"My dad— when I was a kid it seemed like he was holding himself together really well, but... he did the same thing. Me and his work were the only things that mattered."

Thinking back from an adult's frame of reference, things had changed. He has vague, younger memories of fancy galas and cocktail parties; his parents going out to dinners with friends or business associates; his dad flying out to meetings halfway around the world.

After his mother died, all of that had stopped. At the time Tony hadn't really noticed, and wouldn't have cared anyway, but now he realizes how much his father had withdrawn. For a long time, Tony and the lab had been his whole world. (Luckily for Howard and SI, 'eccentric recluse' isn't an unprecedented personality type for the CEO of a technology company.)

Tony stares into his cooling tea. "They never found who it was," he says quietly. "I think that was part of it." No closure. No one to hold responsible. "It was a hit-and-run. The car was stolen. The police always figured it was just a car thief who got scared when he realized someone had gotten hurt, and ditched the car and ran."