The past few years had been an incredible struggle for the Stark family. In such a short time, her life barely began, and their daughter had to come to terms with the reality of having a physical disability. It was something that no-one could have been prepared for, and when Pepper first found her daughter that night, crying and vomiting in her bedroom, she could never have imagined that the outcome would have been anything like it turned out to be.
To say it had been difficult would be an understatement. At the age of three, Charlotte had to learn how to walk all over again - newfound freedom that had been so quickly taken away from her. After her operation, Charlotte spent almost four months in hospital, recovering from meningitis and her life-changing surgery. Two weeks after her operation she began her intense physical therapy - something that was painful for the entire family. A small glimmer of light in these bleak times was that Charlotte fully discharged in time for Christmas, although the festive period could not distract the family from the harsh reality they were facing.
It was not until Tony was sitting in his office, facing another sleepless night, that he found the exact thing he had unknowingly been searching for. While clearing out an old filing cabinet, he stumbled across a tattered box, containing personal items labeled with his father's name. As he was not a very sentimental man, Tony simply discarded the box to one side and continued his attention on the task at hand. However, as the night dragged on, Tony could not push aside the voice in the back of his mind that was telling him that he needed to look in that box.
Reluctantly, Tony placed the box on the desk, blowing a thick layer of dust from its lid as he opened it. Inside the box was a strew of loose pieces of paper, not all of them were important, some more than others were blank or just had scribbles and sketches on them. There was nothing of any significant importance, however, just as he was about to push the box to the side, he notices a folded piece of blue paper in the far left corner of the box, hidden underneath a pile of blank paper. A moment of euphoria swept over Tony as he unfolded the paper and held it under the desk lamp. The once vibrant blue was now faded as were the pencil lines and writing, but once he held it under the light, it was immediately clear to Tony what he held in his hand. It was the original blueprint, more of a rough sketch, of his father's very first designs for a project that he never got to complete.
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Unknown to everyone, Howard Stark was planning on creating a new line of prosthetics and appendages for soldiers and veterans. The main source material was one that was well known to Tony, as it was the same material that his father used to create the accessory for the world's first and only super-soldier.
With somewhat sad eyes, Tony smiled to himself. "Thanks, Dad."
