#ebonymaw

P L A N E T :  T E R R A :  1 9 8 4

T O N Y

- - - - - - 

“Father?”

“Hmm.”

“Look, I build it myself! Do you like it?”

His father glanced over at the miniature robot his eight year old son had built.

“It’s not good enough.” Howard Stark simply stated before resuming with his paperwork.

“When will it be good enough?” Tony asked his father, hoping that one day he’d have his approval.

“It will be good enough the day you actually put some effort into making it!” Howard sternly told Tony. “Now leave, you’ve already wasted enough of my time.

Tears filled chocolate brown eyes.

“But papa,” Tony started tugging on his father’s sleeve.

Suddenly, large hands gripped the collar of Tony’s shirt, and he was looking into cerulean blue eyes that were filled with anger. 

“What did you say?! WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!” The elder Stark roared, spittle flying into young Tony’s face.

“P-pa-papa,” Sobbed the eight year old child as he tried to look anywhere but his father’s hatred-filled eyes.

“YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS FATHER, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! ” Howard screamed at his son, shaking him furiously.

“Y-yes, I’m s-sor-sorry,” Tony stuttered in attempt to get his father to stop shaking him like a rag doll.

“MY SON WILL NOT BE WEAK, YOU MUST BE MADE OF IRON! DO YOU HEAR ME?!” Howard grasped Tony’s face in his large hands and roughly turned it towards his. He looked his son straight in the eye, 

“You must be made of Iron.” He said, much more calmly than before.

Tony furiously nodded as the words that had been shouted at him in one of his father’s furious rages repeated themself inside his head.

Finally, Howard let go of his son and resumed his paperwork. 

“Now take that atrocious thing you call a robot and Without even looking up from the documents, he took the robot his only son had made, and threw it at Tony’s feet. 

With tears in his eyes, Tony picked up the robot and quickly walked as fast as he could out of the room. 

Looking down, he saw that the robot hadn’t been dented the slightest bit even though his papa father had violently thrown him at his feet. While examining the little robot’s exterior, he remembered the words his father had implanted inside his brain at a young age.

“You cannot be weak, you must be made of iron.”

“Crying is for boys, you must become a man if you want my approval.”

Filled with a newfound determination, he clutched the robot to his chest and hugged it so tight, it was as if he’d never let it go. 

“You’re stronger than I ever could be,” Tony whispered, voice full of admiration down to the robot. “You’re just how my father wants you to be, made of iron. You’re not even real, yet you’re more of a man than I’ll ever be.” Tony finished, almost enviously. 

“You need a name, a name that people will one day fear and respect. I’m gonna call you,”

Iron Man.

Tony smiled to himself, and happily skipped to his room where he spent the rest of the day tinkering with his new best friend and seeing what else he could do to make Iron Man invincible.

A few months went by, and fall turned into winter, and everything seemed to be going fine, when one day, Tony overheard his father and another woman discussing something urgently.

“Peggy, if the Tesseract is really there, then we have to try and get it! We might never get another opportunity like this!” His father urgently told the woman, as if trying to convince her he was right.

But the woman didn’t budge. “Howard, I know how badly you want the Tesseract to experiment and whatnot on it, but we have no idea how the Tesseract will react after being stuck in the ice for so long!” The woman scolded his father, which was a rare sight to see.

Tony didn’t know what this Tesseract was, but maybe if he could get it, his father would love him and he would become a man just like Iron Man!

Eagerly, the eight year old ran to his father’s lab and used the giant computer to search all existing databases for this Tesseract. 

He kept on sneaking down their to do research for a few more weeks, before his father finally caught him. Luckily, Tony had just had a major breakthrough on how to contain any possible explosion caused by the Tesseract.

It was in December, almost Christmas, when Tony snuck down to the lab and pulled up his research file. He was furiously jotting down notes and scribbling equations when a booming voice echoed throughout the lab.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, boy.” His father said, anger building up in his voice. 

“I-I was ju-just,” Tony stuttered, fidgeting with his hands and looking everywhere in the room except his father. 

“Spit it out, son. What the hell are you doing?!” Howard boomed, his patience wearing thin.

Well here goes nothing, Tony thought.

“I was researching the Tesseract!” Tony blurted out.

His father froze, not expecting such an answer. He quickly recovered and with only a small hint of anger asked Tony why he would do such a thing.

“I j-just wanted to m-make you proud, father. I just wanted you to love me.” Tony confessed, secretly hoping that his father would reassure and hug him. “Do you love me?” He slowly asked, trying to avoid his father’s gaze.

“Tony, I- I,” Howard tried to answer his son’s simple question carefully. “Of course I-,” Howard was cut off by a beeping sound coming from the computer. Father and son rushed over and were amazed by what they saw. 

Feeling a surge of pride in his son, something he hadn’t felt in years, Howard gently ruffled Tony’s hair. 

“I’m proud of you son.”

That was all Tony had ever wanted to hear.

- - - - - - 

With Tony’s research as well as Howard and Peggy’s, in a few months, S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to go and retrieve the Tesseract with zero casualties and zero collateral damage. 

As Howard Stark examined the Tesseract in his lab, there was still one mystery he had yet to solve. What exactly did the Tesseract do? Well, there was only one way to find out.

He looked down at the control panel, and used the surprisingly efficient (with the exception of Dum-E which was the first one) robot hands his son had built to gently grab the Tesseract and move it towards him. He was frightened that touching such a powerful object could vaporize him, so he called his son into the room.

“Son, how would you like to become a hero?” He asked his son, throwing out the bait.

“I would love that, Pa- I mean Father.” He quickly corrected, bashfully glancing up at Howard. 

Howard painted a fake smile on his face and looked back down at his son. He kneeled down, so his face was level with Tony’s and softly said,

“Anthony, I’m proud of you. You’re not made of iron yet, but you’re finally becoming a man. If you hold the Tesseract for me to see how we can use it, you can finally become both; iron and man. Will you make me proud, son?”

Tony jerked his head up. He wasn’t stupid after all, he knew the risks when handling the Tesseract. “But what if-” He started.

“Do you want to become a man made of iron, or not?” His father pressed, his patience wearing thin. 

“Of c-course, f-father.” He stuttered, frightened for what was about to come. He tentatively walked towards the glowing blue cube, and he could practically feel the energy radiating off of it. 

“Go on,” Howard encouraged him. He hadn’t even noticed he’d stopped to admire the entrancing object.

Gingerly, the young boy reached out with his eyes squeezed shut and lightly touched the cube with his index finger. He let out his breath which he hadn’t known he was holding when he wasn’t instantly vaporized the second his flesh touched the cube. 

He looked back at his father to see what he should do next, even though he already knew what was going to come.

“Great job, Anthony! Now you just have to grab it and focus on the energy and channel it through your body. 

Hesitantly, Tony grabbed the Tesseract with both of his small hands, and lifted it up and off of the pedestal it was currently on. By now, a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists and specialists had arrived and were instantly alarmed when they saw a boy who looked no older than eight holding one of the most dangerous and powerful artifacts known to mankind, with his father encouraging him to do so. 

“ARE YOU MAD?! HE’S JUST A CHILD!!” Peggy Carter frantically screamed at Howard, trying to press any button to make it stop. 

“Don’t worry, Margaret, the boy’ll be fine. See?” Howard calmly stated, gesturing to the boy who was holding the cube with an awestruck look on his face. 

“Now Anthony, channel the energy through your body and try to make the Tesseract do something.”

Tony did as his father asked, and focused on the Tesseract’s sheer power and energy. He imagined it flowing through his body and tried to think of his happiest memories to make it do something. He thought of the time he and his father, as well as his mother sat in the living room drinking hot coca as snow was falling outside. Tony Stark thought long and hard about this memory and before he knew it, he was enveloped in blue and grey smoke, filled with electricity and power. 

When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in his father’s lab. In fact, he was in the same exact living room that he had been thinking about in his memories.

So it teleports you! He thought. He ran back down to the lab, grasping the Tesseract in both hands. Tony was panting and sweating furiously by the time he made it back down to the lab, when he realized he could’ve just used the Tesseract to teleport back.

So much for being a genius.

As he approached the lab, he heard his father yelling at all of the scientists and specialists from S.H.I.E.L.D.

Maybe he’s worried about me! Maybe when I come back, he’ll be happy that I’m safe and he’ll finally tell me he loves me! I’ll finally become like Iron Man! Speaking of which, Tony saw the robot outside the lab where he had left it right before all of this happened. He picked up his best and only friend, and walked into the room. What he didn’t expect however was for his father to be hysterical about something missing. Not someone. Something. 

He didn’t care about Tony, all of the frantic screaming and shouting were for the Tesseract, not his only son. With tears streaming down his face, he forgot to compose himself and hesitantly made his presence known. With the Tesseract in one hand, and his robot in the other, he finally spoke to his father.

“Papa?” He asked, hesitantly.

His father whipped around and when he saw the Tesseract, Tony could of sworn he saw a hungry look in his father’s eyes. After a brief second it passed, and his father rushed over and took the Tesseract out of his son’s hands. He had a sick sort of smile on his face and barely even acknowledged his only son. He admired the Tesseract for a few more seconds, and all was silent until Howard broke out of his trance and put the powerful cube back on it’s pedestal.

But Tony couldn’t shake the hungry look in his father’s eyes out of his head.

- - - - - - 

Meanwhile in space, 

. . . 

“Sir, we’ve detected a major energy surge on the planet Terra, it could be the Tesseract.” Ebony Maw informed the Titan sitting on his throne.

“Are you sure?” The Titan’s booming voice echoed throughout the throne room.

“Yes, your lordship.” The Maw pathetically bowed down to him. 

“Maw, set course for the Planet Terra and prepare our finest soldiers.” The Titan ordered The Maw.

“Right away sir.” Said The Maw as he scurried away. 

Once he left, the purple giant felt a smile creep up onto his face.

- - - - - - 

Back on Earth,

. . . 

Tony lay in bed, wondering if his father really loved him. He glanced at his clock. It had been two hours since he’d gone to bed, and it was now just a little past 12:00am. Tony sighed. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight anyways, so why not just tinker with Iron Man a little bit? Maybe his father would be proud?

For a few minutes, Tony just sat there on his bedroom floor tinkering with his robot, when he heard a large boom come from outside, followed by a blinding light. Tony had to cover his eyes with one of his hands, and out of fear, he grabbed Iron Man with the other. 

Right then, a blaring alarm went off, one that his father had placed in case anyone ever came and tried to steal the Tesseract from him, as if it was his to begin with. 

His Father!

Knowing him, his father would immediately rush down to his lab if he wasn’t already there, and prepare himself to fight off intruders. Fearing for his Father’s safety and possibly his life, Tony ran down to the lab and skidded to a halt at what he saw in front of him. 

A huge purple giant was looming over his father as he held a long metal sword against Howard Stark’s chest. 

“Where is the Tesseract.” The giant boomed, making it sound more like a demand rather than a question.

The giant was about to push the sword into his father’s chest, when Tony suddenly screamed out of impulse,

“STOP!” Please don’t hurt him, he’s my father!” Tony sobbed, trying to get the huge man to stop.

The purple alien seemed surprised for a second, before a wicked smile crept up onto his face. With a simple nod of his head, two of his minions appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his arms and wouldn’t let him go, no matter how hard he struggled.

“LET ME GO!!” Tony kicked and screamed furiously. 

When one of the giant’s minions clamped his clammy hand over his mouth, Tony promptly bit down on his hand as hard as he could, drawing blue blood from the alien. 

The alien screeched, and proceeded to stab Tony in the neck, but was stopped by the mysterious purple alien. 

“Maw, do not harm the child,” The titan boomed, with what could’ve been a hint of anger in his voice.

Tony swivelled his head around to get a glimpse of the alien who’d just tried to stab him, and much to his delight he looked rather familiar.

“Squidward?! Is that you?? You’re rEaL?!?” Tony excitedly shouted, confusing literally everyone in the room.

“ExCuSe mE?!?” The Maw spoke in a deadly voice, using his telekinesis to lift up a fallen piece of concrete and shave off the sides to turn it into a dagger.

But Tony just ignored his antics, and hugged the blue and grey alien.

“Does this mean that SpongeBob is real too??” Tony excitedly asked him.

“I AM THE MAW, YOU INSOLENT TERRAN CHILD. YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME, YOU INFERIOR INSECT.” The Maw yelled at the insolent child in front of him.

“Enough games,” The Titan interrupted, growing tired of the unusual yet amusing Terran child. “Give me the Tesseract and I’ll let you go.”

“Never.” Howard Stark proudly said, looking the menacing purple giant straight in the eye. 

“Well then, I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice,” The Titan said, his voice hinted with regret. “Hand over the Tesseract, and your child lives.” Knowing that the man loved his child too much to lose him over the Tesseract. However, he was quite wrong, and the Terran man boldly looked him in the eyes and proceeded to break the heart of the young Terran boy and the Mad Titan at the same time. 

“That boy is nothing to me. Take him, kill him, leave him, do whatever you want with him. I don’t care. You’re never going to get the Tesseract as long as I’m alive.” Howard Stark said, not knowing those would be his final words. 

Rage consumed the Mad Titan, and before he knew it, Howard Stark’s dead and decapitated body lay before him and his red Terran blood covered the floor surrounding him. The Titan turned to look at the young boy, expecting to see horror and disgust as well as sadness filling his eyes, but to his surprise, he was met with the blank stare of the young boy without a single tear in his eyes. 

“He never loved me, I knew that. He wanted me to be made of iron, like him. He wanted me to be a man. I was never enough for him, but the Tesseract was. He deserved death, he loved no one and no one truly loved him the moment he died. I stopped loving him the moment he told me he didn’t love me.” Tony finished, looking at the Mad Titan with the same steely look his father had. It was full of determination, something that would be useful in a soldier.

A faraway look crossed the young boy’s face, and for a brief moment, everyone in the room felt sorry for him. An unknown emotion surged through Tony’s body, was it hate? sorrow? love? regret? 

He didn’t know.

But for some reason, he felt powerful. Without a second thought, he held out his hand to the Titan, but not for a handshake. Instead, a bright blue light shone from his palm, and it slowly builded up into a cube. 

The Tesseract  

The Titan gave the boy a look of astonishment and stared longly at the Tesseract, but not with greed or hunger like Howard had, but with hope. 

In that single moment, Tony made a decision that would forever change the course of his life.

“I’ll give you the Tesseract, if you promise to take me with you wherever it is you’re going.” Tony boldy said, filled with newfound courage.

The Titan knelt down in front of him, but still towered over the young Terran. He reached out and gently placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder. 

“You’re father was wrong, you are made of iron,” The Titan firmly told the boy. “I will take you with me and train you to become a fearsome warrior. You have my word.” 

Looking into the Titan’s cerulean eyes, much like his father’s, he handed the Tesseract over to the giant. 

“Before we go, I want to know your name, mister.” Tony asked the Titan.

“My name is Thanos,” He said, with a hint of a smile on his face. “What’s yours, little one?” He asked the young boy, extending his other hand out for Tony to take.

Tony grabbed his robot in one hand, and took Thanos’ with the other.

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