The Daughter of Iron Man

Secrets

I laid in the dark alleyway for nearly an hour with my eyes squeezed shut, trying desperately to calm down. When I got brave enough I carefully opened my eyes and gently lifted my head. My neck didn't hurt and I could still feel my arms and my legs, so I knew I wasn't too badly injured. So after several more minutes of staring at the dark pavement, I gently peeled my body off of the concrete. Every inch of my body ached, though nothing felt broken. My body felt like it weight a thousand pounds but with some effort, I managed to climb to my feet.

I felt really dizzy but forced myself to look up at the building from where I fell. I kept wondering if I was dreaming, but the pain my body felt was way too real.

"HEY! Are you okay!?" The voice of a man yelled towards me. I was so weak and startled that I fell backwards, and he quickly made his way towards me.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." I said, though it was more for me than from him. "I just had a little fall."

The man wasn't much older than 20. His hair was neatly cut and his beard short and clean. He was wearing a plaid button up skirt tucked neatly into slacks. He had a backpack on. I figured he must be a college student.

He reached out his hand towards me and I accepted it gratefully. He pulled me up to my aching feet. My toes hurt especially bad, and I remembered doing pointe earlier with Natasha.

"Can I call someone for you?" He asked, pulling out his phone.

"No I'm okay, I just live right here." I told him, pointing at the building. He looked concerned, then his face lit up with recognition.

"Are you Tony Stark's daughter?" He asked. I was confused, then I remembered the giant Avengers Symbol on the building.

I nodded, brushing some rocks and dirt off that clung to my clammy arms. He watched me for several more seconds as he tried to decide what to do.

"Okay, just please be careful." He told me and I nodded in agreement. He turned back to leave, but I stopped him.

"Wait!" I said, walking carefully back towards him. "What's your name?"

"James. Yours?"

"Alice, thanks for your help."

James smiled at me, then walked out of the alley way and out of sight.

I glanced back up towards the building and remembered the blue light that saved my life.

I waddled towards the building lobby on the ground floor. I didn't have any of my keys, but fortunately my dad installed a retinal scanner last week that allowed me to get back into the building.

The lobby was still brightly lit, illuminating all the cuts and bruises that gradually grew darker. My Stark Industries shirt was torn at the side and so were the knees in my pajama pants. I hopped in the elevator and hit the button to take me to the floor with my bedroom on it.

Surprisingly, the elevator ride was the worst part.

My stomach hadn't recovered from the fall so the second the elevator started going up, I slid down the side to sit on the floor and hold my knees to my chest. Once I reached my bedroom floor, I used the railing to pull myself back up and hobbled back to my bedroom.

I got straight in the shower and threw my torn clothes in the trash. My many small cuts stung as soon as the hot water hit my skin. I rubbed the particularly painful ones carefully, and pretty soon the hot water was soothing.

After my long shower, I pulled out my first aid kit and bandaged up any cuts that were still bleeding. Fortunately, there were only a few and none of them looked bad enough to require stitches.

As soon as I was done I pulled on fresh basketball shorts and a tee shirt, then crawled under my covers and fell fast asleep.

.

.

.

I didn't wake up until close to 11am. I missed running with Steve this morning, and I knew Natasha would be waiting for me for our Saturday practice.

I felt stupid for not telling anyone that I fell off a building. But how would I even begin to explain what happened? I didn't even know what happened myself. All I knew and clearly remembered was the fear I felt, and the blue light that saved me. I couldn't figure it out. Wanda's powers were the only thing I could think of that might have saved me, but her powers are red and she wasn't there last night. I even investigated to see if my dad installed something like that which would save someone from falling, but there was nothing there. The only explanation I could think of was that I did it. But why would I have powers? And how?

I got ready pretty quick and rushed to the kitchen. My dad was sitting on one of the couches with his laptop.

"Good morning!" He said without looking over at me.

"Good morning, I overslept." I told him, grabbing a banana. I peeled it and shoved the fruit into my mouth.

"Yeah, Nat was looking for you earlier. She's waiting for you in the training area."

I was still extremely nauseous but I made my way there quickly. Just like my dad said, she was waiting for me patiently. I quickly threw my banana peel in the trash, kicked off my shoes and ran over to her. I began stretching as she spoke.

"Hey there sleepy head. Finally decided to rejoin the land of the living?" She teased.

I nearly joined the land of the dead last night. I thought.

I sighed, not ready at all. "Yeah."

I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I got into a fighting stance, then without warning Natasha kneed me in the diaphragm. Nat's been teaching me how to dodge that, but I was not in the right headspace. My nausea hit in full force, and I ran to the trash can where I threw up my banana. I curled up in a ball on the floor shaking violently as the silent tears fell.

"Alice!" Natasha yelled, running to my side. Her hand pressed against my back. "Steve, get over here!" She called.

Steve raced over to us where I remained curled up in a ball, and Natasha was kneeling next to me, rubbing my back gently. Steve scooped my helpless body into his arms. Just as he did, I blacked out.