My name is Gemma Dalton Stark. Yes, *that* Stark. Tony Stark. Iron Man. It’s…complicated. I always knew he was my dad, and he always knew I was his daughter. He visited a couple times a year, Christmas and my birthday mostly. Always quiet visits. Always with a warning: don’t tell anyone. Especially after he started showing off the Iron Man suit, he said it was for my protection. Said too many people would want to use me to get to him.
Mom, Rebekah Dalton, was one of his…friends. Sixteen years ago. We lived in Los Angeles. She was a director. She died when I was eight. They told me it was an accident. I didn't believe it. Not really. I heard him talking to Happy about it a year after she died. He was saying it was his fault. That if he’d been more careful, nobody would have known they knew each other. She’d still be alive.
I don't know if he was just spiraling, but I felt it in his voice. It felt real. He had been blaming himself for years. Even if what he had said was true, I didn’t blame him. He was my dad, and he had always done what was best for me, even from afar. I loved him. After Mom died, he was amazing. Best friend. Everything.
We moved to the Avengers facility in upstate New York. Living with the Avengers. They’re my family. Steve is like my second dad. Wanda’s my big sister. The others…aunts and uncles. You’d think having Tony Stark as a father was bad enough on the overprotective front. But *with* the Avengers parenting me too? Nightmare fuel.
I stopped going to school when I was eight. Dad decided it was too risky. Technically, I don't exist. I don’t really leave the facility unless I’m wearing a wig and a baseball cap. The whole nine yards.
I don't have friends outside. Not really. I don’t mind. The Avengers are enough. Wanda, Natasha, and I train most days in the ring. When I'm not training, I sit in the lab and tinker with inventions. I guess I got the nerdy, smart side from Dad. He lets me down there sometimes, but he doesn’t like me working alone. Says it’s too dangerous.
That's normal for me. Living with superheroes, nobody knowing I exist. But my definition of normal is about to change. I just don't know it yet…
It’s going to be interesting, seeing what happens next.