(A/N: I'm not going to sugar-coat what I have to say because it's the reason why I cannot get online for the next week or so. My mother's going into surgery to remove two benign tumors the size of softballs. I don't care if you think this is some far-fetched excuse or not, but it's the truth. I have to be the one who looks after her while she recovers, and during the four days of her hospital stay before she comes home for bed rest, my house will be a state of emotional turmoil. I just won't be able to write due to that and the fact that I simply will not have the time. I deeply apologize and I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter of Fear Monger, which is longer than the last ones.
On a lighter note, I'm thinking of writing another movie/game novel for either Trace Memory or Hellboy when I'm done with this one. I need to plan ahead, so I'll need opinions now while I'm almost halfway through this story. I'm also open to other opinions, I just have to have seen the movie or played the game, etc. first. If you wish, please tell me which one you prefer. I'd love to hear your opinions so that I can choose which one and add more stories to my collection. Thanks! :) )
Disclaimer: Okay, so I forgot to put this in the last chapter. I sigh. I still said it before, so I'll say it again: I do NOT own Iron Man or any related characters. I do own Lynn.
Chapter Two: Simple Things.
They said that it wasn't worth the money. That it was just a way to silence the peace-loving hippies who cried for peace and for Stark Industries to do something more with their money than create death. "It just isn't worth it," the board members had said, "There isn't any money in it. Just a waste of our money and our time. But it's a way to shut them up so that we can continue working without hearing their protests outside our building, so to hell with it. Go ahead and construct this... Arc Reactor thing. We approve." Again and again they repeated that no breakthroughs could be constructed from it...
And Tony Stark had to disagree.
Tony Stark was now a living, breathing example of what Arc Reactor technology was capable of. It could save so many lives. Think of all the hospitals that could save patients this way! It's be nothing short of extraordinary! All of the people like Yinsen would have a second go at life, just like Tony. At least, that was what he thought.
Staring at the large, donut-shaped Arc Reactor, the dull reality began to sit in. He had one of those keeping him alive. He was now the world's first battery-powered human. The Arc Reactor was, after all, a very large and rechargeable battery. If that were removed from him, he'd be dead within minutes. He'd slip into cardiac arrest and die, if the shrapnel didn't kill him first...
Why did the board think that the reactor was a dead end anyway? It kept the company running just fine while being more... environmentally minded, for lack of a better way to say it, than other conventional ways of powering the company. It certainly worked, so why did they insist that no further investigations could be made into the structures and such of the technology?
Tony lost his train of thinking when Obadiah Stane walked in and said, "What the hell were you thinking!?"
Sigh... Tony thought, This is gonna be fun...
The older man walked up to Tony and stood next to him, cigar hanging out of his mouth, "The press just about passed out, Tony. You'd better have a good explanation for this antic of yours or else the whole company's finished. What do you want us to do now, start making baby cradles?" What was it with this company and resorting to making things for babies once it's weapons distribution retirement is discussed!? Tony sighed heavily, "Obi, I think we can do more than just make things that go "boom". I saw Americans being killed out there! With MY weapons! If they're getting a hold of MY stuff, how am I supposed to stop them from getting their hands on things like the Jericho!? We can do better and, by God, we are going to do something," Tony's voice was amplified by the large size of the room, the echoes bouncing off of the walls and reverberating throughout the whole room, slightly scaring Obadiah with the noise. "Well, what do you suppose we do, Tony? If we're gonna do something, we'd better make it good, because we need to cover our asses from this latest drama scene," Tony gave thought, though the answer to Obadiah's question was obvious. Well, to Tony at least.
"I want us to take a leap of faith and investigate Arc Reactor technology further," He finally said, motioning to the awesome machine which took at least half of the room. Obadiah looked at him with a look that screamed "you have GOT to be kidding me".
"Tony, even the board said that was a dead end," Obadiah said in disbelief, "We'd go bankrupt before we made a single breakthrough." Tony smirked at that. He didn't see his company closing up shop anytime soon and a breakthrough had already been made. In a cave, no less. "I know there's something we can do with this technology. It'd make the board piss themselves, that's for sure. I'm telling you, Obi, it works," Tony's gaze never left Obadiah's, even though he just had a sinking feeling that he'd given himself away. He did leave Obadiah with Rhodey when he walked away from the conference, after all. Rhodes could have easily told Obadiah in the twenty minutes it took for this conversation to start.
"Oh really? And where's the proof to that?"
Crap. Now he had to cover his ass, fast.
"In the science, Obi. Trust me," Tony smirked, looking back to the machine. "Lemme see it, Tony."
Double crap.
Tony let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, "Okay, who told you?" He said in an "I give up" voice as he took off his sling and tie. "Rhodes," Obadiah said simply with a shrug. I knew it. Tony thought as he bared the part of his chest that now glowed a brilliant blue. Obadiah stared at it expectantly and obviously was still surprised at the craftsmanship. "See? We can do so much more with this technology. All we have to do is test it. Well... test it more," Tony corrected himself as he buttoned his shirt up. "Tony, we're iron mongers. We aren't paid to create living batteries. Now, there's a way we could make a weapon out of that if we try. Let me take that to the analysts, and we could start making better weapons than the Jericho! Think of how pleased the army and our customers would be if—"
"No, Obi, this isn't about blowing people up, did you not hear me in front of all of those reporters?" Tony spoke up, having just realized that Obadiah wanted to take his lifeline out of him. "Yeah I heard you, just— I think your best bet would be to lay low for a while. We'll have this conversation after I deal with the board, okay? No more antics, promise?" Tony didn't understand how the topic had switched so quickly, but it would be best if he didn't take the Arc Reactor thing too far, especially after the stunt at the conference. He might regret it later on and he knew he was walking on a tightwire after putting his business on the line for a project that wasn't even going to be revealed to anyone but himself. Tony simply picked up his jacket and his sling and said, "Alright, Obi."
Tony found himself walking through the doors of his house around ten o' clock at night. "Ah. Good evening, sir. How wonderful it is to see you again." The voice was ubiquitous, but really, it was coming from the speakers in the house, one per room. The voice belonged to Jarvis, the computer mainframe that guarded the house as sort of a security system. Jarvis immediately turned on the "nighttime" lights of the house, setting them to a dim setting. "Hello Jarvis, it's great to be home." Tony replied, taking the spiral steps downward two at a time. This stairwell lead to his workshop, where he was known to spend countless hours at a time.
The drive home had allowed himself some time to think. Time to think about what he was going to do now that he had a second chance. That three months in that cave permitted himself a new look on life. Realization dawned on him that all his weapons did was destroy lives by the bunches... and now they were in the hands of gangs. Oh, he wouldn't waste his life, no. But he would so something. First, he had to set things right. The Ten Rings somehow got a hold of his weapons. He somehow had to destroy them. Yes, that's what he'd do. He'd get rid of them and make the Ten Rings fade with history. The question now was... how would he do it?
Getting clearance to a plane was out of the question. The flight plans had to run through Pepper and the military, Rhodey to be exact, (and no doubt Obadiah would find out at some point) before the plane was even fueled for the flight. No, if he was going to get to the Ten Rings, he'd have to find another way. A way where no one would know it was him... but a way safe enough so that he could return unscathed and quick enough not to raise suspicions. If Pep were to try to find him, she'd go to the workshop if she couldn't find him anywhere else. All of his cars were down here, as it served as a kind of multipurpose garage. If he up and disappeared, he'd scare her for sure. Then came the question of how he'd locate them, but he thought starting at the cave would work best.
Punching in the numbers that unlocked the workshop door, Tony had his idea in mind. The only way to get there, destroy them, and return. He'd use his suit. However, he needed to make the suit less... painful. The damn thing must have weighed at least 900 pounds! Not to mention he didn't land as softly as he wanted. Yeah, flight... he'd have to do something about that... his poor butt still ached. "Jarvis, I want you to open a new file, called Mark 2, under my private folder, please? Thanks." Tony said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. A metallic sigh, "Sir, if you keep working on these secret projects like this, you'll fill up the folder..." Tony laughed, "Jarvis, that's what I have you for. Besides, that folder has enough memory on it for six lifetimes' worth of secret projects."
He uploaded the schematics for the armor he and Yinsen built and transferred it over to his holoboard in the middle of the room. A 3D, green, doll-like representation of the suit turned slowly on the table. Grabbing and opening the helmet, Tony set to work with getting rid of the things that made the suit sluggish, heavy, and painful. Once done, he concluded, "I want to take this and fix it up... and get my weapons back." Silence told him one of two things: One, Jarvis didn't understand. Or two, he's busy making a call to the men in white coats to take him off to the "happy hotel". With a smirk on his face, Tony began to make alterations to the new hologram and make the Mark 2 armor.
A storm was coming. Which meant that they had to hurry up. The side of his face burned as sand got into the wound. He was getting more used to it now, however, as the moments passed. His men rushed around to and fro, digging and pulling up anything they could find. His goggles did his wound no service, for the tightness of the band constricted his head and made small lines of blood flow. It felt uncomfortable and he wanted to take it off right then, but with the intensifying winds that carried more sand, he needed all of the protection he could get. Which, for Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings, wasn't much.
But that pain paled in comparison to how furious he was.
Tony Stark got away. He could have built the Jericho missile, and made Raza a happy man, but no. He had to spend all of that time making his escape plan. And that damn doctor helped him. They lied to him, of course they did. Even worse, Tony survived. That put the whole of the Ten Rings in danger. Of course, certain measures had been taken, but still... the possibility that a man with that many connections to the American military could just call them up and give them the details of his time here in Afghanistan were very high.
Something had to have happened to the iron suit he was wearing during his escape. The trail of exhaust he had seen fly away from the site led right here, and it was evident that it wasn't from the explosion that was caused by Stark's take-off. The sun was too hot out here in the desert for him to wear that suit and walk with it away from the site. If Raza's assumption was correct, they should find the suit right here.
Raza's guesses never failed him. Proof of that happened when one of the diggers stood, holding the iron mask Tony had worn. With a smirk, Raza ordered the dig to continue. Maybe this wasn't going to turn out as horribly as he feared.
"Ow! Careful with that, Pepper," Tony whined. Currently, Tony was lying in a reclining chair that looked like a hospital bed, his Arc Reactor chest piece on the table next to Pepper who had a disgusted look on her face and her hand a whole foot into Tony's chest. "Well, I'm sorry, but the feeling of this puss-plasma stuff is really grossing me out and it's not my fault that the wire touched the metal ring," She retorted, "I cannot believe you're making me do this."
It took Tony around ten minutes from the time he started the plans for his new suit to realize that he needed a better "heart" to make it run and stabilize flight, among other things. The metallic hands that he designed along with Jarvis were too big to fit into the crevice, so he called Pepper down. She was hesitant at first and Tony could understand why, but he had already taken out the reactor and if she didn't do it, he'd go into cardiac arrest. Not good. "Ah! Damn!" She had also pulled out the copper wire ring just now. Definitely not good.
"Okay, okay, just attach the new one to the baseplate..." He said, feeling himself go into shock. Pepper, with unsteady hands, put in his newly designed reactor and attached it to the baseplate. This caused Tony to yell. "Sorry, sorry!" Pepper apologized quickly. "It's okay, I'm okay... I think. Thanks," He said, turning the reactor until it clicked into place and smiled, leaning up and handing her a towel for her hands.
"Don't ever... ever make me do that again," She said, exasperated. He grinned and pulled off the apparatus that connected him to the machines. When that was done, and she had left, he began working on the prototype Mark 2, feeling more energetic than before. When he turned around to get the schematics for his boots, he noticed that the old reactor... was gone. Pepper... He thought. Sighing, he chalked it all up to her taking it to throw it out and grabbed the schematics and began welding the boot pieces together.
A phone rang in a house on the other side of town. A small black cat, male, hopped onto the kitchen counter where the phone was and meowed loudly. "Hey, Hades, not so loud, will ya? I heard the phone the first time," Lynn said as she went over to pick up the phone, towel draped over her shoulders to prevent her wet hair from soaking her tank top. "Hello?" She asked into the phone. As she pet her cat, her boss Tom told her about her next story assignment. "Ugh, the Firefighters' Family Fund gala!? Can't you sent Danny out? At least he doesn't have to wear a dress," Daniel was her partner at the office where they pulled together most of the front-page stories. Every year, they'd send someone in to do a story about the gala since it started three years ago as a tribute to the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. Sure, it was a little late in coming, but the fund had been around since his father's time and Tony decided to add a little something extra just for those brave firefighters. Hence, the gala.
Hades curled around her arm and pushed his head into her side, purring loudly. "Okay, okay, I'll do the damn gala. You owe me for this, Tommy. You know how much I hate dresses." She hung up the phone and put her head against Hades' to hear him purr. "Hades, you are soooo lucky you are a male cat. You don't have to wear dresses and go to fancy parties that you aren't supposed to go to on the grounds of telling the people who can't be there what happened." The fluffy cat stared at her with his golden eyes for a moment, head tilted. Three... two... one... on the count of "zero", just as Lynn predicted, he meowed as loudly as he could, demanding a hug. She sighed and picked the cat up, who subsequently flopped over her arms like a limp noodle. "C'mon Hades, you get to help me pick out my dress for next week."
Only days later the boots were finished... and now he had to test them out. Tony stepped out with the boots "clunking" and "clanking" as he walked, joystick-like handles in his hands that were connected to his reactor. Two mechanical arms accompanied him on the way to the small, black, makeshift launchpad that was close to the cars. Not smart, but that was the only place he could put it. One mechanical arm had a fire extinguisher attached to the head, and the other had a camcorder. "Okay, Dummy," He said, pointing to the arm with the fire extinguisher, "You're on for fire safety. Just a precaution. Bob," He pointed to the camcorder holding arm, "Go over in that corner and film the whole thing." The arm departed for the top left corner, then turned to face him. "Okay, we're going to start out at a ten percent thrust and work our way from there." He said, bending his knees and preparing himself. Taking a few deep, steady breaths, he gripped the joysticks tightly and said, "Okay... Here we go. In three... two... one..."
After that countdown, Tony remembered two things. The first thing was pressing the buttons on the joysticks. The second thing was the feeling of his body hitting the ceiling ledge behind him. He hit the ground with a large thud and Dummy reached over, "No, no, don't!" He cried, but Dummy started the fire extinguisher anyway, covering him in the foamy substance. Yeah... he really needed to fix that stabilizer... after dismantling Dummy.
Okay. I hope you like this new chapter, and your reviews are very welcome. :)