At Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, a reception was being held. Pictures of a woman, around early to mid thirties, were on the walls and a short narration on her life was being led on a big screen at the front of the room.
"Antonia Edwina Stark. Visionary. Genius. American patriot." The voice over said as a picture of the woman on the cover of Wired magazine appeared on the screen. "From an early age, the daughter of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with her brilliant and unique mind." Pictures of the woman being honored as a little girl with her father appeared.
"At age four, she built her first circuit board and age six, her first engine." Pictures of the girl posing proudly with her creations. "And at fourteen, she began her studies at the prestigious MIT. Then, the passing of a titan." An image of a newspaper cutting from 1991 of the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark shows.
"Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder. At age eighteen, Toni graduates MIT summa cum laude and at age twenty-one, she is anointed the new CEO of Stark lndustries." An image of a man appeared and shortly after, of the woman, who looked considerably younger. "With the keys to the kingdom, Toni ushers in a new era for her father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting." Short video clips of the improved weapons were shown.
"Today, Toni Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe." A final image of the woman, now slightly older and her current age, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone and the video ended.
A dark skinned woman then took the stage carrying a glass statue of a globe on top of a pillar.
"As the Stark Industries liaison, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot and she just happens to be my best friend as well as being my great mentor." She smiled as she spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my absolute honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Ms. Toni Stark!" The room erupted into thunderous applause with the woman, Toni, nowhere to be seen. Toni's friend looked around for her. "Toni? Antonia?" She asked, looking over at the man-Obadiah Stane-who shrugged and stood up. The applause continued as Obadiah walked onto the stage and up to the woman.
"Thank you, Colonel." He said.
"Thanks for the save." The woman whispered as she breathed out sharply, handing the award to Obadiah, who admired it.
"This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful..." The applause stopped. "Well, clearly I'm not Toni Stark. For starters, I'm an older man, not a younger woman!" He joked, causing the room to laugh. "However, if I were Toni, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Toni, as you know..." Obadiah paused and smiled. "The very best thing about Toni is also the worst thing. She's always working."
Toni was not working. Instead, she was sitting at the Blackjack table at the Caesar's Palace casino. She looked down at her cards, working through her options in her head.
"Hit me." She said, tapping at her cards.
The dealer put another card with Toni's.
Toni looked up from her cards and saw the dark skinned woman approaching. "Hey, Rhodey, I'm playing Blackjack. You'll have to come back later."
The dealer revealed his cards and Toni fistpumped.
"You won huh?" Rhodey asked. "I'll tell you what else you won." She shoved the award into Toni's hands.
Toni held the award up. "That's... I'm deeply honored."
"Yeah, if you were that deeply honoured, you would have turned up when I was presenting it to you." Rhodey said indignantly.
"Come on, join in the next round to celebrate." Toni gestured to the empty seat next to her.
"No, Toni. I'm still mad at you for-"
"Suit yourself." Toni turned around and put the chips she'd won from the previous game into the betting box.
The dealer dealt out two cards.
Toni's cards added up to nineteen, so she decided to stand and put her palm over the cards.
"Toni, you need to be more responsible." Rhodey said.
"I'm thirty-two. I'm rich. And I'll gamble with that money if I want to." Toni said.
"Okay, Fine. But you can't sit here and play blackjack all night long."
"Oh, so you'd rather I sit at home and play backgammon with you, like the old days?" Toni turned her head. "Newsflash, Jane, I do not like backgammon."
"That's a lie, Antonia, and you know it." Rhodey said without changing her tone.
Toni turned her attention back to the game.
The dealer flipped his card over to reveal twenty-one.
Toni stood up from the table.
"That's what happens." Rhodey shrugged as if to prove a point.
Toni tutted. "Well, worse things have happened, Rhodey, just as I'm sure worse things will happen. We're gonna be fine." She said, clapping her friend on the back as they walked out of the casino together, Toni taking back her award.
Outside, Rhodey sighed slightly. "This is where I exit."
"All right." Toni said indifferently.
"Tomorrow. Six am. don't be late." Rhodey said sternly.
Toni looked around. "Yeah, you can count on it."
"I'm serious!" Rhodey said desperately.
"I know, I know." Toni walked away. "There you go." She handed the award to her chauffeur, Happy, and they began to walk over to her Rolls Royce along with her security detail.
"Ms. Stark! Excuse me!" A voice called out.
Toni ignored it, though the voice continued speaking.
"Ms. Stark! I'm Christopher Everhart from Rolling Stone magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"
Toni grunted, but didn't turn around.
"Toni, come on. You have to indulge the press a little bit." Toni's chauffeur whispered to her. "Plus he's actually good looking."
"Really?" Toni whispered back. "Not like that last one?" She turned around to face the reporter. "Well, hi there." She smirked.
The reporter nodded in acknowledgement. "Hi. Ms Stark, you can call me Chris. I'm gonna ask a few questions and then you can get on with your... whatever you're going to do tonight."
"Yeah. Sounds fine. Go." Toni said.
Chris pulled out a Dictaphone from his pocket and turned it on."First, you've been called the da Vinci of our time." He said. "Now what do you say to that?"
Toni quirked an eyebrow. "I don't paint. And even if I did I'd be more Bob Ross than da Vinci."
"And what about your other nickname, ''The Merchant of Death''?" Chris frowned.
Toni paused to gather her thoughts. "Let me guess. You went to Berkeley."
"Brown, actually." Chris grunted.
"Well." Toni sighed. "Mr. Brown. The world we live on may not be perfect, but it's the only one we've got. Now I can guarantee you this; the day weapons and armies are no longer needed to keep the peace, Stark Industries will start making bricks and beams for children's hospitals." She said as disinterested as possible.
"Wow." Chris shook his head. "Rehearse that much?"
Toni smirked. "Yup. Every time I see my own reflection in a mirror."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "So I see."
"I want to show you first-hand." Toni offered her hand.
Chris folded his arms. "Ms Stark, I want a serious answer."
"Okay, here's serious." Toni said. "My father, Howard, had a philosophy, 'Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy'."
"What a great line coming from the guy who made the sticks." Chris noted.
"My father worked with the Howling Commandos. He helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown," Toni said mockingly, "would call that 'being a hero'."
"And I'm sure a lot more would call that 'war profiteering'."
"So tell me," Toni began, "do you plan to report on the millions that this country's saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops?" She said with a smug smile. "All those breakthroughs… Military funding."
"Have you ever lose an hour of sleep in your whole life?" Chris asked in disgust.
"No. But I'd be prepared to lose a few with you."
A/N: So Endgame inspired me to come back to this world. Actually, that's a lie. I've been living in this world for five years now (working though my plans in Phase 5-hello Web Warriors!) Though this story pretty much follows Iron Man, I've gone in a very different direction with the rest of it. Things that may seem similar and familiar won't be. Characters that you think you know, you won't and that's not just because some of them are male, some are female or LGBT+. Because in a way, this little universe I've made is much more inspired by the 616 comics. I like to think of it as a love letter to both the MCU and the 616.
So here's to celebrating difference!