect you just to practice mobility."

"OK, then," Toby said, turning to Ben and lowering his faceplate. "Let's move."

Toby followed Ben out onto the helipad, where he ran with surprising swiftness to the edge of the concrete and slipped over the edge. Toby hurried to the edge and looked over the rail, seeing the flash of red emitting a white stream from his wrist, which then attached to a nearby building. He began to swing through the air and Toby heard a 'woo!' filling the air. Before his friend could get away, Toby took off and sped toward his rapidly shrinking friend.

Ben's swinging velocity was no match for Toby's thrusters, and in moments they were side-by-side, Toby slowing down to stay level.

"You're pretty good at this for someone who only learned to fly yesterday," Ben remarked as they turned a tight corner.

"Me?" Toby asked incredulously. "You're amazing!"

"I've had practice," Ben said.

"But still, you have to calculate every swing perfectly. That has to be difficult," Toby persisted.

"You had to design, build and calibrate an Iron Man suit," Ben reasoned.

"I had help."

"So did I."

After a few minutes, Ben sighed loudly.

"What's up?" Toby asked.

"I'm bored," Ben replied. "Just swinging through the city is fun at first, but it just gets tedious after a while."

"I know, right? I'm just flying in a straight line," Toby agreed. "But then, I need the practice."

"You need practice in combat," Ben said, his mask hiding a mischievous smile.

"Dad said we should go back to him when we're ready for that," Toby recalled.

"I can teach you just as well as he can," Ben reasoned.

"I don't know…" Toby muttered.

"Come on! What would you rather do, fight some stupid old LMDs or stop an actual mugging?" Ben asked.

"Well…" Toby trailed off. He favoured the latter in truth, but he wasn't sure if he should disobey his father.

"You've got an invincible suit and I have my spider-sense. There will be no danger to either of us," Ben said, trying to convince Toby to join him. "Just use JARVIS to hack into a police frequency and we'll find a crime to stop," he instructed.

"Hacking into a police frequency?" Toby exclaimed. "I don't know about that…"

"Well, how else are we supposed to find out about crimes?" Ben reasoned.

"I don't know, perhaps a more legal way?"

"We're doing it to fight illegal activity. I think that cancels out the badness."

"My father wouldn't approve…"

"You're not your father. Do you want to learn or not?" Ben demanded. Toby was silent for a moment, considering the benefits and costs.

"JARVIS," he said finally, with a sigh, "get us into a police frequency."

"That's it!" Ben encouraged him.

"OK, I've got something; follow me," Toby said after listening in for a moment.


"Please!" Sarah Shilling begged as she held her hands up. "Don't shoot!" She had been on her way home from school in Midtown when four men in black masks had shot out of an alleyway and dragged her into the darkness with them. One of the four was now emptying out her schoolbag. First out were her books, which clattered to the ground with a look of disgust from the mugger. Two of the others held her at gunpoint while the fourth man looked out onto the street to make sure they weren't being watched.

"Useless books!" growled the mugger with Sarah's bag as yet more books fell out. Then they hit the jackpot when her purse fell out, jangling with the money that was inside. "Ah!" the man exclaimed, picking up the purse and discarding the bag. He opened it up to find 20 dollars in cash as well as a debit card. "How much is on this?" the mugger demanded.

"None of your business!" Sarah protested.

"Tell him, or we'll shoot," the left gunman demanded.

"Two hundred dollars!" she squealed. "Please don't kill me!"

"Oh, we-" the right gunman began, but he was cut off as they all heard a mechanical whir before the watchman collided with him, smoke pouring from his body.

"Put down the purse," demanded the newcomer as he pointed an open palm at the mugger who was holding Sarah's purse. The mugger stared with wide eyes at the red-and-gold, metal-covered man. Glowing blue eyes and a triangular chest piece lit up the darkness ahead of him.

"Iron Man!" he gasped, and the remaining gunman opened fire. The bullets bounced off the gold/titanium alloy before a humourless laugh was heard from within.

"I said…" – he blasted the gunman with a repulsor – "put down the purse." The mugger looked from Iron Man to the light at the end of the alleyway behind him and made a poor decision. He ran.

To his surprise, he didn't feel a burning repulsor blast hitting his back as he ran. The saving light grew closer and Iron Man grew further behind. He was almost there…

When a red-and-blue figure dropped down in front of him.

"Spider-Man?" he exclaimed. How many superheroes were here today?

"Spider-Boy," the boy corrected him, before a rapid punch to the face knocked him out.

Ben looked down at the unconscious mugger as Toby arrived next to him, carrying the other three over his shoulder. He sat the four muggers up against the wall before Ben used his webbing to stick them there. The two then walked back up the alley toward the still-cowering girl they had just saved. She was tall and blonde with green eyes, still in the clothes she had worn to school that day. Once there, Toby spoke first.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I-I think so…" the girl said as she shakily repacked her bag. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Toby said as he knelt down to help her. "It's my duty." Ben stood by, letting his friend take all the credit. It was his first save, after all.

"I'm Sarah, by the way," the girl said. "Sarah Shilling."

"I know who you are, you're in my English class," Toby said. He then realised what he had done, but it was too late.

"I-I am?" Sarah asked. "Who are you?" Toby realised that his father never kept his identity secret, so neither would he. He lifted his faceplate. "Toby?" Sarah gasped.

"That's me," Toby said with a nod.

"Wow!" Sarah exclaimed. Then, after a moment of silence, she asked: "how can I repay you?"

"There's no need for that," Toby said with a smile. "Just knowing you're safe is enough." He then winked.

"Uh, Toby…" said Ben in a deliberately disguised voice. Toby looked up and saw where his friend was pointing. A white car with red-and-blue flashing lights had pulled up at the end of the alley.

"Ah," Toby said, lowering his faceplate. "We should be going. Call me sometime," he then added to Sarah before grabbing Ben and shooting upward.

Sarah watched her saviours go.

"I will," she whispered to herself as she looked at the little piece of paper Toby had put in her hand.


"How irresponsible can you get?!" Tony Stark demanded as he waved a newspaper at his son the next morning. The headline, 'Iron Boy', lit up the front page. "You hacked a police frequency, tried to tackle a mugging on your own and then revealed your identity to a Daily Bugle reporter!"

"I wasn't alone because Ben was there, and for the record, it was him who made me hack the police frequency," Toby protested. "And I didn't know she was a reporter."

"Regardless of who she was, you shouldn't have revealed your identity," Tony said.

"You did," Toby retaliated.

"I had learned to control the suit; you haven't. Do you have any idea how vulnerable you've just made yourself to attack?" Tony demanded.

"I kicked those muggers into the middle of next week! I don't think I have much to worry about," Toby reasoned.

"There are more dangerous enemies than muggers out there, Toby!" Tony scolded. "You have no idea what you're dealing with here!"

"Whatever, dad," Toby said, raising his hands. "I've got to get ready for school."

"Oh, no you don't," Tony stopped him. "You're not going to school today."

"What?" Toby asked.

"You need to learn how to control the suit before going outside again," Tony said. "You're grounded from everything that doesn't involve training, and that includes school."

"Can you even do that?" Toby asked.

"I don't know, but a repulsor blast says I can," Tony said. "You need to be ready for the dangers that are out there waiting for you."

"Who out there would want to hurt a 16-year old boy?" Toby asked. His father made to answer, but decided against it. Toby would learn soon enough.


Meanwhile, an ageing man was reading the newspaper.

"Iron Boy, eh?" he said to himself in a smooth accent. "Dustin, come in here," he called to his son.

"Yes, father?" the teenager asked.

"Put on your best suit. We're going to pay this Iron Boy a visit."


That's all, folks! Who could this villainous villain be? Perhaps the son of one of Tony Stark's old rivals? Perhaps the only way we'll ever know is by waiting for the next chapter.

Speaking of which, favourite and follow if you like this story and want to see the next chapter as soon as it goes up.

Until next time, true believers!