Author's Note: PLEASE READ THE NOTE BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER!
First of all, the new cover art is courtesy of the Deviantart user, Framraw, who has given me permission to use it for my story.
Secondly, I want to address a certain subject that keeps coming up in my comments section and the PMs. People seem to be mistaking the idea that this is somewhat related to Iron Man: Armored Adventures. One guest commentor said that Honey Lemon should be Tony's love interest just because she's more similar to Pepper Potts in AA. TheJoker96Italia said that I am using the Tony Stark of Armored Adventures.
I'm going to say the same thing that I have been saying the past few chapters in this fanfic: This story has NOTHING to do with Armored Adventures. It's just a fanfic with a teenage Tony Stark. That's it. Other than that, it has nothing to do with Armored Adventures. In this fanfic, Happy Hogan is an adult, Howard Stark really is dead, and the Mandarin doesn't exist here.
I'm not trying to be rude. I just want it to be clear and to avoid any more misunderstandings. Don't make predictions simply simply based on Armored Adventures. Don't compare this Tony Stark with the one in AA.
Okay. Now that I said everything I want to say, let's get on with the story. Any and all comments are welcome.
Cold and soaking wet, Tony and the rest of the teens followed Fred down a few blocks into a fancy neighborhood. They stopped when they approached a large, three-story manor with rich, white walls and a well-trimmed garden surrounding the place.
"Fred, where are you going?" Hiro asked as Fred approached the front door.
"Oh, right." Fred said. "Welcome to mi casa. That's French for 'front door'."
"It's… really not." Honey Lemon corrected.
Aggravated, Gogo groaned. "Listen, nitwit, a lunatic in a mask just tried to kill us. I'm not in the moot for…"
The door opened and an elderly man in a butler uniform walked out. He turned to Fred with a professional tone. "Welcome home, Master Frederick."
"Heathcliff, my man!" Fred greeted fist-bumping his butler. None of the others could believe their eyes. They followed Fred into the mansion where he guided them through the hallways.
"Fred, this is your house?" Honey Lemon asked.
"I thought you lived under a bridge." Gogo commented.
Tony chuckled. "Nice one."
"Well, technically, it belongs to my parents." Fred explained. "They're on a vacay on the family island. You know, we should totally go some time."
"Parents?" Tony asked before realizing something. "Hold the phone. Fred, what's your last name?"
"Fredrickson."
Tony's face dropped. "No way. You're part of the Fredrickson family? Your dad and mine were business partners since before I could walk."
"Yeah. He expresses his condolences, by the way." Fred said. "Now, things are getting dicey between him and the new guy, Stane."
Fred opened the door at the end of the hallway which evidently lead to his own room. It was highly decorated with superhero merchandise. There was even a portrait of a muscular Fred riding on the back of a winged beast which spooked Wasabi.
"If I wasn't just attacked by a guy in a kabuki mask, this would be the weirdest thing I've seen today."
Tony returned his eyes toward Hiro, who saw down at a table drawing on a blank sheet of paper. Baymax approached from behind.
"Your body temperature is still low." Baymax said before lowering himself right on top of Hiro's body. When his torso changed to a shade of orange, everyone hugged Baymax, even Tony. He smiled feeling a very comfortable warmth coming from the robot.
"It's like spooning a warm marshmallow." Fred said.
"Pure poetry, Freddy." Tony said.
When Hiro was done, he showed everyone what he was drawing. It was the same bird in a circle symbol that was seen earlier.
"Does this symbol mean anything to you guys?" Hiro asked.
"Yes! It's a bird!" Fred answered.
"No, you dodo." Tony said. "That masked guy, who I'm calling Yokai, had a large machine with this symbol on it. Or at least, part of a machine. It looks like it was ripped off of something. He must have used the microbots to fish it out of the bay."
"Exactly. I thought finding out what it meant would get us closer to getting Yokai." Hiro said.
"Apprehending Yokai would improve Hiro's emotional state." Baymax said.
"Apprehend him?" Gogo asked. "We barely got away with our lives."
"Yeah." Tony said. "No offense, Hiro, but Kung Fu Panda here wasn't enough to stop him. And to make matters even worse, Yokai stole my armor. And on top of that, we don't have the slightest clue who he is."
"You're right." Hiro said. "My only lead was the one microbot that I had, and that's gone. Now, we don't know anything about Yokai."
"His blood type is AB negative." Baymax said catching everyone by surprise. "Cholesterol levels are…"
"Baymax, you scanned him?" Hiro asked.
"I am programmed to assess everyone's health care needs."
Tony jumped up to his feet. "Baymax, you beautiful balloon-bot. With this data, we can find him easily."
"But you'd have to scan everyone in San Fransokyo." Gogo said. "And that might take, I don't know, forever."
"Not if I can connect him with Stark Industries satellite." Tony said. "I have some friends in the company who are more loyal to me than they are of their temporary CEO. Given enough time, I could create a network to connect Baymax to the Stark satellite and have him do a city-wide scan until he finds the man who matches Yokai's medical data."
"But how are you going to fight Yokai?" Honey Lemon asked. "You said that you and Baymax weren't enough."
Suddenly, an idea entered Hiro's mind. He looked at his brother's classmates and smiled with inspiration. "Tony, how do you feel about a group project?"
Tony looked at the other SFIT students and smiled. "Yeah. I'm picking up what you're putting down. Guys, if we're gonna catch Yokai, we'll need suits for all of you."
"Suits for who-now?" Wasabi asked.
"Those who suffer loss require support from friends and loved ones." Baymax said.
"Okay. I like where this is heading." Fred said.
"We can't go against that guy." Wasabi said. "We're nerds."
"And I'm a genius billionaire. And yet, I'm going to need all your help." Tony said. "Listen guys, I don't know what to do in this situation. And I know you guys don't either. But we're the only ones who are close to this crazy conspiracy, which means we're the only ones who can stop Yokai. Let's take this to my villa where we can build whole new suits for you at my lab."
"I know you think you're just you," Hiro said, "But trust me, you can be way more."
After a bit of thinking, Gogo joined the two. "Tadashi Hamada was our best friend. We're in." Everyone else stood up too while Fred was spazzing out.
"Do you feel it? You guys, you feel this? Our origin story begins. WE'RE GONNA BE SUPERHEROES!"
For the next few days, Hiro and Tony have been helping their friends work on their new equipment as well as their own. For Honey Lemon, they gave her a purse that shot out chemical balls. For Gogo, she rode on her magnetic disks as if they were skates. Fred got a lizard-themed costume that could spring to great heights and breath fire. Wasabi had a pair of gauntlets that used his plasma as blades.
Once the first four suits were done, Hiro presented his new purple tech outfit while also showing off Baymax's new, red suit. It came with rocket boots, wings, removable hands to throw rocket-powered punches with, and there was even a place on his back where Hiro can attach himself magnetically.
Last, but not least, Tony Stark made his entrance in his newest suit of armor. He circled around the entire villa while the others watched. Suddenly, the speakers around the house began to play "Shoot to Thrill" by AC/DC. Near the end of the song, Tony dropped down to the ground in a superhero landing. He picked himself up and held out his arms as the song ended. Instead of the giant-sized, gray tank on legs, this one was much closer to Tony's size with a red and yellow color scheme. He opened his visor to reveal his happy face.
"Sweet entrance." Fred said. "I love AC/DC."
"You compacted your suit, I see." Gogo said.
"Yep. I had to shrink down the old plans for more quality. The old suit had a lot of problems. Mainly its rockets could burn through too much fuel at once. This one has a much more tolerant burnout. Not to mention, the repulsor beams that I can shoot out of my hands. Plus, I can connect to JARVIS. Say hi, JARVIS."
"Hello, everyone."
"Not gonna lie. That's pretty cool." Wasabi said.
"Speaking of connect…" Tony said turning to Baymax. "You ready to be hooked up to the Stark satellite to find Yokai? I finally have the clearance."
"If it will help Hiro's emotional state, I am ready." Baymax said.
"Okay. JARVIS, link Baymax to the Stark Industries satellite network."
"At once, sir."
One scan later, and the seven flew right towards the only match, which had isolated himself on an abandoned island.