Chapter Ten
May 4th, 2012
Sara wakes to the sound of sirens. What the hell?
Her phone explodes with notifications – missed calls from Tony, texts from her online school friends sharing news alerts, and many messages in the family group chat.
Harsha [8:15 AM]: Everyone okay? I heard something’s happening in Midtown
Sesha [8:15 AM]: I can see strange lights from my practice room. NYU’s on lockdown.
Sandhya [8:17 AM]: Sara, stay inside. Don’t leave the house.
Arun [8:17 AM]: At the SI office. They’re telling us to evacuate, but I don’t know if we have time.
Sara’s hands tremble, but she types anyway:
Sara [8:45 AM]: I just woke up, what’s happening?
The prodigy friends groupchat is equally chaotic
Mei [8:30 AM]: GUYS TURN ON THE NEWS RN
Dylan [8:31 AM]: Is that… a portal??? In NYC????
Zara [8:32 AM]: Sara, aren’t you in Manhattan? Are you safe??
Sara [8:45 AM]: I’m okay, don’t worry
Rushing to her window, Sara’s breath catches in her throat. A beam of light shot into the sky from somewhere near Stark Tower, and what looked like… were those aliens? Pouring through a hole in the universe.
Her phone rings.
Incoming call: Tony Uncle
“Stay where you are,” he orders before she can speak. “I mean it, Sara. No matter what happens, stay hidden. Promise me.”
“But–”
“Promise me, Kuvi. Please.” he pleads.
Sara swallows hard. “I promise.”
And then the line goes dead.
Her hands warm instinctively, flames dancing across her fingers as she scans the sky. All those training sessions and secrets… had they been preparing for this? And now she has to stay put?
More texts come through:
Harsha [8:50 AM]: Aurelio and I get a flight from Atlanta. Everything’s grounded. Sara, don’t do anything stupid.
And then from her mother:
Amma [8:51 AM]: Sara, lock all the doors. I can’t reach your father.
Amma [8:52 AM]: He’s not answering his phone.
Sara [8:52 AM]: Amma, please don’t go looking for him
Sara [8:53 AM]: The Avengers will handle it. Please stay safe.
A video call pops up –Mei, Dylan, and Zara in a group chat.
“Sara!” Mei’s face is pale. “Are you seeing this?”
“I’m okay,” Sara assures them, carefully angling her camera away from her window where alien crafts are now visible. “Just staying inside like everyone else.”
“My dad’s saying it’s an invasion,” Dylan reports, his usual entrepreneurial confidence shaken. “The military’s mobilizing, but–”
An explosion rocks Sara’s building, making her drop her phone. She could hear her friends calling her name.
“Sorry,” she retrieves the device, hands shaking. “Just some… construction noise.”
“Girl, that was not construction,’ Zara points out. “Maybe you should go to a shelter?”
“I’m fine!” Sara insists, even as her powers thrum under her skin, begging to be released. “I need to check on my family, though. Talk later?”
She ends the call before they can protest and is immediately greeted by more family messages:
Sesha [9:00 AM]: Mom’s not answering now either
Harsha [9:01 AM]: Sara, can you reach them?
Sara [9:01 AM]: No
Sara [9:02 AM]: Anna, I’m scared
“JARVIS,” she calls out to the AI that Tony secretly installed in her room, “can you track my parents?”
“Your mother’s phone signal is moving towards the Stark Industries building,” JARVIS replies. “Your father’s last known location was in his office on the 47th floor. Mr. Stark has instructed me to remind you to stay–”
“I know,” Sara cuts him off. “I know I have to stay here.”
She paces her room, feeling more useless with each passing minute. The city is burning, people are screaming, and she has the power to help. But she’d promised. She’d promised Tony.
Hours went by so long. Sara alternates between watching the news, monitoring her family’s group chat, and trying to keep her powers under control as explosions rock the city. She watches Iron Man – her father, though she and the world didn’t know it – fly between buildings, fighting creatures from another world.
Her friends keep texting:
Dylan [10:15 AM]: Holy shit, is that the Hulk??
Mei [10:16 AM]: There’s a guy with a bow and arrow, too. In 2012. What’s going on?
Zara [10:17 AM]: Sara, please keep checking in so we know you’re alive.
She responds mechanically, her real attention focused on the family chat.
Harsha [10:30 AM]: Airport’s chaotic. No flights until tomorrow at the earliest.
Sesha [10:31 AM]: Still no word from Mom or Dad
Sara [10:32 AM]: JARVIS says Mom’s phone is moving
Harsha [10:33 AM]: Who tf is JARVIS?
Sara [10:33 AM]: Never mind.
Another explosion, closer this time. Sara watches a Chitauri craft cash into a nearby building, and sees people running in terror. Her hands glow bright enough to cast shadows on her wall.
She could help. She should help.
But she’d promised.
Time blurs. Sara watches Iron Man fly a nuclear missile through a portal, her heart stopping until he falls back through. She sees the Chitauri collapse, the portal close; the city starts to be still.
Then, finally, texts:
Amma [2:15 PM]: Sara
Amma [2:15 PM]: Chinna
Amma [2:16 PM]: I’m so sorry
The world stops.
Sara stares at her phone, refusing to understand what those words mean. More messages flood in:
Harsha [2:20 PM]: No no no
Sesha [2:21 PM]: This can’t be happening
Aurelio [2:22 PM]: We found a car. Leaving now.
Sara no longer felt the thrum of her powers – she felt cold, empty, hollow.
Another call – Tony this time.
“I’m on my way,” he says, his voice rough. “Don’t move. Just… stay there, Kuvi. Please.”
“I could’ve helped,” she whispers. “I could’ve…”
“This isn’t your fault, you hear me? This is not your fault.”
But it feels like her fault because she stayed hidden. Because she’d kept her promise. Because she had all this power and still couldn’t save her father – the man who raised her, loved her, believed in her.
Her phone buzzes again – her friends checking in:
Mei [2:30 PM]: Sara, you okay? News says SI took heavy damage
Dylan [2:31 PM]: We’re here if you need us
Zara [2:31 PM]: Whatever you need, just ask
Sara looks at her message, her poster of Emma Stone (who she finally admitted to herself she might find attractive), at all the trappings of her normal teenage life. While she sits here, safe in her room, protecting her secrets, her father has died at the hands of the Chitauri.
The sounds of repulsors outside her window announced Tony’s arrival. Through her tears, Sara watches Iron Man land on her fire escape, the suit peeling away to reveal her biological father’s devastated face.
“I kept my promise,” she says, voice cracking, as he climbs through her window. “I stayed hidden.”
“I know, amma.” he pulls her into his arms as she finally starts sobbing. “I know.”
Later, there would be questions. Later there would be guily and grief and growing up too fast. Later, there would be choices about secrets and powers and who she wanted to become.
But for now, Sara lets herself be held by the father she couldn’t publicly claim, mourning the father she’d lost, while outside her window, New York City begins the long process of putting itself back together.
Her phone lights up one final time:
2 new messages: Amma
Coming home. We’ll get through this together.
Some secrets are too heavy to carry alone anymore.
Sara stares at those words, understanding their weight. Her mother wasn’t just talking about Arun’s death. Things would have to change now.
But that was for the rest of the week. Tonight was for grief, for family, for holding tight to what remained while mourning what was lost.
Even if what was lost might have been prevented if only she hadn’t stayed hidden.
If only she hadn’t kept her promise.
But some secrets are too risky to release.
Mhm.