Four, badass, powerful ladies are the only ones left to save the world, to rewrite history. Each with their own powers, each with similarities and each with differences, these four women are the world's only hope.
Living in a dystopian future, the...
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UNITED STATES, NORTH AMERICA. 2010
AURORA had slept the whole way back to California, curled up next to Tony. She was worried about him as she didn't recall him being in a bad state when she left. Currently, the seven-year-old was in Tony's room, curled up next to the billionaire. Tony was lying in bed, tethered to all sorts of medical equipment. Rhodey entered, stunned at Tony's state. He pulled up a chair, sitting down, locking eyes with Aurora. Tony drifted in and out of consciousness.
"Look at you...what were you thinking?"
"Weapons I built are being used to kill innocent people. Can't let that happen anymore," Tony said, Aurora smiling, looking up at the man.
"You can't go around and blow up stuff every time you see something you don't like on TV."
"Yes I can," Tony replied.
"You got lucky, next time they'll blow you to pieces."
"Next time, maybe I won't play defence. I'll stick Aurora on them." Rhodey, floored, got to his feet, pacing. Aurora smiled when Tony mentioned her name.
"Does Pepper know about this? Aurora?" He nodded, his eyes starting to flicker. "You've put me in a tough spot here. What am I supposed to do?"
"That's up to you. I've made my choice — I'm not going to sit on the sidelines anymore — I'm going to fight for what's right, we are," Tony said, placing his hand on Aurora's shoulder.
"Don't you get it? It's not up to us to decide."
"That's where you're wrong..." Tony drifted into unconsciousness, Aurora looking at him. She glanced back up at Rhodey.
"We all have a choice Rhodey, sir. T—Daddy and I made ours, it's your turn."
INSIDE Tony's workshop, Aurora worked on her own personal suit, painting it red and orange. Pepper entered as Tony toiled away at an eviscerated suit suspended from a chain winch.
"This device will hack into Stark Industries mainframe. I need you to go there and retrieve all shipping manifests," Tony told Pepper.
"What are you doing? Absolutely not you should be in bed..."
"Weapons have been sold to other countries!" Aurora exclaimed, Tony nodding.
"...They've been dealing weapons under the table and I'm going to stop them."
"Absolutely not. I'm not helping you with anything if you're going to start this again."
"I can do it D-T— I can do it!" Aurora raised her hand, stumbling over what she should call Tony. Both Tony and Pepper noticed her stumble.
"No, you're not going to do it, Pepper is. There is nothing else, Pepper. There's no art opening. There's no benefit. There's nothing to sign. There are no decisions to be made. There's the next mission and nothing else. There's nothing except this."
"I quit," Pepper said.
"Really? You stood there by my side when all I did was reap the benefits of wholesale irresponsibility and destruction and now that I'm trying to right those wrongs and protect the people I put in harm's way you're going to walk out on me."
"You're going to kill yourself. You're going to kill Aurora. I can't support that."
"So far so good. Pepper. I know what I have to do. I don't know if I can, but I know in my heart that it's right, and so does Aurora. And you do too. And I can't do it without you."
LATER that night, noisily, Tony slaved away on the CNC machine. Suddenly, the CNC machine powered down unexpectedly.
"What gives, Jarvis?" Tony asked.
"You have a visitor, Sir. Obadiah Stane is here in the living room with Rory," JARVIS informed Tony.
AURORA was playing video games on Tony's large TV while Obadiah was just standing there, holding a pizza and watching her. He found Aurora odd, especially when he tried to find any blood-relative to send her to. Obadiah found that she matched DNA with two people, teenagers. What he found even odder was that the match was less than 0.01 percent. Aurora's existence made no sense on paper, however, those two teens were her great grandparents multiplied by eight.
"It's creepy to stare at a little girl," she told him as Tony entered the living room, Obadiah shaking off Aurora's comment.
"It's UNOs. Four cheese. I just had it flown in from Chicago." Tony remained stoic. Obadiah put the pizza down, crossing to Tony and handing him a letter. Aurora paused her video game, reaching over towards the pizza and taking a slice without Obadiah noticing. "I'd like you to proofread something for me."
"Would you like me to spell-check it, sir?" JARVIS asked, Aurora snorting at the sass. Tony couldn't help but smile when he saw the little brunette giggling with a slice of pizza in his hand. It was then that he realized Aurora was his daughter, he was her father, and that was okay. It didn't seem scary anymore, the word 'father'.
"Can you turn him off? All the way?"
"Spin down JARVIS," Tony said as he scanned the letter, looking up, surprised. "Your resignation."
"You were right. It's not my company — not my name on the building," Obadiah said as a phone rings. All three looking over to the phone. "We were a great team...but I guess this is where our paths diverge." Pepper flashes on the screen.
"Pepper. I should take that," Tony said.
"Tony. Please. I'll be out of here in a minute." Tony nodded, Aurora rushing over to pick up the phone, excited to talk to Pepper. Obadiah reached quickly, placing his hand on Aurora's shoulder. She stopped what she was doing, feeling a paralyzing pain.
"Run Da—" Aurora fell, watching sideways as Obadiah did the same to Tony.
"We have too much history to part on bad terms. I'd like your blessing." There was a pause, "Easy, now. Try to breathe..." He kneeled beside Tony, unbuttoning Tony's shirt. "You can't mess with progress, Tony. It's an insult to the Gods. You created your greatest weapon ever — but you think that means it belongs to you. It belongs to the world." Obadiah began removing the chest-piece from its socket. "Your 'heart' will be the seed of the next generation of weapons. They'll help us steer the world back in the right direction — put the balance of power back in our hands. The right hands." Everything became a blur after that, Aurora not waking up until Obadiah was gone and Rhodey rushed in. There were traces of blood on the floor, Tony staggering to stay on his feet.
"Tony—" Rhodey started, getting cut off by Tony.
"Where's Pepper?"
"Don't worry, she's with the Feds. They're on their way to Stark to arrest Obadiah."
"They're going to need a lot more than a few Agents. Give me hand," Tony said before looking back at Aurora. "You wanna help, kid?"
"More than anything."
THE door swung open to Tony's workshop, Aurora, Tony, and Rhodey entering. Rhodey stopped shocked, his eyes playing over— The Hall of Armour; the hanging Mark II suit, the weaponized battle-ready Mark III, the hanging Spark I, and finally, the weaponized battle-ready Spark II. Components, rows of helmets, boots, gauntlets and future design prototypes littered everywhere.
"Let's get to work!" Aurora exclaimed, stumbling towards her suit. Rhodey helped Tony rivet the last panel in place, then tossed him the Mark III helmet. Tony lowered the helmet. Aurora had her suit ready to go, also lowering her helmet and blasting fire from her hands and feet. Both Tony and Aurora blasting off through the hole in the ceiling, knocking it even wider. Rhodey stared after them, impressed as hell.
