WARNING: SPOILERS!!! ~A Watty's 2019 Submission!

Saved for The Iron Child

Tony stood before the apartment building, and looked down at the paper with the address on it. This was where the guy who managed a well executed burglary and an epic escape lived? 

The building was at least six stories high, with half of the top floor gone. The bricks were covered in dust and graffiti, and there was a dented Keep Out sign next to the doorway with bullet holes in it. And there was a knife sticking out where the doorknob should have been and a large board where the door itself should have been.

Tony composed himself a bit, before looking at his paper again. “Push the knife to open.” He murmured, and did just that, the board swinging open, and he stepped inside. Inside actually looked better than the outside. 

That didn’t mean it looked good. There was a desk for a doorman that was scratched up, and some metal mailboxes along the wall, some of which with huge dents or crevasses. Three were on the ground, one squashed completely. There was a rolling chair with the stuffing coming out of the cushion in the corner, and an elevator shaft without an elevator in it. Just a boarded up hole with a rope through it. Tony wondered where the elevator had gone, and decided he probably didn’t want to know, if they were also responsible for the reason the building was shut down and destroyed. Or why there was a man sized hole going through the ceiling and all the way to the top.

He found the staircase that the note talked about, and he walked up, until he reached the fifth floor, and opened the door to the first room.

“So you figured out my clues.” 

“Not too difficultly.” He said, looking at the thief, who currently wore his stolen suit. 

“Good. I didn’t want it to be too difficult.” They replied, turning around to face him. “But then again, I didn’t want to make it easy for you.” Tony took off his sunglasses, putting them away in his pocket, and folded his hands in front of him. He wasn’t scared of this person.

“Why did you want me to find you?” He asked. “If you wanted my attention, I have a front door. With a nice doorbell, might I add.” 

“I wanted you to see.” They replied solemnly.

“See what?” 

“See what you left me with.” Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “See what you left behind, and how it festered.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“You don’t know, do you?” They asked. “You don’t know what happened?” Tony shook his head. 

“Would I be here?” There was a small chuckle.

“Do you remember a young woman called Chasity Belt? You liked her because she was a Victoria’s Secret model and her name was ironic.” He nodded. He remembered her, mostly because of her name. He hadn’t seen her in almost twenty years, after they hooked up one drunken night. “She’s dead, and left behind a child. Your child.” His eyes went wide, and he shook his head.

“That’s not possible!”

“A few drinks and no condom? Very possible.” The person told him. “Chasity died two years ago. The girl was still young, and was taken into foster care. She had heard her whole life about you.” The person rubbed their head, as if trying to erase the memory of the child. “She didn’t know Stark, she knew Tony. Chasity told her as much as she knew about you, which was quite a bit. She wouldn’t tell her that it was you, because she didn’t want the girl to feel like you were too busy for her. Sound familiar, Tony?” Tony shook his head, tilting it a little.

“No, why?”

“Wasn't your father always too busy for you?” Tony felt a pang in his chest, but he didn’t let it show. “I know everything about you, Tony Stark. I’ve been studying you for a long time. For Aria.” 

“Who’s Aria?” Tony asked.

“Your daughter.” Tony had to think on that one. His daughter. He hadn’t really ever thought of himself ever being a dad. “She’s been looking for you, Tony. She didn’t stay in foster care, you know.” 

“Where is she?” Tony asked, and the person held up their hand, and used the suit to blast through the wall, making the entire wall fall and reveal the second room.

 While the first one was empty, this one looked more lived in. Tony stepped closer, and saw a small bed in the corner, with a nest of ratty, moth eaten, or generally old looking blankets, with two pillows. There was a desk with a leg having been replaced with a cardboard box, with lots and lots of papers, some hanging on the wall, some all over the desk, and many crumpled into balls on the floor. Tony stepped closer, and examined one of the papers. It was facts about him, with little doodles along the edges. In front if the desk was a sunk in, stained armchair. A single light sat on a crate next to the bed, a torn open box of batteries sitting next to it. And on the floor next to the bed was a small stuffed bear, with a pile of newspapers in a third corner.

“This is where she’s been living?” Tony asked, the figure standing in the threshold. 

“She found you here, and she moved closer to find out about you. She hoped... you would take her in.” Tony turned to the figure, wishing he was able to see their face to read their emotions. 

“Who are you?” He demanded. 

“Aria.” They replied. Tony turned around, expecting to see a young girl, a mini Chasity maybe. A little blonde girl, with big green eyes, maybe fourteen years old. But there was no one there.

“Where?” He asked her.

“No.” Tony turned back to the figure, just as the suit folded away, and the now uncovered hands went to the helmet on their head. “That’s who I am.” And the mask was removed, and there she was. 

Tony was shocked when he found he was staring at... himself. The girl appeared to have no Chasity in her at all. She had his smaller brown eyes, his dark hair, his chin, even the look that he gave people when he was listening. “Hello, Dad.”