Connections

It took three taxi rides, two trains and four separate bribes for Tony to get to the school. He had to be sure that no one - including his parents - could track him, and it was difficult enough to get through the city without anyone recognising him. Eventually, he ended up doubling back to stop anyone following him.

He needed this help to be able to control his powers. He didn’t know what he’d do otherwise.

The size of the mansion when he arrived took Tony by surprise. It was larger than he’d expected. He had seriously underestimated how rich Xavier must have been, if he could afford a place like this. Swallowing his fear, he walked up the stairs to the doors, only to have them be opened as he approached by a small brunette.

“The Professor’s been expecting you.” She stood to the side to let him enter, but he stood still and gave her a questioning look as she smiled at him.

“What?”

“Professor Xavier. He’s expecting you,” the girl repeated, “He’s known about you for ages.” She smiled at him again, and Tony couldn’t help but think that this was a bad idea. “No, sorry. That probably wasn’t the best way to start. Sorry for scaring you.”

“Miss Ramon, I think it’s best that we just get our guest inside, don’t you think?” A voice spoke the girl, Ramon, and she moved aside to reveal Xavier himself in a wheelchair. “Mr. Stark, I was wondering when you would arrive. Charles Xavier.” He held out his hand, and Tony took it.

“Tony. Call me Tony. Mr Stark is my father. Nice to meet you.” Xavier gave him a curious look for a second, then nodded.

“Tony it is, then. Come inside, I’m sure we have a lot to discuss.” He turned back into the hallway, and Tony hesitated a moment before following, noting that the house looked even more impressive from the inside, and watched as two children ran past him quickly. How many people were here? Were they all… Like him?

“I believe the word you are looking for is mutant.” Tony jumped at the sudden noise. Had he spoken aloud? “No. You didn’t.” I’m a telepath. You were projecting your thoughts. He nodded at the voice ringing in his head, suddenly feeling curious. “I can communicate with my mind, and see other people’s thoughts. Francesca Ramon, the girl at the door, is an empath, and so she could feel what you did when you met her. The question is, though,” He paused. “What are your powers?”

Xavier stopped suddenly, pushing open a door and holding out a hand to direct Tony through. The office it led to was simple and bare, compared to the rest of the building. “Have a seat.” He motioned to an armchair in front of his desk, and as he sat down, he couldn’t help but ask a question that had been burning in his mind.

“Is there something wrong with me?”

There was a silence for a moment. “The same thing that’s wrong with any of us, if you see it that way. But your powers aren’t anything to be afraid of.” Tony let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. “So, Tony, would you mind telling me about yourself?”

And that was how it began. Every week from then on, he’d talk to Xavier or one of the others so he could start controlling his powers, and he’d occasionally spend a week or two at the school when he had the chance. And then Jean Grey arrived a year later, with powers similar to him, and her boyfriend, Scott, a few weeks after her. Once he’d got around to talking to them they didn’t seem too bad, they became friends, and then… all hell broke loose.

“Okay, so I had an idea for a prank on Janine.” Scott started, glasses flickering in the light. Tony laughed softly. He was certain Jean and Scott were insane.

He loved them anyway.

Jean sighed, almost on cue, and Tony smiled at her rolled eyes. “You’re going to get us into so much trouble, you know that right?” She leaned against the wall of the corridor, looking at Scott disapprovingly, but Tony could tell she was hiding a smile. She seemed to enjoy this stuff more than the rest of them.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around.” Jean shrugged. “Seriously, you get into even more trouble than him when I’m not here. You two are setting such a bad example.”

The couple looked at each other, then said in unison, “But if we’re not making trouble, there isn’t any fun!” He shook his head at them, as Scott continued. “Seriously, I think we can get away with this one. It’s reall-”

“Tony?” Francesca interrupted, entering the corridor. “You’ve got a call from someone called… Rhodey? He said you’d know who it was.”

He nodded, following her into the next room and picking up the phone. “Honeybear, how are you?”

“Tony? I… God…” He could hear shallow breaths through the phone.

“Rhodey, what’s wrong?” Jean and Scott looked at him questioningly, but he held up a finger to silence them. “Take a breath, okay?”

Tony listened to the voices in the background until Rhodey began speaking again. “Look, Tony, you need to go look at the news, right now.”

“Why? What’s going on?” He turned back to the two behind him. “Jean, would you mind putting the news on in the living room?” She nodded, leaving with Scott, and Tony heard her shouting for the others to move out her way.

“Tony, just, uh… Try not to panic. You’ll be okay. You just need-”

“TONY!” Jean’s alarmed yell cut him off. What the hell was going on?

“I’ll call you back.” He put the phone down, pushing through the kids in front of the TV, barely noticing the ones staring worriedly at him.

“-of Howard and Maria Stark. It is unknown whether any others were in the car at the time, but both Howard and Maria Stark were killed in the accident. According to Stark’s butler, he was heading towards New York City, possibly on the way to see his son at school there, and-”

Tony froze.

He didn’t notice the tear rolling down his cheek, or the quietly whispered no that escaped his mouth. He didn’t notice himself slipping to the floor, eyes glued to the image of the destroyed car on screen. He didn’t notice Scott and Jean kneeling down next to him and wrapping an arm around him, whispering words of comfort he couldn’t understand.

His mom was dead.

The next day, Xavier had explained what was happening outside the mansion. People were looking for him, for the son of the great Howard Stark to return to the public. He didn’t have much choice but to leave.

But then there was the funeral.

He’d tried, and managed, to live up to the public’s expectations, spouting a few lies about his father and forcing out a few tears, listing a few traits Jarvis had shown and hoping for the best that it would be good enough for them. He hadn’t cared. He’d returned to the mansion for a few days before leaving for good, staying in his room with Jean and Scott and trying to avoid the press, their questions bringing back painful memories he wanted to forget.

Then he left, taking over Stark Industries at twenty one, with Obadiah pushing him to follow his father’s footsteps, to design better weapons and keep up SI - the ‘Stark Legacy’ - now that Howard Stark couldn’t. It was a weapons company. Tony had barely listened to him, creating enough of them to keep the man off of his back, instead creating more defensive than offensive. Stane glared when he didn’t get the new missiles he wanted on time, but the military were happy enough getting less weapons when their communications improved, and their soldiers had better body armour.

But he couldn’t forget Scott, Jean, Xavier, his other life. Tony couldn’t risk visiting, not after returning so soon to the public, but he managed to make sure tech was sent to the mansion every few weeks to try and help them along in his absence, much to the delight of some of the kids - the first month he’d sent a full set of phones and laptops after he’d heard of them struggling with the ancient tech they had there, the next time a new visor for Scott, a chair for Xavier, extra funds appearing in bank accounts to help the kids along.

It was something he could do, at least.