Chapter 2

Tony didn't arrive back until the early hours of the morning. Sighing, he threw down his stuff, only to be interrupted by Pepper.

"Tony!" yelled Pepper. "You better not have been at a bar again!"

"So what if I was?" he asked. "I'm allowed to have some fun too."

"Well, you're gonna have to stop being irresponsible!" she yelled. "You have a kid to worry about now."

"Kid? What kid?" he asked, yawning. "We don't have a kid, Pepper."

"Well, maybe you'd know about the kid if you actually answered your damn phone!" she yelled. "But no, your night out was more important!"

"Well, I'm listening. So tell me about this mysterious new kid. Do you have a kid I don't know about?"

"No, you idiot. It's your damn kid. And you better take this seriously. I don't want you messing up the kid even more."

"But I can't have a kid, Pepper. I'd make a horrible father," he protested.

"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before sleeping with all those women."

"I did!" he protested. "I was careful before doing anything!"

"Obviously not careful enough," she replied. "Point is, you have a kid. And you need to set a good example for her."

"But why me?" asked Tony. "Doesn't the kid have a mother? And are we sure it's actually mine?"

"They did a DNA test," said Pepper. Right, he forgot about the DNA he left there after all those fake kids. "I don't think there's any doubt there. And the police are looking for any remaining family, but the kid seemed pretty sure nobody was looking for her."

"She could have ran away from home," said Tony. "I've done it before."

"If she ran away from home, I'm sure the family will show up," replied Pepper. "Honestly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner."

"And you're sure they didn't fake the DNA test?" asked Tony.

"Why would they? They have nothing to gain from that! But if it makes you feel better, go run your own test. And behave! The social workers coming in a few days, and you had better be on your best behavior for that!"

"Social worker? Why do we need a social worker?"

"To make sure the kids being treated properly! And to handle custody disputes if they find any remaining family!" said Pepper. "Just face it, Tony. You're stuck with the kid, and you need to get used to it."

"But I don't know what to do with a kid!" he panicked. "Can't you just handle it, Pepper?"

"No, I am not raising your kid for you. I'll help you if you need it, but it's your kid. I think you can handle a kid. It might even teach you some responsibility."

"Fine," said Tony. "You win. Just don't blame me when she gets all messed up."

Morgan yawned, slowly getting up from bed. Where am I? This wasn't her room, that was back at home. Right, now she remembered. The time machine flung her back here, to sometime before daddy died. She frowned, wondering exactly how far back she was. In all the excitement, she never figured that out. Not like the year would help much. Her aunts and uncles didn't mention years in their stories.

Actually, there was a lot they left out in their stories. Nothing major, she didn't think. Just more of that 'we'll tell you when you're older.' Hopefully it wasn't anything too important.

"You're awake, young mistress. The master is waiting for you in the dining room." The voice came out of nowhere, and Morgan took it in. She was used to random voices from all the machines at home. But this AI was new. Morgan wondered what happened to it in the future.

"Hello," she said. "You must be one of daddy's AIs."

"Indeed, I am JARVIS. It is nice to make your acquantince." Jarvis, she'd have to remember that. "Will you be heading to breakfast soon?"

"Yeah, I will," she said, before frowning. How was she supposed to get ready? All her stuff was back in the future. Well, except the clothes she had on, and the time travel suit. Though she could worry about that later, once she had some food. Maybe daddy had something in mind.

She headed out of the room, and towards the dining room. She didn't need directions, but Jarvis insisted on giving them anyway. Maybe it made him feel more useful or something. Or daddy wanted to make sure she didn't get lost. She hesitated at the kitchen door, taking a breather. What if he didn't like her? Well, she won't know until she met him again.

"So, you're the mysterious kid," said Dad, scrutinizing her. "I have to say, I wasn't sure what I was expecting. I made some food though."

"Yeah, that's me," she replied. "I'm Morgan, and breakfast would be good."

"Morning then, Morgan," said Daddy. "I hope you don't mind cereal. There wasn't much else I could make on short notice."

"That's okay," replied Morgan, sitting down on the empty chair. "I did just kinda drop in on you." She did wonder where Mom was though, but maybe something came up. She did get busy a lot.

"So, uh, Pepper said you didn't have anything when she brought you here. That's unusual when you run away."

"I didn't run away," said Morgan. "I don't think that cop believed me though. But no, I don't have anything else. It's all back home."

"Well, I guess I'll have to take you shopping then," said Dad. "Just finish your meal first. No point in us going on an empty stomach."

"Yeah," said Morgan. "That would be nice." Then she went back to eating her cereal.

In the end, daddy couldn't take her. Oh, he wanted to, but Happy thought it would be a bad idea. Something about it attracting too much attention. Morgan sighed, not understanding the big deal. How was that any different then home?

"But why?" she asked. "They'd stare anyway. And daddy can't just hide me away forever."

"Not forever," said Happy. "It's just that your dad having a kid would be a big deal to certain people. It's best not to draw attention to it until we can break the news to them slowly."

"You being with me would draw attention too," she pointed out.

"True, but it would be so much worse if it was your father," explained Happy. "At least with me, they might just think you're a relation or one of his employer's kids."

"I guess that's okay. At least for now," she replied. She did need all those new things.

"Glad you understand. We'll make it quick, so you can be back to your daddy soon."

They headed out, and to the shopping center. Morgan stared out the window, a bit surprised. There was so many people out there, more then she was used to. But at least they'd be quick.

"Okay," said Happy, parking the car nearby. "Let's try not to attract anymore attention then we need to, okay? There's no need to attract the media."

"Right," she said, used to the media. She didn't like them after they kept insulting the Avengers. Really, they tried their best. It wasn't their fault it took them five years to stop him.

Thankfully, the shopping was uneventful. Sure, people stared, but it was nothing compared to back home. At least they just watched instead of saying mean things to them. They headed back home, all the stuff in tow.

They made it home, and Happy left for the night. Probably back to Stark Industries. Morgan headed to her new room, and put her things away. She wasn't sure if there was much point, since she'd be back to the future soon. But maybe she could take some of this stuff back with her.

She left the room, and decided to look for her daddy. He wanted to talk to her anyway, which was fine with Morgan. She missed him so much after what happened. She found him waiting for her on one of the couches, so she sat next to him.

"Hopefully we don't have too many of these," said Dad. "It's just that you kinda got sprung on me, and I need to know where you came from. Pepper didn't say much about it."

"I don't think she knew that much," replied Morgan. "By that point, I didn't really feel like talking anymore." Repeating herself had been too exhausting.

"Can't say I blame you there. Sounds like you had a long day. So, uh, is there anyone looking for you? Pepper didn't think there was, but maybe the cops just scared you too much."

"They didn't scare me," said Morgan. "They just didn't believe anything I said, and acted like I wasn't in the room half the time."

"Ah, yea. That would be very one-sided then. You can talk to me though. I'm like a kid myself in some ways, so I can take you seriously."

Morgan giggled. That was true. Daddy played with her a lot, even though most adults wouldn't bother. "You might not believe me," she said. "The cop didn't."

"Try me," he replied. "So did you run away from home? Because if you did, I don't blame you. Sometimes adults can be unreasonable. But they should at least know where you are."

"I didn't run away," replied Morgan. How many times did she have to tell people that? "I only came here because of an accident. I'm sure they're looking for me, but they probably don't know when I am. So I was just going to stay until I could get more particles to make the jump back."

"Wait, wait. Slow down," said Dad, waving his arms around. "You lost me some time ago. What accident? And I have no idea what you mean by the last part."

"Me and Harley did something stupid back home," said Morgan, figuring she'd just get it out. "I really should have known better. You've warned us often enough to be careful around your machines. It was just our luck that the time travel suit was loaded, and that machine landed me sometime before I was even born."

"Okay, I don't even know where to start with that," said dad. "First off, time travel isn't a thing. You probably watched too many bad sci-fi movies at home."

"That's what you told Aunt Nat and Uncle Steve when they asked," replied Morgan. "But then you figured it out anyway."

"I cannot see any universe where that could even work," said Dad. "So, you're saying you need more juice for your time machine?"

"Pretty much," replied Morgan. "They shouldn't be that hard to get though, but I might stay a bit longer. Should be safe as long as I don't create a branched reality. I just need to find Ant-Man, and get some pym particles off him."

"Wait, Ant-Man? What kind of name is Ant-Man?" asked dad. "And if you mean Hank Pym, that isn't going to happen. He cut ties with Stark Industries years ago. Something my father did, but still a black mark, you know. There's no way you're getting anything off him."

"You never met Ant-Man yet?" asked Morgan, confused. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. "Didn't think I was that far back. And I don't know him that well, but the time machine was his idea." She sighed, processing the rest of that. "Well, without him, guess I'm taking a longer trip here then planned. Hopefully Uncle Bruce is right and nothing too horrible happens."

"You sure have a lot of aunts and uncles," said Dad. "You're sure one of them won't show up looking for you?"

"I guess it's not impossible," she replied, after thinking it through. "If anyone can figure out where I ended up, it would be Uncle Bruce. And I'm sure he'll bring extra particles. But that might not happen, and then I'll be stuck here. Sorry, dad."

"It's okay," said Dad. "I kinda figured you'd be around a lot anyway. We have some adjusting to do, but we can make this work."

"It wouldn't just be us though," said Morgan. "There's Pepper, Happy, and the Avengers to help you." She wondered how the Avengers were like in this time.

"Avengers?" asked Tony. "What the.. is the Avengers? Is that another movie you've been watching too much of?"

Morgan stared. How could he not know about the Avengers. He helped lead the group, and was one of the first. Unless it hadn't happened yet, but that didn't seem possible. Dad was always Iron Man.

"How could you not know? You're Iron Man. You have to be," she said, in a bit of a panic. Without Iron Man, without the Avengers, nothing would stop Thanos. Was this really the past, or some weird alternate reality?

"Yep, I think you've been watching too much TV, kid," said Dad. "But that's okay. Nothing wrong with TV. And you must have had a rough couple of weeks, so I can see you being disoriented."

"Not disoriented," she said. "I guess none of well, everything, has happened yet. But it will in the future, at least if my presence hasn't messed anything up yet." She hoped it didn't. The world needed the Avengers.

"Uh, Morgan, I think you're overthinking this," said Dad. "Future kid or not, you really need to calm down. If it's meant to happen, it will happen. Just try to relax, and think of other things."

"Okay," she said, but knew it wouldn't help. But what was she expecting? Of course dad wouldn't really believe her. It never happened yet.

But there had to be somebody that would believe her. Superheroes couldn't be a totally new concept, after all. Captain America was around for ages, even if he spent most of it in ice. Well, kinda. She still wasn't sure how him going back into the past even worked. Probably not much different then what she did, actually.

But that wasn't important. She had to focus on what was. Okay, so she had to make sure the Avengers still existed, so Thanos could be stopped. And there had to be somebody in this building that believed her, but with her luck, she'd be on her own for this.