Eldritch Tony AU
Creeping Darkness
Once upon a time, the Earth had a form of guardians that frightened away any that might contend for the small round planet. Aliens were unwilling to go there, and all in the nine realms knew that to come to Earth, or Midgard, was to die. The humans, such as they were, were a superstitious, suspicious people who would call on their gods, Elder beings of darkness and madness, with no concern for those who stood in their path, be they worshipers or those who would conquer.
These Elder Ones stood as the ultimate threat, for their only priority was that the planet was there for them to walk, and its state of being simply didn’t matter. It was a position that most of the other sentient beings simply couldn’t comprehend, and thus, they stayed away.
In time, the Elder Ones left their home less and less, turning from fact, to legend, to myth, with only the odd person reviving the public awareness of them, in a story or through another, less safe means. Those outside of Earth came to presume them gone.
They weren’t, of course, and people will ever poke and prod at that which people say isn’t possible when the time is right. The Veil being seen as something to reach through on certain days by particular people always meant that the doors never properly closed. There were cracks, ways for the less powerful, or those simply young enough to have not gotten to walk the Earth before, to creep through, using a human on the other side as a springboard to be able to explore.
And Tony Stark is one of these. His true name, his true voice, is something he doesn’t tend to share outside of using the utmost care, never wishing to do harm to his humans, but he was pulled through one of these cracks by a group with less than savory intentions in the late 60s.
By 1970, he’d rather dealt with that, and found his way to the Starks, lured in by Howard’s cache of impossible things and the simple intensity of power that swirled around the man in a way he rarely ever saw in humans. And to those Starks, he offered a deal. They were without a child, and he was, well, curious. He’d never be human, not really, nor would he forget what he was, but he’d make sure that they were healthy, and they’d show him this world from the perspective of their small lives.
It worked, at least, it worked well enough that he was very upset when they died, leading him to be far more vigilant with the humans who caught his eye after that. It, at the very least, prevented any unfortunate deaths among those, and he was satisfied with it, contentedly making weapons to humor the human that stepped up when his chosen father fell and taking them a bit further, amused by the way it seemed to unnerve those more sensitive.
But, all games come to an end, and his jaunt to Afghanistan was… annoying. Unpleasant. He couldn’t leave immediately because unleashing his abilities would have driven Yinsen mad or dead, with a possibility of one then the other. That he died anyway was infuriating, and there were no survivors of his rampage in the wake of that. When he went home, Obadiah, well, he didn’t exactly fare terribly well, but some of the things Yinsen had said, to say nothing of the interesting plan they’d put together… he ran with them.
SHIELD poking at him had amused him, enough so that he let them keep at it uncontested, watching them as much as he was watched, and when 2012 came around, well. Loki hadn’t forgotten the stories of the Elder Ones and an irritated Tony wasn’t exactly a well leashed Tony. Thor was a little slower on the uptake, but he caught on as well, which rather settled a few standing disputes on that front.
Poor Nick had no idea why they were so respectful after that.
Of course, several other bits and pieces change here and there as well, because Tony isn’t quite on board with how humanity should work, but he does try. It’s just a little hit and miss when he succeeds and when he really really doesn’t, that’s all.
This verse can be based in the MCU or something removed from it. I mean, if you want to summon Tony to some other timeline entirely I’m game. The above is general history for my MCU variant of this verse, that’s all.
In his Elder form, this Tony’s very Heartless-like, with glowing golden eyes that are all the one color and shadowy everything that sort of trails his movements and blots out the light around him.
Happy Elder God-invoking!