It's not easy being the daughter of a genius. Much less the daughter of a hero.
Unfortunately for Andi, her father was both and more.
There were very few people in the world these days who hadn't heard the name Tony Stark, fewer still since he'd become Iron Man. For Andromeda Stark, the illegitimate daughter of Tony Stark and fellow genius-turned-villain Maya Hansen, that had meant a lifetime of impossibly high standards to live up to. Never mind the fact that she hadn't even met her father until she was 12 years old, or that her mother had tried to use her as a bargaining chip to get her father to aid Hansen in her quest to perfect Killian's Extremis formula.
Not that Tony had been a bad father, oh no, not at all. He'd taken the news that he had a daughter he never knew he'd had surprisingly well, and he and Pepper Potts had welcomed Andi home with open arms. He'd never blamed her for her mother's actions, which Andi knew many people wouldn't be capable of doing. He'd always looked out for her and done his best to support her dreams and goals. It was just that sometimes Andi felt that she wasn't worth all the love and support he'd given her. All you had to do was open a newspaper or a magazine to be blasted with the truth of how inferior she was to her genius of a father.
Andi sighed and buried her head in her hands. The media storm that had arisen when she'd announced her decision to go to Johns Hopkins to study bioengineering had been exhausting, to say the least. She often wished she could have been born into a normal family, where she could quietly fade into the background like several million of her peers did on a daily basis. But she was a Stark. That could never happen. She'd been thrust into a role where everyone expected greatness she wasn't sure she could provide.
If only she was still nobody.
"Are you alright, Miss Stark?"
"Yeah, Friday, I'm fine. Just tired, that's all."
"Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts are out for their morning jog, would you like me to contact them for you?"
"No, thanks. I'm good."
"All right." The AI went silent. It was times like these when Lexi missed Jarvis. The two had grown rather close over the years, and talking to Friday just...wasn't the same. But Jarvis was Vision now, apparently, so there wasn't much she could do about that unless she wanted to forcibly dismantle a sentient vibranium superbot, which was juuuuuuust this side of a suicidal idea. Especially considering that Wanda would be out for blood if anyone hurt Vision.
Shaking her head in an attempt to banish her morbid thoughts, Andi stood and wandered into the kitchen, looking for something to munch on. She wasn't hungry, per se, she'd eaten breakfast an hour ago, but it would be a good distraction from thoughts of her general inadequacy. Suddenly, the room swayed around her, and she stumbled into the wall.
"Miss Stark, are you ok? Miss Stark!" Friday was calling her, but the AI's voice was drowned out by distant screams and the sound of explosions. Andi was suddenly in two places at once: the penthouse where she lived with Tony and Pepper, and the deck of...was this a spaceship, surrounded by fire and death. She was dying, she could feel it. No air was getting into her lungs. "You will never...be...a god," she heard herself say, but the voice was not her own. Pain. There was so much pain.
"You truly are the worst brother." Was that Thor? Who was he talking to? No, never mind that, get air into your lungs. It felt like a giant hand was slowly squeezing the life out of her. Andi slid down the wall, gasping for breath. It wasn't real, it wasn't real! She was still in the apartment; she couldn't be in space, too!
And then she could breathe again. Cool air spiked into her lungs, and Andi gave a mental sigh of relief. Whatever that had been, it was over.
Andromeda Stark could not have been more wrong. It started as a dull ache in her chest. Then it grew to a small core of burning pain that sent spiking tendrils out through the rest of her body. Andi cried out as the pain ratcheted up in intensity. She vaguely thought she heard Friday saying something about emergency services, but her brain wouldn't think when her body was like this. Someone was screaming in pain now. Was that her? There were two voices. Why were there two voices? Who else was screaming? Never mind; she didn't care, just make it stop. So much pain. So much pain. This was it. She was going to die. It was kind of sad, really. She was going to die here, alone and in pain, for literally no reason at all. Pathetic.
That was her last coherent thought.
Then everything went black.