It had been over 4 years since Tony started keeping in touch with his younger sister. Not that Tony could necessarily blame her, but he was still disappointed when Morgan didn't even show up to their parents' funeral.

He remembered a distraught, short-haired girl storming out of the Stark family home when he was about twenty-three years old. Morgan was nineteen, just a young adult who had yet to fully experience the real world.

Their mother always did her best to support them, but it wasn't enough for Morgan. Tony and Morgan were alike, yet distinct. They were born as natural geniuses, and as reluctant as he was to admit it, Morgan was truly the sharpest of the whole family. Tony believed in furthering science and technology to aid the U.S. in its arms race, just like their father did. On the other hand, Morgan opposed using violence as protection and was a full-blown pacifist.

As the scholar of the family, Howard Stark had the ambition to pass down his legacy to Morgan. Although he was a bit jealous, Tony couldn't have been happier for her. Morgan gracefully declined. Their father became a bit concerned and irritated with Morgan.

With all the money they had, their parents didn't mind buying their children's love when needed. It was just a norm for the Stark children to borrow money, and it was an expectation that their parents' fame and fortune would soon fall onto them. With this in mind, Morgan asked Howard to pay for her tuition that didn't involve aiding the Stark family business.

Howard Stark was fairly disappointed. He offered to do it on one condition; Morgan was to advocate for military funding at the Stark convention. She refused to do that, as well. The stubborn sibling just wanted to do as she pleased so she could alter her adult life from military weapons and war. Neither of the siblings couldn't really qualify for top university scholarships because they were rich, and her father refused to pay for her education. Morgan just wanted to explore the medical field and find ways to help people in need instead of blowing them up with high-tech bombs.

The arguments between Morgan and Howard soon escalated into screaming episodes, and they became more and more distant with time. Their mother pretended the fights never happened and tried talking to Morgan about being more considerate for Howard, which made Morgan feel even more betrayed.

Tony remembered when he tried to convince his sister to not leave on her own. During that time their parents were at a press conference, leaving them alone in the mansion. He heard a bit of shuffling downstairs and went to figure out what was going on and saw some luggage by the front door. Morgan was walking towards the door shortly after, wearing a backpack and dragging another suitcase.

He stopped her at the door, wearing a solemn expression. She had looked back at him, her eyes and nose were a bit red from the evidence of crying. He had asked her what she was doing, and she gave him a look of guilt.

"I'm leaving for Ohio. I have a friend there from boarding school who's willing to help me settle there."

Tony blinked stupidly at her, "What do you mean, you're… actually leaving? Why?"

She had frowned at him, "I'm trapped here. I can't do what I want to do. I have no job, I have no resume, I have no extracurriculars from boarding school. I have nothing besides a 4.7 GPA with a majority of AP and honors classes. I'm not even that well known by celebrity standards. It's harder to get accepted into a good school or job without a solid history of experience and social skills these days. I managed to somehow get accepted into NYU, but I can't even afford that without the money."

Tony looked at her in remorse.

She continued with her voice shaking, "I'm trapped here by family obligation. I'm trapped here by money. I can't do what I want to do, and you know that I hate where our money comes from. Our money comes from bloodshed, Tony."

He shook his head, "Morgan, our money comes from protecting our country and stopping war criminals. It's blood that is needed. Even so, you can probably sort something out with Dad. Some sort of compromise. Anything."

Morgan looked at him with slight disgust and disappointment, "I tried, Tony. It's not as grey as you think it is. It's black and white in this case. I can't go against my personal morals about this and pretend to oppose it when I'd just be a huge hypocrite."

"Morgan…"

She smiled, "I'll be fine. Dad will be pissed, but he'll get over it. I have my plane ticket and about five-grand cash on me." She stepped forward patted Tony's shoulder.

Tony looked at her in loss but in understanding of her choice. Morgan grinned up at him, her dark hair barely brushing her shoulders. She retracted her hand and turned around, picked up her bags, and opened the door.

Before leaving, she turned her head at him, her eyes watering, "See ya later, Stockholm Syndrome."

Tony rose an eyebrow, "Bye, Rapunzel."

Morgan finally left and closed the door, and Tony frowned deeply at the empty spot where she previously stood.

Morgan had left her whole life behind her on that day.

The next time he ever spoke to her was the first time in over a decade. It was right after he survived Afghanistan and announced that he was going to stop the production of war commodities that Morgan actually bothered to contact him.

It had been so long that he almost forgot that his sister was just as good, if not better than he was at technology and hacking into things. Tony was in his private jet from New York when he received an unknown call number and answered it, "Hello?"

"Tony? It's me, Morgan."

The playboy choked on his scotch and quickly recovered. Pepper looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Morgan? It's been a good… I don't know, a decade? I don't know whether to be happy or insanely pissed at you right now."

A laugh resounded from the phone, "Then be happy. Look, I'm gonna tell you a really long and sappy speech and also update you on my life. Sooo..."

Tony sighed, "It's fine, talk all you want and catch me up on over ten years. That's totally normal."

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm really happy you're alive. I'm also really proud that you made a huge decision with the company. I'm sorry for not talking to you ever since I left, and changing my last name, and cutting all ties to the family. I'm sorry for not making it to the funeral. I just got a lot on my plate."

Tony smiled, "Next time, we're gonna see each other in person. You can make up all that missed time by baking me your famous sugar cookies."

Morgan chuckled through the phone, "Alright, I guess I'll have to make four dozen for my best customer… In serious matters, there's a big reason why I haven't spoken to you in a long time. Mostly because I felt kind of ashamed, and worried that Howard would judge me for it."

Tony's dark eyebrows furrowed in concern, "What big reason?"

"I got knocked up and now I have a daughter. She's seven. Her name's Carla."

His eyebrows shot up, and he looked up at Pepper in surprise. She mouthed, "Your sister?"

Tony nodded, expression blank. He hadn't realized how long he was silent until Morgan interrupted his thoughts.

"Uh, Tony? Are you there?"

"Yeah! Yeah. You're serious, right?"

He could almost feel her roll her eyes through the phone, "As serious as I can be. I'm now a single mother who works as a nurse in New York. Pretty inspiring, yes?"

He sighed, "I can't believe you right now. If you don't mind me asking…" Tony stopped himself and shook his head.

"Nevermind."

"You're wondering where the father is, aren't you?"

"You got me."

"Well, long story short, he came from England, and we dated for about two years. His father didn't approve and forbade him from being with me. I got pregnant and never told the guy."

Tony frowned, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. Give or take eight years and I'm not even fazed about it at this point. It's life."

Another call rang through his phone and Tony rolled his eyes, "Morgan, I've got another person on call. Can we catch up later?"

"Yeah, that's fine! I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye," Tony ended the call.

They caught up through the phone after that, and Morgan sent many photos of his niece. Tony was pleasantly surprised and was happy to receive them.

Even if he was a bit hot-headed and held grudges easily, he understood where Morgan was coming from and chose to not stay angry at her. She was his only family, and now she already had her own kid. It was easier to forgive and forget after so much time had passed by.

He didn't realize Morgan had been killed until he remembered to call her at the shawarma shop down the street. Her phone kept ringing and never picked up.

It was only had he bothered to go looking for her that his worst fears became reality. Morgan was laying in a pool of her own blood. He immediately knew she was dead. A young girl was also laying next to her, which he came to recognize as Carla. With doubt, he examined her wrist for a pulse and was relieved to feel a strong heartbeat.

Paramedics and police soon arrived to sweep the city for any survivors and corpses. Tony remained there until they came to pick up Morgan and Carla. Morgan was zipped up into a body bag as Tony watched with a blank expression. He picked up Carla from the ground into his arms as more paramedics came to take Carla as well, and the broken man gave them her information and chose to ride with her in the ambulance to the hospital. It wasn't until the vehicle started moving that he had finally broken down and sobbed uncontrollably into his hands.

Until Carla was set into a room, he refused medical treatment. He ignored calls from Pepper and Happy that he received on his phone the entire day.

Carla was in the hospital for only a day before she was discharged to Tony the next morning. He had signed numerous documents from social workers for temporary guardianship until further notice.

He walked into the hospital room and sat in the chair next to her bed. Her eyes were closed as her chest rose slowly up and down, indicating that she was asleep.

He felt immense guilt and heartbreak when his niece woke up and discovered the news about Morgan. She cried for a while and Tony couldn't bring himself to say anything as he averted his eyes to his hands. The next morning Tony called Pepper and told her what happened. Once Carla was finally discharged, he texted Happy to pick them up and get them situated in a hotel to figure things out. Tony didn't sleep for several days and cried on and off during that time whenever he was alone.

Tony had Happy get a warrant and get legal documents finished to gather Morgan's belongings and her corpse to bring with them over to California.

Carla had her own room and stayed in bed for three days. She rarely ate anything and spent her time staring at nothing or sleeping the day away. Her chest felt immensely tight and her stomach churned with nausea. Every time she thought back to the moment she saw her mother's lifeless eyes, her mouth salivated while she ran to dry-heave into the toilet. She constantly felt sick and empty. Her eyes were irritated from sobbing here and there when her heart became too heavy.

On the fourth day, everything was settled quickly and they were set to leave on a private plane. Many boxes were packed and taken to be transported to Tony's home in California. Happy drove Carla and Tony in a black limousine to the airport.

Once they were in the private jet, it took off as Carla watched the television as a distraction. Tony sat down and sighed as he sat on the other side of the table that Carla occupied. Her red eyes looked at him in curiosity, as if she already knew he was going to say something.

He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a necklace in his right hand. He placed it on the table in front of Carla. Her eyes widened in recognition of the jewelry.

She reached out for the chain, examining the ring attached to it. It was a simple silver ring that had golden leaves engraved all around the band. It belonged to her mother who constantly wore it and never took it off once, for as long as she could remember.

Her heart swelled a bit and she gave Tony a grateful look, "Thank you."

He gave her a slight smile, "You're welcome. I'm sure she would've wanted you to have it."

"Yeah…" He watched as Carla quickly unclasped the chain to put it on herself.

Tony decided to switch the topic, "I think you'll like meeting my girlfriend, Pepper. She's really nice."

Carla smiled, "That's good…"

Her stomach interrupted the silence with a large growl. Carla averted her gaze in embarrassment.

Tony rose an eyebrow, "Are you hungry?"

"I could really go for a cheeseburger," she admitted.

He grinned, "Me too. Another two hours and you can eat all the cheeseburgers you want."

The plane went into the landing strip that opened up on the cliffside of his house. Carla looked at their surroundings in amazement as the jet went through the entrance and made a smooth landing, rolling into a huge garage with many luxury vehicles. They came out of the jet and went into an elevator, going up a few levels until it stopped and the silver doors opened up and revealed the inside of his huge house.

Carla looked around in awe as a neatly dressed woman with red hair tied into a ponytail approached them, heels clicking on the floor. Carla's eyes drifted to the woman in question. The redhead looked down at her and smiled as Tony and Happy exited the elevator with luggage in tow.

Tony put his arm around Carla's shoulder and brought her along to his girlfriend, "Carla, this is Pepper."

Pepper held out her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Carla took her hand and shook it, "Thanks… "

Pepper introduced Carla to her spacious bedroom, which was down the big hallway upstairs in the foyer. It had a big window that had a balcony and a queen-sized bed in the corner of the room. There was a huge wooden vanity and chair that was on the opposite wall. It also had its own personal bathroom with a luxurious walk-in closet. Carla was fairly impressed.

"I know the house is huge to what you're used to, but you'll eventually get familiar with it. If you ever need to find me, Tony, or Happy, you can ask JARVIS," Pepper assured.

The brunette frowned, "Who's JARVIS?"

Peppers eyes widened for a second in realization, "Oh! He's an AI that Tony programmed and built into the house."

Carla nodded in interest, "JARVIS, where's Tony right now?"

A male voice with an English accent spoke out of nowhere, surprising the girl, "He's currently downstairs in the kitchen."

Her jaw dropped, "It sounds so… human. It has its own voice."

Pepper chuckled, "It's surely impressive."

JARVIS spoke again, "Mr. Stark asks that you come downstairs to eat some food."

"Well, I guess that's our cue for dinner."

Carla went back to her room soon after she ate her promised cheeseburgers. She felt a lot better after not eating for almost four days and puking up whatever she had left in her stomach. She looked at herself in the vanity mirror, her eyes starting to water yet again.

Carla was only eleven, and yet she just felt so old and tired. Not that she was like most children, being an isolated child who liked to tinker with things and read books most of the time. She also liked playing games like a lot of kids did, but it was hard to make friends when she didn't feel comfortable by being herself.

She could understand naturally being smart but didn't get why she carried herself so differently. Carla just couldn't wrap her head around it.

She wiped away the tears from her eyes and finally went to bed for the night.

More arrangements were made for the funeral, and it was a depressing atmosphere that suffocated the attendants of the ceremony.

After the burial, Tony noticed that Carla was a lot like her mother. He was surprised to see her take the ceremony so well for a kid. She had even made a small joke about the weather.

It was obvious how brilliant and mature Carla was for her age. The genius himself wasn't really all that surprised, but he was still pretty impressed.

Over the course of two weeks, their pain slowly healed with time. Carla decided to keep her surname alias, Davis, which Morgan changed long ago for safety measures. Tony had set her up with online homeschooling upon his niece's wishes, and she gradually started opening up to everyone.

Pepper found some free time to take Carla out on a shopping spree. Carla was embarrassed and guilty to accept at first but was finally persuaded by the stubborn woman.

With just having homeschool, Carla became more of a recluse herself. She spent most of her free time reading and surfing the internet.

Carla found JARVIS fascinating and ended up using the AI as a sort of coping mechanism when she felt like talking about something or was simply bored. It was nice and convenient.

Admittedly, she still felt a little awkward and shy around the other adults.

It was late at night when Carla had trouble sleeping and kept glancing at the clock on her nightstand that had the blinding numbers of 12:47 AM. She huffed with frustration and traveled her way downstairs to eat some cereal out of boredom. As she made her way to the kitchen, she noticed a light was on from a downstairs entrance in the huge room. She curiously walked down the stairs and saw her uncle in front of some high-tech hologram, surrounded by a bunch of his Iron Man suits and all kinds of mechanical equipment and technology.

Tony looked up from whatever he was doing and noticed Carla in the doorway.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep," she shrugged her shoulders.

Tony rose an eyebrow, "You aren't the only one… you wanna help me upgrade this suit I'm working on?"

He asked to see if his niece would actually be interested, and to his surprise, she nodded almost excitedly.

"Alright then, Young Grasshopper."

Carla recognized The Karate Kid reference. She walked into the room and sighed.

"Don't tell me that you also use nicknames as Mom did," Carla whined.

"It runs in the family," Tony retorted.

Tony ended up spending a few hours teaching Carla about how he built and created the charges for his suits, and how he connected the suit to the energy source in his chest.

Sure, their bonding was the nerdiest thing imaginable, but Carla ended up enjoying it anyways.

So I made some major changes in this story lol. When I first made an idea chart I eventually realized that some parts like a Black Cat reference wasn't necessary, and there was another detail with her future abilities that just wouldn't work out together and make sense. I ended up changing the title and summary that aligns better with the main idea. I also decided to shift away from first person to third person with this story, so the first chapter is first and the rest will be third.

Initially, it'll have more input on Tony but over time as Carla gets older, the spotlight will shift more to her, if that makes sense. This story is a bit messy at the start but hey, it'll be going a lot better than from what I originally planned.

This chapter went more in depth of Tony's side of things, and more details surrounding Morgan's death and Carla's integration into a new lifestyle.

I'm hyped for a badass OC, man. Next up is Iron Man 3.

Love, Navi.