Four, badass, powerful ladies are the only ones left to save the world, to rewrite history. Each with their own powers, each with similarities and each with differences, these four women are the world's only hope.
Living in a dystopian future, the...
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UNITED STATES, NORTH AMERICA. 2016
AURORA sat behind stage, watching as her father present B.A.R.F. as he called it. She was sitting alongside Quentin Beck, a worker who was complaining about Tony taking his work, and her mother's, Lorelei Jenkins. Soft piano was playing. Tony Stark's mother, Maria, sat at a piano, a younger Tony on the couch.
"Try to remember the kind of September. When grass was green..." Maria sang, stopping when Howard Stark walked in. "Wake up, dear, and say goodbye to your father."
"This technology is amazing Quentin, I'm quite impressed," Aurora said with a smile as she munched on some chips her mother bought her. "Both of you did a great job."
"Thank you Aurora," Quentin said with a proud grin on his face. The pair had developed B.A.R.F. with Quentin dealing with the illusion aspect and Lorelei doing computer programming, something she had been learning from Scott.
"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" Howard asked as his son, wearing a Santa hat, staggered to his feet, chuckling.
"This is why I love coming home for Christmas... right before you leave town."
"Hey, do you want to hear a joke relating to Santa?" Aurora whispered to Quentin who nodded at the thirteen-year-old. "Did you hear about the dyslexic devil worshipers? They sold their souls to Santa." Lorelei rolled her eyes at her daughter's joke while both Quentin and Aurora laughed.
"Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad," Maria told her husband.
"Really, which broad? What's her name?" Howard asked causing Aurora to burst out into laughter, which made Quentin do the same.
"You two are so childish," Lorelei mumbled with a small grin.
"Candice," a young Tony replied, his father pulling off Tony's Santa hat.
"Do me a favour? Try not to burn the house down before Monday."
"Okay, so it's Monday. That is good to know. I will plan my toga party accordingly. Where you going?" Tony said.
"You father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway," Maria told her son.
"We might have to make a quick stop," Howard said.
"At the Pentagon. Right? Don't worry, you're gonna love the holiday menu at the commissary." Maria stopped playing the piano just as Aurora finished her chips.
"You know, they say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that's true, you'll be a great man some day. I'll get the bags," Howard said, leaving the room while his wife stood up.
"He does miss you when you are not here. And frankly, you're going to miss us. Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen. Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it," Maria said to Tony before Howard walked back in.
"I love you, Dad. And I know you did the best you could." Maria leaned in to kiss Tony on the cheek, and when she leaned back, the older Tony Stark was standing in the background. Howard and Maria walked out, leaving the two Tonys.
"That's how I wished it happened. Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, or B.A.R.F.. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to... clear traumatic memories. Huh," Tony said. Backstage, Quentin was fuming at how Tony treated his work. Lorelei did her best to ignore his comments, knowing that if she agreed with him, she'd probably get fired. Now, although Lorelei was a hard ass and very stubborn, she pushed that all aside when it came to Tony because he had her daughter.
"Here's my favourite part," Aurora announced. Tony blew on a candle and everything around him shimmered, starting to dissolve as it was a hologram.
"It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport... or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but..." Tony paused, taking off his glasses. "Plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in the right mind would've ever funded it." He was standing on a stage in front of a large crowd. A sign read MIT Alumni Honors: Tony Stark. "Help me out, what's the MIT mission statement? 'To generate, disseminate... and preserve knowledge. And work with others... to bring it to bear on the world's great challenges.' Well, you are the others. And, quiet as it's kept... the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. Plus, most of you are broke." The crowd let out a chuckle while the three people backstage rolled their eyes.
"He really needs to work on his jokes, some of them are really bad," Aurora whispered to her mother.
"You're one to talk, devil worshipper," Lorelei replied, Aurora narrowing her eyes playfully.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Rather, you were. As of this moment... every student has been made an equal recipient of the Inaugural September Foundation Grant. As in... all of your projects have just been approved and funded," Tony said as the crowd broke out into applause and cheers. "No strings, no taxes... just reframe the future! Starting now." Glancing at the telepromter above the audience, it read; 'Now I would like to introduce the head of the foundation: Pepper Potts.' Tony stared at it sadly, Aurora frowning as she knew how hurt Tony was since Pepper left him. "Go break some eggs." With that Tony left the stage, Lorelei and Aurora heading over towards him.
"Wow. Wow. That uh... That took my breathe away. Oh, Tony! So generous. So much money! Wow! Out of curiosity... will any portion of that grant be made available to faculty? I know, 'Ooh, gross,' but hear me out. I have got this killer idea for a self-cooking hotdog. Basically, chemical detonator embedded..." An MIT teacher said, although no one was actually listening to him.
"Restroom's this way, yeah?" Tony asked.
"Yeah. Embedded in the meat shaft." Tony headed towards the bathroom, Lorelei and Aurora close behind.
"Tony, I'm sorry about the telepromter. I didn't know Pepper had cancelled. They didn't have time to fix it," Lorelei said. Since Pepper had left Tony, he needed a new assistant and who better than Aurora's own mother. Aurora pushed hard for Tony to give her the job.
"It's... fine." Tony stepped into a quiet corridor, loitering by the men's room before glancing back at the stage door and walking towards the elevator. Lorelei and Aurora followed him, curious about where he was going. A woman was also waiting. Tony stopped and turned his back to the wall.
"That was nice, what you did for those young people," said the woman, Mrs. Spencer. Lorelei and Aurora just listened as the two had a conversation.
"Ah, they deserve it. Plus, it helps ease my conscience."
"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But if you've got the money... break as many eggs as you like. Right?" Tony narrowed his eyes and half smiled, then turned to face the elevator. He was surprised to find the button unlit and pushed it himself.
"Are you going up?" He asked Mrs. Spencer.
"I'm right where I want to be," she said, digging into her handbag. Tony grabbed her wrist while Aurora lit up her hands and Lorelei formed a metal blade in her hand. They all stopped once they realized what they did.
"Okay, okay. Hey! Sorry, it's an occupational hazard."
"I work for the State Department. Human Resources. I know it's boring... but it enabled me to raise a son. I'm very proud of what he grew up to be," Mrs. Spencer said, shoving a photo at Tony and another at Lorelei and Aurora. The photos had the same person in it, a boy. "His name was Charlie Spencer. You murdered him, both. In Sokovia. Not that it matters in the least to you two. You think you fight for us. You just fight for yourselves." Tony shook his head while Aurora frowned. "Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead... and I blame you two," she said, narrowing her eyes at Aurora before turning and walking away. Tony, Lorelei, and Aurora were left at the elevator with grim looks written on their faces.
