Chapter Text
________
A father never there
They say you live on in me
But then why can’t I see
The hero that’s inside of me
________
Morgan Stark was not your average child. First of all she was genius just like her father, Tony Stark. And second of all she would pass by her father’s memorial everyday on her walk to school. She still got those ‘i'm sorry’s’ and ‘he was a hero’ which was stupid considering that half of them hated him when he was alive.(It's funny how people appreciate you when you're dead.) It’s been ten goddamn years and yet people didn’t seem to get that she understood, even then, that he wasn’t coming back. Even though the Stark family was nearing the trillions in wealth she still went to a public school, Peter’s school actually. Her mom, Pepper, thought it would be nice for Tony’s daughter to go to the same school as his ‘adoptive son’. Actually it was nice, she would get to be a regular kid. But the bus wouldn’t stop at her house so walking was pretty much her only option until she was 16. One one more year and she’d be able to drive. Luckily her mom and hers apartment wasn't far from the school. She still wished she could drive though. But today wasn’t a school day, today she would spend her day at the avengers compound, with her aunts and uncles. (Mostly uncles, her father surrounded himself with men) She found it kind of funny how she had at least three homes and her own room in each. She never spent a lot of time in the same place, that was just her life. It was like her dad's life. If she was honest with herself she missed her dad, a lot, but she would never tell anyone that. It took her mom forever to get over his death and Morgan was the thing she leaned on the most. It wasn't smart because she was five at the time and didn't realize what he had done. Morgan just remembered that her mother would cry a lot and hug Morgan telling her to keep a smile on her face. Morgan loved her mom and did her best for her.
Happy drove Morgan to compound, when Tony died he protected the kid with fire, he was always there for her, ever since she asked for that cheeseburger. He had said that her father had liked cheeseburgers and although she knew he was gone, she still didn’t like the fact that he had used past tense. But Happy, he had other work to do besides looking out for her but he was by her side whenever he could be. They parted ways with a little more than a goodbye. They had been chatting in the car. But her eyes lit up when she saw who was in the compound.
“Uncle Steve!” She cried as she noticed the old man sitting on the couch. He smiled at her.
“Hello Morgan. It’s been awhile.” He said. She rushed up to him and gave him a gentle hug, knowing that while he was still a super soldier, he was an old and fragile super soldier. He was very close to Morgan when she was younger. She quickly pulled away and crossed her arms, remembering something.
“Wait I am super mad at you!” She said. He laughed lightly. (Morgan was one of the only people, these days that could still make him laugh.)
“Why?” He asked. She huffed and hit the couch in mock anger.
“Because!” She exclaimed. “You should know what you did!” She accused. He laughed again.
“Would you remind me, dear. I’m afraid I’m over a hundred years old. You’ll have to forgive me if I forget a few things.” He said. She huffed again but Steve saw a small smile crack through her mock frown.
“Always playing the age card.” She muttered.
“Can’t fix what ain’t broke.” Steve reminded her.
“You missed my birthday this year! It was two months ago!” She complained. He laughed again, with more heart this time.
“Alright, kiddo. What do you want this year?” Steve asked. She smiled shyly and looked down. It was funny how fast her mood could change.
“Same as last year.” She mumbled. Steve cocked his head to the side with a confused frown
“Again? I got you that for the past 6 years! Wouldn’t you want something else this year? Like the newest tech?” He asked. She shook her head.
“First of all, Mom owns the company that makes the newest tech” She said holding up one finger. “And second of all I really want this!” She cried and flopped backwards. Steve nodded with a snort.
“Alright, now let me see, what forbidden story about your father do you want this year?” He asked. She sat up to face him, not wanting to miss a word.
“Surprise me this year.” Morgan declared. Steve thought for a moment, before sighing. He wanted to tell her and he might not get another chance to.
“Alright.” He said, finally. “I’m getting older, Morgan and I may not be around for another birthday so I’m going to tell you this.” Morgan shook her head.
“Don’t say that Uncle Steve!” Morgan whined. Steve simply laughed again. She was good at that. Making him laugh that is. She truly was Tony’s daughter.
“It’s true my dear. Okay so here goes. You’re father was a great man, he saved us all and from my stories from a few years ago you know that we didn’t always get along.” He said. She nodded.
“Yep, you two had an argument and you both said bad things. I remember that story. He told me it too.” She said. Steve’s face held a faint smile.
“You never told me that.” He said. She shrugged but not dismissively.
“Yeah, that was his favorite bedtime story, how he met you guys.” She said smiling up at Steve. Steve held a faint smile and took a breath before continuing.
“But here’s the thing Morgan… I loved him.” Steve said. Morgan nodded.
“Yeah, I know. All the avengers did.” She said.
“Morgan. I mean I loved him.”
Slicene.
“Oh.” She said at last.
“Is that okay?” Steve asked, he was afraid she might be horrified in him. Having her ‘Uncle’ be in love with her father. Morgan smiled faintly.
“No, not at all. It’s a shame you guys didn’t get together but hey works out for me.” She said. He laughed again. Steve ruffled her hair.
“Alright, now go unpack.”
Morgan made her way into the elevator for her normal ‘let’s see if I can get in trouble’ act everytime she went to the compound. But something caught her eye this time, a button that she could’ve sworn wasn’t there before. Well, she was here to get in trouble so she pressed it. The elevator slowly made its way down to the mystery floor. FRIDAY hadn’t said anything yet and she knew that if what she was doing would hurt her FRIDAY would say so. FRIDAY didn’t really talk anymore. She only spoke when spoken to, and even then she would answer in as few words as possible. It was pretty bad at first. She got a bit better over the years though. She would only talk to Pepper and Morgan in the same way as before, especially Morgan.
A lot of people treated Morgan better than others after losing Tony. Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, Steve and FRIDAY. They all treated her differently than other people. Well, Pepper was understandable considering she was her mother. But it was strange to her. Morgan assumed it was because she was alike her father in many ways. She was a genius, her hair and eye color were practically the same as his, her personality was similar. She was basically a smaller Tony. (Which was saying something.) She did, however, inherit a few things from her mother, like the ability to stare down an entire room and make grown men afraid of her and she had her Mother's pale skin tone and freckles. Like her aunts and uncles would say, she was the best of both of them.
She stepped out of the elevator and into an old dusty room. She blinked and coughed a few times, swiping the air in front of her, trying to get the dust away from her. The door in front of her was older technology, she frowned at it and tried the keypad. It lit up but she had a coating of dust on her finger after. She rolled her eyes and tried a password. It blinked red and she frowned again. Thinking for a minute she quickly entered another passcode and smiled when the door opened. She smirked at the simple password, it was her mother’s birthday. The door slid open with a horrifying squeak and an unholy amount of dust. She coughed before walking into what seemed like a lab. It had to be her fathers. The bright lights flickered on and she couldn’t help but want to build anything and everything. She noticed there were some robots in the corner and she cocked her head to the side.
“FRIDAY?” she asked.
“Yes, Morgan?” FRIDAY asked. It took a some re-coding and a lot of begging but FRIDAY finally called Morgan by her name instead of ‘Boss.’
“What are those robots over there?” She asked.
“Those are DUM-E, Butterfingers and U” She replied. Morgan face lit up. These were them! The robots that her father built and everyone always talked about. She tilted her head to the side.
“Are they functional?”
“They should be.” FRIDAY replied after a moment of silence. “They shut down after boss…” FRIDAY didn’t finish her sentence and Morgan nodded. She simply walked over and poked the nearest one who she assumed was DUM-E. It moved and she jumped back with a small cry. It turned to look (?) at her before running around her in a circle. She smiled and laughed at it’s behavior, it was like a puppy. DUM-E quickly woke up his ‘brother’s’ and they all poked at her.
“FRI, should I introduce myself?” She asked with a giggle. “Would they understand?”
“They should.” She replied. “They might listen to you then.” Morgan nodded and decided to leave FRIDAY alone for now. She knelt down to the robots level.
“Hey, guys. My name is Morgan, I’ve only heard about you in stories and my dad built you.” She said. They seemed to get happy if that was even possible. It was her father who built them so it probably was. She stood up and laughed again. Morgan walked around with her entourage of robots trailing behind her. What caught her attention was a large van in the middle of the lab. It obviously didn’t belong there and it was not her father’s. He would never buy that car. She opened the back doors and the sight that greeted her was amazing. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before, she didn’t even know what it was supposed to be. Walking around to the front of the van she opened the door and found a suit in driver’s side. She moved it over to the passengers side and tried to turn it on. It didn’t work. Her hands itched to fix this van and make it work. But there was another feeling in her left hand, it burned a bit. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. Pepper was so mad and worried. She looked at the metal prosthetic instead of a left hand.
Speaking of Pepper she would be worried if Morgan wasn’t in her room. She waved goodbye to the robots promising she would be back and hopped into the elevator and back to her room. She quickly unpacked and flopped down on her bed. She understood why her mom would hide her dad’s lab. She had plenty of good reasons to hide it from her, but Morgan all wanted to do was go back down there and fix the van. There was a knock on her door and before her mom walked in.
“Hey, sweetheart. How’s school going?” She asked as she sat down on her bed.
“Straight A’s, boring and I know all this stuff.” Morgan replied before sitting up and facing her mom. “Mom, why can’t I just skip a few grades! I know everything and I am so bored in class! I want to learn more!” Pepper chuckled.
“Just like your father.” She said. “You know, he went college a fifteen and he made me promise when your were born that we wouldn’t let skip any grades.” Morgan plopped back down and huffed. Pepper smoothed back her daughters hair and kissed her forehead.
“I’m going on a business trip this weekend and I won’t be around, but I will drive you to school on monday.” She said. Morgan nodded and her mom got but before she left she turned to face her daughter.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, mom.” Morgan replied as she sat up.
“3000?” Pepper asked. Morgan gave her a lopsided smile.
“3000.” She confirmed. Pepper nodded and closed the door. Morgan was ecstatic. With her mom gone she could go down to her father’s lab and fix the van. If she worked hard, Morgan might be able to fix it before the weekend was up. She waited until she saw her mom’s car leave before heading back into the elevator, but the button was gone. She frowned, if she couldn’t get to the lab her plans would be ruined. “FRIDAY?” She asked.
"Yes Morgan."
"Could you take me down to my dad's old lab?" She asked. FRIDAY hesitated.
"Of course."
"Also, could you like not mentioned this to my mom?" FRIDAY hesitated again. "Unless I'm in danger of course."
"Alright." FRIDAY said at last. Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. She stepped out into the lab and rolled up her sleeves. It was time to get to work.
She spent about two hours cleaning everything and then another two hours playing with the tools and learning how they worked. It was 8 o'clock at night before she actually started working on the van. She worked on the thing in back first, fixing what she could, because she couldn't really understand it. She managed to fix and replace all the broken glass and replaced the wires that were frayed or fried and rewired those that needed it. She fixed a few metal bars that had broke. She stepped back and wiped sweat from her forehead and smiled as, at least that part, seemed brand new. She wasn't sure that it would even work because she wasn't sure if she was doing it right. It didn't stop her though. Morgan's phone buzzed and it scared her. DUM-E, who was very happy she was back, helpfully handed it to her. It was her alarm.
"What?!" She yelled startling DUM-E. "Sorry, DUM-E. I just can't believe it's 6 am already." She was covered in dust and dirt (and something else but she didn't really want to talk about it.) and people would know if she should up dirty and tired. So she just went up to her room and took a shower. It was 7 before she went downstairs to the common room where most of the Avengers hung out in their free time.
“Hey kid.” Clint called from the couch. Steve, Sam and Bucky were all there too.
“Hey, Uncle Clint.” She said with a smile.
“Oi! What about us?” Bucky yelled. Steve smiled and Morgan chuckled.
"Hello, Uncle James, and Uncle…" she hesitated. Uncle sam was patriotic and he was Captain America. After ten years she still hasn't found a good substitute.
"Still can't think of anything to call me?" He asked.
"Not without making a patriotic joke" she said with a salute. They all laughed at her antics.
"So," Steve said. "You're up late."
"Yeah, and since when do you take showers in the morning." Bucky asked. She snorted.
"Since, I fell asleep without taking a shower, and then proceeded to sleep through my alarm resulting in me feeling disgusting when I woke up." She replied. She thought of a cover story while in the shower. Steve rolled his eyes at her. She walked over to the kitchen that was conjoined with the common room. She pulled out waffles and started to microwave them.
“How’s school kid.” Bucky asked. She groaned.
“So boring! Mom says I can’t skip a grade no matter what! My teachers hate me and I have like two friends.” She said then her waffles dinged. She instantly brightened. “Ooh! My waffles!
“That was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, it went from annoyed to angry to upset then happy in like five seconds, how on earth did you do that?” Sam asked. She shrugged pulling out her waffles.
“I’m a teenage girl.” She replied. They all nodded.
“Right.” Bucky muttered. She walked towards the elevator and pressed the button before turning to them.
“Well, I’d rather be here but I pissed off my english teacher and she gave me an essay to write over the weekend for ‘extra credit’, that I don’t need, so I better at least start that.” She said. She wasn’t lying, her teacher had actually done that but she had finished it in the car ride to the compound. Instead she took the elevator back down to the lab. She was greeted by the bots crowding around her. “Hey guys, good morning.” She said smiling. “Ready to get back to work?”
Morgan did eat her waffles, that was one of the few differences between her and her dad. She knew how to eat while she worked. (Unless she wasn't hungry when she started and was deep into whatever she was doing) She knew her father loved to fix up old cars, god knows he could afford it. So fixing the car part of the van would be in her blood. She used his old tools and tried her best to be careful but accidentally had a runaway power drill try to dig into her hand. Poor power drill hand to be thrown out. T’Challa (Shuri actually) had given her a vibranium hand for her ninth birthday as long as they promised to never give it away. For her tenth birthday Pepper had the first arc reactor along with the words “Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart” carved into it in italian. (Which she was fluent in thank you very much.) She had used the cloaking device thing that S.H.I.E.L.D had and mixed it with her own stuff and was able to make it look normal. She only did that when she was at school though. She learned fast enough that if she didn't at least keep it covered or else the other kids got distracted by it. No almost no one, at her school, knows, or remembers, that her left hand isn't real. She turned off the nerves in that hand a while ago after she realized that her hand was over sensitive. Now she basically used her hand as shield when she worked. The van was fixing up nicely but it was rusted here and there and the paint was faded. They always did say she was her father's daughter. Morgan decided she would paint it before she finished the last wire that would turn the damn thing on. Luckily, since it was Tony Stark's workshop, she able to find paint cans.
By the time she was done, Morgan was covered with paint, mostly purple which is was she decided to use instead of the old orangish brown color it use to be. Purple was a much better color. But she add some designs so she was pretty much a rainbow of colors. Here normally chocolate brown hair was now blue and green. Her face was covered with colors creating new ones as they mixed. It was mostly dry so she could touch everything without getting paint on it. He stepped back to admire her work. The van was a nice shade of purple and blue with designs of the Avengers on one side and a little memorial of her dad on the other side. She was decent at painting, Steve taught her a lot. They used to have lesson when she was little, he would meet her in the common room at three o’clock every time she was here. She wasn’t as good as him but did it often enough that the van looked good. She looked at her phone. It was 8 o’clock at night.
“Damn it.” She muttered. She grabbed her backpack and plate from waffles and rushed to elevator. “Bye guys!” She called to the bots. And rushed back upstairs. She didn't realise how hungry she was until she was in the elevator. She poked her head out and it was dark no one home she guessed and breathed a sigh of relief. She walked into the conjoined kitchen when the lights turned on.
"Where were you?" Sam asked her. She jumped.
"Jeez man, don't do that." She said, her hand on her chest.
"You obviously weren't doing your english essay judging by the fact that you’re covered in paint. So what were you doing?” Bucky asked. She shrugged. Although on the inside she was panicking.
“Isn’t it obvious? I was painting.” She said. “FRIDAY can confirm for me.” They all looked up at the ceiling, which was stupid because she wasn’t in the ceiling.
“I can confirm that Morgan was indeed painting.” She said.
“What happened to your english essay?” Sam asked. Morgan shrugged with a dorky ‘imma kid’ smile.
“I got distracted and besides it’s not like I’m not going to get it done. I mostly done with it already.” She said as she made herself cereal for dinner.
“That’s so unhealthy.” Sam said. Morgan snorted.
“Cap gave the shield to the right person.” She replied before walking off to the elevator. She breathed a sigh of relief. That was close, Morgan knew if they found out they would tell Pepper and block her out until Pepper gave them the Okay to let her back in. She just wanted to know what the damn thing does. The door opened and she smiled at the bots who immediately crowded around her. She liked this, she understood why her dad liked this. Morgan checked the seats and saw the suit from before. It was red and white and she figured she’d get in the mood. She put on the suit with the helmet and finished the wiring. It wasn't hard she just had to put a few more wires back into place. She smiled at and turned the keys in ignition. She couldn't even describe the feeling of happiness when the van shuttered to life. It had worked. She had gotten it to work. She rushed to the back and let out a breath that she didn’t even realize she was holding when she saw the back was also working. It worked. She had done it. Actually done it. Her father would be so proud of her if he could see her now. How she ached to show him what she had done. Well she would settle for showing Pepper and the rest of the Avengers. Maybe even Carol would come and see it next time she was back on earth. (Morgan really liked Carol.) She looked down at the suit and noticed button on the gloves. She tilted her head to the side. What on earth were those for. It didn’t make sense the suit was just an old biker suit. Right? But what if it was more?! Morgan couldn’t resist. She really wanted to know what would happen if she pressed the button. So she did. She pressed both buttons on the hands at the same time.
She couldn’t have known.
Morgan was sucked into the back of the van and into the unknown.
The van shook violently and ultimately fell apart. So she didn’t fix it fully and took a few shortcuts. Sue her.
Her cereal sat on the table, forgotten.