Son of Iron Man


Chapter Twenty-Two: The Secret Avengers

Lupin was lying sadly in the forest, his head resting on his paw. He had long since given up any hope of escape from the chain. This was how Toby found him upon wandering up to him in the forest.

"Lupin?"

"Toby? Ben told me you were dead!" Lupin said, leaping to his feet, tail wagging uncontrollably.

"For all intents and purposes, I am," Toby nodded.

"Then how did you escape?"

"I didn't," Toby told him. Lupin cocked his head, an ear raising in confusion. "I just avoided the situation altogether. You see, when a genius spots an assassin, he's likely to put his mind to a clever survival plan. For example, one might take an LMD and put his million dollar suit of armour on it. Then one might let that suit get utterly decimated so that his own life isn't wasted. Of course," he huffed, hefting a colossal axe above his shoulder, "that would leave the billionaire genius without his suit of power armour, making his attempts to rescue his talking wolf pal depressingly low tech." He swung the axe down on the chain, breaking a link and freeing the wolf.

"Thanks!" Lupin exclaimed, jumping around excitedly. "But, uh, couldn't this resourceful genius just have unfastened the collar?"

"No way! That would have been a very anticlimactic end to the story," Toby protested. He nevertheless ended up doing so in order for Lupin not to be burdened with dragging the chain around.

"I'm assuming you've busted me out for a reason," Lupin said. As the wolf spoke, Toby thought he detected something strange about his voice, as though he was struggling somewhat with speaking. For the moment, though, he had bigger concerns and put it down to the stressful situation.

"There's something badly wrong with Emily, and she's got Ben and maybe Ty under her spell. We need to capture Emily so she can tell us how to free the others, before we can try to help her. I've got a new armour being manufactured, if I can get to the workshop again, but I can't do it alone," Toby explained.

"Even with me it's still three against two," Lupin pointed out. "And if Emily can enslave Ben, she could surely have more backup in the event of a battle."

"An excellent point, Lupin," Toby nodded thoughtfully. A moment of thoughtful silence fell. "OK, how likely is it that someone's going to find this broken chain?"

"Ben brings food every day, but he's already visited for today. You'll have about 24 hours before he returns."

"Clock's ticking, then," Toby said softly. He then stood tall, determination in his eyes. "OK, you stay here. I'm going to try and put together a plan. When you hear the sounds of battle (and you will), feel free to come and join us." Lupin nodded before curling back up with an involuntary whine.


Deep within the facility was Toby Stark's laboratory. Since his demise, Emily had often tried to get inside, but he kept it locked at all times. And of course, she didn't know where the air vents crossed above it. There were no grates, of course, for the interior was temperature controlled on a separate grid. But with knowledge of its location and a small laser, it was possible to get in.

Toby had designed every aspect of the facility, and so he knew that exact location. So when part of the vent collapsed down to the ground and the teenager swung down with it, he had to congratulate himself on his foresight. Dusting himself down, he looked around to find that the machinery had finished the work he had set it off on a few days ago.

"Welcome back, Sir," said a voice. Toby jumped, but he soon realised it was only JARVIS.

"It's good to be back," Toby replied. The room was soundproofed and self-repairing; the hole he had made was already filled.

"I am pleased to see your plan worked, sir," JARVIS said. "I couldn't be certain once you enforced radio silence."

"Yeah, well, I'm here. Now for the important part: how's the suit?"

"Untested, but there seem to be no technical faults," JARVIS told him. "I was able to adapt the nanobots which form the lab as you requested, but I have not yet tested their ability to reform into a different shape. They have been programmed with a few default forms, but I have no doubt that you will be wanting to programming some more yourself."

"Damn straight," Toby agreed. "So, where's the suit?" he asked, looking around but seeing nothing.

"The suit is everywhere, sir," JARVIS told him, eliciting a quizzical look. "The nanobots will follow you in an invisible cloud. I just need to program an activation code."

"Like a word which will tell them to form the suit?"

"Precisely."

"Hmm," Toby mumbled, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Avengers assemble? No, I'll look stupid saying that on solo missions. Nanobots go? That's just plain dumb." He was silent for a moment, thinking up catchphrases in his head. Then, a look of excitement hit him. "I've got it! How about 'suit up!'"

"An excellent phrase, sir. I shall program it now." Silence fell. "There. May I suggest that you try-"

"Suit up!" At his command, the nanobots swarmed, forming the familiar red and gold suit around him. Once it had formed around him, Toby realised the armour felt just like the original. Somehow he expected it to be... Different.

"The nanobots can adjust their density," JARVIS explained as though in answer to his thoughts.

"So if I adjust it to a low density, I can walk through walls?" Toby asked.

"The suit can, yes, but your own density would remain the same. The suit can be controlled remotely using a pair of sunglasses I took the liberty of making, though."

"Great! Where are they?" Toby asked, raising his faceplate and looking around.

"I have yet to establish the connection between them and the nanobots. I can do it remotely, but it will take some time."

"We don't have time," Toby said. "As long as the suit works, I'll be fine. Keep working on those glasses, JARVIS," he said, carving a hole in the vent above with a wrist mounted laser. "I'll be back."


Elsewhere in the facility, Ben knocked on Emily's door. He waited a few moments, hearing movement inside, before Emily called out, rather breathless:

"Come in!" Ben opened the door and walked in to find Ty sat on her bed, his lips covered in her black lipstick.

"I trust you won't bother me again?" Emily said to the boy.

"No, mistress," Ty replied, scurrying out through the door. Ben closed behind him as he stepped into the room.

"Tyler was attempting to disobey me," Emily explained. Sitting on the bed and brushing her hair, she added: "So, what do you want with me, little spider?"

"It's, uh... It's Toby, mistress," Ben said quietly, as if fearing to speak the name. Emily stopped brushing her hair and leaned forward, interested.

"Oh?" she prompted, "Has his body washed up somewhere?"

"You, uh, you could say that," Ben said.

"Oh, good!" Emily cried out in jubilation, "Where is he? I would like to take one last look at his body before I burn it."

"Well..." Ben began, hesitating as he knew she would be unhappy. "He's in the facility."

"Ooh, you brought him back for me?"

"Not quite," Ben told her, "the Toby I saw looked very much alive." Silence fell for a moment. Emily simply stared at Ben, but he couldn't read her expression. For a while they were still. Ben grew increasingly uncomfortable. Then, Emily spoke in a surprisingly calm voice.

"I killed Toby," she said. "You saw it. Toby Stark is no more."

"Forgive me, my mistress, but how could I have seen him if he was dead?"

"Perhaps it was a side-effect of the mind control. Perhaps it was a rogue LMD. Perhaps it was-?" she trailed off, her eyes widening with understanding. "Get me into Stark's lab right now!" She stood up, fury blazing behind her ruby glasses, and stormed out of the room, leaving Ben to contemplate what to do.


"Sir, your laboratory has been breached," said JARVIS. The skyscrapers of New York City passed Toby by as he told the AI:

"Show footage." In one corner of his HUD, a small screen popped up showing footage from a security camera in the lab. He joined the action just as the lab door fell to the ground and Emily, Ben and Ty walked in, the latter's eyes still red from his recent transformation.

"JARVIS, where's he hiding?" Toby heard Emily demand.

"Could you be more specific, ma'am?" the AI replied both in Toby's helmet and in the room.

"Toby Stark, you useless pile of circuits!"

"Ah, yes, the same Toby Stark you sent to the bottom of the ocean? I've dispatched some submersibles to search for him, but they've found nothing as yet."

"I order you to tell me where you're hiding Toby Stark!"

"Shall I put you through, sir?" JARVIS asked, his voice coming through only in Toby's helmet. By now he was used to, and even expected, Toby's propensity to show off like his father.

"Not this time, J. We're under deep cover," Toby replied.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," JARVIS said to Emily. Toby couldn't help but laugh as he saw her grow increasingly frustrated.

"Fine! You keep playing your little game," she said. "You two, search the facility. If Toby's still here, we'll find him."

The video closed down and JARVIS said:

"What is your plan, sir?"

"Well," Toby said. "Emily's got Ben and Ty, and I've got Lupin. That's 3v2, and their heavy hitter is stronger than ours. It would probably take two people to take on the Hulk, so we'll call it a 2:1 ratio of power in their favour, not even counting any external support she may be able to call in."

"So you need to balance those odds?" JARVIS suggested.

"Exactly, J. The trouble will be finding any superpowered beings within twenty hours," Toby said thoughtfully. The city streets passed below him, but the nanobots in his suit were in their stealth configuration. The light which hit the suit was being refracted as though it had passed right through, making him appear invisible to the naked eye. It wasn't 100% invisibility, and a shimmer could still be seen by anyone looking close enough, but it was enough to divert the gaze of the people below. If just one person saw him, it would be on the social networking websites within minutes and Emily would know he had survived. By now Ben had probably already told her, but he couldn't take any chances.

"Sir," JARVIS piped up after a moment of silence. "There is a place, here in the city, where superheroes are gathered in one building."

"Where's that, then, J?"

"The X-Mansion, sir."

Toby had to perform an immediate course correction to avoid crashing into a building. How could he not have thought of it before! He knew where the mansion was – or the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning as it was called to the outside world. It was where Emily would probably have started living if she hadn't joined the Avengers. Setting course for the mansion, he began to wonder what help they would give. The original Avengers had often fought with the X-Men, and despite creating a so-called Unity Squad the rift was ever-present. Toby had to hope his diplomacy skills would be enough to convince Professor Xavier to help him. If not, the world could be the cost...


Well, that's the setup for the new characters. Join us next week for our introduction to the first Secret Avenger: Nathan Fury! I hope you guys like departures from the main story to deal with a new character's backstory, because we've got another one coming up. Until next time, true believers!