Prolouge
Jules Verne once wrote: "Put two ships in the open sea, without wind or tide... they will come together."
That's how Howard and Maria Stark truly met.
During 1960s, Howard was on a conference with Peggy Carter on Abmisty Bay, Maine. That's how he met her.
A storm was striking the bay, and Howard had to help secure their home in the place.
When he found someone on the shore.
A woman, wearing clothes that he had never seen like before. Made of what appeared to be fish scales.
And in her hand...a trident.
Howard was weirded by that discovery, but he had to act.
He went down, and grabbed the woman, bringing her inside.
He layed her on the table, and gave her CPR.
When the woman finally woke up....
She grabbed Howard and pinned him on the wall. With a strength that not even Steve Rogers could hope to match.
It added to Howard's curiosity what was this woman.
"Hey...it's ok...you weren't...breathing."
It took a moment, but the woman finally let him go.
That's when Howard notice the bad wound she had on her hip.
The woman gasped and passed out.
Howard didn't know what to do...only that he had to help her.
The woman woke up next morning.
When Howard found her, she was...about to eat one of the fishes.
"Don't eat that !" He hurried.
The woman looked at him.
"I already made you some eggs. Those are Peg's pets."
She tilted her head at those words.
Howard handled her some coffee.
"It's ok, it's just coffee. You drink it."
The woman seemed not to understand, so he showed her how.
She finally got it, and did it herself. A pleased smile on her face.
"So, who are you ?"
"Maria....Queen of Atlantis."
"Atlantis ! Huh...that's a good one. I almost believed it."
Maria looked at him.
"But it's true. Oh right, you surfacers believe we don't exist."
She walked towards the fish tank, and dipped her head inside it.
Howard was shocked for a bit. Then he realized she was breathing underwater !
It's true.
"Well.....I am Howard." That was all he could say.
They became friends, and then, they fell in love.
Maria had fled Atlantis. To escape an arranged marriage.
A man of the land, and a woman of the sea, their love was strong.
And that love soon produced a product, their son.
Maria held her baby close.
"What about...Anthony ?"
"Anthony....yeah. I like it."
"Much better than your last choice."
"Oh hush....Anthony....Tony. Yeah, that can be for short....my baby. The proof that both worlds can co exist."
But Atlantis' memory is long, and her King wanted her back.
And it just happened that Hydra, gave them the perfect opportunity, when they sent the Winter Soldier to kill the Starks.
The Winter Soldier believed that he had killed the Stark, and went to destroy all cameras.
But what he didn't know. Is that Atlanteans are much more resistant than humans, even super soldiers.
Maria was still alive.
"Howard." She hook her husband.
He was gone.
In a fit of rage, Maria went in and grabbed her trident.
And when the Winter Soldier wasn't looking..she attacked him !
With a powerful kick, the Soldier was sent flying.
He tried to fight back, but Maria was simply stronger. Even gravely injured, she was faster, stronger, and better fighter.
Soon, the Winter Soldier was brought down. Beaten up, and unable to get back up.
Maria got her trident, ready to kill the Hydra menace. But...
"QUEEN MARIA !"
Atlantean troopers came in, surrendering her.
"By the order of King Orvax. You are ordered to return to Atlantis !"
Maria looked at Howard's dead body. She had no escape. She was to badly hurt.
"I'm sorry Tony."
Atlantian soldier used a face mask, and a dead woman to cover her as Maria Stark.
The Winter Soldier was left in a coma for 9 months, giving Hydra the hint not to mess with the Starks again.
Tony was lead to believe that both of his parents had been killed on the crash. And while his godmother Peggy Carter, who knew of Maria's true identity, knew there was something off. Her illness caught up to her before she was able to investigate farther.
Tony Stark grew up to become CEO of Stark Industries, and later on became Iron Man. But that's the story everyone knows.
Maria was forced to marry Orvax, and gave him a son, Orm.
But Orvax secretly found of Tony's existence. And was driven mad by jealousy. She sentenced Maria to death, and sent her to the creatures of the Trench. Where she was never heard of again.
Though a half breed was known to be a disgrace to Atlantis, there were two that didn't. Those Maria told willingly, and had instructed to help her son, now that she couldn't. Nudlis Vulko, the royal adviser, and Princess Mera, heir to the Kingdom of Xebel, who she took in after her mother died on the war with the Wakandians. The former would train Tony, and tell him the truth of her death, as he grew up. The latter would bring him home, when the time came.
Orvaz died 5 years after Maria was sentenced. Orm took power, and with him, a hatred for the surface like no other. He wished to declare war on them.
It was at that time, both Vulko and Mera knew, the time had come, for the true King to return.
However, certain events and betrayals lead to Tony hiding on the sea. Where the rise of the King, begins.....