Chapter 2
Tony smiled as he shook a guest’s hand and welcomed them to the gala. This was a Stark Industries charity gala organized by Pepper. She had personally seen to the V.I.P guest list and had added people she wanted Tony to at least be civil with, and that was how people like Norman Osborn and Vlad Masters got in. The “V.I.P” list was really just a list of people that Pepper required him to talk to.
So talk Tony did.
Osborn was still a dick and Tony still couldn’t stand him(his plus one wasn’t much better, a pretty face but an ugly voice and even uglier personality). Masters, however, was actually significantly nicer than he'd been last time they’d interacted, and Tony suspected that his change in demeanor was caused by his plus one, his boyfriend he'd just recently gone public with. Masters’ plus one, a man named Charles Work, had his long white hair in a braid down his shoulder, his exciting toxic green eyes watched intently as he listened, he wore a deep purple suit, had more watches on his arms than anyone could feasibly need and a pocket watch (the only one accurate in this timezone, Tony asked), he sat in a fully customized clock themed/steampunk wheelchair in which he would randomly roll away and come up behind Masters and make him fall backwards into his lap (the man didn’t have legs below his knees), he was incredibly sarcastic and had a truly wicked sense of humor, and, most notably, a long jagged scar over his left eye.
Tony knew that Pepper would most likely stab him with her stiletto right off her foot if he brought up his suspicions that Vlad Masters was secretly the vampiric Wisconsin Ghost (he was loath to admit that he believed in ghosts), but he really, really wanted to. A few days prior, Tony had run a facial rec on the Wisconsin Ghost out of boredom and to test out his updates to the software (he improved the bone structure recognition algorithms), and had spit out his coffee and ordered JARVIS to redo the scan when the results of the first scan popped up on the screen. After it had been confirmed that no, it was not a mistake (unless Masters had a secret twin who died), he ran a facial rec on Amity Park’s Internet famous ghost boy “Danny Phantom.” He almost screamed when it turned out that Danny Phantom was Masters’ godson Danny Fenton. Now it made sense why the Wisconsin Ghost and Danny Phantom had such a familial relationship (someone even once recorded an argument between the two about Phantom doing his homework).
Tony looked to Stephen Strange next to him, the man looked distinctly upset and was suspiciously eyeing the definitely a very corporeal ghost’s Masters’ plus one. Two weeks prior, someone broke into the New York Sanctum, almost fought Strange, and stole the Time Stone, claiming it was theirs in the first place. Strange had described the thief as a blue-skinned ghost in a deep purple cloak and tunic with black gloves, blank red eyes, more watches up its arms than anyone (living or dead) would need, a pocket watch dangling from its belt, a blue spectral tail in place of legs ( No pants? Pervert. Tony had thought with a repressed smile but thankfully not said), a clock embedded in the spook’s chest, and a jagged scar across its left eye that glowed red when in close proximity to the Time Stone. Tony had insisted he come to the gala to try and take his mind off of the missing Stone and thief that was apparently bound to it, at least for a little while.
“I think the Ghost of Time is here.”
Apparently, Tony’s distraction had failed. Tony sighed, “What makes you say that?”
“Because,” Dr. strange said eyes still fixed on Charles Work as the man talked with Steve (Tony wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t. Okay, maybe a little.) about World War 2, getting a first hand account on what happened, “That’s him. Right there, in the steampunk wheelchair.”
Tony made a confused face. “What?”
“You heard me.” Strange’s eyes remained fixed on Charles (or Charlie as Tony called him) as he spoke, even as Charles Xavier rolled up to the little group of Avengers that had gathered around Charlie (who had tripped Masters into his lap again) and struck up a conversation with the other Charles (Tony valiantly resisted the urge to make a joke), “It’s him. It’s the exact same scar, on the exact same face, and if you look closely when he laughs or smiles you can see his canines are fangs!”
The sorcerer finally turned to Tony, glaring as he whisper-shouted, “I’m not crazy! I’d recognize that ghost anywhere, corporeal or not! Can’t you feel his power? Doesn’t something feel off about him?”
Tony’s face scrunched slightly in consideration. Truthfully, Tony had gotten some kind of “not normal” vibe when he was talking to Charlie and Masters earlier, but he’d figured it was coming from Vlad. He pursed his lips. “I’ll invite Vlad and Charlie to the after party. I wanna ask Charlie’s vampire of a boyfriend a few questions, anyways.”
Tony put on his Showman Smile and sauntered over to the group, almost blurting out his and Stephen’s suspicions (but thankfully not) and lacing his fingers almost possessively with Steve’s. He turned to the rest of the group after giving his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Charlie, you’re a delight, and Vlad, well, you’re a lot less of an ass than you were the last time I saw you. You're both invited to the after party. Oh, and Cheese Pizza, remember you're always invited to the after party.”
Charles groaned at the nickname and muttered, “Let that die,” as he face-palmed and half of the Avengers (and oddly enough Charlie) laughed while the other half of the Avengers gave Tony bored looks and Vlad looked confused, not getting what was so funny. Tony waved the other billionaire off with a quick, “It's an inside joke. You wouldn't get it.”
Vlad nodded, then he and Charlie had a quick quiet (almost silent, their voices were so low) discussion before the green-eyed man finally let his boyfriend out of his lap. Vlad smoothed the wrinkles out of hits suit and brushed a strand of hair that Charlie had tugged out of his ponytail behind his ear. Charles propped one elbow on his wheelchair and massaged his temple with two fingers, a movement that Tony knew was a cover for Charles using his powers. Tony caught a tiny upward quirk of the corner of Charlie’s mouth as he glanced at Charles for a split second, and Tony got the feeling that they were having a conversation via telepathy and they probably had had several such conversations over the course of the evening.
Charles Xavier found Charles Work fascinating. Xavier hadn’t intended to intrude on Vlad Masters’ mind, but when he saw the mental image of a very ghostly Charles Work covered in timepieces and purple fabric and switching from young to old to younger and back again in an extravagant green tinted clock tower, he had to know more.
So now Xavier knew that Work’s real name was Clockwork, he was something called an Infinity Ghost (specifically the Ghost of Time), the ghost ticked instead of laughed and Vlad thought it was adorable, Vlad and his godson Danny were beings referred to as halfas (whether that was a derogatory term or a title was unknown) and the only two of their kind, and that Clockwork had been broken up until two weeks ago when he retrieved the Time Stone after Vlad had tracked it down for him as their third anniversary present.
Charles had then, out of curiosity, tried to look through Clockwork’s thoughts, but was met by the ghost blocking him and only letting him hear the words, “Nice try, but not happening.” Clockwork then initiated a mental conversation with the telepath. Charles learned from their conversation that Clockwork’s brother Psych had trouble tuning out the thoughts of others for centuries and would often shut people’s brains off if they thought too loudly or too often and so his siblings quickly learned to block him out, and if he could block out the Ghost of Mind with ease, he could certainly block out Charles in his sleep.
They talked via telepathy for a while, and then the telepath wheeled over to where the Infinity was chatting and joking with the group gathered around him and struck up a conversation verbally with him. CW was funny and charming, a little smug, and enjoyed making jokes that made people uncomfortable. Vladimir was polite and civil. He still let out an indignant yelp when Work tripped him into his lap, which pulled a laugh from the entire group. Tony sauntered over and let a little possessiveness of Steve show before inviting Vlad and both Charles’ to his typical informal afterparty.
Xavier knew that Stark had figured out Vlad’s secret and really wanted to confront him, and so he knew Tony’s motive for extending the invitation. He also knew that Strange had figured out who Work really was and had confided in Tony. CW gave him a knowing glance when he silently warned him, and responded only with a mental chuckle and an “Oh, I know. I’m looking forward to it.”
Charles knew that Tony had caught the few visual signs of their telepathic conversation and was suspicious that they'd been talking all night. Well, he wasn't wrong. The rest of the gala went by mostly uneventfully, Bucky wandering off at one point and the Bugle’s representatives Eddie Brock and Peter Parker (Peter was also Tony’s favorite Stark intern and Tony hated the fact that he also worked for the Bugle) wandering over to conduct a few interviews and take a few pictures. Vlad was civil with them, but when Eddie Brock had the gall to ask if Charles Work was a charity case, Vlad visibly used every ounce of his self-control not to deck the blond reporter, his hands balled into fists so tightly his knuckles were white and his nails drew blood, hits eyes twitched and seemed to flash red for a moment, and through gritted teeth he very nearly snarled, “Charles Work and I have been dating for three years. You people only found out last week. No further comment.”