"Rise and shine, brat—Daddy's home."
Special Agent Hill's voice sliced through mental haze and jerked Tony's conscience up by the collar.

"What!?" Tony panicked, grasping wildly in the too-bright room, hands coming in contact with a wooden desk briefly, before they were restrained in a strong, unyielding grasp.

"Look, calm down, kid! You can't get yourself out of this one."

His eyes widened in horror as they adjusted to the light and took in his surroundings. They were in a small, clinically white room filled with light that was equally as white and clinical. There were stormy faced guards surrounding every opening, and surveillance cameras were trained in every direction. There were no windows, and everything in the room was designed to be oppressive and invasive. Tony squinted and jerked his hands back in confusion.

"Those lights are too bright."

Hill's eyes lit up in wry amusement. "Sorry if it hurts your eyes, your Majesty."

"No, I mean, those lights are really bright. They don't make lights like that for public consumption, I know because I…" Tony paused. That means that this has to be federal. Tony, we sure as hell aren't in Kansas anymore.

"What the hell!? Where am I? Who are you? WHERE'S THE GIRL I WAS WITH?"

Tony resumed his wild gesticulation and began flinging the crudest insults and swears his mind could conjure.

"Anthony Edward Stark, you will shut your mouth and stand down immediately."

Tony froze in horror, eyes watering as an immensely familiar voice boomed from the doorway behind him. His shoulders hunched in defeat and he dropped his hands limply to his sides.

"No," he whispered, making direct eye contact with Agent Hill, attempting to convey just how wrong this situation was.

"Is that any way to greet your father, Anthony?" Tony turned his face away, hoping that the longer he didn't have to see the owner of the voice, the longer he could delude himself that it was all a bad dream.

"Maria, you look as lovely as ever. Did you do something to your hair, it's radiant."

Agent Hill glowered.

"They don't pay me enough to deal with two Starks in one day," she muttered. "Howard, I see you're as slimy as ever."

She smiled sweetly and walked toward the exit, stopping briefly to turn her nose up at Howard's grin.

"Coulson comes in at 5. That's when the show begins. Until then, you can take your kid home."

Maria left, and in her place, oppressive silence entered. Tony resolutely avoided eye contact, willing his eyes to stop watering—willing himself to be brave.

"Your fun is over. You cost me a lot of money, and caused a lifetime of embarrassment. We will begin discussing punishment and your future in the car, where we can have privacy. Let's go."

Tony sat.

"I said let's go."

Tony didn't budge.

Howard squatted beside him and whispered venomously:

"I'm not going to do this with you here, Tony. I'm already fed up with you, now you'd better get your ass out of that chair, or I swear to God, I'll—"

"YOU'LL WHAT?" Tony screamed, finally turning to face his father, hurling the flimsy wooden chair in Howard's direction. Guards rushed from every direction, grabbing Tony and holding him back as he strained against them, breath coming hot and fast like the exhaust from a train. Howard merely straightened up, looking entirely too composed and unaffected for Tony's liking.

"WHAT? YOU'LL GET SOMEONE ELSE TO HANDLE ME LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO? OR MAYBE YOU'LL HIT ME LIKE YOU DID TO MOM?"

Howard flinched, and Tony smirked in his small victory and sagged against the guards arms, feigning compliance. The guards, however, did not let go.

"That. Is. Enough." Howard stated, regaining his composure and turning to exit the door. "And by the way, after that incident, I never laid a hand on Maria again. You, on the other hand, you put your mother in the hospital with your selfishness. She had a heart attack because of the stress of you running away. I was the only one there to comfort her when she had dreams of you being killed by thugs every night. I was the only one there to nurse her back to health. So don't you dare act like you love your Mother more than I do. Now let's go."