Welcome to chapter 3! Thank you for favoriting and following this story I really appreciate it! I have found out with a story that I took down from here that writing good AUs are a little tricky. But with this I will push forward and finish it unlike the other story!

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Marvel and Annie or it's characters. The girls in the foster home and Ceri are based on the orphans from the musical Annie.

Chapter 3

Back in the city once again, Lessa had an easy route. All she had to do to find Stark Tower, but just look up, spot the building, and hope you are turning on the right blocks.

She loved running, especially in the city. Having the heavy traffic, crowds of tourists and residents walk up and down the sidewalks, and skyscrapers, made Lessa feel like she was in a movie.

It took about five wrong turns to find herself back at the tower. She stared up at the top, her eyes squinting from the bright sun, and hoped he was there today. Lessa circled around the tower, finding an entrance that she could go through. The exterior of the building was smooth, as if the building was made without an entrance, but Lessa knew otherwise.

Having gone in there before, Lessa could find the entrance. Maybe she could even scream and try to cause some commotion to catch anyone's attention that was in the tower. Folding her arms, Lessa studied her surroundings.

Usually to gather the attention of a superhero, one would have to be in some sort of distress…at least that it what Emily made it out to be from her constant story telling. Looking around her, Lessa took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

She felt ridiculous. Crowds walking by stared at her as if she was some sort of freak and it made her skin crawl. But it did get Tony's attention all the way up in the tower.

"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. said, cutting the loud music in the workshop off, "there seems to be a disturbance by one of the entrances of the tower."

Sighing, Tony dropped a wrench and rubbed his eyes. "What is it now, J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"The little girl that you returned home yesterday appears to be screaming. And very loudly may I add, sir. She is gaining quite the attention from others."

"What is she doing back here?" Tony wondered aloud to his A.I. "I can never be left alone, can I, J?"

J.A.R.V.I.S. seemed to sigh through the speakers. "I'm afraid so, sir."

Turning his mind off his work on his latest addition to one of his suits, Tony pulled up the cameras on the computer till he found with the little girl standing still and screaming. Her eyes were clenching shut and her hands were fists at her sides while people passing have odd looks and some even ushered their children along quickly. She sure did know how to attract attention in a very dramatic way, might he add.

He wasn't sure on whether he should do something or not. Should he ignore her? After all from the footage from the camera, she wasn't in any danger. Well, any danger that doesn't include public embarrassment.

"What are your actions, sir?" J.A.R.V.I.S. asked as Tony sat in thought in the silence that filled the room since he turned the music off.

"Just ignore her. She will leave soon."

"Are you sure?"

Tony sighed once again. "As for right now, yes."

Lessa stopped screaming. Her throat throbbed and was dry. She squinted her eyes as she stared up at the tower, waiting for something to happen. But after a while there was no response and she frowned.

Some superhero, she thought. What if she actually was in danger? He wouldn't even had known and she would've died.

The plan was stupid. Emily's plan was stupid. Emily was stupid. With a huff, Lessa spun around on her heels and marched back towards the direction she came from. Dread filled her as the thought of having to share the news back to the girls hit her. They, especially Angie and Emily, will be devastated that she couldn't get Tony Start, aka Iron Man, to help them.

Of course he wouldn't, she thought, he is a superhero that has far worse things to fight than an old cranky foster mom.

She shuffled her feet with her head down as she walked, wanting to get out of the city as fast as she could. Her cheeks reddened when she remembered the stares people gave her as they walked past and it made her walk even faster towards the familiar block that lead the rest of the way back to her home.

It was strange to her that she navigated by mostly landmarks and rarely actual street names. There were so many that it made her head hurt, but landmarks she could use. There are always one distinct landmark to every place. She bet the Grinch couldn't even navigate herself around the city. The Grinch would have to be intoxicated.

The breath was shortly knocked out of Lessa as she flew onto her back. Lessa blinked and looked up to see a woman towering over her and the look on her face was not apologetic.

The woman had jet black hair that fell in ringlets and a twisted dark look in her eyes as she peered down at Lessa. "I'm so sorry," she said, holding a hand out for Lessa to help her back up.

Lessa furrowed her eyebrows at the woman, but managed a smile and accepted the gesture. Pulling herself up, she smoothed down her jeans. "It's okay." Lessa glanced up at the woman than turned her head away. Chills ran down her spine and something about the encounter felt odd in her gut, but she shrugged it off and carried on.

The woman didn't want to carry on, however. "Excuse me," the woman said. Lessa stopped walking and turned around. "Were you trying to get in contact with Tony Stark?"

"Uh…yes?" Lessa clamped her jaw shut.

The woman barked a laugh. "That was a wasted attempt. If you are planning to again, I wouldn't bother. He won't listen to some little girl."

Lessa narrowed her eyes at the woman and took a step away from her. "You never know that. He's a hero who helps and saves millions of lives."

"He use to make weapons. The big hero use to kill people years ago, but you were probably too young or not even born yet to know."

Lessa scoffed and stomped away from the woman and pushed back the oncoming crowd that was going the other way. Her eyes felt tight as tears threatened to spill. It was a stupid reason to cry over some woman telling you things on the street. There was no reason to cry. None at all.

Slamming the front door shut of the home, Lessa bolted into her shared room and flew onto her bed. She sobbed into her pillow for what felt like hours and fell asleep.

Lessa didn't dream anything. Actually, she felt like she hadn't slept at all. Her eyes opened to dark room and she yawned. Her eyes ached as well as her throat and it felt like there was a huge weight stuck inside her head as it always felt like when she woke up from naps.

Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and waited for the questions to start. But they didn't. Lessa froze and blinked a couple of times, not believing how quiet the room was. A sliver of light peaked through the polka dot sheets that were fashioned as curtains and onto Angie's bed which was empty.

The clock said it was three in the afternoon. Usually, all of the girls were in here by then for a break from chores on weekends and Lessa knew for a fact it wasn't a weekday so they couldn't be at school either. Where were they?

Standing up, Lessa investigated the rest of her house, getting spooked by the silent rooms as she scoped each corner. Not even Ceri was present. No one was. Her feet padded down the wood flooring as she passed the bathroom and even Ceri's room, but they were both dark and empty as well.

Lessa stood in the small hallway. Her jaw slacked as she tried to comprehend her surroundings. Did she notice they were here when she came back? Where did they go? Where are the other girls?

Wrapping her arms around herself, Lessa made her way downstairs to the kitchen and opened the freezer. If no one was home, no one could tell her what she couldn't eat. Among the many boxes of frozen food, she pulled a big bag of pizza rolls.

Lessa hummed to herself trying to get rid of the silence that surrounded her as she dumped a pile of the pizza rolls onto a plate and stuck them in the microwave. If Ceri caught her doing this, Lessa would most likely be murdered and have her body chopped and cooked with other pizza rolls. Then, Ceri would serve the pizza rolls containing her body and serve it to the other girls.

The microwave beeped, shaking Lessa out of the disturbing thought. It never struck Lessa how unusually dark the home was at midday. She thought it could've been cloudy, but then she remembered the light peeking out of the curtain. Munching on the tongue burning pizza rolls, she flopped on the couch in the living room and sighed. There was still no sign of a soul around.

She set down a pizza roll and looked around. All of the girls' shoes were piled by the door as usual if they were home along with the Grinch's. It was like they never even moved from when she last seen them.

"You are probably wondering where everyone went."

Lessa nearly choked on her pizza roll at the sound of the voice. No familiarity was recognized in the voice from what she usually heard within the walls of her foster home. Her eyes darted to the front door which she had locked. The door had not been opened.

The voice sighed. It was light and feminine as far as Lessa could tell, but she looked around to find no one in sight. "Hello?" She called out. Well…squeaked actually.

"Over here, sweetheart."

Lessa turning her head away from the door to the other couch across from her and screamed.

"There is no need to scream," the woman from the street growled, pressing her fingers to her temples.

Lessa shot up from the couch, forgetting about the plate on her lap and flopped over on the cushion. The woman that sat across from her was the same one who bumped into her on the street. "How did you get in here?"

The woman smiled. "Well obviously not through the front door because that is too polite of me."

Lessa searched for the house phone from her spot. At first, the girls thought it was odd that the Grinch even decided to keep a house phone since they are becoming more and more uncommon, but at that moment, Lessa was glad that they had it. She bolted towards the phone on the small table next to the couch but she as her hand reached towards it, her hand froze.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Lessa pulled back and went to reach it again, but her hand didn't budge past the area it froze at the first time. She spun around to face the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman stood up and brushed off of her black slim dress pants. She smiled at Lessa. "I'm surprised you couldn't find any familiar features that you find whenever you look into a mirror."

Lessa froze. No, it couldn't be. But she did recognize the same jawline and mouth as Lessa focused more on the woman's face. "No," she said.

"Hello, my beautiful daughter." The woman smiled, but it wasn't comforting.