More stories here:http://www.comicvine.com/profile/cbishop/blog/marvel-iron-age-library/94538/
Continues from Pt 1:http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic-8/marvel-iron-age-warstar-v2-1-1526522/#1
**
It was like being hit by a molten liquid machinegun as the Mandarin hit me with a simultaneous blast of his rings. I got a Shield of the Seraph up but even so it was a kick in the stomach, reminded me when my brother James Warbear* punched me when we were kids when he first got his powers. Ice, Electricity, Wind and some other weird energy surge out seemingly linked to the hatred he has for me.
“DIE!” he yells as he blasts again.
I could end this, send him off to the South Pole again* or something but I don’t think that’s the answer. Not this time.
“Do you want to stop?” I ask from behind my protective bubble.
The blasts keep coming, trying to shatter the shield which if he keeps it up will probably give way. Stark, look at him! He’s out of control! Maybe…
“Hear me, O ye powers of Darkness & Light; bring me the things from the left and the right. Bring what once was hidden and lost, all come here under Vishanti’s sight!”
Peals of purple and gold leap from my fingers like spectral fireworks. The air hums and crackles the way it does when thunder is imminent. Mandarin steps back as six rings hang in the air between me and him, suspended in a cloud of magic.
“My…rings!” he gasps his eyes welling with tears.
“Yup, all ten of them. Now the choice is yours. You can end it all now, take your rings and, well you’ll die! Your curse will be lifted, but you’ll die!” I click my fingers and all six the rings hover mere inches from his face. His eyes dance with delight at the sight of his jewellery. Mandarin stares at them like he’s in a trance, the closest he’s been to them in over two hundred years. I can almost feel Dr Strange’s prescience lurking, watching as his one time foe makes a choice that affects them both. I think part of the reason Stephen is still around and not at rest is due to his cursing this man in an act of sheer anger and frustration. I take a seat on the grass.
“Take your time,” I tell him gently “I got nowhere else to be”
So I sit and watch an ancient man stare at hovering trinkets under the hot Novo Brasilian sun.
Man I wish I’d brought a sandwich!
**
Six hours I’ve been sitting here! Six hours he’s been staring at his floating jewellery. Look I know it’s a big decision…maybe it’s because I’m having Al-Mar food withdrawals. All that salt and sugar and fat have really messed up my metabolism, even my Asgardian altered physique isn’t immune to the effects of terrible “food”.
The Mandarin turns to me “I would like to die now please”
His words hit me hard. I’m about to watch a man willingly die! I don’t know how I feel about that “Are you sure? I mean…”
“Every minute of every hour of every day for two hundred long years, I have been in constant, unending, unimaginable pain.*” He stroked his wispy beard “In the time of my walking the Earth I had found only three of my rings. On that average I would have to be alive ANOTHER four hundred years, at least, to find the remaining six that are now before me. No, no. Warstar, I have lived a long, unhappy life. It is time for me to reap what I have sown.” He holds his hands up “Please, I would like my rings back.”
I…what do I do? Do I just let him die? Is this part of the Sorcerer Supreme job description? This is a bioethical debate suited for smarter people than me! My aunt Bethany would be good about now, she’s wise, maternal…this is her department!
“Really?”
The Mandarin looks at me “I will kill you if you deny me”
Oh well that makes it better, threaten me into letting you kill yourself! Stark! Why can’t he just, suck it up…probably coz he’s in constant pain Daniel, you idiot! Does this make me…see this is one time that cosmic monkey the Traveller should ACTUALLY turn up and tell me what I’m doing is right or wrong.
“I’m waiting…” rasps the old man.
Seriously, you’ve waited this long, few more minutes won’t hurt! Come on magic…
“Are you sure? Look…” I can’t help myself; I’m starting to cry “This sucks! Starking sucks! I barely know you but just watching you…lie down and die! I don’t get it! I’m sorry, you’re hurting, I get that, but…isn’t there, y’know, another way? How about I keep one, you take nine and…”
Mandarin sighs “I am tired of the pain Warstar. Have I suffered enough?”
I go to speak but I can’t answer that question. Has he? Is two hundred years enough? I can hardly see through my tears.
“Then release them and let me accept my fate” The Mandarin says as he extends his hands. I wipe the tears from my eyes and step forward and give him a hug. I don’t know why, it just feels like the right thing to do.
“I’m sorry” I apologise as I release him and the spell. The six rings of the Mandarin float onto his fingers. All ten rings seemingly rejoice at their reunion, slightly audible alien music floats across the air. They fit him like they’d never left. He smiles as a wave of golden energy surges through him.
“Thank you” and with that he vanishes into nothingness. Ten rings drop onto the grass.
I just want to curl into a ball and die! Seems the Traveller was right, today is a bad day!
**
I finally pull myself together. I didn’t know him but watching an old guy commit what was essentially suicide makes me feel like Sorcerer Stark! I look at the ten rings. I can’t just leave them lying around for some kid to find and blow a hole through his house or worse another person! I go to pick them up when they race onto my fingers and clamp down tight.
“Stark me! If people didn’t know I was gay before!” I look at my bejewelled fingers “I’m turning into a walking stereotype!”
To be continued
Notes:
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