This chapter introduces a character from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, but it's not necessary to have watched the show in order to understand the story.
This chapter is also PG-13 as far as language, because you can't be related to Tony Stark and not let a few bad words slip out here and there.
Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own rights to Marvel and make no profit off of them.
January 27, 2010
Joei spent the first two hours of their flight sleeping in the small bedroom of the jet. When she awoke, it felt like she had only slept five minutes. She stared up at the ceiling for a long time, images of yesterday running through her head. Tony's words were on repeat in her mind, wrapping themselves around her until she felt like she would drown in her own guilt. It didn't help when a knock sounded on her door and it opened slightly, filling the otherwise dark room with a blue glow.
"May I?"
"Yeah," Joei answered, her voice coming out a lot quieter and weaker than she expected.
"You okay?" asked Tony, sitting on the end of the bed, "Pepper said you had a headache."
"The nap helped. Still hurts a little, though," she sniffed, not looking him in the eye.
"Hey," said Tony, waving his hand in front of her face, "Over here, remember?"
"Sorry," she tried her best at a smile, turning to look at his eyes. Her stomach clenched so badly she thought she might be air sick. She knew that look. He'd come to apologize.
"Look, I get it," he started, running a hand through his hair, "We haven't really...had a lot of time together in the past year. Not like before. And then I do something that appeared to be only mildly stupid...and then some idiot shows up and makes things a thousand times more dangerous...and you were..." he struggled for a word until Joei offered one for him.
"Terrified?"
"Yeah. And you stayed to help. I get that, too. I get wanting to help, and I get being scared out of your mind. But I just...I'm not afraid of what can happen to me, Josephine. I'm afraid of what can happen to you. I've always been afraid of what can happen to you."
"Dad..."
"Hold on, I'm kind of on a roll here," he said, taking her hand in both of his, "Joei, when I was in that cave, I could have flat out refused to make that bomb. I could have let myself die instead of allowing the bad guys to get a hold of my tech. I thought about it, more than once. I thought 'if I'm the only one that can give them what they want, then I'll just take myself out of the equation.' But I didn't."
Tony stoop up and continued, "I didn't because of you. You're the reason that I got out of there. You're the reason I made this," he tapped lightly at the arc reactor, "You're the reason I made the suit, the reason I decided to do what I do. You are always the reason. For those few good decisions that I make amongst a long list of shitty ones, you are the reason."
Joei couldn't find a single word to say, and instead chose to stand up and wrap her arms around her dad. They remained that way for well over a minute, both holding onto each other for very different reasons. Reasons that neither one knew or understood about the other.
Finally, Tony spoke, "Now I have to go apologize to Pepper. Maybe if I take her some food it'll soften her up a little."
Joei let out a watery laugh, "Good luck with that. I'm going to check the hospital listings for people who were injured in the race. Maybe we can help."
"Make sure all their hospital expenses are covered. This one was on me." said Tony, "Well, actually it was on Vanko, but he was coming after me so..."
"I'll take care of it," said Joei, going to fish for her cell phone amongst her belongings. "You know, while we're on it, we should put in another donation for Haiti Relief. The trucks we sent with food and water ran out yesterday. I was thinking we could send some more, along with some other necessities. Soap, woman's hygiene products, toilet paper, diapers, all that sort of stuff."
Tony leaned against the door frame, looking impressed, "That sounds perfect. You know, what? You're in charge of charity projects from now on. Yep. Officially. You can do that from college, right? If you need help you can ask Natalie or Caitlin or even Pepper if she's not too busy. Get on it."
"Really?" asked Joei, a smile drawing on her face. Maybe it had to do with spending her first few years in a horrid orphanage with a horrid director, but humanitarian projects had always been her favorite part of what her dad did.
"Yeah. Just don't let your grades drop."
"Thanks, Dad!" she hugged him again briefly before rushing to get her cell phone and computer, "I'm going to start on that right now."
"Hey, kiddo?" Tony said from the door.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Joei spun around to face her dad. Tony might not have been the type of father to say it every single day, but he said it often enough. She'd never felt unloved by Tony, and he'd always been there to tell her he loved her when she needed him to. So she wasn't entirely sure why it was affecting her now. Maybe it was the way his voices sounded, like he was trying to fit one hundred 'I love yous' into a single one. Her eyes pooled with tears again and she found it hard to smile.
"I love you, too, Dad."
January 28, 2010
"Miss Stark, your father would like to know if you have time to go to dinner before setting out?" Jarvis' voice rang out, momentarily silencing the loud pop music that Tony insisted would rot her brain.
"Yeah, I just have a couple more things to pack up," said Joei, folding a sweater and placing it gently in the small suitcase she'd brought.
"Sir says he will meet you in the living room in twenty minutes."
"Thank you, Jarvis."
A few more minutes passed in which Joei walked into her large closet and looked around once more. Deciding that was all she needed for now, she searched for something to wear to dinner. Just as she was about to change, there was a knock on her door.
"Come in!" she called, kicking off her shoes.
"Hello, Miss Stark."
"Caitlin," said Joei in surprise, turning around to find both her and Agent Romanoff inside her bedroom. She quickly walked over to the control panel on the wall by her door and switched Jarvis off for the next twenty minutes.
"We're safe," she nodded when the AI went offline.
"Where's Stark?" asked Romanoff.
"Either in the workshop or getting ready for dinner," said Joei, "What can I do for you, agents?"
"We need you to stay here," said Natasha.
"Beg your pardon?"
"Vanko has escaped prison," the redhead explained.
"HE WHAT?!"
"It's not being released to the public, but we're taking certain security measures."
"On top of that, Fury thinks that sending you to the Academy may not be right for the job he's got lined up for you." said Caitlin, sitting on the edge of Joei's bed.
"Why not?" Joei asked, her brow furrowing. She'd worked incredibly hard this past semester, and while she might not have been the top student, she wasn't behind, either.
"Things are getting very weird very fast," said Caitlin, her elbows coming to rest on her knees, "Faster than Fury thought they would. You need to be ready for profiling possible candidates and for field operations as fast as possible. Having you at the Academy means we can only do one at a time."
"So what am I supposed to do then? Where is Fury sending me?" asked Joei, annoyed that Nick Fury apparently thought he could move her around like a chess piece until he needed her.
"Like we said, you're staying here for now," said Romanoff, "Fury's arranging a new plan for you."
"He's putting me on hold, more like," Joei muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. Then again, she'd missed her strange little family, and the events of the past couple of days had her not so convinced of going back to school.
The agents ignored her comment, giving each other a look that suggested they were having an entire conversation without speaking.
"Will you be alright with making up an alibi?" asked Caitlin.
Joei sighed, "With the way Dad has been lately, I could probably just sit around here for the rest of the semester and he wouldn't even realize I was missing school. I'll come up with something."
When the time for dinner came, Joei and Tony rode in his car. Happy didn't come along this time, but Romanoff had managed to sneak the Iron Man suitcase into the trunk of Tony's Rolls-Royce.
"I got us a table facing the beach," said Tony, holding out his arm for her to enter the restaurant. "Is that alright?"
"That's good," Joei answered.
Tony didn't have to state his name to the hostess before being led to their table out on the back patio of the restaurant that they both loved.
"Is something on your mind?" asked Tony, looking intently at Joei's tight expression as they took their seats.
Joei sighed. It was best to get this done sooner.
"What would you say if I decided not to go back to school this semester?"
"What?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. Joei could tell that a part of him was delighted, which confused her. She knew her dad missed her terribly, but he'd always considered knowledge to be the most important thing in the world. He'd saved enough money for her to go to whatever university in the world she decided on.
"I just...maybe Syracuse isn't the right place for me. I could transfer, or spend a semester focusing on my new responsibilities at Stark." said Joei, "Maybe I could..."
"May I take your drink orders, Mr. and Miss Stark?" the waiter interrupted. Joei and Tony ordered both drinks and food quickly and returned to the conversation at hand.
"Just one semester?"
"Yeah," said Joei, "Maybe less if I were to find somebody to take me in after deadlines."
"And you promise you'll go back to school after that?"
"I promise," said Joei, swallowing hard and wishing her drink would come soon. There went another lie to add to her constantly growing list of things she would eventually have to apologize to her dad for.
"Sounds like a plan," said Tony as their drinks arrived.
Joei's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Really? You're not going to argue about the importance of my education?"
Tony shrugged, "I'm sure you're smart enough to know what direction you want to go in. And I wouldn't mind having some more noise around the house, you know?"
"Can't you just say you miss me like a normal dad?" Joei chuckled.
"Nope."
February 13, 2010
"Is there something I can do for you, Agent?" Joei scowled, keeping her eyes fixed on the window display of the store she was looking at. She'd received a single text with an address on it. It was far off in some corner of the city that she would never have thought to shop in, but she had to admit they had a few nice things she might be taking home with her.
"Book store down the street. It's important," said Barton, pretending to be interested in a necklace a couple feet away, "Tell the lady at the back counter that your friend Nick recommended that you read a spy novel set in the 40s."
Joei sighed and waited a minute, walking slowly down the street and pretending to look at the displays of each store until she reached the bookshop's main window display. She acted as if one of the books had caught her eye, tilting her head and looking up at the name of the bookstore as if it interested her greatly, and finally walking in.
She looked at the shelves as she slowly walked toward the back of the store. There were only a few patrons inside the store, all taking up the front of the store where the books were shiny and the employees seemed nicer than the sour looking woman in her fifties that was sitting among dusty old books.
"Um, hello. I'm looking for a book." said Joei nervously. She knew it would work, of course, but this woman's eyes were cold and calculating and it felt like the lady could see into Joei's brain and read her every thought, "My friend Nick recommended it. It's a spy novel, set in the 40s."
"I have just the book you're looking for," the woman said, holding up a panel in the counter that would allow Joei to cross, "Follow me."
Behind the counter and off to one side was a deep blue curtain, through which Joei followed the woman down a concrete hallway. The hallway didn't match anything in the cozy bookstore behind them, but it reminded Joei of the administration buildings at The Academy.
At the end of the hall they turned right, arriving at a door that scanned the older woman's hand and clicked open for Joei, revealing a very tiny closet containing a metal detector and a blank stretch of wall beyond it.
"Pass the metal detector and you'll be allowed through," said the woman.
The moment Joei stepped forward, the door behind her was closed and she was plunged into darkness.
"Please don't let me get kidnapped," Joei muttered to herself as lights began to go off around the metal detector and the wall in front of her suddenly slipped aside, allowing her access to a small conference room where two men were sitting and waiting for her.
"Agent Coulson, I hear you have something important for me."
"More like various somethings. Sorry for interrupting your day," he said.
"I was finished with most of what I had to do today anyway," Joei shrugged. "So, what's this all about?"
Barton slipped out of the room quietly, leaving Joei with Coulson.
"First off, I have an Avengers report."
"Couldn't you have typed that out and sent it?"
"Yes, but there are other matters we need to discuss, as well." said Coulson, opening the file folder he'd been carrying with him, "We're still tracking Dr. Banner from a distance. He hasn't been this close to our borders in a long time."
Joei nodded, "If he crosses Customs, I want somebody tracking him closer."
"Fury's already assigned Agent Sitwell in case that happens." said Coulson, "The next thing is pretty big. Our Project Rebirth Tracking Team found this."
She was handed a small stack of pictures, all containing the same things. Old bombs encased in ice, words just barely visible on some of them, but a few were clear enough. Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C. were visible on three of them.
"These bombs were located by our team, believed to be the same bombs that were on the Valkyrie when Steve Rogers crash landed in the ocean."
"That means we're close, doesn't it?" she asked, heart racing, "Rogers crashed to keep these bombs from hitting our cities. The plane can't be too far off. If you find the plane, you find Captain America."
"The search is still going," Coulson nodded.
"Alright, and what's the other big important thing you needed to tell me?" asked Joei.
Coulson pulled out yet another file, this one much bigger than the last.
"Your alternate education plan has been arranged." said Coulson.
"Where's Fury sending me now?" Joei rolled her eyes, still sour over the fact that Fury was swinging her around like a puppet without ever showing his face. She opened the file, revealing a piece of paper with the picture of a black man in a suit in the top left corner.
"This is Dr. Andrew Gardner," said Coulson, "He's one of S.H.I.E.L.D's top consultants when it comes to profiling."
"Then why not get him to profile your Avengers candidates?"
"Fury wants to keep as few people on this as possible." Coulson explained.
Joei sighed and shook her head, "I still don't understand what I'm doing here, Agent Coulson. I'm smart, but I'm no genius. It took me months to climb that goddamn rock wall and I can't run or lift things to save my life. I'm not covert. I don't have any outstanding talents other than charming my way out of trouble or talking to the media. Why put me on something as high profile as this? Why not give it to you or Romanoff or another one of Fury's most trusted agents?"
Coulson leaned forward and placed a hand near Joei's, "Honestly, even I can't answer that. Fury has reasons behind everything he does. He doesn't always tell people those reasons."
Joei huffed and rolled her eyes. She really wasn't sure about this, but she'd invested so much into the entire charade just to get into the Academy, and even if she ended up not being what Nick Fury expected, being an Agent had sounded appealing since she'd met Peggy.
"Alright, so what will I be doing with Dr. Gardner?"
"He's going to be your private tutor," said Coulson, "He's a professor at Culver University. For the most part you'll be able to communicate online with him, but he might ask you to travel to Virginia every now and then, or to any other places where you might be able to learn more about his job."
"I didn't know colleges did private tutors."
"They don't. But S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't offer the kind of major you're going to need to handle a team of world's most extraordinary human beings."
"Alright. So will I be working exclusively with Dr. Gardner?"
"You'll have online classes with a list of professors at Culver, but Dr. Gardner will be your coordinator and liaison. Meanwhile, Agents Barton and Agent Graham will be in charge of your physical and field training."
"I get to keep Caitlin?" Joei smiled. Having at least one more familiar face around would make her feel a little less isolated.
"Yes." said Coulson, fishing a small box out of his pocket. "Here. This phone is S.H.I.E.L.D issued, for official use only. Use it to contact Agents Barton, Romanoff, Graham, and myself, as well as Dr. Gardner, at almost any time. It's encrypted, practically fullproof."
Joei took the small flip phone out and stuck it in her pocket.
"You'll be hearing from Gardner soon," Coulson continued. "Good luck. You should leave first."
"Thank you, Agent Coulson." Joei nodded, standing up and taking her new batch of files with her.
"You're welcome," said the agent, his usual tight smile playing on his face as they shook hands.
Joei left the small room and stepped back out into the bookstore, purchasing a couple novels and a text on psychology before heading back to her car.
February 14, 2010
"Knock, knock," said Joei, having successfully crept her way up to her dad's room where the door was open.
Tony jumped, swearing when a drop of something spilled onto the carpet and sucking his thumb as he turned around.
"Joei!" he exclaimed, still clad in an old t-shirt and pajama pants.
"Surprise," Joei laughed, leaning against the door frame, "Happy Valentine's Day. What's that?"
"What?" Tony asked, looking down at the small gadget in his hand and shoving it quickly into his pocket, "Nothing. Blood sugar test."
"Dad," Joei sighed, stepping forward to put her hands on his shoulders, "Have you not been eating?"
"Uh, I may have skipped dinner last night," said Tony, earning a scolding look from his daughter.
"Well, since it is Valentine's Day, and we are both utterly, hopelessly single..."
"My singleness is not hopeless," Tony raised a finger, "I could have a girlfriend if I wanted to. I just don't want to. Valentine's Day is a fabricated, capitalistic holiday with little to no sentimental meaning at all."
"Well," Joei smirked, "It's too bad you feel that way, because I was hoping you would be my Valentine and we could go spend the day together, starting with a late breakfast..."
Tony's ears perked up.
"...but since you don't particularly enjoy this holiday..."
"Wait...wait," said Tony, trying to look nonchalant, "I mean, it's not like I have anything else to do today. Well, except some last minute party planning..."
"Last minute what now?"
"Party planning," said Tony, walking toward his closet in search of something to wear, "It's Valentine's Day."
"Um, excuse me," said Joei, following after him into his walk in closet which was even bigger than her own, "But, do you really think that with the field day the media has been having..."
"Blue tie or green tie?"
"...that we should be bringing anymore attention to ourselves..."
"Maybe no tie. If you're going to wear that..."
"...by doing something outlandish and irresponsible like one of your insane parties..."
"I should probably keep it a little more casual."
"Is this what Pepper feels like? Because I'm starting to understand why she yells at you so much," Joei huffed.
"I promise it won't be a big party. Thirty, fifty guests tops. Just dinner and some jazz music or something. You know, most college kids are dying to go to grown up parties with free booze," said Tony, holding up two shirt in front of him.
"Not when they're thrown by their fathers," said Joei, pointing to one of the shirts, "And not while everybody around us is working their ass off to help you keep your suits, while you're moping around in your workshop doing God knows what," her voice began to rise, "and planning a goddamn Valentine's Day party! What has gotten into you?! It's like you don't even give a shit about anything anymore!"
Tony stared at her in silence as Joei seethed, quick and angry breaths coming out of her mouth and nose.
"I care more than I've ever cared before," he said evenly, and Joei noticed a sudden change in his eyes.
She felt too tired to stand, and somehow ended up sitting against the door frame of the closet, elbows propped up on her knees. Tony ended up in front of her, back pressed against the other side of the door frame.
"What's happening to you, Dad?" Joei asked, searching his eyes, which still looked glossed over and sad. But mostly, they looked tired. Not the sort of tired look he got when he went three days without sleep and had a post-caffeine crash. Just tired.
"I'm fine."
"That's bullshit," she answered quietly, earning a snort of laughter from her father.
The room was silent for almost two minutes, until Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I shouldn't tell you. Or maybe I should. But I'm just...there is something going on, but for my own selfish reasons, I can't tell you. I don't want you to have to act differently because of something so insignificant..."
"Dad..."
"Don't ask me, Josephine." he said, standing up and offering a hand to help her up, "If you do, I'll lie to you."
"Is that a tattoo, or something?" Joei pointed at map of lines that she hadn't noticed were crawling up Tony's neck, testing out her father's statement.
"Henna," Tony nodded, giving her a calculating stare.
Joei sighed. Whatever was going on was much bigger than a Russian with an arc reactor.
"I should have stayed home," Joei mumbled, walking out of the closet.
"You're here now," Tony shrugged.
Joei was halfway to her room when she made a split second decision.
"Jarvis, has Miss Rushman arrived yet?"
"She is pulling up into the driveway now, Miss Stark."
"Tell her to stay put. We're going for a drive."
An hour later, Joei had finished telling Agent Romanoff all of the strange behavior she'd witnessed in the last few months. The agent had listened quietly, driving until they reached the closest Starbucks drivethru and making their way back.
"Something is going on, and I know that if anybody can figure out what it is, it's S.H.I.E.L.D," said Joei, "I'm scared for him. He's acting like...like he's going to..."
"Die?"
Joei nodded, hands gripping the coffee cup in her hand a little too tightly as she stared down at her lap.
Romanoff sighed, "I was sent here to observe Tony and make an assessment. I'm not supposed to interfere with his decision making. I'm supposed to be neutral, except for a few tests here and there to gauge possible reactions, I'm supposed to nod and smile and agree to everything he says."
Joei sighed in defeat, "I was afraid you would say that."
"But..." Romanoff started, "He's an asset to S.H.I.E.L.D whether we decide to include him in the Initiative or not. And assets need to be alive in order to be assets. I'll tell Fury everything you just told me, including the skin rash. With any luck, he'll get a team to figure out whatever is happening to him."
"He better," said Joei, a newly found conviction in her voice at the thought of having the most powerful woman she knew as an ally, "I'm dishing out thousands of dollars a month to pay for his prolonged ice fishing trip."
They pulled up to the driveway then, coffee and a bag of treats in hand to calm the storm that was certainly brewing inside the house, if Pepper and Rhodey's cars were anything to go by.
"Thank you, Agent Romanoff," said Joei as they parked next to Pepper's car.
"Natasha," the Agent corrected, "And I'm glad I can be of use."
Looking back, Joei had to admit that falling asleep after she'd gotten dressed for the night was probably not the best idea.
She awoke, groggy and with a full face of make up, to loud ringing by her head. Realizing it was the S.H.I.E.L.D issued cellphone on the bedside table, she shot up and answered without looking at the caller ID, only to be assaulted by the sound of very loud music and yelling.
"Hello?" Joei asked in a croaky voice.
"Joei! Where are you?!"
She could barely make out Caitlin's voice over the thumping music, which Joei realized was also thumping ever so lightly throughout her bedroom, despite having nearly soundproof walls. It was most certainly not jazz music.
"Shit," Joei swore under her breath before yelling into the phone herself, "I'll be right there!"
Giving herself a once over in the mirror, she realized that the half updo she had put her hair in had been ruined by the pillows and decided to pull the bobby pins out and let her hair curl down her shoulders and back. Her sparkly blue dress was probably wrinkled in the back, but she honestly had bigger things to worry about, like the fact that from her window she could see a pool full of people, mostly women.
The moment she opened the door to her bedroom, she was assaulted with blaring music and screams.
"Joei!"
"Josephine!"
"Joei! Over here!"
People called for her attention, hugged her, or tried to flirt with her all the way down the stairs and into the living room, where she was brought face to face with the party in its entirety. Men and women crowded around the living room, drinks in hand as they danced, yelled, and clapped. Off to the side, in a much more secluded lounge area, she could see a slew of top celebrities sitting back and watching the party with amusement. Joei blushed and waved when Christian Bale tried to wave her over, standing with a guy who looked only a couple years older than herself, but motioned that she'd come back later.
Just as she turned back to find that it was DJ A.M. playing up front, a much more alarming sight made Joei come close to a panic attack. Tony Stark walked onto the raised platform, outfitted completely in his Iron Man armor.
"This mother..."
"Joei!'
Josephine turned to see Caitlin rushing over to her.
"Thank God. Where's Natash..Natalie?" Joei corrected quickly as three giggling women who looked barely old enough to drink walked past them.
"I'm not sure," said Caitlin, "She was dealing with some wierdos in the kitchen."
"I'm going to kill him," said Joei, turning back to where her dad was now playing along with the DJ. "Weed out the reporters and make them leave, I'll take care of the celebrities."
Half an hour later, Joei had managed to charm her way into making most of the celebrities leave. Those who did stay were probably too drunk to remember anything that would happen in the morning, anyway.
"I got the reporters out," said Caitlin when they found each other in the kitchen, "But there's one other little problem."
"What?"
"Your dad is really drunk," said Caitlin, "As in, falling over himself in the suit drunk. And Pepper's car just pulled up."
"Oh boy."
The two girls rushed back to the living room in time to see Tony fall over himself, and Pepper standing next to none other than James Rhodes, looking positively livid. Joei approached them cautiously.
"How did this happen?!" Rhodey growled.
"Don't blame me!" Joei held her hands up, "He said it was a small dinner party with jazz music! I just got dressed and may or may not have fallen asleep when all the guests arrived."
Rhodey and Pepper gave her pointed looks.
"Hey! I'm the kid here," she crossed her arms over her chest, "You're the angry mom and dad who are here to stop the party."
"This is ridiculous," Rhodey said through his teeth, "I just stuck my neck out for this guy."
"I know, I know," said Pepper, trying to calm her friend, "I'm going to handle it, okay? Just let me handle it."
"Handle it," said Rhodey angrily, "Or I'm gonna have to."
Joei followed behind Pepper's brisk pace as Tony took the mic and began to speak.
"You know the question I get asked most often is 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?'" Tony slurred.
"Oh no." Joei muttered in mortification as Tony took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Just like that."
The room exploded with laughs and applause as Pepper climbed onto the dais and approached Tony. Joei stood off to the side, feeling absolutely mortified.
"Is this...normal?" Caitlin asked.
"Not in front of me," Joei shook her head, "He was always a hard party goer and parties usually meant coming home drunk. But he has never, ever gotten drunk somewhere that he knows I'll be. This is so embarrassing."
Caitlin patted Joei on the back, and Joei couldn't help but be grateful for her blonde companion's constant presence as of late.
"If you ever decide being an agent isn't your thing anymore, I call dibs on hiring you," said Joei.
Pepper was taking the microphone from Tony and smiling at the crowd now, "Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?"
"I love you," Tony giggled.
Joei rolled her eyes, "I've been trying to get him to say that sober for two years and he says it when she's mad as hell at him."
"Thank you so much, Tony. We all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. And we're gonna say goodnight now," said Pepper, motioning for Joei to step up next to her, which she did as the crowd let out sounds of disagreement.
"Wait wait no," Tony started, prompting Joei to take the microphone as Pepper smiled and tried to reason with a drunk man in a large metal suit.
"Sorry, everybody," said Joei with a smile, "But it really is time for us to finish up here. We've got a big day tomorrow and...it looks like my dad wants to say his goodbyes so I'll just..."
Pepper nodded and allowed Joei to hand over the microphone to Tony.
"I'll take this," said Pepper, taking the bottle of wine away frrm Tony and setting it elsewhere.
"The ladies are right," said Tony, making his way through the crowd, "The party is over. Then again, the party was over for me like an hour and a half ago."
"No," Joei's eyes widened and she shook her head, "Uh-uh."
"The after party starts in fifteen minutes!"
"I'm going to need a longer list of swear words for this one," Joei muttered.
"And if anybody (Pepper), doesn't like it, there's the door."
And then Tony blew up their custom made, half a million dollar glass fountain with a point of his hand.
"Fuck."
Joei turned to the spot where Rhodey had been, only to find that the man had turned around and was walking in what looked suspiciously like the direction of the workshop.
"Find Natalie!" Joei said to Caitlin urgently as Tony began to blast wine bottles out of the sky.
Caitlin ran off quickly and Josephine turned her attention to the woman with a blonde bob and scantily revealing dress who was helping Tony with his little game of Duck Hunt.
"Hey," she called out in the most intimidating voice she could muster, nearly groaning when she realized it reminded her a little too much of Agent Barton, "You need to go."
"We're just having a little fun." the woman giggled drunkenly.
"Yeah, well," Joei grabbed the woman's arm before she could throw another bottle into the air. Tony was looking around for something, muttering about reflections, "it looks like you've had enough fun for one night. Get out."
"Don't be a party pooper and let the grown ups have fun, little girl," the woman whined.
"Leave," Joei insisted, but before she could drag the woman away, the drunken blonde pushed Josephine with such unexpected strength that the younger woman lost her balance and fell backward, landing with her hands behind her, and a stinging pain immediately shot up the outer side of her palm.
The drunk blonde was back to throwing bottles in the air, and Tony was so concentrated on looking at the bottle's reflection in a serving tray that he didn't notice his daughter on the ground, nursing a bleeding hand from which a piece of black glass was sticking out.
"Dammit," Joei cursed for what felt like the millionth time and tried to pull herself up while avoiding the rest of the glass that surrounded her on the floor.
"Joei! Are you okay?!" Caitlin was by her side in an instant.
"How good are you at first aid?" Joei groaned, sitting up as another woman brought out a watermelon, "They couldn't blow up fruits before I spilled my guts out of my hand?"
Josephine looked down at her hand and instantly felt nauseous and faint, so that Caitlin had to grab her by the waist and lead her to the bar.
"Woah, that looks bad," said the bartender when they had successfully maneuvered their way through the crowd and behind the bar.
"Yeah, it feels pretty shitty, too," Joei groaned as Caitlin searched for the first aid kit that was kept underneath the bar. Her eyes just about bugged out of her head when the older girl pulled out a pair of tweezers.
"I'm not going to lie," said Caitlin, talking hold of Joei's hand, "This is going to hurt."
Joei grabbed a cloth napkin with her good hand and stuffed it in her mouth, turning to watch the woman brandishing the watermelon. Caitlin made quick work of it while the bartender looked away, and Joei was only somewhat grateful that the crowd was loud enough to drown out her scream. Tony was still completely unaware of his daughter's accident, and Pepper, Rhodey, and Natasha were nowhere in sight as the watermelon was blown to pieces, drenching everybody in sticky juice and chunks of fruit.
"I'm only going to say this once!" a voice called out over the crowd, silencing everybody.
"Cait, might want to move faster," said Joei, as the crowd parted to reveal the upgraded Mark II Iron Man suit, with James Rhodes as its pilot.
"Get out."
"You're going to need stitches, but this will hold you over for now." said Caitlin, wrapping Joei's hand tightly as the entire building evacuated.
"Okay, let's go," said Joei, knowing that this was a fight she did not want to be in the middle of. She grabbed Caitlin's hand with her good one and led her outside as Rhodey made a grab for Tony.
They found Pepper in the foyer, being approached by Natasha.
"Don't you Miss Potts me!" Pepper was pointing and yelling at the other redhead, "I'm onto you! Ever since you AH!"
The four women jumped and ran to the edge of the room as two Iron Man suits crashed through the roof with a deafening bang.
"That was my room," Joei muttered, her sarcasm and one liners kicking in as she struggled not to panic.
The two men began to fight, and Happy ran toward Pepper and Joei to drag them away.
"WILL YOU IDIOTS STOP THIS?!" Joei yelled, panic taking over as Caitlin dragged her away and toward the glass doors, around which the crowd had gathered to watch the fight.
"You need to go to the doctor," said Caitlin, leading Joei down toward the road entrance of the garage so that they were not far behind Pepper and Caitlin.
"Caitlin! Are you okay? What happened to your hand?" Pepper asked frantically when the two girl caught up to them.
"It's fine. Caitlin's taking me to go get it checked," said Joei, "Both of you go home. Caitlin and I will get a hotel."
"Stay at my place," offered Pepper.
"That's the first place dad will look in the morning and I'm not sure I'll want to face him yet," Joei shook her head, "I'll call you tomorrow, okay? Just go."
Pepper finally assented after a few more arguments, and Joei climbed into the passenger seat of her own car as they drove to the hospital. Joei watched the house get farther and farther away through the rear view mirror, almost relieved when the entire thing didn't blow up. Until it did. Even from afar, the bright light that was all too familiar burst through the sides of the house.
"That was a reactor explosion," Joei panted, vaguely recognizing that she was on the verge of a panic attack.
"Joei, listen to me," said Caitlin, "It's okay. Everything will be fine."
"FRIDAY!"
"Yes, Miss Stark?"
"Tap into the suit."
"Right away, Miss Stark."
The GPS screen lit up with a live feed of the Iron Man armor's head's up display, flickering slightly into focus.
"Are you alive?"
"Ugh...yeah." Tony groaned through the comms.
"Did I just watch Rhodey fly off with one of your suits?"
"Yes."
"Good. Maybe he'll use it responsibly."
"Are you mad at me, too?"
"Furious. I'll call you tomorrow or...whenever I don't want to violently murder you," said Joei, ending the call before anything else could be said.
Now everybody is mad at Tony! Poor guy, he just wanted to have one last awesome party. Also, I am aware that dates have been changed. This party falls nowhere near Tony's birthday like it does in the movie, but some of these date changes were necessary in order to keep up with Joei's schooling/age and the future of this story. Please please pleeeeaaase leave your reviews, and thank you for reading!
