A Proper Family Reunion

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Team Spicy Iron Dragon and their fourth wall guests
Date: April 15-30
Location: Keeliai, and House Spicy Iron Dragon
Situation: Dads. Dads everywhere. Also shitty stepdads. Gene losing his goddamned mind.
Warnings/Rating: "Father-in-law" tension, mentions of child abuse, very likely violence, complete and utter mental breakdowns, potential self-injurious behavior, gaslighting, and Actual Well-Adjusted Families. Gross.

The booms of the college's salt explosion echo through Keeliai, and with each boom more and more people appear.

The first is benevolent, and he's been here before.

The second is benevolent, and he has no clue where he is.

The third is malevolent...and he will take this city by storm, one way or another.

Comments

April 15 | a little early for father's day...

[wrathfulkhan]

The echo of the explosion jolts Howard Stark awake.

He's a little disoriented, and more so when he realizes he's sitting on the sidewalk. Hadn't he just been in the Hotel? This looked like the Sky Sector - where Tony's house would be. The one he'd share with Gene. (He'd been trying not to think about it, and had decided to sleep on it before getting more upset. He trusted his son; he didn't trust Gene.) And yet, here he is.

He stands up and shakes his head to clear it. This better not be some petty revenge from Gene for how poorly he'd taken the news. This isn't so bad; he recognizes the area. He isn't too far away from Tony's house.

Ten minutes later, he's walking by it on the way to the Hotel and is...a little baffled, because it looks more complete than it had a few days ago. And lived-in. So he knocks on the door.

----

Virgil Potts, on the other hand, is completely at a loss.

The rolling sound like thunder had awoken him, and after a groggy moment, he realizes he has no idea where he is. It looks almost like Manhattan, but the buildings are all wrong. Everything is different. The people are different. He's pretty sure he's dreaming.

----

Xin Zhang keeps to the alleys, in the darkness. It's sheer coincidence - or a cruel trick from the Dreaming - that he sees his stepson walk past, and follows him at a distance, blending into the crowds. The very strange crowds.

He must be dreaming; if the boy had made to dispose of him, why leave him the ring? Unless he was as big a fool as Zhang had always thought.

He loses Temujin in the crowd, but not before tracking him to the Sky Sector. He'll bide his time. He's good at that.

And he'll make the whelp pay.

April 15-24 | family funtime togetherness

[wrathfulkhan]

Dads! So many dads! Everyone is a big ol' happy family.

Except Gene.

Huh.

April 24, night | false Mandarin

[wrathfulkhan]

While Tony and Pepper are out patrolling the Sky Sector, one of them - or both of them - may see something unusual.

The Mandarin's armor, lurking in an alley - and when he realizes he's been made, he melts back into the shadows. But Gene was at home. Wasn't he?

Dare they follow?