fiat lux ✖ peter parker

p r e f a c e

preface

July, 2004

          "It has been confirmed that the Momentum Alternative Energy Labs headquartered in New York has been shut down due to reasons unknown. We'll update you when we have new information."

          "Tony, have you seen the Accident at MAEL? There's been a total of twenty-three casualties, with one severe injury." Pepper Potts, the secretary to multi-billionaire Tony Stark, enters Mr. Stark's workshop, only to find Tony on the phone with who seemed like a very agitated man. Pepper caught her boss' eyes, motioning to cut the call.

          "What is it?"

          "The Accident, Tony. Twenty-three dead; a three-year-old girl in surgery with what they believe to be third degree burns covering 78 percent of her body. C'mon, Tony, show some sympathy."

          Instead of being upset, Mr. Stark furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What's a little girl doing around a light particle accelerator?"

          "No clue. Her parents, Maggie and Steven Armstrong, found dead at the scene." Pepper's face softened. "She lost her parents and her normal life in one day, Tony, we have to do something about this. For now, the press don't know the real reason why we have to shut the Labs down, but that doesn't make you any less responsible for that little girl's future."

          It was true—the entire chain of Momentum Alternative Energy Labs were owned by Stark Industries, but Tony didn't bother too much with them; he was too busy designing weapons.

          Tony sighed, dragging his hand down his face, and surprisingly, looking sincerely distressed. "Alright," He said, after a minute of thinking. "Call Child Services and see what we can do about setting her up with a good foster home.

          "Thank you, Tony." Pepper nodded, giving a reassuring squeeze to Tony's forearm. 

***

          Later that week, when the little girl was recovering in ICU, and stable enough to have visitors, Tony Stark and Happy Hogan made a private trip to visit her. As Happy waited outside, Tony tentatively entered the room. 

          She was impossibly tiny, the tubes and needles and bustling machines surrounding her like an army of giants. She was in a coma, according to the doctors. She might never pull through.

          She was swathed in bandages, all in varying stages of decay, the only exposed parts Tony could see was her hands and her mouth. Her eyes were covered too—her retina was disintegrated in the Accident.

          Tony could feel himself become choked up, he covered his mouth in horror as he sunk down into the chair beside the fragile girl's hospital bed. 

          In that moment, Tony made a decision—this little girl would not go to just any foster home, he planned on taking her with him back to the tower to live with him. And he never regretted it.