Author's Note: Hey, everyone. Back with another chapter. Now, before we begin, I'd like to go over a certain plan of mine. In case you already read it from the Author's Note of my Owl Sanctum story, I'll say it again.
So far, I'm working on seven fanfics that make up the series. Once I'm done with them all, I'll connect them to one epic crossover finale. But for now, I'm working with these seven. I've made significant progress with the Owl Sanctum and the Ghost, the Trickster, and Molly McGee, but as for the others, they only have a handful of chapters. So before I continue the other two, I need to work on the others. So I will be working on Iron Hero 7 until I get done with the events of the original movie. After that, I've got four stories left: the Black Panther of Amphibia, Marvel Falls, America and Star vs the Forces of Evil, and Howard's Ducktales. Once I make progress with Iron Hero 7, I will get working on either of these last four, probably two at a time.
That's all I got to say right now. Enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
"Uh, what just happened?" Fred asked after seeing Obadiah Stand and Robert Callaghan leave the destroyed lab.
"You mean other than my dad's VP taking a tricked-out version of my prototype armor, stealing the microbot-controlling band, and holding Callaghan hostage with it?" Tony asked.
"Sir, if I may," JARVIS said, "I may have something that will help explain…"
"How could you do that?!" Hiro interrupted angrily. "I had him!"
"Had him?" Tony asked. "Maybe you didn't see, but right now, Callaghan isn't our biggest problem anymore! Stane was in control all along! He's controlling my old armor, my arc reactor, your microbots!"
"He wouldn't have my microbots if you hadn't tried to stop me from terminating Callaghan!"
"Hiro, we did not sign up for killing him." Wasabi said.
"We said we'd catch the guy." Gogo said. "That's it."
"I never should have let you help me!" Hiro ranted. "Baymax, find Callaghan!"
"My enhanced scanner has been damaged." Baymax said.
Hiro groaned angrily and climbed on his robot's back. By his command, Baymax extended his wings ready for takeoff.
"Hiro, this isn't part of the plan." Fred said.
Hiro didn't listen. Baymax just flew up the hole in the ceiling and headed back to town.
"For a genius, he's really thick!" Tony said. "I'll get him!" He used his armor to fly on up to follow Hiro and Baymax.
"Um, how are we going to get off this island?" Honey Lemon asked.
Tony flew to Hiro's neighborhood and found his house. He landed in front of the open garage ready for a confrontation. Instead, his angry scowl disappeared and his face dropped seeing Hiro in a vulnerable state.
Instead of the angry, irrational boy he was when he left the island, Tony found hero in a sad state of happiness seeing a video played on Baymax's white chest. The video showed a happy Tadashi Yamada in his lab. After he was done watching, Hiro sniffed and rubbed his eye before noticing Tony walking up to him.
"Hey, Tony." Hiro greeted softly. "I… I'm sorry."
"It's okay, guy. I get it." Tony said.
"So why didn't you act like I did?" Hiro asked. "I mean, I know what I did was wrong, but I expected you to have the same reaction. Callaghan is responsible for your dad's death."
"I've been thinking about it on the way here." Tony said. "And I think it has something to do with how your brother and my dad died. Your brother died trying to save that scumbag. My dad tried to save me. I suppose this whole thing was a lot more personal for you than it was for me. But in any case…"
"We're going to catch Callaghan and Stane." Gogo said as she and the rest of the team appeared. She gave Hiro a hug for a minute. "And this time, we'll do it right."
"But maybe don't leave your team stranded on a spooky island next time." Wasabi said.
"Oh, man." Hiro said smacking his face embarrassingly.
"Sorry. Looks like I'm really thick too." Tony chuckled.
"Nah, it's cool." Fred said. "Heathcliff picked us up in the family chopper."
"We found something you should see." Honey Lemon said holding up a flash drive.
Hiro plugged the flash drive in his computer and the security footage played on his screen. It began where they last stopped; after the failed experiment and A.I.M. leaving Krei in his ruined lab. The footage continued just before Professor Callaghan appeared running at Krei angrily. It took all the security guards there to hold him back.
"KREI! YOU DID THIS!" he yelled trying to reach out to Krei's neck. "YOU KNEW IT WASN'T READY!"
Hiro paused the video so everyone could see Callaghan's face.
"Callaghan? He was there?" Hiro asked.
"That doesn't make sense." Tony said. "His field is robotics. He has no business in a theoretical physics experiment."
"So why was he there?" Wasabi asked.
"The answer's here somewhere." Hiro said. He rewinded all the footage of every camera until one caught Honey Lemon's eye.
"Wait! Stop!" She pointed at the camera footage of Callaghan giving the soon-to-be-lost pilot, Abigail, a hug.
"Was he close to the pilot?" Tony asked.
"Hang on." Hiro said. He clicked and highlighted a small part of Abigail's helmet. A name appeared as soon as it zoomed in.
"Callaghan"
"The pilot was Callaghan's daughter." Hiro realized. "Callaghan blames Krei!"
"This is a revenge story!" Fred gasped.
"But this doesn't explain Stane's involvement in this." Tony said. "I didn't even know those two even knew each other."
"Sir," JARVIS said, "I tried to tell you earlier that I may have something that can help explain it."
"You do?"
"Yes. Your father never trusted Stane. He always assumed that he was the most fit to run Stark Industries, but your father always put his foot down when he talked about converting most of the company inventions into weapons for the military. Stane was also furious when your father announced that you would take over Stark Industries instead of him. After his outburst, your father secretly hid a camera in Stane's office."
"He did what?" Wasabi asked.
"That's a bit of a invasion of privacy." Gogo said.
"Hey, if it'll help us." Tony said. "So how does this help us, JARVIS?"
"I'll show you. This footage was taken the day before the Expo at SFIT. After seeing Stane, at the island, I looked to find anything suspicious. That's when I found this. Baymax, with your permission, I'll show the footage on your chest screen."
"I give you my permission." Baymax said.
Just then, the screen on Baymax's chest changed. There was a window office shown along with Obadiah Stane and Robert Callaghan sitting on opposite sides of a desk.
"So Callaghan and Stane did meet in secret." Hiro said. "Play it."
The video began with Stane passing a cup of coffee to Callaghan. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Callaghan."
"Well, it's hard to say no to someone so high up a powerful company." Callaghan chuckled softly. "Still, how'd you know to reach out to me?"
"That's actually the reason why I called you here. There's a certain matter that I believe we could resolve together."
"What matter is that?"
"Silent Sparrow."
Callaghan's humorous smile faded after hearing that name. He placed his coffee mug on the desk without taking a single sip.
"How do you know that name?"
"Alistair Krei isn't the faithful boss he always claimed he was in all his commercials." Stane explained. "Through his underpaid employees, I was able to keep tabs on all his projects, even his classified ones. Silent Sparrow caught my eye, especially the part about his anonymous benefactors who commissioned it. Did you ever find out who they were?"
"No." Callaghan answered sadly. "I don't have any knowledge of the project. I was only there to support my daughter."
"Yes, the poor girl who died." Stane said. "If I were to venture a guess, I'd say you hold Krei responsible for her death."
"Of course, I do." Callaghan answered with disdain. "That fool knew the project was unstable, but he threw Abigail in anyway."
"And you want to hurt him?"
"Yes, but I don't know how. As far as the rest of the world knows, Silent Sparrow doesn't exist. There's no way I can make him pay."
"Not alone. But maybe… with some help." Stane said with an inviting smile.
Callaghan turned his full attention to the man across the table. "I'm listening."
"Howard Stark is a weak-minded fool, entrusting the future of this company to his arrogant progeny. I wish to take the boy down a peg, and you're the only one with the access to help me."
"How can I help?"
"At your school's expo tomorrow night, Tony Stark is going to show off a special project: a fully-functioning arc reactor that you can hold in your hand."
"What? Is that even possible?"
"According to that brat, it's so. He wouldn't stop bragging about how it's going to revolutionize the future of modern science. He's a spoiled ruffian, but I can tell he was right. So here's my proposal. If you can find a way to steal Tony Stark's arc reactor from the expo and bring it to me, then you and I can work together and come up with a way to use it for our own ends. Maybe even use it to give Krei exactly what he deserves. You can have your revenge, I can stick it to the Stark's, and we can get rid of one of Stark Industries' biggest competitor. It's a triple-win. What do you say?"
Callagan leaned back in his chair looking down at his twiddling fingers. He stopped twiddling after making up his mind.
"All right. I'll get you that arc reactor. And I'll cover my tracks so no one suspects a thing."
"You're a smart man, Robert. I have no doubt you'll get creative."
The video ended leaving the teens with stunned expressions.
"So all of this was Stane's idea." Hiro said. "He and Callaghan stole the arc reactor and my microbots were just bonuses."
"At first, they were only using the arc reactor for the microbots," Wasabi said, "But then Callaghan stole Tony's armor at the pier and they switched transferred the reactor there instead."
"But wasn't it powering his transmitter which controls the microbots?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Not necessarily." Hiro said. "The transmitter alone is enough to control the microbots. The arc reactor just makes it more powerful."
"Except now, Stane betrayed Callaghan." Fred said. "He turned him from a figurative puppet to a literal one."
"All because he doesn't like me." Tony said. "Man. Never thought I'd create a supervillain just by being me."
"So what's Stane's goal now?" Gogo asked. "Why did he betray Callaghan like that?"
"Stane said something about 'going through with the old plan but adding something extra'." Hiro said.
"Hold on." Tony said as his thinking process slowly helped him realize something. "If I'm thinking about this right, then…" He gasped. "Oh, boy! I think I know what he's up to! We have to go to Krei Industries, now!"
Stane and Callaghan were in another abandoned warehouse. Stane was using half of his microbots to add in the finishing touches on his armor adding in more guns and missiles. The other half were used to bind Callaghan and cover his mouth. He struggled as hard as he could, but the microbots held him tightly.
"Quite a masterpiece, don't you think?" Stane asked. "All it needs now is a name. I'm thinking… Iron Monger. You like it?" Callaghan's muffled protests were louder. "Oh, right. You can't talk. Well, since this is the last time we'll be seeing each other, might as well have one last talk."
The microbots stopped covering Callaghan's mouth allowing him to talk again. "Stane, you backstabbing traitor! This isn't what we agreed on!"
"Technically, it is." Stane said. "We're still doing the original plan. The masked villain uses microbots to rebuild the portal machine over Krei Industries and tears it piece by piece. That is what we agreed on."
"Then why am I tied up?" Callaghan asked.
"Well, after you brought me the Stark boy's armor and allowed me to experiment with the arc reactor, a new addition to the plan came to my mind." Stane said. "When all hope is lost, the Iron Monger flies in and saves the day. Sadly, he could not prevent Krei Industries from being destroyed beyond repair, but the villain in the Kabuki mask will be brought to justice." He held up the Kabuki mask for emphasis. "Not only that, but in only a matter of seconds after that, my phone will be ringing with offers from the military for my armor to be mass produced. I will be the richest man in the world."
"No!" Callaghan protested. "You can't do this! You're mad!"
"Mad? I hardly think so." Stane said. "I'm a businessman. What's mad is entrusting the future of Stark Industries to an entitled teenager like Tony Stark. Though his father's dead, the board of directors are holding his seat in preparation for the boy. I'm just the temporary CEO for now, but after I deliver a multibillion dollar deal, they'll make me CEO permanently! And that's only the beginning. Soon, it will be Stane Industries! Stane Tower! They'll have forgotten all about the Stark family by the time I'm done, and I have you to thank for it."
"I trusted you! You said we were in this together! How could you betray me like this?"
"I wouldn't be so judgmental if I were you. After all, didn't you do the same to those Hamada boys? They looked up to you, and you got one of them killed. Not only that, but you also killed Howard Stark, which is a bonus if you ask me. You can avoid taking responsibility all you want, but that won't change the fact that their blood is on your hands."
Callaghan remembered Tadashi in his mind, his intelligent student. He then remembered how honored he was to be in Howard Stark's presence. Finally, the memory of him starting the fire made him stop struggling. He accepted his fate as Stane put the Yokai mask on his face.
"There. I prefer my puppets not to fight their strings." Stane turned to see the finishing touches on his Iron Monger armor. Nearly every inch of it had an open compartment filled with weapons much to his delight. "Let's go make history."