Toni Stark

{5}

~

And oh.

Peggy hadn't expected that. Any of it.

Not the English accent she must have picked up from Jarvis. Definitely not the way the young girl had already started building herself into a god.

Hadn't expected the test most wouldn't even notice, because the way she had smiled... That was a test. Toni had wanted to know if she would back down. If she was the type of person to avoid sharp edges, or if she would walk along with them.

Wanted to know if Peggy would reject this being more other than girl.

Peggy should know. She had done that herself too many times for her not recognize that test.

Peggy doesn't so much as flinch.

Judging by the subtle head nod, she passes. Peggy sees the girl. Young and full of sharp edges and pain. Peggy knows that LOOK. How could she not? She sees it in the mirror every day after all.

So Peggy makes a decision.

~~~~~

A one-week long visit becomes two, becomes a month. Peggy teaches and teaches and teaches.

Toni learns to throw a punch. Devours everything Peggy teaches her and then more. It feels so good to actually learn. She's leaps and bounds ahead of everyone she's ever talked to.

Her intelligence means she's never had a chance to learn. And Toni learns.

Learns how to fight with ruthless efficiency. She learns to fight dirty because she's young and small and a girl , and she needs every advantage she can get. Because the Bad Guys of the world aren't going to go easy on her.

When Toni comes home with bruised knuckles and a sharp, vicious smile fixed in place, Peggy knows the other children won't be a problem. Knows Toni will be able to defend herself from big kids who hate her for her intelligence. Who hate her for making them feel small and stupid.

It is Peggy who teaches her that if she wants something, she must take it herself. And it is Jarvis who bandages her bleeding knuckles and teaches her how to deal with the teachers. Because they hate her too. They resent her for being too small and having too big a brain.

Peggy teaches her the ways of a solder on a battlefield. And Jarvis teaches her to speak like a queen holding court. Teachers her how to silence and stun her enemies into her traps.

And Toni learns.

~

She now talks a thousand miles an hour, but never says anything of importance. Toni is now battle tactics and politics and something uniquelyToni. She is pure contained anarchy.

Toni wears a thousand different masks now. To the rest of the world, nothing changes. Antonia Stark is Howard's daughter with Maria's beauty. But Toni Stark is Jarvis's daughter and Peggy's protege.

Peggy. Who is the one that teaches Toni how to shift and change and become a god.

Gods are made, not born after all.

Peggy teaches Toni how to fight, and Jarvis who teaches when to fight. Together they teach her how to control the chaos.

And Toni Stark is chaos. Has been since the day she was born a girl. Has been since she threw a wrench in her parent's plans. Has been since the day she forged herself.

Toni is almost violence. Might have been without Jarvis's kind smiles and Ana's warm cooking and Peggy's lessons. Might have been if Howard had his way. If Maria had been able to paint her as his pupil. Instead, she becomes chaos, tempered with love.

Eventually, though, Peggy has to leave. Has to go home, to a family that loves her. She leaves Toni with blood red lipstick and newfound godhood. She teaches Toni everything she can in the time they share.

And then Toni is alone in the house of horrors. Peggy has left and it's just her and Jarvis against the cold cruel of a silent Mansion.