PREVIOUSLY:
just read 'Taeyong Lee-Stark and the League of Superheroes' before you read this.
***
"A famous man once quoted 'we create our own demons.' Who said that? My dad, who took it from his old man, Howard Stark. What does that even mean? How do you get to that generalisation? Doesn't matter. That answer, that is. My dad said it because my grandfather said it and I guess, in some way I should too. But I guess-
"I don't uh... I'm gonna start again. Let's take this from the beginning."
***
1999, Bern in Switzerland and just under an hour before the New Years ball dropped. Tony Stark was at a science event, holding together some name that belonged to some man that probably belonged to some even richer guy. The point is, Tony Stark could easily be found flirting with a pretty brunette character who simply wanted to show him some of her research.
An equally young Happy Hogan was added to this affair, hair longer and stomach more profound. A hippy sought of vibe could be taken from his hair, but his face meant business. Something that unfortunately was carried well into the next decade or so.
The point of this story is to show just how badly Tony managed to screw up in his early days. You could argue that it's repercussions were far greater than ones he made in the year prior to the present day, which is named the 'Battle of New York.' One could even point out that Taeyong Lee-Stark was another dire consequence of Tony's many past actions.
This one is a little bit more life threatening and a lot closer to home.
Taeyong knows little to nothing about that particular night. Tony? Probably even less so which is saying something. "I want to take you to town and then to your research. Come with me," Tony grinned, wicked and mischievous. He hooked an arm around Maya Hansen's own and dragged her away from the bar, a stumbling and stuttering mess.
"Uh, research I'm happy to show you but I don't think I'm going to 'town' any time soon."
Happy was just around the corner, looking between Tony and his new girl, before stepping up and guiding them out of the party. "Ah Tony Stark, I saw your speech it was incredible-"
"I made a speech?" Tony squinted, tilting his head to Happy who nodded quickly.
"Yeah I'm a huge fan-"
"Oh Tony Stark. I'm Ho Yinsen," a familiar name would reach his ears in years to come but for now, Yinsen patted the younger's back and motioned to a man just beside him. "This is Dr. Wu."
"You're a heart doctor right?" Tony looked down at the man. "Well we're gonna need a cardiologist, once I'm done with her, might need to assist," he snorted, knocking shoulders with a giggling Maya.
"I've got the elevator ready, just come with me now," Happy pulled the two of the drunk scientists away from the crowd and into the just as busy hallway. "Thank you- no pictures please- thanks- can we have a little order-" Happy pushed both Tony and Maya into the elevator when a frantic voice called on the billionaire just outside the elevator and from the crowd of fanatic drunks.
"Tony Stark? Oh I'm a huge fan of your work and yours as well."
"Don't think he's mentioning you," Tony joked.
"Actually I've read up on Ms. Hansen's 2nd Year at MIT and her research I believe could be vital to the project I'm planning," he ducked under an unsuspecting Happy's arm and leant back into the crowded elevator space. The doors shut just behind him.
"Oh ho! And he made it in, give the man an award!"
"Yes well I'm just starting up my own research called Advanced Idea Mechanics," he practically preened. They say that in the first seven seconds of meeting someone you can already gauge an impression of them. Tony was a man that went with his gut, although in recent years he had learnt to start slowing things down.
Aldrich Killian was a short, shrug looking man that could probably rival Tony height if he had the confidence to stop slouching and putting himself in an inferior position. His glasses were askew and his hair was long, dirty blond and on the greasier side. Probably because of the alcohol but Tony had a feeling his energy was usually as overwhelming as the lack of boundaries he owned.
So in exactly seven seconds of seeing this man, Tony decided that a, he really just wanted to have sex with a pretty, brunette research chick from MIT and b, he wanted this Killian guy gone. It just so happened that within the seven seconds of meeting this man, Tony could tell he was desperate, and desperation was an emission the billionaire was very much aware of.
"I had two business cards if you'd like," he handed them over. Maya reached to take them both and Tony snorted.
"Yeah one to throw away and one so she won't call you."
Maya was still staring down at the business card and Tony felt himself roll his eyes internally. He plastered on a smile and looked down at the man's t-shirt. It even had his logo on it. "A.I.M.?"
"Yeah! The Advanced Idea Mechanics, but A.I.M. for short. I have a privately funded pitch of sorts on the ground floor and I really think it's going to go well."
The elevator made a soft ding as people started to flow out, Tony nodded off to Happy and watched him take Maya to his en suite. When Killian was just about to leave, Tony placed a hand on his chest, palm flat. "I like your idea."
"Yo-you do?"
"Of course," Tony lied. "There's something there and I can see it. Meet me on the rooftop in like 5 minutes. I think we can really hash it out there and who knows? You might find yourself with an investor."
"Ah- oh- Okay! Sure! Ri-right well, I'll see you then!"
Tony walked out of the elevator and headed to his room, "Sure you will."
***
"-if I'm right, we can access the right part of the brain that governs repair and chemically recode it." Maya explained, showing Tony her laptop and the research she had been producing.
Tony arched his brow, "wow I- uh, thought that was just a theory. That's incredible! Essentially, you're hacking into the generic-"
"Operating system of a living organism," they both finished together.
Maya grinned widely, "yes exactly!"
Happy, who had long since given up trying to understand what the two scientists were saying, was looking around Maya's suit. A bunch of plants in glowing, blue containers were sitting around her desk. Happy's hand went around to touch the leaves of one before Maya gave a startled warning.
"Don't touch that! My plant- you can't-" she looked back at Tony as if asking him to get his little bodyguard to shut down.
Tony shrugged at the offended look Happy gave them. "She has a plant thing. Just don't touch," taking Maya's hand, Tony got her to stand up and head to the bedroom. Maya looked back at Happy, giving him a last warning about the plants before she and Tony were sitting on the bed.
Happy, very characteristically, grabbed a twig from the plant and snapped it right off, throwing the thing away. A very unhappy pout sat on his lips as he walked away, trying to think about what to do in the meantime.
Tony knew exactly what he wanted to do. "I'm starting with plants," Maya explained, looking back at the now closed door, where all her work was. "And I'm calling it EXTREMIS."
"It's human application," Tony shrugged.
"Dendritic revitalisation."
Tony smirked, "it's revolutionary." He watched as Maya's eyes almost glittered in the attention. Really it was the lighting, the room was very expensive. That's beside the point- he had her hook, line and sinker. Just as he was about to move in to make the first move a giant explosion came from behind the door.
Tony and Maya both jumped away from each other, and it turned out that the plant life that Happy had snapped a twig from, had exploded. Happy's frantic and panicked self ran into the room, with Maya sighing tiredly. "That would be the glitch," she motioned.
Tony gave a small thought that managed to cloud though his lust, drunk haze. "Have you checked the telomerase algorithm?"
"The what?"
Before he could even think about giving her a better answer, he was tackled into the bed via a very serious Happy Hogan. Groaning, Tony looked up to find Happy pinning him to the bed, asking questions over question about his health. "Are you alright? There was a bomb- I think we're under attack. Have you been injured anywhere?"
"Happy, no offense, but the only thing hurting is your kneecap against me. Seriously, I'm fine. Am more than alright in this position, but with a certain someone else," he teased, a smile stretching wider when he saw Happy's cheek colour.
The 'bodyguard' (of sorts) spluttered and got up quickly, moving to help Tony sit up right and then straightened himself out. "R-right. Well- well I'll just leave you both to it then. I'll be right outside."
"Thanks, Happy," Tony turned back to Maya, rolling his eyes playfully. Then he got back to work.
***
"So why am I telling you this? What could one night in 1999, Switzerland possibly do to our present day? Well remember two key people in that quick story I just told you. Maya Hansen, a MIT graduate with a fierce idea to chemically engineer the human brain and Aldrich Killian; a desperate soul needing the final piece to launch his Advanced IDea Mechanics work.
"This is the story of how my dad managed to create demons and he didn't even know it."
We're stuck in Stark's Malibu Mansion, present day time with a very hard working Taeyong Lee-Stark doing research of his own. His homework was set aside for a new obsession that had started to take most of priority. The best thing about his bedroom as that no one really ever entered it. Not his dad, not Pepper, not even Happy now that Taeyong banned him from tucking him in at night.
He really was not a child anymore! He's 13, technically, a teen.
"J?" Taeyong called, small fingers cutting along a newspaper article from a certain journalist by the name of Ben Urich. It was titled 'The Dual of Harlem' and was written in a way that captured Taeyong's immediate attention. THe young boy was completely fascinated by almost all the crime articles that Mr Urich put out because there was an honest layer of biased truth woven within his words. Just alongside the cold, hard facts.
This slight obsession started after the Battle of New York when Taeyong had subconsciously picked out the New York Bulletin amongst the many different newspapers delivered to the Stark mansion. He was completely gone for the paper, actually taking a liking to the way it was written out. Also interesting to see the way that an opposite party reacted to the events of the battle.
He had started by reading the paper for something to pass his time until he was actually stuck wanting to read more after the story. Ben Urich was known for writing big pieces on the crime within Hell's Kitchen and all around New York that Taeyong was very much excited about. He was also in the comfort of California, reading about the dangers of New York, safely tucking in his Malibu mansion with no attacks.
Still, it was interesting.
"Your father has once again spent over 72 hours awake, Taeyong," Jarvis' voice, although an A.I. system, had a level of tiresomeness to it. Taeyong grinned and put away all his articles in order to head down to the Labs. He was greeted with consistent ow's and a couple groans here and there.
Taeyong typed in the password quickly to find his dad sitting further in the room's pilot area and with a gun to his hands. The closer Taeyong got to him, the more the gun appeared like a mix between a staple gun and a rug making machine. He was quiet, eyes transfixed on the gun, whilst he walked just as silently to his father.
Tony would press the trigger a chip would inject itself into his skin. He would then wipe down the area, replace the gun's front with a new injection and sterilize everything in record time. "47," Jarvis counted. "Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate."
Tony hummed, probably thinking about it before, "No. 48!" He pressed the trigger again, "Ouch!"
Taeyong watched his father clean the gun and his wound before he got ready to shoot himself again. "Micro-repeated implantation sequence is complete," Tony said out loud. Jarvis was probably somewhere noting this all down with disinterest.
Taeyong pursed his lips, quickly extending his arm and screaming when his dad pressed the trigger. Tony dropped the gun, Taeyong continued to scream and Jarvis made some sort of whirring sound like an overheated electric fan inside an overused computer. Tony was quick to wipe down his son, pressing a cotton swab at the damage.
"Taeyong, what are you doing?!"
"Jar-Jarvis snitched," Taeyong said, his lips pulled into a wobbly pout.
Tony huffed, looking at Taeyong and then pulling his son closer to him. Taeyong wrapped an arm around his dad's shoulder, looking down at his inner left forearm that now had a microchip in it. "What is it?" he asked, staring at his forearm with interest.
"Remember the cuffs that I need on to help signal the suits of my whereabouts?" Taeyong nodded, mind retreating back to the day in the Stark Tower, when Tony had used his mouth to talk around Loki's manipulation tac-tiks and quickly put on the cuffs. He called on the Iron Man suit, eventually, but it was Taeyong that had saved him ultimately that day.
"This one is inside you so the suit will automatically always come to you?" he said, looking at his dad. Tony nodded, patting his back a few times before standing and giving his son a plaster. Taeyong put it over his wound and watched his father walk onto a podium in the centre of his lab.
Tony looked over to DUM-E, a very incapable robot that was sweeping the floor. Taeyong had a hand applying pressure onto his forearm whilst he grinned at the robot currently getting berated by his father. A cone-like cap placed on his highest point with the words 'DUNCE' written on it in marker.
"DUM-E, how'd you get this cap on your head, you've earned it," his father said. The robot's pulled it handles to Taeyong, as if it were looking at the younger assistance to help it hide from his father's words. "Nuh uh, he won't help you. There's blood by my station. Go clean it up."
Taeyong gave a helpless shrug at DUM-E, before sitting down by his desk, watching his dad. "How's this supposed to work."
"Sir, may I remind you that you've been nearly awake for more than 72 hours."
Tony frowned, "Focus up ladies. I'm alright Jarvis."
The A.I. decided to switch attempts. "Taeyong-"
"Boo Jarvis! You coward!" Taeyong cheered, clapping at his dad. Tony grinned in an over exaggeratedly swagey way before calling the shots.
To say that his suit-calling design was a mess was putting it a little too lightly. After Tony had successfully managed to call on his repulsor rays with a little bit of repeated arm movement, the rest came too quickly. He managed to get his mask on and was finally completely shot down by one back piece that scattered the rest of his suit into pieces. He was lying on the floor in defeat, surrounded in pieces by his Iron Man suit.
"Wow," Taeyong called. He waved his forearm, head steady when the suit flew over to him. Taeyong's entire left arm was encased in the suit's hand repulsor ready to fire. "Nice," he whispered.
Tony looked up from the floor, giving a thumbs up.
***
Life was good, there were always going to be ups and downs. Life was like that. The United States of America was always going to be like that no matter what you did. California was pulsing with energy, not as much as New York, but it was. There was no way to really stop that from happening.
But a general consensus by everyone would tell you that life is currently good.
Until he came.
"Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. America. Ready for another lesson? In 1864, in Sand Creek, Colorado the ID Military waited, until the friendly Chayenne braves had all gone hunting. Waited to attack and slighter the families left behind and claim their land.
"39 hours ago, the Ali Al Salan Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I... I... I did that. A quaint militant church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on maneuvers. The braves were away.
"President Ellis. You continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sot. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am. You know what I am. And you'd never see me coming-"
Taeyong skipped to different news channels, hands slightly clammy against the new TV remote. (They finally put a new TV up in the Labs) So many different channels were responding to the terrorist message that had shaken up the country.
"And not that we seem to be back let's recap some of the frightening developments-"
"American airways were highlighted-"
"-the nations remains on high alert-"
"All attempts to find the Mandarin have so far proved unsuccessful-"
Taeyong stopped on a channel that was live broadcasting the President. "Central to my adminisatio's response to this terrorist event is a newly mintedd rseource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes. The American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot." Taeyong pursed his lips, looking at his uncle on screen, a picture of his new suit. He changed the channels again.
"-ad how is President Ellis responding? By taking the guy that they call War Machine and giving him a paint job-"
"Same suit, but painted red, white and blue. Look at that! And they also renamed him 'Iron Patriot' you know. Just in case the paint was too subtle-"
Taeyong turned the TV off, throwing the remote somewhere on his desk whilst he marched back and forth between the Lab. His dad was currently having a meeting with his uncle Rhodes to have a chat about the new developments with the Iron Patriot fiasco and Pepper was running the company at Stark Industries in the time being.
"This is so weird, J!" he exclaimed. "Something just doesn't make sense here," Taeyong tapped a finger against his chin as he thought about it.
"Your father is coming into the Labs as we speak."
Taeyong blinked, standing up straighter and looking around. "Now? What about his lunch with uncle Rhodes?"
"He experienced a severe anxiety attack and is currently set on his way here," Jarvis responded.
Taeyong's jaw dropped. "Dad? Dad's experi-" Taeyong walked out of the landing zone as his father came in. He raced up to the suit, waiting for Tony to step out. Taeyong grinned, his eyes softening at the exhausted look his father sent him.
"Hey," Taeyong wrapped an arm around his dad's waist, holding him steady. Tony didn't even realise that his son was helping him walk around the labs, as Happy called him. "Happy!" Taeyong greeted.
"Hey Taeyong! Hi Tony, I have some new intel," the new promoted Head of Security said. Taeyong gasped, whilst Tony rolled his eyes.
"What is it this time? No coffee in the coffee machine? The people from admin finally revolt against your badge badgering? See what I did there?" Tony snorted looking at Taeyong.
The younger scrunched up his face. "You've officially went from sarcastic guy to dad jokes. How does it feel to be this old?"
"Look! Both of you, it's Pepper. There's this guy. He's handsome and getting all handsy showing her his brain."
Taeyong and Tony both looked at each other before turning back to the phone of Happy's face. "What?"
"They're in a meeting. Anyway, I thought he was familiar and looked at his credentials. I know him because we met him '99 back way when."
"Oh, the year before I was both then?" Taeyong asked.
"Yeah," Tony hummed. "We were in Switzerland." When he saw Taeyong's confused face, "for a science conference."
"His name is Aldrich Killian and he's come with some shady guy. I can't get a good read on him, which you know is already sketchy as is. I'm going to look this guy up," Happy said.
Taeyong furrowed his brow, "maybe you should."
"Taeyong don't encourage this-"
"What's his name again Happy?"
"Killian-"
"Killian... hmm nope- don't recall," Tony swiped up on the holographic device, clicking a few buttons until an ID of Aldrich Killian showed up. Taeyong whistled at the photo, giving a guilty smile when his dad looked his way.
"What? Johnny showed me how to do it!"
"Look, you're not my boss anymore." Happy stopped the two Starks. "I'm going to find this guy and check him out okay?"
"Okay," Taeyong smiled.
"Don't fall in love, now," Tony teased, turning his phone off. He narrowed his eyes at his son's smile, "what?"
"Sooo...." Taeyong stepped back, turning to his own projects. "What you gonna get Pepper for your guys' anniversary?"
"...shit."
NEXT TIME ON: Dawn of New Change
"Is that normal?" Maya asked, pointing to the bunny. Taeyong was attempting to climb up it's body, his determination was truly commendable.
"YES THIS IS NORMAL!"
"Calm down," Pepper said.