"Sparda sealed the largest gateway to the Demon World with Temen-Ni-Gru, but there are always other doorways." Doctor Steven Strange regarding the continued appearance of demons in the mortal world. August 23rd, 2001 AD.


(Autumn home of Tony Stark - Long Island, New York State, United States of America - September 25th, 2008 AD)

The red and gold armor was cool to the touch, and not very huggable, but Lilith Aensland didn't care. She was absolutely on top of the world.

She existed again. She had her own body, one that wasn't just some pale imitation of Morrigan's, but uniquely hers. But best of all, Lilith felt wholly and totally complete. That feeling that she was missing something, that she wasn't quite all there, that had defined her life before she'd merged with Morrigan was gone. She was smaller now, and didn't feel nearly as strong as she once had, but she also didn't feel like she was something fake. Lilith was herself, and her arms were wrapped around the man who'd made that possible. She hugged the armored man even tighter.

My dad, she thought gleefully.

When Lilith had first re-awakened, she hadn't been quite sure what happened. Her last clear memory from before was of Morrigan, unconscious after she'd killed Jedah, and Lilith crawling towards her. And then, when she was still just out of reach, everything had gone dark. The next thing she knew she'd just woken up in Aensland Castle. Morrigan had called her "daughter", Morrigan had become "mom", and everything was different.

Lilith spent the months since she'd awoken there, and the castle had become home. The only snag was that, even though she had free reign over the castle itself, and the grounds around it, Morrigan had been pretty strict about keeping her from venturing beyond that. Since she was spending all of her time at home, it hadn't taken very long for the young half succubus to exhaust all of the obviously fun things for her to do. Over the past few days, Lilith had tried exploration as a way to spice up her afternoons. But, castle or no, it was still the same house she'd been in for months. Lilith must have explored the same dining hall, the same ball room, the same bedrooms and servant's quarters, the same "private" grottos that she wasn't supposed to see yet, and poked her head into what she was certain the same closet no matter where it was, no less than five times.

Eventually, feeling cooped-up had given way to feeling a little bored.

He he, I guess that was the magic word, Lilith grinned to herself. She'd only mentioned that once, and suddenly Morrigan had been very interested in arranging a trip. Seeing more of Makai would have been fine since Lilith hadn't seen a lot of it last time. The Human World was somewhere she'd never seen, and would have been even better. Her mom loved it, and had all types of stories about the things she'd done there. The one about how Morrigan had lead that parade in the city that liked floats and throwing beads was still Lilith's favorite.

But really, anything that got her out of the castle for a little while would have been great. Meeting her dad, though, was on a whole other level.

"That's what I thought you said. Oh..." Her dad mumbled, and looked down at her.

Lilith grinned up at him, eager to soak in her first memories of her father.

He was tall, even taller than Morrigan when she wore the high heels, and Lilith's head just barely reached his chest. Except for his face, the armor he wore covered him from head-to-toe and it sort of reminded Lilith of those dusty old things back home that "Uncle Lucien" kept. The Aensland head servant insisted they added elegance to the castle, saying that they were priceless relics from Astaroth's failed invasion of the Human World centuries ago. Lilith thought they were mostly only good for putting into silly poses. The glowing blue circle that sat in her dad's armor just above her head was an interesting addition. But it was also really bright and Lilith couldn't stare at it for too long before her eyes started to hurt. From what she could see of his face, his skin was a bit darker than hers or Morrigan's, more of a bronze color, and his hair was black. Lilith had to actively resist the urge to poke at his short beard. But the most interesting part were his eyes. They were a sharp honey-brown, and Lilith could almost feel their weight on her.

Despite how different from her or mom he looked, he felt... right.

Her dad blinked at her, looking uncertain and looked back to where Morrigan was. Which was fine with Lilith. She'd had months to get used to having a dad, even if she hadn't met him, but this was all new to him. The half succubus gave her armored father another squeeze. He'll come around in a sec.

"I'm...I'm not sure what to do."

Her mom snorted. "And you think I am? You could hug her back, for starters."

"Right." Lilith felt a breath tickle her hair as her dad sighed. "Not helpful at all, but okay." Armored arms slowly, awkwardly, settled around Lilith's back, and he looked back down at her. "So... Lilith, huh?"

"Hi daddy."

That got a small chuckle out of him. ""Daddy" huh? That's going take some getting used to. Well outside of..." The grin that had slowly crossed his lips vanished in an instant and, glancing away from her, he cleared his throat. "Never mind. Maybe you should just call me Tony. Uh...how're you? Ok?"

"Great! I've been wanting to meet you for forever now. Mom talks about you a lot, even if she doesn't always say it's you. Is it true it took seven..." Lilith trailed off, noticing her dad's eyes had gotten very wide. "Dad?" He didn't respond, eyes still fixed on her. She blinked, momentarily puzzled and looked down herself. And instantly realized the problem. "Oh," she giggled and let go of her dad to properly show off. "Do you like it?"

"It" was her outfit, the same one she'd had before she was Morrigan's daughter. It was a smaller clone of her mom's outfit in looks, but colored differently and adapted to Lilith's smaller size. On Morrigan's outfit, the tight fabric on the legs and arms was purple, and everything else was black. On Lilith's, the legs and arms were light blue, and everything else was a red that matched her eyes. Lilith flared the red and blue wings on her back, the only pair she had now, and she did a little spin to show off.

"I know I don't really fill it out that well, but maybe I'll grow into it?" She really hoped she did, at least a little bit.

Her dad didn't say anything. He stood stock still, barely even blinking, as he stared at Lilith's outfit. As seconds stretched into minutes, the young half succubus began to worry she'd done something wrong. Should I have done a cool pose instead? She'd practiced a few different ones in her room when there hadn't been anything to do.

"That," Tony said with quiet finality, "seems...wrong."

Before Lilith could asked what he meant, her dad's eyes rolled backwards and he passed out. His still upright body wavered for a moment, as if deciding where it would fall, and then pitched forward, right through an unluckily placed coffee table. The loud shattering of glass was enough to startle the young half succubus into action and she rushed to her father's side. Lilith got her fingers under him and, with a gasp of effort, rolled the armored man over.

"Dad?" Her father didn't move. She poked at his exposed face, and once again nothing happened. Dread began to settle into her stomach. "...Uh-oh. I didn't break him, did I?"

Behind her, her mom started laughing.

"It's not funny!" Lilith yelled over her shoulder.

She'd worried about that a little bit, when she'd found out her dad was a human. Everybody at home, her mom included, had told her that humans were a lot more fragile than demons. Lilith had taken a look at the armor and figured that her dad was stronger than that, but maybe she had been wrong. She gave him a shake, and got a groan in return. Brightening instantly, she shook her father again, and got another groan.

"I think he's okay!" She said over her shoulder.

Her mom laughed even harder.

"Agreed. All of Sir's vitals are showing patterns well within normal ranges," a male voice Lilith didn't recognize said. "Sir simply appears to have fainted. All things considered, I believe that went rather well."

Lilith blinked up at the ceiling. The voice had sounded like it was coming from above her. "Um. Hello?"

"Good evening Ms. Lilith. My name is JARVIS. "Just A Rather Very Intelligent System". I believe Sir was going through some manner of phase when he named me."

"Oh." Maybe the house had a spirit bonded to it? Lilith had heard some of the other succubi mention that some demons did that. "So, do you do... house stuff?"

"Among a myriad of other things," was JARVIS' dry response.

"Think of him like Lucien, child." Lilith got an affectionate pat on the head as her mom sauntered past her. The elder succubus reached down with one hand and, without even a grunt, lifted her dad up, armor and all. A few bits of glass crunched under her heels as she walked to a nearby couch and gently set him down. "Don't you fret now. He'll be fine, but I imagine he'll need to rest for a little while. You know how draining our company can be."


Tony awoke a few hours later, feeling decidedly groggy, and nursing a headache worthy of the day after New Years. There was a strangely insistent sense of confused dread mixed in there as well, like he'd just seen Wolverine wink at him. He blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings and found it was light out.

That's my ceiling, and not a cave. So no kidnapping this time. Tony thought with a swell of relief. The lights above him were instantly recognizable, and unless he was the victim of some elaborate hoax-and-or-illusion, he was perfectly safe in his own living room. That's good. Once was more than enough for me. The food was terrible.Tony went to rub his eyes, and found he was while it wasn't the first time he could recall being armored-up, and then waking up later decidedly not armored-up, it had never bode well for him. There were more than a few YouTube videos out there that could attest to that.

"-brand potato chips. Where your Curly Mustache at?" Some very enthusiastic person crowed to his immediate left. A sideways glance found that his television, an item Pepper had once referred to as "grossly excessive", had been left on.

"Meh," a young, muffled voice said. It sounded close, startlingly so, and Tony suddenly became aware of the fact that something was on his legs.

He slowly sat up, and discovered the land known as Tony's Lower Half had been requisitioned to become part of a pillow fort. Which, even with his extensive bedroom history, was definitely a new one. Leaning forward for a better look, he found that said fort was occupied by a very familiar looking young girl. A pair of bright red eyes turned to meet his gaze, along with a big, semi-blackened smile. Curled up on his legs, with a large bag of Oreos in one hand and the remote in the other, sat Lilith. His daughter. And the gravity of his situation crashed into him for the second time that day.

"Dad, I'm glad you're awake," Lilith enthused through a mouthful of cookie. "You really went out when you fell through that table."

He was now Tony Stark: billionaire, inventor, former weapons mogul, superhero, and father. That was...something else. And she was talking to him. His mind scrambled to dredge up a coherent reply. "Ah, yeah. Sorry to...scare you?" It came out as a question because the kid didn't seem very concerned.

"It's okay. I was a little worried, but mom talked about how you'd fight big robots and stuff." She went for another cookie. "So that's gotta mean you're really strong, right?"

"Sure am." He heard himself reply automatically. "They even put "invincible" in my name. Well, Iron Man's name, but I am Iron Man so it counts."

Lilith put on a thoughtful expression, one finger tapping her chin. "Well, mom always say's "inexhaustible" but I think that still counts."

Tony had no response to that little gem that wouldn't make Pepper appear out of thin air and slap him on general principle, so he kept his yap shut and watched as she went back to channel surfing. Another commercial, this one for the newest DC Vs. SNK game didn't seem to enthrall her much either. What was really striking though, was how completely comfortable she looked. It was as though they'd been together for years and this was just something they'd always done. He honestly wasn't sure how to feel about that.

She takes after her mom, that's for sure. Tony thought, unconsciously studying the girl's profile. Probably for the best. I don't think I'd make a very pretty woman. That said, he could see some reflections of himself in the kid. Her mouth looked more like his, and the bend of the nose was definitely a Stark family original. But the kid absolutely needed some new clothes. Seeing her in Morrigan's "outfit", a term he used in the loosest way imaginable, had no doubt done horrible things to his blood pressure.

"You're taking this whole thing pretty well," Tony said tentatively. At the girl's curious look, the billionaire continued, speaking a little faster than was probably necessary. "I mean, it's not like that's a bad thing, or anything. This could be going a hell of a lot worse. It's just, I don't know how I'd do in your shoes. Er...heels."

To be honest, if a young Tony had been in the kid's situation, his father would probably have gotten a black eye. At the very least, he'd have brooded and been sarcastic about the whole situation for a good while. And if dad were in my shoes right now? Tony preferred not to explore that line of thought. Howard Stark had been a great man in a lot of ways, but he hadn't taken to parenthood very well.

"Oh," Lilith said and her hand went to rub the sole pendant on her necklace. It was small, and a glossy gold color that implied it was amber. "Well, why wouldn't I want to meet you? You're my dad."

Tony felt his heart do a little flip in his chest. Instead of saying something that would no doubt either hurt the kid's feelings or embarrass him to high heaven, he decided to err on the side of caution and get really invested in the episode of Gotcha Force on the TV. He'd spent forty-five years in the public eye, his family had been important enough that he'd barely been brought home from the hospital before his picture was in the paper. He'd done hundreds of interviews, and more than a few had been actively trying to ruin everything he built and stood for. Almost twenty-five years of his life had been spent as a superhero, fighting everything from time travelers, to deities, to aliens, and even the odd woodland creature with guns. Tony had so much life experience it was coming out of his ears.

And yet all of ten minutes with Lilith had made him pass out, break a coffee table, and finally, render him speechless.

"Are you ok?"

Tony blinked, coming out of his stupor, and refocused on the kid. She was staring at him with a look of curiosity and a touch of concern, as though he was a patient she couldn't quite diagnose.

"I didn't do the spin this time," Lilith continued, "so you don't have to...to..." Her face scrunched up, suddenly frustrated. She looked up at the ceiling. "What'dya call it?"

""Faint", Ms. Lilith." JARVIS helpfully replied.

"That!" The kid said with a pleased nod, and glanced back at Tony. "Yeah. You don't have to do that again. And I don't think there are any more of those little tables, either."

A small snicker escaped Tony and he gave himself a good mental shake. As off-balance as he was, he didn't want to freak the kid out if he could help it."Fine, yeah. Sorry, I'm just not used to people sitting on me." Exactly what was wrong with that sentence was immediately obvious. "Kids sitting on me," he corrected which sounded even worse. "Kids! I'm not used to kids and..." He trailed off, feeling his face flush with something that might have been embarrassment for the first time since he was nineteen. Tony let out a tired chuckle and settled back into the couch. "And I'm making a complete ass of myself. Hopefully it won't end up on the Bugle's tabloid page this time."

"...So no fainting?" The kid inquired after a moment. She was eyeing him like she thought Tony might keel over just to spite her.

"Yeah, I think I filled my quota for today. You're not wrong about the tables either."

The kid seemed to accept that, and turned back to the television. With his first bit of fatherly damage control appearing successful, Tony leaned back into the couch and, feeling much more clear headed, began to take stock. First, he and Morrigan had a child, and since he knew from personal experience that Morrigan couldn't scheme her way out of a neighborhood grocery store, he could put any idea that this was some sort of trick out of his mind. Second, the kid seemed to like him from the word go. That didn't necessarily guarantee that everything would work out, but it was a good head start. Third, and most importantly, Lilith was going to be a target the instant people became aware of her.

That was a nastier side of being a superhero and especially one without a secret identity: friends, and family could be used against you. Tony compounded that with being a snarky multi-billionaire CEO, meaning that it wouldn't just be the costumed maniacs that might come at her, but any of the many stuffed-suits that he'd ever pissed off might take an interest as well. Morrigan could handle herself, he knew that better than a lot of people, but the kid? She might not be able to, and Tony knew quite well that he couldn't be everywhere at once no matter how many armors he built. Simply put: the kid being with him was dangerous.

But, what was the alternative? Ask Morrigan to take her home and just pretend the kid didn't exist? No. The answer was instant, and all consuming. No. Not happening.

Tony was not perfect, and boy did the tabloids love to point that out, but he recognized something he couldn't ignore. This was absolutely one of them, because there was no way in hell he wasn't going to be there for his kid. Even if it was going to be a huge pain in the ass explaining it. And he would have to explain it. Secrets amongst the Avengers had a bad habit of being overheard by Hawkeye, and then finding their way to Janet Pym nee Van Dyne. Once Janet knew, everybody who could be bothered to be in the same room as her would hear all about it. The media was going to have a field day too, but so long as they kept their distance Tony could deal with them. He and Rhodey and...

Some of the color in the billionaire's face drained away as a terrible thought dawned on him. "Pepper," Tony groaned, and rubbed his forehead. "I'm gonna have to tell Pepper."

"Pepper?" Lilith asked, distracted by the little red fighting robot on the TV that absolutely wasn't a rip-off of Iron Man.

"My personal assistant." He explained. The image of a pleasantly smiling Pepper Potts Hogan, pointing a rather large taser at something near, dear, and below the belt as he tried to explain, drifted threateningly through his head. "Friend too. She and Morrigan don't really, well, mix."

Lilith perked up. "Ah, the skinny lady who isn't any fun?" She shrugged innocently at Tony's bemused look. "Mom said she wasn't."

Morrigan and Pepper were as opposite as two people could be. They didn't argue, so much as condescend, snipe, and generally try to annoy the other at every turn. Tony had tried to play mediator, in his own special way, but they'd taken to each other like catnip: neither could resist irritating the other. It was kind of cute in a sit-com sort of way, where Pepper was the driven, well-mannered professional, and Morrigan was the party girl roommate. The succubus had tried to bed Tony's personal assistant a few times too, more than once with Tony in the bed. For her part, Pepper had shot all such offers down with all the calm diplomacy of a surface-to-air missile. Thankfully, Pepper was currently in Hawaii enjoying her honeymoon. And while it meant that Tony was missing both his personal assistant and driver for the next two weeks, it also meant that the big reveal that he was a father would be done over the phone. Not only would Happy Hogan be trying to calm her down while she yelled at him, she'd have to worry about roaming charges as well.

Morrigan's probably going to get a kick out of that. Speaking of... Tony's brown eyes gave the living room a quick sweep and he realized the elder succubus was nowhere to be found. Tony had some questions about their new situation, and decided that a talk was in order. "Lilith, where's your mom?"

The girl bit into another cookie, "She got all grumble-y after I won the Oreos. They're really good too, I can see why she likes 'em! She always thinks I'm going to go with paper." She leaned in conspiratorially and her voice pitched lower to something decidedly sneaky. "She has a tell, so I went rock. But don't tell her, or she'll start winning again."

Tony snorted in amusement, knowing exactly what "grumble-y" meant. He'd seen, and been the cause of, Morrigan's sulkings and mutterings more than once. "And she went?"

"She said she was going to get some 'me time' in the bath." Her grin wasn't quite devious, but it was trying. "She hates it when I beat her. Especially in Halo."

"Halo?"

"Yep! She liked that Nintendo thing you got her so much she decided to get the other ones. I like playing games with her, because when I win she-"

"Gets "grumble-y"?" Tony finished with a smirk.

The kid nodded with a cookie muffled "mh-hmm".

With a destination in mind, Tony slipped his legs out from under Lilith, resulting in the near wholesale destruction of Fort Tony's Legs & Some and a loud pout that had him fighting another grin. A glance at his reflection in the window told Tony that his short black hair was a mess and that his goatee could use a trim. Good thing I'm headed to the bathroom then. He looked back at the kid and found she was staring up at him, no doubt still disappointed at the loss of her fort's foundation. "I'm gonna have a talk with Morrigan. Should only take a few minutes."

The kid blinked at that, then seemed to shrink into herself just a little. "Oh. Okay." She turned her focus back to the TV.

Tony could actually feel his insides twist at that image. Well, that doesn't make me feel like a jackass at all. With a sigh he sat back down on the couch. "Hey, don't worry. I'm just gonna be in the next room. It's not like I'm going out for lottery tickets or anything like that." Judging by her expression, the kid had absolutely no idea what that meant. And that...was probably for the best. "Ok, yeah that was dumb, lemme start over." God, he was awful at doing the whole "Moment" thing and he had the stories to prove it. But the kid deserved some honesty. Probably better to get this into the open now, too.

"Look, I'll level with you. I have no idea how to raise a kid. I don't have the experience, or the role model, so I'm kind of flying blind here. I'm probably, hell, I'm almost certainly gonna do or say some dumb things that'll tick you off. It's kind of my thing. But," Tony made sure to look her in the eye as he spoke. "I'm not going to leave you high-and-dry either. I'm willing to give this whole "parent" thing a try, if you're interested." He held a hand. "Deal?"

"Oh," she said again, though now it sounded thoughtful. Lilith glanced between the offered hand and her father for a moment, and then took it. "Deal."

Tony gave her a reassuring smile and stood back up. "Good. Like I said, just a few minutes." He held up the smallest finger on his right hand. "Pinkie swear and everything. And if you need something, just ask JARVIS, ok?"

"Like more of these?" The kid held up a nearly empty bag of Oreos.

Tony was about to agree, but the AI beat him to the punch. "Of course Ms. Lilith. There is a sealed bag of Double Stuffed Oreos in the top center pantry counter in the kitchen. I can direct you to it, if you'd like."

"There's Double Stuffed?!"

The billionaire rolled his eyes as the kid all but rocketed into the kitchen, but found himself grinning all the same. "Looks like you've got your priorities straight. Be right back."

"Oh my god! They're huge!"


The moment Tony was out of earshot, he was all business. "JARVIS? Enter the kid into the system. I want her to have full access; that means everything that isn't actually getting into a suit."

"Very good, sir." The A.I. reported crisply. "Miss Lilith is now marked as priority alpha. Shall I also institute Skeleton Dance Protocol in the event on an emergency?"

Skeleton Dance Protocol granted JARVIS remote access and control to any nearby Iron Man armors, allowing the AI to pilot up to two dozen armors simultaneously in response to extreme situations. It was a very risky bit of coding, one that had raised more than a few eyebrows from people close to Tony. Ultron had left a terrible legacy for artificial intelligences, one that was going to take years to overcome. But the day Tony Stark couldn't trust JARVIS, was the day Tony was truly alone.

"So long as you skip the dance number, sounds like a plan." Convincing Morrigan that he was a microwave had been the first time Tony had seen JARVIS screw with somebody, but it hadn't been the last. Though, he had to admit, it'd made for a pretty good Halloween party trick. "Authorization Code: AES031963."

"Code accepted. Are you expecting trouble?"

Tony scoffed as he ducked back into his bedroom. The low rumble of whirlpool jets from the master bathroom was instantly recognizable. "Wouldn't be smart if I wasn't. Right now, I'm more worried about the Daily Bugle tabloids section than HYDRA or Shadaloo." He let out a irritated grumble. "But with my luck, all three of them might come at me at once. Just... don't let her lock me out of the house or anything."

"I wouldn't think of it." JARVIS replied with grave insincerity.

Tony rolled his eyes, opening the door to the bathroom Pepper had called "gaudy and ostentatious" and Rhodey had called "an eyesore bigger than my first apartment". Looking at all nine-hundred square feet of bathroom, done in black Italian marble tiles with gold accents, Tony thought it was a shame none of his friends had any taste. From her spot lounging in the large sunken-in whirlpool bathtub that was the room's crown jewel, Morrigan offered a small wave.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." The succubus stretched languidly, bubbles from the bath's water jets sliding off her skin. "Care to join me?" She raised a hand to take his.

"Tempting, but not right now. We have company to consider." Tony strolled over, leaning up against a nearby wall. "Think I'll enjoy the view for right now." A cold shower wouldn't hurt either. "Distracting" wasn't nearly a good enough word to describe how well those bubbles highlighted certain curves on the succubus.

Morrigan hummed contently, drawing her hand back into the tub. "It is a wonderful view, isn't it?"

"No arguments here. The tub looked great when I got it, and you don't look bad either." He chuckled quietly at Morrigan's pout. The succubus actually prided herself on having her own form of poise, but Tony had found he was very good at doing just the right thing to screw with her. "Anyway, my good taste aside..." Tony schooled his expression into something more professional. "I wanted to talk to you about the kid."

"Lilith, you mean. Wait..." Morrigan glanced up at him, her mouth dropping open in false shock. "You never gave me a pet name. I'm hurt, "shellhead"."

"Yeah, technically you never gave me one either. You got "shellhead" off of a blog and thought it was cute."

"I did. I also thought that was what you named it. You do have a bit of an ego, don't you?"

"It's not really ego if you can back it up. And no, that's not itsname. You actually still haven't guessed it. Points for trying though." Tony waved that line-of-thought away. He needed to stay on track, nicely placed bubbles be damned. "But that's not important. You kind of just dropped this on me, Morrigan. I'm not mad. Hell, I'm warming up to the whole thing, but I do want to know how this all happened."

Morrigan grinned like a shark. "Oh, Tony..." She tittered, lazily flicking some bathwater at him. "I would have thought you'd know how these things happen." When he didn't rise to the bait, she sighed. "And it had been such a nice bath. But I suppose not everyone knows the ins-and-outs."

"Haven't heard that one. Do you practice those?"

"Sometimes," Morrigan replied wryly. Then she leaned back into the tub, her expression sobering. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"When?" Flew out of his mouth, and he winced. He hadn't meant to sound that short or accusatory. This was going to be awkward enough, he was sure, and he didn't want to start a fight.

The succubus gave him a look. "...I'm going to need a little more than that."

Tony rubbed the back of his head guiltily. "Sorry. I... damn it. All this has thrown me off pretty bad and I'm still trying to adjust. Hell, I can't imagine what it's like for you. But, when did this happen? I mean, she looks ten. That's a little freaky, even with the whole demon thing going on."

A small grin flashed across her face. "Oh, you've barely scratched the surface."

"One horrible thought at a time, please."

Morrigan closed her eyes, her smile fading into a calm line. "If you mean when was she was born? I'd say about five months ago. However, I felt...something about a month before that, though I wasn't sure what was wrong."

"What was "wrong"?" Tony echoed, incredulous.

He had to fight down a flinch when she gave him a dark glare in response. Under that likable personality and supermodel body, Morrigan was still a demon powerful enough to take Thor on in a fair fight. She might not win, that was true, but she could actually get into the ring and not get instantly turned into a long, lightning-cooked smear. If she felt like it, she could break him like he was a man-shaped glowstick.

"There's not been a succubus bairn in naerly a century, ya dobber. And it's nae like ah've ever done this before." Morrigan trailed off, her accent far stronger than usual. After a moment of glowering at him, her face slackened and her bright green eyes glanced away. "And I never thought-" She cut herself off, giving her head a little shake.

"...Dobber?"

"Oh shut it." She was quiet for a moment, staring at something that probably wasn't the bathroom door, before she looked back at him. "She's grown very fast, even for one of us. But Lilith is the first human half breed we've ever seen. That may be why, but I don't know. It's never been important, until now."

Boy, doesn't that sound familiar. "Sorry. Guess this is weird for all of us," Tony mumbled, pushing off from the wall and crossing his arms. There was probably something else he should say as an olive branch, but damned if he knew what it was. Instead, he decided to just move on. "I would have helped, you know, if you told me. Done something for both of you the second I heard about it."

"Well you're doing that now, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," he replied quickly. "But I'm still five months behind on this. Couldn't you have come here with her sooner?"

She didn't immediately respond. "It takes a certain...fortitude to cross worlds. She wouldn't have survived it before now." Morrigan's back straightened into a defiant line. "Makai isn't a safe place for anyone, least of all children. Young demons are easy prey. I wasn't going to let her out of my sight."

The kid would've died if she'd tried to come earlier. A terrible weight formed in his chest at the idea."Good call." He coughed, painfully aware of how hoarse his voice suddenly was. "I just, you know, wish I'd been there." Tony took a deep breath to get himself back in order, and then forged ahead. "You said she's grown fast, and that she's the first half breed you've seen. What about Dante? He's part demon, and I don't think he skipped any birthdays."

"He's not part succubus," Morrigan replied with a shrug. "I don't know how it works for him anymore than I do with Lilith. Half breeds are rare, and not well liked."

"Because of Sparda, right?" Mythology hadn't really interested Tony when he was younger, but after he became Iron Man and an actual Norse god had joined the Avengers, he'd made time for it. The legend of Sparda was one of the first he'd stumbled across. ""A demon who fought against his own kind, sealed the way between the human and demon worlds, and topped it off by having kids with a human woman." That about right?"

"It was before my time, but more or less," the succubus replied with a nod.

Tony contemplated what all of this would mean for the kid, and frowned. It wasn't as much information as he would have liked, but it was probably the best he was going to get. Gonna have to do some research of my own I guess. "So what are we looking at in terms of response?"

Morrigan arched an eyebrow and sat up straight again. "Response?"

"From other demons, I mean. They attack Dante all the time, right?" As a matter of fact, a whole army of them had come after the half-breed while he'd been in New York a few years ago. Something about how he'd beaten Mundus, whoever that was, and how a lot of demons were pissed about that. Of course, Dr. Strange and more than a few of the city's heroes had shown them exactly why nobody invaded New York anymore. "Lilith is part human too. They'll probably act the same with the kid."

And if that were the case, well, Tony had been wanting to try out his new Demon Buster Armor for a while.

A dark smile crossed Morrigan's lips. "If they're smart, they won't."

"Heh, right. Well, let's go ahead and assume they're not smart."

"Then it is nothing I won't be able to handle. You are talking to me after all." She stood up, smirk back in place, and with an aura that almost made Tony back away. "Now, if we're done chatting..." Her wings vanished in a burst of pink fire, and suddenly Tony was surrounded by several dozen fluttering bats, each aglow with Morrigan's demonic magic. Somehow they lifted him up without physically touching him, and unceremoniously dropped him into the bath. An instant later, the nude succubus was on his lap."I've been stuck in a castle for months. I'd like to make up for lost time." She slowly traced a finger over his chest. "Your bath is exquisite, by the way."

"Well..." He said, his tone cocky to hide the twinge of fear he felt. The thought, Like a glowstick, crossed his mind again. "Glad to know I'm appreciated around here. JARVIS is awful at pillow talk." Tony glanced down at his chest, and sighed dramatically. "You got my favorite shirt wet."

Morrigan leaned in close, her expression now only suitable for the latest of late night entertainment. "Well, it has been a while, hasn't it?"


(Outskirts of the Aensland Estate - Makai, the Demon World)

While Makai was host to many sentient beings, it had its fair share of monsters which lacked any real intelligence. Often these creatures would be brought under the sway of the higher demons for use as disposable workers and warriors. The Hell pantheon of demons were one such conscripted army. They were parasitic in nature, feeding off the seven basic sins of any nearby sentient. In the past, they'd been used by the dark lord Mundus as jailors of captured souls. They'd also served as custodians for Temen-ni-gru, the largest gateway to the Human World, which had been sealed by the traitor Sparda.

Of late, they had failed utterly in their duties. Mundus had been locked away so deeply that even Mephistopheles would be hard pressed to free him and the Temen-ni-gru had been banished from the Human World a second time, both at the hands of Sparda's miserable half-breed mongrel. Without the strong will of a greater demon, they'd fallen into the same mindless anarchy of their origin. The Hells were now little more than a nuisance to the nobles of Makai, no better than the plagues of Soul Bees that hid in the mountains.

Yet, some of the Hells had found a new master. A scholar of sorts. He was not of the Demon World, but he possessed power and that was good enough for their simple minds. The Master bid a group of them go to a system of caves overlooked by a large castle. Inside the lesser demons found a hole in the air. It was the remnants of a demon lord's magic, a small portal that lead to the Human World.

The towering figure of a Hell Vanguard beckoned toward the portal with its equally massive scythe. The Hell Prides, skulking desiccated things in black robes, wailed in anticipation and entered the portal.


Here comes a new omake!

"What'd you do to Ammy?!" Issun-Boshi demanded shrilly. "She hasn't been able to nap in days!"

Okami Amaterasu, the sun goddess of Nippon, sat at the small traditional table with her head down. The long white and black hair of her human form covered her face, but not her groan of dismay.

"I can't imagine what you mean," the other woman in the room said patiently. She sipped some of her tea, eying the increasingly irate little glowing humanoid. "It is a new blend. Perhaps it simply disagreed with her?"

"You did this on purpose Durga," the sun goddess herself muttered balefully from under her hair.

Durga made a politely noncommittal noise. "Perhaps. And perhaps you shouldn't have fallen asleep at Mithra's recital."

Amaterasu lifted her head, the red markings on her face scrunched in irritation. "So you drugged me?"

"So you slipped her Mickey?!" Issun yelled at the same time.

"Oh please, it's a perfectly mild stimulant," Durga replied. "Barely anything to a goddess."

"I hate you," Ammy's growl was decidedly wolf-like. "And tell your idiot husband to please stop teaching my pup to punch rocks! Yasha has been no help."

"Asura enjoys spending time with his nephew." Durga allowed a small frown. "And Mithra didn't take to it, so he needs his outlet."

Amaterasu glared at her sister-in-law for a moment. "No hot springs."

Durga inclined her head thoughtfully, then nodded. "No hot springs," she agreed.


As with all fan fiction, I own nothing but the premise. Everything else is entirely owned by Marvel Comics or Capcom respectively.