Stark residence
I was on my way to the Stark house. I invited Emma to come along, but she had to attend a meeting with some software company for "computer something-something," so I ended up going alone.
As I neared the gate, I stopped and rolled down my window while the guard was checking invitations. I didn't actually have one, so I simply told him my name was James Howlett. As soon as they heard that name, they let me in without asking a single question.
I think Stark must have reminded them about me. I was driving a Lamborghini Miura, a car so beautiful that I ordered three of them, just so I could put one in a display case to keep it safe for viewing only.
Emma just shook her head at my antics. She couldn't believe I put the car inside my own house, in the basement where I keep all my collectibles.
As I neared the concierge, I got out and gave my keys to the valet. I slipped him a hundred-dollar bill, and he smiled so brightly at that, he understood perfectly that I was asking him to look after the car.
As I stepped inside the house, I saw a crowd of people, some from SHIELD and some from HYDRA. Well, I was the only one who knew the truth, after all. When a certain politician saw me, I gave him a smile so bright it actually seemed to frighten him. He clearly had some information on me, but I made a face that effectively said, "I see you."
The HYDRA agents inside the Stark house were all SHIELD agents. They seemed to realize that I knew they were HYDRA, but i didn't seem to want to do anything about it. They just stood there, paralyzed, because they knew their cover was blown the moment I walked in.
As I was looking for something to eat, I caught the scent of someone approaching. It was a woman, I didn't even need to look to know who it was. "Hey, Peggy," I said, while I was busy eating some kind of shrimp, I wasn't even sure what it was called.
I gave her a hug, and she gave me a look that said I was someone who can't seem to do one thing at a time. I just kept my nonchalant face on.
"James, next year will be my last. I'm stepping down from my position." Peggy seemed surprisingly cheerful when she said that.
"Long enough, huh, Peggy?" I said, just smiling at her.
We've been friends for so long that it feels like we can talk about anything. She knows she can discuss work with me, even if it's classified, because she knows I won't do anything with the information. The last time she checked my record, the most notable things I had done were following Captain America into battle and fighting Apocalypse.
"Well, I can say that it was not that bad," Peggy said, just shrugging her shoulders.
"Hey, I heard some kid managed to create a serum or something that can turn you small? Is that real?" I asked, just for the sake of conversation.
"Well yeah, he's been adamant about not letting anyone use his serum," Peggy said, looking helpless about the situation.
"Boooo, boring!" I gave her a thumbs down, and she just rolled her eyes at me.
While we were talking, Howard, his wife, and his son all arrived. But still, I had something more important to attend to this salmon tasted so good that Stark seemed like a second priority now.
As I was eating, I saw Howard making his way toward me with his wife and son. "James, you came! Come here, give me a hug!" he said, opening his arms wide. But I just kept stuffing the salmon into my mouth.
"Who are you? Where's my friend Howard?" I asked, looking at his behavior as if it were the weirdest thing in the world.
When Howard heard that, he laughed so hard that everyone started looking at him weirdly. Even his son looked like he wanted to run away and hide. "Oh, James! I didn't know you were still salty about that. Back when I was young, only... ahem... women could hug me. Men were a no-go. Now, things are different!" He smiled.
I looked at Maria and said, "You want me to smack him?" She laughed at that, too. Tony looked confused, though, in his eyes, nobody and I mean nobody talked to his father like that. Not even his mother ever said things like that to him.
I just gave up and hugged him. Well, it was awkward. Peggy, meanwhile, had walked over to Maria to talk to her.
"James, you never come to visit me here. What have you been so busy with?" Howard asked, though he was clearly asking something obvious.
"You really want someone to smack you, huh?" I said. He laughed again, though a bit slower this time. "What can I say, James? Between you, Peggy, and my family... this is the only place where I don't have to pretend to be anything." While what he said was a bit sad, honestly, who gives a shit? You're rich.
I was still stuffing myself with those salmon things when I noticed someone. I think they actually tried to poison the fish, because as soon as I finished, someone rushed over to change the plate. It had a bit of a spicy kick, but that was all. I just kept on eating like nothing had happened.
"You want to retire, Howard?" I asked him, my mouth still full. He reached out to take some of the fish since I was eating it like it was the best thing in the world, but I smacked his hand away and moved the plate out of his reach. "Mine," I said, sounding like a goblin.
Howard started fighting me for the salmon, but I managed to stuff everything into my mouth. He looked defeated. "Well, maybe in a few years," he said. "I'll wait until Tony is old enough, then I'll give everything to him."
Tony, standing in the back, had never seen his father act like this. It was so weird to him, his father's usual cold demeanor was gone, to the point that he thought aliens might have kidnapped him. He realized that I was the only person who could bring out his father's childish side.
"So, this is your son, huh? I heard he built an engine when he was only eight," I said. Howard just smiled. "Yeah, it was a good engine, though," Howard replied.
Anthony stark pov
When I heard my father reply to this guy James like that, it was the first time I'd ever heard him actually praise my invention. He's usually so tight-lipped about saying anything nice. I felt like I wanted to peel back the layers of this guy who just showed up and ate all that salmon.
I heard him ask, "What was your name again, kid?"
"It's Tony. Stark," I replied shortly. He just snorted at me. "When I was your age, my brother and I lived in the forest for years. But after all those years without even any salt... if I had to go back and do it again, I might kill myself." That was the craziest thing I'd ever heard. Living in the forest at fourteen or fifteen? That was weird as hell.
"Well, it's not like you have it easy, James. Even Steve looked like a poster boy when he stood next to you," I heard my father say. It was weird, all Tony knew was that his father spoke about Steve Rogers like he was some kind of legend. Now the version had changed so much he started questioning if everything he'd been told was true. But this guy looked like he was in his thirties how could he have fought in the war with Captain America?
"Kid, while I know Howard always acts like a piece of s*** in front of you, don't be angry at him. He just doesn't know how to express himself," I heard James say to me. While I understood what he meant, the image of my father finally seemed to coincide with his words.
"James, you can't say that! You're making me look bad in front of my son," Howard said. For all his genius, Howard always loved his son. He wasn't someone incapable of love, look at his wife. He's a man who can live with someone and truly love them, if he weren't, Maria wouldn't have followed him to hell and back to marry him, period.
"Don't be so hard on him, Howard. I know you can't seem to get that motherfucker of a father out of your mind. You've been a great dad, I've seen it. Even though I didn't appear in front of you often, I still kept an eye on you." James spoke about my grandfather like he knew him personally which would mean he knew him from before WWI. This information suddenly became very precious to me.
"Kid." He threw me something, a Rubik's Cube. I lost interest at first. "Try it. Try one round and see," he said. I just humored him, but that's when it happened. When I changed one color, the other colors changed too. I was fascinated by this cube, I wanted to solve it. "Thanks," I said.
I heard James say, "I know you like it. It took me five minutes to create that, I almost gave up when it looked like it was going to take any longer than that." He dropped a bomb so loud in my mind that I seemed to falter a little bit. When I looked at my father, he just smiled as if he already knew this James was a top-notch genius.
"Where do you think those supercomputers you use came from?" Howard just left it at that. But for Tony, those supercomputers were what made his engines possible. For his father to tell him that this was the guy who created them well, color him impressed. For Tony, that was more than enough praise.
"Remember my offer, Howard. I've already set aside a plot of land near my house." I heard him say something absurd. Why would my father ever need a plot of land from this James guy?
"Yeah, in a few years or so, I'll retire," I heard my father reply. They hugged one last time, and then that James guy left.
I was curious about who this James was, so I asked my father, "Who is he, Dad?"
My father just smiled and said, "A friend, Tony. A best friend." That was something different.
"What did he do, Dad?" I asked. At the very least, I needed to know what made this man tick. But for the first time in my life, my father just smiled at me. "Maybe you'll learn more about him in the future. Right now, you have a cake to cut." As we were ushered in, that James guy still wouldn't leave my mind.
****
As I made my way outside, I saw the kid who had taken my car, and he knew what needed to be done. In five minutes, the car arrived. He hopped out, and I slid him another hundred-dollar bill. He actually gave me a military salute. Heh doing something kind does get you that.
I knew Hydra couldn't sit still. If I disappeared today, they wouldn't know when they'd see me again. I let my nanites roam the entire car as I drove. I found about five different tracking transmitters and commanded the nanites to toss them onto other passing cars. It seems Hydra isn't the only one curious about me and how I've managed to live this long.
As I was making my way out of New York, I reached a small, one-lane flyover. I hadn't actually arrived in the city by car, I'd used my own plane, but now didn't seem like a good time to head back to the airfield. As I neared the flyover, which was so narrow it only fit one car per lane, I reached the exit and my car simply disappeared. All the agents waiting to ambush me were left dumbfounded. I had vanished right before their eyes.
I've already arrived here in Houston. I opened a portal straight into the estate. I pulled out my phone and called my agent, who was piloting the plane, telling him to just head back home. "I'm already here," I told him. Well, all my agents know I can teleport, so they knew something must have happened.
I was home, back in my lab, and I had work to do. I needed to upgrade all the technology here in Houston. My company's waste facilities will be equipped with the best recycling technology in the world, maybe even the best in the future, too.
This job alone took me six years of upgrades, just so I could have peace of mind for the next thirty. I upgraded my chip fabrication machines to EUV. Once those machines were ready, I performed the craziest update on my supercomputer: I built a super-cluster. This meant every part was independent, the chip, the RAM, the memory, the GPU everything was modular. I even built the software to support this setup, and that software alone took me six months to write.
This Ultra-Modular Quantum-Scale supercomputer... the name was too long, so I just called it 'Super Ultra.' I thought the name sounded cool enough. This machine was built to deliver 10 times, maybe even 100 times the performance of my previous supercomputer. I built two of these machines: one for myself and the other for the THRUSH organization.
My old supercomputer was transferred to the university for their research. Even with all their funding, that kind of technology simply didn't exist in the public sector yet. Meanwhile, the old THRUSH supercomputer was put to work at our R&D center. The university was ecstatic when they received it. I simply told them I'd acquired the machine from Stark, there was no need to put my name on it. I did the same for the R&D center. Of course, anyone who knew me would find it hard to believe that even Stark could have built something that advanced.
While I did give him the previous schematics for the supercomputer, Howard went ahead and built two of them, one for the Pentagon and the other for MIT. Because Howard Stark wanted them to look after his son, he didn't spare a penny. He made sure Tony would have the best protection and the best resources money could buy.
That was one of the reasons Tony Stark could do whatever he wanted at MIT, he even left early. Everyone was intimidated by his genius, nearly half the students wanted to drop out of university life altogether. As for the faculty, almost half of them wanted to resign because of him. That was the cost of Tony Stark's genius at MIT, but all was forgiven because of the supercomputer.
Howard knew that. That's why he was so hard on Tony. He believed that Tony's arrogance would destroy him someday. For Tony, his father was the only person who could talk sense into him, everyone else was just noise.
Maria... Maria was a blessing for the Stark family. She alone held the family together, that's how tough she was. Most people would have gone crazy with just one genius at home, but in her home, two of them were constantly at loggerheads. People might say she didn't do anything, but they couldn't be more wrong.
That's why every time it was her birthday, I gave her something she could keep. Every photo of the kids she saved, every handcrafted gift people gave her, I put them all inside bulletproof glass. I called it 'The Blessing of Maria Stark' for her. She cried when she received it.
Howard ended up calling me one day after he saw that. Even though he always showered her with gifts, the thing I gave her was more meaningful. Howard ended up learning a lot from that.
Well, Tony actually became what everyone calls a 'genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist' now. That guy went absolutely batshit crazy with the parties. Well, I just let him be.
I upgraded the hydrogen power generators. I was creating a cell that could store more energy than should even be possible. This project took two years to complete, and now it's finally finished. Once we were done, the government asked us to supply energy beyond our immediate area. Between AC and DC, we've actually become the largest 'in-between' electricity provider in all of America and the largest water source, too.
One politician tried to intimidate us. He was fairly new, and while he knew our name, he didn't realize just how many hands we had shaken. Let's just say that when he presented his bill to the Cabinet, the entire room froze. That was the moment he realized exactly where our money had gone and who it was supporting.
A company named Roxxon actually came and tried to intimidate us one day. The next day, they almost went bankrupt because they couldn't keep their mouths shut when they should have. We didn't even have to do anything to the family behind Roxxon, we just sent them a letter with nothing but a single cent inside. It was a message: that's all it would take for us to buy their entire company if they didn't stop. Well, the very next day, they stopped and apologized. After that, nobody dared to try anything as crazy as Roxxon did ever again.
While we knew they might be angry, they could try us and see what happened. We built this town from nothing. We knew that since we couldn't fight everyone, we should make friends with everyone instead. That's why, to this day, almost no company hates us. We always offer a fair deal, if a deal can't be made, we simply move on to something else.
We have plenty of options. If they run out of ideas, they can just ask me. I've helped them several times, like when they asked me to design a new city layout. The city had become overcrowded, which is why I built housing outside the industrial ring. We banned housing inside the city center because we foresaw this congestion. I've made some changes and created a blueprint to be built in three phases.
GM actually came to meet with Emma once, asking her to invest in the company. She told them she would discuss it with the board. Of course, everyone on the board knows that Emma has been dating me, we've been living together for almost seven years now. And who knows? Maybe we'll finally tie the knot in a year or two. I did ask for her hand, and she said yes.
Back to GM, Emma actually didn't want to invest because she saw that they had bloated their own market. By doing so, they destroyed their own brand image. That was exactly why they came to her, hoping she would invest and bail them out.
I just told her one thing: if she wants to invest, just invest. If she doesn't, then don't. We can afford to take a hit if we don't invest in their company. They might try to make us the scapegoat by saying we were the ones who couldn't see their 'full potential' and so on, but it doesn't matter.
So, I asked her to make a public statement, to go in front of the media and say it clearly. After all, GM's games have been under my radar for a while. They've tried this kind of thing before, so I knew exactly what they were up to.
After that public display, two things happened. First, her father came to see her. He had no idea his daughter was the president of one of the most powerful companies in the world. Second, I got a call from Charles. He got my number from Moira after her breakdown when she found out about the experiments.
Well, Emma's father was and still is a piece of shit. He actually tried to intimidate her, he seemed to forget exactly where he stood. So, I sent one of my men to him to whisper in his ear: "The big boss knows who you are. Don't push your luck." Let's just say he ran so fast, he didn't even remember why he came to see her in the first place. Well, later that night... I had the best sex ever. Hehehehe.
Charles was asking me about Emma, he was afraid that she was controlling thing behind the scene with her power. I just asked him if he was kidding me and then ended the call. Heh, he doesn't seem that smart now, does he?.
He might be able to control his surroundings, and he's a genius at that, but that's all. I was in this game before he was even born. It's not that I'm arrogant, it's just that, so far, I haven't been wrong about people. That's all there is to it.
Emma is the type of person who, once she starts something, is incredibly focused and loyal. While records might suggest future infidelity, I'll hold onto that doubt until it actually happens. It's not like I care that much anyway. While my work is a secret, it's not like I'm killing anyone or experimenting on people. All the 'wrong' they find in me boils down to one thing: the fact that I'm a mutant. That's all it is.
I told her plainly once: I am a wolf. A wolf is loyal until the day he dies. I told her that if she ever feels I'm not enough for her anymore, she should just tell me, and I'll never bother her again. That's why she respects me so much. I could have played games with her, but to this day, I've never done a single thing to jeopardize her.
Her brother Christian was living here for a while, but then he went out to find his own way. He said this town was too peaceful for him, he couldn't seem to find an anchor to keep him here, so he left. Well, we told him that whatever he needs, he's just one phone call away.
I asked Emma about the land in Monaco. She said the government couldn't give us a plot of land, so we took a different route. We asked for the sea instead. We built the most luxurious suites for every member of the family there. When the F1 races are on, the kids in the family who follow the sport can just watch everything right from their own balconies.
I did something crazy again the other day. I did two things: I created a vertical take-off private jet and a super luxury yacht. For the yacht, I built three of them so everyone can share. While I could have built more, who in their right mind would want to live 365 days a year at sea? All of this is powered by a new Tokamak reactor. I created them because the X-Men did it once in the movie, and it look cool with it purple hue, once I managed to do the same, I didn't know what else to do with the technology, so I just installed it in the plane and the yacht.
I've been the glorified mechanic for this cities crazy technology for a hundred years now, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon.
When Emma saw her new jet, she facepalmed so hard she didn't know what to say. I just stood there grinning the whole time. She finally said, "James, did you ever think about this thing blowing up in the news because it uses a fusion reactor for fuel?" I just kept whistling until she started kicking me in her diamond form. All I could do was run away from her that day. I ended up having to sleep outside for a week. I even baked her favorite chocolate cookies, but I still couldn't get back into the bedroom.
After that was done, I upgraded the train system. I moved everything into a new control room with a state-of-the-art computer and designed the best station systems I could. I actually wanted to build a Maglev, but again, I got kicked out of the house. This time she was truly mad at me. I ended up going down into the Morlock caves to sleep there. You could see Callisto and everyone else laughing at their heads off at me. I just told them, 'Heh, once you're married, you'll understand.
The kids on the board, Robin, Lily, Jason, everyone who knows me now knows I'm a henpecked husband. I tried giving them an 'evil eye,' but when I did, they just laughed even harder. I completely lost my dignity. I mean, who was going to help me? Since she's been with me, she has become the 'Mother of the City.' You can choose now: you either follow me or her. Everyone chose her. I ended up sleeping in the Morlock caves for another month.
While the project of modernizing the city continued according to my blueprint, I created an air filtration device to tackle pollution. I handed it over to the R&D center and let them handle the mass production of the units.
After being together for so long, Emma and I finally tied the knot. We had a simple wedding; all our family and the Morlocks came, and Peggy was there too. While she was shocked to see so many mutants, she must have realized I had saved them from somewhere. Howard, Maria, and Tony were forced to come as well. Howard served as the best man, and Maria was Emma's maid of honor. After that, everything finally went back to normal.
Peggy has retired, and she also took the serum. Now she looks much younger than her old self, and she's happy, at least. One day, she'll set out to find Steve herself. When people ask her about it in the future, she can simply say that she was the one who found him.
December 16, 1991. I remember this date, the day my best friend and his wife were assassinated by Bucky Barnes. And that day is today. Well, now that I'm here, I'm going to change things. I'll put decoys in place for Howard and Maria's bodies, and then I'm going to bring them, along with Bucky, back to my lab to be healed.
When midnight came, I was already waiting at the spot where Howard and Maria would pass. As they got closer, I heard an extra engine approaching, I knew my time had come. I let the camera keep recording, but I used my nanites to freeze the frame for about ten to twenty seconds. No one will suspect a thing. Then, Howard's car hit the pole.
Bucky got off the motorcycle. As he drew near, I spoke the word.
Longing (Желание - Zhelaniye)
Rusted (Ржавый - Rzhavyy)
Seventeen (Семнадцать - Semnadtsat)
Daybreak (Рассвет - Rassvet)
Furnace (Печь - Pech)
Nine (Девять - Devyat)
Benign (Добросердечный - Dobroserdechnyy)
Homecoming (Возвращение на родину - Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu)
One (Один - Odin)
Freight Car (Товарный вагон - Tovarnyy vagon)
Bucky froze and said, "Ready to comply."
I said lightly, "Stand down, soldier"
As he went still, I made my way toward Howard and Maria's car. "Hey, old friend," I said.
Howard said weakly, "James... what are you doing here?" Maria just in her seat, looking battered, staring at me in silence.
"Saving you guys," I said. I lifted them out of the car using my Chi and placed the decoy bodies in their seats. "This might hurt a little bit," I warned them as I brought out a syringe. I took their blood and injected it into the decoys.
I walked away from the side of the car, went to the trunk, and took the briefcase containing the Super Soldier Serum with me.
Howard and Maria just watched in silence as I did all of this. They were absolutely terrified that I actually knew exactly what they had been up to.
I lifted Bucky Barnes and his motorcycle too. I erased every footprint we left behind and disappeared through the portal. Once we arrived, I put everyone into healing pods and let them all sleep.
Tonight is going to be hell for everyone. Hydra lost a super soldier, SHIELD lost a founder and his wife, and Tony lost both his parents. I attended the funeral, at least to show my face to Tony. While Peggy knows I actually saved Howard and Maria, she asked me why I'm keeping it a secret. I told her the world wasn't ready for two generations of Starks to be alive at once. It sounded cryptic, but I think she understood the weight of what I did.
A week later, Howard and Maria finally woke from their deep sleep. I helped them both out of the healing pods, but Bucky Barnes is going to need more time. The damage to his psyche alone is enough to drive anyone insane; he's got a much longer road to recovery ahead of him.
Howard became frantic. "James, what about Tony?" he demanded. It's clear how much he loves his son, and Maria was looking at me, desperately waiting for an answer too. I had to be blunt: "Tony has already buried you. I know it sounds cruel, but as far as the world is concerned, both of you officially died in that car crash." It's going to take a lot of convincing to make Howard stay put tonight.
"I'll be honest with you tonight. I've seen the future of many worlds, other universes. In every single one, there's a constant: you aren't in the picture while Tony is growing up. The world simply can't handle two Starks at the same time. That's why I went to such lengths to replace you and Maria with decoys."
Howard and Maria were stunned. The idea of other universes? The world not being able to handle two Starks? To Howard, it sounded like total bullshit. But Maria understood the implication. She had seen firsthand the brilliance her boys were capable of. That's why she was the one to stop Howard from rushing to Tony. "Honey," she said softly, "I think James is onto something. He's insinuating that because you're gone, Tony becomes something more and he might not be able to tell us exactly what." She really is a genius, if she weren't, there's no way she could have handled two Stark egos at the same time.
That managed to stop Howard from doing anything reckless. But when he saw Bucky, with a face that hadn't aged and a metal arm and heard that Bucky had been sent by Hydra to kill him, he nearly went ballistic. He ranted about how Project Paperclip was a ticking time bomb for SHIELD, but no one had listened to him. Now, even he had to "die" because of their stupidity.
That finally settled things. I had a house built near mine for Howard and Maria, and I told them they could live there for the time being. With an excited grin, I told them, "The future is going to be crazy." Howard and Maria just looked at me, convinced that after living for so long, my mind had finally gone bonkers.
At first, they were able to sit still, but after a week, they started to get restless. They really are cut from the same cloth. Howard came to me and admitted he couldn't just sit around doing nothing. In response, I built masks for him and Maria. I told them they could act as "behind-the-scenes" bosses for the foreseeable future, but warned them not to show their faces too much, someone might recognize them.
After one more week, Bucky Barnes finally woke up. He started thrashing inside the pod, but since I'd built it for my own use, it was reinforced to the moon. When Bucky saw my face, he paused. The healing pod had already begun to mend his fractured mind. I opened the door, and as he stepped out, he swung his metal arm at me in a blur. I didn't move, I just reinforced my cheek with chi. When his fist connected, the sound of steel hitting steel was so loud it echoed all the way down to the Morlock caves.
"hey old friend, how are you doing?" i sound cheerful when i saw bucky, its been so long since we saw each other.
Bucky was shocked that his punch hadn't even budged me, the feedback made it feel as though he'd struck solid steel. "James? What the hell... where am I?" he stammered. While his mind was clear enough to recognize me, he was also flooded with memories of everything Hydra had forced him to do. He stood there, completely confused, wondering why he was in a lab and why I hadn't aged a single day.
"Well, old friend," I said, looking Bucky in the eye. "We have a lot to talk about."
to be continued -