Televisions all around the globe were hijacked all at once. That wasn't even a hyperbole. If there was a screen where people could watch, it had been taken over. From cell phones to laptops to even apple watches… if it could project an image it could and it did. And for those without access as few as there were, screens of unknown power played the scenes for them.
Two prominent figures were instantly recognized alongside one that drew both confusion and fear into their hearts.
"I know that road," Iron Man—no, Tony Stark said. Confusion yet aged on grief had wrapped around those words. What followed next was not for the faint heart. Parents and guardians alike covered the eyes of the closest children around them. They whispered prayers and hummed songs all to drawn out the scene playing before them.
"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?"
"Yes."
Horror and fear; screams of shock echoed around the world in a symphony as Tony Stark turned to Captain America —no. Captain America was a hero. He was larger than life. A god amongst men. No. Tony Stark turned to Steve Rogers who was just a man. Arguably a good flawed man but a man nonetheless.
The following battle was brutal yet unsurprising and the world watched as beings that had once seemed infallible crumbled in the face of their humanity.
Steve Rogers had Tony Stark, bruised and beaten but not broken… never broken on his back; fingers wrapped tightly around the shield as he brought it down upon the arc reactor.
But then the strangest thing happened… a golden light flashed through the room and Rogers was thrown harshly back to sit aside his dear pet assassin. The Iron Man armor was soon returned to pristine condition as the man within seemingly began to heal as the light touched him.
And when it faded, all that was left in its place was a teenage girl. She could be no older than seventeen years of age. Brown eyes were almost kaleidoscope in nature with hints of blue and green dancing alongside the edges in subtle flashes. Brown hair was so light that it was almost blonde flowing down her back in windswept curls. She was dressed in a dazzling gold ancient greece dress… a chiton with red accents along the edges.
All that gazed upon her were infected by the demon Envy as she stood there; as if she were the personification of beauty in itself. They were not far off the mark as her mother was Aphrodítē Ourania.
Her voice was soft; whispered promises of pain and death and wrath wrapped into the words she spewed: "To think the reason for your fluctuating health was because you were being attacked." A mocking expression danced alongside her features and the world at large inhaled sharply as they realized just how similar it looked to the man standing behind her. "By the paragon of goodness himself. Captain America, protector of the little guy. Defender from Bullies."
"Calliope," Tony Stark groaned as the golden light continued to move across his body.
"No, Father," she refuted, not even bothering to look away from where Steve and Bucky blanched at her words. "I shall stand aside no longer."
Calliope tilted her head to the side; curls falling like a curtain and covering Tony from the sight of his still crouching adversaries. "You are from America, yes?"
They didn't say anything and the browns of her eyes flashed a molten gold. "Answer me!"
It was Bucky who spoke through his pain, "Yes. Brooklyn."
She smiled back with all teeth, "As of fifteen minutes ago while you two were too busy attempting to murder my Father, one Virginia Potts has made the executive decision to move the headquarters of Stark Industries to Larissa, Greece of the Thessaly region where its owner and namesake holds dual citizenship. As of ten minutes ago using the power of attorney, one Virginia Potts has also relinquished the American citizenship of Anthony Edward Stark."
The world drew in their breath as the words began to settle in. Calliope smiled even more as her father sat behind her looking almost resigned. "As of exactly 56 seconds ago, Anthony Edward Stark has been recognized as a mortal favored by the Olympian Council in its entirety with Ζεύς Nomius casting the final vote as his judgment is final and long lasting as the deathless gods."
"Who—who are you," Steve questioned. He was no doubt unnerved by this child that radiated power in a way he hadn't sensed since the first met Thor and Loki. She raised a brow. "I am Calliope Areia Stark, daughter of Anthony Edward Stark." And here, her smile sharpened almost impossibly more. There was a sense of wildness and untapped power in her eyes. "And the daughter of Aphrodítē, Olympian goddess of beauty, love and procreation."
The super soldiers' breath hitched. "That's impossible."
She scoffed, sniffing in disdain, "To a mere mortal such as yourself. One unworthy of the power of Olympioi. But my father gained the favor of beauty in itself and my mother gave herself to his advances. Seventeen years ago, I was conceived just as seventeen years ago, Iron Man was born."
"You're lying."
Calliope laughed, a mocking sound that it was, "I am the lover of Apóllōn and Hermês. Both of whom are paragons of truth, or well deceit in Hermês' case. I cannot tell a lie, Rogers."
"How come no one knows about you? SHIELD didn't—"
Her voice turned scornful, "Oh, SHIELD? The same SHIELD in which was not only infested with HYDRA but was also founded by Margaret 'Peggy' Carter and Howard Stark. The same SHIELD that covered up the double-murder of one of its founder and his wife. That SHIELD?"
Her words hit a mark none had known was there. The way grief and betrayal curled into Tony's features. In face of that, the world remembered Tony and his beloved Aunt Peggy.
(In the bustling city of London, a grieving family lineage lost some of its prestige. Not much as the family had longed since outgrew the shadow of Peggy Carter but the loss was still prominent.)
"Still. No one knows who you are."
"I am a demigoddess. That means I am half mortal and half god. While Father and Uncle James could have trained me, my baseline strength is way above the average man and that was not to even include the cultural differences that are stapled into my blood. Shortly after my birth, deep within the halls of the Stark Mansion in Malibu, I was whisked off to Olympus to live and grow. I am not human. Not entirely. Father built a circuit board at four years old. By the time I was four, my natural born genius alongside my powers meant that I was creating my own fully functioning Iron Maiden suit from just watching Father fly in it while on Mount Olympus in another realm in another solar system in another galaxy."
She shrugged uncaringly, not turning a muscle even as that golden light sank into the arc reactor of her father's chest. The world watched as years seemingly scraped off the man. Frown lines disappeared as his skin tightened while his laugh lines grew more pronounced.
"I was originally not supposed to return here to Earth until I was twenty-one years of age to begin my preparations as the heir of Stark Industries. Instead, here I am, three years earlier because my great uncle, Háidēs, tells me that the Merchant is flickering over the line of Life and Death. Every god, goddess, or entity that has a hand in death wants his soul to claim as their own. They'll never get it, of course. The Merchant cannot be chained down by one religion. His soul is immortal even if his body is not."
Calliope shook her head, rolling her shoulders back. "That is not important however." Even if the world had not been watching before, she drew attention to herself on a scale that her father could not even achieve. "You see, Steven. You were supposed to die in your youth yet you survived. You were supposed to die when you were chosen for the serum. Hm, I wondered what the world would have had to say then if they knew that you were a tuberculosis container."
The army officials began to make cries outrage, ripping into the documents that they had on him. The ones that SHIELD had forged and the ones that originated with all his medical history.
"Erskine chose you to bear the weight of his serum and yet it was Howard Stark that created the machine that made you. That created the shield that you carry. That gave life to the patriotic legend that you fail to be." Her smile was a little serene as she looked at him. "Whispers that you were to be the modern day Herakles and yet you fail to aspire for while you are a man of great strength... You are still just a man."
Smaller images appeared around her like holograms; each detailing news clippings from over forty years before. "After your suicide dive, Howard Stark would then go on to sire Anthony Stark. For seventeen years, Howard would prioritize finding you over his son. He would be gaslighted and belittled by Peggy Carter and Obadiah Stane at every turn causing an even more strained relationship with his son." She laughed bitterly, "He would go on to frequently compare you to the greatest gift he had ever given the world… No. That he has ever given the universe. He would consistently believe that you were the only thing he brought into this world that did not cause destruction and he would keep this belief at the cost of any relationship with his son. His greatest creation he says and yet his actions did not perceive that."
"Calliope," Tony reproached. She shrugged, still not turning to look at him.
"Seventeen years after the birth of Anthony, Howard was ruthlessly murdered and assassinated by you, James. Of course, you were brainwashed so you were nothing more than the weapon. Six years after that, Anthony sired me. Calliope Areia Stark. History repeats itself. Man becomes god. God becomes man. Wars are won and wars are lost. History is written by the victor and the victor will always be the judge, and the vanquished the accused."
Calliope stood tall above their crouching forms. Those with eagled eyes took note of the swirling snow around her feet. "Seventeen after my birth… seventeen years after the birth of Iron Man… Barnes aims to finish the job and orphan another Stark and this time Captain America will have helped him. What's so patriotic about that, hm?"
The browns of her eyes faded until they were a pretty blue hue, not unlike the color of the reactor, glow from her pupils to her sclera. Her voice was heavy, filled with power as old as the universe; the weight was strong enough to carry and sink into the bones… into the souls of all that heard it. "Hear me clearly, Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes, for I am Calliope, daughter of Aphrodítē Areia. I stand before you in the eyes of the deathless gods and their fathers before them, and let Gaia be witness to me in this, and arching Ouranos above, and the downward water of the Styx—most solemn and most fearsome of oaths with the blessed gods that for all harm you have cast unto my father, Anthony Edward Stark from the moment he was conceived until the day he draws his last breath be felt by you tenfold. In the name of Ζεύς Nomius and Dēmḗtēr Thesmophorus, I curse you and may judgment be swift."
She spat a wad of spit which was golden in sheen and it sank into their skin. Ζεύς Horkios and Dēmḗtēr Thesmia sent forth an eagle and a turtle dove in confirmation.
And with those words, she turned away, light began fading in her eyes. "Let us leave, Father. The likes of them are not worthy to be graced with your presence."
Tony looked both relieved and disapproving. "Barnes has done nothing wrong. He was brainwashed. He was just the weapon."
Calliope tilted her head to the side; the glow, while not prominent, was still there: "And you were the victim. You both were dealt a bad hand, Father, but he was not brainwashed when he attempted to rip your reactor out. Thank the gods that it was no longer embedded in your chest."
"Calliope," Tony groaned, dragging his hands down his face. She snapped her fingers and the snow moved from around her feet and circled the soldiers freezing them in their place. "Shall we leave now, Father? I would like to meet these children that you have taken under your wing."
Her father looked at her, looked at the super soldiers, and nodded. "If I ever see this place again, it would be too soon."
The father-daughter duo turned to leave as the snow carried the soldiers out behind them.
And then the screens went dark.
Comments from the Author:
1) Re watched Civil War and all my bitterness came back screaming. Not that it really left but it came back and attempted to kill me like Rogers and Barnes did Tony. Whoops.
2) This was just something I was playing around in my head and then added my bitterness to and viola.
3) I have no intention of continuing this but who knows.
4) I'm actually really sympathetic to Barnes, but my sympathy for him is not equal to my love for Tony sorry. Rogers and Zemo should have left him to his plums dammit!
5) I will never be fair to MCU Steve after CW, sorry not sorry. If he had been more like his Avengers Assemble counterpart, then I would have moved the world for him. (Though, I also love Tony more than him.)
6) And also, it's actually canon that Tony won the fight between him and Steve. He "lost" because Bucky jumped in. It's on the official page.
7) Tony became Iron Man at 23. He did the whole bodyguard thing. Tony is actually closer to his comics counterpart here except he is Howard and Maria's biological son.
8) In this verse, the Starks death was a mixture of both the comics and the movies. The car did have a failure in its braking design that the Winter Soldier took advantage of.
9) SHEILD had never been able to confirm or deny that Tony was was Iron Man until after Obadiah tries to kill him once more and Tony kills him and does the press conference. And then it continues on similar to the movies.
10) I already made a pledge to myself that I will never watch anything after Infinity War. But Morgan, my girl, I love you already.
11) The children Calliope mention are Harley and Peter but mainly Harley because I love him more.
12) I named her Calliope because [H]oward, [T]ony, and [C]alliope and I just made myself laugh because of HTC. (Hi-Tech Computer)
13) I like the greek gods more than I like anything else and I honestly don't care for whatever bullshit Marvel pulled with them.
14) Calliope does not have any domains. She has minor control of tech, but that's it. The healing power and the control of the snow and the fact that everyone on earth is watching is nothing more than the power of the gods ensuring that it happens.
15) In Thor: God of Thunder Vol 1 3- The God Butcher, Part Three of Five: The Hall of The Lost: Thor told Iron Man he was as much a god as any immortal he had ever known. That alongside his extremely good looks and kind heart is how he caught the attention of Aphrodite.
16) Tony Stark in Marvel 616 was born in Bulgaria! No city named as to where but I'm going to assume Sofia. And since Bulgaria borders Greece, I'm just moving his place of birth next door just to connect it even more. Matter of fact, Maria's water broke as they were leaving Bulgaria and Tony's head was popping out right as they crossed the borders.