My Dad, the Boy (*Man) Who Lives

April 14th 1996

“See you soon, hon.” Howard gave Maria a quick kiss on her lips, cupping her cheek before letting go. She put her hand to hold Howard’s hand upon her cheek and kept it there.

“Why can’t somebody else do it, Howie?” His wife asked with an anxious look on her face.

It’s been a planned trip since a couple of months ago. He was going to ask someone else to do the demonstration since he wasn’t exactly young anymore. Yet, the military liaison insisted the importance of him being there and so on, so on. Howard couldn’t listen to the talk about serving your country, blah, blah anymore, so he said yes.

And then again, this was going to be his last time doing the faraway business trips. He’s done with travelling and being away from his wife.

The millionaire wasn’t young anymore and he couldn’t continue with the long international trips or jingling between SI and SHIELD. Both were his legacy and its been fun doing both, but it was also exhausting at the same time. Since Tony went to magic school those years ago, the old man had been thinking about retiring.

His youngest son and heir was passionate about the company and had so many vision and changes he wanted to do over the company’s future direction. He still a bit reluctant about the things Tony wanted to do and change, mainly shutting down the arms division.

The old Stark believed that their company could still serve their country by providing and protecting US soldiers through building weapons. After they got rid of Obie, the true purpose of his company would be corrected once more.

Nonetheless, he could not give the company to Tony just yet. His boy was still just a boy, even if he’s almost 17 years old. He would put him in R&D after he finished college and if he was brilliant (no doubt) , he could head the department. Howard felt better letting him ran the company after he turned 21.

That’s left his oldest son. Harry had a knack on running things by being well-organized. He had a certain charisma to him, which probably the reason why he could lead an army of teenagers to win that wizarding war years ago. And he was smart.

The young man could probably helped run the company until Tony was of age; still, his hero of a son loved to be on the background. He hated being in the spotlight and if he had to lead the company, he would do it, but he wouldn’t be comfortable.

The father of two didn’t want to burden both of his sons and since Edwin and Anna’s funeral, Howard has been thinking. Long and hard. Quite a lot.

He wanted to live longer enough to stay with his family. He didn’t want to die and left his wife alone. He want to watch Harry get married again and watch Tony created so many marvels with his intelligence. He wanted to see his boys with their future children.

And to have that, Howard was willing to do what he always stop himself from doing. Experimented on himself.

Together with Peggy and Harry, they discussed about Howard’s super soldier serum. They decided that it would be saved to inject himself with a mild version of his creation. He didn’t want to be the next Captain America. He’s too old to be a hero, anyway.

With Harry’s help as a healer, the CEO of SI made sure that the criteria of longevity, great immune system and strong bone structures were included in the serum. The slight enhanced strength would be a bonus. He might no be able to bend an iron pipe or something, but at least he could bench press.

And it was another bonus when he managed to convince Peggy to do it as well. She’s going to retire as soon as HYDRA had been flushed from their organization. After that, she could finally see the world like she always wanted to. As a tourist and not an agent on missions. And an adventure certainly proved that strength and stamina were needed on the journey.

If their new perks got suspicious, they could always just hid from the limelight.

Tony and Harry were beyond happy when he told them about the serum. Apparently, his children have been wondering and worried themselves about their father’s mortality, since he and Edwin’s age wasn’t that far apart.

Maria was upset and full of joy at the same time. She was concerned about the serum’s side effect. Harry had to convince her that he had checked tens of time, before the chemical solutions could be administered through him and Pegs.

“The army requested me personally,” he gave her another peck on the lips, smiling reassuringly at his wife. “And don’t worry. After this, I’m going to cease going on international trips. There are other SI representative I could send to do it.”

“Why not now?”

“You know how the military is.” He sighed. “They’re going to keep hounding me until they get what they want.”

“Just be careful, okay Howie?” She put her arms around his waist and lied her head under his chin.

He sighed contentedly, nuzzling his nose on her hair, smelling the sweet fragrant of her jasmine shampoo. “I will. And I’m stronger now than I look you know.”

The philanthropist didn’t do snorting, but if she could, Howard betted his every last cent that his wife would do it.

“And I promised, I’m going to be alright. Afghanistan is going to be the last demo I went to. I promise.”

***

April 26th 1996

Tony woke up from the soft bed covers, where he laid on the bed with his mom. It’s been almost two weeks since his father’s Humvee got attacked by the terrorist in Afghanistan.

April 14th 1996

They were watching a horror movie on the VCR in their dorm room. It’s a routine they did after finishing all of their papers. Along with eating a bunch of Chinese food in those white little boxes. Having Rhodey as a roommate was a lot of fun.

“I told you don’t go inside, dude!” Tony threw a piece of chicken at the little tv screen. “You’re going to die asshole!”

“Tones, don’t waste the kung pao chicken, man.” Rhodey chided him. “You’re going to clean that up, later.”

“But I’m so comfortable here, don’t wanna.” He pouted as he leaned closer to the warm pillow that was his best friend’s shoulder.

They were sitting with their back against Tony’s bed and the tv moved onto Rhodey’s bed along with the VCR. They had a blanket surrounding them, shielding them from the cold and the younger man felt reluctant to entangle himself from the warm position.

“I have some gummy bear,” the older MIT student said, trying not to smile at his roommate’s childish acts.

“Gummy bear!” Tony threw his hands up, letting go the blanket to pick up the piece of food he thrown at the screen before.

Suddenly his cellphone rang. Tony scrambled through his bed to find it and picked it up. “You have reached Tony Stark. He is not around right now because…”

There was a sobbing noise coming from the phone, and then a familiar female voice came through. “Tony… You… Your father is missing. The… They found the remains of his convoy. To… Tony what should I do? I…”

Hearing the news, Tony staggered and fell sitting down against his bed.

“What is it, Tony?” Rhodey stood up and looked worried.

He looked up from the phone and was speechless for the first time since he met his college friend. The older man grabbed the phone from him and started talking and tried to calm his mom from the other line.

It was supposed to be Tony’s duty to comfort his own mother, but right now, he was panicking. He couldn’t think of anything else. His father was missing and there’s a possibility that he might die. His mom was worried sick ‘bout his father. And his dad was away at this horrible time.

He felt hurt all over. It’s like a punch to his gut and his heart felt like being squeezed so hard. It was too much. And before he knew it, his throat felt closed off and all the air supply was cut from him. He couldn’t breathe and started to hyperventilate.

It was a good thing that his best friend was there to comfort him and calmed him down from his situation.

Tony looked to the right, where his mom was lying down on the bed, sleeping. She was quiet now. It was different from several days ago, when she couldn’t stop moving and restless from the nightmares and worried she had. She’s scared that there hasn’t been any news from her husband.

Luckily, Tony and his mom were never alone. there were so many people looking after them in their time of needs.

Rhodey had accompanied him home and stayed for several days before going back to school. He even called him in his spare time. Mama Rhodes even sent them some of her famous cookies to comfort Tony. Teddy has been sending him letters to encourage him about his father and aunt Andy has been staying with them to look after the lady of the house. Aunt Peg has been comforting his mom whenever she could, but she’s busy trying to combat Hydra while foreseeing a mobilize search party to find his father.

He just wished his dad could go home earlier from doing his duty as the Master of Death. He wanted his dad. Not just for him, but also for his mom.

Tony might be Maria’s baby, but Harry was her son through and through. They’re both like things in order and the picture perfect of unflappable. They’re very close to each other and dad always helped mom to organize her charities. In a way, Tony was his father’s son but dad was his Mom’s son. His dad was better at comforting mom. And Tony really wanted his dad here. He always knew what to do and he was reliable. Selfishly, he just wanted his dad to comfort him.

The teen also wished to have his uncle James around. The man was a badass and Tony was sure that he could find his father soon. Unfortunately, aunt Peggy said that he was on radio silent. They could not contact him.

“Howie…” Maria muttered under her breath. Quietly, a drop of tear fell from her closed eyelid, onto her cheek.

“Ssh, ssh. It’s okay, mom.” Tony stroked his mom’s hair tenderly. “They’re going to find him.”

She whimpered at this before going back to sleep. Tony pulled the blanket until her chin and gave her a kiss upon his brow before slipping out of the room.

It was dark outside and raining. Usually it was a good time to sleep and for Tony to make a nest out of the blanket and sleep until late at noon. But thinking about his father and the sandy place he was in, he felt guilty for sleeping on the soft mattress. It was a depressing thought.

The stark heir couldn’t sleep, so might as well tinker. And inventing always need to be accompanied with cups and cups of coffee. So, he went downstairs to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

As he was waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, Tony rubbed his neck. It was stiff because of his sleeping position.

“Tony.” The voice startled him so much that he jumped a couple of inches from his spot. It was hoarse and sue him, but it reminded him of the serial killer’s voice from the horror movie he watched with Rhodey a couple of months ago.

A shadow suddenly emerged from the dark corridor near the opened kitchen door. Tony squeaked in fear before recognizing his uncle in black vest and uniform with his hair tied into a ponytail.

The assassin had a blank look on his face, which meant that he hasn’t taken his agent persona off. But when you put aside his expression, his eyes were brimming with emotion. Tony could read grief and guilt in them.

Basically, he mostly understood what Tony was feeling at the moment. Without realizing it, the genius teen was already running towards his uncle’s opened arms.

“Don’t cry, baixinho,” His uncle pulled away from him and started wiping his tears with his sleeves.

Tony didn’t even notice that he was crying.

“No… Not a little boy. M’ almost 17,” but he could still reprimand the older man with the nickname. The all black clothed man smiled a little.

Uncle James always created a certain nickname for the people that he like. He would call father the engineer, which was true. His mom’s nickname was beautiful, which was nice. Aunt Peg, badass since she was one. Jarvis and Anna were the lovebirds, since they were a cute old couple.

With the ‘boys’, Uncle James quoted (since his actual age was almost 80’, *rolling his eyes), his dad was doctor. Teddy was clown, honoring his metamorphogus ability, especially the way he changed his hair color like a clown. And Tony’s nickname was shorty. He resented the name but didn’t mind it so much at the same time.

The former sergeant love his terms of endearment as much as he loved calling them with them using different languages. And today, he used Portuguese for ‘little boy’.

“I was going to come home on your birthday. To surprise you. But then, I heard about Howard,” he told him, eyes mirroring sympathetic. “Then I know I have to come home earlier.”

Tony was opening and closing his mouth in hesitation. “Ye… Yeah. I worried about him. If dad was here, he could have found father immediately, but…”

“I know, Tony.” The man put his arm around his shoulder and brought him to a chair. “Before he left, your dad talked to me. He made me promise to protect you when something did happen. He was hoping for nothing bad to happen in his absence.”

Tony was relieved in a way that there was someone he could rely on. He has been on edge since Rhodey went home and with Maria being sad and frantic and Peggy being busy and Aunt Andy trying to comfort his mom, he hasn’t really had time to be sad.

“I want to find him, uncle James.” Tony looked up at the man, voice laden with determination. “Aunt Andy tried to use magic to find him, but it’s hard. The location is too far away. And I can’t exactly ask her to go to Afghanistan to use the spell to find Father.”

“Tony…”

“Aunt Pegs tried but… It’s not that I don’t trust her but I want to help. I’m a genius, so maybe if I help, we could find him faster.”

“Tony…”

“Mom is worried sick. She is devastated and I… I just don’t want to see her like this anymore. And every day that passed, there’s a chance that Father… That he…”

“Tony, I get it.” He put a hand on his shoulder. “But you’re only 17. Your parents wouldn’t want you to be in danger. And Afghanistan is not safe.”

“Dad was in the war when he was my age,” the teen threw daggers with his eyes at his uncle. “And father was born in the WW1.”

He knew he was pushing it with that last statement when the other man stared at him in that meaningful silent way.

Tony was a genius for a reason, damn it. He had thought hard about it. He knew with the underage law, he needed to wait until he was 17 to use magic, which was practically still a month away. He was hoping that if he was in Afghanistan, the law would be nulled since the violation of magic was done outside of America. But he didn’t want to cross his fingers on that alone.

“I’m not just saying it,” Tony said as he pulled his hair in frustration. “Trust me, I can handle myself. Dad even give me a bag full of healing potions of all sort. I will even bring the talisman Dad gave me last year for birthday. It could shield me from anything (beside unforgivable curses) and stir me away from danger.”

He put a finger up to stop James from replying. “And no, it doesn’t work on anybody except me. It has been specifically made for me. Not even a bullet can penetrate it. So please accompany me there.”

“Tony? What…?”

His mom’s voice surprised him, but it’s weird that it didn’t startled uncle James.

“You knew she was listening,” Tony accused him.

James just crossed his arms and threw his gaze at the wall.

“And now you’re pretending you didn’t hear anything.” The genius grumbled.

“Tony, what… what do you mean about James accompanying you there? There where?”

His mom looked nervous and probably had guessed the answer to her own question. Still, Tony felt that she wanted him to deny it, which was something that Tony couldn’t do. He couldn’t lie to his mom. Not when it’s about something dangerous but potentially could help him find his missing parent.

“I want to find Father.” He answered truthfully. Shortly, his mom staggered on her spot and Tony was a bit late to stand up to help her. “Mom!”

Fortunately, uncle James was fast enough in catching his mom. He held her by the arms gently before helping her to sit with Tony’s help.

“No, you can’t.” Maria grabbed hold onto his arm. She looked wrecked with the gaunt look and bed hair and shadows under her eyes from the lack of sleep. It saddened him that his mom ceased to taking care of herself these past few days.

“Mom...”

“No! I forbid you to go. I refused to lose another member of my family,” she shouted.

“Mom, listen to me.” He held her moms face between his hands, cupping them tenderly. “I want to do this. Magic could help find him. We can’t ask other wizards or witches. They don’t meddle with human’s problem. And I can’t asked Aunt Andy. She’s all Teddy had left for a family. And dad is in a place without any communication means. That’s only left me, mom.”

The woman had tears brimming on her eyes, waiting to flood down. She was watching her son with a deep sadness. Her lips were trembling as she whispered with her chap lips. “I don’t want to lose you.”

He kissed her mom on the forehead softly and pressed his forehead to his mom’s. “You won’t.”

“You can’t promise me that, darling.”

“Yes, I can, mom.” Tony said with as much conviction. “I have my father’s brain and my dad’s magic running through my veins. And the most important of all, I have your unwavering faith, mom.”

The tears finally fell through and marred her face. Shakily, she cupped Tony’s face and closed her eyes. “You were just a baby in my arms all those years ago. Since when did you grow this big and wise, darling?”

“Well, I do have good parents.” Tony answered cheekily.

She pinched his cheek lightly, earning a yelp from her son. “We were excellent, darling.”

“Yeah. The best.” The genius agreed, embracing his mom tightly.

**

*

“So, are you ready?” Uncle James asked while checking his weapons that have been hidden on his body armor under the layers of His afghan clothing.

After getting mom’s permission, it wasn’t exactly easy to persuade his uncle to bring him to Afghanistan. In the end, he came around to the idea. And not a day later, they’re already in the vast desert of the sandy country.

Tony put a piece of his father’s hair in the point-to-me potion bottle and wait for it to glow and produce several bright blue orbs. Tony grinned. “Ready.”

Looking towards the sundown, Tony opened the bottle and let one bright blue orb flew, leaving the rest inside. As they followed the orb in the dessert, Tony promised tenaciously. “Hold on Father. We’re coming to get you.”

***