Note: This story doesn't use any specific version of the Marvel universe for it's setting, as such it's more of an alternate take on the world. An easy way of looking at it would be stick five years or so onto the end of the Iron Man movie (however disregard the final scene). The Avengers are active, there are many super heroes around, Captain America is a household name etc. Although Iron Man is common knowledge the public still believe him to be Tony Stark's bodyguard.

Note 2: The format of this particular chapter has been improved due to a comment by a reader, so thank you to them. Hopefully it's easier to read now. We will keep this formatting for future chapters.

The glistering golden doors of the Hotel Stark shone as an attractive blonde woman in a skirt suit approached them. Evelyn felt her eyes roll in her sockets at the name as she stared up at the glorified building. It wasn't the first time she had been here nor would it be the last. However, every time she had to come to this certain building it was never for a good reason. The reason could be either that Tony Stark had gotten himself smacked on the front of every newspaper over a drunken night or on rare occasions even worse. On this occasion, it happened to be the latter. In fact, this event happened to affect herself personally but she would not need to inform her boss of that. Her boss being that of Tony Stark. Evelyn was his personal assistant and who's main job is to, well, assist him in anyway she can. Her roles seemed to include getting him to meetings on time and getting him home if he consumed too much alcohol to remember where he lived. Evelyn let out a soft sigh as she thought of what she had to relay to him. He would not take it very well. It seemed he was very attached to his bodyguard, Iron Man, no matter what he did. Though on most occasions, it was found that Iron Man was innocent, but she still could not get her head round why he didn't just hire someone else.

Evelyn snapped back to reality as a man in a business suit brushed past her obviously in a rush for something important. How she wished Tony were the same. It would save her a lot of trouble, but then again she would be out of a job. Through the doors of the hotel was the main lobby with a curved wooden desk at the top. There was a door attendant who gave her a nod and a friendly smile as she entered and Evelyn was sure he was checking her out as she walked through. That was understandable to her. Evelyn was quite short in height and most towered above her, but she held a fiery confidence to herself. Her hair was naturally blonde and hung just below her shoulders, with a slight wave to it. Most of the time she'd wear some sort of smart suit, either a trouser or skirt suit. Depending on her mood or how long ago she had done her laundry. Her facial features where somewhat delicate and attractive to some or in her mind most. Evelyn personally liked her eyes that were of a bright blue colour and shone like sapphires. However, the person situated at the reception desk was a woman and no amount of flirtatious behaviour would get passed her or at least Evelyn hoped not.

"Hey, Ana. Has Mr. Stark come home?" The middle-aged woman glanced up from her powder blue book, with some sort of romantic couple on the front.

"Oh yes, dear. Came home last night around midnight. Haven't seen him since. My guess is he's still up there." No surprise there. Evelyn would find him either here or on a bench nearby. She found Tony was like a dog. Eventually he'd make his way home.

"Thanks." She walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. Tony's apartment was the top floor, though considering this hotel belonged to him all of the floors were his, but he preferred the penthouse suite for obvious reasons. Evelyn found it more productive if he brought a nice big mansion away from people who he could embarrass himself in front of, but that could also be counter productive. There would be nobody around who knew whether he came home or not. Though in her mind she wasn't sure if that was such a bad thing.

The elevator shuddered to a stop as it reached the top level. "Top floor. Have a pleasant day." Odd. This was the first time Evelyn noticed there was a voice instructing her on her whereabouts. Come to think of it, there was no voice on the lower floors. On the other hand, it really did not matter as long as it didn't turn psycho on her and plummet the elevator down the shaft and make her go splat. The doors slid open to allow her out of the metal death trap. Maybe next time she'd use the stairs instead, though considering this was the top floor of the hotel, she doubted she would keep to that idea. In front of her were two wooden carved doors that were meant to show wealth and intimidate the weak. Something like that anyway. Evelyn approached the heavy looking doors and knocked her knuckles onto the wood softly at first.

"Mr Stark?" Her voice echoed down the small stretch of corridor that seemed somewhat unnecessary. After waiting for ten minutes, she tried again but much louder. So much so, her knuckles went red. Perhaps a bit too much force only due to her annoyance at having to come get him as he missed a meeting and the news she would have to give before they went to the office buildings.

"Mr Stark?" She repeated again but much louder. The woman at reception had said he had not left, unless he could suddenly fly out of the window all by himself. That meant he was either unconscious and completely knocked out or he was dead. Both related to the fact she would have to wait around for a couple of hours until he rose from his slumber or not in the case of having an early death. It was only then did the lack of sleep catch up to her and it was not only due to having to organize the day of Tony Stark. Last night a great tragedy occurred. Iron man killed her brother and not only just him. Many people. That was her main objective for being here. It was common knowledge that Iron Man is his bodyguard so it was in his best interest to know that his guard was actually a killer. Iron Man had encountered an enemy of relative power and sort to take him down but in the process, he destroyed a bridge with hundreds of cars still travelling across it. The mistake was a foolish one and should not have happened. It almost seemed like he was under the influence of something. Whatever it was he messed up big time and Evelyn refused to forgive him and would take revenge, but that would come later. She had a job to do and the closest person to Iron Man was her boss, Tony Stark. What better way to get a shot at him and Evelyn wished to get paid this month. Her hand slipped from the wooden door as she spun round and slammed her back into the door.

"Just great." Slowly she allowed her body to slip down the door so she was leaning on the door while sitting on the floor. The lack of sleep once appearing as her eyelids flickered down refusing to stay open for much longer. It was not the most comfortable position in the world but it would do. Her dreams would be filled of last night and what revenge she would reap.

- Last Night -

It was terrible. So many lives had just been destroyed in an instant and there was nothing she could do. Evelyn just stood and watched as countless of lives disappeared into the murky waters underneath the bridge or the lucky ones that had died instantly when their cars had joined the explosion. In fact she should of joined them, but was able to escape. She had blown the lock on the passenger side of her door and jumped out before the car went tumbling down with the rest. She had only enough time to save herself. Her brother on the other hand was in the driver's side and was now sinking slowly. Not many knew of her ability to generate and manipulate electricity, but it would not come in useful in this situation. The best she could do is fry the waters so they didn't drown to death. Iron Man had killed them. Destroyed this bridge and so with that destroyed them. There was no denying it for she had seen it with her eyes and would have been a victim of it herself. Evelyn felt her knees weaken as she collapsed near the edge of what was left of the connecting bridge. The last of her family had tumbled to his grave and she didn't save him. It could have been her fault but she choose to blame the once hero, Iron Man. Rough hands grabbed her from behind, sparks emitted from her hands and shocked whoever it was that dared move her. She swiftly turned to see the perpetrator only to see a scared looking fire fighter. The balls of electricity that had been building up in her hands fizzled out, as she did not wish to harm him. Quickly, her eyes darted to the sky in search of the red and gold armour but found he had gone. No need to rush her revenge. He would suffer slowly and hopefully painfully if she had her way.

"Er… Ma'am. You okay?" Her head turned sharply back to see the fire fighter had regained his feet and was staring at her too cautious to move forward.

"I'm fine." Without anymore of a word or care to listen to what else he had to say, Evelyn walked through the crowds of people that had gathered to view what the chaos had left behind. They were vultures. All of them. They just wanted to get a little more adventure in their day and something to talk about once they got home to their families. Evelyn doubted they had lost anyone just then. She almost felt they were also in need of being punished but it was not them that had caused the bridge to collapse, however much fun it would to give them a little shock.

Once Evelyn had returned home to her small apartment, she collapsed onto her single bed and felt the moisture drip from her eyes. Once one tear had fell many followed after them until her eyes felt too weak and dry to squeeze out a single tear. Before long, the exhaustion of crying got to her and she fell to sleep at around three in the morning. A sharp tune filled the empty room, which she recognized as the tone of her mobile. The digits on the corner of the screen showing her it was six am. Scooping it up, she sucked up some breathe before muttering a, "hello?"

It seemed the company had caught wind of the disaster at the bridge and knew that the media would want a statement from Mr Stark of the actions of Iron Man. They refused to accept he had no control over what his bodyguard did so it was up to her to locate him and make him do a statement or present one herself.

"Understood. I'll get right on it." The phone went dead indicating the phone call was over. There was no chance of locating Tony at this time in the morning. There were too many bars in this city he could be in and she was in no way about to go hunting for him. Time to grin and bare the press. It wasn't her favourite activity of working for Mr. Stark but it definitely was not the worst by far. Evelyn quickly changed her suit as the one she had been wearing was covered in dust.

A short check in the mirror and she was off out of the door once more. She had to hale a cab to get to the town hall, which took about an hour or two due to the held up traffic and protestors, where the media conference would be taking place. As soon as she stepped out of the yellow car strong arms of bodyguards wrapped round her waist as she was lead through the crowd of angry families. Technically she should be joining them in their rage, but she had to act her part otherwise it would be difficult to get close enough to Iron man. He trusted Tony Stark and if he trusted her getting to Iron Man would be simple. Once in the building, a personal assistant of whoever was in charge took her up the stairs onto the platform where she would need to make some sort of statement for Iron man's actions. It didn't occur to Evelyn that she would need to plan out something to say. Improvisation would have to do for now. Three microphones stood upon the wooden platform which she approached and flashed her brightest smile at the press before her.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press. A great tragedy has befallen us and we at Stark Industries give the grieving families our condolences, but we wish to express that Iron Man's participation in last night's actions were not of his own fault. Iron Man is here to protect us and always will be. Unfortunately, there are times when he is unable to achieve that. This is one of them. I myself have lost someone and refused to blame the hero of this city. We at Stark Industries wish the families of the deceased to forgive Iron Man for whatever participation they may see him to have taken. Thank you. I will not be taking questions." Of course, with her last statement a flood of voices filled the hall asking for the whereabouts of Iron Man now and other such questions that would go unanswered. Evelyn almost found it scary at how easily she could lie to millions. Next stop was to find Tony Stark. Her eyes drifted down to her watch confirming it was ten in the morning. The accident had happened at eight in the evening. There goes her beauty sleep.