Prologue

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Everyone has to have that unoriginal origin story. Well, this is mine.

It was a clear night in Cairo, Egypt, when my father met my mother. He was 23, and she was 21. Of course, it didn't last longer than the night, as they were both only interested in a fling. He was in town receiving an award, or something of the like, and mom was there for the archeology. She had deliberately not taken anything to prevent me from being created, hoping to get a large child support fee from my father, and send me off to who-knows-where.

I was born October 29th, 1997, in a small village nestled in the sands of the Sahara. She was too busy working on a jobsight to even care that she was pregnant, but how can I be one to judge, as I never knew her. She named me Cairo Antonia LaRue. Cairo, after the city I was created in, Antonia for my father, and LaRue was her surname. It drew less attention then the name of a famous billionaire.

Nothing important happened in the two years I spent with her, other then she died from some strange virus. I was taken to an orphanage in, surprise, Cairo. I can remember the kind workers there, and how I was quite popular. I spent four years there, and I can remember most of them pretty well.

The workers had quickly noticed that I had some sort of intellect, and they tried their best to keep up with me. After I felt outcasted by the kids my age, I stopped working so hard, and stopped being so smart in public. This was the first moment I decided to be normal.

Now, since the technology there isn't the most advanced, it took a long time to find out who my other set of genes came from. To the surprise of the workers, they had found I was the child of Anthony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, etc . They contacted the American Services, and managed to get me onto the next flight with a guardian.

Once we made it to the lovely city of Sacramento, California, they called up my father. You can only believe the response he had, as he came storming in from his most recent party. I remember him being disheveled and shaken, with his shirt crooked and smelling of whiskey and motor grease.

A DNA test was performed, and it was proven that I was truly the Stark Heiress. He called someone on his phone, and a kind woman, whom he called Pepper, took me to her home for the night. I had really liked Pepper, and thought that if Tony, as he told me to call him, would get it through his thick skull that she had a crush on him they would end up pretty happy together.

The next day, I had a room in his home, a lot of things that I would have thought useless if I got them in the orphanage, a new legal name, and a new parent. Tony had managed to pull some strings to keep me a secret. He had always hated that he had the shadow of his father looming over him, and he wished for me to be my own person. To those who ask, I'm Rosie Potts, the niece of Pepper Potts.

I hadn't yet shown him that I was smarter than I appear, due to the fact of always being made fun of. Once I was sent to school, he asked me if I wanted any help for my schoolwork, as he noticed it was barely passable. When I told him that I was doing it for a reason, and I didn't want to get bullied, he talked with the school in a legally silencing contract, and arranged for me to be homeschooled.

I feel like Tony had always felt like he could be better than his father, and he always made time for me, even if it was to do something as silly as play hide and seek, or tag. He always made it clear to me that he loved me, no matter what happened. Tony always tried his best to be the exact opposite of his father, and be the best to me he could. Whenever he thought I wanted something, I'd find it on my dresser the next day.

I ended up graduating High School at age thirteen, and started a private, confidential schooling at MIT, as my father before me.

That brings us to a year before he was kidnapped in Afghanistan. During that year before he vanished, I experimented around with him in his lab. My tenth birthday present was a portion of his lab set up for me, with lower workbenches to allow me to reach whatever tool I needed. I have remained in contact with my best friend at the orphanage, Shakir, and every so often I'd mail him some money, something fun to do, or even finished his homework for the next few weeks for him.

That concludes the first thirteen years on my life, and be prepared for the next eight years of absolute madness, that I had no clue about. I never knew that I'd find love, find more family than just my father, Pepper, and myself. The trouble being a Stark would cause, and the suffering of seeing those I love do unforgivable things. The fights I'll get into, the friends I'll lose, and the comrades I'll give anything to save.