Golden light poured through the reinforced glass of the Malibu mansion's solarium, washing over my upturned face.
Sunlight here felt different.
Instead of just warming my skin, it sank deep into my muscles, humming like a low-voltage current.
Every pore drank in the solar radiation.
My chest expanded as a quiet power coiled within my core, humming with an energy that felt increasingly alien, yet utterly natural.
Ever since waking up in this universe as Scarlet Stark, I had lived in a constant state of hyper-vigilance.
Every day was a balancing act between being the perfect, brilliant daughter Tony deserved and hiding the cosmic powerhouse developing inside me.
My mother had abandoned me, leaving me on Tony's doorstep with nothing but a name and a legacy of regret.
I couldn't let him reject me too.
If he found out I was a freak—an alien anomaly with the potential to destroy the world—he would cast me aside.
I was sure of it.
[System Notification: Direct Solar Radiation absorption rate increased by 400%.]
[Kryptonian physiology adaptation progressing...]
[Level Up! Current Level: 4. New Ability Unlocked: Arctic Breath (Beginner).]
A faint, blue light flickered across my retinas, displaying the system's interface.
I stared at the floating holographic words, my heart hammering against my ribs.
This was the breakthrough I needed.
For weeks, I had been absorbing sunlight through standard windows, but the thick, UV-filtering panes of the lower levels had choked my progress.
Here, under the massive, unfiltered skylight of the solarium, the energy was pure.
It felt like drinking water after a lifetime in the desert.
Slowly, I let the medical sling slip from my shoulder, letting it pool on the tiled floor.
There was no pain.
No bruising.
Only the flawless, unblemished skin of a god in the making.
That titanium turbine blade that had struck me yesterday had left nothing but a temporary red mark, which had faded into perfection within hours.
Yet, I still had to play the part of a fragile human girl.
Living with Tony Stark meant living under a microscope.
Every step had to be deliberate.
Every breath had to be measured so I wouldn't accidentally crack a glass or dent a titanium-alloy table.
But right here, drenched in the high-altitude California sun, the system was feeding me raw, unfiltered evolution.
"Status," I whispered, keeping my voice below a decibel level Jarvis could register.
A translucent holographic window flickered again.
It displayed my vitals, my solar charge percentage, and the newly unlocked skill.
*Arctic Breath.*
According to the system's brief description, I could now compress air within my lungs, dropping its temperature to sub-zero levels upon exhalation.
It was a terrifyingly powerful tool.
And a highly dangerous one if I lost control.
---
Steps echoed in the hallway downstairs, reminding me of my fragile reality.
Hurriedly, I scooped up the sling, slipping my arm back into the fabric before anyone could spot me.
I made my way up to my bedroom, my boots clicking softly against the polished hardwood.
Privacy was a luxury in this house, but my room remained my only true sanctuary.
Once inside, I locked the heavy oak door and walked straight into the private bathroom.
Testing this new power was my only priority.
Understanding the limits of my body would keep me alive.
Turning on the hot water faucet, I let the steam rise, filling the small space with a thick, humid mist.
Moisture clung to the mirror and the marble tiles.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, I felt my lungs expand far beyond their normal capacity.
They compressed the oxygen into a tight, dense pocket within my chest.
Pressure built behind my ribs.
A strange, icy sensation bloomed in my throat, contrasting sharply with the warm steam of the bathroom.
Slowly, I puckered my lips and exhaled a tiny, controlled stream of air.
Frost instantly crawled across the mirror.
Floating water droplets suspended in the humid air froze mid-fall, turning into tiny, glittering ice crystals.
They clinked softly against the marble sink, sounding like broken glass.
It was beautiful.
A rush of absolute, god-like freedom washed over me.
For the first time in my two lives, I felt like I wasn't just a fragile human girl trying to survive in a universe destined for cosmic slaughter.
Oceans could be frozen with a sigh.
Mountains could be shattered with a gust.
But the euphoria evaporated as quickly as it had arrived.
---
Heavy footsteps approached my bedroom door.
They weren't the light, rhythmic steps of Happy Hogan or the soft click of Pepper Potts' heels.
These steps were heavy, erratic, and filled with a frantic energy that could only belong to one person.
Tony.
I scrambled to wipe the frost off the mirror with a dry towel, my super-speed kicking in for a brief microsecond to clear the evidence.
Just as I threw the towel into the hamper and stepped back into the bedroom, the door handle rattled.
"Scarlet!" Tony's voice cut through the wood, sharp and demanding.
He didn't wait for an answer.
He bypassed the lock using a master bypass code on his StarkPad, throwing the door open with a force that rattled the hinges.
My breath hitched.
He stood in the doorway, his hair disheveled, his dark circles prominent from another sleepless night in the lab.
But it wasn't his usual manic genius look.
His jaw was clenched tight, a thick vein throbbing at his temple.
In his right hand, he held a sleek, transparent tablet displaying a series of complex medical scans.
My medical scans.
"Tony," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, putting on my best innocent-daughter act. "You usually knock. What's going on?"
He didn't answer right away.
He walked into the room, his eyes scanning the space like a hawk searching for prey, before locking onto me.
"I was looking at the telemetry data from your physical therapy scans," Tony began, his voice dropping to a dangerous, quiet register.
He tapped the screen, projecting a three-dimensional skeletal model of my body into the air between us.
"Jarvis ran the diagnostics three times because I thought the sensors in the medical wing were malfunctioning."
He took another step closer, the projection rotating to highlight my collarbone—the exact spot where the turbine blade had struck.
"But the sensors aren't broken, Scarlet."
My stomach plummeted.
I clenched my fists inside my pockets, my fingernails digging into my palms hard enough to cut steel, though they barely registered on my invulnerable skin.
"I don't understand," I lied, forcing a confused frown. "Did the doctor say something was wrong with my recovery?"
"Stop," Tony snapped, his eyes flashing with a mix of anger and profound confusion. "Just... stop the act."
He swiped his hand across the tablet, zooming in on the density mapping of my clavicle and ribs.
These bones weren't shaded in the typical gray of human calcium.
They were practically solid white, indicating a density that defied biological science.
"This is a bone density scan of a healthy fourteen-year-old girl," Tony said, pointing to a standard reference chart on the side.
"And this," he pointed to my scan, "is yours."
He looked up, his gaze drilling into mine.
"Do you want to tell me why your skeletal structure is registering a density rating ten times greater than structural titanium?"
Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.
I could hear the rapid, erratic beat of his heart.
Humming softly, the arc reactor in his chest remained a constant reminder of his own fragile mortality.
"Tony, I..." My voice trailed off.
My mind raced through a thousand different lies.
A rare genetic mutation?
An experimental treatment my mother might have subjected me to?
None of it would hold up under his genius intellect.
"You got hit by a titanium turbine blade flying at three hundred miles per hour," Tony said, his voice shaking slightly now.
"A normal human shoulder would have been pulverized. The collarbone would have shattered into dust, puncturing the subclavian artery. You would have bled out in seconds."
He took another step, his eyes desperate for answers.
"But you didn't. You walked away with a 'bruise' and a fake limp."
He tapped the screen again, showing the molecular structure of my bone marrow.
"This isn't human, Scarlet. It's comparable to solid steel, maybe even stronger. What did you do to yourself? Or worse... what did someone do to you?"
A deep fear of abandonment flared in my chest.
If he knew what I was—an alien anomaly, a monster with powers that could level cities—would he still look at me as his daughter?
Or would he see me as a threat?
A weapon that needed to be contained?
"I didn't do anything," I whispered, tears pricking my eyes. This, at least, was real. The sheer terror of losing him was genuine. "I swear, Tony. I don't know why my bones are like that."
"Don't lie to me!" he roared, slamming the tablet down onto my nightstand.
Shards of glass scattered as the screen cracked under the force of his hand.
"I am trying to protect you! Do you have any idea what the military would do if they got their hands on this data? What Shield would do?"
He grabbed his hair, pacing back and forth in the confined space of my bedroom.
"They would lock you in a bunker. They would dissect you to see what makes you tick. And I can't protect you if I don't know the truth!"
I stared at him, my heart aching.
He wasn't angry because I was a freak.
He was terrified because he couldn't keep me safe.
But before I could find the words to bridge the gap between us, before I could fabricate a plausible lie or tell him a fraction of the truth...
Before she can fabricate a lie, the bedroom windows violently shatter outward as a sudden, localized vacuum pressure sweeps through the room.