Chapter One: The Family
"Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings." -Ralph H. Blum
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"Hey, Monica," Grandma yells from the back porch, "Your mom called; she's on her way."
"Okay!" I shout back from the garage.
I start to put away my tools. I was hoping to be able to work with my suit before mom got here, but my grandpa needed the flood lights for the back patio fixed. With a bit of tinkering, the lights will now turn off after 30 seconds of detecting motion instead on 30 years. As soon as my tools are back in my tool box, I push a stray hair out of my face and head towards the house.
"Mon, you have to get cleaned up! You have oil on your face," Grandma exclaims with one glance at me. "I can't have your mother thinking we don't take care of you!"
"Grandma, she lives with the world's greatest tinkerer; I think she would be a bit used to a bit of motor oil," I chuckle but still head towards the bathroom.
I wet a wash cloth and scrub the black streak of oil off of my cheek. I run a brush through my dark hair. I hear a doorbell ring downstairs. With a quick adjustment of my flannel over-shirt, I hurriedly rush through the hallway and head back downstairs.
"Mom!" I cannot attempt to hide the smile stretching across my cheeks.
"Monica," My mom embraces me in a tight hug.
"I've missed you," I mumble into her shoulder.
"I've missed you too," My mom releases me from the hug.
"Hey! It's Pepper!" Grandpa bellows, walking into the foyer.
"Hey, Dad," Mom hugs her father.
"Your mom is cooking dinner-"
"Dinner's ready!"
"Never mind, it's ready," My grandpa pushes his glasses up on his face.
"There's my beautiful daughter," My grandma hugs my mom as we enter the dining room.
"Mom, how long are you staying?"
"Four nights," My mom answers as we sit down at the dinner table, "Tony is in DC for this week and I told him I had a business meeting in Seattle."
Grandma brings in a big pan of lasagna and sets it in the middle of the table. A basket of bread is served as a side as we load up our plates.
"So, Pepper, how was recovering? I hope you got our get well basket," My grandma asks, referring to when my mom was injected my Extremis.
"Well, and I did. The chocolate, flowers, and movies really were perfect for recovery," My mom nods as she takes a bite of pasta, "Tony even decided to have the pieces of shrapnel removed from his chest."
"Finally!" My grandma comments enthusiatically, "What was he waiting for?"
"I don't know," My mom responds as she secures a piece of lasagna on her fork, "Monica, how is school?"
"I'm still taking the online courses for my bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering," I nod.
I had graduated high school almost 3 years ago. I couldn't help I exceeded most of my 18 year old senior classmates at just the age of 15. My mom said I had gotten my brain from my father's side of the family; my love of engineering and outstanding grades didn't prove otherwise.
"You are painfully like your dad," My mom laughs.
I force a smile and nod. My dad, Tony Stark, I've never met him. In the shortened story of the life-altering turmoil that occured 17 years ago, when my mom found out she was pregnant with me she knew Tony wouldn't be happy. However, despite the possible reprocussions my mom couldn't stand giving me up- either killing me as a fetus or to an adoption agency. She gave me to her own parents to be raised. With this arrangement my mom could still be considered my mom and visit me anytime without . My mom has been trying to find a good time to tell Tony about my existence since I turned thirteen. But with the Avengers and the Mandarin, there hasn't been any "good time". I know my mom means well but I am becoming anxious and impatient.
Dinner goes on with much chatter. My mom tells us how things are in Los Angles. I tell her what's new in Oakley, California. The second dinner ends, I grab my mom's hand and pull her out to the garage.
"Goodness, Mon," Mom laughs at my eagerness.
"Sorry," I roll my eyes.
I fish the key out from my pocket, unlocking the metal door and pushing it up. I flip on the light switch, lighting up my workshop.
"Wake up, Lucis," I call, my Logistic Universal Central Intelligence System, pronounced similar as "Lucas", to life.
"Hello, Miss Potts," My system greets me in a mechanical voice, "Oh, and hello Pepper."
"Hi, Lucis," My mom replies.
"Guess what?" I'm eager to tell my mom about Lucis's upgrade.
"What?" My mom inquires as she
"Lucis now runs solely on natural light, taking no electricity. But incase it's solar panels were to be destroyed, it has an emergency battery that will last approximately ten days which is more than enough time for Lucis to repair it's panels and any other damage."
My mom nods in awe. "I assume that you are you still working on your suit?"
"It's almost finished," I nod, "Lucis, unlock suit one."
Lucis replies by the cement doors slide open on the wall revealing my baby.
"And you did build a hidden storage closet for your suit," My mom grins.
I chuckle as I step into my suit. As soon as the face mask slides over my face the suit powers up. "What's left to work on?"
"Eh, I just need to put together a few last wires and improve the accuracy of the beams. I also need to put in the last final details and features on my visuals screen," I sum up the final leg of the project with my voice sounding slightly robotic.
"What color are you going to paint it?" Mom asks.
"I think I'll go with navy and grey," I walk over to the table where a few paint samples are.
My mom looks at the paint samples, "What shade of grey are you thinking?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"I think if you went with a lighter shade it would look nice," My mom smiles.
"I think that's what I'll do," I grin even though she can't see.
"Can it fly?" My mom asks curiously.
"Of course! And it can go ten thousand meters below sea level. That's also a step up from Tony's."
"That's phenomenal," Mom stammers.
"I'm proud of it," I nod. "But right now it only runs on battery power. I still have a few adjustments before she operates on nuclear energy."
"Can you show me?"
"Sure," I walk outside of the garage. "Oh also another upgraded feature is the coolant and anti-altitude freeze serum. I can go twice the height as dad's and my suit won't freeze up.
"That's quite impressive. Tony has been trying to figure out how to modify his serum for about a month now but he can't figure it out! What did you use?" Mom shows genuine interest.
"It's my secret," I wink, then remember my face is hidden, "I just winked so you know... But maybe if I meet him I'll tell him."
"Now you're bribing me," My mom raises an eyebrow.
"I'm getting anxious," I laugh humorlessly, "I'll try anything now."
"I know, I know," Mom sighs, "Come on, I wanna see her fly."
"I can't fly too high; otherwise S.H.I.E.L.D. would be alerted of unauthorized flight."
"It's fine! I just want to see you fly."
I chuckle as I feel the rockets in my hands and feet fire up. I fly up thirty feet, looking down at my mom. "Can you shoot anything?" My mom shouts up at me.
"There's a paper block in my shop," I call down to her, "Get it and put in the middle of the yard."
My mom goes into the shed, reappearing a moment later with the block of biodegradable paper. She stumbles a bit in the dark as she dragged the target to the middle of the yard. Once mom was back far enough away from my target she gave me a thumbs up. I held up my right hand and aimed it at the block. I notice out of the corner of my screen that my grandparents are now watching me from the back porch.
I grin to myself as my beam lights up the night as it hit the paper. The paper disintegrates as I stop firing.
"Monica! You built this from scrap?" Mom compliments me as she pulls her light ginger hair up.
"Yep. Well, no, I mean I had to buy certain metals and wires in order for it to be the nicest it could be," I shrug easily in the suit, "I created it from scraps as in I didn't use any other blueprints other than the ones I drew."
"Tony would be extremely impressed," My mom sighs with a smile, "I promise you I'll tell him soon.
"I'd love that."
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First chapter is up! Eek!
Next chapter will be the beginning of the more interesting things!
Love you guys!
x JLG