So this might be a bit cliche, so I apologise in advance for this fic, but I'm really excited to share it with you.
The fic will likely follow the movies' plots, but there will be divergences as it's absolutely not canon compliant.
Please let me know what you thought about it!
Thanks so much for reading!
Anthony Edward Stark was brought kicking and screaming into the world on the 29th May 1970.
It was a SHIELD facility, Agent Maria Stark being a prized asset required the best care, and once she asked the department was helpless to say yes. After all, given her bumpy pregnancy, they couldn't afford to say no. The tiny bundle of flesh was placed into her arms, screaming wordlessly, as his father gazed on approvingly. Maria was exhausted, but when she looked at her son's wrinkled brow and crooked ears, her only feeling was pride.
"You will be great, tesoro."
Her face set in sudden determination as she turned to Howard, the man standing nearby, back straight with a face full of nerves. "You have the serum?"
"Of course. And you're sure now's the best time? The effects will be the same if we wait until you're released."
"No, it needs to be now. While he's still a new-born, any symptoms can be passed off as normal. Now's the best time for the biogenesis to take place, if we wait the symptoms may be worse, or more obvious." The new mother sat up shakily, shushing the child close to her chest as his snuffles quietened down.
A tall agent rushed over, her face dawning in tentative concern, "Excuse me ma'am, I can't believe I have to say this, but I cannot allow anything to happen to your child."
"Oh, don't worry dear, Agent?"
"Karra."
"Agent Karra." The Stark woman smiled gently, "We'll be vaccinating our child personally, off record, and you and your team are going to leave today and forget about everything you've seen. You delivered the Stark baby healthily with no complications, and you tell nobody of this. Am I understood?"
The agent's eyes glazed over with new understanding, before a small smile was on her face. "Of course, Agent Stark."
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial and needle and grinned at his wife. "Time to see if your research was worthwhile, right?"
Maria snorted. "It damned better be."
His hands twitched as he drew the viscous blue liquid into the needle, as baby Stark stared at his father with wide eyes, the same shade as the serum in the chamber.
Maria gripped her son's wrist tightly and held his arm taut as Howard positioned the needle into the infant's upper arm. The child writhed but was quiet as the needle pierced his skin and the fluid was injected into his vein. Then, as the burning pain screamed though his system, the baby let out a short yell, before he fell silent, asleep.
The pair exchanged a glance, but as the child displayed no alarming discoloration (as they'd feared) or sprouted any unnatural appendages, they knew their experiment was successful.
Howard took the baby into his hands gently, and rested his head on his shoulder, cupping it softly and holding him close.
"Welcome to the world, Anthony."
His wife gave him a lopsided smile as she collapsed back onto her medical bed, the blurry eyed midwifery agents idly standing around the med bay. "Hail HYDRA."
Aged seven, 1977
Tony's upbringing could sometimes be described as quiet but could never be described as uneventful.
Most of the time he spent his time with Jarvis in the playroom, or on his own in the grey room, but he was happy. His room had a pretty red rug and his bed was so soft and sometimes he'd be allowed to bring a toy from the playroom. Tony loved his room.
Jarvis would bring him books and he'd read and read, his favorites were about computers, once Jarvis gave him a book on C programming and he sat up all night reading it, and the next night when he reread it. When he had paper, he'd design his own code that he'd run, and when he was in the playroom he'd make new toys that could do cool things with the code. He had some other books too, but his second favorites were his Captain America comics. Jarvis brought him a comic a week, and Tony adored them.
Other times it was the opposite of quiet, but his momma told him it was just somebody getting fixed, and Tony liked fixing things, so he didn't worry about it. Sometimes he'd even be allowed to help fix them! Well, it was only the one person (his papa called him the "asset", Tony thought that was a weird name) but he had a super cool metal arm (he was like a robot!) and Tony loved to help fix him. When he was done, if he'd done a good job his momma would hug him and sometimes his papa would tell him a story about someone he helped fix. Tony wanted to be just like his papa someday.
Every so often Papa would bring him to the Big Room, where he'd meet someone new, though it was someone different every time. He'd get to talk with them, and Papa would get him some toys from the playroom, so he'd get to play with his new friend. It wasn't quiet then, and Tony liked when his home was loud, so he would giggle, but his friend wouldn't even smile at him. That was okay, though. Tony could smile enough for the both of them. His friend always liked red, too, so it was a shame he'd never see them again.
Afterwards Papa would take some tests (Tony didn't like to call them bloods) and tell him that "Captain America would be proud of you, Anthony." Tony loved Captain America; he was so cool! So brave, and his dad fought with him in the war!
When Jarvis would bring him to the playroom (once a week, on a Friday at approximately 3 o'clock, Tony knows) he'd get to play with his toys, but if he was lucky he'd have some circuit boards, and sometimes Jarvis would give him a soldering iron to play with. He'd make whatever came to mind, but he usually made new toys, because he knew Papa liked them. It was easy for Tony to make and fix things, he thought it was like he knew what his tools would do before he used them, so he didn't make a mistake. He tried so hard not to make mistakes, Papa wasn't happy when he made mistakes.
At night-time he'd be brought back to his room and he'd cuddle in his bed or on his rug, and he'd dream of the next day. Life was good.
Aged eleven, 1981
It happened when Tony was 11 years old. Howard knew the boy was a genius, but Maria hadn't explained the extent of the boy's prowess.
They'd been able to give the child's body a healing factor, but as far as the couple could tell, there was no sign of the boy's dormant X gene activating. They knew it was there, but after all of their experimentation, they didn't know what ability he had or when it would show itself. The ignition serum given to the boy at his birth was supposed to activate the gene and restructure his body to be susceptible to a weak form of cross species genetics. The latter proved effective when his healing factor developed (a lizard's genetic material, not as effective as hoped, but enough that the experiment could be considered a success).
HYDRA could use new super soldiers, and while he had the Asset and he knew projects like Centipede and Arachnid were in development, when Maria fell pregnant they had the perfect opportunity to see how a child reacted to genetic modification at birth. Of course, the child was modified to be the perfect leader for HYDRA, not a perfect soldier. Tony was to be their legacy, and they'd do it right.
It was after another one of the boy's sessions with Obadiah's test subjects, he'd moved on to psychological torture after he'd read about it in a scientific journal Howard had given the butler to give him. In all honesty it was a last-ditch effort to see what his mutation would be, if the new form of torture woke anything in his genetic code, maybe his mutation was similar to his mother's. Unfortunately, there were no obvious signs of mutation in the boy, but he did take well to manipulating the subject, which was pleasing as he was still only a young boy.
Howard was taking blood samples as was routine, "You did well. I'm proud of you, son. You're strong."
"Thank you, sir." The boy ducked his head before quickly looking him in the eye.
There was something hesitant in his gaze. "Was there anything you had problems with?"
"No, sir. Though the subject had a hard time answering my questions, the subjects usually aren't so quiet."
Howard relaxed slightly, before leading the boy to the door. "That is unfortunate. Maybe your mother can teach you more about information extraction this evening, at dinner."
"Dinner?" The boy looked incredulous.
"Yes, it seems we are long past due time for a family dinner, don't you think?"
"Of course, sir."
Howard tended to limit the boy's exposure to many people at once, in order to contain his focus. The child had a massive genius and having that contained to one person or task at one time was the best way to achieve results. The method was tried and true, the boy had been making weapons since he could hold a knife, and he consumed information as fast as anyone could get it to him.
However, he and Maria had planned this meeting, or dinner as he had called it, for some time now. While Tony was aware of HYDRA and SHIELD, and how humanity needed guidance and grooming, he was unaware of his role in the organisation or his status in the world. They'd decided it was time to invite him fully into the fold as a member of the organisation and show him what it meant to be a part of something greater.
As they sat down, platters of food at each placemat, Maria stood up gracefully, lithe as a cat, and pulled Tony into a hug. "Hello, my dear, how has your afternoon session been?"
"I hit a small snag Mama, in that the subject was awfully quiet. The methods worked, he was in obvious distress, but I wasn't able to extract any information before he… Self-destructed."
"Well, I say that is inconvenient. Why don't we sit down, and we can talk over dinner?" Maria gave the boy a soft look and a kiss on the cheek, as Howard poured a bottle of red wine for the pair, and a glass of sparkling water for Tony (apple flavored, but he liked to pretend it was champagne).
As the three sat down, Howard and Maria exchanged a meaningful glance as Jarvis was dismissed. Howard lifted his glass in toast, "To family, and to legacy."
"I'll drink to that." Maria raised her glass to her lips.
But then. "Wait! -"
"- Excuse me?" Tony's eyes were frantic, as he shot to standing. He seemed to be holding his body from moving any more than that.
"Don't drink that. Please, don't drink that." There was a desperation in his face and tone.
"What do you mean, boy?"
"I don't know, but it's a really bad idea to drink that. Please, don't. Everything in me is screaming to get that glass out of your hand."
The couple shared a look, before they both set their glass down.
The usually gentle woman stared her son in the eye, and spoke severely, "If I test this wine, and it's been tampered with, what does that mean, Tony?"
"I don't know, Mama."
"It means, my love, that you have a gift."
Howard then nods at his wife, before leaving the room.
"Your father will be back soon, love. He is just grabbing a test."
The man soon returns, dragging Tony's subject of the day behind him.
Despite the serious situation, "Huh, didn't think I'd see you again so soon. Or ever."
"Hush, tesoro. Now," She turns to the subject, "You will comply."
The ex-agent then moves forward towards the subject, wine glass in hand, before she pours the liquid down the man's throat. The subject seizes, before falling still. Howard let out a breath.
"A gift, my dear." Tony's mother cupped his cheek.
"Intuition. You will be HYDRA's Intuition, my son."