The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 22: A Message From Howard Stark

 "Huh," Is all I say as Tony lifts up the lid of the case, revealing to us what it contained inside.

"What?" Tony asks, glancing at me from the side of his eyes.

"Nothing really," I reply before I give a shrug of my shoulders as I stare at the objects in front of us. "I'm a bit surprised is all," I admit. "I was sort of thinking that there'd be something in here like machinery, or instructions. Not blue prints for an arc reactor you already know how to build," I say, reaching into the case to pull out the blue prints and hold them up in front of Tony. When he takes them from my hand, I reach back down into the case and pull out the next object. "Or old newspapers regarding your father and Anton Vanko..." I say, my eyes briefly scanning over the picture of Vanko and Howard Stark on the front page before I then hand it off to Tony as well. "Or...hey! Your Dad left a notebook at least," I exclaim as I pull out the thick, leather-bound book and hold it up to a surprised Tony, who reaches for it a little more quickly than he had for the other objects. As he stares at it with an unreadable expression on his face, I resume picking up things from the case, though my hands pause as I reach for a pile of video reels in the corner of the case. I raise my eyebrows in realization as I stare at the reels, a new thought popping into my mind-Perhaps then, Howard may have left instructions for us to follow...just not on paper,

"Hey Tony?" I ask, as I grab one of the reels with my hand before I then hold it up in the space between Tony and I. When his eyes lock on the reel in my hand, I ask, "You don't by any chance happen to have something that we can watch these on?"

He gives a firm nod of his head before he then pushes himself to his feet. "Two secs," Is all he replies before he turns around and hurries towards the other side of the workshop, where a door was in the far side of the wall, with the word 'Storage' written on its plaque.

I watch him go until he disappears through the door, causing me to turn back towards the case as I cross my legs beneath me, settling into a more comfortable position. I reach for a pile of photos in the case and delicately pick up the one that was on the top of the pile, before bringing it closer to me so I could get a better view on it. In the photo was Howard Stark, standing beside a grand piano with a glass of what appears to be champagne in his hands. He had his free hand wrapped around the waist of a tall woman beside him. The woman was wearing a baby blue dress with a set of elegant pearls around her neck. Her pale blond hair had been pulled into a tight and neat bun at the nape of her neck, though there were one or two strands left out on each side of her face beside her ears. Her green eyes practically shone as she smiled at the camera, a pleased expression on her face. At the sight of the woman, I feel my eyes narrowing as I note that there was something about her that seemed oddly familiar about her. Try as I might however, I couldn't pin point exactly who the woman was or where I had possibly seen her before. Something told me however, from the way that Howard had an arm wrapped around her waist, that she was his wife, making her Tony's mother. I flip the photo over, hoping that there may be something written on the back. Too my delight there is, in a neat and tidy scrawl 'Howard and Maria, December 13th 1991."

"Maria...just like my middle name," I muse as I flip the image back over to stare at Tony's parents. After studying their faces a little more, I come to the conclusion that Tony looked more like his father than he did his mother, though there was still some resemblance between the two. Tony had the same shape of his head like his father, as well as the same nose and jaw. But he had the same eye shape as his mother and the same mouth.

"That was the last photo that was taken of them," Comes Tony's voice from behind me, causing me to jump and give a small squeak at the sudden proximity of his voice. When I whirl around to face him, I send him a small glare for giving me a fright, though the glare is soon wiped off my face as I see the expression on sadness on Tony's face. He doesn't look at me as he adds, "That was a friend's early Christmas party. They came back home to spend a couple of days with me the next morning."