Volume II: To See More, To Know More

A Day with Tony

I sighed as my cloak let me down at the front door of Tony's house. I rang the doorbell, hoping he was in. After a moment of complete silence, a computerized voice came over a speaker. "Please state your business with Mr. Stark."

"Dad and Wong are away and wouldn't let me go with them, also Peter is really busy today and I didn't want to be alone," I said, hoping he would answer. "Mr. Stark, please?"

The door opened in front of me. "Come in," said the automated voice. I stepped inside, looking around. "Mr. Stark is in his workshop, please use the stairs to your left."

I looked to my left, then walked down the stairs. I knocked on the glass, Tony glancing up then walking over and opening it for me. "Myers, huh?"

"What?" I asked. "How did you-"

"Facial recognition. Your name was never legally changed, was it?"

"I don't go by that name anymore. It's Strange now," I said, walking past him and into his workshop.

"Tell me about your past, Kate."

"There isn't much to talk about. I assume Peter has already told you some of it and your 'facial recognition' has shown you the rest."

"No, actually," he replied, sitting back down at his desk.

I walked over and stood beside him. "What're you working on?"

"I'll tell you, but you have to tell me about your past first. Why isn't your name Strange in the first place? Divorce? Adoption?"

"Illegitimacy," I said, cutting him off. "My father never knew."

He stopped what he was doing, as if he was taken aback, then resumed. "Tell me."

"My mom and dad were high school sweethearts, to say the least. They had their whole lives after school planned out. Dad knew he would be rich and famous because of his photographic memory. It's why he studied medicine. Or rather, that's what my mom said."

"But something happened."

"My father had a big scholarship in the city that he couldn't pass up. To put it simply, he chose free school and a guaranteed job and life over my mom. He broke up with her before she could tell him about me. Blocked all communications. She couldn't even get through to his parents or family to reach him."

"And thus, you were born without a father. Did she ever-"

"She never loved anybody else," I replied, already knowing his question. "So she raised me on her own. We made it by just fine."

"She raised you right, it seems," he stated. "Why'd you come here?"

"Everyone else is busy and I don't like being alone."

"Why not?"

"Thoughts get to me," I replied, moving away from him and walking around his lab. "I'd rather distract myself."

"Panic attacks?"

"Sometimes," I said, running my hand over some of the iron man prototypes. "Mostly anxiety... I'm trying to control it, but it's difficult."

"What do you think about?" He asked, seemingly genuinely interested.

"Losing those I love," I replied. "Gets to me a lot."

"Really?" He asked.

"Mmhm," I hummed. "It's worse when I'm alone. Or if something goes bump in the night, my brain assumes the worst, even more so now that I've become a sorceress."

"I'm like that too, sometimes," he replied. "I mean, about assuming the worst."

"You are?" I asked, looking up.

"Yeah, sometimes about Pepper," he said.

Silence fell over us for a moment before Tony spoke again. "Come here."

I walked over to him. "What was your mother's name?"

"Krista," I replied. "Why?"

"Just wondering," he replied.

"What, are you going to Google her later?"

Tony chuckled. "Something like that."

"Why not do it now?"

He looked up at me. "Are you okay with that?"

I nodded, watching Tony as he put down what he was tinkering with and addressed his computer. "FRIDAY, tell me everything you know about Krista Myers."

The same electronic voice from before rang out. "Already on it, sir." Suddenly, the screens before us popped up with all sorts of photos and information about my mother.

"Krista Myers, born in July of 1977. She worked as a high school math teacher, specifically skilled in subjects such as complex algebra and calculus," FRIDAY said. "She passed away about five months ago due to cancer of the heart, which was too far gone to cure."

I pushed away thoughts of my mother as best I could, but couldn't do anything to stop the tears. I looked at the pictures of her, which I hadn't seen in ages because I was trying to recover. I thought I was over it when I told Tony it was alright to search, but I wasn't. The wound was still fresh.

I was lost in thought when I felt gentle arms wrap around me. I opened my eyes to find Tony hugging me. A strange behavior for him, but welcome nevertheless. "I'm sorry, Kate..." he whispered. "It's okay to cry."

I broke at his kind words, starting to sob into his shoulder. I hugged him tightly, and we stayed like that for a few minutes before I regained myself. He'd closed out of the research on his computer, leaving whatever he was tinkering with earlier on the screens. I took some deep breaths and my cloak wiped my tears away as Tony sat back down. He sighed, looking questioningly at my cloak.

"It's a relic," I said before he could even say anything. "The Cloak of Power."

"That still doesn't explain why it's... doing... that," he replied.

"Magic," I said teasingly with a small laugh.

He chuckled with me, then pulled up a chair. "Here, sit," he commanded. "I want to show this to you."

"What is it?" I replied, sitting beside him.

"Just something I was working on. I think you might like it." He handed it to me.

I laughed. "But what is it?" I took the small, round device from him. It was disc-shaped and fit naturally into the palm of my hand.

"Go ahead, throw it at that wall," he replied with a sparkle behind his eyes.

I did as he said, flinging it like a frisbee toward the wall, where it immediately attached and stuck, giving out electric energy. "Whoa," I said as I watched it.

"Throw it at your enemy and shock them, literally and figuratively."

I laughed. "That's amazing, Mr. Stark!"

"That's not even the best part. It's reusable, assuming you can recover it. Of course, it does have a cool down, but imagine if they were magnetic and you had lots of them!" He said excitedly.

"You really are a genius," I replied.

He turned and chuckled. "You doubted me?"

"No, but seeing is believing," I teased.

"Well," He said, walking over to the wall and plucking the device off it. "Why don't you take this and see for yourself?"

He tossed it to me, allowing me to catch it without harm. "Wait, really?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, FRIDAY already scanned the blueprints of it in. It's just a prototype. If you want to maybe use it and report back," he said.

"Of course! Thank you, Mr. Stark!" I said excitedly, tackling him in another hug.

He laughed and hugged me back. "No problem, kid. But don't go looking for trouble now that you've got it."

I laughed. "Nah, that's a Peter Parker thing."

We both laughed a bit, then sat at his desk once more, staying there until well into the night, when I finally fell asleep.