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T -- Teen
Appropriate for readers 12 and over. May contain mild violence, language, and/or suggestive themes.
Iron Man: The Cluster Chronicles- Prologue
When I was a kid, I used to play with Dad's toys. Yeah, toys which could give such excitement back in earlier childhood. It wasn't exciting at first, but it sure brought a lot of good memories. My father, Howard Stark was a brilliant man and a genius at that. He always had something cooked up in his sleeve. I, for one thing had some things cooked if you know what I mean. Just like him, I was way too busy doing things that no man had done before. But he never talked much because I kinda understood what his work meant really for him.
My father and I were in Japan at the Yamaguchi Industries. Don't get me wrong. Yamaguchi Industries was one of the top world-renowned corporations in Japan. The company was rated as Number One list in the Time Magazine. I looked it up and read several articles, regarding their success. My father was busy talking to a man, and friend named Dr. Amagoshi. I couldn't catch his first name though. My mind went blank after that incident dealing with my knowledge, which had almost got hacked by the mysterious Ghost. Yeah, talk about ghosts in the machine. I never had that quite of experience, until Dr. Strange helped me.
Dr. Amagoshi was demonstrating his work to staff members of the Yamaguchi Industries. He also showed his "strange" experiments to my father. Dad always liked first impressions of a technology so beyond, and far-fetched that you couldn't even imagine what it was like in the real world. Yeah, tell me about it.
I also had this Rapture incident, which the A.I. had grown self-aware, and it took over my body. At first, I was presumed to be killed, but somehow I had managed to get out alive. I didn't know how, but it was a serious incident. Pep and James also helped me recover from the fractures of my mind. How many times my friends had saved me these days? One? Four? Several times? Countless? Huh, you could say a lot more than that. I owe it to them for saving my life. But then I realized that I had to spent time with my lover, Pep. I never knew that I could fall in love with my own secretary. You may never know that if you start your own company, and then have a date with the most beautiful secretary in the world. There were a lot of good ladies to look out for, especially the new ones.
While I was reading the Time Magazine, Dad ordered me to sit and do nothing, since he knew that I would play with his toys or anyone else's. There was this old saying that if you didn't have anything else to do, besides reading the Time Magazine here. I would definitely go for a party. I may be a playboy billionaire. No, I wasn't talking about the Playboy founder of adult entertainment. I was only talking about a man whose riches could bring himself the wildest dreams that he never had.
After reading the half part of the "Top Ten Companies" article, I walked out slowly though a catwalk, and saw lots and lots of technology. These days, technology could bring hope for the better future. Without it, where would we be? I may not be a Christian, who goes to church every Sunday and say that "Technology is bad" ," Technology is evil" or "Technology can bring destruction to the entire world." Okay. Okay. I get it. Maybe, I was too worried of what might happen if something went wrong. But I was only concerned about those people, who had rejected it. For example, Amish people. I liked the fact that they're living a simple normal life. But I couldn't even imagine living your own life without technology? I must be insane here. But you know what? I don't blame them. It was their choice. It was also their opinion of what they could perceive of how they live. Whether it was technology or not.
While I stared at the "shiny" things of science, I was halted by a security guard and he said, "Hey kid, what are you doing here?" I was quiet for sometime, and began to say things I always wanted to say. "Oh, I was just looking at this cool stuff." The security guard was confused and said, "Cool stuff?" Well, I wouldn't say it right in front of him. I would feel awful though. "Yeah, cool stuff." The guard sighed and said, "Okay, kid. You better not touch those things. Your father warned me about you. Got it?" Ah yes. Dad only warned about me. Who else? Like I said, I really loved playing with toys.
I also managed to go through the hallways, and see other employees working on their gadgets and whatnot. I saw my father talking to Dr. Amagoshi about the ripple effect generator. I may not be a major in advanced quantum physics here, but I did know how to create a sort of machine like that. Well, that's Iron Man for you.
"It's the most precious discovery in the history of mankind. You should see this, Mr. Stark." Dad was thinking of what he just said. Did he really have to think that way? I guess not. "Are you sure this generator will open up a doorway to dimensions?" The Japanese scientist nodded, "Why yes, Mr. Stark. I'm very confident this will work for sure. My son always wanted a man to succeed. I'm also sure that one day he will become a genius like me."
I've never seen his son before, until I met him at Stark Industries. He was a young man alright, and also a true genius who knew what he was doing. But one thing was that he wanted to surpass my recent achievements. I just wished that someone shouldn't even do it. I went through a lot to design my first Iron suit back in those days. Ah, the wonders of technology. If it wasn't for my heart... Anyways, I really wanted to tell his son that he should just make something new.
"How long will this experiment take?" Dad wondered. Dr. Amagoshi was quite nervous, and I could tell from his eyes. Why? Well, that's a mystery. He said it was the most precious discovery in the history of mankind. I just hope that no one will find his precious discovery. I'm talking to you, Dr. Doom, Red Skull, Thanos, Kang...Yadda Yadda Yadda. Okay, I'm done mentioning about those douche-bags. It's time to move on.
"Look, Mr. Stark. I know what you're thinking. I have not done the slightest amount of tests yet. But I'll get it done in time." Dad always agreed to the point that it will work. But you may never know what kind of work will it do. Will it actually work? Dad had always expected them to work as smoothly as possible, including me.
I saw the machine, and let me tell you, it was a lot of work and money being put on it. The ripple effect generator sounded like a particle accelerator. Like I said, I may not know much about quantum physics, but the machine looked like... well a machine. Think of it as a washing machine for clothes, and dishes and stuff like that. Okay, I have to be honest with you. I'm such a clean freak. No, really. I even told my best friend, James to wash his hands before coming to my laboratory. Although, Jarvis does a lot of household work while I was gone. Anyways, the machine's purpose was to create a portal to another dimension. How is it possible? Well, Dr. Amagoshi knew all the details.
I was about to touch the machine when Dad shouted, "TONY!" Dr. Amagoshi kindly interfered with Dad's words knowing that things will work out just fine. "It's okay, Mr. Stark. The machine has not been activated yet." Dad was kind of relieved when he heard that. But he also warned me to stay away from it. I knew pretty much about Dad, until the day he was out of this world. I liked him, and always stuck by him wherever he goes. I wish Mom was here to see all this. Would she have said to stay away from these toys? I highly doubted it.
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After the big show and tell, Dad and I spent time at a Sushi restaurant. I was really hungry, and hoping to eat good sushi, which I haven't tried it of course. It was great by the way. Even Dad liked it.
We were so tired that we had to head back towards the hotel. It looked very big, sorta like two towers back in the U.S. Yeah, and look how that turned out. A major hit by the Islamic terrorists. What's up with them these days? First, they captured and forced me to create my first armor suit. Then they attacked the two towers with a plane, which the innocent passengers were onboard. I really wished these @$$holes would give up. Not only that, I just wished the CNN news talking about terrorism, would give up. "Terrorists, Terrorists Everywhere. Read all about it."
While I was sleeping, I saw a big explosion which occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was horrible that the way these people died. I was right there standing, hearing the cries of mothers and their babies. I should say that it was a historic and terrifying moment. I wished I was there to help these people, but I wasn't born yet. However, there was a mutant hero who was born out of the burning ashes. Yeah, the one they called Sunfire. My body began to ache, and I was terrified of what might happen next. I heard the atomic bombs being dropped down, and they all went out with a bang.
BOOOOOM!
I suddenly woke up, and saw Dad getting dressed. He said that the explosion occurred at the Yamaguchi Industries. At first, I thought it was all just a bad dream. But then I've realized it was a horrible nightmare. I had to stay back at the hotel room for safety. I wondered that whatever took place during the explosion, could be a horror story coming out of a writer's head. I turned on the TV to see if any news currently happening in the Japanese version of CNN. Yeah, I didn't know Japanese by then, until I came back to the American soil.
I had to wait for six hours, until Dad finally came back. I asked him what happened. He said that Dr. Amagoshi had disappeared. Disappeared? It sounded strange though, but how can only one man vanished without a trace, where the rest of the employees got badly injured. The good news is that nobody had died on that fateful night. I never thought my dream would come true. But it wasn't the dream, which made it happen. It had something to do with Dr. Amagoshi's experiment. Dad and I may not know the details. But I bet this experiment must have caused the explosion, while Dr. Amagoshi had worked on it. Or it could be something that we had never expected it to come, and then feared the most.
To be continued inIron Man: The Cluster Chronicles, Episode 1- The Sighting.
An explosion occurred at one of the top most companies in Japan? Something's not right here. Who would have caused it? Well, you may find out in the first episode of Iron Man: The Cluster Chronicles. Stay tuned for "IRON MAN!"
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