AN: I don't own either DC or MARVEL.
Chapter One: "Iron Origins"
New York City, 2015
It was about a year since Jason Todd has died at the hands of the Joker. He had found out his mother was alive and went in search of her but was captured by Joker and beaten with a crowbar before being blown up. His mother, Catherine, was with him and he shielded her from the blast but he had died.
The next thing he knew, Jason was in the hands of the al Ghul Family. He had amnesia until he saw news about that rich CEO, Howard Stark, had gotten married.
Imagine his surprise to see his mother as the new wife in question, still alive and now known as Catherine Stark.
Jason all but immediately left Talia and Ra's al Ghul for New York City to reunite with her once again.
Jason wandered the streets till he came to the Stark International building within Manhattan, commonly called Stark Tower. taking a moment to steel his nerves for another reunion, he walks into the building and strolls through the lobby to the receptionist.
"Huh, Hello", Jason greets the desk worker.
She looks to him, "Yes, how can I help you?", she asks in a polite tone of voice.
"I'm here to see Howard Stark and his wife, Catherine Stark", Jason tells her.
"So you have an appointment?", she skeptically asks due to him being 16 years old.
"Uh, no", he replied, "But it has to do with the misses son", he quickly states before she can dismiss him.
In the CEO office of Howard Stark, the trimmed mustache man in question sat at his desk, overviewing some of his work for later development. He then gets a call from his secretary.
"Mr. Stark?", she asked through his intercam.
"Yes, Tricia?", Howard replies.
"There's a teenage boy here for you and Mrs Stark", she informs him, "He says its about her son, Jason Todd".
Howard stalled at that. Catherine had talked about her loving son that did everything he can for her in Gotham. How she felt like a failure of a mother throughout his life, from their hardships in Crime Alley to them being seperated when she suffered an overdose, ending with his death.
Howard was also apprehensive when it came to her life before him. from her parents that abandoned her when she was pregnant trying to reunite, to old friends appearing that she hasn't seen since high school.
"Where is he?", Howard asks her over the intercom.
"He's sitting in the lobby, sir", Tricia informs.
Howard goes onto his computer and pulls up the security footage of the lobby and sees the teenager he was told about, only for his eyes to widens to see Jason Todd himself.
He and Catherine had put his picture in the pews at their wedding to have Jason there for the experience, Howard had practically memorized the boys appearance. he had noted how his blue eyes and black hair reflect his own in his youth before his hair started to grey.
"Send him up", Howard commands his secretary.
A Little Later
Jason was now sitting before Howard's desk in awkward silence as the older man stares at him with an intense look as he leans forward on his elbows with his fingers locked before his face, showing only his furrow browed eyes.
Jason was taking in the room, looking for anything that could tell Jason what kind of man his mother remarried after his dad. It was warm, with wooden decor and yellow walls with red carpet on the floor. (Iron Man Armored Adventures s1e01 at about 2:49)
Suddenly, the door into the office.
"Howard? Why'd you call be down to your office for?", Jason heard his mother's voice from the door. He stiffened as his thoughts went to the lost time he saw her, in the hands of the Joker.
Howard makes note of Jason's actions and stands from his desk walking over to her, "Cat, A... young man came here to see you about Jason", he then turns to the sitting Jason, who took a deep breath and stood up then turned to look at her.
His mother looked much better than the last two time he saw her. The first "last" time, she was skinny and pale, having overdosed on drugs while wearing. The next time he saw her, she was a little chunky while wearing more stereotypical mom clothes such as loose sweaters, with her recovering for her old drug addiction. Now, his mom looked fit while wearing an expensive looking socialite outfit with her hair done up, she also looked really healthy, having completely kicked the old habit.
Catherine though ws close to crying as her eyes watered at the sight of her son who died saving her from Joker.
"Hey, mom", Jason greets, trying to be casual, but all that did was cause her to fall to her knees as she weeps at seeing her child, with Jason and Howard racing forward to comfort her.
Almost A Year Later
Over the next year, Jason was warmly welcomed into the Stark Family as the only child. Howard never had kids with his previous wife, Maria, who died long ago. It was around Christmas in 2015 that Jason was given the last name of Stark.
Jason also showed Howard his own aptitude to inventing and other forms of genius, surprising Catherine and even Jason. Howard and Jason then took to both working together on new inventions or competing with each other to one up the other genius' inventions.
Jason was also introduced to family friends, the Rhodes Family (who are all african american y the way). David Rhodes is a friend that Howard met while working with the Navy, Roberta Rhodes works as a lawyer for Stark International and became friends with Catherine.
Finally was the son of the Rhodes, James Rhodes. When Jason met him, they quickly became best friends, with him easily handling Jason's new eccentricities. Even taken to being called Rhodey after Jason started calling him that, now preferring it over his real name.
It was now around the middle of July of 2016.
Jason was in his lab working on a schematic for a new invention to one up his new old man with his best friend, Rhodey, overlooking his work.
Jason was wearing a red short sleeve shirt that had black tech decals on the collar. He also wore blue pants with red rectangles on the knee areas and these stark red high-top sneakers. He had a smart watch of Stark design on his left wrist.
Rhodey wore a grey jersey jacket that had white lines on the side of the arms and blue jeans. He also wore matching grey and white converse sneakers.
"Well, what do you think?", Jason asks Rhodey, showing him the holographic design for his new invention.
"A futuristic, but you know your dad's gonna invent something else to top this", Rhodey comments, "I mean, you guys are like dueling evil geniuses".
"Not this time, Rhodey", Jason denies, "This one's different. Just wait till it's up and running. You can come with me to show him".
"Yeah, some of us still have to go to school, Jay", Rhodey declines.
"Sounds awful. Besides, it's summer right now", Jason joked. While he had a bad reputation at Gotham Academy due to being a street rat from Crime Alley, Jason had enjoyed learning new things and taking advantage of the school's library. "I'll call you tonight after I show it off to him", Jason tells his best friend.
"Yeah, I'm holding my breathe", Rhodey looks to his watch, "Starting riiiiiight now", as he laughs while Jason pushes him out of his work space.
Later That Day
It was the middle of the day as Jason arrives at the tower with a grey back on. Once there, he was greeting every employee by name as he passes by them, with them returning the kindness.
"Hey, Trish", Jason greets Howard's secretary.
"Well, look who finally came out of his lab", Tricia jokingly comments at Jason with a smile, "Your dad's inside, Jason".
"Thanks", Jason says to her as he opens the door.
Howard had his back to the door as he overlooked the holographic schematics of the latest project while a holographic image of his ring was floating about.
"No, go ahead and proceed with the earth mover trial run", Howard says over an earpiece from his Stark Pod, "i'll be at the sight in an hour or so, and I'll have the ring with me", he waits for a reply, "Good. see you then", and the call ends.
Jason then reveals he's there, "Are the laser systems I designed for your earth mover up and running yet, or are you still in ancient history mode?"
The holographic image turned off as the window shutters rise, lighting up the room once more.
"Haha. Very funny", Howard smiles as he takes off the earpiece and sets it down, "They've already completed testing the lasers, and they're using them in the field today. Want to come see it with me?".
Jason rubs the back of his head sheepishly, "Actually, I've got something new to show you, something big", he smiles.
"Big, huh? Well, in that case--", Howard goes to say but is cut off as his office door opens.
"Howard", a bald man with a beard wearing a suit loudly says as he rushes into the office with a file marked confidential, with Tricia right behind him and trying to stop him.
"It's okay, Trish", Howard tells her. Tricia rights her glasses and closes the door as she leaves the office.
"What can I do for you, Obadiah?", Howard asks the man the entered the office.
This is Obadiah Stane. A greedy businessman within the company that didn't seem to care for anyone but himself. Jason often wonders why Howard even still had Stane working for him.
"Why did you reject my proposal for repurposing the earth movers?", Obadiah demands of Howard, "The military will pay billions for them once they've been modified".
"Modified?", Howard sarcastically asks, "You want to turn an invention intended to make people's lives better into a weapon. That's not going to happen".
"This is insane, Howard", Obadiah rudely remarks, "You're costing this company and our shareholders--".
"A fortune. I know", Howard cuts him off, "But Stark International is my company."
"Howard, please, be reasonable", Obadiah tried to say respectfully.
"It's my company and my word is final", Howard denied him, causing Obadiah to silently snarl before sighing and leaving the office.
Jason turns to Howard, "I don't think obadiah's too happy with you", he joked.
Howard laughs and grasps his shoulder, "I think you're right", before going to lead him out, "Now, I've got one quick stop to make, and then we'll see what's got you so excited"
Soon After
Jason and Howard were aboard the Stark jet, that flew as fast as legally possible for a private jet.
On board, Howard was explaining some things to Jason about where there going and for what reason.
"Some historians have theorized that the Chinese had explorers in the New World long before the Europeans did", he shares with Jason, "The archaeological site we found, the artifacts we're recovering from it, it's a mystery that's got everything to do with the Makluan Rings."
"Wow, is that boring", Jason leans in his chair, tired of Howard going on about these ancient rings. Howard Stark even had one of them.
The ring was mostly golden in color with with some red accents. It had a green stone in the shape of a two tailed fireball with some chinese inscription on it. Howard wore it on his right middle finger, with the tails on the green fireball pointing to his fingernail.
"The Chinese thought the rings were magic,", Howard continues, "but from what we're learning, I think they may actually be a form of technology. Imagine, Jason, technology more advanced than what we have now but hundreds if not thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution."
"For someone who's supposed to be shaping the future, your hobbies are really old-school", Jason jokes with a head shake, which Howard laughs at.
"Take a look, smart guy", Howard tells him as he looks out the window as they land, "There's your genius at work over there".
Jason looks to see the massive machine walking around on six bug like legs with four toed pads known as the Earth Mover.
They get out of the plane as Howard continues, "The hard-light laser and targeting system you invented acts like a scalpel".
The machine's laser activated and blasts into the ground and cuts into the earth. It shuts off to reveal statues that were in pristine condition, unharmed by the Earth Mover's actions.
Howard continues again from their place on a high-tech scaffolding, "Combined with real-time seismographic readings, the earth mover will not only revolutionize archeology, but just imagine te benefits for disaster relief-- collapsed buildings, cave-ins. Your invention will save lives, Jason.", he congratulates.
"It also made your last invention look like a fifth grade science project", Jason competitively says to him with a smile.
"Yeah, and that's why I'm grounding you for a month", Howard announced with a serious tone and expression.
"What?", Jason looked to him in wide-eyed shock.
"You're so easy, it's not even fun", Howard smiles as a fully hazmat suited man rises beside him.
"Howard?", the man asked for his attention.
Howard takes off his Makluan Ring and places it in a case.
"What?!", Jason questions him, "Giving up your magic ring?"
"Only for the day", Howard remarks as the scientists left the scene, "We're doing a comparative analysis of it and the new artifacts we've been finding here at the site", he takes Jason by his shoulder as they begin to leave again, "The more we can learn about it, the better chance we have to unlock the ring's secrets", the Earth mover was walking behind them as Howard continues, "Okay, genius, let's get home and you can show me this new invention to wow me in front of your mother".
They were soon sitting on the plane, waiting for take off, when they get a holographic call from the office.
"Yes, Trish?", Howard answers, Tricia's head appears in a holographic orb with her looking to Howard.
"I'm sorry, Howard", she tells him in a tired state, "It's Mr Stane. He insists on talking to you".
"It's okay, Trish", Howard comforts, "Put him through", and she disappears as she is switching the call, "I think I'm gonna have to let Obadiah go", Howard tiredly shakes his head, "He's become obsessed with weapons".
"A million dollars says this is about the Earth Movers again", Jason says to him.
"You're on", Howard accepts.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom before we leave", Jason says as he heads towards the back of the jet, patting Howard's shoulder as Obadiah appears on the hologram.
"Howard, I want to talk to you about the Earth Mover deal", he hears for Obadiah.
"I'm rich", Jason cheered with sarcasm as he fist pumped.
"I'm giving you one last change to approve this, Howard", Stane tells him.
"Well, I'm gonna have to refuse one last time, then, Obadiah", Howard replied with a scowl, nearly reaching his breaking point.
Jason finishes using the bathroom and goes to leave, but he notices a glow from the door. Soon, the room shakes as the lights go out while he hears a boom.
Jason groans as he gets up and opens the door, only to see a majority of it mission, with Howard nowhere in sight.
"Dad?", Jason asks for him but didn't get a response.
Though he soon heard gun fire. He looks around to see a militia of some kind attacking the site, shooting at the Stark employees. Security was returning fire and protecting the others, trying to get them away to a secure location.
Jason goes to get to them but has to duck behind a rock to avoid gunfire. He pulls out his Stark Pod, a Stark International made phone, and goes to call for help.
However, he is son greeted by a missile landing beside him. He looks to it in shocked state, mostly due to it having the Stark logo on it, before he goes to get away. It's too late though as it explodes and sends him flying back, shrapnel from the blast piercing through the armored vest he wore for protection.
Jason soon lost consciousness as he bled, fearing heal die from another explosion.
Jason would have flashes of people he's never seen as he screams in pain before he passes out again.
Jason would later wake up i a dark cave with a medical hose in his nose. He now wore a lose jacket that was open as his chest was bandaged with wires coming from it.
He takes the hose out of his nose do to the discomfort, only do take out aout a foot of the little hose before it left his nostrils. He wipes off the medical tape that kept it in place while he threw the hose away.
His throat was dry so he looked around for something, finding a small vessel that looked to have water but Jason shaked as he tried to grab it and it fell to the ground.
Jason coughs as he looks around, noticing that he was in some damp dark cave rather than a hospital.
He sees a balding middle aged man shaving his face using a small mirror that was placed on some kind of post.
Quietly, Jason goes to get up, only for the wires in his chest stop him when they tighten, connected to a car battery.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you", the balding man tells him.
Jason rolls over to see the car battery and the wires leading to his chest. he touches his chest and feels a hard round structure about the size of his palm on it. He groans as he tears away at the bandages till it reveals the horrid contraption embedded into his chest.
A little later, the balding glasses-wearing man Jason was in the cave with was making a small meal over a fire.
Jason was sitting on the bed with the car battery on a small table before him. He was using the mirror to see the thing on his chest from every angle.
"What the hell did you do to me?", Jason asked him, looking to the man with barely contained horror and rage.
The man looked to him with a raised eyebrow, "What I did?", he chuckles, "What I did is to save your life", he nods to Jason's chest, "I removed all of the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum", he pulls out a small vial of metal, "Here, want to see?", he shakes it, "I have a souvenir. Take a look", and he tosses it to Jason, who catches it.
Jason looks at the shrapnel that the man retrieved from his body while the man continued, "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead", he says, referring to those with the injuries, "because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs".
"What is this?", Jason asks about the device.
"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery", he tells him, "and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart. Hmm?"
Jason nods before zipping up the jacket over the device. Looking around with a clearer head, he notices a camera in the cave that was trained on them. The man notices his cave and looks to the camera before looking to him.
"That's right. Smile", the man jokes as he returns to cooking, "i met your father once, at a technical conference in Bern. Though I doubt he'd remember me with how drunk he was, after his first wife died".
"Where are we?", Jason asks, almost interrogating the man.
Before the man could answer, there was a noise at the door. Someone on the other side spoke arabic but Jason had trouble understanding it, still woozy.
The man stand and worriedly looks to Jason, "Come on, stand up", he quietly commands him, "Stand up!", helping him to his feet, "Just do as I do", pulling him over, "Come on, put your hands up", and they both kept their hands over their heads as a group of men enter through the door into their part of the cave.
A rotund man with a dark beard greets them in arabic mostly speaking to Jason before looking tot he man next to him after he spoke.
"He says, "Welcome, Jason Stark, heir to the most famous mass murderer in the history of America"", the man next to Jason repeats to him.
The heavy set man speaks again, "He is honored", glasses told Jason. The man leading the armed men continues with glasse-wearer translating, "He wants you to rebuild a missile your father made. The Jericho missile", he hands the bespectacled man a picture and he shows it to Jason, "This one".
Jason was wide-eyed at the picture as he knew what it could do from his time as Robin with Batman. One Jericho missile is launched and splits into 16 self-seeking MRIVs that could wipe out a small mountain range.
"I refuse", Jason states to the leader before him.
Jason was soon being waterboarded, where he briefly caught glimpse of a bald man with an intense look.
Afterwards, a bag was placed over his head and he was led through the caves till they arrived outside and the bag was removed. he was briefly blinded before seeing a desert camp, spotting a lot of military hardware.
Jason is pushed forward, stumbling with the car battery in hand. Looking around, he could see the Stark logo on the crates of weapons and gear, confusing Jason as Howard Stark was so against weapons.
The fat capturer speaks and Jason's cellmate translates, "He wants to know what you think".
"I think he's got a lot of Stark made weapons", Jason responds.
The leader walks around with a speech that the man translates again, "He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately and when you're done, he will set you free".
The leader holds his hand out to Jason for him to shake which Jason does with a smile.
"No, he won't", Jason denies, still smiling so the fat leader wouldn't notice.
"No, he won't", his glasses wearing cellmate agreed, also smiling while nodding to the fat leader.
The leader smiles to them as well, while Jason looks behind them, beyond the camp to a bald man overlooking them.
Later in the cave cell, Jason was sitting before the fire, just staring at it.
"I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark", the man tells Jason as he walks over and sits beside him, "But they will never find you", he looks to Jason, "Look, what you saw, that is your family's legacy, Stark. Their lives' work, in the hand of those murderers".
"What should I do about it? They're going to kill me, you, either way", Jason remarks. He knows for sure that he can't fight with this heavy car battery weighing him down and the device stuck in his chest. "And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week", referring to the shrapnel he still had.
The man was silent before saying, "Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?".
Jason was lost in thought before getting an idea came to him.
Later, many of the terrorists were transporting gear into the room as Jason was talking.
"If this is going to be my work station, I want it well lit", he says as his cellmate translated, "I want these up. I need welding gear. i don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two set sof precision tools..."
Much later, it was just Jason and his cellmate again as he worked to remove the head off a missile.
"How many languages do you speak?", Jason asks the man.
A lot", the man answered, "But apparently, not enough for this place. they speak arabic, urdu, Dari,Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian".
Jason only knew English, German, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Along with lip reading. He learned a little of Arabic due to Talia but not enough for here.
"Who are these people?", Jason asks as he pulls out the central device of the missile from its casing.
"They are your family's loyal customers, young man", the man says, "They call themselves the Ten Rings.
While he worked, this kidnappers watched over the surveillance, but they didn't understand what he was doing.
"You know, it might be more productive if you include me in the planning process", Jason's cellmate comments beside him as he took the missile apart.
"Uh, huh", Jason utters while he pulls a piece out before taking a smaller piece from it, "Oka, don't need this", he tosses the rest away.
"What is it?", the man asks him.
"It's palladium, 0.15 grams", Jason informs, "We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?"
The cellmate goes to do that while Jason began to make an indent for the element to go into on a pot. The cellmate melted the palladium down and goes to pour it.
"Careful. Careful", Jason says, "we only get one shot at this".
"Relax. I have steady hands", the surgeon states with certainty, "Why do you think you're still alive? Huh?".
As the man pours it into the indent, "What do I call you?", Jason finally asks him.
"My name is Yinsen, Ho Yinsen", he introduced.
"Yinsen. Nice to meet you", Jason says.
Yinsen smiles, "Nice to meet you too".
Jason then takes the ring of palladium out once it cools and places it with other rings. he then had wires around it and soldered them together. He then attached it to another device he was working on and began to add power to it.
The lights and other devices flicker as the new device glows a bright blue.
Yinsen kneels beside him, "that doesn't look like a Jericho missile", he breathes, entranced with the device before them.
"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor", Jason tells him, "We got a big one back home that powers the factory", he taps the Arc Reactor, "It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart".
"But what could it generate?", Yinsen asks, wondering how much it could power.
"If my math is right, and it is, three gigajoules per second", Jason replied.
Yinsen's brows furrowed in thought, "That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes".
"Yeah", Jason responds, "Or something big for 15 minutes."
Jason grabs some papers he's been sketching on and lays them on a light, showing the design to Yinsen.
"This is our ticket out of here", Jason says.
"What is it?", Yinsen asks, unable to make anything out.
"Flatten them out and look", Jason tells him as he does so for Yinsen.
The papers when laid together over a light show a crude drawing of an armor.
Yinsen smiles, "Impressive".
It was night time as Jason laid in the bed while Yinsen went about putting the Arc Reactor into his chest to replace the more crude device. Jason was awake through the process this time but he was more controlled, handling the pain till it was done.
Once that was done, they decided to take a break for the night, playing a board game.
"You still haven't told me where you're from", Jason says.
"I'm from a small town called Gulmira", Yinsen shares as they play, "It's actually a nice place".
"Got a family?", Jason asks him.
"Yes", Yinsen says with happiness in his voice, "and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?"
Jason thought to himself, "Just my mother, dad died just before I was captured".
"I am sorry for your loss", Yinsen offers his condolences.
The next day, the fat leader goes to the door and looks through a slider to see Jason welding with Yinsen working on wiring. He nods at them working and leaves.
They were actually working on the armor plating and the weaponry being placed into the armor.
This is around the time that the fat guy was overlooking the camera footage and compared to what was being built to the photos of the Jericho, saying how it looked nothing alike. With some arguing whether Jason had modified it. The bald actual leader of the sect noticed this and sent the fat man to investigate.
Jason and Yinsen were greeted by them at the door. They make sure the welders were off before holding their hands up as the fat man and a group of gunmen came in. They then broke into two lines for the bald man to walk in, looking at the two prisoners with a fierce glare.
He looks to Jason and says, "Relax", Jason and Yinsen then lower their hands to their sides. The man walks up to Jason and sees the glowing circle on his chest before saying, "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology", he walks away as he continues, "It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule form the Pacific to the Ukraine", he looks to the missile scrap on a table, "An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire", he stands before Jason again before grabbing the papers that make up the armor, "But today, whoever hols the latest Stark weapons rules, and soon it will be my turn", he sets the papers down.
He asks Yinsen in Urdu, "Why have you failed me?"
"We're working", Yinsen tells him, "Diligently".
"I let you live", the Urdu speaking leader says to Yinsen as he approached him, "This is how you repay me?"
"It's very complex", Yinsen says, smoothly lying, "He's trying very hard".
"On his knees", the bald leader commands and some men grab Yinsen and forcefully place him on his knees as the man chuckled, "You think I'm a fool? I'll get the truth". as he messes around the fires.
"We're both working", Yinsen continues to say.
The man holds up tongs with a burning red hot ember held in their grasp, "Open your mouth".
"What does he want?", Jason asks Yinsen, not knowing what is being said.
The bad man grabs Yinsen's head, "You think I'm a fool?", forcing his head onto an anvil, "What's going on? Tell me the truth."
"He's building your Jericho", Yinsen continues with the deception.
The man repeatedly demands for the truth while Yinsen repeatedly saying he's building the Jericho before Jason finally steps in.
"What do you want? A delivery date?", Jason appeals to him, but the others all point their guns at him to stop his approach, which he does. It takes a moment for everyone to calm down before Jason continues to say, "I need him. Good assistant."
The man thinks for a second before dropping the burning coal beside Yinsen's head on the anvil, leaving him unharmed.
"You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile", the man tells Jason. He tosses the tongs away and they all begin to leave the room to Yinsen and Jason once more.
Later, Jason finishes the forging of the helmet to the armor. He then begins to wrap himself up in protective gear while Yinsen prepares the plating for the armor.
Yinsen then helps Jason in an undersuit that covers Jason from the neck down.
Jason is standing in a blindspot of the room as Yinsen places the chest piece onto him.
"Okay? Can you move?", he asks the teen, "Say it again.
"41 steps straight, then 16 steps, from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right.", Jason recites the way out as he and Yinsen connect the suit of armor to each of its pieces.
The bald leader know as Raza, looks to the cameras and only sees glimpses of Yinsen, commanding his men to investigate, which they hurriedly do.
The men arrive at the door and yell for Yinsen.
"Say something", Jason whispers, "say something to him".
"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't..", Yinsen trails, before yelling something to the man on the other side of the door.
The man continues to yell for Yinsen, unaware of the bomb placed at the door handles within the room. they go to open the door, only for it to explode as a wire is pulled and are sent flying back.
Raza sees the camera go out as the cave shakes from the explosion, he yells for his men to go to Jason and Yinsen.
"How'd that work?", Jason asks about the bomb effectiveness.
"Oh, my goodness", Yinsen comments, "It worked alright"
"That's what I do", Jason says.
"Let me finish this, Yinsen says as he works on the suit.
"Initialize the power sequence", Jason tells him to do.
"Okay", Yinsen says and heads to an old computer they had.
"Now", Jason rushes.
"Tell me", Yinsen says as he doesn't know the details for computer work.
"Function 11", Jason instructs, "tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now".
"Yes", Yinsen replies.
"Press Control-"I", Jason says and Yinsen does it, "then, "Enter"", and Yinsen does.
"Come over here and button me up", Jason has him help with next.
Many of the Ten Ring members rush to the room
"They're coming" Yinsen says. "Just get it down", Jason says, referring tot he bolts of th armor. "They're coming!", Yinsen repeats.
Make sure the checkpoints are clear before following me out", Jason says from the armoring point.
Yinsen looks to see the progress bar was only half way full, 'We need more time", he looks to Jason, "Hey, I'm gonna buy you some time".
"What? No! Stick to the plan!", Jason exclaims as Yinsen rushes to the door, "Stick to the plan!"
Yinsen grabs a rifle from the dead men from the blast and firing the gun.
"Yinsen!", Jason yells for him. His eyes water as he glares at the computer screen for the progress bar to hurry.
Yinsen runs to the men, screaming as he fires the gun. The men run form him as he fires, with Yinsen purposely avoiding his shots as he was a doctor. He then came to a wall of the murderers and Raza just before the cave exit, with all of their guns aimed at him.
The progress bar on the screen reaches its end and the room blackens as the power goes out from it.
Their is a clatter and a loud stomp as the armor begins to move.
Five men soon arrive before the room, seeing the two dead bodies of their allies, they cautiously approach it. They can't see anything due to the lights being out as they survey the area.
One men then gets a glimpse of light behind and turns around only to be met with a metal fist to his face as an uppercut, sending him across the room as he fires his gun.
The others wildly fire around the room but don't hit anything. The armor comes from around a corner and hits one in the chest into the cave wall before he hits another man in the face into another wall. The last ones fired on him with their guns but they just bounced up before Jason just caves their skulls in with a punch.
Jason the stands tall to reveal the full look of his armor.
It was all grey in color save the yellowish circle on his chest that magnifies the look of his Arc Reactor. While it was a rush job, he had time to make it look good, with it being symmetrical and cleanly done. (Marvel's Avengers 2020 game Iron Man's "Iron Will" suit).
Jason continues to walk forward, tanking gun fire from the terrorists, punching and whacking them away as he moves. They are soon running from him and close a metal door to seal him in, leaving one of their own behind.
Jason deals with him and bashes into the door. The door begins to warp as he punches it while the men fearfully aim at the door before running as he punches it down, crushing some of them before he walks over them.
He back hands a guy at the fork in the path but gets his arm stuck in the corner. One guy bravely comes up behind him and shoots his head, only for the bullet to ricochet and hit the man in the head, killing him instead.
Jason then rips his arm free from the stone wall and continues to the exit. He soon finds Yinsen laying on some sandbags, coughing blood.
"Yinsen!", Jason yells and rushes over to him.
"Watch out!", Yinsen warns and Jason stops just before Raza fires a grenade launcher that blows a wall before Jason.
Jason takes his own mini missile and fires it at Raza, with it hitting the wall beside him and burning the man's face before a piece of the ceiling collapses and knocks him out.
Jason then goes over to Yinsen and kneels beside him.
"Stark", Yinsen painfully utters.
Jason lifts the front of his mask, "Come on. We got to go", he says to the elder man, "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it".
"This was always the plan, Stark", Yinsen claims.
Jason doesn't believe him, "Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up."
"My family is dead", Yinsen reveals, "I'm going to see them now, Stark", he sees Jason's tears, "It's okay. I want this. I want this".
Jason sighs before saying, "Thank you for saving me".
Yinsen groans, "Don't waste it. Don't waste your life, Jason", he says his name for the first and last time before going silent, dead.
Jason then gains a fierce look and gazes to the exit of the cave. He lowers his faceplate and walks to the entrance. He hears a groan to his left and sees a still alive Raza, badly burned, looking to him. Jason mercilessly stomps on his head, killing the leader.
Jason then stomps out the cave to see what remained of the group that held him captive. They open fire on him, but he is protected from their guns. They stop shooting, stunned at not being able to do anything.
"My turn", Jason growls before activating his wrist mounted flamethrowers, burning the men around him and setting fire to the weapon crates. He walks forward to make sure everything burned.
One of the terrorists got up to a mounted machine gun and open fires on Jason. The place began to blow as some barrels burst.
Jason activates a switch and straightens his body as the camp blows up, killing all. From the tower of fire, Jason flew in his armor into the sky and away from the destroyed camp. He made it maybe a mile before his jets stopped and he crashed into the ground with a yell.
Jason groans, "Not bad".
He then began to systematically fly and land over as he had to recharge his thrusters. Luckily, he was still in America as he surveys the land, realizing he was in the Appalachian Mountains.
Eventually, he arrives to a city, ditching the armor in an old mining cave and he contacts the police.
A Day Later
Jason is back in New York City with his mother at the Rhodes home. He learned that it has been a month since he was last seen, him now being 17, with Howard also gone and was declared dead.
Obadiah had taken control of Stark International as the new CEO, although Catherine was checking him at every turn. Stane went underhanded and they lost their home, causing them to live with the Rhodes, with Roberta and Rhodey, David was mostly gone due to his work.
Jason was upset at all that happened, "How did he get ahold of the company?"
"While I am... was... Howard's wife. The shareholders and others in the company sided with Stane as he took control, with many claiming I don't have authority to control it", Catherine shares with her son, "However, Howard made it so you get full control of the company should he be unable to, but only after you turn 18".
Jason sighs and heads to a secret lab he had in the warehouse compound attached to the Rhodes' family home that belonged to the Starks.
Over the next five months, Jason worked in this lab.
First, he rebuilt the Arc Reactor. The one currently in his chest was crappy and made with inferior parts and could be hazardous as is. This second one was perfected and slimmer. With the help of his AI, that he called V.I.V.I.A.N., he transplants it in his chest, relieving the pressure and with it being lighter on his chest.
Then, he began to work on the Stark Exo-suit that he first designed just before his dad died, which inspired the armor that he escaped with.
This new armor was redubbed Mark 2, since the one he mad with Yinsen will be named Mark 1.
He built it from the ground up, with the alloy its composed of being a Stark original creation. He added expansive joints and extendable plating should he grow in the next year before he's 18.
The biggest pain was the flight tests but he got the hang of it.
He continued to add on the previously planned and new features till it was finished. He had colored it red and yellow, the colors from his Robin suit, avoiding the black for stealth to separate it from Batman. This made it seem like it was Flash Family inspired or something, but he didn't care.
Six Months After The Incident
It's been half a year since Jason lost his father, he had just awoken in his room at the Rhodes' home.
His alarm beeps and he sits up to deactivate it. He is shirtless, wearing only ihs pajama bottoms, which fully exposes his Arc Reactor.
His door opens to reveal Roberta Rhodes, "Breakfast is ready, Jason", she informs as she steps into his room. She was unfazed by his injury and the Arc Reactor as he already explained it to the Rhodes, only going into detail about it with his mom and Rhodey.
"Thanks, Mrs. Rhodes. I'll be right there", Jason says.
"James is downstairs already", she tells him, "Once your finished, you'll be going to your first day of school", and she turns to leave.
"Um", Jason calls at to her, "Is my mom here?"
Mrs Rhodes looks to him, "Sorry, Jay. She left the country again", she informs.
Jason hasn't seen much of his mother for the past five months since he escaped for two reasons. The first was him working on his suit of armor. The second is that Obadiah Stane has been getting her out of the country so he can control Stark international his way without her interfering, but she was using the opportunity to disrupt his global sales to prove him incompetent.
Don't get him started on Stark International as a whole. The last time he was in Stark Tower it was devoid of color and most of the employees looked dead on the inside, even Tricia. Stane had even redone Howard Stark's office, making look like metal and concrete with shutters on the windows that reminded Jason of prison bars.
And worst of all, Stane had on his father's ring.
Later, Jason and Rhodey were walking up to the academy, with Jason venting about his anger.
"Look at it this way. Inn less than a year, you get to fire him", Rhodey says to Jason to cheer him up, "It'll be worth the wait.
Jason sighs as they go up the steps, "Do we have to do this?", he complains about going to school, "Can't we ditch or something. I can show you the secret lab I got fixed up".
"No chance", Rhodey denies him as they walk the halls of Tomorrow Academy, "If either of our moms found out we skipped your first day of school, they'll crush us".
"Why must I come to school? Its not like I have anything to learn from here", Jason comments before a cute brunette girl bumps.
"Oops", she giggles and leaves for class as the bell rings.
"On second thought, I should give this a try", Jason changes his mind with a smile before Rhodey grabbed him by his backpack and dragged him to class.
In math class, the teacher wrote down a math equation, "What you're looking at here is widely thought to be the hardest math equation in the world and has yet to be solved", before continuing on another thought, "What we're doing today is far less difficult and--",
"Sir?", Jason cuts off with his hand raised while Rhodey looked at him like he was crazy, "42?".
This caused the teacher to look to the equation, adjusting his glasses in thought before sighing in defeat.
In the next class, Jason flips through his textbook while the teacher rattled on.
"Uh... But when it comes to superconducting transition temperatures, that's where the physics of solid-state matter--", before Jason cuts him off.
"Professor?", Jason called out before holding up the textbook, "Do you have any other physics books? This one seems a little out of date".
Embarrassed by Jason, Rhodey shifts his desk to the right, away from Jason, while actually drawing more attention to him and causing some of the other teens to laugh.
In the next class, Jason was sketching a diagram on the whiteboard in the front of the class while he lectured.
"Then the energy pulse gives the system a simultaneously positive and negative charge, which allows the generation of--", he stops and turns to the class and teacher, "Well, I call it a Starktron".
Rhodey facepalms as the other students begin to pack up their stuff to leave for their next classes.
"Do you think there is any way you could go over that again?", the teacher, Professor Abraham Klein, asks with a smile while Rhodey crosses his arms in annoyance.
The best friends are soon walking through the halls of the academy once more.
"So, what do we have now? This is kind of fun", Jason comments, having fun using his intelligence for the first time in public since he had to hide it in Gotham as to avoid being revealed as Robin.
Rhodey turns to him, "Well, I've got English Lit, and you've got a free period", he informs him, "So just hang out. Relax", as the bell rings and Rhodey turns to go to his class, "Check out the rooftop. A few of us have lunch up there", he calls back to Jason, "And I'll pick you up after class".
"Yeah, okay, see you", Jason bids farewell as he loses his smile, now left alone in the halls, "Later", he sighs.
He is soon on the roof, near the edge, overlooking the city Skyline and seeing Stark Tower. As he stares at it, he remembers all that happened months ago.
"You're dad used to work there", a girl's voice cuts into his thoughts.
"Huh?", Jason utters as he notices another person on the roof and looks to her sitting on on an elevated platform before the water tower on the roof, "What?"
"You're Jason Stark", she says, "I mean, Jason Peter Stark", saying his full legal name as she waved around half a sandwich, "You worked there too, because you weren't going to school before. Privately tutored after your mom married into the family and Howard Stark--", she realized she was rambling, "Uh... *nervously laugh* Never mind". she takes a bite of her sandwich with an inquisitive look, "You currently live at James Rhodes' house. And you have, like, a billion patents on file", she says with food in her mouth, "And you were missing about a month after the plane bombing. How do you survive a bombing, anyway?"
"Lucky, I guess", Jason remarks, "How do you know all this stuff?"
She looked up in thought before leaning to him as though it was a secret, "My dad's on the FBI task force that's investigating Obadiah Stane after your dad's, uh, "accident". Outside of you and your mother, he had the most to gain from your dad's death".
Jason was stunned at the thought. He never put it together as he was so busy with the suit in his grief.
"Hi, my name's Pepper Potts, by the way", she finally greets him.
After school, Jason rushed to his lab with Rhodey in tow.
"Jason, will you wait up?", Rhodey calls out as they ran, nowhere near as physically fit as Jason.
Jason continues to run as Rhodey is confuse, "Wait. Where are you going?", they arrive to a rusted out and near empty factory, "I've never been in this wing before. my parents maintain this compound for your dad, but they never let me in", he looks to see jason before an old heavy machine, "Jason?", and he runs down to him.
Jason had activated a secret switch to reveal a hidden passage behind a press and he walks in. Rhodey cautiously walks in after him.
"Whoa", Rhodey utters at the sight of the clean lab with state-of-the-art tech that was hidden, "This is the lab you've been fixing up?"
Jason leaned over a console on the right wall that had holographic imagery active, "Yep", he states.
"Okay", he says in amazement as he approaches Jason before going serious, "So, Jason, you have to take everything Pepper says with a grain of salt, man, I mean, she's a bit on the crazy side".
"Crazy or not, I think she's right", Jason affirms before pushing a holographic button.
The cylinder in the upper portion of the lab spins before a capsule before stopping. The capsule lowers a moment later and opens up to reveal the suit of armor he's been working on in all its glory.
It was shiny red with golden yellow arms from the shoulder to the forearms, and from the crotch area to the knees. Some gold was on the red "boots" and "gloves". Most noticeably was the golden faceplate on the helmet. It had a circle on the chest that was reminiscent of his Arc Reactor along with other small lights on the chest. the eyes glowed the same bright blue. (Marvel Avengers 2020 game Iron Man's "Illustrious" outfit)
"And I know how i can find out the truth", Jason states.
"Whoa", Rhodey says in awe of the suit, "You actually built it", before shaking his head, "So what are you going to do with this, beat Stane up?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm going to do. I'm gonna beat the truth out of him", Jason says, his inner Gothamite shining through.
"Really?", Rhodey exclaims, almost excited at the prospect.
"No, not really", Jason denied, "The can be construed as a forced confession. The armor has surveillance systems on board. I can use them to spy on Stane and see if I can find out anything", Jason shares before taunting Rhodey, "Sucker".
Rhodey goes to push him, which devolved into them wrestling.
"This is a bad idea, Jason, for about a billion reasons", Rhodey says in worry, "You were gravely injured", gesturing to Jason's chest, "If the implant runs out of juice, its all over".
"I'm fine, Mom", Jason jokingly calls him.
"Fine? You're heart could give out", Rhodey complains, "Overexertion or getting hit by lightning..."
Jason looks to him with the most serious gaze Rhodey has seen from him, "I've got to do this, Rhodey, for my dad. I couldn't save hm, but I can stop Stane. I can save everything my dad built."
Jason then begins the process of putting the suit on, with quick automatic segmentation, to put it on fast unlike with Yinsen in the cave.
He is within the capsule as it closes before it rises up through the lab and speeds along a rail till it opens and Jason flies out with his armor, he travels through a pipe then up and smoke stack and out to the city.
"Yeah!", he cheers, as he loves flying with the suit.
Back in his own room, Rhodey sat before his computer with a headset, "Hello? Can you hear me? Jason?"
"Rhodey, you have got to try this", Jason says over the comms, "Are you getting my feed?", he skims alongside a building ue to this being his first time flying in the city, but thankfully he doesn't do any damage, "Whoa".
"This is incredible!", Rhodey remarks as he sees Jason's point of view.
Jason soon arrives before Stark Tower and begins the hack, "I'm hacking into the Stark mainframe through the satellite feed", he informs Rhodey as V.I.V.I.A.N. assists him, "Shouldn't be too hard since I designed half of it", as it was a father-son project to upgrade it.
Files were being sent to Rhodey as Jason continues, "I'm downloading all of Stane's records just prior to the jet's destruction".
"Yeah, I see them", Rhodey responds as he sifts through the data.
Jason then notices something, "Wait. What? That's-- that unbelievable--", Jason sees the Earth Movers' blueprints but modified, "He did it! Stane turned the Earth Mover into a weapon and my laser system!", he says in anger.
"Jason? Jason, are you seeing this?", Rhodey says over the comms, "Stark Security is receiving an alarm. There's a train that's gone out of control".
"Hang on. Stane's sending out a live satellite transmission", Jason says back, distracted, "I think he's trying to sell the Earth movers".
"Jason something is wrong", Rhodey says and Jason sees a Stark modified trainline system on his HUD, "the train is speeding up and it's been rerouted onto the private Stark tracks. It's going to crash into Stark Tower."
"What? There's hundreds of people inside there", Jason remarks as he looks to where the train is coming from and scans it before looking to where it's headed, "It will hit the building's power generators. The entire building could--", Jason flashes back to Yinsen's final words, "I have to stop it", and he flies down to the tracks.
He zooms along the single railed tracks straight for the train.
"I can do this. I just have to switch the track, right?", before he lands on the tracks in a running stop.
"You still have to slow it down", Rhodey states, "Let me see if I can find a map or something".
Jason stops before the switch, "I'm connected to the city's mainframe, Department of Transportation", he looks around, "The track switches aren't responding. That's weird".
"Jason, where's the train?", Rhodey asks for an update.
"Shit", he comments as he sees how close it's getting, "Hang on. I'm accessing the track schematics on file", he looks through the files to see something he could do, "Got it", and he unleashes a repulsor blast from his palm, causing the gear to unlock.
Jason than began to push the rails by hand, or rather enhanced hand. It locks into place on the new track and avoids Stark Tower.
"Crisis averted", Jason sighs.
"Dude, what did you do?", Rhodey exclaims.
"I switched the train to a different track", Jason says.
"That line only goes to Stark Tower", Rhodey shares, "The track you switched it to, it's not finished. Instead of crashing into Stark Tower, it's going to crash into the middle of the city", traffic surrounded the end of the line due to its construction.
"Oops", Jason utters, he didn't know the city like he did Gotham.
Jason immediately lifts off and flies after the runaway train. Soon, he was speeding along side the alarmingly fast train.
"Come on, come on, think", Jason says to himself.
He gets an idea and zooms ahead of the train and lands on the tracks. he holds his arms up as he collides with the train. The train smoked and sparked while Jason groans as he pushes against it.
"Jason, you have to be careful! Your heart", Rhodey cries out.
"I can't. Too many lives", Jason groans, "Won't stop", as he lifts his legs and its thrusters activate to add to the pushing against the train. The metal warps in his hands before the door collapses and he falls in.
"Never mind", Jason remarks after he had slid along the empty train car. Jason's scans reveal that this lead car was the one giving motion and kicks out the back door before blasting the car links and separating the rest from the leader and they skidded to a stop.
Jason tries to stop the lead car from the back but it continues over the edge of the unfinished track. The civilians under the tracks scream in horror at the train coming for them. Jason shifts his hold and keeps it over his head, his enhanced strength and flight from his armor allowed him to keep the train from landing on the citizens below.
The crowd started cheering for their red-and-gold savior, especially the cab driver that was just under him and the train.
Jason lands on the ground in a more open part of the road and sets the train car down on its side before flying away.
Later, Jason was back at the lab with Rhodey.
"Piece of cake", Jason comments with his helmet off.
"It's already all over the news", Rhodey excitedly tells him while holding the helmet, "About 1,000 people have footage of you on their phones. They're calling you Iron Man. Jason, you're a hero".
"It's not iron", Jason remarks about his suit before stating, "My dad always wanted to use technology to help people, to save lives", he remembers his past heroics and now feels that he shouldn't have stopped even if he reunited with his mom, "And that's what I'm going to do. That's what Iron Man will do. I'm gonna save Stark International from itself. And maybe, along the way, I'll find out what happened to my dad".
Elsewhere
In a vast dark room, a man in grey garb kneels before another, "master, the plan failed. the train was stopped before it hit Stark Tower. We did not retrieve the ring".
The master in question sat in all black arm with bronze accents and glowing eyes similar to Iron Man, "It will be your last failure in this life. Nothing shall stand between the Mandarin and his destiny. I will retrieve the ring myself", he clenches his left fist, revealing another Makluan Ring but with a purple stone instead of green.
Chapter End
AN: This is my Jason Todd becomes Iron Man fic. Had to go a round about way to get him there. This will start off based on Iron Man Armored Adventures with elements from the MCU and other Iron Man appearances.
The suits of armor for my Mark 1 and Mark 2 are currently based on the Avengers 2020 game because the suits looked awesome in my opinion. They may later be inspired by the Iron Man game. If you don't like the suits I use, you can just imagine which ever one you like.
PS: Marvel characters that appear in other fics won't appear in other fics within mymultiverse. Meaning chracters like Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Hulk, and others won't appear in this story. One exception may be Thor, with the old school "Fair thee well" version appearing in this story and the modernized haircut version being in my Hulk fic.