Quick AN: Hey guys! I'm sure y'all are wondering what the heck's been going on with me. Life hasn't been very kind as of late, and I've been struggling with my depression. I am getting better, though. Life still sucks sometimes, but that's life, I guess.

Anyways, I still am changing this story, and as I update my chapters, I'll re-upload them for you lovely people to devour. As always, read, review, enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the MCU or Marvel Comics, only my OCs and my plot.

Prologue

New York City, April 27th, 1979

Maria Stark slowly stood to her feet, holding her stomach. She grabbed Howard's bottle of Jack Daniels and washed her mouth out. After nearly a month of getting sick every day, she'd decided she needed to see a doctor. "Howard?" She called, pushing open the door to his home shop.

Their firstborn, Anthony, was sitting in the floor and working on the robot he'd built a few days ago. "Hi, Mom."

"Hello, sweetie. Where's your father?"

"Dunno." Tony shrugged. "He was yelling earlier."

Maria ruffled his hair. "Your robot looks good. Keep up the good work."

The ten year old beamed, going back to the circuit board on the bot. She carefully skirted around the various machines until she spotted the top of her husband's head. "Howard!"

He halted, dropping the wrench. "What?"

"I'm having Jarvis take me to the doctor."

"Why? You look to be in perfect health."

She huffed. "Howard, I've been sick almost every day this past month. Something is clearly wrong."

"Okay." He said absentmindedly, bending down to pick up the wrench. "Take Anthony with you. He's in my way."

Maria kissed the top of her son's head. "Stay here, darling. I'll be back soon."

The next morning, she poured the coffee into Howard's mug, her hands shaking slightly. "Good morning, darling." He kissed her shoulder as he reached for the mug.

"Good morning."

"You didn't sleep well last night." He said, studying her. "Why?"

"Howard, I'm pregnant."

New York City, 1986

"Tony! Wait up!" Six year old Aidan Stark scampered after her older brother as he stomped up to his bedroom. "I wanna play!"

"GO AWAY!"

She kept following him. "But I wanna show you something."

"What?" He snapped, turning around.

"I fixed-ed your robot."

"Fixed, not fixed-ed." He corrected her rudely. "What'd you do to it, twerp?"

She grabbed his hand, dragging her to her room. "I rewired-ed it, and now it's better."

"You rewired it?"

"Uh-huh. It was really slow, and now it's fast."

Tony sat down in the middle of her floor, opening the robot's electrical panel, and inspecting her work. "How'd you learn that?"

She bit her lip. "I went to your room and got your notes for the robot."

"I told you to stay out of my room."

"I know."

"But, this is cool. Just don't mess with my stuff again." She followed him back downstairs, smiling widely. "Dad, my graduation's tomorrow." Tony tossed Howard a paper. "There's everything in case you actually want to go."

"That's nice, Tony." He said, reading something in the paper.

"Whatever." Tony turned to their butler, Edwin Jarvis. "Will you have the twerp dressed and ready to leave when you do?"

"Of course, Tony."

"Thanks, Jarvis."

"Tony! Can Stella go too?"

"Um...no. Family only, twerp."

"Jerk." She stuck her tongue out at him.

He copied her, shoving her into her room. "Get dressed."

Long Island, December 1991

Aidan rested her head on the back window of the Stark family Cadillac, occasionally blowing out a breath. "Dad, I thought you were taking me to dance."

"I have something to do first, then I will."

"Patience is a virtue, Aidan." Maria chided her daughter, just as a motorcycle almost knocked the car off the road. "What was that?!"

Howard swerved, trying to correct, but the front end slammed into a tree. Aidan's head connected with the back of the driver's seat, and stars flashed before her eyes. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm fine." Aidan said, wincing as she gingerly poked her forehead. Someone moved behind the tree and Aidan narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look. "Dad!" She hissed. "There's someone out there!"

Howard looked where she was pointing. "Maria, Aidan, get down and do not move."

He opened the door, and Aidan heard a sickening thud right after. "HOWARD!"

"Maria! Stay back!"

Aidan kept down, tears streaming down her face as she heard a strange gurgling sound. She raised her eyes, seeing a shiny, silver arm with its fingers clutched around her mother's throat, and a young man with long hair and the lower part of his face obscured. She squeezed her eyes shut as he turned his head. She smelled gasoline shortly after, and the trunk opened and slammed shut. As the motorcycle roared away, she turned to her parents. Howard was bent over the steeering wheel, and Maria's eyes were glazed over, staring at her husband. "Mom? Dad?" She tried to shake them awake. "Wake up!"

"Aidan..." Howard choked, blood dribbling out of his mouth. "The car. Fire. Get out."

"Dad! You're going to be ok-" An ear-splitting explosion cut her off, throwing her against the back seat. Aidan's head cracked the passenger window and all went black.

"Anthony Stark?"

Tony sighed, signaling to the woman he was chatting up to hold on a second. "Who's asking?"

"Officer McGregor, NYPD. I need you to come with me."

He sighed. "Can we pause this, Ella?"

"Bye, Tony." She kissed him quickly.

He followed the officer out. "What's going on?"

"There was a car accident, Mr. Stark. I'm sorry, but your parents didn't make it."

Tony's mouth fell open and he took a step back, his back hitting the wall. "What?"

"We need you to identify their bodies, if you can."

Tony shook his head. The alcohol in his system had magically disappeared with the shock. "Is Addy okay?"

"Addy?"

"My sister! She was with them!"

"She survived, but we believe she has some injuries."

"I have to see her."

When he arrived at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Aidan was sleeping. "Are you a relative?"

"I'm her brother." He answered the doctor, watching her, and wondering where her injuries were. "What's going on?"

"She has a mild concussion, and we believe she's lost her vision. When she wakes up, I'm going to run some tests to figure out how extensive the damage is."

"Did she get burned?"

"No." The doctor scribbled something on her chart. "It's nothing short of a miracle, Mr. Stark. You're very lucky to still have your sister."

Manhattan, August 1992

"Hey, Aidan, I need to talk to you." Tony rapped on her bedroom door.

"Come in! Door's open!" She was sitting on her bed, trying to teach herself to read Braille. "So, are you going to homeschool me?"

"No." Tony glanced down at the papers Obadiah had drawn up to prove a point. "There's a girls' school in Buffalo. I'm sending you there. They've had a few blind girls before and are more than happy to accommodate you-" The smell of his whiskey was stronger than it usually was.

"But I thought you said you could teach me everything I needed to know."

"I've got the company to fix. And frankly, I don't want to have to look after a ten year old disabled twerp."