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Two months had passed since the Stark Expo, and Stark industries had never been so profitable.

A trillion dollar valuation due to their forays into clean energy, partnerships with Tony's company to manufacture electronics and a wide assortment of other technologies. The press went wild covering the father-son duo for all their creations.

A few months passed by as Tony worked on his secret projects. He successfully cracked how the derived serum worked. He renamed it the Stark serum. The serum supercharged the body's cells and let the cells channel dimensional energy, though not on the levels of the super soldier serum. The Stark serum reinforced the connections between the brain and the body and prevented any lag between thoughts and actions. It granted a level of control over his body that was all but supernatural according to him. While he could calculate trajectories and plan different courses of actions in his mind before, he still made mistakes due to lack of muscle memory, but right now, the Stark serum gave him absolute control in his actions.

After a few tests he concluded that while he was within the norm for a few things, he was better in a few others. Being successfully able to run at 30 miles an hour at top speed, Supercharged reflexes and reinforced body to brain connections were amazing. He could repeatedly shoot the same spot while in motion. Throw a ball blindfolded into the air behind his back and shoot it based on the sound it made while falling on the floor. He had thought that it would take him a long time to gain back his skills and fitness from his past life but the serum gave him a shortcut, the laugh that bubbled from his mouth was definitely not evil despite what JARVIS repeatedly told.

He had designed several machines for his advanced training. A smart punch bag that generated white circles on its surface as targets and changed the targets rapidly on being hit, to some other location. It trained his speed and reflexes. Tony was relaxed. Things were going his way.

Howard had told he had given a defective super soldier serum from one of his failed experiments to SHIELD. Howard had made a list of people with suspected loyalty to Hydra and shared it with Tony. It was a matter of isolating and eliminating those threats now. Howard had stashed all his secretive projects in a container and asked Hank to size them down using Pym particles. He then gave the container to Tony for safekeeping, just in case someone infiltrated the house or in the case of his death.

There were several attempts at espionage by a few rival countries and spy organizations from different countries but they were all rebuffed successfully. Tony had spared no expense on security.

Howard had Tony attend the board meeting along with Obadiah and Maria, despite Tony not being a majority shareholder. The board looked like they swallowed a sour lemon but they could not say anything. After all the company's success was engineered by Starks in its entirety according to them.

After the meeting was over, Obi went off to his penthouse citing an early night and declined an offer to join them for dinner. Howard, Maria, and Tony got in the car. Tony got in the driver's seat, while Howard sat beside him. Maria comfortably stretched out in the backseat. Tony kept one eye on the road while his mind was running a mile a minute.

There were several black cars following them. They had left the armored limo at their house. Howard had picked this sports car for tonight, it lacked the weaponry he kept as contingencies. Tony subtly nudged Howard who looked at him. Tony slowly pointed at the rearview mirror with his eyes, which led to Howard looking back at several cars following them from a distance.

Tony slowly tapped his earbud letting his connection to JARVIS come back alive

"JARVIS, hack into the city grid and I want the lights green from here to our house. We have inbound hostiles. Contact the police and let Obadiah know. Bring out the weapons and keep them hot and ready. I'll be there at the house in five minutes."

"Affirmative sir, good luck. I'm notifying the police department as we speak"

Tony slowly started accelerating the car speeding through the streets, swerving rapidly around cars. Despite losing the cars that were on his trail, some more were ready waiting in ambush for them, chasing him as he drove to reach his home quickly. He was speeding past a signal when a hook shot out and tried to embed itself into his car but barely made a slight dent. Tony smirked.

While this car was not really revolutionary, he never skimped on his family security, he had upgraded its mainframe with a Titanium Tungsten alloy to strengthen its structural integrity. A mere hook could not penetrate it. He wondered why they were operating so openly.

"Tony" shouted Howard and he barely looked at his left to see several cars ahead of them. Their back seats lowered, they were sporting anti-tank weaponry that could seriously damage this car. No conventional weaponry could, but the weapons they were holding could. Howard himself had designed them as a backup in case the cold war escalated into something more.

Time all but slowed down as Tony tried to quickly rotate the car back 180 degrees, but before that, the armed men shot their weapons. Tony tried to swerve the vehicle into safety but failed as the whole frontal part was damaged and the car halted to a stop near the pavement. He quickly got out of the car motioning Howard to get out from his side, Maria came out from the backseat and quickly vomited. Her weak constitution not supporting his rapid escapades. The car covered them from the hostiles dressed in black arrayed around them, Tony quickly bought out his arc reactor while Howard bought out his guns that he had hidden from his holsters.

Howard looked over the window to see what was happening on the other side and saw them loading his Stark developed bunker buster and aiming for the car. He quickly shouted "no" startling Tony and his wife and quickly looked to the forcefield projector in his hand.

He looked at Maria and then Tony quickly, his heart tearing up all along. He could only save one of them. He only had seconds before they hit the explosives but for him, it was an agonizing eternity. Should he save the love of his life, his wife, who stood by him on every step or should he save his son, his legacy, the best bet earth had for a brighter future?

With guilt ridden heart he rapidly made his decision and threw his guns to Tony's feet in a second, removed his forcefield bracelet, snatched the arc reactor out of Tony's hand and quickly attached it to the bracelet as a power source, grabbed Tony's hand and initiated the forcefield. Tony could only look on dumbfounded at his father actions before he looked over Howard's shoulder to see the hostiles aiming to take a shot at the car. He suddenly came to the horrific realization that his father had doomed himself and Maria just so Tony's could be safe. Tony looked back at Howard with a betrayed expression to which Howard looked back with a wistful smile.

The moment stretched an eternity for Tony. His heart broke at the finality of what was about to occur, so many things left unsaid. The explosive hit Tony's car and crushed the car's side. Howard was trapped between the car and the forcefield, his protective suit weathering the blow for him a bit, but he was heavily bleeding from his forehead, blood dripping down his forehead, staining the ground rapidly.

Tony quickly shut off his forcefield to hold Howard and see if he could provide any medical assistance. Howard was on his knees, leant forward on Tony, breathing deeply. Tony on his knees holding him desperately, Howard pulled Tony close to him and with great effort spoke "What is, and always has been my greatest creation, is you, Tony". Howard shuddered deeply and made struggled looked to the side where Maria's body lay, her head twisted at an unnatural angle. Tony looked to where Howard was looking at and teared up. Howard with his voice filled with anger shook Tony with what feeble strength he had to make Tony focus on him. "Make them pay Tony" he swallowed and tried to locate what little strength he had left, to utter his next words "for Maria" and crashed forward on Tony's arms. Tony could hear the murmuring of the men over the radio.

But he paid no attention to it. All his personal fears had come to pass due to his negligence. He should have known better than to let his guard down. If they had gone in the limousine, they would be secure and safe but of all the days he was attacked, it had to be today. He looked at his bloodstained hands crying, tears falling on his palms. Was he cursed to this life, did life intent to have no mercy on him. To pluck him from right from his death infested life, to be born into this family, making him fall in love with them, only to rip them away in the end, so painfully in front of his eyes. He tried, he tried so hard to be a good man, only for life to spit back his effort on his face. He was cursed, doomed to tragedy in both lifetimes with no escape.

Rage bubbled in his heart at seeing his parents killed in such an ignominious way. Fine, if this is what was in store for him, he would rise up to it. He closed his eyes for a moment to bury everything deep down, to bring to the surface what he hid deep down all these years. Everything stilled for a moment for him, with a weary heart he picked Howard's vaporizer guns. He would avenge them. For Howard last wish. For Maria, a loving mother, a life cut short before its time. For Howard.

He pressed his finger on his earpiece and whispered to JARVIS "Cut the video feeds from my location and put them on loop." JARVIS interjected softly "Sir.."

"Just do it" replied Tony harshly

One of the assailants came near the edge of the car only to find Tony's gun aimed right at his head. Tony shot him right in the eye and watched him vaporize, his weapons falling on the ground.

Tony stood from his place to look at the men arrayed around him looking at him wide-eyed. They had relaxed assuming there were no survivors only to find one of their own killed. They cursed and quickly removed their guns from their holsters only for Tony to start shooting rapidly without a single break. Each shot precisely hitting their guns, grenades vaporizing them, leaving them with no weapons. Tony further shot the tires of the cars to let none escape and dropped his guns. The armed hostiles could only blink in shock over encountering this and watched as Tony picked up the combat knife of the hostile he had just killed.

Tony's hands were trembling. He looked at the men in front of him "I loved them more than the entire world and you just had to take them away from me. Didn't you?"

Everyone took a step back at the cold anger displayed in his eyes. "You don't deserve a quick death. I will kill you all with my own two hands" and started walking towards them

They quickly got over the sudden shock, taking courage in their numbers and rushed Tony in groups.

Tony dodged the haymaker sent by the first man, quickly reversing the knife in his hand, cutting the tendons in his right arm, then bending down to swiftly puncture both his lungs, letting the man fall down, suffocating in his own blood, waiting to die.

The man on his right came forward with a heel kick only for Tony to deftly sidestep and knife him right behind the knee cap, letting the momentum carry the man forward, caught his head, and twisted it, breaking the neck with a resounding crack and let the man fall down limp.

The sheer brutality in Tony's execution made them waver for a second before their training kicked in, and in synchronization two of them came from opposite sides. Tony quickly removed the pen from his side pocket, and blocked the kick of his left assailant with his forearm, while catching the punch of the man on the right and pulling him in, all the while twisting his arm. Tony kicked the man on his left at the right knee joint with his left toe making him fall down in pain, then stabbed the man on his right in a swift motion, burying the pen he held in his hand, right in the soft spot, on the side of his neck, where the carotid artery was located.

Blood started spurting out quickly as the man quickly backed up applying pressure to prevent blood loss but failing. Tony pushed him away and attacked the kneeling man on his left with a knee strike with tremendous force driving the broken pieces of his nose right into his brain.

The remaining men proved to be of no challenge as he dispatched each of them mercilessly, each of their deaths more brutal than the previous ones, till only one man remained with both his legs and arms broken on the ground.

Tony leant down pressing his knee on the man's broken arm. The man yelled out in pain shouting obscenities at Tony. Tony slapped him and looked at him with remorseless cold eyes

"I killed all twenty of you with my bare hands. Your threats have no meaning. You will die regardless of what happens. I will grant you a painless death if you just tell me who sent you. If not, I have a really creative mind that you will experience first hand."

The man spat out blood and looked at Tony with a harsh glare "You think you have won. We are many. For each one of us killed. Two more will take our place. Hail Hydra" and tried to swallow his cyanide pill only for him to spit it out as Tony gave a palm strike at his throat.

"Did you really think I would let you deny me my revenge" he then pulled out the man's knife and drove it down quickly slightly below his heart.

Tony took a deep breath and looked around him and back at the man struggling in intense pain

In a tone like he was discussing the weather he continued. "I know it hurts. That burning sensation you feel, it's your cavity being filled by blood. That guy on your right, I punctured his left ventricle letting him bleed dry. He died in shock, well, organ failure to be exact. Took him two seconds longer than I calculated. I must be getting rusty. Anyway, just letting you know that in two minutes you will lose consciousness, brain dead in another two." He gestured around him " I didn't want to do this you know. I was a dutiful son to my parents. They believed in justice. I wanted to support them and let them do things the right way. I wondered at moments if it would be better to attack your cult with overwhelming firepower. Hey, are you listening?"

Tony slapped the man who was beginning to look groggy and continued

"I assumed you would all play the shadow game and not attack my family so brazenly but you did, and in doing so gave birth to the greatest enemy of Hydra. I will rain torment on your entire cult in ways you cannot comprehend. Howard and Maria were what kept me restrained, made me believe that I could make an effort to do things the right way." He paused and swallowed "This time around at least" Tony looked at his hands breathing heavily, tears falling from his eyes.

He then patted the dying man on his head with blood-soaked hands."Rest assured, I will be sending your comrades as soon as it is convenient for me." and stood up and started walking back with a heavy heart to where his parents lay.

He heard sirens in the distance while he walked back. He went to where Maria lay and knelt down beside her with tears flowing down his eyes. He righted her neck and lifted her, he set her beside his father who was leaning with his back against his car. They looked so peaceful in death. He failed them thinking his efforts were adequate. With trembling hands, he slowly held their hand in his and looked at them, and cried his heart out. There would be more nagging from his mother to eat his food, no more kisses. Howard no longer there to accompany him in his experiments, to look at him proudly. To give solace that someone loved him unconditionally. all the good things would be memories. His self-loathing reaching new heights due to his self deemed ineptitude.

His world had fallen apart right in front of him. For now, he would let himself grieve, taking revenge could wait for a while. He was patient, he would let the rage fester and age like a fine wine, making the moment he took his revenge all the more delicious. He would be swift and decisive in his reckoning. He would become the Merchant of Death for his enemies. For Howard's wish. For Maria.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this story. I've tried to edit the story properly this time to prevent catastrophes like before. Please leave your feedback on the story and let me know. I would also be willing to sell my second born if someone could become my editor. I suck at editing. Took me twice as long to edit than it took me to write.

Also please do not forget to vote in the poll so that I can get to know my reader's wishes, I have already stretched the plot thin without making a reference to the size of the MCU.