Ms. Stark [Peter Parker]

Chapter 2| T.E.D

MARIA
2:51 pm; Monday- Midtown Highschool

I walk my way through the school traffic as I see the shiny black car, owned by no other than Happy Hogan.

Happy has been one of the closest people I have known my entire life, almost closer than my own father. He doesn't seem like the friendliest or nicest person, but he warms up after a while. I feel like we have a connection with one another though.

"Hello Happy," I say, as I make my way into the fancy car. I waited for the usual, 'how was your day at school?' question.

"Hello Maria, I've got some messages for you," he said, as he pulled out of the school's parking lot.

Messages? I wondered.

Happy picked me up every day from school since my father was always constantly busy, plus the fact the billionaire would probably draw a lot of a attention. But this was the first time Happy has ever had a message for me.

"What are the messages?"

Happy looked back at me from the rear-view mirror, "Your father wanted to talk to you once you get home. He's in his lab right now so I recommend going there to find him," he said, now focusing back on the road ahead of him as he swiftly drives.

I nodded, even though Happy couldn't see since he was eye connected with the road.

But the thought kept crossing my mind though, What does my dad want to talk to me about?

·····

Once I arrive home to the mansion, I instantly made my way to my dad's lab.

We recently relocated to Queens New York, from Malibu California. It was close and easy to get to my school, but my dad mainly did it so he can be closer to the Avengers facility and Stark Industries. When I was younger, we stayed at Stark Tower mainly so it was easy to get to school. Once we stayed more in California, I wanted to stay in Midtown schools, so I would literally be dropped off and picked up by a plane at the local airport.

It became tiring after a while.

So last month we moved here, to another huge mansion. I still haven't gotten the hang of where exactly everything is, but I'm getting there.

"DAD!" I shouted turning another corner, I have literally given up on finding where the lab was.

No, respond.

I keep walking down some hallways until I made it to an all windowed wall, so clear that I could what's inside it.

And there was my dad.

He seemed to be busy or frustrated with something, which was usual though. He had a huge digital board upon him, with what looked like some sort of map. He kept tapping the screen rapidly and eventually got so frustrated to the point he threw his pen on the ground.

Deciding it would be better to figure out what's going on than rather watch, I open the door slowly and make my way over to him. He hasn't even noticed me yet he was so focused.

"Hey dad," I say casually, and he instantly turns around so fast it scares me. He blinks rapidly startled, as he leans up against the digital board and attempts to act casual.

"Oh, uh hey Maria. How was your day at school?" he asked, which made me frown. He never asks how was school, so I could tell something was up. He offered a fake smile, probably realizing from my frown I knew something was up.

"You can stop pretending, I know something's up. Happy told me," I say while crossing my arms. He pretends to act confused as he raises both eyebrows. He is such a bad actor.

"What are you talking about-" he cuts himself, as he sighs. He loosens up as he rubs his eyes with both hands.

"Okay, you got me," he says, now looking back up at me. I smirk as he now acts like the Tony Stark I remember.

"What's up?" I ask as I move closer to him to observe the board. It seemed as if my dad programmed it to track something down, or at least find information about whatever he wanted.

"Well, there's this force that I'm currently trying to find out about."

He makes his way over to an open area and uses two of his fingers to swipe open in mid-air a hologram document. He keeps opening documents, photos, videos, and more all around the room. I watch in amazement as it all pops up, everywhere. But the only word that stuck out to me on each of them, was 'T.E.D.'

"They call themselves T.E.D," he walks around with one hand on my shoulder, as well showing me different information from each hologram about them.

"Unlike other forces, we have faced and are still facing, such as Hydra, we don't know quite anything about them."

I began reading some of the articles upon these people my dad speaks of, as he goes back towards the middle of the room.

"But we do know one thing," he suddenly takes two fingers and dashed down which creates every hologram to disappear in mid-air.

It startles me of the sudden disappearance of what I was reading, so I turn up to face him. He was already looking at me directly in the eye, with serious but yet hurt eyes.

"They're looking for you, Maria."