Chapter Text
2023
“Mommy, when is daddy coming home?” Young Morgan whispered. She was curled up under her comforter in her dark room of their house in the woods. Pepper was on her knees beside her bed, tucking her in. Pepper looked at Morgan for a moment, then clicked her tongue. How could she explain how her child’s father had died?
“Daddy.. won’t be coming home.” Pepper whispered, reaching out the brush some of her beautiful girls hair out of her face. “..can I tell you a secret?” Morgan shook her head ‘yes’ slowly. She moved closer to her mom, watching her mother’s sad eyes.
“You know how he is a super hero?” Pepper told the young girl. She nodded along. “Well, daddy was protecting me.. and you.. and all our family. He had to give up being here with us.. to keep us all safe.” She explained, pointing to herself, then Morgan as she spoke. Morgan leaned forward, sitting up.
“..why did he do that?” Morgan asked, full of childlike curiosity, head tilting as she asked. Pepper was quiet for a moment, tears slowly filling her eyes.
“Because.. he loves us.” She said, barely audible. Morgan looked at her with her wide eyes.
“ I love daddy 3000.” Morgan whispered to her mom. Her mom let out a wet laugh, closing her eyes. A tear escaping.
“I love daddy 3000 too, baby. Now get some sleep..” pepper whispered, planting a kiss on the young girls forehead. Morgan laid her head back down on her pillow, and pulled her covers up to her chin. Pepper stood up and walked towards the door.
“Goodnight, mommy.” Morgan whispered, staring at her mom through the dark room. Pepper smiled again.
“Goodnight, sweetie.” She said back, taking one look at her daughter before heading into the dark hallway, closing the door behind her.
2029
Morgan was 12. She wasn’t your typical pre-teen girl. She wished she was, though. She lives out in the cabin she has lived in her whole life, along with her mother, who runs her father’s business and legacy from home. Her mother hasn’t had much time for Morgan in her day to day life. Morgan isn’t neglected, not in any way. Yet they spend maybe an hour without interruptions together on a usual day. Her mother is constantly on the phone, or computer. Morgan doesn’t mind it. Truly, it’s all she’s known since her father died.
Loneliness.
She’s homeschooled, which, public school would be impossible for the child from the Stark legacy. She has no friends. She used to consider Happy her friend, but he’s just another adult that’s supposed to protect her. I mean, that’s what the whole point behind this all is, according to her mother.
Protection.
Protection from what?
That’s a question she’s been pondering recently. All her life, she’s been told she’s isolated to protect her. To protect her from the outside world? From the world where everybody knows her father’s name? The world she’s never seen. The world she hopes to see. She feels like she’s locked up in a cage. Unable to leave, ever. There’s no one who understands her. She knows her father would’ve. Her mother used to tell her stories. How they met, and how he built his suits. About his friends. Friends like Rhodey, captain america, black widow, spider man, and hulk. She enjoys the stories of her father, yet she never has been able to find out more than that about him. He was famous, then even more famous for being iron man, had a family, then died. The end. Yet Morgan doesn’t want that to be the end. She craves more knowledge about her father. She needs to know who he truly was, before it eats her alive.
She was sitting on the deck steps, looking down at her notepad. She had a pencil in hand, and was lightly sketching something similar to what she imagined her father’s full iron man suit to have looked like. Shes only seen his helmet, while everything else of his has been kept in the garage. That was his workshop. Her mother setting the boundary of her not being allowed in there since the week her father died. Morgan squinted her eyes at the drawing, like she was looking for something in it.
Suddenly, her head snapped up at the sound of a car on gravel. A black car approached the cabin, having gotten through their security gate. She recognized it as Happy’s car. The large man opened the car door, slamming it shut behind him and approaching her in his usual full suit.
“What are you up to kid?” He asks, playing a smile on his face. Morgan just stared up at him, giving him a stare her father never failed to pull off. Happy looked down at her lap, seeing her drawing. “Looks just like the suit. I’m going to go talk to your mom about some business stuff, okay?” Happy tells her. She just gives him a unamused look and goes back to sketching. Her hair blowing around her in the light wind. Happy made his way up the deck steps and into the cabin, where her mother would be working in her office.
Over the years, Morgan has become very quiet. She will speak occasionally, yet she rarely feels a need to. She picked herself up, along with her notepad, and went inside. She crept down the halls, making her way for the garage. As she made it past her mother’s office, she could her Happy and her chatting.
“She seems quieter, Pepper. She hadn’t said a single word to me.” Happy whispered. Morgan could hear her mother sigh.
“I’d know if something’s wrong, Happy. She’s just.. a quiet kid. She’s shy. She always has been.” Pepper argues. Morgan could imagine Happy’s disapproving face with her mother’s response. Morgan rolled her eyes, deciding to ignore them for now. The end of the hall had the garage door, and that door had a passcode lock on it. One she has memorized from watching her mother type it in over and over again. 5291970. Her father’s birthday.
She remembers celebrating her father’s birthday, around 4 months before he died. He spent the whole day with her and her mom. Her mother even surprised her father with an iron man cake, celebrating his 53rd birthday. She will never forget that day. The look on her father’s face as the candle lights brightened him. One of her few memories of him. How happy he was.
The doors lock made a click sound. It creaked as she opened it, trying to be as careful as possible. She closed the door behind her, and the lights turned on as she made her way down the stairs. The garage was walls and floor made of pure cement. It was full of her father’s things. In a case was his last suit and first suit. Both suits helmets missing. His first suits helmet was in a case upstairs, on display in the living room. His last suits helmet sat on a shelf. Morgan made her way around his desk, eyes scanning his array of monitors. Some boxes in the basement seemed like junk, at least to most people. Scraps of metal, screws. There were a bunch of robotic arms and claws scattered through the room.
Morgan stared at the shelf’s lining the wall. Full of boxes with labels. Some read ‘inventions’, while others were things like ‘Tony’s clothes’ or ‘family tapes’. What caught Morgan’s eye was a box titled ‘Dads’ in handwriting that didn’t belong to her mother. The box was tattered, having some wear done to it. Morgan picked the box off the wall out of curiosity. She easily found the projector, which sat right by it. Looking beat up. She began setting it up on the desk, pointing it towards a wall. She pulled out the first tape she saw, and put it in. She turned off the lights, and sat down in her father’s desk chair. Watching the film come to life on the wall.
The light shined, filling the room. A clacker board snapped on the screen, the camera shifting up to a man.
“Everything, is achievable, through technology.” The man starts. The video was old, the board at the beginning read 4/15/73. It was titled ‘Expo intro’. Morgan was listening as she spun around in her father’s chair, attention going to the folder on his desk. It was untitled, yet seeming full.
“I’m Howard stark, and everything, you need, for the future, can be found right here.” Morgan turned her attention back to the video, eyebrows raised at the video. Howard Stark? As in her grandfather? She continued to watch the video, noticing that this wasn’t the Final cut of the intro. In the background, a table with a city built on it was there. A young boy popped out, and took something off the table. Just then, the man turned around.
“Tony? What are you doing back there? What is that? Put it back.” The man spoke rapidly at the boy. Morgan felt her face soften, watching the young boy look guilty once being yelled at by his father. The young boy being her father. He quickly put the object back on the table, and was escorted out the room. What was played next was an abundance of clips that just got taped over and over again. Until, it stopped. The man was there, staring dead into the camera.
“Tony, I built this for you.” The man said, showing the table with the build of the city on it. “This is the key to the future. One day, you will find it out. That day, you will change the world.” The man explained. Morgan had her eyes locked with his, and it felt like he was talking to her for a moment. “What is and what always will be, my greatest creation, is you.”
Morgan stared at the wall as the tape ran out, the light cutting out. The tape got ejected out of the projector. She grabbed it, setting it off to the side. She got up, and walked back to the shelf. She picked up her father’s iron man helmet. She carried it back to the desk, placing it down. She pushed a button on the side of its head, and the eyes of the helmet lit up. A holograph appeared infront of her.
“Everybody wants a happy ending, right?” The holograph of her father spoke. “But it doesn’t always roll that way. Maybe this time. I’m hoping if you play this back... it’s in celebration. I hope families are reunited. I hope we get it back, in somewhat like a normal version of the planet has been restored, if there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. Universe now. If you told me 10 years ago that we weren’t alone, let alone you know to this extent... I mean, l wouldn’t have been surprised. But come on, you know.” Morgan let out a small laugh.
“That epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. And for better or worse, that’s the reality Morgan’s going to find a way to grow up in. So I found a private area to record a little greeting in case of an untimely death on my part. Not that death at any time is ever timely. This time travel thing that we are going to pull off tomorrow... it’s got me scratching my head about the survivability of all this. But then again that’s the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end. What am I tripping for? Everything is going to work out exactly the way it’s supposed to.” Tony sighed, the holograph walking towards the helmet to end the recording. He made eye contact with Morgan. She looked at him with wide eyes, similar to the ones that once looked at Tony.
“I Love You 3000.” They say at the same time, Morgan having had anticipated the moment. The holograph cut right then. The helmets eyes darkened, back to the original state it was in when sitting on the shelf. Morgan sat there in silence with herself for a moment. She then picked up the helmet to put it back. As she placed the helmet on the shelf she found it, she noticed a box on the lower shelf. One titled ‘Tony’s clothes’. They had many boxes with that title. Yet, she noticed something different about this one. It had a Black Sabbath shirt on top. She remembers listening to Black Sabbath when she was younger, always with her dad. Specifically the song iron man.
She lifted up the shirt to get a good look at it. She noticed there was something else in the box. More tapes. Expect they were in order. 16 of them. Each numbered and titled. The first being titled ‘for Morgan’. She obviously, had to pick it up. She brought over to the projector. She quickly inserted it, and the film came to life.
“Alright,” Tony sighed, sitting back on their living room couch. “Morgan, if you’re watching this, you’ve found my collection of tapes for you. Or, your mother got rid of these, because honestly, some of the things I’ll teach you, are things your mother wouldn’t want you knowing how to do.” His eyebrows were scrunched, and he had that smirk he had when he knew he’s done something that would make her mother mad. Morgan couldn’t help but grin.
“When you find these, you might be a teenager, or an adult, but these tapes? They’re everything I know. Everything I didn’t get to teach you. Which, hopefully I can teach you these things. This is truly just.. a fail safe.” Morgan exhaled, staring up at her father. She wished he was still here. To teach her these things. “Some things you might not understand now, but that’s okay. These tapes are always here, for you to come back to. Everything from how my brain works, to how to work FRIDAY. I have work to do now, but I’ll see you soon. I love you 3000.” The tape cut into darkness. Morgan slowly looked down at the box, and the next tape was titled ‘2. How to work FRIDAY’. Morgan smirked as she pulled the tape out of the box, inspecting it.
She had some studying to do.
************
“FRIDAY is voice activated, as you probably know from listening to your mother use her daily. She used to only react to my voice, yet before I died, I changed the setting to recognize yours and your mother’s. So, just turn on my computer, and ask her something. You’d have access to the entire houses security system, my digital files, and anything else at this point.” The tape played. Morgan was spinning a pen between her fingers, sat in his desk chair. She turned towards the computer, and pushed the power on button.
“Good evening, Ms. Potts.” FRIDAY spoke, the monitors coming to life. Morgan sat up in her chair.
“FRIDAY, this is Morgan.” Morgan tells her. It seems weird, talking to a computer.
“I see. Ms. Stark, what would you like to access today?” FRIDAY asked, and Morgan sat there, unsure where to go from now. She hadn’t thought this through till now.
“Morgan, remember, FRIDAY is a tool. Don’t use her to your advantage. All the files in that computer should have hard copies in the filing cabinet. Knock yourself out. Just don’t make too much of a mess, okay? Love you 3000.” The tape cuts, and Morgan turned her head back at the computer. She felt a smirk begin to form.
“..FRIDAY, can you tell me where my mother will be at about 9:30 sharp tonight?” Morgan asked, knowing that her father must’ve set it up to track their routines. She remembers her father liked routines. The camera appeared across the monitors. A camera in every corner of her house. Every room. Watching everything.
“Ms. Potts should be finishing up her final emails at 9:30. She’d get ready for bed at 9:45, and say goodnight through your door.” FRIDAY responded.
“Great. Now I want you to cut the camera in room.. 5.” Morgan told her, leaning back in the chair. Room 5 was the garage. If she’s right, her mother has access to these cameras. She’d be able to see if she’s anywhere in the house. So if she cuts the footage to a specific room, she can’t know she’s there. Hypothetically.
“Are you sure, Ms. Stark?” FRIDAY asked.
“Yes.” Morgan responded, watching the footage for room 5 going black. “Now..” Morgan began, yet her eyes wondered to a picture on her father’s desk. One beside a picture of her and him. A picture of him.. and a teenage boy. They were smiling, arms around each other’s shoulders. His face seemed oddly familiar. She picked up the photo, and turned it towards the camera. “..FRIDAY, can you run facial recognition?”
“Sure, Ms. Stark.” Morgan held up the framed photo to the camera, a blue light scanning it. “I identify Tony Stark, your father, and the other person is unidentified.”
“So you have no data on the other guy?”
“Unfortunately I do not. He looks to be a teenager. Possibly 15 or 16.” Morgan let out a sigh, setting down the photo on the desk, face down.
“Thanks FRIDAY.. can you tell me how far the nearest bus station is from here?” Morgan asked. “Just for hypothetical purposes.”
“The nearest bus station is a 2 hour walk from your residence.” FRIDAY told her. Morgan sighed, hand coming to her face.
“How about bike ride?” She asks through her hands.
“30 minutes.” Morgan’s hand slid down her face, resting her elbow on the armrest. Her chin in her hand. Morgan stood up, and walked over to the filing cabinet. She opened the top drawer, and it was full of files. All of them were designs for Tony’s suits. She pulled out his most recent suit designs file, as well as a file on something called an Arc reactor. She closed the cabinet, and checked the next. That cabinet had files on people. Some on her, her mother, and him. All medical records. Others were business files. Except, there was one labeled ‘Peter’. Morgan wasn’t sure who Peter was, because she didn’t know him.
Morgan brought the files to Tony’s desk, and dropped them onto it. She instantly opened the one about whoever was Peter. There was a photo, matching the boy in the picture of her father. His name was Peter Benjamin Parker. He was 16 when the file was made. His birthday is August 10th, 2001. So he should be 25. God, that picture was almost 10 years old!? It said he lived in Queens, New York. Which, must be different if he’s an adult.
“FRIDAY, can you look up a residence for the name Peter Benjamin Parker.” Morgan asks, flipping through the papers. There were suit designs, notes, lists of things. All relating to this kid.
“Sure, Ms. Stark.” FRIDAY said.
“Stop calling me that.”
“What would you like me to call you?”
“I don’t know. Morgan?”
“Okay, Morgan. I found an address under the name of Peter Benjamin Parker. He is located on 10th street, in alphabet city, New York City, New York.” FRIDAY told her. Morgan’s finger tapped against her chin. Her brows were scowled, staring at the address on the map. Morgan felt she should go to this Peter guy. He must know something about her father, since they seemed close in that photo. She has money. She gets a very high allowance.
“..I guess I’m going to new York.” She exasperated, a grin appearing on her face.
**********
“If you want to survive being a Stark, there’s certain social rules we have to follow.” Tony’s voice explain, the second tape playing. “I never hid my identity out in public, I used it to my advantage. Yet, you may have scenarios where you do. Sunglasses can help. Pepper probably has a box of those down here. I’d mainly just try to look the least like how everyone thinks you do. Catch them by surprise.” Tony explained, twirling a pen in between his fingers. Morgan sat there, concentrated on her father’s words.
“You also might not like being a celebrity. I mean, I gave up the publicity for a reason. I’d also recommend never letting them know your next move. Never use your real name. You can tell when a situation is a good one to use it. It’s harder to tell the bad situations if you always expect them to be good.” Tony explained more. It sounded simple to Morgan. Don’t look like how everyone would expect you to. Don’t be ordinary.
What’s a better way to do that than to chop off all your hair?
Morgan wasn’t very attached to her shoulder length, chocolatey brown hair. If her mother saw her like this, she’d loose it. Honestly, Morgan felt she looked a lot like her father. She cut the back and sides short, having it messy in the front. She didn’t look like herself. Not in a way she didn’t like though. She felt this looked badass.
She threw on that Black Sabbath shirt she found, it being 3 sizes too big. She just used a hair tie to tie it back, making it fit her better. She threw on her father’s old leather jacket, over her zip up hoodie, it also being too big. She didn’t care though. She went searching for the so said box of sunglasses, finding it within minutes. It had at least 20 pairs. She picked up a pair of classic Ray bans. She remembers her father wearing this exact pair once while they went to the beach the summer before he died. Back when her family would actually go on vacations and do things like that together.
She began packing her backpack. She had snacks, about $400 she’s managed to save over the past few years. She had an extra pair of clothes. She put in the file on the guy, or better known as Peter, and all of the other important files for her father’s suits and other gadgets he had. She threw in most of the tapes, hoping they wouldn’t weigh too much. While searching through stuff, she found a bunch of hard drives. At least 3 were labeled ‘FRIDAY’. She grabbed every one. She threw on her backpack, and got her bike off from against the wall.
“FRIDAY, open the garage without notifying mom.” Morgan commanded, standing infront of the door.
“Are you sure, Morgan?” FRIDAY asked.
“Yes. Now please do it.” Morgan insisted. The garage began opening slowly, the moonlight shinning in. She hopped onto her bike, rolling out into the driveway. “Close the garage.” Morgan commanded. The garage began to close. Morgan let out a sigh as she stared at the driveway ahead, and back at her dark house. She pulled her hood up as she began to push off, pedaling on her bike.
Heading away from the private property.