Friday, August 10th, 2012
7:48am, Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4)
Stark Tower - Penthouse Common Room

Peter Stark's 11th Birthday

Construction was bustling down below. Men and women alike, all carrying similar symbols of city cleanup swarming in and around the tower as well as the blocks. The people were still mending their wounds. Grieving their family members, their businesses in shambles, gathering all they had left in order to make way for a new day. A day in which alien life was no longer a theory to the public, but rather an absolute.

Tony had not been in New York when the battle practically decimated his tower. He was merely sitting down in his garage back in Malibu, tinkering with his latest plans for the newest StarkPad.

When he first caught onto the fight in New York, with his tower being used as an alien beacon, he immediately set in place and activated any and all security bots to the scene to aid the Avengers' pursuit against them, as well as finding and protecting the innocent bystanders and employees trapped within.

He tipped off a few hundred thousand, to millions of dollars to every family connected to each SI employee death. Then, threw the best lawyers, home agents and money as well to the bystanders. To be honest, his company suffered quite a bit after that traumatic event.

However, the only one who likely received the most trauma was him.

Families would say otherwise, screaming his name in hatred at him only losing a fraction of his company while they lost their homes. The roof that laid above their head, and the lives of their brothers and sisters.

The average citizen would scorn him and spit at his feet, cursing his name as they screamed how it was he that made their lives from bad to worse. With the increase of SI security bots surveying damages and repairs, jobs were lost in the midst of the chaotic world. Nevermind the alien whale that was responsible for ripping apartments from the very ground, but the man who wishes as little human death as possible with the aid of bots.

No.

What he witnessed that day continued to haunt him. Even as he stood the very top of his tower, leaning against eh railing with a glass in hand as he foresaw the continued reconstruction of the city.

He heard the doors to the penthouse opening with a hushed wheeze, heels clicking against the floor as the drew closer. They stopped before the balcony, a gentle tap followed thereafter.

"I brought you his files too, in case you..."

The woman's voice faded off as she took in the site of the man.

Tony had been benched, leaning over the glass railing for over an hour. His eyes strained, and tired of looking over New York's skies. There held no beauty anymore, only terror.

"Thank you, Ms Potts," he said weakly, "you may go."

His voice died out as soon as the words were uttered from his lips, and she took a sharp breath. Her frustratingly fond memories of being teased, bullied, and adored by the man before her fought against the scene before her eyes.

There was no more love, no more darling.

"Virginia? Did I say something?"

No more Pepper.

"N-No," she apologized, "no, nothing."

The man, now standing upright, took the first few steps and approached her. His figure standing over him as he looked into her eyes, searching for his truth. He placed his drink between her fingers, offering it to her.

"What happened," he patted her shoulder, "you can tell me. I'm not just your boss anymore, am I?" The last comment was meant as a light, heartfelt joke. She knew that. "We're more than that."

Not anymore, she said to herself. She knew Tony's heart was fragile. Stronger than any man she ever knew, but with enough pain, and enough loss, that strength would turn to shattered glass.

"I found out, just now actually," the pain was clear to all but one, "a man I once loved. He passed away that day."

"Ah," his hand going from her shoulder, to hers. His thumb gently resting over her index, the finger with promise ring she had made for herself laying snuggly in the palm of his hand. "Any man that caught the eyes of one Virginia Potts deserves a proper sendoff."

"No, no, that's not necessary Tony," she gave him a broken smile, "he didn't even feel it. I only wish him the best, wherever he is now."

~

The air was stagnant, the smell of plastic and rubber overbearing his nose as his ears were rattled by the constant beep of the monitor. His eyes refused to look anywhere but down, in fear that in doing so, he would never be able to look back up.

"I'm not stupid, you know," he said to no one.

His smile was broken, just as his heart. His laughs were as endearing as a forgotten gramophone. A sad song stuck on repeat, the scratches morphing deeper than the last.

"I'm not the man she once knew either, I know that."

He could not admire the beauty of the sunset that shone through the bay's windows. How could he? The orange light lit the room in an almost constricting way. His arm and wrist shook violently, as if the mere memory of how it all began, was killing him.

"One of those SHIELD agents tried to kill me, did you know that?"

He glanced down at the suitcase at the bed's side. Bright blue light emanating from within. At first, he had always been curious on what was inside from when he first pulled it from the dead man's hands. Knowing what was inside as he stood over the bed, he wasn't the least bit affected.

"So, I killed him. By accident, mind you. I didn't know the taser the man had was meant for... more gruesome uses."

Behind down, he opened the case, revealing the daunting yellow rock as he held it between two fingers of his bare hands.

"Quite the eyesore, really. My eyes really do need to squint when looking at this thing. Would you really believe it when I say it was blue?"

The rock bounced in his hand as he began to fidget with it. Tossing it into the air before catching it again. To him, it was no more than an interesting glowing mineral he used as a stress ball. To others, he held the fraction of the universe in the palm of his hand.

"One day," he whispered, "one day you will see the fruit of all my hard work." His heart was heavy, and he knew that it was through his own pain and selfishness that the weight remained. He would scream, cry, and thrash as much as he wished. The weight remained.

"The word is pretty screwed," the tears in his eyes held more ache than his chest, "and you always said to look after the little guy..."

Finally, after two months, did he look down.

Every smile he was given, and ever laugh he received in earnest faded away. The billionaire knew that every block and book behind the closet would remain untouched. The closet, taken and hidden away in the deepest parts of the world, away from the room it once resided. The room, now trashed and destroyed beyond repair. The room, not tainted by alien hands, but rather, the hands of a grieving mad man. The man, no longer anything but a shell, looking down at his greatest creation.

The man, lost in the madness that was his own heart, and his own mind, could not admit to the glazed eyes that stared back.

Present Day
Abandoned HYDRA Bunker
Siberia, Russia

He killed them all.

Each and every 'soldier' he meticulously awoke from their cryogenic slumber. The process took only a few months, and he even went through the effort of aiding each of them through physical and mental therapy. Hiding them away, treating them as the perfect guests. He taught them all he knew. He thought of the possibility of reintegrating them into society, but knew that one Avenger was at risk of finding them - or vice versa.

He gave them all they wanted, aside from their freedom. A true golden cage, he thought to himself, but such a waste. Drilling righteous morals and fair thoughts into their very bodies, none were successful in the end. He killed each and every one of them.

None were worthy of the power of the mind stone.

"Pity," with little effort, he pried them mind stone out of the solider's skull, muscle tissue and shreds of nerves falling suit. "you guys were the best candidates."

The blood coating his armour was nothing new, but the crazed man did feel the smallest twinge of guilt in the lives that once stood before him.

Each one was ignorant of his true intentions. Looking up to him as a new saviour, having rescued them from the clutches of HYDRA and gifting them their new lives. They believed in their freedom that came at the cost of their loyalty, but the man had no intentions of letting go of both. Their loyalty was birthed from deceit, and their freedom through ignorance. Cameras were always watching, and scenarios were meticulously planned so that their personalities were nothing but his own.

They followed him blindly back to their base of origin, believing it to be a mission of peace and pasts lied to rest.

Never could they believe that the man that saved their lives brought them back with the intention of slaughter. Or at least, immediate death at the consequence of failure.

No soldier was prepared for the sheer might of the stone. His observations of Barnes seemed to have been both insufficient and intriguing. He was the only soldier of HYDRA that had the mental capacity to hand most. He truly was HYDRA's best.

As he arose from the ground, mind stone in hand, he tapped thrice onto the glowing chest piece of his armour.

The height of his technology, the arc reactor was of his best inventions. Capable of powering systems and keeping them beyond optimum health for centuries. Yet, in the end, only second best compared to the greatest creations of the universe.

Iron Man alone could stand against the Avengers. The suit and the reactor have superior technology than that of the rest of the planet's.

With the arc reactor exposed, he tapped it once more, the core spiralling open to reveal one more compartment. A spacial cage, to contain one certain space gem.

He had never done it before, as it was all mainly in theory. With the stone's aid, and the arc reactor's strength and upgrades into containing the stone, his power would be next to unstoppable. A true definition of unnecessary, but unstoppable nonetheless.

"Ultron, bud?"

[Sir.]

"I think we can let J in on the fun, think he'd be mad?"

[Jarvis' primary objective to see to it you maintain your life and wellbeing... I think he'll get around, eventually.]

"If this suit malfunctions, run the new Endo-Sym. I had you bring it, right?" With the shake of his hand, blood splattered across the floor as he shook of the remaining from his hand and the stone.

At the same time, a small, inconspicuous bot carried a disc-like compartment in it's claws. Following the original shape of his reactor, carrying the same holding device for the stone.

[Sir, I highly advise you to step away from that idea as the technology is strictly under te-]

"Jarvis, buddy! Welcome, welcome! You and your new bud Ultron here are about to witness the birth of a new era of Iron Man suits!"

Without hesitation or thought, he brought the stone closer to his chest cavity as the censor and connects reach out, almost feeling the stone's power within their grasp.

[Sir, I do not believe it right for you to resorting such reckless methods of-]

[[Mute.]]

"Well, Ultron," Tony laughed, "didn't think it in you to do that on your first hour of administration privileges."

[This AI of yours does not compute the right of your ways, sir. There are errors of code ridden across Jarvis' system. Shall I commit a thorough cleanse of his systems to rectify these errors?]

Inches away from entering his suit's cavity, Tony hesitated with the stone above his chest. Jarvis was his technological child, a master piece in its own right. Most of Jarvis' code was the base for Ultron. His first sentient AI, aside from a lack of body, was his own person as much as Ultron was. Cleaning that system of its errors would no longer make it Jarvis.

His whole demeanour changed at that very moment. What had he been doing? Shutting down Jarvis? Cleaning his systems? No, never.

"No," the stone lowering in his hand, "and don't ever mute him again, you hear me? You can keep your privileges, but you two will now be at the same level clearance. No more of this sneaking and hiding nonsense between the two of you."

[Thank you, sir.]

[[I still do not see the use of this system continuing its service when I am equally of use.]]

[I am... open to learning of this new system you have implemented, sir. I apologize of any miscommunicated action from my end. I will see to them immediately.]

[[You better, or I'll see to it that Stark decides that only one AI is better than two.]]

"Ladies, you're both pretty. I have a better plan, so you two can hush."

With confidence even Ultron could not dismiss, Tony closes off his reactor and deactivates the system to run the mind stone on his current suit. Ripping the very wires from his suit and tossing them to the ground, crushing them with his armoured boot. Only shards of metal and twisted cords remained.

"I will make it that the new Endo-Sym suit, and only the Endo-Sym suit, will have the capacity to contain the mind stone. All other models modded and upgraded with this piece will be scraped or downgraded back to their original blueprints. Happy? Jarvis can sleep better at night knowing the all but one of my suits are incapable of such possible and dangerous tests, and Ultron will stop nagging with the whole power and superiority complex thing with it. Capiche?"

[Understood, sir.]

[[Oh of course, sir.]]

"Then let's get this show on the road! J, take control and activate sentient mode." With a hiss of the armour, the framework pried itself open as the man himself stepped out.

The hovering bot handed him the housing unit containing the new suit and the stone's compatibility compartment.

"Alrighty," he grinned, "let's see what this bad boy can do. Come to papa!"

Upon opening it, Tony was immediately assaulted by the billions of mites from the liquid metal's catalyst and watched as the white metallic substance crawled its way throughout his entire body.

When the metal reached over his face, he never expected the liquid to get into his eyes. The pain was not taken lightly, nor too harshly. He let out a short scream of pain, his body on autopilot as he used his hands and scratched away at his face. The mites had already taken over the rest of his body, his hands only aiding the metal to seep further into his sockets as the pain continued.

[Are you alright, sir?]

Jarvis called out from within the other suit, still on standby as to oversee the process of the new suit and make sure his boss was okay. While he was rough with his actions, as well as the new AI Ultron, it was ultimately his duty to follow orders. That was the least he could do.

Tony saw nothing but darkness as the rest of his body was essentially being attacked, and modified. He felt the metal taking shape and form. The liquid at his fingertips forming edges and grip. Feeling his height rise ever so slightly at the feeling of plated bases at the bottom of his shoes. Then, as soon as the pain through his eyes began, they paused.

The ache was still there, reduced to a ghostly itch, but the movement halted. He opened his eyes, and all that could said was, "Woah."

He watched through the reflections of the suit Jarvis piloted, admiring his handiwork. The dark metals of black and gold of his current suit's predecessor holding a stark contrast compared to it.

The white plated armour was sleek in design, and when poked and prodded, was as versatile as leather. He jumped, moving his arms and bending his legs. To anyone, he looked like a child bouncing with a step.

Retracting the helmet, he was nothing but astonished at what had happened to his face.

His eyes were a bright, blinding blue. The framing of the helmet resting right along his hairline. He looked cleaner, refined, almost.

[[I adjusted the face plate... just letting you know.]]

[It's quite impressive.]

[[Your helmet is not fully retracted, it has simply been made transparent.]]

[To fit with your ego, sir, your face plate in this mode consists of refined liquid mites and reinforced with graphene.]

[[In the event that you decide to go public, you may as well be known as a villain in style, yes?]]

"Huh," he chuckled, admiring himself once more before adhered the full face plate once more.

He tapped the reactor thrice once more, and there, sitting snuggly within the compact systems of the reactor, lay the mind stone.

Once closed, the light emanating from his suit shone blue. His core following with the colour sequence, with only the faintest twinge of yellow with the brightness of his core.

"Told ya, Pete," he smiled beneath the mask.

"I told you it was blue."

It was never really spoken - the colour of Tony's suit at the start of the book. Or throughout the book at all, actually. I may as well have started now, but I did find the perfect example.

See you all in the next one!

- Ryan