It is the year 2020, of the 21st century...2 centuries have passed since the global superpower industries, stark industries was founded, by Howard stark pre-world war II, over the years that passed, the company successfully developed innovative security measures for the industrial age, as well as a world leader in munitions development, as well as technological advancements for the benefit for mankind...in the years that went by, Howard stark had one day encountered the love of his life, maria stark, and as their love for each other grew, they soon became a family, in which they raised a young boy named tony stark, who had been born with the talent and potential to surpass his father Howard, as stark industries flourished over the years, Howard and maria raised young tony, enrolled him at school while also supporting any decision he made with his life after school, Howard and maria were proud of tony and his talents in technology as well as engineering, but he would also grow up to become something even more significant in the far future...

PRESENT TIME

at a desert compound in the far reaches of a war-torn Afghanistan, military vehicles were on patrol outside the compound, at a testing area near a table, stood the CEO of stark industries himself, tony stark, who was just preparing to demonstrate a new invention to the various US military defense officials,

"so, Mr stark," one of the officials spoke, "you're sure if this demonstration goes well, we can apply your arc reactor technology into these new weapons, even our best jet fighters?"

"hopefully, general," replied tony stark, as he led the committee to near a long-range multi missile pod and a large drawing board, which showed scientific diagrams in how the arc reactor, initially designed by tony's father, Howard stark back when he was CEO tony then pointed a finger at the designs

"as you can see here, gentlemen" presented tony, looking over the original designs for the arc reactor "with these plans, passed down by my father, were part of an invention called the arc reactor, which he discovered while designing it, this reactor would supply a great deal of clean energy, only the design was as big as a house for a time, so it couldn't yet be miniaturized,"

"but Mr stark," spoke one of the officials again, "you said you have been able to find a way to at least make the arc reactor a way to power our weapons and planes am I right?"

"that is correct, gentlemen, which brings us to the main event," said tony which he pointed towards the blueprint diagrams for a semi miniaturized arc reactor inserted into a slot into the multi missile pod, "this small slot nearby the currents which powers this missile pod, will direct the arc reactor's energy throughout the large weapon granting the weapon a faster fire rate, potentially this would allow our fighter jets to fly for longer periods,"

"This would certainly make a difference in our nation's defenses Mr stark," another one of the officials says, "but tell us, what are your future plans for this arc reactor technology?"

"Eventually I hope to revolutionize the arc reactor technology as a clean energy program," answered Tony, "over the years, we've been quite reliant on fossil fuels and many oil rigs, which we all know had a history of such disasters, to mankind, as well as the environment of our planet, but with this clean energy system from our arc reactors, it will be yet another technological advancement for humanity as well as stark industries,"

"It would be a truly noble cause Mr stark," softly replied one of the officials, "we look forward to seeing how far that takes us,"

"thank you, sir," smiled Tony,

"your welcome, now we are ready to start the demonstration," spoke one of the officials as he signaled to a soldier to raise multiple targets for the arc reactor powered missile pod then he turned to tony, "proceed,"

"thank you, sir," said Tony as he then turned to the control panel for the missile pod after a few seconds, the pod locked on to the targets and stark pressed fire,

as all eyes from the U.S military officials watched the missiles shot out of the single pod at a much faster rate than normal as they hit their targets six large explosions could be seen over at the distance as tony stark looked on, hoping the demonstration was successful,

"That's incredible Mr stark!" Praised one of the officials, "according to the panel, the pod still has plenty of energy to fire again!"

"thanks to the arc reactor's power," smiled tony stark, "though, this testing area is for the weapons, we'll head over to the Air Force location where we will test the arc reactor's power as fuel for our jet fighters,"

"Judging from what we saw here Mr stark," spoke the military general "we hope to see the same results in our jet fighters as we saw here with our weapons,"

"we'll see in due time, General" replied tony as he left the committee, the meeting adjourned,

"hey tony!" cried a man's voice spoke, the man came up towards tony, he wore a high ranking uniform that signified the title "lieutenant colonel"

"hey rhodey!" called tony waving and offering a handshake to his long-time best friend, James Rhodes, the two were friends since Tony started working with the military when he first became CEO of stark industries

"Hey man," rhodey waved back and accepted the handshake from tony "great job at that demonstration back there,"

"Thanks, rhodey," smiled Tony, "I just hope everything goes well at the airforce base as well,"

"hey, I'm sure it will tony," reassured rhodey, placing a hand on his shoulder "what you said back there, about your father's arc reactor technology becoming a clean energy program, the world needs that,"

"It sure does," sighed tony "but running the business is hard enough for me,"

"yeah, being CEO is a BIG responsibility," nodded Rhodes, knowing that the struggle of being Lt colonel is not as glamourous, "but I'm sure your dad would be proud of what you're doing here,"

"Yeah, I hope so," sighed tony "any news from the air force base?"

"the commander and chief have already sent a convoy to take you there," told rhodey "they'll be here shortly,"

"Thanks, rhodey," replied Tony "I'll see you and the others there,"

"you got tone," nodded rhodey

with that tony stark then left to the waiting room near the bunker waiting for the armored convoy to arrive

Later...

in a smooth road among the desert lands of Afghanistan tony stark was now being escorted by 7 armored cars, he sat alongside 3 soldiers on the seats of their armored vehicle,

stark went through his thoughts, on the demonstration, to his plans to make the arc reactor technology worldwide as a clean energy program, could we really do it? he thought in his head, dad...it's great that I still have a strong grasp on this but... worldwide could potentially take years...sometimes I wonder why I was chosen to be CEO when you stepped down dad,

but even as tony confined himself in his thoughts while inside the escort, an explosion rang out, the burning armored car at the front of the convoy was sent tumbling over in a ball of fire, other missiles were launched at the other armored vehicles, as one of them popped up a machine gun turret, the armored car carrying tony stark attempted to go offroad, hoping to evade the sudden onslaught

"what's going on out there!?" cried tony, holding his seat belts tight,

"no idea Mr stark!" cried a soldier "the convoy seems to be under attack, we also seem to be taking a detour offroad!"

"but who could be after us!?" shouted stark again,

but before stark's question could be answered, the armored car's left side of the road got hit with a missile and was sent spiraling out of control, as soon as the car stopped, tony and the remaining soldiers raced out of the car and raced across the crossfire of mortar and missiles shot across the desert grounds,

but then as tony took cover nearby a rock along with a few soldiers trying to gun down whoever's firing the deadly projectiles, a mortar shell was shot down in front of tony, it was engraved "stark industries" on it,

tony's eyes widened in horror, but before he could even scream as he tried to scramble out of the blast range, the mortar detonated, sending everyone within range flying,

tony landed on the ground hard, while the soldiers were also flung as they were killed by the blast, but as stark tried to rise, he could feel his chest bleed a bit, metal shards of shrapnel were shot into tony as he did not survive the blast unscathed, as he looked on in horror, he fell unconscious from the blood loss...

but before passing out he could hear the footsteps of many armed men surrounding him and the charred battlefield,

"We have secured Mr stark sir! but he's bleeding out!..."

"We still need him..."

"Bring him aboard the truck, our job here is done..."

to be continued...