Author's Notes
My second fic is finally here!\o/\o/. So there's this weird fantasy I always had of writing a comic book, but since I draw like a toddler, and Marvel is probably not going to hear my pitch, I've decided to take action. I'm finally living the dream (sorta). Rated T?. I don't know how rating works very well here, so you guys tell me if it's ok or not. This story passes on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, using some elements from the comics, the movies and the cartoons, but since it's mainly about my OC, I'm not sure if it's going to matter which category I put it. Also don't forget to review. Enough with the talk let's get to it.
I don't own the rights to any of Marvel characters, they obviously belong to Marvel.
Chapter 1 - Prologue
It was a sunny day in Malibu, the air was hot and dry, Tony Stark was on his garage, working on a new project, a new armor, that using only gestures of his body, would assemble, it wouldn't be as powerful as one of his regular suits, but it never hurts to be prepared against aliens, wizards, crazy gods and who knows what else could be knocking at his door trying to disturb the peace, or kill him, or both, besides, it's how he mostly spent his time anyway, work, work, work. He sipped some coffe from his mug.
"Ahh, nothing tastes better then a bitter mug of coffee with no sugar in the morning". He sarcastically said, throwing it on the modern trash bin next to his worktable. He then proceeded with his work, he made a gesture with his arm, and pieces of his armor across the room flew like little rockets and came to his hand assembling into a gauntlet, he smiled at his progress, what came as an idea when he was drunk in a party with his long time friend, Col. Jim Rhodes, was turning into reality. Soon, he would present the new tech to his friend, so the veteran would pay a drink for him later.
"Sir, we have a woman at the gates wanting to talk to you. She says that she is a friend". The disembodied voice of Stark's loyal household butler, J.A.R.V.I.S. played.
"Good morning to you too Jarvis, is she any hot or dangerous?". Tony replied not looking away from the gauntlet he was analyzing.
"While I'm not sure about the standards of a human's 'hotness' and she demonstrated quite a knowledge about you, she does not look like she could pose a threat, sir". The butler answered.
"If she's dangerous she might kill me, if she's hot then Pepper might. Send her in".
"As you wish sir". He was still testing his new armor around, he aimed the gauntlet at a beer bottle.
"Alright, testing Mark Seven's hand repulser, set to twenty-three percent of full capability, aaand". the gauntlet adjusted to Tony's command and then fired a burst of hot blue light towards it, leaving only shards of melted glass where the bottle once was, he was grinning at his latest invetion sucess. It gets the job done. He thought, he got up from his chair and started making his way to the front door, where his misterious guest would be waiting for him. After he got to the main floor he was met by a not so tall woman, not tall enough to be a model, which then, discarded the option of being one of the many models he slept with during his years of hard partying. She had light blue eyes that were filled with worry, she had some bags under them, brown wavy hair that was a little messy, she looked like she was on her late thirties, if Tony had to guess, she didn't have much sleep, she was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he met her.
"Hello Tony, long time no see". She spoke with a calm voice.
"Yeah, long time no see... umm". He replied, trying really hard to remember where did he met her or what her name was, to avoid making this conversation more umconfortable and weirder than it already was.
"You don't even remember me, do you? Should have guessed that". She sighed with a disappointed look on her face, for some reason Maya Hansen counted on him being more, she didn't know the word, attentive, heedful, less of a douche.
"What can I say? It was years of partying and getting drunk". He tried to be casual, it was a good approach on his head, to not let this situation escalate.
"Let me help you, Bern, Switzerland, New Year's Eve party, you still wore those ridiculous sunglasses and we-".
"Yeah, yeah, I remember what we did". Stark hurriedly said as he remembered the party, he was young and more douchy (if that was even possible). He remembered how he flirted with the responsible and young scientist, and how they both hooked up that night, and when the sun rose, he left her, forever, without even saying a goodbye. By just thinking about the probable reason she was here, he could already feel a headache coming, he massaged his temples and said.
"Please don't tell me there's a thriteen year old boy waiting on a car outside and that you two need money".
"It's more complicated than that Tony... and she's sixteen". Goddamit. He cursed mentally.
"How much do you want and can I meet her now?". Tony Stark was many things, a genius, an avenger, a millionaire, Iron Man, but he never could have expected to be a father, he viewed that as a very unpleasant situation that he needed to face, and since this girl was his daughter, might as well help her and meet her.
"I've already told you Tony, it's more complicated than that". Maya said, both of them heard someone coming down the stairs, a ginger woman with green eyes rubbing them came into the main living room, she had a very formal stance even though she was still wearing a nightgown.
"Tony, did you leave the-". She stopped when she noticed an attractive strange woman standing on her living room talking to her boyfriend, she glared at Tony and turned her look to the brown-haired woman.
"You must be the infamous Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, CEO of Stark Industries". She raised her hand for a handshake, Pepper accepted it, just for the sake of formalities, she then asked Tony trying not to look rude to the woman but with her eyes telling, 'what the hell is she doing here?'.
"And who is she supposed to be?".
"Pepper, meet Maya Hansen, we've attended to a New Year's Eve party and we... umm, it was a long time ago". He half-answered trying to find the right words, Pepper didn't look so understanding, Maya tried to help Tony out.
"It was a long time ago, you know how he was back then". The ginger still with the fake smile plastered on her face looked to Tony and spoke.
"I know perfectly what you are talking about". He scratched the back of his neck. "So you have a kid". Pepper guessed, Tony tried to be funny by imitating the brown-haired woman.
"It's more complicated than that". Maya gave him an annoyed look. "So tell me what's so complicated Maya, why can't I meet her?".
"Because she's in Boston". The woman answered.
"Why, after all these years, do you decide to show up now?". Pepper asked, curious about the scientist's true intentions, Maya looked, feeling a mixture of guilt and concern, she chose her words very carefully, she needed Tony, many things were at stake, including her daughter's safety.
"Because I don't know who else I can trust". After she finished her sentence, Tony's playful attitude and Pepper's formality disappeared, replaced by genuine concern, what could she mean by that? What did she do? That and a lot of other questions were raised by the blue-eyed woman standing in front of them.
"Maya, what happened?". The ginger asked with worry on her voice, she didn't know the woman, but she wanted to protect her, Maya didn't know how to react, she needed some relief from the pressure she was facing the last week, and it looks she finally found a good soul to count on, she half chuckled and half sighed nervously.
"God, where to start?".
"How about the beginning?". Tony bluntly said, Maya obediently nodded, understanding what he was after. Stark wasn't liking this one bit, he wanted her to be objective, he needed to know what could be threatening them, were they coming after them? His daughter? He felt a little bit surprised that even though he didn't meet her, he already wanted to protect her.
"Ok". The brown-haired sighed. "Do you remember Extremis? The project I was working on?".
"The one who was supposed to make people grow limbs back, but didn't work?". He replied.
"Tony, it works". She said, dead serious. "It works too well for our own good". Tony shifted his weight, indicating his interest. "First, I used viruses to rewrite the genetic code on a living being's cells, it told them to regenerate his wounds no matter how deep they were-". She was cut off by Tony.
"But it didn't work, it was unstable, sometimes the limbs didn't fully grown or didn't heal, am I correct?". Pepper looked at him then looked back at Maya, waiting for her confirmation about Stark's statement with her green eyes, the scientist nodded and in a defeated tone she admitted her project's flaws.
"Yes, some time after we, umm, met, my research got into a dead end, they cut off my fundings, and so I had to find another company or person that would invest on my project, I tried convincing many of them, but they would always answer the same thing, Extremis was nothing more than just that, a project, I was becoming desperate, didn't have money, I was two months late on rent and a baby on the way, when, like an angel falling off the sky, this man approached me and said he was interested by my project and wanted to see it succeed, he said he was going to afford my apartment, food, everything else I needed, and after I had my baby I would start working for him and a group called The Brotherhood".
"What an altruist soul". Tony sarcastically said, Pepper felt bad this woman had too experience this, Maya started speaking again.
"When I started my research again, he told me through one of his employees to concentrate on the brain cells instead of the body, and it worked, however, the viruses would multiplicate too exponancially and they would kill the living being within minutes, when I reported to the employee about the results, he demonstrated to already know what would happen, he asked me to meet him on the docks, I did that, they blindfolded me and brought me to some kind of underground lab, it looked like they were after the same thing, they were using electricity instead of the virus to rewrite the DNA of the brain's cells, the results were...". Maya didn't know how to describe them, she remembered how it looked, rodents and monkeys with enhanced physical abilities, developing primal intelligence, and then she saw what could happen to humans, it was like the work of a god. "Amazing, it not only granted them the ability to heal from these wounds but also enhanced their speed, strengh, reflexes, everything, and the worst thing of all, it gave them... powers, superpowers". Tony couldn't help but laugh.
"It's very funny Maya, you come in and say that you found a way to make everyone like Bruce Banner or the Scarlet Witch".
"Tony, I already told you it works, I saw, with my very own eyes, a man being smashed by a car and walk it off like nothing happened, and an elder lift a steel beam with his mind". She pointed at her head, in an attempt to intensify her statement.
"So you are saying if I put a plug on my head, then all of a sudden I'll have superpowers". He argumented.
"Not any kind of electricity, neuro-electricity". She answered.
"You mean the energy our brain produces?". Pepper asked, she wasn't well educated on scientific knowledge, but she knew what Maya meant.
"Exactly, this electricity only works with people that have a certain gene, we called them powercells".
"Powercells?". Tony asked.
"In my opinion, it sounded better than sucessful test subjects". She replied. "I truly believed that what they were doing at first was good, but then...".
"But then, you saw how easily this project turned into a weapon". Tony completed, he had built weapons his whole life, that feeling of building something terrible was very familiar, Pepper wanted to say something, but right now, she thought it was best to listen what the woman had to say.
"Yeah, the neuro-electricity of rodents and monkeys wasn't enough to fully unlock a powercell's potential, so they started using humans, it would kill them in the transference of the energy, and the results were what I said, superhumans with superpowers, they saw how efficient it was, and then they forced me, they forced me...". Maya felt like she couldn't go on anymore, Tony was getting impatient.
"Forced you to do what?! What have you done Maya?!". Pepper looked at him she said with her expression, 'you need to calm down'.
"They...". She stopped staring past Tony with an expression of shock, Pepper followed her look and the same shcked expression was on her face, Stark sighed.
"Let me guess, there is something very menacing behind me, outside that window, that looks like it's gonna kill us". He turned his head to face an armored chopper with no painting and two machine guns on it's sides ready to fire at the three. "Oh boy". Tony spoke, he quickly gestured and the pieces of the armor he was working on came flying from the garage, the helicopter started shooting, he gestured again making the armor assemble around the ginger's body as he tackled maya to hide under a coffe table, Pepper's safety always came first to him. Bullets were flying everywhere, making a very nice redecoration on Tony Stark's living room, the chinese pottery that once embellished the manor was turned to nothing more than just shards of ceramic, the white walls where filled with bullet marks, the big LED TV of 75 inches was shattered into pieces, and some of the steps of the Italian wooden staircase were gone, that place could be easily mistaken for a battlefield on the Middle East. Finally like what it felt like hours, the chopper finally stopped shooting.
"My turn". Tony said, he made another gesture, and the armor that was protecting Pepper assembled on his body, he was now ready to show the way out to these incovenient intruders. "Pepper, take her to the saferoom NOW!". He said with his mettalic voice, she nodded and helped Maya get up, the redhaired was still barefoot, she was careful to not step on any glass shards or something that might hurt her feet.
"Let's go!". She said to the frightened scientist, soon they were nowhere around.
"Alright you morons, let me knock on your door now". A blue burst of light came from his hands and his feet making him propel foward like a missile towards the helicopter, he made contanct with the vehicle, he hugged the front part of it and pushed it back, far away from his mansion, he then flew to the side of the chopper and yanked the door open.
"Let's talk". Iron Man said, menancingly. They were wearing gas masks and black leather outfits, one of them grabbed a pistol and shot him, the bullet simply ricocheted, Tony sighed. "You guys just simply don't know how rude this is". He raised his gauntlet to the ceiling and then fired, an explosion that sent the helicopter's blades flying, set the whole thing ablaze, the big hunk of flaming steel then fell, making a big splash when it hit the sea. Tony didn't care about who or what was inside, they tried to kill him, the mother of his daughter, and his girlfriend at his home, and that he could not forgive. He noticed something coming at his direction fast, it was someone in a grey version of Stark's suit, War Machine, also known as Col. Jim Rhodes.
"Sorry pal, looks like you're too late for the party". Tony said as his mask opened, so did Jim's.
"I heard your home was under attack, I came as fast as I could, are you ok?". The veteran asked concerned about his friend's safety.
"Had a bad coffee on the morning, working on some things, people trying to kill me, you know, Thursday". He sarcastically answered.
"Something like this happens and you still joke about it? Gotta be honest with ya, sometimes you act so relaxed it scares me Tony". Stark chuckled a little, they were both flying to his mansion on the hill, when Iron Man broke the silence.
"D'you remember that tech I talked about on that party last week?".
"You gotta be kiddin-". He was interrupted by the sight of Tony's gauntlet disassembling and flying around him, like it was teasing him, the inventor had a smirk on his face, like he just won a bet.
"Why don't you make cool shit like that to me for my birthday?!". Jim complained.
"Hey, I thought you liked my cheap colognes". Stark exclaimed insulted, of course, he was just joking around with his best friend, that was their relationship, they were like brothers, if anything happened to one of them, the other would do the impossible to help. Some seconds later they were landing in the living room which was now ruined glass shards and bullet marks were scattered everywhere, luckily Tony was rich, and he could afford to fix his entire mansion more than a thousand times, the two women and some police officers were now at the scene.
"Are you two okay?". Pepper asked concerned, she didn't see what happened.
"Yeah, you should check the other guys". Tony tried to be funny, no one laughed, he then looked at Maya. Were they after her?. He asked himself, she didn't say anything, but the expression on her face answered his question, he wanted to finish talking to her somewhere else in private know what the hell was going on, he looked to Jim and then to the police officers and asked.
"Jim could you-". Stark was cut off.
"Got it". Rhodes knew the inventor like the palm of his hand, he knew Tony liked the attention, but not 'that' kind of attention, he was going to ask for the officers to leave, he knew something was going on when he saw that stranger woman standing with Pepper, he didn't care right now, he would make Tony clarify the situation later.
"Let's finish our converstion in my bedroom". He stopped to think a little about what he'd just said. "That sounded very wrong, but let's go". Maya and him started to walking upstairs, being careful on where they stepped on, some of the steps were gone, Pepper followed them, he looked at her, like he was telling that she didn't need to come with them.
"What? You are my boyfriend, we're together on this...". She leaned very close to his ear and whispered. "Besides, after what I heard today, I'm never leaving you with another woman in a bedroom alone". They got in a place where they could talk without anyone hearing them.
"Nice bedroom, it's got a pretty view". The blue-eyed woman complimented, Tony didn't have patience with this, he wasn't liking how that day was turning, first his coffee didn't have sugar, then, someone he hooked up with a long ago, shows up and says that he had a sixteen year old daughter and that she did something really bad for an evil overmind, and now, people were trying to kill him at his house, he only manged to say in a serious tone.
"Maya". She nodded, they wanted to know what was going on.
"Yes, after they saw the efficiency of using a human's neuro-electricity as a way to obtain powers, they made me work on a device, it was... look Tony I didn't have any choice, I was desperate, I was... the device was a small sphere, maybe the size of basketball, that worked like a magnet for neuro-electricity on a radius of four hundred meters, distributing it to everyone who had the powercell gene around the area, killing those who didn't have it in the process, we called it Pandora's Box". When she finished her sentence, Pepper gasped, Tony almost did the same, the situation was worse than he thought, now, they got a weapon of mass destruction that could also give people superpowers on the wrong hands.
"I tried to contact someone but they got people everywhere, as a last ditch effort, I tried to steal away the thing to destroy it later, but I failed, after that, I couldn't go back home, back to my daughter, it would only put her in risk, she's staying with a friend of mine for the moment, but it's just a matter of time before they, they...". Maya was fighting back the tears. "Look, I don't know who else I can trust, so I'm choosing to trust you, please take her with you for the time being, I need her to be safe, please". Pepper didn't need any convincing, she was trying to calm down the woman.
"Of course we'll keep her safe, we'll keep you both safe, don't worry this guy will be stopped". The ginger said, Tony didn't want to make any promises, but how could he say 'no'.
"I'll send my private jet and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to pick her up now". He said, his armor disassembled and he grabbed his cellphone to make the calls, Maya never felt so relieved on her entire life.
"Thank you, I really mean it". She said.
"It's the least we could do". Pepper replied.
"Do you have a phone I could use to call my daughter". The scientist asked, the ginger reached for a small table where her cellphone was.
"Sure, you can use mine". Maya mouthed a thank you and started dialing a number.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country.
A girl with black wavy hair and ligt blue eyes was fiddling with her keys, she was laying on a couch listening to the sound of the rain outside, when then a black woman with a very thick Bostonian accent hollered from the kitchen.
"Hey Stevie, yah moh is on da phone".
"Coming". The teenage girl simply answered, she was born and raised in Boston, but she never developed an accent, maybe it was because her mom didn't have one. She was wearing her usual loose jeans, with a Nirvana T-shirt and her black leather jacket, it was already a week since she's been crashing on Mrs. Hughes' apartment, Stevie didn't know why her mother asked her to stay there, she seemed to be on a very stressful week, her daughter wanted to know why, she picked up the phone.
Back at the Malibu mansion
"Hey mom". The girl cheerfully said.
"Hi sweetie, how's going?". Maya replied on the other line, she was walking around Tony and Pepper's bedroom concerned.
"I'm fine, just wondering when you'll be back".
"I'm not coming back, you'll come to LA to meet your dad, a man dressed in a black suit will be knocking at the door in an hour or less, he'll say he's from S.H.I.E.L.D., don't open the door if he doesn't say that, got it? I love you". That got the girl a little worried, why was her mom talking like that?.
"Mom, you're acting like it's the last time we'll talk, don't worry, I've only stuck to jumping on small buildings". Her city exploring agenda accidentally came out. Oh crap. She cursed herself.
"Stevie, have you been city exploring again?!".
"No?". The girl lied.
"Stevie!". Leaping from roof to roof, climbing walls, buildings, exploring the sewers and other stuff like that, were Stevie's greatest passions, she loved the adrenaline of the thing, her mother would kill her for doing this kind of stuff, she didn't know where that passion came from, it started with jumping over park benches and climbing trees when she was six, over the time, the game started to get more daring and far more dangerous, she climbed two floors when she was twelve and leaped to another rooftop when she was fourteen, a woman who lived there almost had a heart attack when she saw the strange girl chilling on her rooftop, it was hard to convince her to not call the police. She also got a little job as a bike courier, putting her neck on the line when she crossed the avenues without using her breaks.
"I told you I didn't do anything too dangerous!". She tried to defend herself, Tony complained to Pepper.
"And I have a daughter called Stevie". Maya gave him a death glare.
"I kinda like the sound of it". The ginger stated.
"I don't care what you say, I don't want you doing these crazy things anymore, *sigh* just be ready when the man comes, okay?". Maya gave up on trying to scold her daughter, everytime the teenager would do something like that, her heart would almost jump out of her chest with worry.
"Okay mom see you in LA then, love you". Stevie was thankful her mom took it nicely.
"I love you too, be careful". The black-haired girl then hung up the phone ending the conversation with her mother.
"Is she okay?". Pepper asked.
"Yeah, she's getting ready for your agent to pick her up". Maya answered.
"Does she know anything about this?".
"No, I can't tell her, I just can't".
"Everything is gonna turn out just fine". Maya felt much more relieved, Tony entered the room carrying a suitcase that looked like one of his armors.
"The car is outside, I'm going to bring you to one os S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters where you can depose about this group and their evil plans, I'm bringing Mark V with me, just in case". He showed the suit case that was actually one of his armors.
"Ok, I'm ready". The blue-eyed spoke.
"I'm staying here, I gotta work on some contracts for the company". Pepper wanted to accompany them, but she still had to attend her duties as CEO of Stark's Industries, just like Tony had to attend his as Iron Man.
"We'll be back on two hours or less". He kissed her.
40 minutes later
Maya and Tony were both sitting on the backseat of the black BMW 220I, they were on their way to Downtown Los Angeles, where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s local headquarters was, they were responsible for overviewing the operations of The Cube, a high-security prison for supervillains affected by Gamma rays, like Abomination and Bulldozer. They talked a little about their lives after the party in Bern, Maya talked about Stevie, how she loved doing that city exploring thing and how it drove her crazy, she talked about the girl being homeschooled most of her life, how she looked more like Tony than her.
"I doubt it". He said, laughing at the irony.
"I'm serious, here's a picture of her". Maya answered also smiling, she took a small photo of the girl when she was fourteen, Tony was amazed by it.
Meanwhile, on Boston
Stevie was on her way to Logan International Airport, the place where she would take a private jet to LA, she never knew what to expect of her missing father, it looked like he was one of those jackass millionaires that didn't care about those who weren't rich enough, he didn't care about her mom or her. She sighed mentally, honestly, she didn't know what to think of it, her mom told her to not blame him, she said she never told him, and she was actually excited about meeting her dad, how would he look and act like, she never knew exactly what was it like to have a father, the closest she got to this feeling was when she was around Father Pyotr, an immigrant from the old Soviet Union, now Russia, that turned into a priest at the Holy Cross Cathedral next to Washington Street. Stevie didn't like going to the masses on Sundays, but she liked Father Pyotr and his russian accent, he was the guy who always knew how to make her laugh, he teached her a lot about justice, equality, love and fairness. He was one of the reasons she admired superheroes like, Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, even The Hulk, it was all because of him. He would encourage her on pursuing what she liked and was right and good.
"We're here". The agent said, she tried to make some conversation with him during their ride, she asked him if his job involved on being a robot the whole time, he didn't answer her, of course. She wanted to be a superhero or something like that since she was little, if this job demanded her to be like this, she would probably stick with being a bike courier. They entered the A terminal where the jet was going to land.
"Wait here". The agent asked her, she then sat next to an Asian guy with very pasty skin, waiting for the man in a suit to come back and tell her what to do next.
Back to LA
Tony was amazed at what he saw, she looked like a similar, female and younger version of himself, her eyes was the color of her mother's, she got the wavy hair and the lips of her mother as well, but her hair color was like his, her chin was like his, as well as the ears. After looking at the picture he noticed a small scar, so faint, it was almost invisible, on her left cheekbone, the shape was a crooked little line.
"Where did she get this?". He asked, pointing at the scar.
"Doing her city exploring, she slipped and fell on a glass shard while climbing a fence or walking in the sewers, I can't really remember, she was lucky it didn't hit her eye". She took away the photo.
"She does look like me, I'll give yout that, but still, I want DNA exams". He joked, Maya playfully punched his arm, he was looking at her, wondering what would it be like if he stayed with her all those years ago, how would it be like if he had a family, his thoughts were interrupted by a massive truck that was driving directly towards the BMW's right side, all Tony could do was scream.
"MAYA GET DO-". Boom, the truck crashed into their car that was now spinning out of control until it was stopped when they bumped on an utility pole, Stark was dizzy from all that spinning. Maya and the driver seemed to be fine, Tony could see from his window two guys getting out of the truck, both of them had pistols on their hands, he placed his suitcase on the floor and stepped on it soon his armor was assembling around him. A motorcycle passed them and the person on the bike's backseat shot the car with a SMG, bullets passed near Tony's face, the driver was dead, there was bullet holes on his neck and one on his forehead. Maya was just bent over, he didn't know if she was hit or not.
"Are you okay?!". He asked.
"I'm fine, just go!". That was the signal he needed, with his armor assembled, he blasted his door open flying and landing on top of the car.
"You just don't know who you are messing with!". He threatened them, he then shot the motorcycle, now those guys didn't have a way to escape, the guy with the SMG shot him, but all the the bullets ricocheted, tony used his hand repulsers and took down the two guys next to the destroyed motorcycle, one of the guys next to the truck raised his arm and prepared to shoot at Iron Man.
"You can't penetrate my armor with your sling-". The guy pulled the trigger, and what happened next left Stark dumbfounded, the bullet penetrated his armor, it didn't fully penetrated to the extent that it actually hit him, but it left a nice bullet hole on his left shoulder. It was maybe an hour since his first encounter with those assassins, and they had already adapted to his armor's shielding, he used his hand repulsers to take down the guy next to the one with the special pistol without making another comment. He then flew towards the last one remaining and used the momentum of his boost to push the guy against the truck, the impact was enough to make some of the henchman's ribs crack, he coughed blood, Tony grabbed his collar with his right arm and raised the other ready to punch the teeth out of him, he then menancingly asked.
"WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!". The man just chuckled and smiled, his teeth bloodened.
"The girl, she's going to set everything in motion, she's the one who'll open Pandora's Box... and there's nothing you can do, with all your strengh, with all your might, avenger... The Brotherhood will win". The girl?! Could it be?!. Tony punched the guy three times on his face very hard, if that killed him or not, he didn't care, he then looked back to the BMW, Maya was laying on the ground with her back leaned against the car, her arms were crossed, like she was protecting her chest. Stark approached her, to check if she was okay, he kneeled in front of her and looked her in the eyes, she nodded, he slowly took her arms out of the way revealing three bullet holes on her abdomen, it was bad, she was bleeding a lot, soon, she'd be dead.
"Let's go, I can take you to a hospital and-". He was cut off by her.
"Tony, no". She was breathing heavily, the hot pain she was feeling was out of this world, maybe worse than when she gave birth to Stevie, she would joke about that if she had the energy, she knew Tony would laugh at that, she didn't want to admit, but she liked his laugh. "You got to fly to Boston now, Stevie, she isn't safe".
"Save your breath". He placed his arms around her and was ready to lift her when she started to cry.
"No Tony, you don't understand... *coughs blood* I did this, I have created Pandora's Box, and now our daughter is going to open it, once it opens, it's never going to close again, you must stop this, please, help our kid, please". He was called Iron Man, but her plea smashed him, he stop trying to lift her. "After this, she'll need her father more than ever, please be there for her, if she gets in any danger, trust me, I'll come back from hell to haunt you". Stark just nodded, with a sly smile on his lips. "There's only one more thing, I... you know what? Fuck it, I love you". Tony didn't know what to say so he just said the first thing that came to his mind.
"I love you too". And then he leaned for a kiss, he could feel the dwindling energy of her kiss until he couldn't anymore, he didn't feel her breathing, she was dead, the mother of his daughter died on his arms. He slowly walked five paces backwards, and his mask once again closed, a giant burst of heat and light made him lift off the ground sixteen meters, and then another burst sent him flying like a rocket to Boston.
Meanwhile, on an unknown place
The room was dark, the only source of light came from the numerous monitors that were stuck to the wall, people in black outfits were fiercely working, while two men were having a match of chess together, one of the man in the black outfit approached the two and spoke.
"We took Maya Hansen down sir, but Stark, he umm". He nervously said, afraid of the middle-aged man's reaction, the man, however, seemed to be more focused on the match than the guy in the black outfit, he moved one of his black pawns next to the white queen trapping her, the elderly man he was playing against looked at the board with an indifferent expression, then the white queen moved on it's own, like it was alive or pulled by an invisible magnet.
"Don't worry, everything is going according to plan, tell our friends at the airport to do their job, take out the agent and let the girl open the box and see what's inside". The middle-aged man calmly said.
"Yes sir". The guy in the black outfit answered, the middle-aged man then took out the white queen with one of his knights, opening the possiblity to take out the king on his next move.
"Check".
Back at Logan International Airport
That S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was gone for quite a while, the thought of herself looking for him crossed the teenager's mind twice already, she was listening to 'Soar Away' by The Death Set on her phone. The girl was excited, she would see her mom again, she would meet her dad and she would be flying for the first time, it seemed a regular day at the airport, people were walking around with bags and suitcases, others were sitting, waiting for their flights, it was kinda crowded, Stevie didn't mind it was better than the streets and avenues that were always full of people and cars, where she made her deliveries as a bike courier, the Asian guy that was sitting next to her, was talking on his phone, he put it on his pocket, got up and left his backpack behind, Stevie unplugged her earplugs and tried to talk to the guy who seemed too much distracted.
"Hey, pal, you forgot your backpack!". She tried to call his attention, but he disappeared in the middle of the crowd, when then she noticed something shiny inside of it attracted her gaze.
Somewhere in the country
Stark had been flying at full speed for almost twenty-five minutes, he was almost arriving in Massachussets.
"Sir, the suit can't hold full speed much longer, at this rate we'll fall from the sky". The disembodied voice of Jarvis played.
"I don't care about the consequences, Jarvis, disable the suit's weaponry and defense systems, concentrate everything on the propellers". Tony answered, he was going to do everything he could to stop what was about to happen.
"Of course, sir". The digital butler replied, then after the suit adjusted to his commands, Tony doubled his speed. Please don't open it, please don't open it, please don't open it, please let me get there in time.
Back at the airport
Stevie took out the thing from inside the backpack and was now analyzing it. What the hell is this thing?. She asked herself, it was a metallic sphere, maybe the size of a basketball, she'd never seen something like that before, it was an interesting way to pass the time, trying to figure out what was that. She placed it on her lap and started searching for something, like a text or button or anything else, she tried pressing and twisting it, but it wouldn't budge, just as she was losing interest on it, something started moving, like it was being activated or something, like it was being unlocked like a box or a chest, she placed the hands on the sides of the sphere again and it was budging, she pressed the sphere until she heard a click. The light, the pain only one sound could describe it, boom.
First there was a white light that blinded her, she could only 'see' black and then pain washed over her body, it was a horrible burn, like she was on a beach without sunscreen for an entire year, her ears that were hearing some songs not so long ago were now ringing very loudly, but then there was nothing, she felt her consciousness slipping away, somehow she could hear the people around her dying screaming, it sounded like they were being burned alive, she could hear the building falling apart and explosions nearby, and then it was all silence, she felt dead.
10 minutes later
Tony finally arrived at the scene, he could not believe what his mask's cams showed him, so he decided to look with his own eyes, the mask opened and what he saw was true. The place was smashed into rubble, firefighters, paramedics, even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier could be seen not so far from there, Stark got closer, entering the radius of the blast, he saw people burned, smashed by the building, he could not describe it, that place was a warzone. There was some other people that were covered in rubble, but still alive, coughing a lot. He approached the center of the blast, and there she was, laying on the ground, her skin was red, there was dried blood on her face, part of her clothes were scorched, her hair seemed intact, like it was God's decision to save it, because it was too beatiful to see.
He knelt, holding her in his arms, like a father would hold his kid, and tell the child that the world couldn't hurt them anymore, because they were now together, something he didn't expect then happened, she was breathing, faintly, but breathing. He cleaned the dried blood out of her face, it wasn't hers there were no cuts on her face, he lifted her. He tried then looking for the sphere, the device that caused all that, but it was no use, Pandora's Box was gone
Back at the room
"We've sucessfully retrieved Pandora's Box sir". One of the henchman reported, the two men were still playing their chess.
"Good, phase one is over". He calmly said, as he placed his black queen on the center of the board, in a way to open the elder's guard.
"Should we start phase two sir?". The guy asked, a smug look on the elder's face appeared, one of his white bishops moved on their own and took out the queen, who was now floating and was gently placed outside the board
"Why the hurry? The best strategist knows how to wait for his opportunity, for now do the usual". He answered and used a rook to take out the white bishop trapping the white king, the smug face on the elder's face disappeared. "I think it's mate". All the game pieces, then jumped out of the board.