Chapter 1
The man sighed as he leaned against the door. It had been a horrible night. What’s worse was that he wasn’t sure the Young Master was listening very well. And now he knew why.
That odious man! He cursed that blood toff for insinuating his way into their lives, for threading his lies and deceit so cleanly in his honeyed words.
He felt a twinge in his chest and winced. The doctor hadn’t been terribly reassuring. He knew he may not have much time left to give his young master. Then his young master would be left with that braggart. He couldn’t let that happen!
He pushed himself away from the door and walked into the study. It was dusty with disuse. He’d commanded the maids that no one save himself and the Young Master was to enter. Yet it had lain unused for the last four weeks as the turmoil surrounding the death business had occupied both men. Now, he feared, his own death would embroil his young master in that cold, unfeeling business yet again. This time without even his meager protection from the poisoned words of the demon.
He opened a drawer and felt around for the secret compartment. Lifting out the sealed cold box, he swallowed. There was only enough for one. That was what his master had said. The recipient had to be old. Well beyond 50 if possible. He had acknowledged long ago that he was no spring chicken. his young master couldn’t take it, but he could.
If it worked, he could be there for his young master. A final nod to his master, to protect his most precious possession, his son.
He didn’t even think. The needle was already on the desk from when he’d sat down. The Young Master was back at school for a week. That should give him time to recover from whatever strain the serum caused. He only hoped his master had been right. For all their sakes.
He placed a picture of his young master on the desk in front of him and with a prayer to his late wife and a reverent look at his young master, he depressed the needle.
Tony coughed as dust clouded the walkway. He couldn’t afford to get sidetracked. Yinsen had gone ahead of him to give him more time. Tony had to make up the difference, get to him, save him somehow. Yinsen had saved Tony’s life; now Tony could actually return the favor.
Tony had spent the week building and reviewing. Yinsen had asked if he had any family. While he’d replied in the negative, his thoughts had turned to Obie, Jarvis, Rhodey and JARVIS. Of all of his friends, they were the closest thing to a family he had. Obie would run Stark Industries though. He was good at it and without Tony making his life difficult, he’d take it far to protect the soldiers. Tony knew Obie would handle it if only Tony could warn him about the stolen inventory.
And he’d take care of Jarvis. Obie had been pushing for Tony to let Jarvis retire for years. The man was old and soon he’d have nothing left to enjoy for himself. Tony, at his lowest, had even tried to offer Jarvis retirement. A handsome package, he could even stay around at one of Tony’s homes, not that Tony thought he should want to, and just relax the rest of his days.
Jarvis had just clucked at him and reminded him of his promise to drink less. When Tony had insisted, Jarvis had gently, and effectively, herded him to bed and informed him that he had neither foot in the grave and was still young enough to explain the facts of alcohol poisoning to Tony. Which he had done cheerfully the next morning while Tony suffered his hang over and waited for the coffee.
Tony was lucky to have Jarvis around. Even with that irritation, Jarvis gave him his coffee and stopped scolding him, switching to a scalp massage. As Tony had melted into the kitchen table top, he’d heard Jarvis quietly say, “Your good health is worth more than all the relaxation in the world to me, Young Master Tony.”
Tony had made an effort after that to quit getting completely drunk. And he’d never suggested retirement again. But some days, he looked at Jarvis and saw just how fragile, and how weathered the man was and worried. It was hard watching him grow older. When his parents had died, Jarvis had stepped up, hoisted Tony back to his feet and tossed him at Rhodey to drag back to MIT for his degree. All the energy that must have taken must have been too much. Tony hadn’t been back at MIT for a week when a frantic call from home had him frantically returning. The heart attack Jarvis had suffered and the news of Jarvis’s lymphoma had frightened Tony badly. Seeing the man who had been strong enough to pull Tony off the floor, lying in that hospital bed, barely breathing but for moans of pain, had sent Tony’s heart to pieces.
He’d gotten serious about his degree and Stark Industries after that. He’d taken the board in hand, with Obie onside, and produced enough innovations in six months to keep their R&D department busy for years.
Yet, for all his promises, once he’d solidified everything, the shadows and ghosts returned and Tony found himself at the parties once again. Rhodey had left for his military obligations by then and Tony hunted for a friend to have with him to no luck. Or rather to a lot of luck, all of it bad.
Rhodey had told him about the first kidnapping he’d been involved in. The military hadn’t liked their key inventor getting nabbed and had volunteered a squad stationed stateside to help in the hunt. Rhodey had muscled his way onto the team. Apparently, when he’d called Jarvis, who had been at home and unaware of the ransom note to SI, Jarvis had simply said, “I’m on my way.”
Rhodey had laughed when he’d told Tony how he’d tried to argue that Jarvis was a civilian and in no shape for this kind of mission. Jarvis had patiently listened over the phone, probably while he packed, and simply informed Rhodey that he’d be there in an hour.
Tony had then told Rhodey about Jarvis. After Howard’s death, threats to Tony increased. So Jarvis decided Tony needed training. That had been when Tony had learned the background between Jarvis and his father.
“It was near the end of the war when I met your father,” Jarvis had said blandly as he handed Tony a sweat band to keep his hair off his face. “An explosion detonated too close.” Jarvis glanced down and tapped his calf, “I suffered a compound fracture that shall not heal fully. Master Howard picked me up and carried me to safety. When he’d heard I’d been dismissed, he offered me a way to be useful again.” Jarvis picked up a water bottle as he turned toward the mat in the exercise room he’d set up for Tony. “Master Howard was very different at that age. That young idealistic inventor was greatly missed.”
Jarvis had turned toward Tony. “Now, as I was hired partially for my skill in defending myself and him, I shall begin training you.”
Tony had grinned at that idea. “Train me? You-you’re going to train me? To do what?”
Jarvis leaned forward and placed a hand on Tony’s elbow. The next thing he knew, Tony was on the ground looking up at a vaguely amused Jarvis. “Shall we start with that motion, Young Master Tony?”
Tony had laughed then as he laughed when he whispered to Rhodey that Jarvis may or may not have been MI6. He could neither confirm nor deny it.
Regardless, Rhodey had been thrilled by the protection Jarvis offered and jealous that Tony was trained by one of the best. Tony needed that training, now more than ever.
Tony huffed as he took out the first wave of gunmen in the corridor. He’d been in the cave for too long, but Yinsen had known the route out. He’d been adamant that Tony memorize it. Tony was coming up on the first door.
His thoughts turned to his son as he crashed into the door. JARVIS was so young and yet he’d grown so fast. He was the one Tony truly worried about should something happen to him here.
When Tony had given up trying to retire Jarvis, he’d decided to make him a helper instead. He’d made DUM-E as a helping hand for himself, so now he’d make a helper for Jarvis. When JARVIS Jr had first spoken with the same voice, lightened a bit with Ana’s accent from some old recordings, Tony almost cried. It had taken three years of work, but JARVIS Jr was online and ready for Tony to coach.
The coaching hadn’t worked out so well. Firstly, Tony couldn’t keep a plant alive, what had made him think he could raise a fully functional sentient being? Secondly, Tony couldn’t keep a secret from Jarvis. Period. The man always knew.
So one day, a few weeks after Jr started his lessons, Tony found Jr and Jarvis discussing nutrition for breakfasts. He’d entered the kitchen, half awake, looking for coffee. It had taken him a few moments to realize exactly who was having a conversation behind him. He’d stared at Jarvis for so long that both had worried about him.
He’d broken down and told Jarvis everything then. How he’d made Jr for him and how he didn’t know a thing about raising Jr right and all the mistakes he was afraid he’d make because he never knew any better. Jarvis had held him close as he cried and sobbed about how he’d fail Jr and Jarvis at the same time.
It had taken them all several hours to sort out the tangle of emotions and desires that day. It had taken considerably longer for Tony to believe that neither of them believed him a failure as a parent to his son. Jr had grown into an amazing person. He helped both Jarvis and Tony in everything they did from computer interfacing to simple memory work.
But while they both saw Jr as a part of their family, Tony was particularly aware of how little legal standing an AI had, and the even worse public opinion of him obtaining such. Tony worried about what would happen to his kids if he wasn’t there. They had no legal recourse. Tony had set out what he could in his will, using Pepper, Rhodey and Jarvis as their legal representation, but the whole thing still frightened Tony badly.
Tony blasted through the metal door with grim determination. He would find Yinsen and he would get them out of here. Tony gritted his teeth as he swatted away the flies that tried to hurt him. He had no time for these idiots. He’d bury the cave once he got Yinsen out.
Turning the last corner, Tony lifted his wrist to prepare for a fight. Shouting in the opening ahead reverberated around his helmet. He turned the corner, to find several groups facing off. Tony held up his armaments on all present, looking for Yinsen. He found the man on the ground, shoulder bleeding badly. He clunked over to stand between him and the gunfire that might happen, regarding the group.
One side was clearly his kidnappers and the terrorists. He knew their faces so they were an easy identification. The other side was in tactical clothes and thus not identifiable in the least. All but one of them were eyeing him with mild fear. He thought this was perfectly understandable since he looked like a giant metal-armored knight out of Camelot.
Except, you know, with missiles.
The one new guy who kept his gun trained steadily on the terrorists spoke calmly. “It is good to see your handiwork, Young Master Tony.”
Tony froze. Only one person in the world would have said that to him. Tony blinked back tears, suddenly terrified that somehow these monsters would try to take Jarvis away from him like everything else they’d tried to take. Eyeing the group of four, Tony looked at the monsters who had held him all this time. “Is the base secure?” he rasped.
Tony desperately wanted to run to Jarvis, have the man hug him like he used to do after a nightmare. Hear his voice tell him he wasn’t alone, that he didn’t need to carry the weight of the world. He wanted to tear off this metal weight and touch his family.
But there was more at stake now. When Jarvis shook his head, another of the group spoke up. Tony had to admire the steadiness in his voice when his heart rate was probably through the roof. “We are an extraction team, Mr Stark.”
Tony knew what that meant. They were not here to take down the camp. They were here to get in, get him, and get out. Well, he had a stake in this camp. These guns were never supposed to kill American heroes, American fighters.
“Okay then,” Tony said and spun 38 degrees and sprayed the terrorists with a blast of fire. As they dropped, Tony looked around for any he’d missed. One of the newcomers sent a round into the head of someone who still moved. Tony ignored them a moment to turn to study Yinsen. Two newcomers crouched next to him.
“He’s losing a lot of blood. We need to stop the bleeding.”
“We don’t have time.”
Tony glanced at the figure who seemed to be in charge. “Where’s our ride?”
The leader eyed Tony with reservations, but nodded, “2 clicks 15 degrees north of northwest of camp.”
Tony straightened and headed for the entrance. Behind him, the leader called out, “Where are you going?”
Tony glanced back. “You get him and get out! I’ll meet you there.” He turned away. “I’m giving you more time.”
“Young Master Tony!”
Tony glanced at the worried eyes of Jarvis. Now that he was closer, he recognized them under the mask and gear. Tony grinned. “I’ll be there. Bet I beat you guys there.”
Jarvis held his gaze a moment before nodding in acquiescence. “Yes, sir.”
“I bet a case of beer we have to come back for his ass,” Tony heard one the of the extraction team mutter. Tony grinned.
“I’ll take that bet.”
It turned out they did have to retrieve him a bit. Aiming wasn’t something he’d been good at and he hadn’t considered landing at all. But he ended up in the direction of the extraction point...ish. As their voices washed over him, Tony pulled off the remaining pieces of metal stuck all over him. The designs were stuffed in his shirt and seemed more or less unsinged.
Strong hands pulled him out of the mini crater he’d made, muttering about the weight before dragging him toward the small copter hovering nearby. Jarvis and the soldier in the aircraft pulled him in and the leader followed, rapping the ceiling to take off.
“We heard the explosion. How much of the camp were you able to take out?”
Tony leaned back against the seat as the most medically minded of the group tried to look him over. Yinsen already had fresh bandages covering his wounds so Tony let himself lean against Jarvis on one side. He opened one eye to look at the commander.
“What do you mean ‘how much’? I make bombs.” he grumbled tiredly.
The leader glared as he waited for an answer. When he realized Tony had given all the answer he was going to give, he glanced up to meet Jarvis’s look. Tony could feel Jarvis chuckle under his head. “He means, it's all gone.”
Tony drifted off at that point, missing the reaction of the commander. He’d kind of hoped it was a good one, but right now, he just hurt.
Loud voices brought him back around and he opened his eyes to see that they had landed in a US base. The US medic in front of him was trying to open his shirt, probably to check on his ribs, and Tony’s arms were having none of that. Behind him, Jarvis was trying to soothe his distress and, next to the medic, a familiar pair of hands was similarly trying to coax Tony to cooperate.
Tony felt the medic’s hands under his shirt and cried out, backing away rapidly, curling closer to protect his arc reactor and thus his heart. Rhodey caught him before he fell off the bench they were sitting on and pulled him close while Jarvis moved in front of Tony.
“It's okay, Master Tony. You are safe. Take deep breaths for me and focus on my voice.” Jarvis’s soothing voice and presence helped more than anything. Tony grasped Rhodey’s arm that encircled his torso and held it tight against his chest. Rhodey was safe. Rhodey would protect his heart. That was good.
He felt Rhodey tense as he came in contact with the face of the Arc reactor.
“Tones?” Rhodey’s low voice echoed in Tony’s ear. Tony whimpered and pressed closer to Rhodey’s embrace, trying to hide from the medic. Rhodey’s face moved away, probably to talk to the medic because a moment later the medic left him alone. Instead, Jarvis knelt closer.
Rhodey pressed himself closer. “You know, when you told me, I only half believed your butler was a super secret spy.”
“Really, Col. Rhodes! I simply served my country.” Jarvis admonished Rhodey gently. His focus was all on Tony though, hands resting on Tony’s biceps protectively.
Tony smiled into Rhodey’s arm where he hid his face from everyone else.
“Jarvis is the best.”
Tony winced as he let Pepper clean up his appearance for his first press release since he halted all weapons manufacturing at Stark Industries. Originally, Jarvis was going to be back here with him in prep for this announcement, but he’d taken Agent Coulson aside for a chat. The look in his eyes told Tony that the chat was likely to be very downsizing in the pride area.
Before he left, he’d glanced at Tony with the speech notes in his hand. Stane was being killed by a faulty plane crash and Iron Man was being left a mystery. SHIELD, whoever they were, helped out by creating this false evidence line up. Tony wasn’t looking forward to it. Or to being under the thumb of some top secret organization. But avoiding them was looking more and more difficult. Even when they just wanted to interview him, he hadn’t been able to dig up much on them. That worried him.
Naturally, he covered it by flirting with Pepper. She was fun to flirt with, even if he usually crashed and burned. Besides, she wasn’t some simpering fan or aggressive man-hater. Just a proper and self confident woman who seemed to take his floundering attempts with amused conviction. Even so, Tony’s mind wandered and Tony leaned a little forward so he could see Jarvis. After the previous night’s events, he felt a bit on edge if the man was out of his sight for too long.
Yinsen had been out. Jarvis had been trying to get Tony to eat dinner but Tony had been more interested in finding his phone so he could call Pepper for an update. He had just picked up the phone, giving Jarvis a ‘one minute’ finger, when a high whine filled the room. Jarvis had all but collapsed on the couch in front of him and was staring in horror as Stane cradled Tony’s head and lowered him gently to the couch.
A hand appeared to one side as another took the phone from his grip. The soft voice calmly instructed him to breathe. Obie circled the couch end to sit.
“You remember this one, right?” Obie said calmly as he showed Tony the Sonic Paralyzer. It had been a project the DoD didn’t want a few years earlier. “It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis.” Tony tried to cry out, but he knew those specs as well as any: at least 5 minutes of nothing but autonomic muscle motion.
Tony’s head was turned to look at Obie. Tony had no choice but to look into the empty avarice of Obie’s eyes. “Tony, when I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose.” Obie sighed and looked at Jarvis with a sick grin. “I knew I should have pushed harder to get rid of you, old man.”
Obie picked up a metal device and placed it against Tony’s paralyzed chest and Tony felt the thin laser beam cut through the siding of the arc reactor casing, disconnecting the locking mechanism. “But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that,” Obie said casually. He pulled the reactor out of Tony’s chest. “You had one last golden egg to give.” Tony wanted to shudder and whimper. He wanted to chase the reactor and hide from the savage glee of yet another man feeling such joy at filling him with fear. But he still couldn’t move.
“Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you?” Obie chided Tony. Tony felt himself rebel at that. Iron Man was more than an idea.
Granted, when he had returned, he’d treated it as an interesting engineering project, something he had to perfect. That first flight had been pure joy, even with Jarvis fretting below and the destruction of his piano and Rhodey’s favorite car. Yet, he’d simply been engineering because he couldn’t not engineer. Then he’d met Christine again. She blew the whistle on Stane. The weapons being sold overseas still. The terrorists still holding villages hostage because no one was stopping them. Tony felt he owed it to those who had given their lives to his negligence. And he owed it to Yinsen to free his village.
He hadn’t planned to hang out at the village after the gunfire, but JARVIS had drawn his attention to something. After he’d destroyed all the weapons and played chicken with Rhodey’s toys, JARVIS brought up part of the video from his confrontation with the fat bastard he’d given to the people to punish personally. It contained newspaper clippings of Yinsen, at different conferences and getting awards. At that point, Tony turned back. Maybe he could find something to give Yinsen?
He’d returned to the house and was looking around when a small noise drew his attention. He turned, hand up just in case, to see a girl, about eight. She was looking at him with sad eyes.
“They took Papa,” she said softly. Tony blinked in surprise as a woman hurried into the room and gathered the girl in her arms. Jarvis translated the hushed orders, Come, come, don’t bother the savior.
Tony stepped forward hesitantly as they turned to leave. “Wait!” The girl looked back as the mother froze. “You know him?”
The woman eyed him a moment before nodding. “He is my husband. He is gone. They take him from us last year.” She seemed to steel herself. “He was good man.”
Tony had felt elation rush through him like nothing else. This was the best gift he could give Yinsen, the man who had saved his life. Tony could give him back his family.
Saving those villagers was more than an idea. Giving Yinsen back his precious people was more than an idea. Protecting people from warmongering like Obie was more than an idea. Tony met Jarvis’s terrified gaze. In those loving eyes, Tony saw utter hatred for the man tormenting Tony and horrified pain for what Tony was going through. But Tony knew, if Stane was doing this, he wasn’t planning to leave either of them alive.
“Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?” Obie chided as he pulled the reactor free of Tony. Obie sat down on the couch next to Tony as the man felt himself sink into the sheer agony of his chest being torn apart. “Oh, it's beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands. I wish you could've seen my prototype. It's not as... Well, not as conservative as yours.” That made Tony’s numb and frozen body feel a new level of horror. He’d just given one of the worst men a source of power beyond anything he’d had before.
Stane looked over at the paralyzed man next to Tony. “I guess now is the best time to get rid of you too, old man.” Tony let out a near inaudible whimper as Stane wrapped his hands around Jarvis’s neck. “See, when they find Tony, it's simple. You had a fight. Tony choked you as you ripped his reactor out. I can testify to the damage that would cause.” Stane slowly squeezed and Tony saw Jarvis’s eyes widen just slightly as his air was cut off. Stane leaned forward. “I even brought a reactor the boys couldn’t make work to smash on the floor. Nice and neat,” he whispered into Jarvis’s ear.
Jarvis’s eyes slowly dimmed as he lost the battle with consciousness. Stane chuckled. He looked at Tony. “Well, that’s this. If he wakes up, he can go to jail for the murder of Tony Stark. I need to get going. Better to catch up to those documents your secretary stole from me.”
“Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived,” Stane commented as he picked up the case and dropped the non-functioning arc reactor on the floor. Tony could feel some tingling in his fingers as Stane strode out of the room.
He shoved everything into moving his arms. Eventually he managed to flop himself forward, his head against Jarvis’s chest. Faint breaths and a heartbeat resounded in Tony’s ears and he felt tears threaten. But he hadn’t time for them.
Hoping against all hope that Jarvis would be okay, Tony made his way down to the lab. When Pepper had given him the first reactor back as a gag gift, Jarvis and DUM-E had loved it and Jarvis had instructed the bot to place it somewhere with honors.
Naturally DUM-E had chosen the far corner of Tony’s welding bench.
But now, the fortuitous location would save him. Tony eyed the box from the door as his wobbling legs shifted his balance too far and he fell hard on his elbows. Desperation gives many men strength beyond reason. Now it pounded through Tony’s veins, even as his heart went through an arrhythmia. He made it to the table when the strength of the adrenaline gave out of his arms.
He dragged everything he could reach towards him with no luck, crashing all manner of tools on himself. Puffing, Tony whined and set himself for another try, though with what energy, he wasn’t sure. But DUM-E, his oldest child, beeped at him. Tony glanced his way, pain spiking through him at the thought of his first born watching his father die. DUM-E bent over and handed Tony a glass box.
The Arc Reactor.
The hopeless, hapless helping hand had gotten it right when it really mattered. Tony loved his kids.
“Good Boy.” Tony praised him before smashing the glass case on the floor. Wincing at the sharp shards in his hands, Tony reached for the reactor and shoved it in his chest, twisting until the older connector sank in.
The second he’d felt the connection take hold, he’d let himself collapse for a moment.
Rhodey hadn’t been too far behind Stane, thanks to a warning from Pepper. He’d found Jarvis first, naturally. Both had limped down to find Tony resting on the ground. Jarvis had helped Tony clean up as Rhodey rebooted Jr’s processors. Although doctors had given Jarvis a clean bill of health after everything, Tony had thought he’d lose the man for a moment there.
Now the idea of having him out of sight made his skin itch.
Of course, the eavesdropping was a bonus.
“-message back to your superiors. Tony Stark is not one of your assets,” Jarvis told the Agent sternly. Tony grinned. SHIELD had underestimated Jarvis, just like they’d underestimated Tony.
As Tony took the stand, he heard Christine sneer at the idea that Iron Man was a bodyguard. She seemed to sneer at the idea that Tony was in any way capable of any of the things he’d achieved the previous night.
Tony was about to stand up here and tell the world that he really was an irresponsible rich boy who did nothing but sign checks and party. He was about to portray Obadiah Stane as a COO who’d had the misfortune of being on a faulty plane, not a cold-blooded killer who clearly deserved scorn after trying to kill the only parental figure Tony had left before starting an arms race out of the Terminator.
He looked down at the cards in his hand and knew exactly what he was going to say.
Nothing, but nothing felt as good as the pride in Jarvis’s eyes when Tony stood in the middle of the chaos his words had resulted in.
“I am Ironman.”