Heeeyyooo chapter two. Thanks for the nice reviews! I don't own anything and I hope you like the chapter! (super long, in my opinion. Don't get bored :P)

"Tony you've got to be kidding."

"You can't be serious!"

"...That's what 'kidding' means, Pepper..."

"...I know that!"

Rhodey and Pepper had been trying to talk Tony out of assisting Gene for the past day. Glaring at their friend as he upgraded the armor, they bombarded him with another assortment of reasons why this was stupid and dangerous.

He wouldn't listen.

He would barely even acknowledge them. He could only think of his father and what Gene might be doing to him. If he was hurt...

"Tony!" Rhodey snapped. "Are you even listening!"

The young genius put down his wrench, and, for the thirtieth time that day checked his pod.

"Tony!"

"What do you want me to do Rhodey?" Tony suddenly rounded on his friend, his bright blue eyes wide with anger. "If you haven't noticed, my hands are pretty much tied here! What would you do if it was you're dad!"

Rhodey gaped at him as he tried to come up with a reasonable response. What would he do? "I-"

"It's not that, Tony." Pepper said hesitantly. She studied Tony as she tried to reason with him. "It's just, when you think about it, we're not even entirely sure... if... well..."

"If what?" Tony scowled at Pepper.

"If your dad is... even alive."

No one dared speak as a black look crossed Tony's face and he began pacing the lab.

Who did they think they were talking to? He'd gone over this possibility many times, but he'd also decided that the chance his dad might still be out there outweighed the chance that he might be dead.

But... what if he really was gone? Gene would have another ring and Tony would have... what? Closure?

That wasn't good enough.

"Tony, please, just listen to us."

"I'm sorry." Tony said, turning to face both his friends. "But there is nothing you can say that will change my mind."

Rhodey and Pepper shared a quick look. A silent conversation passed between the two before Rhodey gave a curt nod.

"What is it?" Tony asked, irritation seeping into his voice.

Pepper murmured something to Rhodey but the only part Tony could hear was, "...he'll say no."

"Spit it out!"

"If you're gonna blindly follow Gene to god knows where," Rhodey said. "Then you are at least taking us with you."

Tony sighed irritably. "Absolutely not."

"Tony! Be serious! You need someone to watch you're back."

"I agree," Pepper said, crossing her arms adamantly. "There's no way we're letting you go alone with Gene."

"It's not like you can stop me..." Tony muttered, turning away to sit on a stool.

"Do you really just expect us to wait here!" Pepper shouted, surprising the two young men. She threw her hands in the air. "You want us to wait here for the occasional update! Crossing our fingers! Holding our breath!"

Pepper dramatically put both hands over her heart and turned to Rhodey. "Dear god Rhodey! I hope Gene doesn't kill him! Wanna go get some popcorn while we watch on the com systems!" Tony arched a brow as the red head crossed her arms and spun on her heel to face him. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Besides," Rhodey said. "I have the War Machine armor now. Gene doesn't know about that, it'll catch him off guard if he tries anything."

Tony thought about this. It was true; if he were to go against Gene and eight rings he would surely lose. But with Rhodey as backup...

"Alright," Tony said. "Rhodey, you can come.

Rhodey let out a long breath and sat down. Apparently, that was all he wanted to hear.

But Pepper didn't budge. She waited, staring at Tony expectantly.

"And...?"

"And what?" Tony asked flatly, returning to the armor.

"Well what about me!"

Instead of answering her, Tony grabbed a torch, flipped a face mask over his head and began welding the armor.

"Tony! TONY!" Pepper desperately turned to Rhodey. "Rhodey, tell him! Tell him I'm going too!"

Following Tony's lead, Rhodey pulled a history book out of his backpack. Burying his head in it he did his best to tune Pepper out.

"Oh no you don't!" She screamed at both of them. "Do not ignore me! You're not my mother, you can't tell me what to do! I am coming with you two and that's final!" She glared at both of them, but still they wouldn't acknowledge her.

"Pleeaassee?" Pepper tried a new tactic as she fell to her knees and clasped her hands. "I wanna go sooooo bad!" She whined. "I'm gonna miss out on all the action if I stay here! Pwetty pwease?"

Neither young man said a thing, so Pepper stood and crossed her arms.

"Fine. Happy birthday by the way, again. I'm not giving you you're present now, Tony. I'm gonna burn it."

Tony said nothing, but a short laugh escaped from Rhodey. Pepper snatched up the closest thing to her, a full soda can, and threw it at Rhodey, hitting him dead center in the face.

For a second it looked as if he would explode, but then he suddenly relaxed and continued reading his book as if a mosquito had bit him.

"Aww! C'mon! That didn't hurt!"

Tony's mouth twitched into a smile for a second, but other than that the two young men continued to wear their impassive masks.

"I didn't want to do this!" Pepper said, quickly making her way over to Tony's backpack. "But you leave me no choice!" She ripped open the backpack and took out a folded sheet of paper.

Tony stopped his welding and visibly tensed. "What's that?"

A triumphant grin stretched across Pepper's face. "Oh nothing... just you're report card."

"Pepper!"

"What does it matter?" Rhodey asked, clearly exasperated. "My mom's going to see it anyway."

"Yeah," Pepper said. "But not before Tony planned on changing his P.E. grade."

An awkward silence filled the armory for a minute as Rhodey face-palmed and let out a long, tired breath. "Tony, c'mon, you're not changing you're grade. We're not twelve."

"I know that... it's just... P.E. doesn't even matter!" Tony said, sounding exactly like a twelve year old. "I have more important things to do than climb a rope!"

"You aren't seriously telling me that you're considering changing the grade...?"

"Well... I was..."

"Doesn't matter now!" Pepper said, snapping a picture of the report card with her phone. "I'm sending this to Mrs. Rhodes as we speak..."

"Pepper!" Tony shot out of his seat. "I'm dead if she sees that!"

Pepper cackled loudly. "I know! Have fun finding the ring without me!"

Tony scrambled for Pepper as she laughed evilly and ran around the armory.

"Give me the phone!"

"NEVER!"

"You two!" Rhodey shouted, irritation oozing out of every pore in his body. "Stop acting like sixth graders!"

"Say you'll let me come!" Pepper yelled as she put a chair between herself and Tony. "Say that I can come with you guys and I'll delete the picture!"

Tony sighed. "Pepper, it's too dangerous. You could get hurt again-"

"Plleeaaassee Tony?" She begged. "I'll help out! Uhh... I can carry stuff! Ohh! I'll make snacks!"

Frowning at Pepper, Tony side-stepped the chair and reached to take her phone from her.

She moved the phone out of the way just in time and put it behind her back.

"C'mon Pepper!" Tony snapped. "This isn't funny, you're acting immature! I said you're not going, and I mean it."

Her faced flushed with rage, Pepper acted without thinking and slammed her boot down on Tony's foot.

"You're not the boss of me! You... you're a jerk!" She cried over his yelp. "And I mean it!" She spun and began her march to the exit but was stopped when Rhodey suddenly snatched the phone from her hand.

"Enough!" He shouted, glaring at both of them. "This is ridiculous!"

Pepper grabbed Rhodey's wrist and tried to pry her phone from his hand. "Give it back!"

"No! Not until you start acting you're age! This is Tony's dad we're trying to save, so it's his decision who comes with him. Now, I think- OW!"

Pepper tackled Rhodey and tried wrestling the phone from him.

"Give it back Rhodey! I said give it back!"

Tony grabbed Pepper around the waist and tried hauling her off Rhodey but she was latched on to him like a parasite.

"Pepper, get off of me!"

"Not until you give me back my-"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The three teens froze mid-fight.

Pepper slid off Rhodey onto the floor and he sat up quickly, staring wide-eyed at the phone in his hand.

Tony crouched to their height and eyed the device.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

There was no number on the screen, just the single word "Restricted" glowed on the electronic device. Pepper nervously glanced between both her friends. "Could that be...?"

"Gene." Tony hissed.

"Calling on Pepper's phone?" Rhodey asked. "But why would he..." He trailed off, chancing a look at Tony quickly before handing him the cell phone.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Tony hesitated. Could he do this? Was it really worth the risk?

'Yes, it is.' He thought to himself as he hit the answer button.

"Tony Stark?" A smooth voice asked. Tony's hand gripped the phone tightly.

"Gene."

A staticy laugh on the other line was loud enough to also be heard by Rhodey and Pepper.

"You're a lot sharper than you were during our last phone call."

"What's he saying?" Pepper whispered.

"Shh Pepper! Let him listen!"

"Stark," Gene continued, his voice still full of amusement. "I trust you received my message yesterday?"

"We received it." Tony growled. "In the form of a violent senior citizen."

"Let's get to the point. I'm close Stark, so very close to having the ninth ring. I know where it is, I just don't know how to access it."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a second!" Gene was silent as Tony took a moment to gather his thoughts. "How can you even begin to expect me to trust you?"

"Trust is not the issue here, Stark."

"Yes," Tony agreed, more than a bit of an edge to his voice. "It's the lack thereof."

The other line was silent for a moment. Tony glanced at Rhodey and Pepper to see that they were entirely fixated on him, even though they were only getting half the conversation.

"Listen, I'm not asking you to trust me." Then, as an afterthought, he said, "In fact, I'm not asking you anything. I have your father; you will assist me in obtaining the ninth ring, and that is an order."

Tony was past boiling point. If there was anything he hated, it was somebody acting as if they were in charge of him. And the mere mention of his father set him over the edge.

"How do I know my father is even alive?" He snarled, echoing Pepper's earlier words.

His phone went strangely silent for a minute. Tony had to glance at it a few times to make sure the call was still in process. Right as he was about to hang up, he heard a voice he never thought would say his name again.

"Tony?" Howard asked on the other line, his tired voice full of concern and the tiniest hint of excitement.

Tony felt his stomach drop through the floor.

"Tony? Tony are you there?"

Tony's astonishment did not go unnoticed. Rhodey and Pepper exchanged a worried glance as they watched their friend's eyes glaze over and stare at the wall.

"Tony?" Pepper asked quietly. She let her hand rest on his back. "You okay? What is it? What did Gene say?"

"Tony," Howard said, his staticy voice eerily calm for the situation he was in. "Son, it's me."

Tony was snapped out of his trance. He took a deep breath and did his best to answer his father.

"Dad?" Tony whispered hoarsely. Rhodey and Pepper were quick to fire out the questions.

"You're Dad!"

"He was telling the truth! Tony! That's great! Kind of... I mean, he's with Gene and all... so not that great..."

"What did he say?"

"Is he alright?"

Tony ignored his friends as he heard a relieved sigh come from the phone.

"It's great to hear your voice."

"Dad..." Tony said again, the smallest bubble of excitement building in his chest. Of course, Tony had suspected that his dad was alive. That's the only reason he considered speaking to Gene. But hearing him speak for real, the true confirmation that he wasn't dead was enough to almost reduce Tony to tears. "You're... you're alive. But how...?"

"All in due time, Stark." Gene was suddenly on the phone again, clearly amused even though he couldn't see his face. "Hmm, this actually is a lot similar to our last phone call."

Tony exploded like an H-Bomb.

"Where is he!" He roared into the phone as he shot up from his sitting position on the floor. "Tell me where you are!"

A low, humored chuckle echoed through the phone, enraging Tony even more with every single laugh.

"I'll send you my latitude and longitude in the next few hours. You will follow the coordinates immediately with nothing but you and you're little fan club."

"I'll bring whatever I want!"

"No, you won't." Gene said seriously. "You forget who's in charge here. Be ready to head into the temple when you arrive. Oh, and a little advice, it's pretty humid here so dress lightly."

Tony's ears were pounding, his vision was blurred. Gene was so nonchalant, as if they were talking about throwing a party. It made him sick with anger.

"I'm going to kill you..." Tony snarled so low into the receiver that Pepper and Rhodey couldn't hear him.

Gene laughed again, but the humor in his voice was gone. It was replaced by a darker, edgier tone.

"I doubt it Stark, you're no murderer."

"Don't underestimate me."

"Oh, by the way Tony," Gene said lightly, ignoring Tony's last comment. "Happy Birthday." Then the line went dead.

School for me starts tomorrow so I probably won't be posting a chapter for a while. Just a little warning in advance haha. Review aaahhh it makes me sooo happy!