Capítulo 142: Son Of Iron 4
(Rose Hill, Tennessee, 2005)
(Chris' POV)
You know, it's almost ironic how normal this world was before 2008, and especially the 2010s. It almost makes sense why people didn't even want to believe in aliens before the Chitauri Invasion.
But then I remind myself that there are 50 secret societies working in the background, from the Ten Rings to Hydra, and even Advanced Idea Mechanics.
To say growing up wasn't easy is an understatement. Not only was the boredom rather annoying, but the panic room didn't exactly grow as I did, making the compartment feel smaller and smaller. I could tell it was getting to Maya, but I never let it get to me.
In five years, she has managed to somewhat stabilize the Extremis formula in animals, although 50% of the test rats mostly ended up self-combusting. Today, I turned five years old, but due to our stringent living conditions, I wasn't exactly expecting a party.
Luckily, I was a pretty sedentary guy in my last life, so if you gave me a good book or something to play with, I could be alone for months at a time. This trait definitely helped during the Corona times. That's not to say I didn't learn anything, as my mother did attempt to teach me the basics. However, when she found out that I already knew most of it from reading all the books she gave me, she didn't put too much focus on my education.
For anyone else, that would be an incredible detriment to their informational development, but for me, it didn't really matter. I mostly remembered everything. Thankfully, I was born with not only an eidetic memory but also a retroactive one.
Sadly, just because I could remember it didn't mean I actually understood it.
I tried to stretch as best I could in the tiny compartment in the wall, then removed the compartment door and sat on the chair that was placed in the panic room. Thankfully, the town of Rose Hill had a library that my mother would borrow books from, and it seemed like Killian didn't really care. He most likely assumed that she was borrowing books for research purposes.
It also helped that after my mother proved the formula could work in living beings, he kept the funding going. However, that also had the downside of increased surveillance in the building. There wasn't anyone physically present, but there were more cameras and audio bugs.
So, for the most part, I spent months without saying a word, afraid that someone might hear unfamiliar sounds in the building.
Again, I must reinforce the idea: if I hadn't been an adult in a child's body, this situation probably would have produced a sociopath. Although, in this case, I may be the sociopath, but that's a thought for later.
I'm under no illusion that I won't get my hands dirty. I will have to deal with Hydra, AIM, the Ten Rings, Thanos and his armies, and maybe even more.
The first step, however, is getting Killian off my back. With that thought in mind, I took the small clipboard I kept under the chair to track what I could remember. It was mostly just mismatched notes about various events in the timeline.
For example, next year, if my memories are correct, Black Widow will attempt to kill Dreykov in Budapest. Not to mention the fact that Shang-Chi's mother will die.
And in a couple of years, Iron Man will be captured by the false Ten Rings. However, there are gaps in my information. Sadly, due to my distaste for the newer Disney content, I hadn't really consumed any media from the MCU after Endgame, aside from a couple of movies.
Hindsight truly is 20/20.
As I scribbled down a couple more things I could remember, I hastily put it away as the door to the panic room opened. Thankfully, it was Maya who entered.
"Happy birthday, Chris!" she said as she came in, carrying a small cupcake with a number five candle on it. With a smile on my face, I walked over and grabbed it.
"Make a wish," she said in an excited tone, and I didn't want to let her down.
So, as I pulled the cupcake closer to my mouth, only one wish came to mind.
I wish I could do something for us.
As I blew out the candle and nothing happened, I felt slightly disappointed. However, at that same moment, my vision slightly blurred, and I felt a pain reminiscent of a migraine.
I placed the cupcake on the table next to the chair in the panic room and held my hands to my head as the pain grew stronger. I didn't scream, instead biting my lip.
"Chris, are you okay?!" Maya asked as she sat down next to me and checked for any injuries.
I sat down in the chair and whispered, "I'm okay. It's just a headache, a really bad headache."
However, in that moment, my vision blurred even more, and I saw the same man I had met at the bar standing behind her. But as I looked into his eyes, I didn't see eyes; I saw a writhing mass of flesh. Within that mass, he smiled, and as his eyes began to glow red, all I saw was darkness.
Before I completely lost consciousness, I heard a phrase spoken by a voice that sounded like hundreds of voices in unison:
"Rise, son of iron."
My dreams were filled with thousands upon thousands of images.
It felt like my mind was set on fire.
Flashes of white, countless moving parts, and electricity.
Then it all came to a stop.
I was left in complete darkness until I turned around and saw a figure in the distance.
I couldn't make out what he was wearing, but as I walked up to him and tapped him on the back, he turned around and smiled at me. That smile conveyed more than words ever could.
Happiness, sadness, and most importantly, tiredness. All of these emotions I saw in his gaze.
I couldn't hear what he was saying. The words were like static, out of focus, as if trying to listen to a recording that was fizzling out and warped.
As he closed his mouth, he disappeared, and I found myself staring at a being made of pure fire. Its eyes bore into me before letting out a screech that forced me away.
With a jolt, I reopened my eyes and saw that I was still sitting in the chair. My mother was panicking, grabbing tissues as my nose had started to bleed.
I couldn't hear her words; everything felt overwhelming, like some form of shell shock. The ringing in my ears wouldn't stop.
I breathed in and out repeatedly until the ringing finally disappeared.
"Chris, talk to me! Can you hear me?" she said as she sat next to me, placing her hand on my head and turning it so I was looking into her eyes.
As I did so, I noticed her micro-expressions. I could understand. I could see.
I grabbed a tissue from the table and pressed it to my nose, taking another deep breath.
"I'm good, Mom. Just had a really bad headache." My words didn't seem to convince her as she adjusted the chair and sat down next to me.
"As much as I want to believe that, Chris, I'm going to make sure you're okay. Killian will probably think I'm just using the bathroom. Thankfully, it's one of the few places where he didn't put cameras. At least he's not that big of a pervert." Knowing him, he probably did put bugs in the bathroom, so it's not much better.
"I'm all right; I just need a second. You didn't put anything from the lab in that cupcake, right?" My question didn't amuse her, and her grip on my shoulders tightened.
She rested her head against my shoulder, and I let her, as what I just experienced was anything but normal. Then, I noticed something. It felt like learning how to breathe, but instead of taking in air, it was like moving a muscle.
I focused on that feeling, and soon enough, the cupcake on the table began to float a few inches in the air. My eyes widened as I stared at the confectionery floating before me.
The strangest part was that I didn't feel tired. It felt natural, like I had always been able to do this. I focused on putting it back down, and as if it had never moved, the cupcake settled back on the table.
"Chris, you've been quiet for a minute now. Do you want to take a nap?" My mother lifted her head off my shoulder and asked. I nodded, as whatever had just happened had taken a lot out of me.
She smiled and kissed my forehead, and I hugged her back.
"You know, Chris, once I'm done with the experiments, I'm going to take you to my house in Los Angeles. You're going to love it. It has all the space you could want."
"The question is, is it close enough to the ocean where the smell reaches the house?" She laughed slightly, a guilty sound, before standing up and avoiding answering the question.
She didn't clean up in a hurry. She wanted to stay with me to make sure nothing else happened. I pulled out the compartment in the wall and laid down.
After a few minutes of her cleaning up, she sat next to me. In a rather shaky voice, she said, "Don't worry, Chris. You're not going to be stuck in this place forever, I promise. And again, happy birthday, my little assistant."
"Love you too, Mom. Also, if I'm your assistant, why don't I get paid?" My innocent question made her chuckle. A smile returned to her face, and she kissed me on the cheek again. I gave her the brightest, most innocent smile I could, and as she shut the compartment, I laid my head down on the pillow and closed my eyes.
No sooner did my head hit the pillow than I was out like a light, completely unaware of what was about to change.
(Well hope you guys are happy with this chapter although I have to say I'm a bit confused about what to do with certain characters specifically Killmonger because I've seen some people that really like his character and want to keep them alive or others wanted to kill them off as a loose canon.)
(Now the question is what should be the main character's first step?)
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