Secrets in the Stars

The streets of New York were bare naked as I drove through the city—well, as bare as they could be, for one of the most populated cities in the world.

I suspected where everyone was, of course. As time wore on, the presence of the Avengers was becoming more a hotly debated topic; Good or bad? The answer wasn’t so black and white, I thought.

I was coming back to the city after far too many years of being away. From fifteen to present day, I had been living on the West Coast, in Seattle. But at the age of twenty, it was time to come home.

My legal guardian at the time was my godfather, Charles Xavier. I lived in his school, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, for my entire life until he sent me away; to “keep me safe” he said. Being the goddaughter of one of the world’s most powerful mutants doesn’t exactly guarantee your safety… Still, I didn’t want to go. My suspicions, secretly, were that he sent me away because I wasn’t like the other kids… I wasn’t gifted. I wasn’t a mutant.

I never really knew whether my being normal was or wasn’t a disappointment to him. I’m not quite sure he ever read my thoughts either, or else maybe he would have addressed my concerns. My worst fear was that he had read my thoughts, and that he just didn’t want to tell me that I was a disappointment to him.

But in the five years I had been away, I learned a lot about “normal” people and what it meant to be that way. I went to an average public high school and graduated a year early. I was accepted to NYU, but decided to travel the country instead while I decided what I wanted my career to be. Talking myself into coming back wasn’t easy, especially after the Battle of New York. I had lived most of my life in the presence of extraordinary people, and coming back home after living an average existence only reminded me of the life—the power—I wished I had.

Being back after everything I had seen on the news was so surreal… Everything seemed different while being exactly the same. The world was mostly different now, no longer untouched by the “unknown.” More and more mutants were coming out than ever before; the American government was completely on edge. With the coming of the Avengers, the world seemed more dangerous. There was no way of knowing what kind of “being” the person sitting next to you was, just like there was no way to tell if they were good or bad.

Finally, I found where the people were, as I suspected—standing under the Avengers tower in sections. The vast groups were clearly divided.

First, there were the fans—dressed like their favorite heroes, shouting things like, “I LOVE YOU, IRON MAN!” and dying to catch a glimpse of a crimson and gold flash across the sky.

Second, there were the protesters—angry, swearing, and screaming at the top of their lungs, demanding various things, like money and apologies. After Ultron attempted to drop an entire city out of the sky and wipe out the human race completely, tension had increased and people wanted answers, or at the very least something to shut them up.

And third, there was the news media—interviewing the divided sides and debating their own opinions and theories back and forth to each other and their cameras.

It was hard to believe that so many people were angry about superheroes. Seriously, why were people yelling at Captain America? How many lives had he saved? Probably more than most people could count to! And Tony Stark… Hadn’t he done more than enough to repay us for the mistakes he made? I felt angry as I was watching the crowds. People were so ungrateful.

Part of me wanted to park and find my way into the building… But more of me knew that was a terrible idea. Keep driving, I thought to myself. Don’t stop. Why would he remember you, anyway?
I shook my head. Terrible, terrible idea.

I couldn’t figure out why I had come to Manhattan anyway. West Chester was upstate. My little detour had been pointless, hadn’t it?

It was time to turn around and head to the mansion, but I my desire to speak with someone from my past was overwhelming me to park. I knew he would be in the tower… But—

Suddenly, a truck came whizzing past me, as fast as it could. It barely missed me making a sharp turn around a corner. Something—no, someone—in a red and blue suit landed on top of the truck. The crowds looked just past my Volkswagen Beetle and to the same person I had seen.

“Spider-Man!” I heard a kid shout.

The cameras immediately pointed to the vehicle and people stood in awe, watching yet another vigilante hero help their city.

A new debate took over, and I heard a reporter say, “And now, Spider-Man has made a triumphant return to our streets, attempting to stop a criminal in the midst of afternoon traffic—“ I tuned out the rest, wondering where the new guy had came from. What would that be like? I thought to myself, for maybe the millionth time in my life.

Perfect timing to get into the tower, my mind wandered. C’mon… You know why you came to Manhattan, at least go say hi.

I shouldn’t have been fighting myself so hard on this, right? I was just a kid when I met Tony Stark—fifteen, a couple of weeks before I left the school. I tried running away and disappearing into the city for awhile; if I had to leave home, I at least wanted a say in where I had to go. But to Xavier, the city wasn’t as away as I needed to be. So, I tried to run… I bumped into Tony on accident, truthfully.

*
He was coming out of a building and I was running down the street with my headphones on. We didn’t see each other until I knocked both of us over onto the pavement. When I realized who I had literally ran into, I felt my heart stop and my eyes practically fall out of their sockets in shock.

“Oh my God, Mr. Stark! I’m so, so sorry!”

“It’s alright,” He said, getting to his feet. “No harm, no foul.” He then held out a hand to me, “Need help up?”

I sat there nervously, my fingers retracting into the black fingerless gloves I was wearing like a turtle into his shell. Terrified, I took his hand and said, “Thanks.”

As he helped me up, his body guard at the time, Happy, came running up to us. He attempted to intervene as though I, a fifteen year old girl, was attempting to attack the world’s most powerful arms dealer.

“Happy,” Tony said casually, “It’s fine. She’s just a kid, she didn’t mean it.”

He ignored the agitated look on Happy’s face and turned back to me. “Sorry to assume you’re a kid, it’s just that you look so very young.” He smiled.

Boy, that was a hard smile to ignore, even if he was old enough to be my father.

“Well, I’m a teenager, so yeah, I guess I am.”

Tony laughed. “Why are you out in the middle of the night then? Kinda late for a teen to be running into the likes of me.”

I began to shake and looked away from his gaze. “I… Uh…”

In the corner of my eye, I saw his smile fade. “Oh, oh boy. Well, you can’t sleep out in the cold. What’s your name?”

My heart was thumping incredibly hard. “Star.”

I looked back up at Tony and his smile came back. “Okay Star, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Tony.” He shook my hand and I shook back. “Listen,” he said. “I don’t want to be a creep, but I have a spare bedroom in my apartment if you need a place to stay.”

Happy grabbed Tony’s arm and protested, “Hey Tony, you said it yourself—she’s just a kid. She can’t be any older than fifteen? That’s not going to make you look good—“

“She’s a homeless kid, Happy. If anything it’ll make me look like a better person than most people think I am.” I didn’t fight him on taking me to his apartment. I don’t think anyone really fought Tony Stark on anything at that point.

But on the car ride to his place, I did correct him on one thing.

“I’m not homeless, Mr. Stark. I’m a runaway.” I admitted.

He looked over at me, his expression unchanging. He shrugged, “Please call me Tony,” he said. “And running away from home means you no longer have a home, right? There’s no need to correct me.”

Embarrassed, I nodded. “Yeah… Sorry Mr.—I mean, Tony.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s alright.”

Tony leaned over to the bottle of scotch on the table in the town car and poured himself a glass. He sat back, took a small drink, and looked over at me.

“So, what’s your story?” He asked.

I blinked wildly for a second. “Uhh…” I had no idea what to say.

“Oh, we’re here.”

I looked out of the window and peered up to the seemingly endless skyscraper we had pulled up to. The driver got out and opened the door, gesturing for me to exit first. I stepped out, gripping hard onto the messenger bag strap that hung from my right shoulder. When we entered the building, Happy stayed in the lobby while Tony led me to an elevator. We stood in silence for what felt like an eternity before the light indicated we had reached the top floor.

Of course, Tony’s apartment was a penthouse, immaculately decorated; sleek and modern. As we walked through the door a soft, calming voice said, “Welcome home Sir, and guest.” Suddenly, lights came on from dim to bright like a sunrise, revealing a breathtaking view from the surrounding floor to ceiling windows.

“Our guest’s name is Star, Jarvis, take note of it. And tone it down with the lights, J. A little dimmer, please.”

“Of course, Sir,” said the voice. The lights came down just a bit, making the lights of the city seem even brighter. I wandered over to one of the larger than life windows and gazed down at the shimmering world beneath me.

“Beautiful…” I muttered to myself.

Tony came up behind me and handed me a glass. “Yeah, I’ve seen better,” He said nonchalantly.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” I said, amused. “You’ve been all over the world—“

“At least a hundred times, give or take.” I could tell by his smirk that he was also amused.

“Well, New York is the only world I know…” I sighed.

That’s when Tony asked, “Did you run to here or are you running from here?”

It was a great question, one I should have expected. But my emotions had me a little off guard that night. “To here, I guess. I live upstate with my godfather, at a… Private school he runs. But he’s sending me away.”

Tony looked me over, curiously. “We’ve only known each other for about an hour, but you don’t seem like the troublemaking type to me?”

“I’m not,” I replied. “He’s sending me away because… Because… I—I don’t really know why.” I could feel the tears swelling up in my eyes. My fingers gripped tighter on the glass has my hands began to shake.

Tony took a drink of his newest glass of scotch and shrugged. “Don’t get emotional about it. Parents are hard, especially when they want you to do something you don’t want to do.”

“How did you deal with it? When you were a kid?”

He took a longer drink than before, paused, then answered me. “Dear old Dad didn’t have me around much to begin with, quite honestly. He never had to send me away, really. He was either rarely at home or I was off at school when he was. And he never really gave a lot of input into whether or not he wanted something from me. Most of the time I just wasn’t good enough regardless of my decisions.”

That was hard to hear. The man who graduated from MIT at seventeen wasn’t good enough? How could any of us please our parents if one of the world’s most brilliant men couldn’t please his?

He continued. “But, I dealt with it by distracting myself, and coming to the realization that I didn’t need to be good enough for him, I needed to be good enough for me. I didn’t need his approval once I had my own.”

Wise words from a man I admired… And he was right. I didn’t need Xavier’s approval, but that didn’t change how badly I had wanted it.

I couldn’t explain thing any further. I didn’t know Tony’s stand on mutants and telling him my godfather
was Charles Xavier might not have gone well for me. He showed me to the guest room and told me that if I needed anything to just ask Jarvis. I fell onto the bed and floated to sleep on a cloud of pillows.

The next morning, I woke up to Jarvis’ voice. “Good morning, Star,” He said. “It’s 8:15 am and the weather is a lovely 72 degrees. Mr. Stark has requested that I inform you that he left this morning to head back to California. He also wanted me to let you know that you are welcome to stay here at the apartment anytime. A spare key is in the drawer of the end table and you are welcome to take it. I also have a hot breakfast waiting for you in the dinning room, as per Mr. Stark’s request that you eat before you leave, if you decide to go.”

It wasn’t an easy decision to make, and questions were spinning in my head rapidly. Why would he give me a place to stay? Why would he help me? I could stay here for how long? Would Xavier know? He couldn’t locate me using Cerebro because I wasn’t a mutant. What if he had someone watching me… He wasn’t a fan of the Stark family, to say the least. He’d never allow this, would he? No. No way.

I left the bedroom and found my way to the dining room, where a breakfast buffet sat waiting for me. I ate a little bit of all of the food on the table, from the waffles to the fruit, until I was completely full. I put my shoes back on and addressed Jarvis, “Thank you for everything, J,” and made my way to the front door. As I turned the nob, I made sure to add, “Make sure Tony knows how grateful I am, too.”

“Will do, m’am,” He replied.

I walked out of the front door and shut it tightly behind me, gripping onto the key tightly in my pocket. Just in case… I thought to myself.
*

Now, I was sitting in my car, gripping onto that exact same key. I had kept it all this time, wearing it on a long black string around my neck, or sometimes wrapped around my wrist. It was always with me somehow, to remind me of one of the greatest acts of kindness I had ever seen. Tony Stark wasn’t the arrogant ass so many people believed he was, and I had proof.

I was too nervous to go inside. I turned around and drove my way out of the city. If traffic wasn’t too delayed, I would make into West Chester by night fall.

Notes