Life as Maya Stark • Iron Man's Daughter [ 1 ]

02

"Maya?"

Maya wiped away her tears and sniffled as she looked over at the person that had approached her. Maya was currently sitting on a rock in the middle of no where and when she saw Pepper she immediately looked away.

It had been an hour since Tony had told Maya he didn't want to be her father and it had also been an hour since Maya had left the house. After about 45 minutes of walking, Maya had given up and that's how she ended up sitting on a rock.

"Maya," Pepper whispered as she walked over to Maya. "My Momma promised that Tony would watch over me. She said he would take care of me until she could find me. Now she's gone and the only person who I actually want to live with, doesn't even want to be my father," Maya muttered.

"It's going to be okay," Pepper assured the girl as she placed a hand on Maya's shoulder. "That's what my Momma said and then she died," Maya whispered. "How did she die?" Pepper asked.

"I had just gotten home from school and we were talking about my day when these men burst into the house. Momma had carried me upstairs and packed a backpack for me before telling me to climb out the window and down a tree. I had listened to her and she told me to find Tony. She said that he would take care of me until she could find me. I then ran into the woods like she told me and heard a gunshot. When I turned around, I saw my Momma fall to the ground and I saw her killer. The men all chased after me, but I hid in a tree. When they were gone, I fell asleep and then when I woke up I decided that I had to find my father. That was two years ago," Maya explained.

She took a deep breath before continuing, "So for the past two years, I've been on my own and trying to find my way here."

"Two years?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, I know it's a long time, but I'm only eight and at the time I was six. I lived all the way up in New York and had no money what so ever, so I didn't have many options," Maya told her.

"How did you get here?" Pepper asked with wide eyes.

"I walked here actually. There were times when I would walk for days without sleep until I finally passed out in exhaustion. As for the whole food situation, I-I resulted to stealing most of the time when I couldn't go on without food. The only time someone was nice enough to give me food was when I was in on the outskirts of Queens. There was this boy around my age and he had given me some of his food," Maya continued.

She slightly smiled when she thought of the awkward boy that she had met. His messy brown hair and his brown eyes that seemed to stare right into her soul. His smile was forever etched inside her mind and she could still hear his voice even though that had been two years ago.

"Peter," Maya whispered contently, but Pepper didn't hear her.

For some reason, she was unable to forget him and she felt her heart race whenever she thought of him. She thought she was sick the first couple of times this happened, but she soon realized that she had what people called a 'school girl crush' on him. But she would never see him again, so she had to get over him. Which she did. . .sort of. But just the mere thought of him made a smile appear on Maya's face.

"Maya."

Maya snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at Pepper. "Sorry," Maya muttered.