LEGACY (T.Stark's Daughter)

CHAPTER FOUR

Voicemail.

Stevie woke up the next morning, still in a hospital gown, laying in the bed that she had been given at the Avengers Facility the night before. The sun wasn't up yet when she awoke, which wasn't unusual for the genius teenager, as she had always been an early riser. She pulled the tube out of her nose – deeming it unnecessary – and let her legs swing off of the bed.

The stone tiles were freezing cold against her delicate feet, sending a shiver down her spine as she crept through the hallways, unheard, and she wandered along cautiously (unsure of where exactly she was going).

By the time that she had made it to the end of the corridor that she was in, she could hear Sam Wilson's snoring echoing annoyingly throughout his room. She peeked through his window, seeing him sprawled out on his bed as though he'd melted into it. On the chair next to him was a sleeping Bucky Barnes, clutching a baseball bat and scrunching his brows together as though he were deep in thought. 

Stevie smiled to herself before departing down another corridor and making a left, leading her through two large double doors with a sign that clearly read, 'Tony's lab. No entry.' She disregarded the sign's message and pushed the door open tentatively, revealing a dust-covered set of work benches and walls adorned with screens and projectors.

Tony's lab was one of the only rooms in the building that survived Thanos' bombs, meaning that it was basically untouched, apart from the burn marks on the doors and the broken light fixtures. 

"Welcome home, boss." An unexpected feminine voice startled the sleepy Stark, causing her to tumble backwards into one of the desks and knock a few books onto the floor. Stevie quickly regained her posture and pulled her hands in front of her, balling them into fists.

"It's been five thousand, eight hundred and twelve days since your last arrival. The vitals in the Mark 85 suit that you were wearing on March 25th, 2023 showed that you were unlikely to recover. Would you like me to inform you of any software and hardware updates that I have installed in your absence?"

Her eyes skimmed around the room, looking for where the voice could possibly be coming from. Then, her gaze landed on a pulsating yellow configuration of light, arranged as though it were holographic and made of pixels. "Friday?" Stevie asked gently. She'd heard stories of her father's Artificial Intelligences systems – the story that she knew best led to an attack on Sokovia a few decades ago. 

Stevie had visited the Avenger's Facility many times, but she'd never entered Tony's lab – the only place in the facility where Friday still operates. "Voice not recognised. Beginning web search for possible matches." Friday stopped abruptly and left Stevie stood in silence for a while, still holding a 'fighting stance.' Then, the room flashed red and a loud alarm began to bellow throughout the lab, scaring Stevie out of her skin yet again. "Voice recognition failed. Alerting authorities immediately." 

The doors behind Stevie flew open to reveal Bruce, Sam, Bucky, Wanda and Rhodey all looking equally as tired and unprepared for a break-in at four A.M. "Stevie!?" Sam sounded shocked, tired, pissed and bored all at the same time. He knew that Stevie was in the hospital the day before, but he was under the impression that she had left before he went to sleep. "What are you doing in here?"

Nobody had been into Tony's lab at the Avengers Facility since his passing; not even Pepper or James Rhodes. So, when the group groggily awoke to find young Stevie Stark stood, bewildered, in her late father's dusty labs, they were surprised to say the least. Rhodey instructed Friday to deactivate the emergency protocol and the ominous red light that had once shrouded the room lifted as the alarms ceased and they all stared at Stevie. 

"I was exploring." She felt her heart rate begin to ease and therefore started to walk around the lab, carefully taking in every dusty tool and book that was laid out. Some items looked as though they'd been discarded in a rush, and his laptop sat open (still plugged into a charger) with a dark screen as though it were asleep. She wiggled the mouse, a coating of lint dusting her fingertips.

The screen flickered on, displaying a picture of a young Morgan, Pepper and Tony all beaming at the camera as they posed in front of their cabin home. It must have been taken only a few months after Morgan was born, because she was tiny and had very few hairs on her head. They all wore cheesy matching shirts, with Pepper's reading 'Mommy,' Morgan's saying 'Baby' and Tony's... 'You know who I am.'

She stifled a laugh at the cockiness of her father – something that she had been told about many times. The others still watched her with sad eyes. They knew that being in Tony's lab for the first time was a big moment for her, so they stayed silent and let her continue her exploration.

A few desks over from where the computer was laid out was Tony's phone. She pulled the charging chord out of the device and the screen came to life, showing the picture of Pepper that he had saved as his display photo. But as she picked up the phone, it buzzed loudly and she almost dropped it, catching it before it hit the ground. Tony was receiving a call. She read the contact name, expecting an unknown number or a prank caller to be ringing him. But it wasn't, it was 'The kid.'

Stevie let the call ring out as she knew that she couldn't answer the phone of a dead man. After a few seconds, Tony's voicemail played, "Hey, it's Tony. You know what to do." His message was followed by a beep. She was almost scared to listen to whoever it was. It was too late not to hear it, though. She assumed it was Morgan. Was she intruding?

"Hey, Mr. Stark." They started shakily, their voice squeaky and nervous. "I know that you hated when I called you every day, but, I'm still doing it." There was a loud sigh and he paused for a moment. It was Peter. "Morgan ran away with her boyfriend, Bradley. I told you about Bradley, right? Yeah. I think I did..." He chuckled dryly before clearing his throat, "Stevie got accepted into MIT early. She was, uh, in the hospital when she found out. I guess crazy things like that just happen to Starks." Another pause. A sniffle. A whimper. "Mr. Stark, she misses you so much and she hasn't even met you. I wish you could be here with her." 

A singular tear dripped down her cheek and she looked up to see the others with thin frowns plastered onto their faces. "I don't expect a call back." Peter laughed between his soft cries, "please watch over her for me. She's not like Morgan... Morg's a mommy's girl. She's moved on now. But Stevie's in so much pain. God! I wish I could take it away from her." Another few muffled cries could be heard, "I'm sorry. I'm trying so hard to be like a dad to her, but, you were my dad too." 

The line went dead and Stevie sunk to the ground, still gripping the phone in her hands tightly. There were only a matter of seconds before the group had rushed to her side and were embracing her tightly. Wanda placed her hand on Stevie's cheeks and rubbed the tears away from her eyes with her hands, "we love you, Stevie." She whispered.