I. The Unmaking of Alexander Vance
The transition was less like rebirth and more like a cosmic collision. Alexander Vance, a man whose greatest intellectual achievement in 2025 was mastering the perfect sourdough starter, felt his consciousness violently ripped from its established reality, stretched across dimensional barriers, and then—with a deafening, internal silence—crammed into the nascent, developing brain of an unborn human child.
For what felt like decades within the fluid darkness, Alexander battled the instinctual chaos of prenatal existence. He was a perfect, self-aware nexus of future knowledge, anchored in a temporal paradox. He remembered the crisp, high-definition cinematography of the MCU, the dense, contradictory lore of 616 comics, the tragic timelines of the X-Men film universe, and the geometric precision of the Fantastic Four's scientific endeavors. Every plot point, every hidden location, every villain's weakness, and every hero's fatal flaw were cataloged in a mental archive that now overloaded the delicate, primitive neural pathways of his new host.
Thanos. Ultron. The Phoenix Force. Dormammu. Galactus. Hydra. The Civil Wars. These names were not fiction; they were predetermined, existential threats hurtling toward his new Earth. He carried the burden of foreknowledge—the ultimate spoiler for the universe.
When the muffled, possessive voices of his new parents finally penetrated his awareness, confirming the host's identity, the panic solidified into cold, hard resolve.
"Anthony Edward Stark."
He was the new Tony Stark. The man destined to save the world, then sacrifice himself for it. That second part—the sacrifice—was non-negotiable in the original script.
Not anymore.
Alexander, the architect, began the process of merging with Anthony, the genius. The resulting personality was a blend: Tony's innate charisma and engineering instinct, tempered by Alexander's future perspective, strategic detachment, and the profound, immediate understanding of the Omegaverse dynamics—the societal and biological roles of Alphas, Betas, and Omegas that underpinned this merged reality, dictating not just attraction but emotional stability and leadership structure. Tony realized he was born an Alpha, inherently designed to lead and protect a large, powerful familial unit. This new context made his planned Harem not just a desire, but a strategic necessity for global equilibrium.
II. Confirming the Fused Timeline (1970)
The birth, in the sterile, high-end maternity wing, confirmed the temporal coordinates. The year was late 1970.
Howard Stark, a giant of industry and anxiety, paced the room, his voice booming. Maria Stark, a vision of elegance and exhaustion, held him. The sheer volume of wealth and historical context surrounding him was a dizzying rush.
His first strategic assessment was immediate:
The Threat Matrix: The major threats (Thanos, Ultron, Civil War) were decades away. The immediate threats were Hydra infiltration (which was now at its peak within SHIELD), the burgeoning anti-mutant sentiment that would lead to Trask's programs, and the foundational issues within Stark Industries itself—namely, its reliance on destructive weaponry and its vulnerability to internal corruption.
The Asset Matrix (Harem Targets): His future partners were children, teens, or yet to be born, requiring a patient, decades-long alliance strategy:
Hela & the Cosmic: Hela was likely still imprisoned or recently defeated by Odin. She was a raw, ultimate power asset he needed to understand, not fight.
Jean Grey & Ororo Monroe (Mutants): They were young, perhaps toddlers, meaning he had time to create a safe haven before Charles Xavier or the world could damage them.
Carol Danvers & Maria Hill (Military/Cosmic): Likely in their pre-teen years. His path must cross theirs early to steer their careers away from SHIELD/Kree interference.
Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis (Science/Magic): Still children. He needed to found a specific research institute that would attract them years later.
Pepper Potts (The Anchor): The most immediate and critical target. She was a pre-teen, likely already demonstrating her administrative genius.
Tony knew he couldn't wait until he was an adult. The groundwork—the secure funding, the technological leap, the political maneuvering—had to begin in his childhood.
III. The Five Pillars of the New Empire
Over the next four years, while mastering motor skills and absorbing the cultural nuances of the 1970s, Tony created his comprehensive, multi-layered plan, codenamed: Project Prometheus.
Pillar 1: The Technological Singularity (The Omni-Core)
Goal: Achieve technological dominance and financial independence 30 years ahead of schedule, funding all future projects. Prevent the legacy of weapons manufacturing.
Immediate Action (1974): Introduce the Omni-Core architecture—3D stacked transition metal dichalcogenide chips. This provides the computational infrastructure necessary for two critical developments:
a. J.A.R.V.I.S.: Creating the foundation for a truly organic, benevolent AI, grown from optimal code rather than external consciousness (preventing Ultron's genesis).
b. Pulse Generator: Developing a hyper-efficient, miniaturized power source (the direct predecessor to the ARC Reactor), which allows SI to pivot immediately away from large-scale explosive weaponry toward advanced, precision defense systems and renewable energy.
Pillar 2: The Omega Nexus and Alliance Strategy (The Harem Foundation)
Goal: Establish deep, meaningful, and emotionally stabilizing relationships with powerful female figures across the spectrum (Science, Military, Magic, Mutation, Cosmic). The Omegaverse mechanics dictate that an Alpha of his scope requires multiple, powerful anchors for balance.
Immediate Action (1974-1975):
a. Acquire Pepper Potts: Recruit her immediately to manage his financial and logistical chaos, building a relationship based on mutual professional respect and deep emotional trust—the ultimate 'Anchor.'
b. Found the "Vance Institute for Theoretical Physics": Use the Omni-Core profits to create a private, heavily-funded institute designed to attract Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, Helen Cho, and Maya Hansen decades later.
Pillar 3: Mutant Integration Initiative (Preempting Trask)
Goal: Intervene in the mutant timeline to prevent the horrors of the Sentinels, the destruction of Xavier's school, and the polarization of the species.
Immediate Action (1976 onwards):
a. Deep-Net Scan (using Omni-Core): Develop a sophisticated, non-invasive method to track the activation of the X-Gene globally, disguised as atmospheric or seismic monitoring.
b. The Sanctuary: Purchase and heavily fortify a remote, classified location (perhaps an abandoned SI arctic base) to serve as a private school and research center—a place where figures like Jean Grey and Ororo Monroe could be safely nurtured and trained without the public exposure of the original X-Mansion. This would be the true 'Academy of Tomorrow.'
Pillar 4: The Cosmic Shield and Time Guard
Goal: Neutralize the Infinity Stone threat and prepare for interstellar war.
Immediate Action (1975 onwards):
a. Vibranium Acquisition: Begin covert deep-sea operations, disguised as energy prospecting, to secure non-Wakandan Vibranium remnants (likely scattered meteorites).
b. Pym Particle Research: Focus research on advanced dimensional folding (accelerating the theoretical work of Hank Pym, who would be active but isolated).
c. Asgardian Contact: Start compiling obscure anthropological data, searching for the first signs of the Bifrost activity or Tesseract anomalies.
Pillar 5: Mastery of the Mystical Arts
Goal: Understand and counter magic, the one force science cannot defeat, and gain access to the Multiverse for strategic defense.
Immediate Action (1975 onwards): Initiate a global philanthropic hunt—funding "forgotten spiritual paths and lost Himalayan knowledge"—to generate data trails that lead directly to the Ancient One and Kamar-Taj years before Doctor Strange even begins medical school. This is his path to understanding Wanda Maximoff's inherent chaos magic and Hela's Asgardian dark arts.
IV. The Revelation
At the age of four, Tony was a quiet, intense child, often found dismantling and reassembling complex machinery in his heavily-guarded, private workshop. He deliberately maintained a subtle distance from Howard, knowing that affection was a weakness the elder Stark would exploit or ignore.
The moment of truth arrived during a crucial quarterly board review in late 1974. Howard was giving a bombastic presentation on the future of heavy artillery, the old Stark Industries, defined by fire and steel.
Tony, sitting perfectly still on a small chair, felt the deep disgust rise. This was the future he had to prevent.
He slid off the chair and walked directly to the large schematic board, picking up a pen. He drew a quick, elegant diagram of a planar transistor, then methodically struck it out.
"It's flawed, Father," Tony announced, his four-year-old voice betraying an unsettling confidence. "Your current trajectory leads to obsolescence within twenty years, replaced by Japanese and German advancements in integrated circuits. Your weaponry is unethical and inefficient. We are funding our own eventual destruction."
Howard froze, staring at his son. "Anthony, stay out of the business talk."
Tony ignored him. He flipped the schematic board and began sketching out a complex three-dimensional lattice.
"We need to invest ninety-five percent of next quarter's R&D into a new infrastructure. This," he tapped the lattice diagram, "is the Omni-Core architecture. We abandon planar silicon. We utilize three-dimensional, vertically stacked Molybdenum Disulfide substrates. This leapfrogs thermal and quantum tunneling limits, giving us a computational edge that lasts until the 22nd century."
He spun around to face the stunned board members, his small frame radiating authority. "The current board is focused on selling war. I am focused on selling the future. The Omni-Core will reduce the size of a mainframe computer to the size of a pack of cards, provide nearly infinite processing power for civilian technology, and, crucially, fund Project Prometheus—the global peace initiative I am designing to supersede all military conflicts."
He pointed directly at a terrified accounts manager. "I need fifty million dollars allocated immediately. Divert all current funding from the Jericho Missile prototype. That technology is redundant, morally bankrupt, and will cause unnecessary future geopolitical instability."
Howard Stark finally moved, his face pale with a mixture of shock and dawning pride. This wasn't a child; this was a strategic partner, a titan in embryo. He saw not a son, but the future of his empire—a future he could never have achieved alone.
The boardroom meeting, which had started with discussions of quarterly profits, ended with the stunned acceptance of a five-year-old's multi-decade blueprint for global domination and defense. The Omni-Core was approved.
As Tony was carried back to his wing by a bewildered Howard, he knew the first and hardest hurdle was cleared. He had the money. He had the time. He had the genius. Now, he needed his team. His gaze settled on the date printed on the newspaper Howard was carrying: 1974.
It was time to find Pepper Potts.