A makluan's oath

Chapter 9: Doomsday

The trio were walking in the frost bitten mountains. Long's tail had been turned into ice and had frost between them hence why he put his armour on and inputted the polar chip allowing him to stay warm even in the harshly cold climates.

The pair he was travelling with was wearing their winter coats. As Stark looked over the edge, "This is it, Gene and Long. This is the last time I help you both, then you let me go."

Gene walked in front of him as Howard turned to face him, "You know more about Makluan technology than anyone. Except for Long."

"True." Long responded back in a robotic voice.

"And your knowledge of the riddles is almost unparalleled. You'll do what we say and help us, if you ever want to see your son again."

"You know," Howard continued taking the lead, "you could have just teleported us in."

Gene stretched his arms out to the area around him, "This country belongs to... him. His technology might pick up and large amounts of Makluan energy. And it's not like we have someone who radiates it with us."

"I can hear you know? It's not my fault that I was born this way." The makluan turned and spoke back to them.

"We need to be careful." Gene responded back.

Time skip

They looked up to see it, "Finally, the ninth Makluan Temple."

Gene transformed into the Mandarin before knocking the door down as they entered and began walking deeper into the temple. Gene spoke in an ominous voice saying, "Are you going to tell me about the temple guardian, or do I have to guess?" He stopped saying the last part.

"It's called the fray gargoyle. If it touches you, you turn to stone." Howard responded bitterly.

"I remember having that happen to me once." Long shivered. "Still can feel the stone on me. That and I remember the last time I was stone I was trapped there for many centuries."

"Hmm." The Mandarin hummed thoughtfully before gesturing, "Maybe you should go first."

As they got to where the guardian was there was cracked stone on the floor in-front of where the guardian should have been.

They stopped, "No!" Gene from being the Mandarin and back into himself."The ring is gone! The statue guardian, it's been destroyed!"

"Then that means only one thing." Long gulped. "He found it. He knows."

"Indeed. Doctor Doom. Knows everything." A man that had armour on with a green cape looked at his hand revealing a ring placed on it before a bright light shone.

Long looked at him as flashes of the overlord kept on appearing into his mind. "Oh joy." He spoke sarcastically.

Time skip

The Mandarin had just teleported, him and Long to Tony and Pepper in their base.

"Gene? Long?/Mandarin! Makluan!" Both Pepper and Tony said at the same time.

They looked at them and as they begin to fall, Gene weakly said, "Doom." Collapsing on the ground. "Ugh!"

Gene changing back into his normal self whilst Long was in his armour. The light in his suit fading as he lay their unconscious.

Time skip to when they woke up

Gene began to feel his chest realising the rings weren't there waking up saying, "No! The rings!"

Long's eyes shot open as he growled being held back by several suits of armour.

"So you're both finally awake, huh? How did you find us?" Tony began questioning them.