Chapter 1
xXxTonyxXx
I pulled myself out of my bed in the Rhodes' house, which honestly made me long for my dad's old house in Manhattan. Don't misunderstand; the Rhodes family is a great family. Rhodey, or James Rhodes, was my best friend. His mom, Roberta Rhodes, used to be my dad's lawyer. 'Used to be' as in she was when he was alive. A few years ago, he died in a plane crash that I barely survived, even my Iron Man armor barely saved me. I'd scraped the project and shut down The Armory, the abandoned warehouse I had used to build the prototype.
"Tony, wake up! You're going to be late!" Roberta shouted across the house. Naturally not believing anybody, I glanced over to my digital clock. 6:45. I leap out of bed and scramble around for clothes, spotting clean, black dress pants, a white dress shirt, a clean tux jacket, and a tie.
Ten minutes late, I was staring at my reflection, picking out tiny details and flaws, like a small white string on the tux jacket, the unevenness of the tie, the uncomfortableness of the tag in the dress shirt, and other minor details.
Roberta opened the door and poked her head in. "Tony, I – oh, my! You look rather spiffy. I like it." She withdrew her head and closed the door. I shook my head and chuckled. "Oh, Roberta." Flopping down onto my bed, I snagged my Vans from under my bed and slip the on with some socks. I know what you're thinking; 'why is a multibillionaire teenager wearing Vans in a suit?' Well, because I like my Vans more than I like my dress shoes. And because I can. Deal with it.
I open the door to my room only to almost have a heart attack. Roberta and Rhodey were in the hallway in front of my bedroom with a 'Happy Birthday' banner and a bright blue birthday cake with elegant yellow icing. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TONY!" they bellowed into the silence of their home. They were excited to see me, but they had no idea of how much of a scare they'd given me.
I groped for the wall to slide down, and when I made contact, I let my body fall. They stared at me as I felt for my pulse. "You guys could've killed me!" I squeaked loudly. I regained my feelings of security and decided to stand up. No shaking, so I wasn't in shock. That's good. Not in shock is good for teenagers.
Roberta insisted I open one present before I left, and handed me a slender bright turquoise box with the name 'Hammer Multinational' etched into the lid.
"Open it on your way to school," she demanded. "Now go! Out!" She shoved us out the door and onto the stairs leading down to the road where a car waited for us.
Rhodey peeked at the box and attempted to snag it from me. Fortunately I was faster, and was able to keep it from him. "Is it from that Justin guy?" I roll my eyes. "Justin Hammer, yeah. He wants to buy Stark International. He wants to make weapons. I can't let him do that. Not for any reason," I finished in a rambling state. Rhodey just nodded, still vexed by the box. "Can you at least open it?" I sighed. "Sure, Rhodey. Let me open the gift from a jackwad nobody even likes. A cheap Hammer Multinational pen won't win my favor," I state as I lift the lid. Sure enough, a Hammer Multinational pen was inside, but 'cheap' wasn't the word to describe this piece of art.
It had a solid mahogany exterior with golden metal parts that were probably fashioned out of gold mined from the Olympian gods' mines. Hammer Multinational was etched into the side of the pen in the same golden material. The clicker was also pure golden, and the clicking of this pen was like a part of one of Beethoven's better symphonies.
"This pen is the most expensive pen I've ever touched. Hammer went all out on this thing. He really, really wants to buy Stark International." Rhodey's head bobbed up and down, and he noticed the driver was getting impatient. "Come on, Tony. We gotta go."
xXx
Half an hour later, we pulled up to Tomorrow Academy for the Scientifically and Philosophically Gifted, where Rhodey, my girlfriend Pepper, and I attend. The classes were college leveled and only the best young minds of New York, and the world, were accepted.
Speaking of Pepper, she was standing out on the front terrace of the school, waiting for us. Her eyes scanned the crowd of equally brilliant students milled around before First Hour. Her light blue eyes landed on me, and brightened in excitement as she started making her way through the crowd. Rhodey and I did the same, and we met in the middle of the immensely packed sea of protégés and future scientists.
She threw her arms around my neck and planted a big, lipstick-staining kiss on my cheek and giggled as I tried to wipe it off.
She let me go and smiled brightly. "Hi, Tony. Happy birthday," she squeals the last part out loud enough for astronauts in space could hear. I smiled in return. "Thanks, Pepper. Did you get me something?" She nodded ecstatically. "Of course I did! Wouldn't be a proper birthday with no gifts, right?" She glanced at Rhodey. "Did you get him a gift?" Rhodey nodded and grinned smugly. "A heart attack."
I slug his arm before returning my attention to Pepper. Whatever she had for me was making her jump in excitement. "Well, you can give it to me now." She nods and smoothes out her shirt. "Are you ready?" she asked. "With bated breath," I replied coolly. She extends her right hand with two slips of paper, seemingly like movie tickets.
I examined them to find out they were concert tickets to Memphis May Fire, my favorite band. At first, I didn't react because of my ADHD, but when it kicked in that I had tickets to their show, I freak out.
"Pepper, holy shit, how did you afford these tickets?! They've only had upgraded tickets for three months!" She smiles all ladylike. "A few bribes and favors gets you far in the concrete jungle."
I kiss her excitedly. "Dammit, Pepper, that's the best thing ever!" She smiles and giggles with the same excitement as I had. "Happy birthday, again. We better get going. The bell is about to ring."
I sighed. "I don't want to go to class, even if I am a senior!" Pepper glared at me. "You have to. It's the law." She pushed Rhodey and I up the stairs. "Off, you two!"
xXx
My first class of the day was Philosophy. The class was mostly about the Enlightenment thinkers and their contributions to society. My teacher, Mr. Onic, a short, older man with gray and white peppered hair, favored Voltaire, one of my own personal favorites. At the moment we were talking about what Voltaire did.
Mr. Onic was pacing around the front of the room. "Now, students, who can tell me what Voltaire supported?" A few hands, including mine, came up. His eyes scanned the class. "Mr. Hogan, tell us what he did."
Happy Hogan, basketball jock and captain of the debate team, cleared his throat and stated, "Voltaire came up with the idea of free speech, freedom of religion, and separation of the Catholic Church and the state."
Mr. Onic nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, Mr. Hogan. What was one of Voltaire's most famous quotes?" Three hands shot up, mine being the first one. "Mr. Stark," he nodded to me, indicating it was my turn to speak.
"'I don't agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.'" I recited.
He smiled wistfully. "Very well done, Mr. Stark. Word for word." I grinned smugly and slid back into my seat.
xXx
Mr. Onic decided to separate us into small groups to discuss the Enlightenment and how it changed the world. My discussion partners weren't interested and started talking about how much school sucked, and how they wanted summer to come.
A girl with mousey features and coarse, long brown hair was complaining about summer ending and school beginning.
"Oh my God, I really hate Tomorrow, and all the teachers are annoying. Who cares about this stupid Enlightenment stuff?"
I cleared my throat in an 'I do' kind of way. She blinked away her surprise, and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Sorry, Tony. I'm sure you could be doing anything better than this if you wanted to." I lazily rolled my head towards her. "I don't appreciate you badmouthing the teachers. They offer their time to teach us this 'stupid Enlightenment stuff.' It's disrespectful and arrogant to talk that way."
The whole class had stopped their conversations and were now staring at this girl who had just gotten her shit handed to her. Her face was flushed, and she mumbled a small, inaudible sentence, but I was done with her. I pulled out my phone and earphones and plugged them in. Placing my earphones into my ears, I pulled up my Memphis May Fire playlist and set the shuffle on.
Closing my eyes, I let the beginning of 'The Sinner' take me away.
Digging a hole that I can't get out of
Deeper and deeper below the surface
To find out that there's nothing there
Where do I go from here?
Give me something that I can feel!
Back and forth, here we go again
What will it take to keep it together?
Suddenly, somebody taps my shoulder. My eyes fly open to see that everybody has left the room, and Mr. Onic was standing there with an amused expression.
I sheepishly get up and grab my bag, throwing the strap over my shoulder. "Sorry. I was listening to music." He chuckled slightly. "Yes, I heard. Go on now, and have a nice day."