Stark... Again

Chapter 33

Stark was silent as he led Xavier through his penthouse to a special room he had prepared for something like this. It seemed as if he was lost in thought, but at least he trusted Xavier enough to show his back to him.

'How should I talk to him? Like a teen or like an adult? I'm sure my brother will end up being the former.'

"Some decent fighting you did in Times Square today." Tony spoke up. "You did a good job keeping everyone safe."

"..." Xavier chose to remain silent at this, but really that was an excuse for not knowing what to say.

"Not the talkative type are you?" He asked jokingly. "Anyway, we're here."

He had led Xavier to one of his workshops,and explained that this one was fully equipped with a multitude of high voltage equipment, so it was made in a way that in the case of an accident.

"Go ahead and drop him in here, I'll have Jarvis watch over him when he wakes."

"What about the equipment here? He can suck the charge from any electronic device." Xavier asked, dropping him in the middle of the room.

That stumped Tony for a moment. "...I can have the power cut off from the room then. Even the cameras." He looked to Xavier as if asking if that was good enough for him.

"If he can't get a charge, he should be powerless for the moment."

The two of them walked out of the workshop and sealed the door behind them. "Jarvis." Tony called out.

-Yes sir?-

"Shut off everything electronic in workshop six, seal it off completely from any electricity. Even the cameras." He ordered.

-Yes sir.-

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By the way, I'm using a different symbol for Jarvis' speaking to convey how robotic he is.

===

"Now, we do need to have a talk now that business is taken care of." Tony walked off, leading Xavier back through the maze that is his penthouse.

When they arrived, Xavier found that Tony had led him back to the living room they had passed through before. And he found that he liked his taste in booze.

As in 'taste', he meant a crap ton of booze. Tony Stark was known for being an alcoholic so it was no surprise that he had a lot, but he had a whole wall of the living room made into a bar, stock full of all kinds of different bottles.

'Quite a collection he's got here…' Seeing the bar, Xavier began to think about his friends from his old life.

Often, after a particularly hard day of coding, he and some friends would go out to a bar that was close by and drink off the day's stress.

"Want something or are you just impressed?" Stark spoke up, breaking Xavier from his stupor.

"N-No, just lost in thought." He walked over and sat on the opposite couch of Tony. "Now what did you want to talk about?"

Tony proceeded to get up and walk to the bar, saying nothing.

~Tink, Pour~

"I wanted to ask why you showed an interest in me in person. I'm assuming you want to be able to use my equipment and such, but why me specifically?" He said finally, leveling Xavier with a heavy stare.

Xavier took a moment to think before answering. 'What is a good reason that he would believe? There's no way he would just believe whatever I say…'

"I reached out to you because of your recent actions with your company. I like that you're trying to move Stark Industries to a better place in the world and that you are actually following through with your words." He said.

"...But surely you know of my reputation?" Tony asked with a sly grin.

"Yes, but I happen to know that your reputation isn't all you are Stark. I know who you were, who you are and I can see who you can become. That's why I chose to reach out to you."

That stumped Tony. There weren't many people around him right now that would say anything but something negative about him.

Tony Stark had not lived a very peaceful life ever since his parents had died in that car accident, and he had gone down a spiral himself.

There had been an immense pressure put on his shoulders about taking on the mantle of the company and that led to him lashing out.

Throughout his teen years and into his adult life, he had partied around and acted incredibly recklessly. That and he had picked up alcohol as soon as he was able, becoming addicted.

This rebellious phase led to him having a bit of a reputation of being a playboy and an alcoholic, meaning that almost no one thought good of him on a personal level.

All anyone talked about when they said something about Stark was something to do with his reputation or his weapons.

"How would you see who I can be in the future? What kind of seer are you?" Tony asked sarcastically, not believing him at all.

"Just a good judge of character. Anyway, you have my number, give me a call when you've decided what to do with me. I've gotta get back to the city." He said getting up to walk out, finding the conversation becoming potentially dangerous.

"Woah, wait a second. I'll walk you down to the garage. You had to run here right?"

In said garage, Tony swiped a set of keys off the wall and threw them at Xavier, who caught them easily.

"Take that and don't scratch it. It's a quality piece." Stark said, pointing to a motorcycle off to the side.

Pausing, Xavier looked back to Tony. "You'll let me take one of your bikes?"

With a grin, Tony nodded. "Go ahead and take it, I don't think you're old enough to own a bike yet anyway…" He said, already walking out of the room.

"...Damn. He got me." Shaking his head, Xavier tried to console himself with the fact that he would have found out soon enough with Jarvis at the helm of the investigation.

Looking at the futuristic Harley sitting pretty in front of him, Xavier began to feel a bit better. And he soon found a manic grin spreading across his visage.

"I wonder what it's top speed is…"