Chapter Text
Tony leaned back in his chair and let his mind wander. Unlike most people, he wasn’t limited to his own head. The vast internet opened up to him, granting him access to anything and everything except human contact. Tony had learned the hard way not to trust humans. He could never pull off the shaved head look with his scars. He could still remember the Doctor, could hear himself screaming as needles were sunk into his head and recall the tests to make sure the cure took. It took him much longer than it should have to realize that they, the Doctor and his father, would never stop until it took. If he went back in his memory banks even further, he could remember thinking his father was proud, thinking his father liked his powers. He was already enrolled at MIT before he realized that his father liked his powers the same way he likes finding new ways to make tanks go boom, as a scientist.
Tony focused on what he could control, which was a lot. He gathered information into secure files, making a one-stop shop for knowledge on a vast array of subjects, debunking myths using the existing files and expanding his knowledge banks. He found the repetition of the activity relaxing, an activity that took whole teams of human analysts months of in-depth research was Tony’s preferred way to unwind. As long as nobody found out, he would be fine.