I Got Nothing

-Tony Stark


"Mind explaining to me what's happening," Barton whispered quietly in my ear as he handed me the glass of water he promised.

I really wished there was something stronger than tasteless minerals in it at the moment. Out the corner of me eye, I could see Felicia eying me like a hawk. She could smell my fear and sense that there was deception in the air, I just knew it.

"Not at the moment, no." I muttered back to him.

I sighed and ventured off towards the bar.

I noticed Amber in a group of other overworked assistants which were also now gathering on the other side of the bar. She was Felicia's assistant and quite frankly the next top runway model. Amber was the spitting image of a runway model; just skinny enough, just the right skin tone, vivid colored eyes. It was easy to imagine her as the spokes model for some over rated designer. The look Amber gave me told me she was keeping a very close eye on me. I guess I couldn't bribe the bartender into slipping a little something-something into my drink now.

I set the water on the counter and ordered a coke on the rocks. My back was turned to the counter so I could see everything that was going on behind me. I always liked to observe other people. Maybe it was just my curious nature, but there was something interesting about watching others interact.

Barton took a seat next to me and sighed. "So, why did you just lie about not being an intern?"

"How do you know I lied?" I asked taking a sip of the glass of coke the bartender had slid my way.

"I know a lot of things about you," he said motioning for a drink. "It's my job."

"Well, you're job must suck." I scoffed focusing back on surveying the crowd.

There was a woman in the far corner who was trying to chat up Carl Grinder. He was famous for his designs for an underwater facility. I know it sounded crazy, but hey, anyone can dream. So far he had received very little to fund the project, but that didn't stop him from reaching the front page. Carl was an older middle eastern man. He wasn't old enough to considered an old man, but that didn't stop the grey hair from forming. It suited him nicely, though, made him look more sophisticated and added to his good looks.

The woman trying to chat him up was Carrie Greg. She was known more for making her rounds through richest men. Her had husband owned a small up and coming company, similar to Hienfield Co. The only difference was her company focused more on military advancements, much like the direction Stark Industries had taken. Yes, I said her company. Her husband, may he rest in peace, was killed in a terrible plane 'accident'. I say 'accident' because nearly a week after she announced her engagement to some eye candy actor. Their romance was short lived, however, and ended as soon as it started.

Carl was known for his morals and was at the moment deflecting every pathetic advancement Carrie attempted to make.

I kind of felt sorry for the woman.

To the left of me a bunch of men were gathered in a tight nit circle and were speaking in low tones. To everyone else it seemed like a small reunion for the group. What the outside looking in people didn't see were that wads of money they were passing around. I didn't know what they were betting on, but my money was on the dude with glasses.

He seemed more capable than the other three.

"Little too young to be drinking," a man greeted as he took the seat on the other side of me. I jumped in surprise of his voice turning to him.

My eyes narrowed, 'oh'. The man seated beside me gave off a sour vibe. His white hair and nearly balding head made me want to vomit. His suit was sleek and he was as well groomed as he could be.

Obadiah Stane. The last person I wanted to interact with a the moment.

"It's just soda," I said draining the rest of the liquid from the cup and setting it on the counter. He ordered a whiskey for himself and then spun his chair around to face the crowds as well.

"I guess it's fine then," he chuckled to himself before sticking a hand out towards me. "Abigail Hienfield, correct?"

I nodded taking hold of his hand. "Pleasure to see you again, Mr. Stane."

"Right, I interviewed you." He gave my hand a slight squeeze before letting go and grabbing the glass of whiskey waiting for him on the counter.

"I guess you meet a lot of people co-running Stark Indust-"

"CEO," he corrected a grimace passing his face for a split second. He took a large swig from his glass, letting the liquid settle in his mouth before swallowing it. A content look came to his face as he hummed in satisfaction. "Finest whiskey money can by," he said motioning to his glass with a slight raise. He turned and set the glass on the counter and looked back at me.

I watched as his eyes scanned over me like he was taking in every detail. Every line, every scar, every out of place speckle. I felt a chill run down my spine as he eyes landed on my face. His eyes seemed to be searching for something he finally settled on my eyes and opened his mouth to speak. "You look like your father," his tone was low and somewhat soft. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Once or twice," I said shaking off the uneasy feeling the was creeping up on me. "It's always nice to hear how much I look like a man."

Out the corner of my eye I could see Felicia slowly making her way towards tipsy-ville as she grabbed another drink off a passing server's tray. Maybe if she had enough to drink, she wouldn't remember half this night and I wouldn't be as dead.

Out of the other corner of my eye, I watched as Obadiah grabbed his glass once more and grimaced as he took a drink. The applause eventually died down and now the music had resumed, Tony was slowly making his way down the stairs.

"Some entrance," I muttered to myself as I motioned for another coke.

"You know," Obadiah said picking up where the conversation left off. "I knew your father."

"Did you now?" I asked sarcastically as the bartender handed me my drink. "Are you here to tell what an incredible person he was and how he will be missed?" I turned to him. "Cause I thought those condolences stopped three years ago."

"No," he chuckled looking down. He shook his head and looked back up at me. "No, I just wanted to introduce myself again. You may not remember me, but I did in fact partner with your parents a long time ago. You were just a baby I believe."

"It's nice to meet you," I said taking a sip from my glass.

"Since I'm here, however."

I let out an exasperated sigh and mumbled into my glass as I went for another drink.

"I noticed you seemed a little wary about the interviews," a wide smile ran across his face as if he had just won the jackpot. "I wanted you to know that it's just a formality. Nothing you should really worry about, since you applied for the internship I assume you expected some kind of-"

"My professor did actually," I corrected him a simple shrug. "He thought it would be a good learning experience."

"What a nice man he must be," Obadiah said placing his hands on the counter. He sighed, "Sometimes it's hard for people to believe something they can't understand," he paused and I met his eyes. His words seemed to be specifically geared towards me. Like he chose that one phrase, just for me. I shuddered. "Something as remarkable as a genius like yourself deserves to be shared with the world. I think this is the perfect way to get you started."

I creased my eyebrows together and thought over the man's words carefully before answering.

"I appreciate the thought, I think." I said muttering the last part.

"Great," he said gulping down the last of his drink and motioning for a new one.

It was beginning to look like he wasn't planning on leaving the dinner sober either.

"Our other intern is here tonight," he said. "Her name is Allison, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe you would like to meet her."

I creased my eyebrows together at his statement. "Um-"

I was cut short by the man of the hour hollering for Obadiah through the crowd of women flocking around him. Obadiah stood muttering 'damn kid' or something along those lines as he buttoned his suit jacket, a scorn on his face.

I watched Obadiah's behavior with curious eyes. In the media you only ever see him act friendly and kind towards the billionaire, yet, here he was silently cursing the man. He turned to me, a smile returning to his face as he noticed my stare.

"You should make you rounds, talk to a few people. A pretty girl like you shouldn't be sitting at some bar for the most of the night."

"I'll try," I said a tight smile coming to my face. The sense of uneasiness washed over me once more as his eyes scanned over me once more. It made my skin crawl. "Maybe I'll talk to the other intern of yours." I said sarcastically. He really wasn't very in tap to his company workers, was he?

"I'm sure that would make her very happy."

With a small nod he was making his was towards Tony who was struggling to get out of the crowd with his suit still intact. The smirk on the genius' face told me he was loving every second of it. I scoffed at him and shook my head.

"Oh," Obadiah said stopping halfway out. He spun on his foot and faced me once more. "My condolences."

A smile of amusement crossed his face as the words left his mouth. My stomach sunk as he turned away once more and this time didn't turn back. As the words sunk in, I narrowed my eyes at the man's back and jumped off the stool, leaving my drink.

I wasn't thirsty anymore.

"So, that's Obadiah Stane." Barton muttered as he followed me. He stood quiet through the entirety of my conversation with Mr. Stane. I kind of forget he was sitting on the other side of me.

"You don't have to follow me around," I said feeling a bit strange about him trailing me through out the evening.

"I'll be close by," he said.

I mingled around the dance floor for a bit, saying hello to the occasional person. I felt at unease and honestly, wanted to go back to my seat at the bar, but Obadiah had left the spot with a bitter feeling still hanging in the air. It wasn't until I spotted the young girl standing on the sidelines, out of everyone's way, the feeling of relief came over me. I excused myself from the small group I had been pulled into and hurried off to the side.

"Allison," I greeted sliding next to the young girl.

She looked up at me with wide, curious eyes. I was guessing I was the first one to address her since this stupid fiasco in the bathroom..

"Abigail," she said in mild relief. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend you earlier." she said apologetically. A small pout was on her lips as she grabbed hold of one of my hands. "I'm am honestly as huge fan of your family's work."

"My aunt runs the company," I said tugging my hand back and rubbing the back of my neck uncomfortably. "Not me."

"Oh, I know." she said tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I meant in general," she said awkwardly. "You're father is probably ten times smarter than Tony Stark."

The sentence was blurted out in what seemed to be the spur of the moment. At the same time a man cleared his throat, loudly. We both turned to see Obadiah and Tony Stark standing to the side of us. "Tony," Obadiah said a slight smirk peeking through his sober expression. "I would like for you to meet our newest editions to the company."

Allison's face went from slightly pink to a bright red in a matter of seconds. I felt second hand embarrassment as she began to stumble over her words in hopes to form a proper sentence.

Finally, she was able to choke out, "Mr. Stark, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi," he greeted tightly looking down at the hand Allison decided to extend out to him in despisement.

"It really is an honor to meet you," she said, this time in a less shaky voice.

"I know," he replied turning away from her.

His attention settled on me, who was still trying to get over the second hand. My mind was still processing what had just happened and quite frankly, I found the situation kind of amusing.

"And who are you?" he asked eyeing me. I wasn't sure if he was for serious and didn't actually remember me or if it was all just a front.

"Abigail," I answered taking hold of his hand and giving him a firm shake.

"Abigail…." He trailed off looking for a last name. Pulling his hand back, he wiped his palm on his suit jacket and raised an eyebrow at me.

"You can just call me Abigail." I said a smile forming on my lips. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stark."

"I'm sure," he said in a dead tone. "Aren't you a little too young to be attending an event like this alone?"

"Tony," Obadiah used a tone that said 'knock it off I'm warning you.'

"Just a minute, Obe." he said waving the older man off.

"No need to worry." I said. "I'm here with my aunt and on behalf of your company, of course."

"Your aunt?" he slipped his hands into his pockets. "You'll be staying for dinner, then."

"Sadly," I said giving a sigh.

A smile crossed his face. A tight, untrusting, bitter smile. "It was nice meeting you, Abigail." He then turned to Allison and offered her a nod. "I hope you're enjoying yourself."

"Of course," she answered eagerly.

"Good," he said.

Tony stalked off towards the group of men who had been previously posting bets on who knows what moments before. Obadiah stuck behind, a kind smile came to his face as he addressed Allison.

"Dinner will be served soon; you should go freshen up."

"Yes," Allison nodded quickly. "That sounds like a good idea."

He nodded at her and then excused himself, heading off towards where the over worked assistants were gathered.

As we sat down for dinner, it was easy to tell Andrea was less than pleased with me. I had avoided her for the greater half of the night, not wanting to go through press rounds. Allison, who was now a nervous wreck refused to go without me, so I guess both the interns were down for the count.

The two of took a seat together, a good distance away from Andrea and from Felicia. I hadn't explained my situation to Allison and if I was lucky, I wouldn't need to.

"Where's your date?" Allison asked as she scooted closer to the table. I glanced around the room for a minute before catching him slipping into the room.

"He's coming," I said with no real emotion in my voice. This night had been uneventful in other ways. Barton probably just wasted a night for nothing because the only thing happening to me was possible death by aunt.

"You two seem pretty cozy," she said as she playfully jutted me in the side.

"We may have gotten into a minor argument on the way over here," I quickly lied as he pulled up a chair next to me.

"Oh," she immediately said, her smile dropping. "I'm sorry."

"No worries," I replied offering Barton a smile as he slid into his seat. He returned my smile warily and scooted closer to the table. We were really selling it as a couple, huh? (Sarcasm)

"So," Barton said leaning into me. "Just so I'm understanding this, your aunt dislikes Stark Industries with a passion, so now you are trying to avoid the inevitable and not tell her you are an intern?"

"How did you-" I paused and rolled my eyes. "Never mind." I quickly said before he could say 'it's my job'. "What do you mean inevitable, everything is going great. Just two more hours and I'm home free."

He snorted," Okay."

Obadiah stood clanking a fork lightly against a glass in attempts to grab everyone's attention. The room ceased of chatter and all eyes were on him. He smiled a everyone and began to speak. I pretty much zoned him out until it came to dedications.

"There are a lot of people we would like to honor tonight," he began. "But, I'm afraid if I went through the entire list we would never get to the meal." Dry chuckles filled the room. "I would like to first and foremost officially welcome the new members to our family here at Stark Industries."

Oh, no.

Barton cast a look over my way, that kind of said 'I told you so,' but also 'I feel sorry for you'. I gulped and quietly scooted back my seat.

"I don't feel well," I muttered to Allison as I tried to without commotion slip out of my seat.

"Hold on," she said grabbing my arm. "He's about to introduce us." she seemed excited for it. I on the other hand felt sick to my stomach.

"As you all know," Obadiah began. "Stark Industries has recently invested in a program to help enlighten young minds."

"I really can't," I told Allison as I tried to tug my arm away, but man did she have a tight grip.

"Abigail chill," she said trying to pull me back to sit back down.

"Let go of me," I whispered yelled at her, but she didn't. It's like she knew I five seconds away from losing everything and wanted me to get caught. "What's your problem!"

"Allison Drake and -"

I tugged away from her harshly, violently stumbled back, and fell into a waiter carrying in glasses of drinks. Everything went crashing to the floor, including me. The room filled with gasps and murmurs as I just laid there, drowning in champagne and embarrassment.

"Abigail, I'm am so sorry." Allison hurriedly said as Barton stood from his seat and helped me up.

"-and Abigail Hienfield," Obadiah finished off with a clear of his throat.

I was humiliated, worried, anxious, and I just felt everything at once. I looked over at Barton who was shrugging off his jacket and then I glanced over at the woman I was really worried about and let me tell you, you have never truly known fear until you have looked into the eyes of an angry Felicia Waters. Until you stand there, dress soaked completely, hair drowned in champagne, with no excuses to offer, and watch as the beady eyed woman's lips furl up in disgust at you, face turns red, and back straightens like a board.

I have seen a lot of scary things in my life, but Felicia was a whole different kind of scary. She was someone, although small, very powerful. She was the only thing keeping me from my future, and I had a feeling she was just about ready to take every last thing away from me at the moment.

Barton draped his jacket over my shoulders and gave me an awkward pat. I was frozen in place, under the eyes of a whole bunch of people who didn't matter, yet meant so much at the moment since I was under their judging eyes.

"I-" I began, but stopped because I was unsure what to say.

Obadiah cleared his throat and rounded the table to where I was standing. "My deepest apologies, Abigail." He began shooing away the servant who was now trying to collect the broken glass off the floor. "Help can be so clumsy." Heads nodded in agreement and a woman even came over and patted me on the arm. "Let's get you cleaned up."

I quickly grabbed my jacket from coat check and pulled it on. Barton was outside hailing down a cab and I was as anxious as ever. Felicia kept a level head for most of the dinner, but that didn't stop her from cutting her eyes at me several times. As much as I was humiliated, she probably felt ten times more worse. Appearance was everything to her.

As glance at each person passing me by, on their way out and my heart sank as I saw her approaching. She stopped beside me and handed the coat check boy her ticket. She held her purse at her side and glanced over at me, her eyes cutting into me.

"Feli-"

"Now is not the time," she said cutting me off. Her tone was short and straight to the point. "You have humiliated my company," she said leaning in. I made note of the way she said her company, as if it was always hers. As if it was rightfully hers.

"It's not-,"

She scoffed, "We will talk about this tomorrow." She pushed past me her assistant following closely behind.

The taxi ride back to my apartment was silent. Barton was interest in looking out the window and I was interested in my hands. Barton finally broke the silence as he climbed the stairs to my apartment. He insisted on walking me up.

"How do you know your friend, Allison?" he asked as he stepped onto the landing.

"I know her from work," I said brushing it off. "I would hardly call her a friend," I muttered sulkily. Barton silently nodded and leaned in.

"Just be careful around her, alright?" he said quietly.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What? You think that she's-"

"I don't know," he cut me off. "But you can't trust anyone."

"But, I'm supposed to trust you." I countered looking up at him. "I don't know anything about you. I don't even know your first name."

"I'm one of the good guys, Abigail." he said with a sigh.

"Then, who are the bad guys?" I asked crossing my arms.

"I don't know," he said shaking his head. "But, I'm going to find out." "Just, be careful around her from now on." I nodded and opened my front door.

"Goodnight, Barton." I said closing the door. I let out a sigh and leaned against the door. Now, I have something else to worry about. I slid down to the ground and rested my head on my knees.