GHOSTLY AVENGER: CIVIL WAR

Chapter 2: I'm Right Where I Want To Be.

Tony Stark was giving a guest lecture at his alma mater, MIT, where he is demonstrating the students with his latest device, BARF, or Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, which aimed to recreate and relive old memories. He is showing the students his last meeting with his parents Howard and Maria Stark.

"'Try to remember the kind of September. When grass was green'." the frame CGI of Maria Stark singed while playing the piano as the frame CGI of Howard came into view and woke the CGI of a young Tony Stark. "Wake up, dear, and say goodbye to your father."

"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" Howard asked sternly, making young Tony chuckled.

"This is why I love coming home for Christmas right before you leave town." young Tony said, making Howard frown.

"Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad." Maria said.

"Really? Which broad? What's her name?" Howard asked.

"Candice." young Tony replied as Howard took off young Tony's Christmas hat.

"Do me a favor? Try not to burn the house down before Monday." Howard said.

"Okay, so it's Monday. That is good to know, I will plan my toga party accordingly." young Tony said before looking at his mother. "Where you going?"

"Your father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway." Maria replied.

"We might have to make a quick stop." Howard said.

"At the Pentagon. Right? And see your long time friend there, that ghost hunter... Harry Fenton and his wife Elizabeth, right? Don't worry, you're gonna love the holiday menu at the commissary." young Tony said sarcastically.

"They say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that's true, you'll be a great man someday." Howard said before turning his attention to his wife. "I'll get the bags."

Maria stops playing the piano and young Tony frowns because of Howard.

"He does miss you when you're not here. And frankly, you're going to miss us. Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen. Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it." Maria said.

Young Tony looks at his mother before facing his father.

"I love you, Dad." young Tony said, which Howard reply with a small smile. Young Tony looks back at his mother. "And I know you did the best you could."

Maria kissed her son on the cheek before she and Howard leaves. The BARF stops and the real Tony comes into view.

"That's how I wish it happened. Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to clear traumatic memories." Tony said before blowing out a candle. "Huh. It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport, or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but..." Tony said as he takes off the shades, which deactivates the BARF. "Plus, $611 million for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in their right mind would've ever funded it. Help me out, what's the MIT mission statement?"

"'To generate, disseminate... and preserve knowledge. And work with others to bring it to bear on the world's great challenges.'" the students and Tony said, reciting the MIT's mission statement.

"Well, you are the others. And, quiet as it's kept the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. Plus, most of you are broke." Tony said, making the students laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry. Rather, you were. As of this moment, every student has been made an equal recipient of the inaugural September Foundation Grant." Tony announced, making the students gasped. "As in all of your projects have just been approved and funded." Tony said, as the students clapped and cheered. "No strings, no taxes, just reframe the future! Starting now." Tony then looks at the teleprompter and is shocked to read that he should be presenting his ex-girlfriend Pepper Potts to the stage. Tony and Pepper recently decided to take a break from their relationship since Tony began devoting his time towards up keeping the Avengers. Tony is having a hard time with the break. "Go break some eggs."

The students clapped and cheered as Tony leaves the stage where a member of the school's faculty was waiting and clapping for him.

"Wow. Wow. That took my breath away." the man said. "Oh, Tony! So generous. So much money! Wow! Out of curiosity, will any portion of that grant be made available to faculty? I know, 'Ooh, gross', but hear me out. I have got this killer idea for a self-cooking hotdog. Basically, chemical detonator embedded..." the man said, but Tony cut him off as a woman approached him.

"Restroom's this way, yeah?" Tony asked, pointing towards a nearby exit door.

"Yeah. Embedded in the meat shaft." the man replied.

"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know Miss Potts had cancelled. They didn't have time to fix it." the woman explained.

"It's fine. I'll be right back." Tony said, leaving the woman and man behind.

"We'll catch up later." the man said.

Tony exits the stage through the exit door and was approaching the Men's room door before heading towards the elevator where a woman was standing at the hallway alone.

"That was nice, what you did for those young people." the woman, name Miriam, complimented.

"Ah, they deserve it. Plus, it helps ease my conscience." Tony said.

"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But if you've got the money, break as many eggs as you like. Right?" Miriam said.

Tony just look at the woman before pressing a button for the elevator.

"Are you going up?" Tony asked.

"I'm right where I want to be." Miriam said sternly before reaching for her purse.

"Okay. Hey." Tony said, feeling threatened that Miriam is gonna pull out a gun and grabbed her wrist, stunning her. "Sorry, it's an occupational hazard."

"I work for the State Department. Human Resources. I know it's boring, but it enabled me to raise a son. I'm very proud of what he grew up to be." Miriam said before placing a picture of a young man on Tony's chest and looks at him sternly. "His name was Charlie Spencer. You murdered him. In Sokovia." Miriam said, saying that her son was killed when Tony and the Avengers were battling the rogue artificial intelligence Ultron during the Battle of Sokovia last year. "Not that matters in the least to you. You think you fight for us? You just fight for yourself. Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead, and I blame you." the woman said before leaving.

Miriam's words made Tony feel guilty as Miriam blamed Tony and the Avengers for her son's death. Unknown to anyone, this confrontation between Miriam and Tony will soon start a chain of events that will soon affect the Avengers.