A/N: This is my first story for this fandom and I'm excited to share it with all of you! So far I have roughly 30 chapters planned out but it probably will end up being longer than that. I will be updating every Sunday, given nothing comes up, and I hope you all enjoy! Be sure to review and let me know what you think

Chapter 1

Antonia Stark is born the same way she lived most of her life; grasping the attention of everyone in the room with just one action. She's born in a private hospital room on a late spring day with her father pacing nervously outside and her mother inside the room. The room is bright around her and she cries out, begging for attention and the love of her family. The world is set ablaze with just one action, and the world will never more be the same.

Howard entered the room after it all was done, and saw his wife lying on the bed, exhausted from childbirth and frowned as he looked around the room.

"Where's my son?" he asked gruffly and the nurse in the room came over, holding a small bundle in her arms as she placed it into his. It was the first time he'd ever held a child, and he knew it would be the last time. That's what they had Ana and Jarvis for; they could take care of all that while he was out doing more important things.

"It's a girl, Mr Stark," the nurse said meekly as she uncovered his daughter's face slightly. He frowned once more looking down at the tiny girl in his arms. He needed a son; a son who would take over Stark Industries, who would continue to build weapons and change the world. A son who would continue his search for Steve Rogers until his body was found. His legacy needed a son to take it over. And instead he was given a daughter.

What good was a girl when the world was run by men?

"Take her back," Howard said in a huff as he handed the girl off to a nurse and existed the room. He needed a drink, not to be around any of this any longer. He needed to get out of this room, out of all this stuffiness, and the cries from around him as his daughter was carted off to another room to be cared for. They didn't need him, not when a daughter was no use to him.

"How's the boy looking?" Obadiah asked him with a grin as he waited outside the hospital room, holding a bear in his hand for the son he didn't end up having.

"It's a girl," Howard breathed out loud with a sigh and Obadiah's smile slipped off his face just as quickly as the words left his lips. "What use do I have for a daughter?"

"Maria is still young; there's still time," Obadiah said giving him a sympathetic smile. Easy for him to say; his wife had already given him two sons. And his own wife had barely been able to carry one child to full term. The chances of her having another child after this was rare, and they both knew it far too well.

"Let's get out of here," Howard said with a shake of his head, wanting to drop the subject. "I need a drink. And then I need to get back to work. If I cannot have a son to take on my legacy, then at least I want to make sure my legacy will remain strong after I am gone."

"Of course, Howard," Obadiah obliged, dropping the bear on the chair of the hospital, as he turned to leave.

"Sir?" Jarvis asked as he came to the hospital holding flowers intended for Maria. "Has the child been born?"

"Yes," Howard breathed, "A daughter. Take care of them, will you, J? I need to step out for a bit."

"Very well, Sir," Jarvis said, and Howard could hear the disapproval was clear in his tone, but he didn't care. He needed to get out of the hospital. It was just another way he had failed. He had failed to bring Steve Rogers home. Failed to give Peggy a body to grieve over. Failed to recreate the serum. And failed to have a son to carry on his legacy when he died. Perhaps this was what his legacy truly was. That no matter what he built or what he accomplished, he would only ever be defined by his failures.

If he couldn't have a son to take over his legacy, then he would be damned if he died without anything. Steve Rogers would become his legacy. He would be remembered for the work he did on Project Rebirth and he would recreate the serum, one way or another. Blast Carter for dumping the vial of blood that they had of Steve. It was his best shot at reproducing something which had been his greatest feat.

But none of that would matter if they recovered Roger's body. Then he could take as many samples as he needed. He could change the world.

And he could finally lay his friend to rest. His friend, a hero, who had died saving the world, and lay in the middle of the ocean.

"Obadiah," Howard said, on the way to the car. His friend looked up at him, curious to see what he wanted to say, and he continued, "I want to increase funding into Project Valkyrie. I want to find that plane and Steve's body, one way or another. He will be my legacy. He will be what I leave behind in this world."

Obadiah smiled and nodded in approval, clearly understanding where he was coming from. Besides, it would be good for Stark Industries if they were able to recreate the serum.

He might have a daughter, but he would still leave behind a legacy worth remembering.

Antonia Stark is four years old when it finally clicks in her head.

She's known that her father has always looked at her in anger for years. It seemed that nothing was ever good for him, not her attempts at circuitry or her attempts of building herself any toys. She's tried to make a toy car that would move without her having to push it but the wiring on it didn't quite align and she ended up setting it on fire and burning her hands.

And her father was mad when he saw it; not because she could have hurt herself, but because she could have done some serious damage to the lab and ruined the other things he had in there. Things that were actually important. Things that would make Stark Industries money. Not a stupid toy car that moved.

So from then on she tried to only make things that were useful. She tried to build things that her father would be proud of. It's how she ended up putting together the circuit board. She'd seen her father's designs for it in his lab and she wanted to try and work on it, to help him. She could see that his design wasn't quite complete; it was too big to be functional.

She worked on it every day for the better part of a month, delicately placing all the wires and pieces in place and she feels so pleased with herself when she finally got everything to lay flat. She'd done it. She'd put together her first circuit board and she wanted nothing more than to show her father.

She ran through the house, despite knowing fully well that Jarvis would be unhappy with her if he saw her.

He'd warned her plenty of times about running in the house, but she knew it didn't matter. There are more important things than a few rules.

She carefully held her circuit board as she ran into the room where her father is in and she freezes instantly when she realizes that Uncle Obie is there and knows immediately that she's made a mistake. She should have knocked, should have waited until he was free to see her. Instead she's run in head first.

"Antonia," her father said, holding a glass with a drink she's seen him consume far too often.

"Father," she whispered, trying to gather up the courage that seems to be leaving her all too quickly.

"What have I told you about knocking?" he asked, raising a brow at her.

"I'm sorry," she said dropping her head.

"What do you have behind your back, Annie?" Uncle Obie asks her, and she shyly places the circuit board on the desk in her father's study.

"I made a circuit board," she said, looking at her father carefully as she took a step back. "I followed the directions in your lab and put it together."

"Those sketches were incomplete," her father frowned, "The pieces weren't fitting together. How did you manage to complete it?"

"I shrunk it down," she said softly, "And change the voltage flowing through it by adding an extra resistor. I also reversed the current flow and added some extra pathways. It works. I tried it before I brought it down here."

"We'll test that out, now won't we," Howard shrugged, as he placed it into a piece on his desk, something she'd seen him use many times to test the basic flow of current. And she held her breath as he flipped the switch. He held the multimeter in his hand and placed the pins on the board.

He frowned as he looked at the reading on the meter. He placed the pins on another point then glanced at her carefully. Uncle Obie looked curious at the actions and leaned over to read the meter himself before bursting into laughter.

"Looks like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, Howard," Obadiah clapped her on the back, "Little Annie here is a genius. There might be hope for the future of Stark Industries after all."

She beamed proudly and her father had a challenging look on his face.

"Apparently so," he muttered, "Call the papers, Obie. It seems as if we need to alert them of the fact that my daughter is a genius."

It's how she found herself later that day, in front of her father as his hand grasps her shoulder, and he's telling them all about the circuit his daughter has managed to produce and how they will begin production onto the circuit board, using it for their newest radio technology to serve in the military. He's showing her off to the world, as a brilliant prodigy and she felt proud of the fact that she's finally won her father's approval. She's done it.

And when she's given a moment to talk about how she came about it, she talks about how she tried different path ways and did calculation onto how different conductors would work far better than what she's tried before. She talks about pathways and resistors, and she knows that the world believes that it was her who came up with it, despite a few earlier questions where it was clear that they didn't quite believe her.

She was proud later that night when she went to her father's workshop once more, wanting to create, to build, to make something, anything.

But that had been her mistake.

Her father was standing there, looking at her designs once more, a bottle of whiskey in his hands as he went over the calculations.

She accidently closed the door a bit too loudly and she sees him turn around and fear begins to set into her. She'd seen him that angry before. Yelling on the phone at investors, and board members. She'd seen him yell at her before, for playing with toys instead of learning. For reading fictional books instead of factual. For constantly being a disruption.

But this time it's different. There's a different sort of rage in his eyes.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" he said, standing over her. "Creating that circuit which I'd tried for months to perfect. You think you're such a little genius? You're nothing more than a little girl. And you will never be good enough. What use do I have for a genius daughter when I should have had a son?"

It feels like a punch to the gut, and she begins to shake as finally the pieces begin to fall into place.

The slap comes a moment later, but the sting of the blow had already landed from his words. She feels herself falling to the ground but doesn't react, not in time to stop herself or steady herself. Her head catches on the counter on the way down and she can feel a drip of blood fall down her face.

She finally understood in that moment why her father had always been distant, why he'd always hated her.

It has nothing to do with the fact that she's not good enough for her father. Because that's always been true in itself. But she'd just proved herself. Every time he throws a fault in her face, she's always improved it.

She stopped reading fairy tales and began reading physics books. She stopped playing with dolls and instead started playing with tools. She stopped wearing dresses, even if her mother still tried to force them into it. She stopped wasting her free time, and instead started trying to create something great.

It didn't matter how hard she tried, how hard she worked, how far she pushed herself.

She could never be the son that her father wanted. She could never give him what he needed.

She would never be good enough.

And somehow, that hurt far more than anything else.

She almost didn't feel the boot come crushing down on her moments later, and when she heard the crack, she didn't even cry as pain flooded her body.

"Miss Stark," she heard a gentle voice call out as the darkness surrounded her. "Miss Stark, can you hear me?"

Her eyes flickered open and see saw Jarvis sitting on her bed, dropping a towel tenderly on her face, trying to comfort her.

She felt the crushing pain fill her as she tried to sit up; pain from the memories of the night before, of the words that her father had revealed to her. The words of her uselessness, and now no matter how hard she had tried, she'd never be good enough.

There's a throbbing feeling in her head, and she grasps at her torso, trying to figure out why it hurt so much.

"Hurts," she whimpered slightly, knowing Jarvis never faulted her for pain. He had been there with her the year before when she had broken her arm by falling out of a tree and had made sure that she never spent a moment alone. Her father couldn't even bother coming to visit her while her mother had spent the day with her, wanting to make sure she was okay.

She knew now why it was that her father wasn't there.

Because he didn't care. Because he wanted a son and had gotten a daughter. Because he wanted something she was not. And nothing could make her a boy. Not when the universe had cruelly made her a girl to punish her.

"I know, Miss Stark," he said softly, and she could see the anger in his eyes as he cupped her face tenderly. "I have some pain medication for you that the doctor left after his visit. It will help ease your discomfort."

Nothing could make her feel better, despite the physical pain she was in. But she nodded any ways and Jarvis left the room, leaving her alone with her mother.

"Oh Toni," Maria Stark breathed as she sat down beside her. "I was so worried when I saw you down in that lab. You know better than to go down there, especially when your father has had a drink too many. He didn't mean to hurt you, it was the drink that made him do it."

"Why doesn't he love me?" she asked, voice cracking slightly, and her mother stilled. "Why am I not good enough for him."

She felt tears fall down her face before she could stop them, but she didn't care.

"He wanted a son," Maria whispered, closing her eyes. "It's the way of the world of man. They will always look at us and see weakness and inferiority. That we aren't the same as them. He wanted a son to give him an heir to his business, but I couldn't give it to him. Every time he sees you, he sees the daughter he got instead of the son he wanted."

"It's not fair," she whimpered slightly, "I can do everything the boys in my class can do and more! Why does it matter if I'm not a son? Why does any of it matter when he has me? Why doesn't he love me?"

"You are brilliant in your own right, Tesoro," Maria told her tenderly as she gently ran her fingers down Toni's hair. "You will bring the world down to its knees and show them all in time that you do not fall down to their expectations. Give your father some time. He'll see that you can be everything he wanted, despite your gender. He will come around. He loves you, in his own way."

And yet he broke my ribs, she thought bitterly. He had wanted her to hurt just as he did, and he had taken his anger out on her first hand, because she wasn't what he wanted.

It was the day she learned the unfortunate lesson that would become her reality. That the world would always look at her and see a daughter when they expected a son. And she would have to fight them every step of the way, just to stand on the same ground as they did. She would have to battle them tooth and nail, just to be able to take what she wanted.

And it was a lesson she held close to her heart from that day forward.

She's eight years old when a beautiful woman with long brown hair and lipstick so red it glows enters her life. She sees him get whisked into her father's study and curiosity fills her as she watches the closed door of her father's study.

She's seen her in pictures in her father's things, knowing that they must have served in the war together, and she can't help but wonder why the woman hadn't come to visit if she was such good friends with her father.

It was the middle of the night by time the woman left the study, and she was sitting at the kitchen table, reading in her duck pyjamas that Ana had bought her despite her insisting she was far too old for such a thing.

"Hello there," she hears a soft voice call out and she looks up from her calculus textbook to see the woman standing over her. She has a gentle smile on her face, and Toni Stark feels comfortable around her, "You must be Antonia."

"Toni," she corrects slightly but sticks her hand out in an effort to be polite as her mother insisted in her society lessons. Her mother may not be able to convince her to wear dresses, but she knows how to act in public, and how important her image may be.

"Toni," the woman smiles brightly, and shakes her hand, "My name is Peggy Carter. I'm your godmother."

"Why haven't I ever met you before?" she couldn't help but ask, "If you're my godmother, shouldn't I have met you before?"

"I used to visit you when you were younger," her godmother tells her as she sits down beside her, "But you would have been far too young to remember that. I haven't been able to for a few years because I've been working on a secret project and it's taken a lot of my time away from me."

She sits up curiously at the glint in her eyes.

"What kind of secret?" Toni can't help but ask, despite knowing it was probably a secret for a reason.

"A secret sort of club," Peggy gave her a conspiring smile. "To catch bad guys that have secret weapons or powers."

"Like Captain America?" she asks again, slightly in shock.

"Like Captain America," Peggy nods at her with a smile, "The world needs more heroes like him. I want to help keep his legacy alive. Steve Rogers was a hero, not because of his super powers, but because of his kind heart. He was brave and would do anything to fight for those he loved. If we all could be a bit more like him, then the world would be a better place."

It's the first time she'd ever heard anyone talk about Steve Rogers as a person apart from Captain America. The comics always talk about how strong he was. How much of a hero he was. And how he got his powers. But none of them talk about the man as a person, and it's a concept to her that's so astounding. Perhaps it's why her father is gone for months each year, searching the artic, desperate to bring him back. Because Steve Rogers was a good man, and she knows that it must be why even if she were a boy, she would never be good enough for her father. But none of that mattered, not when at the end of the day, she still was a girl, and she would never be good enough for him, no matter how much she wished she could have been.

"Even as a girl?" Toni can't help but whisper. It's strange to her to see this woman demand her father's attention. Her father clearly respects her, and she can see from the pictures in her father's study that she must have been in the military at some point.

"Let me tell you a secret," Peggy told her gently, "The world will always look at you as a girl and tell you what they want you to be. They'll tell you where they think you should stand in their eyes and will not accept anything less. And for that, you must decide the truth of your position yourself. Your entire life will be a fight, a war against society. You will have to fight to get every single thing in your life, Toni, and you must listen to your heart. If it's something you can compromise on, then do it. But if it is a battle you must fight then don't. Even if the entire world is telling you that something wrong is right. Even if the entire world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say 'No, you move'. Otherwise the world will continue to walk all over you, and you will have to accept the place they give you."

She paused then, looking carefully at Toni and offering her a smile, "I have a feeling that you will change the world, Toni Stark. You will unmake the world as it is and write it in your image. And I know that you will make it much better than what it is now. Let me tell you the story of how I got involved in the army."

She listened to her godmother, as she told the story of how she got involved after she had gotten news of her brother's death, and how she had known she'd needed to fight in the war. How she had joined despite everyone in her life telling her that she couldn't do it. How she had worked for MI5 and the SSR, and how she wanted to start a new organization now to change the world.

She smiled back at her godmother, feeling hope for the first time in a while since she had learned of her father's hatred of her over her gender. This woman, who fought tooth and nail for everything in her life but had defied the odds that had been placed upon her. She was an inspiration.

"Peggy, you're still here?" Howard said, entering the kitchen as he saw the two of them. "I hope Antonia has not been bothering you. I know she can be rather talkative at times, and the last thing I want is for her to talk off your ear."

"She's been a gem," Peggy smiled at her, "Toni is brilliant, Howard. You must be so proud of her."

"Yeah, yeah," Howard soured at the use of her nickname. Toni, because Antonia was too feminine, and because Toni gave her more power over her life. Howard simply brushed her off as he glanced back at Toni. "I just got off the phone with the President. We've been given the funding to start the project."

"That's remarkable," Peggy said, standing, as Howard tried to usher her out of the room. "I enjoyed our chat, Toni," Peggy said looking at her. "I hope that next time we can talk some more? I would love to hear about some of your projects."

She lit up at the idea of her aunt coming back, knowing it would be incredible to have the chance to spend more time with her. Howard looked unhappy at the concept but didn't disapprove of the meeting and Toni found herself eagerly nodding.

It was how she found herself later that afternoon, trying on her mother's makeup for the first time, and painting her lips in a colour her mother almost never wore; a bright red. She stared at herself in the mirror and felt powerful for the first time in years.

By time she's thirteen, she's more familiar with her Aunt Peggy, given the fact that she and her father are working on their secret project. She comes over for dinner often, and she knows Jarvis is fond of her, having many stories of their adventures together before her father's marriage to her mother. She knows it still hurts Jarvis to talk about his late wife, Ana, who passed a few years ago, and she doesn't blame him. Ana had been family to her too and she had locked herself in her room crying for a month when she had first found out, only opening the door when Jarvis had asked her. He had held her tightly and she had tried to comfort the man who was far more of a father than her own to her. He told her stories of Ana and how they met, and she hated that he lost the love of his life.

Ana Jarvis was often featured in Peggy and Jarvis' stories, and she felt herself always wanting to know more. Aunt Peggy would bring over her husband, Uncle Daniel often, and the man always had time for her, listening to whatever she had to say with a fascination that her own father never held for her work. Despite his limp, she knows he could be very strong in a fight. He works alongside Aunt Peggy and her father on their secret project and sometimes after their missions he always brought her little souvenirs from where ever he's travelled recently. Their children, Harry and Ava come over often when their parents are busy, and despite the fact that they are both younger than her, she can't help but take them under her wing. She's never been close with the kids at school, given the way her parents have made her skip more grades than anyone before. But Harry and Ava are different; they understand the kind of life she's grown up with, with parents who constantly have secrets and cannot reveal themselves to her.

But today wasn't like most days. Her father wasn't busy because of some mission or the other. And yet he was missing one of the most important days of her life so far. The day she was set to start school at MIT. She hadn't really been surprised when he took off two weeks ago, saying he had a new lead as to where Steve Rogers may be, but a small part of her had hoped that he would be back before she left for school. She wasn't surprised though when the morning arrived, and he still was in the middle of the Artic.

"Do you have everything you need, Ducky?" Aunt Peggy asked her. Ever since the pyjama incident when she first met Peggy, the woman had bestowed the nickname onto her. But she didn't care, knowing that Aunt Peggy loved her as she loved her aunt.

"I do, Aunt Peg," she smiled as she loaded the last box into the car. "You don't need to all come, you know. I'm capable of getting to school by myself. Jarvis can just drop me off."

"As if I'd miss my favourite niece starting school," Uncle Daniel scoffed and Peggy hit him slightly,

"If Michael hears you say that, he won't be pleased," Peggy argued.

"Michael only has sons," Daniel grinned. "Toni still is my favourite niece."

She grinned at the both of them as Jarvis closed the trunk of the car.

"My daughter is starting school already," Maria said, sighing softly as she cupped her face. "You're going to do brilliant, there, Toni."

She'd left home before for boarding school, so it was hardly the first time she'd left home. But she knew that this was different. This was her growing up and starting her life. She was doing most adults did, and yet she was just a child.

"I'll miss you, Mama," Toni told her softly and Maria held her closely.

"Come home often, alright Bambina?" Her mother asked her, and she held onto her mother tightly.

"Let's go!" Harry called from the car, and Toni grinned at her cousin as she sat down beside him in the van Jarvis had brought out for the purpose of moving her.

"Harrison!" Peggy scolded. "Your cousin is going off to school and you will not see her for months! At least do not rush her out of her own home."

"Sorry Toni," Harry gave her a sheepish look and she couldn't help but laugh.

Her father might be too busy to come see her off before she started college, but it didn't matter to her. She's surrounded by her family; her loved ones, and they were all she needed. Her aunt and uncle who had taught her many lessons over the years, Jarvis who had been more of a father than her own, her mother who had always watched over her, and cared for her. She didn't need the man who looked at her and saw nothing but failure. No, she was getting out of this house and far away from her father.

She was finally free.