The Daughter of Iron Man

The Science Project

My division was combined with the 4th, 5th and 6th graders since there weren't that many of us. When the award ceremony began, they brought each contestant on stage and gave each of us a participation metal for making it to nationals. Various awards were handed out for different areas like creativity, design, how well it works, etc. Then came the final awards for the top 3 in my division. 

3rd place went to a girl in the 4th grade. 3rd place went to a boy in 6th grade who actually goes to my school too. Then last of all, they announced first place.

"We are blown away by all of your projects, and we are so happy you were all able to come here today to share your talents with us. And now, to announce the first place award for your division." The room was dead silent. All of the contestants were on the edge of their seats. My heart raced. "First place goes to.....ALICE STARK!"

The crowd erupted in applause and I made my way up to the stage next to the host. One of the judges, a woman, brought out a trophy that was at least 3 feet tall. I smiled like an idiot. In that moment, I was on top of the world!

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-Tony's POV-

Alice was so excited about her victory that she put her new trophy on her night stand where she would always see it. And occasionally, I even caught her polishing her metal for making it to nationals.

Alice got the idea for her exoskeleton gloves after helping me work on a new Iron Man suit. She was only 5 when I ended up in that cave. Pepper decided to protect her from the truth while I was gone, and it was several months after before I told her what actually happened. All she knew, is that her dad came back from his business trip and decided to become a super hero.

About a week after getting back from New York, I was working on a new suit when Jarvis told me there was someone at the door.

I raced up the stairs to answer the door, and I couldn't believe it when I saw her.

Vanessa.

It had been nearly 10 years since I last saw her. The family resemblance between Vanessa and Alice is uncanny. 

"Vanessa? Come in." I offered, opening the door wider. She walked in, and I shut the door behind her. She seemed really nervous.

"Um, so I was going through some of Kimberly's old stuff, and I found this." Vanessa held out a thumb drive. On the thumb drive, written in warn out sharpie was the name: Alice Snow. Alice's birth name.

"What is it? Some pictures or something?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I didn't look at it. I didn't feel like I should." Vanessa admitted.

I fumbled with the drive in my hand. "Thank you. Alice get's out of school in an hour if you wanted to see her?" I offered, but she shook her head.

"No that's okay, I came here for a business trip. My flight leaves in an hour, I need to get to the airport." She replied.

I was a little confused why she just came now, and after not reaching out all these years, but I tried not to push it.

"Okay, thank you!" I told her gratefully, and then she left.

"Who was that?" Pepper asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Alice's aunt." I replied. Pepper looked confused, but I didn't have much more of an answer. I just held up the thumb drive, and headed back down to my lab.

I immediately sat down at my desk and plugged the flash drive in. I half expected it to be a bunch of baby pictures, but it was just one video. The video was of Kimberly Snow.

Kimberly looked tired in the video, but she was still beautiful. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled back in a messy bun and she wore an oversized sweater.

"Hey Tony." She smiled, catching me off guard. "I'm sorry I never told you about Alice. I just didn't know whether you even wanted to know." She admitted, and I felt a ping of guilt.

Suddenly, her expression turned serious. "Tony, there's something you need to know about Alice. I really hope you'll take her in because- " She started to tear up. "Because I think I'm going to die."

My heart ached for her. She shifted in her chair and used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe her dark eyes.

"Anyways," She said, forcing herself to continue. "My team was studying a crystal that one of our droids picked up. It was glowing and red. Everything our machines read said it was stable. I got too close to it, and it launched me back through the glass of our observation room. I was in the hospital overnight recovering, and that's when they told me I was pregnant."

Conveniently, a baby started fussing in the background. Kimberly turned to the baby that wasn't visible in the video. "It's okay Ally, I'll feed you soon, I promise." The baby calmed down, and Kimberly turned back to the camera.

"We later learned that the crystal was the reality stone, one of the 6 infinity stones that was created in the big bang. My team panicked. There were 7 of us. Some of us wanted to keep it, while the rest of us wanted to get rid of it. So we took a vote. I was the final vote to get rid of it after it put me in the hospital over night. My ex-boyfriend is on the team, and after we broke up we agreed to remain friends. He wanted to keep it, so he's been really angry at me lately. He's been stalking me a lot too lately- but that's not the point. While I was pregnant with Alice, weird stuff happened. Small objects would randomly start moving, and then drop. Nobody else knows about this. But when she was born, all the weird stuff stopped."

Kimberly stopped talking again to turn around and check on the baby. She then returned to the camera with a smile. I could tell she really loved her little girl, and in that moment I wished more than anything that Alice could have known her mother.

"Call it mothers intuition, but I know she's going to be a very special and unique. So please Tony, keep our little girl safe."

~~~~~

Okay, I know the reality stone was a liquid that ended up in Jane Foster, just work with me here haha. In this story, or timeline, let's just pretend it was always solid and that Kimberly Snow's team came across it!