𝐢 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐬

༻ ❁ ༺

Stark Expo

Queens, New York

          CHARLOTTE LOOKED OUTSIDE excitedly as Happy brought the car to a halt outside the Expo's private, backstage entrance.

As they stepped out of the car, Pepper saw the large and bustling crowd's and tightly closed Charlotte's hand in her own. Pepper didn't want to admit it, but she was still pretty shaken up from the events at the mansion the previous night; Happy saw the woman's general uneasiness and reassured her.

"I'll keep the car down here, all right?" He smiled, kindly. "If at any time you want to leave, just give me a call."

"Thank you, Happy." she nodded, grateful for his loyalty and care.

"Charlie, I need you to look after your mom, okay?" Happy joked as he opened the driver's door and eased himself back into the car. "Stay out of trouble."

"I always do," Charlotte laughed sweetly, waving to the man as she and her mom swiftly entered the backstage area of the main stage.

As they made their way through the winding corridors, Charlotte saw a familiar redheaded woman waiting for them. "Natalie!" She gleefully exclaimed, letting go of her mom's hand to sprint towards the woman.

"Hey, Charlie," Natalie laughed as the young girl threw herself around her middle, hugging her tightly. Natalie returned the embrace warmly, and she found that she more at ease around the child than she had previously.

Natalie glanced up and saw Pepper walking towards them, her hand outstretched expectantly towards Charlotte. Without needing to be told twice, the girl released the redhead from her embrace and skipped over to her mother. She took her hand and fell back into step, beside her.

"Mrs. Stark," Natalie nodded respectively towards the woman. "I can only apologise for -,"

"Don't, please," Pepper was quick to cut her off as she held a hand up, a tight smile on her lips. "I would sooner rather forget about it entirely."

Despite the still tense animosity between the two women, Pepper was slightly relieved to see a familiar face; knowing how excited Charlotte would be to see her, also made her pleased that the woman was there.

Pepper looked at her daughter and saw Charlotte's awe at everything around her before they entered the main stage, where they stood in the wings and waited for the presentation to begin.

No more than two minutes later, music blasted through the speakers in the auditorium and Justin Hammer waltzed onto the stage.

"That's what I'm talking about! Thanks for coming!" Justin began, standing in front of the podium, "Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way, but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's just too bad,"

"Oh lord," Pepper sighed exasperatedly as Natalie looked at her with a similar frown.

"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed the headlines the world over. Well, today, my friends, the press is faced with quite a difficult problem. They are about to run out of ink," Hammer stated. "Get that out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you the new face of the United States military. The Hammer drone."

Charlotte watched in awe as drones started to rise out of the stage. "Army! Navy! Air Force! Marines! Yeah! Yeah! Woo! That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you. But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theatre of war!"

As the crowd applauded, Pepper and Natalie shared an anxious glance, both ladies frowned at the stage. Charlotte couldn't help but tilt her head at the drones.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes!" Hammer announced as the crowd cheered louder.

"Uncle Rhodey?" Charlotte gasped.

As Rhodey saluted with his suit, the other drones followed his lead.

"For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for–"

Justin Hammer was interrupted when a sudden deep hum sounded across the stage. Everyone looked behind them to see Iron Man entering the stage, flying within his suit. He came to land in front of Rhodey, and after a few seconds, the crowd roared even louder than they had for Hammer's entrance.

"Dad!" Charlotte cheered, clapping her hands in excitement as she watched him soar above them, before coming in to land on the stage.

Everyone watched as Iron Man walked towards War Machine and stood next to him. He nonchalantly waved to the crowd, much to their excitement. The confused expression that flashed across Hammer's face did not go unmissed by the girls.

"All right, yeah!" Hammer addressed the cheering crowd, clapping alongside them. When Iron Man strode towards him, no one could hear Tony speaking from inside his helmet, they could only hear the mild confusion in Justin's voice, "What are you doing here, man?"

Pepper, Natalie and Charlotte had since all risen from their seats. The two adults watched watched the exchange carefully, as Charlotte simply beamed widely at her dad's presence.

"I thought dad wasn't coming?" Charlotte glanced at her mother.

"I didn't either," Pepper said, flicking her eyes between Tony and Justin. "I don't think Hammer was expecting him to be here, either."

"Do you think he'll -," Charlotte's voice cut off into a squeal. "- what's Uncle Rhodey doing?" She watched in horror as War Machine's shoulder pads suddenly transformed to reveal two machine guns. Again, she squeaked as she saw her uncle point the guns at her dad.

"Okay, time to go!" Natalie's voice was rushed as the rest of the drones mimicked War Machine.

As Natalie quickly began to guide Pepper and Charlotte away from the stage area; Pepper had her hands on her daughter's shoulders, keeping her close. Suddenly, the crowd moved to run away in panic, pushing Charlotte away from her mother.

"Charlie!" Pepper screamed as she felt her daughter being pulled from her grip by the surging crowd.

"Mom!"

"Charlie!" Pepper yelled again, raising onto her top toes to try and look over the heads of the crowd. Natalie watched the seven-year-old vanish within the mass of bodies; the agent was visibly agitated by the scenario.

Pepper tried to go after her but the crowd of terrified people began bumping and dragging her everywhere but in the direction of her daughter.

"She'll be fine!" Natalie suddenly grabbed her arm, "She's smart! She knows her way back to the exit."

"I'll call Happy, she might be outside already!" Pepper quickly said, grabbing her phone. But then the drones started leaving the stage, with their weapons aimed at the crowd, and Natalie quickly grabbed Pepper, swiftly tugging her out of harm's way.

The two women hastly made their way backstage, where they found Justin Hammer barking orders at a team of flustered looking technicians. "He's locked us out of the mainframe." Pepper heard one of the technicians state, his voice shaking with nerves.

"Who's locked you out of the mainframe?" Pepper asked as they approached.

Justin's head whipped around, and seemed startled by their presence. "Please, please, go away. Go away. I've got this handled," he quickly said, dismissing them completely.

"Have you now? You don't look like you do!" Pepper snapped, the stress of Charlotte being out there alone getting to her.

"Yes, I do. In fact," Justin turned and scoffed at her, "If your husband hadn't shown up, this wouldn't be happening. So, please, now go away. Thank you."

Pepper glared venomously at him, she almost wanted to punch him when suddenly, Natalie caught him and held him down on the desk by wrapping his arm around his back painfully. Pepper gasped but both looked more impressed than anything.

"You tell me who's behind this. Who's behind this?!" Natalie hissed in Justin's ear.

"Ivan! Ivan Vanko!" He grunted, attempting to conceal his pain.

"Where is he?!" Natalie asked.

"At my facility!"

Natalie released his arm and turned to Pepper, pulling the woman aside until they were out of earshot for the others.  "Mrs. Stark, I'm sorry but I've been lying to you." She kept her voice low enough that anyone walking past would have only heard a murmur. "My name is Natasha Romanoff and I am a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. All will be explained better than but now I have to go, I need to finish my mission. Know that I'll be in contact soon, stay here," she explained. However, before Pepper could say anything, Natasha left swiftly, leaving the woman stunned.

Recovering, and exasperated, Pepper pulled out her phone, her fingers trembled slightly as she dialed the number, "I need NYPD, please,"

"No, no, no!" Hammer begged her, still groaning in pain from Natasha's interrogation.

"Command central," Pepper continued, ignoring him.

"No, no, honey. Don't call the authorities,"

"Okay. Right away. Right away," Pepper seemed unfazed by Hammer's pleads as she strode over to the echnician's table, "Tell me everything you know, right now. And make it snappy, because my daughter is out there. And so help me God, if a single hair on her head is harmed..."

Scared of suffering the same fate at his boss, the timid looking technician waved a hand to halt Pepper's threat; he nodded and quickly obeyed.

༻ ❁ ༺

Charlotte was scared.

There were drones everywhere and she couldn't see through the dense and frantic crowd, to gain an idea of where she was. She ran past the large fountain, which she recognised was in the centre of the Expo floor. She followed  a large group of people, and luckily she started recognizing the way out.

After descending a staircase, she heard the heavy footsteps behind her and at the same time, the sound of a very fast jet passing through. She looked up and squinted to see her dad being chased by War Machine and other drones, suddenly the drones from behind her shoot at the sky. She watched fearfully as her dad dodged the missiles – but they hit an enemy drone, that crashed around the crowd, and dangerously close to her. She was certain that in that split second, if she had not moved, the drone would surely have landed on her.

A sudden surge of panicked patrons flooded towards her, and the girl was quite literally swept off her feet as the crowd carried her away from her path. She did not remember it happening, but somehow she had managed to stumble over her feet. With a shriek, she tumbled to the floor, her hands landing on the rough tarmac with a sharp slap. The child hissed as small pieces of gravel painfully dug into the skin of her palms.

As Charlotte pushed herself onto her knees, she was suddenly jolted from behind and a stranger stumbled over the top of her. She gasped as she felt a heavy weight land roughly on her lower half - specifically her prosthesis. A loud crunching sound, followed by the grating of broken metal scraping against itself, could be heard.

To her dismay, the stranger did not stop to help her; she heard their pounding footsteps retreating from her. Turning so she was sitting on her behind, Charlotte let out a choked sob when she saw that the main metal framework of her leg was crushed and mangled - the stranger must have landed with more force than she had first thought.

Her leg was beyond instant repair, and so with a struggle, Charlotte pushed herself onto her knees once more and staggered to her feet. She forced herself to continue running, her ankle and foot were dragging behind her at an angle, and what would have been her tibia bone, was snapped clean into two pieces.

She kept on running, and as she strained to limp down another case of stairs, she heard more missiles approaching, closely followed by explosions. The walls of the buildings around her shook, sending pieces of concrete and debris falling onto her and the crowd.

Charlotte screamed as a large slab of the wall fell near her, shattering into a million pieces, and sending some fragments in her direction. Instinctively she threw a hand up to cover her face, but she felt the sharp stone cut into her forearm, hand, and face. As she saw the numerous small spatterings of blood on her arm, she tried her hardest to push the stinging sensation to the back of her mind. She shook away the panic and ran far from that area as fast as she could.

Suddenly, she bumped into someone, falling on the floor with them, the pair grunting at the collision. When she glanced upwards, it was a boy close to her height and age. He was wearing a rather realistic Iron Man helmet, and one of the matching toy Iron Man hands.

"I'm so sorry!" she quickly asked as they stood up. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, "Are you?! You're bleeding," his voice was a bit muffled because of the helmet, but he sounded concerned as he raised a shaking hand to point to the small cuts on her face. "C'mon! I'll keep you safe!" without haste, he grabbed her hand and began to guide her through the crowd.

"You know the way to the exit?" she asked as her breathing started to sound wheezy as the effort of dragging her leg became too much. "S-Slow down, wait! My leg - ow!" She cried out as the boy almost pulled her over. She did not blame him - he had yet to notice her damaged prosthesis.

The boy noticed her weak voice and stopped running to look at her, she couldn't see his face but his voice was expressive enough, "Oh! Are you okay? You're limping!"

"I have a, an um..." she breathes heavily, motioning to her prosthetic limb, her words failed to form, "I fell and then someone fell on top of me. I think they broke it." The boy looked down and his eyes widened slightly; if Charlotte had been paying attention, then she would have seen the awe on his face - to him it was the coolest thing he had ever seen.

"Don't worry, I'll help you! We're almost at the ex-" he was interrupted when the drones burst out of the Expo's entrance. People were scrambling over one another, trying to flee for their lives, panicking as they ran past them, ignoring the two young children. Yet the boy did not run. He remained where he was, exclaiming as he positioned himself in front of Charlotte's trembling body in a defensive manner.

The droner approached them, its focus was trained on the young boy. Charlotte clutched his side and flinched as she waited for their impending demise, as the drone aimed its firearm at them. Even in the dire situation, she could not help but find it amusing when the boy raised his toy glove and aimed it at the drone.

She shrieked as something suddenly crash-landed next to them. A real beam appeared out of nowhere, firing at the drone and striking it in its arc reactor, shutting it down completely.

"Nice work kid – Charlie?!" Iron Man sputtered at once, "What are you doing here?! Where's your mother?!" Tony yelled, both concerned and angry.

"Dad!" Charlotte cried, hugging the suit's legs, "I got separated and I," she coughed as she tried to catch her breath. She hastily pointed at her leg, "This boy helped me, but you saved us!"

"Shit, what happened to your leg?" Tony asked frantically.

"Swear!" Charlotte gasped, instinctively.

"Not the time, Charlie!" Her dad said. He looked at the boy, who seemed to be watching them, "Hey kid, thanks for looking out for her. I need you to stay with her for a little bit longer, okay? Both of you, get as far away from here as possible."

"You got it, Mr. Stark," the boy nodded, his voice full of awe.

"I'll be back Charlie," Tony reassured her, pointing a finger between the two kids. "Stay together and watch out for each other," When he saw Rhodey and the drones were catching up quickly, Tony took a step away from them and flew back into the air.

Charlotte groaned, wincing at the current strain on her leg. The boy immediately wrapped his arm around her and moved alongside her as quickly as he could. They continued walking for what seemed like hours, avoiding sections where the shouts and cries of frightened civilians were louder, and the genuine sounds of chaos appear louder.

"I'm Peter, your name is Charlotte, right?" Peter asked, trying to keep her distracted. "You're Mr. Stark's daughter, right?"

Her pained and panicked expression was making him anxious, the more they walked the heavier she was starting to get. The metal of her leg has begun to buckle even more, and soon enough the entire prosthesis was rendered useless. "Hold on. I'll try and find my Aunt May and my Uncle Ben. They must be looking for me,"

Charlotte found the boy amusing. Even though she was struggling to remain upright and her chest felt tight, she had to smile at him. He was somehow managing to make her smile, during all the chaos that was going on around them.

"Peter!"

He stopped abruptly and looked around quickly, and Charlotte watched as a couple frantically ran towards them. The woman drew him into a close embrace, and the man, who had noticed her, gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder to steady her.

"Peter, oh my God!" the woman cried, all Charlotte could hear was a faint voice in her ears. She could hear her own heartbeat, and her head was beginning to feel heavy - she was so tired, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going. "Who's this?" the woman asked.

"Aunt May, she's Tony Stark's daughter! Her name is Charlotte, and Mr. Stark gave me a mission!" Peter quickly explained, looking between the adults. "I need to keep her safe, Uncle Ben!"

Ben nodded at once, and as he glanced down at the girl he saw her current state.  Swiftly, he grabbed Charlotte and easily carried her on his hip. As the pressure on her leg eased, she felt relieved. "You did a good job, son. She'll be safe with us." he nodded at May, and responded in kind as she grabbed Peter's hand; The Parker's, and Charlotte began to run. They hid behind a pillar and watched as a swarm of drones flew by, firing ahead of them.

"Charlotte, right?" Ben suddenly addressed the girl as she rested her head on his shoulder, "I need you to try and stay calm for me, okay? Just take deep breaths. In through your nose, and out your mouth." Charlotte did as he said, and he placed her down to rest against the pillar.

"Peter, talk with her. Try and keep her calm," Ben told him as he kept a lookout. May scooted down to be on Charlotte's level, she grabbed her hand and began rubbing comforting circles on the back of her tiny hand.

The boy took off his helmet to properly speak, his brown curly hair was unkempt and fell over his forehead. "Hey, Charlotte - can I call you that or do you prefer Charlie? I heard Mr. Stark call you that." She did not have a second to respond as Peter began talking again. "I live in Queens with my aunt and uncle, I have a best friend named Ned, and we both like Star Wars, how about you?"

"You can call me, Charlie." Charlotte smiled weakly and lightly nodded her head, "I like...Star Wars..."

Peter looked at her, a toothy smile spread across his face. "Really? You do?"

She gave him a somewhat confused look, making May chuckle as she shook her head at the two young children, who seemed to be forming the basis of a friendship at the most inconvenient of times.

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author's note

Ah, we're almost at the end!

Peter has finally made his grand entrance-I just love the idea that Charlotte and Peter met at the expo and develop a friendship over the years. Peter will feature a small part in Charlotte's journey through Avengers and Iron Man 3.

Just three more chapters to go and then we're into Avengers territory !