From Sprinkler Splashes to Fireplace Ashes
THE OFFICIAL LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
[Transcript from ATHONY EDWARD STARK’s speech on AVENGERS: SPECIAL TEAMS honorary commencement, January 29th, 2019.]
[STARK]: I’d apologize for being late, but it's my daughter’s first birthday today, and we really operated on Morgan’s time today.
(laughter)
[STARK]: Morgan is… Morgan is great, really. She came into Pepper and I’s life during a really dark time, during a dark time for everyone. When I was stuck up there, after the fact, I had these dreams… these vivid dreams of life down here, if it never had happened. I think we all did. It’s how we coped.
In all of them I had a kid in my life- Pepper and I had been talking about the possibility the morning of, actually, but neither of us knew she was already expecting. But Morgan wasn’t the only one I thought of. A large part of my life that I… really couldn’t, for the longest time, imagine without, was the reason I’m here today.
Spider-Man always stood out to me as a guy with this child-like optimism and charm with such a deep and mature sense of duty to others that most of us can only dream of achieving. For some, he was the neighbor who walked them home in the dark. For others, he would rush into burning buildings to save people he didn’t even know. He was incredible, you know that? You do. You all do. It’s why we’re here today; for the incredible Spider-Man.
When I met him, he said to me, “When bad things happen, and you have the power to stop it, they happen because of you.”
I wonder what would have happened if Spider-Man had stayed on Earth. Would he have gone surrounded by friends and family, comfortable? Or would he have been out there, comforting the confused, until the last minute?
With the permission of his family, I would like to share what his final hours were like to you today. In space, on Titan, Spider-Man was vital in the fight against Thanos. Without him there, I know I would not be alive today. He… was witty, he was brave, and until the last second, he believed we could win. He had unwavering faith in us… he was on a trip when Thanos came to Earth. No one asked him to be there. No one made him put on the suit that day and help. It's so easy to look the other way, when the bad things happen… but Spider-Man never did. He gave his all right until the very second, because he was full of this unwavering faith in the good, in us-
(indistinguishable)
[STARK]: He’s… He was a hero. A real hero. Not motivated by fame, or special treatment, but by the fact that he knew he had special abilities that no one else had, that could make a difference.
To me, that’s the very definition of being an Avenger. Something he had always wanted to be. Something he always was.
So, Spidey- I knew you were waiting for me to say it officially, but welcome to the Avengers.
—-2023—-
“Did you get home safe?” Harry’s voice was cold and metallic as it filtered through the speaker on Betty’s phone across the countertop, having been abandoned in Betty’s pursuit of chopping cucumber for a part of their dinner that night. She was trying a casserole- something a younger version of her would have scoffed at. In another time, she would have called them too “suburban,” an uninventive method of meal planning that more or less resulted in shoving ingredients together rather than allowing them to shine independently.
Food was expensive. Living was expensive. A lot had changed in five years.
“Yes, Mom.” Betty sighed, setting the knife down to open the kitchen window. The soft, unfiltered sounds of New York didn’t as much pour into the room as a slow trickle; things had been quiet ever since the Blip. “I promise I’m a big girl Harry, I can handle the five p.m. subway.”
Harry was quiet for a moment. “I worry.”
“And you’re so sweet for it.” Betty reassured me. For a few moments it was silent, save for the sound of Betty’s knife knocking against the cutting board after she resumed. It wasn’t suburban, it was smart- resourceful, even. This would last them tonight and tomorrow for dinner.
“How is your mom?” Harry asked finally, voice small. Betty paused.
“You know her. Still trying to get me on board with husband number three.” Betty joked. “She’s bringing him up this weekend for dinner.”
“Ah. Good old Quentin.” Harry mused. “Is he a dick like Adrian, or has Lillian’s type changed?”
“Harry.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Harry said, but the smile in the tone of his voice assumed otherwise. He sobered up. “Does OSCORP need to have a business trip this weekend? We could get away for a bit, things have been calming down with your work recently.”
Now that Harry said it, a break sounded incredible. Ever since Betty first published, she and Harry hadn’t known much peace. It's why they got along so well- something about the limelight cast the heir of OSCORP in rose-colored glass and for him, vice versa. They both understood the double-sided coin of being painfully well-known and painfully broke. They both inherited issues. Harry didn’t so much as speak to his mother since she was committed to a home for her psychological issues following his father’s death. Betty had been near-avoidant of her mother ever since her elopement to the mysterious Quentin Beck, a man Betty never formally met and only talked to once over the phone. They were practically two peas in a pod.
Her mother had tried to reason with her, claiming that The Blip “cast things in a different light.” Well, Betty had yet to get her eyes accustomed. She had nothing but resentment for her mother’s next careless choice.
But she surprised herself with an actual genuine tone when she said, “We really shouldn’t. I’m going to have to meet him one of these times.”
“Where’s the excitement in that?” Harry pushed. Betty, despite herself, laughed- Harry had his eyes and heart set on his company for most of the past year. They were finally in a place to right themselves for the first time since ‘08, when Stark Industries barreled into their market space and sent stock plummeting. To hear him so spontaneous was refreshing.
“I honestly think you’d like him, as much as I hate it.” Betty said. “You and him have an enemy in common.”
“Who?” Harry’s voice lilted toward genuine interest.
“Stark.”
“When’s dinner again?” Harry joked. Betty opened her mouth to reply- what she would have said, she had no idea- because at that exact moment she heard screams from outside the window; the same screams she had heard nearly five years ago to this day. They were halted- almost as if resuming. Almost as if they had been silenced so long ago. The hairs on her arms stood straight up.
The knife fell through her hands, and distantly she could hear Harry’s voice as it clattered to the ground. It didn’t matter, though. Seconds later she was toeing on her flats, out the door, and into the streets to be one of the very first witnesses of a very miraculous event.
She knew what those sounds meant. Minutes later, Betty Brandt was on almost every television across the nation, doing what she did best.