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It was a well-known fact in the spy world that a small percentage of humans had an extra active gene, some would have the X-gene that would cause those with the gene to mutate in odd ways. Others would have what was being called the ancient gene or A-gene. An active A-gene would give the person the ability to shift into an animal. The form they would take were considered to be proof of who the person was on a soul level.
As a founding member of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division or SHIELD Howard Stark was a person with some of this information and it disgusted him. He considered those with either gene abominations and as such he was moved away from any operation to do with either gene. Howard had instead focused on finding Captain Steve Rogers.
Young Anthony Stark, Howard’s only child, was a genius and as such at the age of four he presented his disinterested father with his first cobbled together circuit board made from his torn apart and re-purposed toys. Howard had been drinking, depressed with the failure of his teams to find anything related to Steve Rogers. As his son presented him with the sub-par and imperfect circuit board, hazed brown eyes glanced over the circuit noting how it was incorrect and Howard lost what little composure he had left. Howard lashed out whipping the board at the floor just in front of his heir.
“This is disgraceful.” He slurs, voice harsh. The four-year-old cowers away from the resulting debris of the delicate engineering slamming into the hardwood floors. “Incompetent, useless, ungrateful brat.” He snarls staggering to his feet glaring at the small form of Anthony. Stumbling the few steps to Anthony he back hands the boy causing the youngling to cry out as he falls to the floor hitting his head. The child curled into a ball sniffling.
With the mocking voices of the excavation teams, SHIELD, and Maria running through his drunken mind Howard shuffles forward baring his teeth. It was time to teach this brat a valuable lesson about how the world works. Anthony curls tighter into a ball as Howard moves closer. For half a second Howard ponders if he should stop, if he should call someone to save the innocent before him. Then the mocking voices of his brain kick back into gear and the drunkard stumbles another few steps forward.
Suddenly the air seems to shift, and Howard closes his eyes to center himself and when he opens his eyes there is a small white and golden-brown fluff ball where his heir had been curled not even a moment ago. Howard grinds his teeth together as he strides forward feeling more sober than he had been in weeks. The heir to his empire was one of those A-gene abominations, Howard couldn’t believe his eyes, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was standing before the cowering fur where his heir had been, he wouldn’t have guessed that it was Anthony.
“MARIA!” Howard screeched out standing above the cowering scruff, blazing eyes searing into the wild animal. Sharp staccato steps answer his call and Howard knows that his wife was on her way. This appalling gene was passed down through the blood line, Howard was aware of that much at least and he knew that there was none of that in his family line, there is no way that his bloodline would carry such a horrible gene.
The clack of heels on wood stopped with the creaking of the door. Howard glanced up narrowing his eyes on Maria’s still body. She doesn’t say anything just taking in the scene before her. She takes a hesitant step into the room eyes on the shivering fur at his feet.
“This is your fault!” He hollers waving a hand at the brat. “Your bloodline has tarnished the Stark blood with this abomination.” He stumbles over to her his fingers digging into the delicate flesh of her underarm, yanking Maria’s form into his own as he forces her closer to the abomination.
“Howard please, what’s wrong?” Maria asks her voice shaking.
“You birthed this disgrace; it came from your blood!” He shouts waving his free hand at the mess before him. Maria’s eyes widen and she pulls out of his grip.
“A-anthony?” Maria kneels gracefully down beside the fluff and pulls the creature onto her lap. Howard snarls and stamps forward moving to grab the monster out of his wife’s hands.
“I’ll take care of your damn mess.”
Maria pulls out of his range and Howard stumbles forward, listing to the side collapsing to the ground. Maria stands with the brown fur running to the door. “You put a hand on my child again and I will strike you down where you stand.” Maria states clacking away from the room.
Howard snarls stumbling to his feet, he strides to the door slamming it shut then making his way sloppily back over to his drinks, poring another drink and slamming it back.
:::
Anthony cowered in a darkened corner under one of the workstations eyes screwed shut as he listened to the heavy footfalls of his father ring through the workshop. His half naked body frozen as Howard shouted, “Get out here ungrateful brat!”, Anthony curled into himself as the footsteps drew closer. The small child pressed his fist against his mouth stifling his sobs. “I’m helping the world to be rid of you abominations!” Howard snarled pacing closer to Anthony's hiding spot and the boy pressed tighter into the corner desperately trying to stifle his crying. Anthony was determined not to let his father find him as he smothered his noises behind his small trembling hands.
“Master Stark,” Edwin Jarvis stepped into the room his arms folded against his back trying to keep his face blank and his eyes forward. Intent on making sure that his eyes didn’t stray to young Anthony’s position. “There is a call for you from the Director.”
Howard spun on his heel immediately a snarl on his lips, he looked oddly feral in that moment. Edwin kept his face blank as Howard prowled closer and passed him a sneer on his lips. As the master of the house left, Edwin glanced about catching Anthony crawling further under the worktable. The butler took a moment to listen to the stomping footsteps of Master Stark fade off and his voice grow louder as he grabbed the phone.
“Come Young Master, it’s time to go see Ana and your Mother for shifting lessons.” Edwin’s voice was soft and his posture loose and welcoming as he watched Anthony slowly crawl out from his hiding spot.
“Why?” Anthony whispered his eyes on his face as his hands twined together.
“So that you may learn to use the wolf to your advantage.” Edwin stated in a no-nonsense tone and Anthony dipped his head in agreement.
“Da… Howard doesn’t like I it though, he wants to remove it from my DNA.” Edwin frowned at Anthony’s words.
“Your mother would not allow Master Stark to do such a thing, your forms are a gift from the gods young master.” Edwin stated matter-of-factly watching as Anthony shifted in spot a sheepish look on his face. “Come now young master, your lessons await.” Edwin stepped away from the door.
Anthony slowly walked slowly to the door glancing around worriedly looking for Howard. Edwin directed the young ma around the occupied office, where Howard was raging at whatever Margret was telling him. Anthony flinched when Howard’s raised voice reached them. Edwin placed a gentle hand on Anthony’s back guiding him to the chosen practice room.
Ana opened the door at Edwin’s knock offering a bright smile to the young master, who gave a small smile in return. Edwin pressed a chaste kiss to his wife’s cheek before heading off to waylay the master of the house for a couple of hours.
:::
As the door closed behind him Anthony kept his body tense waiting for the other shoe to drop, his eyes scanning the room. Maria sat before the empty fireplace at the grand piano gently pressing the keys, playing a lullaby that she had soothed Anthony with many a night. He wandered up to her standing beside her as she continued to play. Anthony sat beside her as she scooted down the bench. “Join me bambino.” And what was Anthony to do but follow the song along with her, his notes far deeper than her own. They playfully duetted for a few more minutes as Ana settled down to meditate. Short minutes later the song drew to a close and Maria smiled brightly at Anthony pressing a kiss to his temple. He smiled sadly and Maria spoke softly, “Time to meditate for the shift piccolo.” She stated and Anthony nodded sliding off of the piano bench and settling across from Ana taking a deep breath and struggling to quiet his mind enough to focus on his inner animal. Just as he was growing frustrated enough to give up Ana’s soft matronly voice filled the silence.
“Take a moment to notice how your body feels. Observe, without trying to change anything.” Her eyes remained closed even as Anthony watches her trying to force his mind to relax as he had done for the last two meditations. Ana took a deep breath, “Notice any areas of tension.... and notice which parts of your body feel relaxed.” Anthony tried to allow his tense shoulders to relax as he watched his mother out of the corner of his eye. He was taking in all that he could fighting the urge to relax to Ana’s soft voice he had to be aware if Howard was going to be in the area. It was something that he didn’t even realize he needed to do until this moment where he craved to relax.
Ana smiled her eyes still shut, “Anthony, I need you to turn your attention to your breathing.” She instructed and Anthony nodded, placing his whole focus on his breathing, trusting that his family would keep Howard away from the ballroom. Ana’s voice slowed as she continued to instruct him. “Breathe slowly, deeply... in... and out... in... out...”
Anthony followed her words his mind skittering from one thought to another. Still breathing in and out of Ana’s count, he struggled to keep his focus on only her voice and his breathing. They had tried three different meditation techniques so far, and none had properly. His thoughts circled around projects he had overheard Howard speaking of, what his shifter skin would look like, if he wanted to be a shifter, the pain of last night when Howard was spewing venom at him… his mind swiftly spiraled down until Ana’s voice penetrated the chaotic haze.
“As you continue to breathe, count each breath out. In...” She took a deep breath in and Anthony mimicked her trying to cling onto her voice. “One...” Ana counted on her out breath starting to take another breath. “In… and two…” She continued and Anthony grabbed onto the numbers using them to ground as he normally did, using the equations and chemical formulas he knew to contain his outbursts.
Anthony could feel his muscles relaxing as he continued to breathe and count alongside Ana, sometimes counting aloud but mostly silently counting in a random equation that equaled the number he was on. More ways to engage his overactive mind and calm it. He didn’t know how long they sat there as he breathed with more and more complex equations. A pleasant haze covered him as he felt like he was floating on numbers.
“Now you can stop counting, and simply relax for a few moments. Just be.” Ana’s voice instructed and from within the haze she sounded so far away, and Anthony smiled, he could do that. Just be? Easy. “Imagine an empty frame hanging before you, the frame can be whatever you choose.” An empty blueprint settled before him, framed in a thin silver metal. He watched the empty blueprint as hazy lines started to fill it. “Let the frame fill with whatever your mind chooses.” Ana’s voice whispered to him and Anthony nodded. Watching as the shape of an animal started to appear on the paper, a blueprint of a young wolf, sketched itself out. Then color was added, startling Anthony as he had never thought of blueprints having color. Some white and brown, darker colors filled the rest of the image out slowly and Anthony knew that this was his form.
He smiled, it was gorgeous, and he knew that he could never tire of being in that form, the pleasant haze around him keeping his mind calm as he took in every detail. Committing it to memory, this was his other skin, this was him.
Ana’s soft voice filtered through the haze surrounding him, “Turn your attention to your surroundings. Notice the sights and sounds around you as you become more aware and alert.” He frowned; this place was one that Anthony would gladly stay in. Her voice continued to try to coax him out of the haze surrounding him. “Move your arms and legs, feeling your body reawaken. Stretch if you want to. Feel your body waking up.” Anthony grumbled and he wanted to growl as he followed the orders.
He shifted himself noticing that he was not sitting in the position he had been in before, instead laying down on his stomach. He glanced up with half glazed eyes staring at his mother’s bright smile. He whined as he tried to push himself up and he glanced down, pausing at the sight of paws instead of hands.
Anthony freezes starting at the fur covering what had once been his arms. He struggled to stand up the way his human brain assumed that he should stand. After a few tries he huffed and felt a presence at the back of his mind. He prodded at it and it huffed at him, showing him how to stand.
Anthony tilted his head before trying to project curiosity at the other presence. I am yours and you are mine. The presence grumbled at him and part of Anthony wanted to freeze and freak out but the other, stronger part of him, the part that craved love and attention warmed at the possessive tone of the other, the warmth of the other voice as it seemed to fill his senses.
It made him feel better about the situation with Howard. The elder man didn’t know what he was talking about when he called Anthony an uncontrolled beast. This showed him that the animal part of the gene was controlled, and they were inexorably connected. All of Howard’s theories were proven wrong with Anthony being able to connect with his inner animal. Mine. The thought bounced around his head as voices drew him back from his head.
“Anthony… bambino?” The voice was familiar, and he looked up to see Maria kneeling before him smiling. “Seems the meditation worked this time.” She stated glancing over to Ana who sat with a bright smile. Anthony sits and wags his tail as he stares up at his mother. This was something he had always feared, since the first time he had shifted, and Howard panicked. But he realized now that it was nothing to fear. It was something wonderful.
:::
Young Anthony continued to grow and thrive, inventing and experimenting enjoying the science that he was surrounded with being he Stark heir. Things at home changed when Anthony was fourteen, he had been minding his own business avoiding Howard and keeping his nose down when his world vanished into blackness.
When he woke, Anthony was strapped down to a table and he reached out to his wolf even as panic clawed at his chest. His heart raced as he stilled on the table, he had been trained by Jarvis on what to do if he was kidnapped. Following the instructions that whispered through his mind in the voice of the kindly butler Anthony cracked his eyes open barely to see that Howard stood over him with a manic look on his face. The inventor was muttering something under his breath as he wielded a needle, the older Stark was so focused on the thoughts running through his mind that he failed to notice Anthony’s flinch.
Anthony pushed for his wolf side as he watched Howard mutter, his father turned away and Anthony tugged at the binding, wiggling and willing himself to be free all while reaching for his wolf who had vanished from the back of his mind. The panic grew as he realized that the wolf was seemingly gone from his mind completely. Anthony tried to calm himself and think logically though he was pulled out of his thoughts by Howard’s voice.
“You are awake, wonderful we can begin the experiment.” The elder’s voice held a note of excitement and all Anthony could feel was dread. Howard had always threatened drunkenly to cut the abomination right out of his son and now that was becoming a reality. A reality that Anthony desperately wanted out of. He tried to wiggle free of the bonds as Howard drew closer. “None of that now Anthony.” Howard cooed in a facsimile of comfort as Anthony tried to thrash away.
Anthony hoped that someone would come through the lab door with something to distract Howard, yet all his hopes were in vain as Howard pressed the needle against his skin. “The first dose seems to have functioned properly as the abomination has not been able to take over the test subjects’ human skin.” Howard stated and Anthony belated realized that Howard was recording the process. “This,” Howard stated gesturing to the injection site. “Is a chemical compound that I believe will diminish the abomination’s grip on the test subject.”
Anthony struggled to jerk his arm away from Howard redoubling his efforts to escape and to bring forth his wolf, if Howard was correct then… Anthony didn’t want to think of what would happen to him if he lost the wolf, an intrinsic part of him, something that had been with him his whole life even if he wasn’t aware of it. “No, no, no.” Anthony mumbled as he thrashed on the table.
“Sit still Anthony.” Howard growled as the young teen continued to struggle on the table. “This is for the greater good. You will understand one day.” Howard stated grabbing Anthony’s wrist and pinning it to the table. “I am doing this for you.” As the needle broke the skin Anthony couldn’t help but let the panic overwhelm him, tears springing to his eyes and his breathing rushed.
Howard pressed the injector and then took a step back “Now that the injection has been completed, we must wait and observe. The panic of the test subject will allow us to gain results quicker as the blood circulates.” With that sentence Anthony’s mind immediately raced, he could give himself more time if he just settled his heart rate down then someone could save him, or he could save himself. He just needed more time.
Trying to rein in his panic was harder than he had expected, he started with numbers. Complex equations that had always settled him in a way that only his Mother’s music had before. He ran the equations while he reached for the wolf, who was still oddly absent from his mind. Anxiety over the fact that perhaps Howard had succeeded tried to claw its way forth, but Anthony pushed it back knowing that it was something to worry about once he was free from here.
Anthony knew that talking sense into Howard wouldn’t work as his mother had tried on multiple occasions only to end up with a bruise and tears streaming down her face. The panic still clawed at his chest as he glanced around the room. He needed a way out of here and he was a genius inventor. Anthony’s eyes roved the room as equations still ran through his head. Howard was leaning back against the table eyes focused on Anthony’s form, the camera sat on its tripod across from the elder man. A rolling tray sat near Anthony’s feet filled with what, he didn’t know. The counter Howard leaned against was clean of mess and large objects though there were papers strewn about the surface. Glancing to his right the camera sat on a counter along with some larger equipment that Anthony recognized from a biology course that he had taken. There was nothing within reach and crying out hadn’t worried Howard so the elder was certain that no one could hear him or that nothing was around to care… or Anthony thought watching Howard’s waiting form, the elder male had finally gone ‘round the bend.
Taking a fortifying breath Anthony opened his mouth, “Help! Hello pl-” Howard surged forward and covered the noise his work rough fingers gouging into Anthony’s cheek.
“I thought you would want to help me Anthony.” Howard muttered smothering anything else that Anthony tried to say. “But I will silence you if you continue to act like a child.” Anthony tried to shake off the hand, yet Howard clung on. “There is to be silence during any experiment haven’t I told you that before?”
Anthony shook his head in reply, he would have to come up with another idea. There must be another way to deal with this. Would annoying his father work? He hadn’t cried around his father for years, but the last couple of times Howard had reacted in disgust, maybe that was the way to get out of this. Anthony’s mind was growling even as the drug seemed to take affect and the thoughts became fuzzy… his mind was growling? The wolf was still there. His wolf was alive and awake, though it seemed to also be reacting to the drugs. As Howard backed off with Anthony’s silence the young teen felt tears spring to his eyes. His wolf was alive!
The silent tears of joy and hope ran down his face, and he heard Howard scoff. Anthony was focused inward now. If he could shift a small part of him or if he could take on the attributes perhaps there was a way out that they could work together on. He tried to focus on the familiar words that Ana spoke, trying to find a memory of their meditations together. He would contact his wolf.
Relaxing his limbs Anthony allowed Howard to think that he had won whilst Anthony centered himself, he could hear Ana’s voice through the haze of drugs as he forced his brain to focus. He’s a genius, a wolf, a predator and he would not allow the prey to get the better of him. The familiar cadence of the mediation took him down a well-worn neural pathway to the room with the blueprint frame. He stared at the empty frame for a moment turning to the wolf that lie on it’s side panting.
‘Hello my friend.’ Anthony thought to the wolf, petting his side gently.
‘You are mine and I am yours.’ The wolf replied and Anthony smiled dropping a soft kiss to the wolf’s snout.
‘I am yours and you are mine. We are one in the same.’ Anthony replied softly, ‘We are in danger and we must work together.’ The wolf before him panted and struggled to sit up.
‘The traitor alpha attacked us.’ The wolf stated, ‘We will protect.’ The tawny wolf struggled to it’s paws Anthony guiding him to stand. Once the wolf was on his feet Anthony wrapped his arms around him.
The mindscape around them violently shifted from a calm lab to a stormy nature scene. The trees around them quivered and quaked the sky lit up with each strike of lightning and the winds ripped through them. Anthony curled up more firmly against the wolf before him and the injured wolf tried to protect him from the storm. Anthony could feel panic trying to work its way back through his body as he curled up the wolf above him howling into the sky.
The wind kicked up faster swirling though their little clearing, the storm raged, and Anthony found it harder and harder to stay within his mindscape as the drug ravaged the landscape around them. Anthony whimpered and curled up tighter as the storm grew stronger and stronger. The wolf before him curled around him without a noise simply protecting him as well as he could with what the wolf had.
The land around them shook and Anthony clutched at the fur before him. Digging his hands into the fur thinking of how desperately he wished to shift into the fur and become the wolf. The first words the wolf spoke to him rang through his mind. They were one…. They… were… one…
Anthony curled against the wolf, he was within his own mindscape and he was a genius, so there must be something he could do with his mind. Anthony didn’t know anything about the drug, but he did know his mind. “We are one.” He stated out loud within his mind, “We are one. I am the wolf and the wolf is me.” He repeated the words again and again the wolf joining him in the words as the storm continued around them.
The storm seemed to last for ages yet Anthony with his voice becoming hoarser and hoarser continued to chant with the wolf who seemed to be sinking into his skin. The mantra continued even when the storm finally settled, and the world stopped to shake. When Anthony opened his eyes, words trailing off his noticed that the wolf was gone he glanced around the clearing but couldn’t see the wolf, panic filled his being and he struggled to stand yet he could not. Looking down he froze. Paws… he was the wolf. There was no more voice of the wolf within his head… they had truly become one.
Anthony felt as if he wanted to cry but he held firm and started to shift back to human within his mind. The change came with pain and he cried out as the pain overtook him lying on his side panting, he watched fascinated as the fur slowly started to recede his front paws shifting before his eyes to familiar hands and arms. They were one. They were no longer they. Anthony was a wolf. As he stood human within the nature scene, he could smell the lab clearly. He could almost taste the alcohol that cloaked Howard.
Anthony slowly pulled himself out of his mindscape. The drug had finished its course and now it was time for him to get out of here. The smell of the lab was nearly overwhelming as he came out of his meditative state. His senses were sharpened, and Anthony could feel how the leather straps were pressing into his skin, how Howard's breath had picked up along with his heart rate, and the pungent scent of chemicals swirled in the air around him. Anthony groaned as he opened his eyes the light almost blinding him for the barest of moments.
“It worked.” Howard stated staring down at Anthony with shock and awe in his eyes. Anthony held back the need to growl at the elder male and instead tried to press against the bindings trying to force them off now that he had the wolf within him. He snarled and continued to struggle as Howard’s euphoria turned to disgust at Anthony’s noise. “It didn’t work.” The elder stated turning back to the counter. “I had everything perfect, it worked with the test subject’s blood but not with the body…” The man mumbled as Anthony continued to thrash against the bindings. “There was no reason it wouldn’t work.”
Anthony tried to bring his breath and rage back under control before crying out for help. Howard continued to mumble to himself as he searched for the notes and Anthony prayed that someone was looking for him and could hear him. Anthony strained to hear any noise between his calls and Howard’s ravings, there had to be some way to get out of here. “Master Stark.” A familiar voice called out and Anthony could just now make out Jarvis’ scent past the chemicals.
“Jarvis! Help!” Anthony called out as Howard reached for more papers. “Please Jarvis!” Footsteps quickened to Anthony’s side and Jarvis paled as he looked over the scene. All Anthony could feel was relief as Jarvis stepped to his side and started to unlatch the bindings.
“Young Sir.” Jarvis breathed out as Howard continued to mutter to himself so absorbed in the failure that he didn’t even try to stop their interaction.
“Thank god you’re here.” Anthony whispered his voice gentle yet oddly hoarse as he hadn’t made that much of a ruckus. Jarvis gently pulled the bindings off helping Anthony sit up.
“Oh god.” The mumbled words startled Anthony as he had never heard Jarvis use that language before. “Jesus. We need to get you to Ana.” Anthony sighed nodding, he would submit to a look over, though he really felt fine even with the serum that Howard had injected him with.
:::
Ana rushed forward reaching out to grab him and his mother sat in shocked horror as Jarvis and him limped into the room. Anthony’s head spun as they had made the trek from Howard's isolation lab back to the house and to Ana and Maria.
“Master Stark was with him, in the isolation lab.” Jarvis stated a frown flitting across his face. Anthony groaned as he was settled into the chair. He assumed that he had bruises from the straps but really didn’t want to look at them. He needed to process what had happened to him and his wolf. As Ana moved to crouch next to him so that she could look him over Anthony allowed his eyes to close and his head to drop against the back of the chair. He knew that they were going to ask questions, so he feigned sleep and focused on listening to the things around him. The sounds were sharper and much crisper then he ever remembered sound being. If he focused, he could make out the conversation between two maids who sounded as if they were in the room. The scent of the fear and concern coming from the three adults made Anthony want to get up and hide in his den, instead he forced himself to remain limp and looking as though he was sleeping as he took in the new range of his senses. One thing at a time, he reminded himself as he relaxed. Ana’s gentle hands and the soft mixture of his mother and Jarvis’ voices had Anthony relaxing even further.
“We need to get him out of Howard’s reach.” His mother whispered, “We could see if he could start college?”
Jarvis hummed, “Where though? What school is outside Howard’s reach, or would be far enough away that Howard wouldn’t go after young Anthony?”
Maria sighed and Anthony could almost see her slumped figure. “Howard has been making noise about sending Anthony out to college. Not that he was kind about it.” The last phrase muttered under her breath. “He has always flown through the classes with the tutors and he’s been experimenting since he was young.”
“Perhaps we should ask Young Sir and see if he is amenable to applying. The sooner he is safe from Master Stark the better.” Jarvis stated and Anthony couldn’t help the sweeping feeling of both warmth that they wanted him safe, and abandonment because they wanted to send him away. He could still feel Ana’s hands against his skin moving his limbs, rubbing ointment on where his body throbbed. Her voice murmuring as she continued to work. It was grounding to him as he allowed his senses to go further and further out from himself.
He could hear the maids a couple of doors down, he could just make out the noise from the kitchen, the cooks preparing for a meal. The smells swirled around him and it was odd how easy it was to pick out the different flavors of smell that meant subtle things. He allowed the feeling of Ana to bring him back to himself as he focused on her steady heartbeat falling into an uneasy sleep.
:::
Anthony did end up going to college, he went to MIT and found that he enjoyed it to no end. He created his first rudimentary AI DUM-E. He was flying through his classes, sometimes testing out of them after the first couple of weeks. He met his best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a man who was willing to put up with Anthony’s outlandish and waspish nature. It was Rhodey who started calling him Tony. It was Rhodey who helped him move past Howard's callous treatment of his shifter side.
Rhodey was his stone when Ana had found a tumor and through her battles with cancer and subsequent death. He was the one who Tony called first when he found out about his mother and Rhodey is the one who kept him from doing the worst when Jarvis had died to a heart attack a short few years later.
It was shortly after the incident as Tony preferred to call it that he worked up the courage to show his best friend his animal side. After a terrifying silence Rhodey had shifted as well into a black bear. A black bear that huffed at him and then came up to curl into his side. It was Rhodey who helped him to accept that not all people react badly to the A-gene.
Rhodey helped him through so much and it was his bear of a friend that abandoned him to join the air force and left him in Obie’s clutches.
Tony had always been inventing new weapons for Stark Industries after his father died, though he kept some of his other inventions hidden away until Obie found some of his ponderings on medical equipment that they expanded, a few years later Tony took over the company and the media over-inflated his actions to the point where he gave up trying to be anything in public but what the public thought.
He reveled in the chaos he brought to those around him, and though he did settle down into being CEO and head of R&D for Stark Industries while also spiraling into alcoholism. It’s what the public were calling him to be and though the alcohol had an affect on him it wasn’t strong, which is why he ended up drinking so much just to feel the pleasant buzz of not having to sort through his racing thoughts. He drank, signed paperwork, and invented his company’s way to the top of the industry, its how he met Virginia Potts and Harold Hogan with Pepper as his PA and Happy as his driver and bodyguard.
He let Obie take over the day to day running of the company and Tony was able to finally find his groove. A way to build weapons and to actually experiment and enjoy it. He created another AI in memory of his true father Edwin Jarvis, and he started to ease off the drinking while still playing up the playboy aspect of his life, he enjoyed the sex well enough. It kept most people at an arms distance and brought new people into his influence but not close enough he had to check his back for a blade.
Creating U and Butterfingers just made his created little family complete. JARVIS, DUM-E, U, and Butterfingers were the only ones he could speak frankly with. The only ones that didn’t require anything from him or held him up to impossible standards. They just let him be himself either human or wolf and that comforted Tony immensely.
For the next couple of years life seemed to be going well enough until it shifted sharply again on a fateful visit to Afghanistan, starting with his own invention being dropped on his head.
