Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

December 5th, 1997

Tony looked down at a tiny blue bundle. His son. But they knew he wouldn't survive. He had just been born at only twenty-three and a half weeks, just five days before the age of pregnancy viability, plus he had an aneurysm that they couldn't operate on because of where it was and how small he was. "Alex, Alexander Anthony Stark." The blond women, Hannah said. He wasn't sure if he really loved her even, but she knew that being with Tony would be better than anything else, even if they didn't exactly love each other. Tony just nodded at the name. Soon her head the familiar trill of a heart monitor.

"I'm sorry, he's gone." The doctor, Dr. Levine said.* She had the same name as the doctor who killed Master Yashida, but she wasn't evil. She had just gotten out of human medical school actually, but she had been working with heroes and people who just have powers for a lot longer, she just had to go through human medical school in addition to her on the job at Mighty Med and one of .S.H.E.I.L.D.'s hospitals. "I'm sorry, it's a rare complication of Down's syndrome." Tony was alarmed. "Down's syndrome?" He asked worriedly. Dr. Levine nodded. "You know how she miscarried the other babies because of Loki?"

Tony sadly nodded. "Well sometimes multiples have a higher chance of birth defects and genetic abnormalities, even in Super Heroes. Or Super Villains for that matter. Though with good prenatal care, the risk is a lot less for most birth defects. Maybe he just got bad sperm or a bad egg or something." Dr. Levine explained. Hannah frowned. This was her one chance top have her own kids and not be forced to give them up for adoption. She started crying softly, holding Alex. Tony didn't know how to react, gently wrapping his arms around Hannah and looking at Alex, slowly touching his head. Before Hannah closed his eyes, he saw that Alex had one brown eye like him and one blue eye like Hannah.

Tony had never thought about having kids, but he had been excited when they had found out that Hannah was pregnant. But then Loki and Ezekiel killed three of the four babies. They weren't sure why they had started with quads, but Hannah's kids whom she was forced to give up for adoption had been two different sets of twins. And now this happened. Tony thought.

Later that Day, somewhere near Seattle, Washington: 18:00 (6 PM)

"I got a sample of sperm from Tony Stark." One of Faculty XY's guards told Dr/Mr. Nathan Winthrop, who ran the faculty. The faculty's purpose was creating an army of super powers teenagers, bionic teenagers to be exact. He claimed that Donald stole his idea for the bionics, when Nathan himself actually was not involved with creating the bionics at all. "Good." He's one of the smartest people in the world besides that bastard Donald Davenport." The guard nodded. "What should I do with it?" He asked, almost disgusted by the little container he had in his hands. "Take it to the genetics lab. The workers there will know what to do with it."

Eight Months Later, Faculty XY, 09:00 (9 AM) (September 1998):

One of the scientists from the genetics department, Dr. Lane looks down at the containment unit she was transferring the embryo too. This was where the new recruit, ahem, subject would grow and develop just as any pre- birth baby should. She told herself that her working for Mr. Winthrop was the right thing even though she knew it wasn't. But she needed money, and it wasn't like she was able to find any other jobs, having been fresh out of college with little to no work experience otherwise. And the job payed semi- well for how mean Mr. Winthrop was.

She felt bad for the little ball of cells. After all, he or she would be growing up in a horrible place, especially in the embryo turned out to be a girl. Dr. Lane wished to someday have children of her own if it happened, but Mr. Winthrop would never let her quit. He had never said it outright, but she had seen how he treated everyone else, the guards especially. For now, he tried to be nice to her since she was one of his top scientists.

She watched as the embryo wiggled around, testing out it's new environment. Part of their jobs in the genetic center of the faculty was to make sure that none of the testing subjects ended up with genetic abnormalities. Cancer was another story. Mr. Winthrop had said that if it happened, he would just keep them around until they croaked. He didn't care. All he wanted was revenge, but she and most of the others didn't know what for.

Seven Months Later, Falculty XY, 0600 (Six AM) (May 1999):

Ashlyn sighed as she looked down at the containment unit. The baby had turned out to be a girl. In the back of her mind she had come up with a name for her. Serina Cassidy. She would never have a last name of course. She sighed as she watched the litllle girl move around, kicking, punching and rolling around. "I wish I was pregnant, or that I could adopt her." Ashlyn whispered, sighing deeper as she glanced down at her stomach.

Two Months Later, Faculty XY, 0700 (Seven AM) (July 16th, 1999):

Ashlyn checked little Serina's heat rate and other vital stats before starting the daunting task of removing her from her Containment Unit. She pressed the button to drain the indestructible glass tube, leaning on the counter, lifting Serina out when the tube was almost done draining and cutting her makeshift umbilical cord. Ashlyn cleaned and diapered Serina, dressing her in a miniture version of the Faculty XY subject uniform, which was skin tight spandex as she began to cry. Ashlyn grabbed the special formula for bionic babies, making a bottle before sitting down and beginning to feed Serina.

Serina cooed softly as Ashlyn burped her, gently rocking her to sleep before putting her in her pod crib. Little did Ashlyn know that Nathan was watching them, smirking. She's going to be powerful when she grows up, just like her father, who doesn't even know about her. And I haven't even put her chip in yet. He thought, grinning evilly. Ashlyn then carefully tucked Serina in, not wanting to leave her by herself since she was just a baby. But she also had other things to do, like check on the other subjects, two of them being James and Isis. So she hoped that Seria would be ok while she checked on them.

James was only a year and two months old, while Isis was two years old, going to be three in November. James had Super Strength and Super Speed, and he would develop Telekinesis and Shape-shifting as he got older. Though he was already discovering his shape-shifting somewhat now. Isis had Super Speed, Smarts, and Strength. She also has Telepathy and will develop Aerokinesis once she gets older. They had separate rooms since that was what Mr. Winthrop wanted.

With Serina, she will have at least Super Smarts and Speed.** Ashlyn otherwise didn't know what Mr. Winthrop's plans for her. All the rest she knew was that Serina would be important for whatever he had planed.

Tony woke up one morning to find a note on his nightstand. As he read it, his heart stopped, and he walked to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He didn't understand. Despite what happened, he loved Hannah. Tony drank down the whiskey, pouring himself another glass. "Sir, isn't too early to be drinking alcohol?" JARVIS asked. "No." Tony said simply, just staring towards the piece of paper.

Dear Tony,

I am sorry to say this, but I can't stay here anymore. I love you, but ever since we lost Alexander, things haven't been the same. There are things from my past that haunt me, and I don't know how I can talk to you about them when I've kept them from you. I wish things were different, but they aren't. If they were different though, then this might now have happened. I wish I could explain, but then, I can't. I love you so much though.

Hannah.

Tony drank the last few drops of his second glass of whiskey before throwing the cup across the room, breaking it. He then sat down on the floor, crying and eating the omelet JARVIS made him so he wouldn't get sick from the alcohol.

Chapter Text

~Chapter 1~

2013

Tony threw himself into his work, working on a few inventions. He was working on building a more complex robot. Sure, he had robot arms, but other people were already working on cyborg-like robots."Sir, would you like me to make you some food?" Jarvis asked, his voice coming through the speakers. "Yeah, whatever Jarvis. Tony answered, only half paying attention. His brain didn't even register that he hadn't eaten since Pepper had picked up Pizza the night before. Pepper was still asleep, sleeping off her food coma. She was tossing and turning, trashing around in her bed. Jarvis set the kitchen to make an egg white omelet with mushrooms, spinach, and other veggies for Tony. Once his food was done, a motorized cart brought it to Tony. Tony took the plate and the orange juice, picking at the omelet and guzzling the juice. "Sir, is the food acceptable?" Jarvis asked. "It's fine Jarvis." Tony said. Jarvis then turned off. Tony continued eating, making sure not to spill his orange juice. He put his dishes back on on the cart when he was done, which brought the dishes back to the kitchen. Tony yawned. He was tired because even though he had fallen asleep at 8:30, he had woken up at 2:30 am. Not that he minded of course, after all he was used to staying up late and waking up early or vice versa.

Tony sighed as as he monotonously worked on the prototype of the robot. He sighed deeply as the thought of Alexander crept into his mind. He was Iron Man fod God's sake, yet he couldn't forget something that happened almost 16 years ago for fucking crying out loud. Tony did love his late son, but whenever he thought about Alexander, he thought about Hannah. Hannah. She was his first true love. Tony had met Hannah at first because she was studying to be a Chemist. Even then, they instantly clicked. Hannah even said yes when Tony asked her out, and not just because he was the heir to Stark Industries. Tony got a lot of women that just wanted to date him for his money. They always just ended up as a quick fuck.

Those women didn't mean a thing to Tony, he just needed an escape. Of course, Tony was careful. He always used condoms and never went bareback even if he knew the person. After all, you can never truly know someone these days. Even with Tony being a little bit of a player, there were a lot of untrue stories out there. More false stories than true even. But with him and Hannah, Tony was lucky that the press hadn't found out about Alexander. That would have been horrible. Alexander would have been 16 years old by now. Tony felt terrible. He wished he could have done more to help. After all, Alex was only an innocent premature newborn. He was only on earth for a few hours, but Tony knew how much his little soul had at least impacted Hannah.

Tony didn't exactly believe in God, but he knew that you had to go somewhere, at least somewhere, when you died. For starters, there were a few cases with definite evidence of ghosts Tony was thankful that his father hadn't become a ghost when he died. If Howard was a ghost, then he would haunt Tony for eternity. Tony shuddered at the thought. His father was a horrible man, and if Tony actually had kids, well now more kids, he knew that he wouldn't want to be like Howard. To this day, Tony still blamed Howard for his mother's death.

"Good morning sir." Pepper greeted once she came downstairs just to tease Tony. How many times have I told you to just call me Tony?" Tony joked. Pepper smiled at Tong softly, covering her mouth as she giggled. Tony chuckled, grabbing coffee from his coffee pot. God, she's so beautiful. He thought. Pepper blushed, almost as if she had read his mind. Tony sipped his coffee, watching how Pepper's slightly wavy blonde hair bounced as she talked. Pepper glanced at Tony. "Tony, are you alright?" She asked. Tony nodded. "Yeah, I'm absolutely fine." He half- lied. Pepper nodded slightly. "Have you thought about anything for the company?" Pepper inquired. "I want to build a robot." Tony said blatantly. "Oh." Pepper said, her mouth forming an 'o' shape. Tony nodded. "Other scientists have started working on things beyond robot arms and robot vacuum cleaners. I have competition." Pepper just nodded again, having been aware of this. "Even though I hate my father, I have to keep this company running." Tony said. "It's my life now." Pepper sighed. "You need to know that I'll support you no matter what you do." She said, gently placing her hand on Tony's shoulder. Tony nodded. "I still want this company." He told Pepper. Pepper nodded. "I was just letting you know." Tony nodded again, looking at his notes. "So..." Pepper trailed off. Tony shrugged. "Did you sleep well?" He asked Pepper, glancing at her briefly. "I did, thank you." Pepper answered as Tony continued working.

Serina panted as she ran on the treadmill. It was so much harder to train while pregnant, let alone being pregnant let alone being pregnant again so soon after having the first baby. "Faster, you need to do this!" The trainer bellowed. I'm trying. Serina thought sourly. She slowed down as she felt the familier cramp, not wanting to hurt the tiny baby in her stomach. "Don't you slow down on me!" The evil witch barked at her. Serina wanted to scream. It was her body, let alone her baby. But if she screamed, then she would get punished. The punishments were always terrible. They were also worse for the girls than the boys. Serina finally just shut the treadmill off. "You can't do that!" The fat lady yelled at Serina. "I've been working out for fifty five minutes and I need to check on my daughter." Serina held her ground. "Fine, but I expect to see you here tomorrow." Serina just nodded before limping back to her room. She was relieved when she saw that Marie was still sound asleep in her crib. Serina didn't want her to go missing or be taken. She was also glad that Marie was still asleep, because otherwise she would be sitting there crying with a full diaper until Serina had come back from training.

Serina gently scooped Marie into her arms, being careful not to wake her as she checked her diaper before changing it. "Wow you had a full diaper." She joked as she washed her hands before sitting down in her old rocking chair. It was the only piece of nice furniture she had. Serina held Marie close as she began to breastfeed her. "Mama love you so much, always remember that." She whispered, tears running down her face as she switched Marie to her other breast. Serina bit her lip in pain as she felt another cramp. She thought about praying to not have a miscarriage, but she knew that praying was no use. It never worked. She was only six weeks pregnant. Serina knew exactly when she would have conceived. Once Marie was done eating, she played with her a little bit before laying her back down in her crib. Even though she didn't want to, she needed to go the the hospital wing. As Serina suddenly felt dizzy, she held on to the side of the crib. Five and a half month old Marie sucking her thumb was the last thing she saw before she passed out.