Four hours later:
We were coming up on Malibu airspace. I had actually taken some time to sleep and now yawned, fresh and awake. I quickly changed into my Spider-man costume. I had taken the time to repair it and it was now good as new, though I figured it would be time to upgrade soon — provided I managed to get enough capital to do that.
"We're currently flying directly over Mr. Stark's residence," Sexy called out. I looked down and sure enough, there it was. And we weren't the only ones here; the place was surrounded by news helicopters, a few of which I suspected must belong to the Mandarin.
"Great," I looked around. So far the choppers looked normal enough. Maybe they were biding their time. "Sexy, do you think you can hack into the onboard systems of these choppers?"
"Of course, who do you think I am?" Sexy replied.
"Good. I'll go down, you and Doc stay up here and be on patrol. The Mandarin has control over several helicopters disguised as news choppers. They should come at the house from the sea. If you spot any of them with a system that has rocket launchers in it, take over and crash them into the sea. Got it?"
"Understood, Spider. Good luck," Sexy replied.
"Thanks," I opened the door and leaped out, "I'll need it." I dropped down twenty feet onto the roof before landing in a roll. Immediately, twenty or so rocket launchers popped out of the ground, pointed at me.
"Halt! Identify yourself!" I heard JARVIS call out.
"It's me, Spider-man. Tell Tony I came to help," I ignored the rockets. Obviously, if they were any harm to me my spidey senses would have warned me. I walked over to the edge of the roof and jumped down.
I walked right up to the door and pulled it open, "honey! I'm home!" I found Tony, with his Mark 42 armour placed off to the side, Pepper and another woman around their age with brown hair and dark skin, all looking very worried.
"Spider?" Tony blinked, "great, did everyone just decide to pop in and visit?"
"I'm sorry, didn't Pepper tell you?" I turned to the redhead, "hi by the way, I'm Spider-man."
Pepper nodded, "he called. Said he wanted to help."
"Only you can threaten a terrorist, give him your home address and then act like nothing happened, Tony," I snorted as I turned to the woman, curious, "and you are?"
"Maya, Maya Hansen Williams," she replied.
"And what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Yes, I think we would all like to know that," Tony said, "first you arrive out of nowhere after thirteen years, and then you warn me to leave without giving me any reason as to why."
Maya looked at us before sighing, "I...I think my boss is working for the Mandarin."
"I'm sorry, but I thought you were a botanist," Pepper asked, surprised.
Maya snorted, "figures. Did you really have to undersell me so much, Tony?"
Tony snorted, "she's a biological DNA coder. She was working on...Extremis, right?"
Maya snorted, "at least you remember that...look, he's coming for you, and we need to get out, understand?"
"Actually, this might be the safest place for us all right now," I said.
"No, nowhere is safe," Maya argued, "he's coming for us, all of us."
"JARVIS," I called out, "activate the House Party protocol."
"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not allowed to do that without authorisation from Mr. Stark," the AI replied.
"Wait, how did you even know about that protocol?" Tony asked.
"I'll explain later, Tony. For now, could you please just activate the damn protocol? It would be a hell of a lot better than just having one suit out."
"Well...I guess," Tony blinked, "why didn't I think of this before?"
"Maybe because you've been going on less than three hours of sleep per night for the past week, sir?" JARVIS suggested.
"What?!" Pepper cried out, "Tony—"
"—Not now," Tony sighed, "JARVIS, activate the House Party protocol and put them all on standby around the house."
"Ah, guys, should you be worried about that?" Maya pointed at the TV screen where the image of a rocket heading straight for the house was displayed on the news.
"No, we really don't," I tapped my helmet, "Sexy, you got this?"
"Bypassing the rocket's internal targeting system and...rerouting complete," Sexy replied as the rocket suddenly veered off course, heading straight up into the sky.
"You named your AI Sexy?" Tony asked, surprised.
"Yup. Why? Jealous?" I chuckled.
"No, not at all. It's just the most advanced AI on the planet — sure, go ahead and objectify it," Tony shrugged.
"Excuse me, sir," JARVIS coughed.
"Oh, sorry about that," Tony replied.
"What about the helicopters?" I asked into my comms.
"They're being taken care of as we speak," Sexy replied. We all turned to the windows that looked out onto the ocean, and the terrorist choppers disguised as news choppers were spinning out of control.
"Nice job," I whistled, "do me a favour and crash them into the sea." I turned to Tony, "think JARVIS can swoop them up with your suits?"
"You heard the man," Tony replied into his comms. And just like that, I had prevented the entire plot of Iron Man 3. Thank you, How It Should Have Ended!
"Now, who the hell is your boss?" I turned to Maya. She was different from the movies — yes, she was Black instead of white, but that had nothing to do with me. There were just differences between this universe and the MCEU.
"Aldrich Killian," Maya replied, drawing looks from both Pepper and Tony.
Tony smirked, turning to Pepper, "I told you—"
"—Not one word," Pepper shut him down.
"I think you should start explaining," I told her, motioning to the couch where they all sat down while I stood off in the background.
"I...I began working for Killian because he gave me the funds needed to continue the Extremis virus project," Maya began, "he used it to exploit his disability and started marketing it as a cure of sorts."
"A cure? A cure for what?" Tony asked.
"Sexy, get me everything you can about this project from JARVIS," I whispered into my comms.
"At once, Spider," she replied as a list of details upon the project came up on my screen.
"Everything," Maya replied, "it could cure anything that faulted a human's genes...I based it off a mutant I met a while ago, altering the X gene to form a virus—"
"—that could replicate cells at an extreme rate, creating a near-perfect human specimen," Tony finished, "yeah, I remember that. But what does that have to do with the Mandarin?"
"Because Aldrich can't sell the Extremis unless there's a war to fight...a war with the Mandarin."
"Fucking hell," I groaned, "alright then, so you're working for AIM?"
Maya looked over at me, "yes, I am."
"So why should we believe a word you say?" I asked, obviously pushing for the narrative I was secretly aiming for. They didn't know she was secretly working for Aldrich — I did.
"What? Why do you think I'm here? Risking my neck like this?!" Maya screamed.
"Because you failed to perfect Extremis," I replied smoothly, "I had time to review the Mandarin's bombings. And from what I'm seeing, based on the data JARVIS has on hand about your little project, it has a serious flaw. JARVIS, display please."
I snapped my fingers as a hologram came up detailing Maya's work. I pointed at a genetic sequence, "there. This would cause the subject to overheat upon their own cellular regeneration, causing a total cellular collapse — meaning they would burn into nothing. In plants, that's one thing. If Aldrich is using this on humans as you suggested, the result would be far more explosive. Tony, they never did find any bomb casings, did they?"
Tony blinked for a second before nodding, "they weren't bombs...they were people," he looked at Maya, horror on his face, "what did you do?"
Maya froze. She looked at me, "h-how did you know?"
I shrugged, "I'm a pretty good detective."
"I'll say," Pepper replied, looking stunned, "do you want a job?"
"He has one," Tony turned to Maya, "did you know?"
"I—I—"
"—Did you know?!"
Maya looked down in shame, "yes. I did."
Tony got up and walked away. He looked torn, defeated even. He turned around and glared, "why? Why would you do this?! The Maya I knew—"
"—You don't know shit about me, Stark!" Maya roared, getting to her feet, "you haven't for twelve years! I did what I had to do because you left me no fucking choice!"
"No, no, you do not get to put this on me! I didn't make you work for Aldrich! And I certainly didn't help you—"
"—Mom?"
We all turned around as a young twelve-year-old Black girl walked in through the front door, looking around.
"Riri, what are you doing here?" Maya jumped out of her seat, running to her side.
"JARVIS, how did she get in here?" Tony asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but somehow my systems did not detect the presence of the young girl," JARVIS replied.
"Mom, what's going on?" the girl looked at us, her eyes going wide as she spotted me, "is that Spider-man?! Oh my God! This is so cool!"
I blinked, "Sexy, do a facial recognition search on her."
"Right away, Spider," Sexy replied.
"Riri, what are you doing here? I told you to wait in the car," Maya grabbed the girl's hand, looking worried.
"Yeah, but I wanted to see Iron Man," she looked over, "and Spider-man! Oh my God, this is so cool! I'm totally nerding out right now!"
"Spider, her name is Riri Natasha Williams. Her mother is Maya Hansen Williams. She's homeschooled — no records of her other than a birth certificate."
I blinked, "ah...any chance that birth certificate was issued nine months after Maya Hansen met Tony Stark?"
"Searching...no, sir, she was born six months after that," Sexy replied.
I groaned, "was she premature?"
"Searching...yes, it appears so."
I turned to Tony, "dude, you're a father." And judging from Tony's look of horror and Pepper's matching gaping expression, they had figured that out too.
I turned to the little Black girl — Riri Williams. Wasn't she a superhero in my world? Yeah...in the comic books, she was a 15-year-old MIT student who figured out Tony's suit design and made one of her own. But here, in this world, it looked like Riri was Tony's...daughter. Oh, for crying out loud.
"How did you get in here?" Maya asked, pulling Riri aside.
"I just hacked into the system to let me in," Riri shrugged, showing a tablet with JARVIS's main frame displayed on it.
"Come, we're leaving."
"But Mom! That's Tony Stark! The Iron Man! And Spider-man is right there!"
"Maya, stop right there," Tony called out. Maya froze, fear oozing out of her — I could smell it, "is — is she...is she..."
"Tony...please," Maya looked afraid, "not now."
"Damn it, Maya!" Tony cried out, rushing towards them, "is she my daughter?!"
"Say what?!" Riri's mouth dropped, "Iron Man's my dad?!"
"Is this why you agreed to work for Aldrich?" I asked, taking a shot in the dark.
Maya looked at me and sighed, "yes...when Riri was born," she looked to Riri, "they said she wouldn't make it past the week."
"You used Extremis on her, didn't you?" I asked. Everything was clicking into place. In the original timeline Maya Hansen worked for AIM because Tony broke her heart and she needed to prove herself by perfecting Extremis. But in this world, the existence of Riri Williams had thrown all of that into the gutter. Maya had used Extremis on her own daughter — meaning Riri was on a clock.
"That's why you need me," Tony realised, looking at the girl who shared his blood, "because...because she's dying."
"I'm sorry, hold on," Riri pulled her hand out of her mother's grip, "what the hell is going on here?! Mom! I thought you said we were visiting an old friend?!"
"W-we are," Maya looked away, "and he's going to help you."
"Help me? Help me with...with my fever? Mom, I told you, it's just a cold, it'll go away in a few days!" Riri cried out.
"I don't think it's a cold, little one," I walked up behind her and noted the sweat stains on her brow and neck, "I think it's a lot worse."
Riri blinked, "like what?"
"Like a virus your mother injected into your blood to save your life," Tony replied, "JARVIS, get the systems ready." He turned to Maya, "do you have her records?"
"It's all here in these files," she gave Tony a flash drive, "so you'll do it?"
"Yes," Tony took the drive before pausing, "why didn't...why didn't you tell me?"
Maya looked him straight in the eyes, "would you have cared even if I did?"
"Yes!" Tony snapped, "for God's sake! She's my kid!"
"No! You do not get to say that, not after you just left me all those years ago!" Maya snapped back.
"That was a one-night stand and you knew that going into it!" Tony replied, "don't try to pretend that's the same thing as not telling me I had a kid!"
I looked at Riri. The girl looked like she was getting increasingly more frightened by the second. I sighed, "enough!" I shouted, making everyone flinch, "Tony, Maya, deal with your issues later." I patted Riri's shoulder, "for now, focus on saving your daughter's life. Is that understood?"
Tony looked at Riri, making eye contact with the girl who would be his child for the first time. He nodded, "right...yeah, sorry. Come on, kid," he waved her over as he walked away to the stairs, all of us following him.
We entered the lab just as the last of Tony's many suits exited, setting up a perimeter around his house — both in the air and on land. From the monitors I could see the Mandarin's men being pulled out of the ocean by the suits and delivered to the SHIELD agents outside Tony's gates who had come for his 'protection'.
"JARVIS, scan and compile," Tony inserted the drive into the terminal.
"At once, sir," JARVIS replied.
Tony sighed and looked over. Silence fell over us. Pepper and I took a back seat, both feeling like intruders in this obviously private family moment. We waited, but for the longest moment no one said anything — each simply observing the other. Riri watched her supposed father, Tony watched his daughter, and Maya watched her child.
I cleared my throat, "so it seems awkward silence is a father-daughter thing, huh?"
"You shut up," Tony pointed a finger at me.
"Mom...is he really my dad?" Riri asked her mother, finally breaking her silence.
Maya sighed, "yes, Riri...he is."
"That...is so cool!" Riri cried out, "hey, did you really remove your own heart and use that reactor thing instead? Hey, what do you think about wormholes? My mom doesn't think they're possible, but she's more of a biology person. Also, why does your home security suck so much? Oh, and do you think I can have my own suit?!"
Tony smiled. He looked at Maya, "you don't believe in wormholes?"
Maya sighed, rolling her eyes, "here we go."
Pepper smiled, though slowly it became worried. I could feel her sadness; she was afraid she was being replaced. I knew how that felt. I reached out and held her hand, surprising her, "he still loves you, Ms. Potts. Don't forget that."
She looked back at Tony and Riri — father and daughter, both currently accusing Maya of being short-sighted. Pepper sighed, "maybe...but...I don't know," she gently withdrew her hand, "thanks..."
"He still loves you. Never forget that."
"Sir," JARVIS called out, "there seems to be something happening outside."
We all turned to see the monitor show the SHIELD container parked outside where all the terrorists were being processed — only to have one of them throw off all his captors before breathing out fire from his mouth, burning the people before him.
"Woah!" Riri gasped before turning to her mother, "can I do that?"
"No...not yet," Maya replied. The man turned his attention towards the house, leaping over the gate before rushing towards the front door.
"I'll handle it," I replied as I rushed out of the lab, "JARVIS, bring me some backup, will you?"
"At once, sir," the AI replied.
I rushed up and out the main door just as the Extremis-infected soldier came to the glass door. I threw out both my hands and charged the repulsors in my palms.
CRASH!
He charged in through the glass door, shattering it.
PEW!
I fired out twin repulsor blasts, sending him flying out onto the lawn. I jumped out, following behind him, just as a few of Tony's suits came flying down to help.
"Fire everything and keep him down!" I cried out, launching a unibeam at the man, preventing him from getting up again.
"At once, sir," JARVIS acknowledged as the suits fired their own repulsors and weaponry. One was even equipped with a machine gun that fired missiles. Needless to say, Tony would need to redo his lawn.
BOOM!
There was a sudden explosion, forming a decent-sized crater where the man had once stood. The smoke slowly rose, and in the crater nothing remained.
"Kind of going overkill there, JARVIS," I said, blinking at the sight before me.
"He was a walking bomb capable of blowing up to 3,000 degrees Celsius. I hardly think that fits the definition of overkill."
"Okay, sassy AI," I snorted, walking back inside to the lab.
Riri was now on a table with wires and monitors attached to her. Tony stood over her, working on a few holographic readings, while Maya was by her child's side, holding her hand so tightly it looked like it hurt. And Pepper stood apart, still looking conflicted about even being here.
I looked down at Riri, "how you doing, kid? Need a juice box?"
"Funny," Riri rolled her eyes, "what's next? Going to call me shorty and lecture me on the good old days?"
"Wasn't I like your idol or something?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, you still are," Riri grinned.
"She's sassy," Maya chuckled, "she gets that from his side of the family," Maya motioned at Tony.
"Oh sure, blame everything on the dad — that's what I always did anyway," Tony snorted as he moved to a machine near the edge of the lab. Pepper approached him and whispered something in his ear. Using my advanced hearing I eavesdropped.
"Are you okay?" Pepper asked.
"I should be asking you the same," Tony replied, holding onto her hand.
Pepper snorted, "I've been your babysitter long before I was your girlfriend. Happy and I actually had a bet going on whether or not you had a kid you didn't know about."
"Did you win?"
"Yes I did," Pepper's smile dropped almost immediately, "I...is she telling the truth? Is Riri really yours?"
Tony motioned to the holograms around him, bringing up a DNA sequence, "I had JARVIS do a complete scan on her bloodwork. She's mine..."
"Tony, it's not your fault."
"How isn't it?" he snapped, "I had a kid, who I didn't know about, and I just left her..."
"You didn't know."
"Well I should have."
I sighed and looked away, relaxing my senses. It was a private moment; it would be rude to interfere.
"You okay, Spider?" Riri asked.
I smiled down at the kid, "you're the one who's a walking time bomb, kid." Maya sent me a glare which I ignored.
Riri shrugged, "I'll be fine."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
Riri looked at Tony's back, "well...my mom's been with me every day of my life, helping me and...well, now she has Iron Man helping her. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
I chuckled, "keep that optimism, Riri — it's rare in this world...Maya, I think Tony could use some help with the DNA sequencer," I motioned to Stark as he kicked the machine over and over again, "you should probably help out."
"Right," Maya nodded before kissing her daughter on the cheek, "I'll be right back, baby girl."
"I know, Mom, sheesh. You really have to stop treating me like a kid — I'm going to be thirteen, you know," Riri huffed.
"I know," she ruffled Riri's hair playfully before getting up and going to help Tony. It took them a few moments but they finally got down to work, Pepper doing what she could to help.
"So," I turned to Riri, "Tony Stark is your father, huh?"
"Seems so," Riri replied, giving a faraway look, staring at Tony.
"How are you handling it?" I asked.
"Ah, decently, I think," she cleared her throat, "I'll be fine...you know, I always wondered who my dad was. My mom used to say he was a horrible man...I don't know why she said that. I mean, he's Iron Man! He's a freaking superhero!"
I chuckled, "that he is. But...he's also just a man," I sat down next to her. I could have been helping out Tony and Maya, but Riri needed me a lot more than they did. She needed someone to talk to; I could smell the confusion rolling off her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, before he became a hero, he was just Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist," I chuckled, "he was...flawed. And kind of a jerk, really — still is," Riri giggled at that, "but deep down he's a decent enough guy...most people are. But that's not how you judge a person. You judge them by their actions, not just who they are on the inside. And Tony has worked hard, ever since that day he was captured, to redeem himself as Iron Man, and now...I guess he's going to try and be a dad too."
"Do you think he's a nice guy?" Riri asked.
"He saved my life," I told her, "he's the reason I'm still alive. Heck, he's the reason New York is still alive. I know...I know you probably don't like the fact that he wasn't there for you—"
"—I don't blame him for that," Riri shrugged, "he didn't even know I existed. How can I blame him for that?"
"Then who do you blame?" I asked.
She was silent. She looked over at Maya and her supposed father, arguing about something on the screen, working together easily, as if they had been doing it all their lives. Riri sighed, "I...I don't know."
"Well...tell me, did you seriously hack into JARVIS using a tablet?" I searched through her bag and pulled out a foot-long tablet that definitely wasn't store-bought, "did you jailbreak this thing?"
"Yeah," Riri gave a proud smile, "I like to tinker with stuff a lot. My mom used to say I got it from my...from my dad," she blinked, "damn, I should have known."
I chuckled, "yeah well," I turned the tablet on and saw it was running several programs, one of which was actively trying to hack into my own suit's functions. "Really?" I asked, pointing at the screen.
Riri giggled, "sorry, I have that thing set to automatically try and access every machine it comes into contact with."
"Well, that doesn't make it any less of a rude move," I snorted as I disabled her program, "also, don't tell Tony — he'll probably break down into manly tears or lecture you about ripping off his stuff."
"Did he give you one?" Riri asked, looking at the arc reactor in my suit, "for stealing his design?"
"Well, first off, I didn't steal it — I reinvented it," I told her, "it took me a few months, but I worked hard and managed to rebuild parts of his suit," I showed her the repulsors on the palms of my hands, "I worked hard and presto. Also, I did kind of help him save the world from an alien army, so he let me off with a warning."
"Cool!" Riri grinned, "hey, do you think I can build my own suit?"
I groaned, "hm, probably. I mean, you are his kid — it's kind of your birthright. But," I held up a finger, pushing back against her excitement, "you have to understand one thing. The title of Iron Man was earned, not given. Meaning, even if you build a suit, you have to earn the right to use it. Do you understand?"
Riri nodded, "totally...do you think you could help me?"
"No way, Riri," I smirked at her disappointment, "like I said — you have to earn your suit. If you can prove that you are smart enough to build it on your own, only then will people not question your skills. Got that?"
Riri nodded, "right! Got it!"
"Good," I gave her a thumbs up. Just then Tony and her mother walked over to us with a vial of yellow liquid in hand. I walked over to them, "is that it?"
Tony nodded, "it'll stabilize the Extremis virus in her blood and make it more compact. She'll have above-normal regenerative abilities, but she won't explode or anything."
"How long will this take?" Pepper asked.
"A few hours at most to stabilize," Maya replied before going to her daughter's side, "hey baby, we did it. We found a cure."
"Are you going to put me to sleep?" Riri asked.
Maya nodded, "yeah, and when you wake up this nightmare will finally be over, I promise." Riri smiled and nodded, hugging her mother's midriff tightly. The woman kissed her head as she did.
"Alright kid, lay down," Tony walked up, putting the vial into a machine that had a tube flowing into Riri's arm, "don't worry, it'll be over in a second. JARVIS, put her under and then feed her the EXT cure, will you?"
"Yes, sir," the AI replied as he did just that.
Immediately Riri began to look drowsy. I noticed clear liquid being pumped into her arm from one of the tubes attached to her.
"H-hey Tony," Riri called out.
"Yeah, kid?" Tony asked, hesitating as he still didn't know what to properly call his would-be daughter.
"I don't want to call you dad," Riri replied, closing her eyes, "it's kind of lame. Can I just call you Tony?"
Tony chuckled, "you can call me whatever you want, kid."
"Cool," Riri smiled as she fell asleep, the EXT cure entering her bloodstream. We turned to see her vitals displayed via hologram. They were stable, and slowly her core temperature was coming down.
"Now then, what about AIM?" I asked.
"Where are they operating out of?" Tony asked Maya.
"Malibu, California," Maya replied, "I'll text you the details."
"Right then," Tony snapped his fingers and the Mark 42 armour separated before flying to him and suiting him up.
"Why are you suiting up?" Pepper asked.
"These people tried to kill us and blew up Happy. Why do you think?" Tony asked as he walked to the exit.
"What about Riri?" Pepper asked.
"The procedure will take care of itself," Maya spoke up, "all we have to do is wait."
"And I don't like to wait," Tony replied, "so I'm going after Aldrich and the Mandarin."
"You mean we are going after the Mandarin and Aldrich," I replied, walking behind him.
"Think you can keep up?" Tony asked.
"I have a ride," I said as just then my car came flying through the underground garage way Tony had used for his own car.
"A flying time machine, nice," Tony nodded.
"Are we taking the suits?" I asked, getting into my car as Tony took off, flying out into the open air, my car right behind him.
"Should we?" he asked, "if AIM or the Mandarin attacks again they will be needed."
"Can we at least take twenty of them?" I asked, "I mean, you did build like 40 suits, right?"
"Alright, JARVIS — have Marks 20 to 35 follow behind us and have the rest stay here," Tony instructed.
"At once, sir," JARVIS replied, and soon we gained an entourage of fifteen flying suits.
I whistled, "this is so freaking badass."