I AM A Stark - PREQUEL

Chapter Four - News From America

Christmas was coming up and Maria for the first time was going to have a big family to celebrate with and Maria couldn't believe it. Though people didn't exactly know about it. The media was obsessed with Maria for she had been kept out of the media as much as possible - the press and people were aware of a young girl being around Tony Stark but no one was sure as to why or who she was. Of course there was rumours she was his bastard child which was not wrong but no one had confirmed anything and Maria's face had been kept out of the media.

Though nowadays she was found at a computer. Maria found herself once more at her family table looking at her laptop intently, worrying her lip with her teeth. Over the last few months, Maria had been receiving more and more contact of Tony Stark. She adored the fact that she now had more family and they wanted to talk to her. Maria spoke to Pepper, Happy and Tony. She was in contact more with Happy and Tony and she loved it. However, she was getting very worried. Tony did not seem to be well. Every time she saw him he seemed to be more tired and erratic, that along with the fact she kept getting contacted early in the morning at a time when Tony should have been asleep. She was worried that he was not sleeping but she wasn't sure what exactly that meant.

Maria often ended up talking to Tony about his suits. He had been tinkering around a lot which fascinated Maria to no end. His suits were amazing contraptions but Maria had noticed he had been working on quite a few of them. Seeing her enjoyment, Tony had taken to sending her copies of his tests involving his suits which Maria watched often. It was a way to see her dad without being in person - considering they lived in widely different time zones they did not get to talk in person a lot unfortunately.

The latest video was one JARVIS had marked as Mark 42 which had initially caused Maria to frown, she could have sworn he had only been on Mark 32 not that long ago. Maria picked up her steaming cup of tea as the video began to play. She found herself watching a video of Tony walking up onto a circular platform she recognised as his lab beneath his house in Malibu. On the recording came JARVIS' voice.

"Sir, may I remind you that you've been awake for nearly 72 hours?" Maria did not like that fact. It was not healthy to have that long between siestas that was for sure. Maria watched as Tony ignored his AI and spoke to his cased suits.

"Focus up ladies. Good evening and welcome to the birthing suite. I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing bad-ass baby brother." With that he turned around to face his desk that had an arrangement of parts upon it. In his usual fashion, Tony gave demands. "Start tight and then go wide. Stamp date and time." He was ready to go. "Mark 42. Autonomous prehensite propulsion suit test. Initialise sequence. Jarvis, drop my needle."

Suddenly, Maria heard her speakers fill with music. She couldn't help the childish grin that came across her face as she heard the Christmas music play. At least her dad liked Christmas. With the music playing Tony smirked as he did a really weird dad dance before he flicked out his arms in a motion to active the suit ... but nothing happened.

"Crap." Tony knew it wasn't quite working. Maria watched as Tony nibbled at his arm and hit his forearm where she knew he had implanted the devices that would match him to his suit. This time his action came with a reaction. The hand to his suit picked up and suddenly flew towards him, wrapping itself around his hand and up his forearm. With a flick with his other hand the second part of the armour did the same. With both glove and forearm parts of the armour attached, Tony laughed lightly and became cocky. Maria grimaced as she watched the video through partially closed eyes. She had a feeling this wasn't going to go as her dad thought. "All right. I think we've got this. Send them all."

All the pieces activated and slowly one by one began to fly. Whilst Tony's thigh piece connected well the other pieces began flying passed him at ridiculous speeds. Tony just managed to bat one away before he got JARVIS' attention. "Probably a little fast. Slow it down. Slow it down just a little bit." Armour was flying everywhere and Tony was getting flung about as the pieces connected with his body. "Cool it will you Jarvis?" As more pieces of the suit attached themselves, the helmet's face went flying passed and crashed into the player cutting the music short. Tony was stood staring at the mask with determination. "Come on, I ain't scared of you." The mask came flying at him, getting knocked upside, forcing Tony to flip in the air and land (of course in a superhero pose) to which he found awesome. Maria couldn't help but be impressed by the move. It was cool. "I'm the best." Maria rolled her eyes at his words moments before she jumped back in surprise, her hands flying to her mouth as she saw Tony get hit from behind by the last piece of armour that hadn't connected. Tony was sent flying and the suit exploded into pieces all around him.