Chapter 3: France
A:N/Again, sorry for any mistakes, I'm not Ash Ketchum, I can't catch 'em all!
Mom, Dad, Happy and I get out of the Phantom. The crowd is going insane. Mom is wearing a navy knee-length dress with tiny white polka dots and insanely high-heeled pumps. I picked out more of a gown. I sort of look Athenian, but not too fancy. I chose a floor length white gown with white, wide, lacey straps and with a V-shaped back. I got my hair done and the Italian hairstylist braided parts and it is in an elegant bun with a gold headband. I tend to do my own make up, though. Make up I can do, but I'm not great at hair. I wear my metallic gold platform pumps.
The screaming crowd is getting on my nerves. Dad finally starts to walk towards the door and he and Mom hold hands as they walk. Natalie meets us inside.
"Whatever happens in the next 20 minutes- just go with it," Dad says through smiling teeth.
"What? What's going to happen?" Mom asks.
"If you wouldn't mind we have a photographer," Natalie says as Dad reaches for a drink from the waiter beside us. As soon as he picks it up, Natalie grabs it right back out of his hand. We stand together as he takes a few photos and the photographer thanked us in very accented English and left. We all walk where Natalie is leading us until Dad stops at the corner table.
"Is this us?" Dad asks.
"It can be," Natalie replies.
"Great, make it us." Dad replies, leaving. He grabs Mom's hand and pulls her towards the bar. I just roll my eyes and sit down, Happy joining me. I look at Natalie talking to one of the staff and she shook her head, silently saying that she doesn't know what he's up to. I spy on Mom and Dad at the bar and Hammer and Christine Everhart are talking to them. It is repulsive; Everhart couldn't have Dad so she went for his wannabe. Eww. I shudder.
"You cold?" Happy asks me.
"No, just thought about something I shouldn't have." I tell him smiling, subtly pointing towards the quartet at the bar.
Happy just laughs, he knows that Everhart has a thing for Dad.
Mom returns from the bar, and sits down with us.
"Hammer needs a spot!" I hear Dad tell to Natalie as she made her way over here. Dad goes towards the restrooms. He's planning something- I just know it. I would bet my inheritance that he will drive the company stock car.
"Do you know what you want to eat?" Mom asks.
"I think I'm going with the…" I am about to say as Tortellini when people huddle around the TV. It would seem that I would have won the bet. Mom and I can see the TV where are sitting and see Dad going towards the track, surrounded by women and waving papers.
"What's the point of having a car if I don't drive it!" he says to the camera. He hops the fence onto the track.
"Natalie!" Mom calls. She appears from nowhere it seemed.
"Yes, Mrs. Stark?"
"Do you know about this?" Mom asks.
"No, ma'am this is the first I've heard of it."
"Happy, give me the keys. I have a feeling something bad is gonna happen." I take off my shoes and make my way to the car, having a screaming crowd of my own and go to the Phantom, unlock the trunk and get the suitcases –no pun intended- out of the trunk. I go back into the dining area through the back door and go back to our table. I place the cases underneath it. Mom just looks at me.
"Just in case," I tell her comfortingly.
She just nods. You have to admit, Dad is in a pretty vulnerable spot right now. I don't put my shoes back on. I missed the start of the race, nothing exciting has happened yet. Until the camera zooms in on a man in orange as he walks onto the track. The then pulls two whip-like things out of his orange suit and an arc reactor burned through the top part. He immediately slashes Hammer's car and Dad's is next in the lineup. How could he have gotten an arc reactor?
"That's my cue," I tell Mom and I grab both cases, run out of the venue tie my dress for more mobility, activate my suit and I lift it and place it on my chest. I hear people cheering and as soon as I am completely suited up, I grab Dad's case and jet towards the track.
"Jarvis, where's Dad? You got a location?" I see the blip on my radar and jet towards it. I hear cheers all around. In just the few seconds it took me to get there the crazy guy in orange just sliced through Dad's car and it is airborne, but I catch it with one hand while Dad's suit was in the other. I feel like a waiter with a giant tray.
"Jarvis, we good?"
"The suit is withstanding," he reports. I place the car back on the ground and Dad hop out and activate his own suit.
"You all right?" I ask him.
"Fine," he replies. "Go stop the other drivers."
"On it. Be careful."
I fly ahead and stop the cars.
"Sorry boys, no winner today," I tell the obviously irate drivers. It is a few minutes before anything happens.
"All clear." Dad reports. I see Dad's scan of the reactor on my HUD. It is the same tech, just a little outdated.
"On my way back." Dad and I take off our suits I let my dress back down. Surprisingly, it is still clean. We get off the track and are driven back to the gathering. I get my shoes.
I go to the phantom and get a change of clothes. I get out a black leather jacket, a T-Shirt, skinny jeans and my converse. I let my hair down, take out all the braids, but leave my make up on. I throw up my hair in a quick bun and go back into the dining hall. Dad changed also.
"We're going with the authorities. See what this was all about," Dad says.
"Whoa. I'm not involved in this. I saved your butt. That's all."
"You don't want to see who this was?"
"Fine."
Dad and I jump into the back of a police car.
"I never wanna see you in one of these," Dad tells me.
"How can you joke, Dad? This is no joke. That man almost killed you and you're going to be in big trouble with Stern."
We arrive at the station soon and Dad and the head of the police force are speaking French. Dad and I enter the room where the man is being held.
"Pretty decent tech." Dad starts.
"You have been misled, Andrina. You come from a family of thieves and butchers. Like all the guilty, you and father try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has ruined," he says, in a Russian accent. I take it by his words and acts of vengeance that his family was one of the ones he was speaking about.
"Speaking of thieves, where did you get this design?" Dad asks.
"Anton Vanko, my father."
"I've never heard of him," Dad says.
"My father is the reason you are alive."
"The reason I'm alive is cause you had a shot, you took it, and missed."
"If you make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him. The water will be tainted with blood and the sharks will not resist. All I do is sit here and watch as the world consumes you."
We begin to leave.
"Happy? Yeah, we're ready. And bring Pepper, we are going home," Dad says into his phone.
A few minutes later, Happy is here with Mom and we go to our terminal.
"Natalie? Would you please run by our hotel and gather our things and bring them to the airport? Thank you." Mom says on her phone. We all shared a hotel suite; it was a very educational experience.
We board our own jet and take off. I am in my cabin and Dad comes in.
"Hey," I greet him. "You okay?"
"Thanks for having my back out there," he tells me.
I play with my ears, put my palm against them and attempt to suck anything out. "Am I hearing correctly, you are thanking me?" I joke. He sits down on the couch with me.
"I mean it, kiddo."
"I know."
"It's not the first time you've had my back."
"If you wouldn't make such asinine decisions…"
"You wanna come hang out with us, or you wanna stay back here?" he asks me.
"I think I'll just stay back here. I'm sleepy." I yawn.
"Alright, take a nap." He tousles my hair and I lay back and sleep.
I wake up and go into the main cabin.
"It's a great place to be…healthy," I hear Dad say. He sounds scared. Is there something wrong with him? Can that explain why he's been so off lately? All that green stuff? All the distancing from us? The self-destructiveness?
The news is on the TV and Stern is talking about Dad and how he lied…yadda, yadda, yadda.
"That man is really irritating me," I say, making my presence known.
We land and we all went home.
"Why don't we rest for now and we'll hang out together later?" Mom asks.
"Sounds great Pep," Dad says, going to his man cave. I'm really tired, so I go and sit at the piano. I play a couple of songs and stop when Mom's cell phone rings.
"Yes. Okay. Uh-huh." Mom puts her cell away and runs her fingers through the hairs on the crown of her head. She hangs up and just looks at me. With that 'I'm sorry' look. Both her and Dad are good at it.
"Go. Go. It's fine. There's a lot that needs to be sorted out." Boy, isn't that the truth…Things need to be sorted out on both the business and family front of Stark.
I went downstairs, where Dad is. I typed my code into Jarvis at the door of the shop. But the door doesn't unlock.
"Access has been forbidden at this time," Jarvis tells me. I look inside and Dad is sitting in his hot rod, looking at images, newspaper clippings and various other things about the Vanko family.
"Jarvis, so help me god, I will rip out your A.I. core and throw its remains into the ocean after I burn it. So override whatever orders he's given you and let me in. Now," I order him.
"Very well."
"Thank you."
"D? What are you doing down here, I told Jarvis that—" I clearly interrupted him deep in thought.
"I'm sorry, sir. She was very persuasive," Jarvis reports.
"I need to talk to you," I tell him.
"I can't talk right now, I'm busy."
"Dad? Please." I plead.
"Alright." He tries to get out of the car, but starts to slump to the floor, but I grab him before he could crash.
"You okay?" I ask him.
"Just lead me to my desk." I do so and he opens a box on the top.
"You've depleted another palladium core?" I ask as he takes the arc reactor out of his chest and that answers my question. The reactor was smoking. I watch him replace the core and put the reactor back in and becomes a little more conscious, but before he could put his shirt all the way back on, I notice the veins by the reactor's site and on his neck. There are a silver-purplish color and very visible.
"Dad what's going on? Just please tell me. I swear I won't tell Mom."
He just takes a deep breath and plays with the depleted palladium in his hand.
"It's poisoning you. Isn't it?" I ask him.
"How long have you known?" he asks me back.
"So what do we do? What can we do?"
"I don't know and if I can't figure this out soon-"
"No. No. Dad please don't tell me….no! This cannot be hap…We have to… There has to be something!" I sob out, completely losing my mind. I grab a wrench and start to pace.
"I knew this was going to take you from me!"
I stop myself in time to not to throw the wrench as hard as I could. I also had the sudden urge to go ape on the suits and completely destroy them, but I don't. I drop the wrench and hear the clang it makes when it hits the floor. My father above everything now had a death sentence hanging above his head, and one that didn't come from masquerading around in the suit. Well, I mean technically it kind of does, but I mean the enemies that would come from that. What am I doing rationalizing? I was just told that my father is dying and I'm RATIONALIZING! Shut up, shut up, shut up! I command myself.
"Come here," he tells me calmly, without a doubt knowing the war that is raging in my own mind. I run to him like I did as a child. I hug him tight and sob into his neck. He just rubs my back. "I'm sorry I've been so distant- acting so selfish...It's scared me that for once in my life I don't have an answer. I've tried everything, and it won't work." He says, his voice breaking.
"Can you just promise me one thing?"
"Anything." My father tells me, kissing my head.
"Never give up," I tell him, never relinquishing my hold on him.
"Never," he vows. "And don't you let me, and don't act like anything is up. Just what your mother needs is something else to worry about."
"You know both of us worry."
"I know. Come on, let's go to the beach."
His hands drop me and I tried to compose myself. Since we are on the cliffs, we have to drive to the beach. It is only Dad and I. Mom is at a meeting and Dad insisted that Happy didn't come, but I'm sure he would, but keep his distance. Dad and I pack a bag: Towels, a football, extra clothes and sunscreen. Dad drives the Audi. We are at the beach in no time. Dad picks out a somewhat secluded spot. He is wearing red swimming trunks and his black tank top. I imagine that he would want to hide the veins by his reactor. I wear my conservative, athletic black bikini. I don't understand the need for girls to walk around in barely-there string bikinis and thongs. I don't care if a woman has the body or not, they should not be advertising it. Dad and I put sunscreen on and play football. Dad overthrew one and I go to go grab it and a man with a camera caught my attention, clearly one of those annoying pests that we all know as paparazzi. Dad takes advantage of my distraction and tackled me into the water, the football still tucked into my armpit. I throw the football towards our spot on the beach and it made it there. Dad then looks towards the paparazzi.
"If he gets any closer, I'm prepared to go from superhero to supervillian in about a nanosecond."
I just laugh. "And you're the one talking about legacy."
"Reputation is not my legacy. You are, sport," he says, giving me a noogie. We play for a couple of hours more and go back towards the main part of the beach, to Carl's hotdog kiosk. Along the way, I see people pointing and camera flashes, but it doesn't bother Dad. No one approached for an autograph. He had made that subject clear in an interview. When he is on family time, no one had better bother us. We continue to walk the beach, eating our hot dogs.
"I know I'm going to regret this question but—"
"How long have I got?" He finishes for me, taking a deep breath. "Less than three weeks. It all depends on how much I use the suit."
I spit out the piece hotdog I had been eating.
"Easy. You all right?"
"All right?! All right?! I expected at least a couple of months, not weeks! Your birthday is next week." He seems undeterred. "How can you seem so calm?"
"Trust me, I'm not."
"Have you tried talking to Fury?"
"I've given it thought, but no, I haven't."
"Dad, it's okay to get help. If you don't-never mind, I don't even want to think about it."
"Dad, would you really not give up Iron Man even if it meant saving your life?" I ask him.
"Andrina…"
"It's not only legacy you're leaving behind, Dad. It's Mom…and me."
We get back to the house and Dad and I go back to the workshop. Dad goes over to the couch and sits, reading the paper. I make sure my area is secure for the night and join Dad. I put the small pillow behind my head and end up on Dad's thigh. I yawn. Dad folds the paper like the actors would on TV and looked at me.
"You're not tired are you?"
"Yeah, I guess I am." Dad finishes the paper and tosses it aside. I feel him run his fingers through my hair and I am asleep shortly after. This is how Dad and I used to be. It kind of saddened me that our relationship was growing back this way only when he was dying. I am awakened when loud, clattering footsteps came into the workshop.
"Tony, I have been on the phone-" Definitely Rhodey's voice. I roll over, but pretended to still be asleep.
"Shh, Rhodey keep your voice down." I hear Dad say.
"Is something wrong?" Rhodey must have noticed my odd behavior ever since my birthday party. Ever since I stayed that one night with him when Dad first created Iron Man, he has noticed my different attitude.
"The dreams she had when I was held hostage started coming back." Dad lies.
"Tony, that's not good."
"I know."
"I'm sorry to add another load onto your pile, but I've been talking to the National Guard all day. I had to do a lot of talking to talk them out of storming this place and taking your suits."
Dad slowly gets up, thinking I am still asleep and I hear the sound of the office chair.
"What's this?" I heard Rhodey ask.
"It's palladium. I replaced it earlier."
"You had this thing in your body? It looks more fried than KFC."
"Its from the reactor wall."
"Tony, you know you don't have to do this alone." Rhodey said. I hear the chair swivel.
"Contrary to popular belief, I know what I'm doing."