LEGACY (T.Stark's Daughter)

CHAPTER FIVE

Time travel.

Stevie decided to stay in Tony's lab for the rest of the morning, but tears pricked her eyes for the entire duration of her stay. She blinked them away and continued to read his work with the occasional droplet slipping down her cheek and drenching the page.

After a while, she'd even plucked up the courage to talk to Friday again. "Friday?" She muttered timidly, still fragile from her earlier depressive state.

The automated voice was quick to reply, "Previous internet scan failed. Doctor Banner has programmed your data into the system. Welcome, Miss Stark." What had happened this morning had still greatly shocked Stevie. Her Artificial Intelligence system in the basement laboratory at home was nowhere near as advanced as Friday was. "Is there anything that I can assist you with?"

"Yeah, actually." She stood up and walked over to where Friday's floating, pixellated 'body' was. "Bring up all videos of Peter Parker that were archived by Tony Stark." Friday complied and a screen flew in front of Stevie, immediately playing a video of Tony and Peter walking side-by-side through New York City. Her father's arm was draped over Peter's shoulders and he was staring down at the boy lovingly.

The video ended and another one began playing; Peter was curled up on a chair in Tony's lab, sprawled out across Tony's lap as he worked, occasionally stopping to smile at his childlike intern. Seeing them interact this way made Stevie's heart sink in her chest. She knew that Peter was close to her father, but not this close. Peter was more of Tony's child than she'd ever be.

Every time that she were to think about how her father loved Morgan and Peter, it only made her yearn to see him more. "Thanks, Friday." She sighed, "that's enough." The screen folded back into the ceiling as though it were never there at all and Stevie padded back over to the chair in front of her father's workspace.

Earlier, she had been skimming over the notes and letting the information slide through one ear and out the other as she read everything that was written down aloud. But now Stevie was more focused.

She turned the first page of his notebook to find a messy sketch of an old van with a tunnel inside of it. Spiked off of the diagram were small notes and labels for the different pieces – some were simple, such as 'retractable doors' or 'carbon coils' but others seemed more complicated. One that caught her eye in particular was 'Quantum Stabiliser.'

She flipped the page, only peaking her interest further when she discovered a diagram of the very building that she was in, labelled with phrases such as 'Quantum Thermoregulator' and 'Inverted Pym Particles.' She sucked in a breath, flipping the page once more to reveal even more drawings and scribbles that explained the function of the Quantum Realm and the manipulation of time.

"Time travel." She whispered. Her gaze slowly flickered up towards a framed photograph of Tony and Pepper that was leant against some pen pots and a coffee mug. "Dad..." Her voice came out hoarse, barely audible even to herself.

Then, before she even had time to think, she dashed out of the labs and sprinted down the corridor at top speed, making her way towards the area of the Avengers Facility in which the Quantum Teleportation Platform was previously situated. Stevie knew that the facility was destroyed in the final battle against Thanos, and therefore the likelihood of the Teleportation Platform having been rebuilt was very low, but she had hope.

Perhaps, she could finally visit her father, whether it be his past self or not. Her hair flew behind her rapidly, falling out of the ponytail that it had originally been tied in. She skidded to a halt when she found herself in the exact area that it had been drawn in her father's notebook, practically crashing into a wall in front of her.

It was gone.

Stevie blew her hair out of her face and slumped onto the ground with a thump that echoed throughout the silent hangar. She felt like crying again but she didn't let herself. Instead, she let out a groan of frustration and threw her father's notebook against the wall, watching the papers rip violently from the leather cover and tumble to the ground.

Her heart was racing for the few minutes that she had hope of finally meeting her father and it had clouded her judgement, but now she felt as though it had been ripped from her chest again. She had to stop living like this. She had to move on from the fact that her father wouldn't ever be a part of her life. Stevie knew that there were many teens across the world living without both of their parents. She could live without one, surely?

Why was it so hard for her to let go? Morgan did years ago, and she was closer to Tony than Stevie would ever be. She laid down against a wooden crate next to her, thumping her head against it with such a force that it caused her to yelp in pain. She felt as though something had shocked her – perhaps a loose wire or a device that was inside of it.

"Everybody wants a happy ending, right?"

Stevie's head snapped up at the sound of her father's voice. She was bewildered, scared out of her skin. Goosebumps rose up her arms and she spun around, half expecting for him to be stood there.

"But it doesn't always roll that way." The voice continued with nobody in sight. "Maybe this time." She reached over and opened the box that she'd leant against, looking around for a cassette player or a speaker inside of it. Instead, she was greeted by a hologram staring back at her. "Maybe if you play this back... It's in celebration."

The holographic Tony adjusted his collar and walked forwards, swinging a chair around and straddling it so that he could rest his arms against its wooden back. "I hope families are reunited, I hope we get back and that a somewhat normal version of the planet has been restored. If there ever was such a thing..." He chuckled.

She'd never seen this message before. "God, what a world... a universe, now." Tony looked down as he scratched his beard in thought. "If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone – y'know – to this extent, I-I woulda been surprised... but c'mon." He looked upwards, locking eyes with Stevie again. "Who knew about the epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play?" There was silence again as he pondered in thought.

"For better or worse, that's the reality Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in... So I thought I better record a greeting in case of an untimely death– on my part. Not that death at any time isn't untimely... this time travel thing that we're trying to pull off tomorrow – it's got me scratching my head about our survival and everything. But then again, that's the hero gig, part of the journey is the end."

He stood up carefully, swinging his legs back over the chair that he was sat on to make his way over to the Iron Man helmet that he'd been recording the message on. "I have a feeling that everything is going to work out exactly the way that it's supposed to." He heaved out a sigh, making eye contact with Stevie, "I love you 3000." She knew that it was for Morgan, which only angered her more.

That message was all the fuel that she needed to light her ambition. She was going to start on finding a way to meet her father. And once a Stark starts something, they don't stop.