#thestarksuccessor

"William!"

No answer.

"WILLIAM!"

Nothing.

Rebecca stormed into the living room, her newest opened bottle of Jack Daniels clenched tightly in her hand, "William! Where the fuck are you!?"

Michael entered the room after her, watching her as she flopped about, looking for the man in question. He shook his head, sober as could be as usual, and stood to the side, as if absolutely done with everything about her, "Who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for, uh... WILLIAM. I'm looking for that bastard Will! Liam."

He looked away from her, annoyed, and sighed, "Rebecca, you don't know anybody named William, Will, or Liam."

"I... do too! He's my...dog watcher. And he stole my dog!"

"Rebecca, you don't have a dog. You're just drunk."

"I'm not drunk! Starks don't get drunk. We don't," she flipped over the couch as she leaned on the back of it.

"Okay, you're not just drunk. You're completely wasted. When are you going to grow up and stop being an idiot?"

"T-take that back, I'm not an idiot!" she was busy trying to right herself, and was able to stand up just before he spoke again.

"You're acting like an idiot," he was still looking away from her. She didn't like that.

Rebecca growled, "SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

 The bottle was then thrown at him. She was not about to be called an idiot in her own home. But her fierce glare switched instantly to confusion and a little fear when the bottle didn't hit him. It went through him, shattering against the wall, glass and alcohol spraying all around.

Michael's head didn't move, but he locked his eyes with hers, "Are you done now?"

She gulped a little, taking a step back, "Wh-what? How did that...?"

His head turned completely to her and he smirked... slowly he took a couple steps toward her, "Don't you remember? You told me to leave you alone last week. Told me you didn't need a babysitter. So I left. You haven't talked to me since."

A beat... her heart skipped a beat... was she afraid? Another step back, "A-are you a ghost? Did you... die?"

The apparition laughed, a dark, dreadful laugh, "No. I'm not really Michael. Michael is gone. He's never coming back. You know why? Because you're miserable waste of time and energy and he has bigger things to worry about."

Her hands were shaking... it was a dream. She was having a dream. She was just dreaming... just dreaming. She turned away from the fake and tried to walk to another room... her legs didn't cooperate, however, and she tripped over the small step up in the room. She lay there hating herself... she could hear the man walking towards her and cursed to herself. Rebecca was smarter than that... she knew it was just a figment of her drunken imagination by now. It was a fake. It couldn't really walk. Still, the click, click, click of the fancy shoes got to her and she turned to look... it had taken another form.

"What's the matter, Becca? Are you afraid of Daddy now?"

Staring at her with that cocky attitude, exactly like one the original had given her a thousand times before, the apparition had turned into Tony. He stopped a few feet from her and stared down at her, chuckling, "Don't be afraid, baby girl. I would never hurt you. I have no reason to."

The false Tony pouted a little bit, then took a condescending tone, "It's not like you'll take the company or anything. Everyone knows I could run it beyond the grave. And with my heart running on a battery, we don't even know if the grave will happen. And even if, somehow, magically, I did die--" he paused to chuckle, "Well there's a million more potential candidates to take my place. And you're not as good as any of them."

With a great deal of effort she was able to pull herself up. She stumbled, of course, but she was able to stand, "I'm not afraid of y-you. You're nnnnot real. Not real. You're just in my imagination."

His eyebrows raised, like he was somehow offended, then he took a step to her. She stepped away and stumbled, falling again to the floor. Another laugh, "Oh, Becca... if I'm not real, why are you so afraid of me?"

Rebecca crawled a little ways away, her eyes swelling with tears that she was doing her best to ignore. His shoes clicked every few moments as he followed along with her, not leaving her side for anything, "Or is it that you know you're no good? That everybody mocks you and hates you because you're just a worthless little brat? That in a million years you'd never be worthy of the title of the Stark Successor?"

Her stomach churned as she pulled herself up using the bar stools in front of her personalized bar. It was a place she had dragged herself to a million times before... it was the one place where she could go to make all of her problems disappear. She righted herself using the bar top, then clenched her shirt over her stomach in her hand... just before her stomach flipped and the several beers she had gulped down in the last few hours were spewed all over the bar top, the stool, the floor...

A look of disgust spread over his face, "Good god. You're worse than your father. ...maybe even worse than Howard and your father combined."

"Shut up! Shut up!" she hurriedly wiped her face off on her shirt, less concerned about the cleanliness of it all and more worried about the crazy ghoul she'd imagined up. She was desperately trying to figure out how to get rid of it.

"You can't get rid of me. I'm never going away."

"SHUT UP!"

She ran as best as she could to her room, stumbling and crying... when she made it she threw off her shirt and put on her nightgown, rushing to get into bed and not even remembering to take off her pants. The covers were thrown off, gotten under, and pulled back on. The Iron Man doll she slept with was pulled out from under her pillow and cuddled with. She was like a child hiding from monsters under the bed... but the covers couldn't help her... she could hear the clicking again... it was coming for her again...

"You can't just run and hide from me, Rebecca. I won't just disappear no matter how much you want me to," the beast was crawling on her bed... she knew she was losing her mind because she could feel the bed moving under the weight of the imaginary demon, "Do you know why?"

"WHAT ARE YOU?!" the tears were pouring from her eyes. She held her little doll as close to herself as she could.

The covers were pulled down rather violently and she was met with the most terrifying incarnation of the apparition... it was herself, her own face, staring at her with a hatred and a sadism that truly terrified her. The other her spoke with a sharp hiss, "I'm your problems, Becca. I'm everything that is wrong with you and your life! I am what you run and hide from every single day. What you try to drown with your alcohol each and every night. But you cannot drown me. You cannot destroy me. I will always exist, and I will always be here when you wake up from your drunken stupor to tear you apart in the way you truly deserve. Oh Miss Rebecca Stark, your problems are growing bigger and bigger and you're running out of hiding places. Do you understand?"

Rebecca's heart was racing, the absolute terror growing as the other her actually grew in front of her eyes, eventually slamming her hand into Rebecca's chest and continuing as she held the poor girl down, "I am you, Rebecca! I am all the things that everyone sees within you! The things that make you and Daddy fight. The things that make Michael pity you and run around babysitting you. I'm the things that make your mother so stressed she can barely see right. I'm the things that make you adore your little scotches and tequilas and beers. I'm the monster inside of you. Dear little Rebecca... without me there is no you. So you can not ever get rid of me!"

--

It was one of those times where the Helicarrier was floating along, minding its own business. The times were peaceful... no threats on any major cities, or the planet as a whole... no need for the Avengers to be on alert.

The whole ship was in chaos, though. Not because there was any true danger, but because their shouting could be heard throughout every single hallway and room.

"ALL I WANTED WAS A COUPLE EQUATIONS DONE AND YOU TURN IT INTO A FAT HEAD FESTIVAL!!"

"I WAS DOING THE DAMN EQUATIONS! I SAID I WOULD BE HAPPY TO!!"

Steve was trying to focus as best as he could on the punching bags he was pummeling. Even he was having trouble concentrating. He was beginning to grow envious of the people on the flight deck... but then he figured they could probably hear the two of them as well.

"NO, YOU SAID 'OF COURSE, BABY, I'LL DO THOSE BIG BAD EQUATIONS FOR YOU'! LIKE I'M SOME FUCKING IDIOT!"

Fury was shouting orders to the poor Agents on the bridge, who could barely hear a word he was saying. He was ready to go down there with a rocket launcher.

"HEY, WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!"

"I'M TWENTY FUCKING THREE! I'LL CUSS IF I WANT TO!"

Clint stuffed some popcorn in his mouth in his room. It was like a radio show! All for fun and laughs... so long as he stayed far away from the actual location of the argument.

"HEY- WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! WE'RE NOT DONE HERE!"

"I'M GETTING AWAY FROM YOU. AND HEY, IF I LEAVE, THEN WE'RE DONE!!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and waited a few moments, tentatively... then sighed in relief, or cheered, and enjoyed the silence that was the end of the argument at last. And after they were done celebrating, they all went back about their business... all except one man who had been listening...

A few minutes later, she took to sitting on the very edge of the back of the Helicarrier... behind the bridge and away from all the Agents and planes and all of that. Her legs were dangling over the side and she was staring out at the great big ocean around her. It was somehow peaceful out there with the wind blowing gently as if it was just a simple ocean liner and the sun setting gracefully on the horizon... she couldn't enjoy it, though. She was wrapped up in her own little problems.

"Rebecca...?" a soft voice timidly tried to get her attention... he had slowly walked up behind her, not wanting to startle her and cause her to fall over the edge or anything...

Her hair fell over her shoulders as she lowered her head a moment. She flipped it back and looked to him, keeping her balance by bringing one leg back up onto the deck, "Doctor Banner. Hi. ... I don't suppose there's any way you didn't hear that?"

A chuckle, "Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky."

She looked away again as he moved over and somewhat awkwardly sat down beside her, legs crossed and a foot away from the edge. He wasn't as confident in his ability to not fall into the ocean as she was. Rebecca sighed, "I thought we'd get better. I thought we'd stop fighting. I've tried so hard... for us, and for mom, and... for everybody... but we still fight."

Bruce nodded and looked around. It was very nice out there... though he wished she had picked a spot actually inside the Helicarrier. After a moment he looked at her, "You know... when you stop and look around, you might notice that things are still peaceful out here, even though you just had that argument."

It was true, once she actually examined the scenery. The metallic bits of the Helicarrier excluded, everything was truly a lovely sight. Very romantic. It would be perfect for a date... she'd have to remember that if she got one with somebody who mattered. Her gaze drifted up, and up, and up, until she was lying down and staring up at the sky above... which was beginning to turn that navy blue colour it gets at night... Stars were already beginning to shine. She didn't say a word.

He smiled and eventually lied down next to her, watching the clouds go by, "It's just one little thing when you sit back and look at the world. You shouldn't let it bother you so much."

"I know I shouldn't... but I do. And I know everyone else does, too. Our arguments aren't exactly ones you can tune out."

A pause, "Well... no. But we all grit our teeth and bare it. Because... it's healthy to let those emotions out."

Rebecca turned her head and smirked at him, "Is it, Doctor Banner? Tell me more about how letting your anger out is a good thing."

He gave her a little bit of a sarcastic 'shocked' look, "Heeey, we're not talking about me here... Anyway, whether you realise it or not... we all know that you both fight because you love each other."

"...I realise that."

"Because you're really very smart, Rebecca."

"Tell him that!"

"He knows."

She huffed and sat up again. Sure didn't feel like he knew... It felt more like he was a fat head. Bruce yawned a little bit before sitting back up himself and resting a hand on her shoulder, "Becca. One thing you should know more than anyone is that your father just has this... way. And if you misinterpret that way of his... it'll seem like he's meaner than he actually is. You do the same thing."

"...I know..."

He let his head drift down a little bit to look at her over his glasses, "So?"

She sighed and stood up, "Okay, okay. I get it. I'll go apologize. But if we start arguing again-"

"I've got ear plugs, I don't care either way."

Rebecca ran through the Helicarrier as fast as she could to get down to the cargo bay. She had finally claimed her place among the Next Avengers, but there was a condition... Emma swore that if she was late to one training exercise she was right back off the team. There was no way in hell that clone of Cappy's was kicking her off after all the work she put into getting in! It was bad enough she made her try so hard in the first place. Being a Stark she should have been invited immediately and not have had to crash the party. But- that wasn't important. What was important was getting her ass down to the cargo bay.

When she ran in the rest of the team just turned to look at her with slight annoyance. This was clearly not a rare occurrence with her. Despite her heavy breathing she straightened herself up and took that overconfident Stark demeanor, "Hey guys. Don't worry, the party can start now!"

As she moved to her place beside a particular boy he took a moment to smack her slightly on the back of her head. She muttered to herself a little bit as he whispered in her ear, "You know I'm sacrificing a lot to be here with you in case that suit of yours needs a tune up or a recharge. The least you could do is show up on time."

"Relax, Michael," she whispered back. Not that everybody couldn't hear them anyway, "Won't happen again. It was a fluke~"

Emma glared a little bit. The blonde had a million and one words for Rebecca, but she knew the time and place. She turned back to the others and huffed slightly, "All right. Since everyone is finally here, let me tell you what today's training will be... We're going to land down in an abandoned city. Upon entering we will have no more than five minutes to compose ourselves before finding ourselves under attack. Our task is to find and neutralize all threats within the city. Questions?"

She eyed each individual in the room. Three young Asgardians. One Half Giant. A human spider. A time bomb. An eternally bored infiltrator. That damn Stark girl and her mechanic. They were going to have one hell of a time...

"Yeah, I got one," the spider raised his hand slightly to accompany his question, "Who are the threats? Can we know that? Is that like one of those things that we have to find out when we get there?"

He was met by a cold stare... not that he minded. Peter had always thought Emma had gorgeous eyes. After a moment she turned toward the bay door, "Several members of the Avengers have been contacted, but I don't know which ones accepted and are waiting down there."

"We can rest knowing my Father won't be there. None of you would be a match for the God of Thunder!" the elder of Thor's twin boys smirked confidently, twirling his sword.

"That's enough. You all can choose your preferred methods of getting down there. But you better choose fast because you only have a couple minutes before the door opens."

Emma and Agent Scarlett helped those who needed parachutes into them and gave them brief, but effective tutorials on how to use them. The Asgardians would be taking Váli's pet magical flying dear... thingy. Michael busied himself with readying Rebecca's suit, since she'd likely glide him down to the ground herself. When the door opened they all took their 'preferred methods' and met in the center of the city. It wasn't just abandoned recently, but had the feel of something closer to Chernobyl to it. Nature was reclaiming it... if it wasn't so eerie it would be beautiful.

Little Thrúd tugged on Váli's jacket to get his attention. He knelt down to be closer to her (the half-giant was much taller than the rest of them, a brilliant 6'7") and she told him of the various 'targets' she had seen on the way down. He nodded and stood, "Do we work as a team, Miss America, or are we on our own?"

"We're on our own this time. If teams occur, so be it, but I will not be leading this one."

Everybody gave an understanding nod... then broke off to their normal teams. Váli, Módi, Magni, and Thrúd quickly took tops of the abandoned buildings. Rebecca and Michael made their way inside them. Peter? He just climbed up the sides like the Amazing Spider-man that he was. This left Emma, Scarlett, and Lyra alone. Lyra... was more than nervous, "Do you really think that it's okay... for me to be here?"

"Your dad thinks that you need to learn control. I don't know how this will help, but he was pretty confident you should be here."

She nodded a little bit... then the three took to the streets.

It wasn't long before the first round of battles began. The twins were headed up against the biggest threat of their lives- literally! Rebecca and Michael watched from afar as Pym swung his arm into another building, seemingly taking one of them out. It was almost amusing watching him flail around while those boys jumped on him like fleas.

They made a point to stay hidden as best as possible. They weren't on par with Agent Scarlett, but they were making due for now. Their biggest threat would have been Black Widow... but they were certainly hoping she was not about to show up. Michael had his computer set up and he was doing some serious typing. She couldn't help but feel a little bad... he certainly wasn't helpless (being able to turn most of his body into adamantium certainly made him a tough opponent) but he wasn't the type to go into battle with the rest of them.

An explosion- they both looked up to see Spider-man trying his damnedest to web down Iron Man not far from Pym's battle with the twins, "How many do you think are here, Michael?"

"Uh... well, it could be any number... at least 5 I'd think. And we've seen two. So there's still three waiting for a good fight."

"Tsk... and Spider-man found the big prize. OH! Wait, look! There's one of the old Avengers now... he's watching someone... see him?"

The man moved closer to her, keeping low to the ground, "That's Hawkeye, right?"

"Oh yeah."

"Going after him?"

She laughed, "Oooh no. I'm going to wait to see how this plays out before I join this party."

He smiled a bit. It was good to see that she wasn't being so... reckless. He went back to his computer and started his typing again. He was setting up all of his systems to do emergency syncs to Rebecca's suit. With them, he could get the nanos to do just about whatever he wanted.

A creek... Michael continued as if he didn't notice it... Rebecca just didn't. Another creek... tack tack tack- From a hole in the ceiling a man jumped down. Michael quickly whirled around to block the man's claws with his arm- a huge CLANK was heard throughout the city. Even Giant-Man stopped to look... momentarily before Módi tried to throw his sword into his eye.

The two men stared at each other for a moment. Finally the attacker smiled, "Angelus."

Michael nodded a little bit, "Logan."

They pushed each other away and Rebecca took that opportunity to move between them, "Wolvey! Good to see you~ Let's dance!"

"With pleasure," it took him only a moment to tackle her out of the building.

It was a short struggle in the air; he had been nice enough to not claw her; and she was able to kick on the thrusters and fly back up. Of course, he held on for a moment, but then jumped into the building, digging his claws in the side to go pseudo-spider. She kept her distance, not entirely sure how far he could actually jump, "Well damn, Wolverine! You blew my cover! ... At least you can't fly."

The brunette lowered her goggles to shield her eyes, waved goodbye to him, then flew high up above the city to watch. Over the left eye she could see a screen. Michael was typing to her... she really needed to get an intercom... 'Watch out for Tony.' She scoffed a little and looked around. Tony had just tag-teamed Logan and threw poor Peter right at the brute, then began to fly up towards her. She smirked and nodded, "Okay. This will be fun."

Rebecca shut down her thrusters and floated for a moment before turning and dive-bombing. Tony moved out of her way to avoid the in-air collision, then watched as she fell momentarily, 'Is she nuts? Holy shit!' He held his breath before she turned the thrusters back on and weaved her way through the buildings. Daddy huffed and went after his little girl... almost concerned at how reckless she as, but remembering that this was a training exercise and he was supposed to be fighting her.

Of course his little baby girl was just having fun. Flying top speed for her nanos through the city, sharp turns here and there, trying to throw him off of her tail... a little bit of a flip here and there to keep it interesting. She worried only a little... he was keeping up pretty well. He might even be faster... she didn't like that idea- "WO-HOAH!"

She had just managed to change direction in time to miss being hit by a flying She-Hulk! The green beauty crashed straight through a couple buildings... a throw like that had to have been the Hulk. Rebecca gulped... she knew that no matter what she didn't want to fight him. Aaaand she was lucky to remember where she was long enough to fly up out of his way as he jumped through the hole his daughter had flown through. Suddenly she was concerned... where the fuck had Tony- BAM!

Iron Man had taken down Machina with a well-timed repulsor ray!

Her mind raced... she was falling... had he somehow disabled her suit? 'Re-connecting with you now.' ...oh, how Michael was an Angel. Her thrusters burst back on and she righted herself just before hitting the ground. She flew back up into the air... Daddy was waiting. She gasped- Daddy... Pym... Hulk... Wolverine- they were all lined up in their own little battles! One big move and she could...

"Ay dios mio," Michael sighed and smacked his forhead. He calculated the same thing she had from his little safety hole. He prepared the program... knowing it likely wouldn't go well. But she would activate it herself if he didn't, just... much slower.

Machina and Iron Man faced off... He was curious to see if she was going to give up yet... the power in the Machina suit rerouted...

Hawkeye, who had gone unnoticed by the rest, readied his arrow. He licked his lip and waited for her attack.

The 'M' on her chest lit up momentarily before letting out a huge ray blast. Tony was only barely able to dodge it. Hank wasn't so lucky, he got the full blast to the chest and began falling back. The two green Banners went to grab him to make sure no one else got landed on- after all most of the Next Avengers and their own Avengers were in the way of the Giant's fall.

As soon as her blast was fired, Hawkeye fired his own arrow at her. It grazed past her as she started slowly falling towards the ground. His eyes widened when he realized his mistake- not that he had missed her... but that-

BOOM!

The explosive arrow crashed into the building behind Rebecca and blew her into the building across the street. Tony moved forward a little, then screamed into Hawkeye's ear piece, "HER SUIT WASN'T ACTIVATED ANYMORE! SHE DRAINED THE POWER WITH THAT BLAST!"

Clint was lucky he had thrown down the ear piece and his arrows and was climbing down to try and find her. Michael, too, was running as fast as he could into the building where she landed. Tony flew down and stumbled, almost crashing as he pulled off his helmet, trying to get to her.

Her abrupt landing had knocked out a support beam and caused part of the ceiling to collapse on top of her, pinning her down. A pretty sizable chuck of pure cement was blocking the view of her legs. She was completely out cold.

~*~

The room was adorned with all sorts of flowers, teddy bears, chocolates, balloons... all varieties of 'get well soon' presents. Every member of the Avengers and the Next Avengers and just about everybody she had ever met in her lifetime had come to visit her. She thanked each of them for coming and told them all she was fine and that they shouldn't worry. Darling Hawkeye had given her the biggest bear he could find. And three others. She reassured him each time that she did not blame him.

Pepper was harder to deal with. Poor Mama Bear had went ooon and ooon about how she should never have had Michael build her that suit. That Michael was an idiot for letting her convince him and he should have known better. That Tony should have done more to shield her, etc etc... Rebecca was getting a headache from all the concerned yelling. It wasn't really anybody's fault. It was something she knew could happen when she donned the Machina identity. And hey, she wasn't dead or anything.

Pepper finally hushed and sat by her side, rubbing her leg, "You're going to keep doing this anyway, aren't you?"

"I had planned on it... sorry."

Mama bear sighed. Baby bear grinned slightly. Papa bear wandered into the room like a schoolboy waiting for a lecture from the principal. Pepper said nothing to him. He sighed and looked at Pepper's hand, set gently on Rebecca's one remaining leg, "Michael and I... were thinking we could try to make you a prosthetic. Completely functional. Made of nanos or my tech or maybe some combination of the two."