Hey guys!
I got inspired to write the story, with Raven Madeline Stark, by a post on tumblr... I cannot find the post, sadly, but I remember seeing that name. Everything is the same, Pepper and Tony aren't married, but they have Raven.
Enjoy!
xx
"Stark, Raven!" a shrill voice screamed from the front of the classroom. My head shot up, my blue eyes searching the front of the classroom for the source of the voice. My eyes finally landed on my extremely short English teacher, Mrs. Munson, who was seated behind her desk in the corner.
"Here." I replied instinctively.
My class laughed, and she raised a gray-blonde eyebrow. "Come get your exam, Miss Stark."
My face warmed as I walked between the rows and to her desk.
"Sorry." I mumbled, taking the test from her little hands.
She stood up, and walked around the desk. Mrs. Munson looked up at me, she being 5'0, while I was only 5'5.
"Raven." she said quietly. "I know you are worried about your father, but you need to pay attention."
I met her cloudy green eyes and nodded. "Yes m'am."
She smiled a little, and I went to sit down.
My dad, Tony Stark – yes, he's Iron Man – whoop dee doo, was away with the Avengers. From what little I'd been told, the Avengers were part of some secret organization called SHIELD, which was run by some older guys. The only leader I'd met was this tall dark and scary guy with an eye patch, whom I liked to call Grumpy. Yeah, I knew his name was 'Director Fury', but it was much more fun to call him Grumpy. I had gotten my dad's sense of humor, my mom's organizational skills, and mixture of both features. I had dark brown hair, one stray dimple on my left cheek, a straight nose, blue eyes, and oh yeah, a very 'punny' name.
I glanced down at my exam, checking to see if everything was correct.
STARK, RAVEN MAD.
It said in bold, each little bubble filled with a black splash. My dad, he loved my name, now, my mom on the other hand, I have no idea how he convinced her to name me Raven Madeline Stark. Yeah, it was fine that way, but when it was on a test...not so much.
I vaguely heard my teacher to start, so I quickly read and scribbled down the answers, making sure they were correct. As usual, I was done first, so I laid my head down on my desk.
I woke up an hour later according to the clock, and the teacher called, "Stop!" and she came around and collected everyone's answer sheet and booklet, and we were dismissed a moment later.
I sat inside my maroon Mini Cooper, and turned on my cell phone. Seconds after it turned on, it started to vibrate uncontrollably.
What the heck? Tapping the home button, I looked at all the notifications. 20 missed calls, sixteen text messages, eighteen voice mails...four emails...
Checking the voice mails first, which were mostly all from my father, with only three from my mom, I tapped on the first one, which had arrived about twenty minutes into my test.
I heard static in the background, "Raven!" my dad's voice crackled. "Don't come home. We're-" the message ended, and I went to the next.
"Bad connection-" the firing of his arc receptor was heard in the background. "Under attack-"
Like the former, it ended, and I went to the next one, listening to them all, piecing them together. All together, they said, "Raven! Don't come home. We're- bad connection. Under attack. Avengers...fighting...JARVIS, keep the line up!...Manhattan isn't safe...be careful...one of the SHIELD agents will...I love you...stay safe...see you soon, sweetheart."
I stared at my phone. My mom's messages were pretty much the same, warning me to stay away from Manhattan because apparently a 'Norse god and some aliens were terrorizing Manhattan'.
I frowned. What in bloody hell was going on?
I read the texts, which all displayed the same information the voice mails gave me.
Dad. R u guys alright? I sent the message and started up my car. Guess I can call him when I get close...
One thing about me is that I'm stubborn. When I get my mind set on something, you can't dissuade me from it.
Turning onto the little back road I took into Manhattan, I prepared myself for the worst, just in case.
~0~
Meanwhile, in Stark Tower...
~0~
Tony Stark landed on the middle of the circle, and casually walked down the path, the machine spinning around him and removing his suit, piece by piece. He was not unaware of the cold-hearted man standing on the platform slightly below the one he was currently on.
He glanced over at Loki, staring uncertainly for a moment.
"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki sneered, walking inside Stark Tower, his jet black hair curling away from his neck in sweaty tendrils.
Tony paused for a moment, hoping his daughter was alright, and not planning to come home, despite his explicit orders. He stared down from the staircase, and smirked, putting on an air of cocky indifference. "Uh, actually," he paused, smirking wider. "I'm planning to threaten you."
Loki continued at a leisurely pace, swinging his long staff back and forth. "You should have left your armor on for that."
"Yeah," Tony shrugged, walking down the stairs. "It's seen a bit of mileage, and you got the uh- blue stick of destiny."
Loki weighed his 'blue stick of destiny' in his hand, and smirked triumphantly.
"Would you like a drink?" he asked, going over to the minibar.
"Stalling me won't change anything." his grin didn't disappear, but Tony turned around and walked sideways.
"No no, no!" he corrected. "Threatening." he stood behind the island and chose a drink. "No drink? You sure? I'm having one."
Loki stalked over to the floor to ceiling windows and stared out over the city. "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that." Suddenly whirling around to face him, he continued. "What have I to fear?"
Tony pulled off the lid, a clink sounding. "The Avengers."
Loki stared blankly at him.
Tony shrugged, rolling his eyes. "It's what we call ourselves...sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."
"Yes, I've met them." Loki shrugged, as if they were no big deal.
He grinned. "Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one." he paused, fiddling with the bottle in his hand. "But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod;"
Loki turned away and scoffed softly, a scowl on his face.
While the raven haired man wasn't looking, Tony slipped on two bracelets, just in case. "A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."
He started to take a few steps towards the minibar and Tony, he kind of cocked his head to the side, and said. "That was the plan."
Tony took a little sip of his drink. "Not a great plan." he calmly walked around the corner of the island. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."
"I have an army." he pointed out arrogantly.
Tony shrugged. "We have a Hulk." for some reason, he was inclined to think that Hulk could – and would, given the chance – pound Loki into a pulp. Boy, Tony would love to see that.
Loki, who had came to a stop just in front of the couches and fireplace, looked shocked, and motioned with his hand towards the glass. "Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off."
Tony continued to advance forward. "You're missing the point." he said firmly. "There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top."
"Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it." Tony's hands were shaking, and he gripped his glass tighter in his hand, and took a swig.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Loki slowly stalking towards him, staff raised. Tony lowered his drink, and swallowed, carefully watching his foe.
" How will your friends have time for me,when they're so busy-"
Jarvis cut off Loki. "Excuse me, Mr. Stark, Loki." his crisp voice said.
Loki and Tony met eyes, and Tony made a face, shrugging. "Jarvis, I'm busy."
"It's your daughter, sir, she called your three times, and sent you a message." he paused. "I think you should listen to her voice mail."
Loki raised an eyebrow at the mention of a daughter. Tony and Pepper had done such a good job of keeping her out of his Iron Man world, that no one, not even SHIELD or Loki, knew about Raven – until now, that is.
Jarvis never waited for an answer, his daughter's voice simply started to play from the speakers. "Dad." she sounded a bit worried, but he heard her usual stubborn undertone. "I'm coming home...yeah," she sighed. "I know you told me not to, because of whatever the hell the crazy Norse god and his alien friends are doing, blah, blah, but I'm coming home. I belong home, and I can fend for myself, you know that. You're the one who put me in so many classes. See you in a few."
Tony stared at the floor, not wanting Loki to know how much he cherished his daughter, he would use that against him in the long run, if he could.
"Sir." Jarvis announced. "She is coming up in the elevator now, would you like me to stop it?"
He got the courage to look at Loki, who was leaning on one leg, smirking arrogantly. "No, no, take your time, daddy dear." he said snidely, chuckling to himself.
Raven's father scowled. "Jarvis, have the elevator stop."
"Yes sir." he replied, and a clunk was heard.
~0~
In the elevator...
~0~
"Jarvis?" I called into the air. "Start back up the elevator, please."
"Sorry miss, I cannot, you father is currently busy with Loki."
"Who?"
Jarvis didn't respond. I groaned, looking at the red l.e.d. Lights that told me what floor I was on. The floor where Dad's balcony was, where all his Iron Man tech was, was at least two floors above where the elevator stopped. I tied my draw-string backpack to my belt loops, carefully making sure it was tight enough, and I pulled my wavy hair into a pony tail. I jumped as hard and as high as I could, pushing the elevator panel above my head over to the side. I jumped again and again, until there was enough room for me to fit my hands.
I jumped again, just barely grabbing onto the ledge with my fingertips. I used my head and my other hand to quickly shove the panel out of my way. I pulled myself into the shaft and stood up, staring at the door, almost twenty feet away. I peered up at the cable, knowing it was fastened to the ceiling, hundreds of feet away. I wrapped my legs around it, inch-worming my way up. I stopped at the floor below the Iron Man floor, knowing there was a spiral staircase that led into the living room. I leaped for the ledge of the elevator, and winced as my knees and chest slammed into the concrete.
"Jarvis." I said through clenched teeth. "Please open the elevator door on floor 50C."
"One moment." he replied, and only seconds ticked by, but my fingers were already growing numb. The door swooshed open, and I pulled myself inside, lying on the ground, panting. I got up after catching my breath, and ran for the stairs.
I quickly climbed them, to find a man with hair as dark as my name, holding some sort of staff with a blade, up to my father's chest.
"DAD!" I gasped, running forward. The dark haired man, who I assumed to be Loki, didn't even have a chance to react. I kicked him as hard as I could in the back of the knees, and then punched and kicked where ever my fist or foot connected. My dad had me behind the island in less than five seconds, standing in front of me protectively. "You shouldn't have done that, Ray."
Loki was on his feet seconds later, it was inhuman. "Yes, Raven," he smirked at me over Dad's shoulder. "You really shouldn't have."
He stepped forward and touched the tip of the scepter to Dad's arc reactor, and I watched in horror as a blue smoke floated around the jewel in the center, and snaked towards my dad.
It suddenly dispersed. "It should work." Loki mumbled, almost to himself.
Dad shrugged, "Well, performance issues. You know?"
The rage contorted on the Norse god's face so quickly I almost didn't catch it.
When my dad was on the far side of the room, on the ground, Loki turned to me, smirking devilishly.
For those of you who don't understand the pun, ie Stark, Raven Mad...
Stark Raving Mad: Cliché totally insane; completely crazy; out of control. (Often an exaggeration.) ex: When she heard about what happened at the office, she went stark raving mad.
