"You know you're welcome to stay with us as long as you need, Rachelle." Tony promised as he held open the car door for her. She climbed out and he shut said door upon her exit.

"Thanks. I feel a lot safer at the Tower." It was hard not to feel safe in a building protected by some of the strongest and smartest people in the world. Just being around Tony made her feel safe, even if he didn't have his suit on hand."Do you think Alex will mind?" She worried as they entered the school campus. She felt guilty for worrying about herself. They should both be back with Lex getting whatever she needed.

"No." Tony shook his head. "I think she would much rather know that you're safe. If you were staying here, we'd all be worried about you." He liked Rachelle. She was a sweet girl who thus far had proved herself full of insurmountable character. She worried about other people, and had this genuine feeling about her.

"Still, it was really nice of you to come with me. You didn't have to do that." They started walking towards her dorm building. Tony politely waved at students who recognized his as they went by.

"I did if I wanted to get out of Rogers' meeting this afternoon. Speak of the devil…" She watched him pull his cellphone out and read a recent text message. "Listen to this," he elbowed his younger companion. "Hey Stork, I hope he meant to send this to me and not baby carrying bird somewhere, waiting fur...I think he means 'for', waiting for you to get bk b4 starting the meeting. Lots to discuss. Someone has got to teach that boy how to text."

"he does better than my grandpa." Rachelle shrugged. "But my grandpa knows how to fly a plane."

"I knew I liked you." Tony smiled. Joking at other people's expense was always a surefire way to win him over. At last they reached the end of the hallway where Rachelle and Lex's room was located. Someone was already standing there. It was Kyle. "Now him on the other hand…"

Rachelle stood still like a startled deer. She couldn't believe he would show up there. He had to know that Lex wouldn't be there, she stayed with Tony almost every night. Maybe he wasn't looking Lex. Maybe he was looking for her. An easy target to prey on next. Rachelle was paralyzed with fear. A cold wave wash over her as she thought of what had happened to her best friend. Her broken cheekbone, the split open lip…the image of Steve carrying her unconscious frame protectively in his arms. Tony and Pepper watching over her worriedly. Tony! What was he going to do?

Tony knew what he wanted to do, but somehow he doubted Iron Man killing someone would unnoticed, even if it was a college nobody. His heart was pounding so furiously that he thought for sure it would knock the arch reactor out of his chest. His fists clenched without him meaning to. His trademark smirk faded. He tried to think of how someone like Pepper or the Star Spangled Boy Scout would handle this situation because he was one misstep away from turning 50 shades of green and that wouldn't end well for anyone.

For his part in all of this, Kyle stood perfectly still. He was hoping maybe furious fathers were like the dinosaurs from Jurassic park; they couldn't see you if you didn't move. He had no worthy apology to offer Tony Stark. So he had gotten drunk and Lexi had gotten mad at him, so what? That happened all the time with college guys across the country! Was Stark going to glare him down every time he and his girlfriend got in a tiny fight? Armored by his own hubris, Kyle waved to Tony who stood a few feet away.

"Hey, Tony! I was just coming by to see if Lexi was here. She hasn't responded to my text."

"Kyle," Tony barked out. It was the scariest noise Rachelle had ever heard. It reminded her of her own dad and she was extremely glad to be on the Iron Man's side. "Alexandria will not be responding to anything from you ever again. In fact, if I hear that you so much as whispered her name while you were crying alone in a dark dirty alley, I will make sure you never talk again. Are we clear?"

"No." Kyle marched forward covering the small amount of distance between them. "You might be her biological father but you don't get to decided who she can and can't talk to. And you can't intimidate me just because of who you are. Sorry, I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh? So you think in six weeks when she recovers from her critical injuries she's going to run back into the arms of the punk who put her into the Hospital?" Tony hoped that later on someone would make note of the tremendous amount of restraint he showed in this moment by not leveling the loser then and there.

"Critical injuries?" Kyle stumbled backwards a half-step." I didn't do anything to her. We got in a fight and she left the party that's all."

"No!" Rachelle found herself shouting. "That's not what happened. She went into that room with you and when she came out, she was bleeding. her face is literally broken. I saw it with my own two eyes."

Kyle wanted to argue, but there were black holes in his memories of the night before. He remembered both girls arriving at the party. He remember drinking...and drinking some more. He remembered playing a few games of pong and drinking even more. Then Lex was yelling at him and then she was leaving. He couldn't remember what had happened in between that. But he did remember waking up that morning with a broken beer bottle in his hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about." he lied. "There's no way I could have hospitalized her." Truthfully he couldn't remember so much of the night before, there was no knowing if he had actually hurt Lex or not. His friends had told him before that he could be a violent drunk but he never believed it. That was the last thing he needed, was to be known as the guy who put Alexandria Stark in the hospital.

"She's you're kid." Kyle snorted at Tony. "Who knows, she could have been slutting around that party and some other guy did that when she refused to put out. I mean did you see the dress she was wearing?" He paused for a long whistle. "Like father like slut right?"

Tony would have very much liked to say that he jumped on that kid like butter on toast, but he couldn't bring himself to steal the real victory from tiny little Rachelle. She launched her body at that punk faster than a lioness mid-hunt. He was surprise that her barely-five-feet could tackle a kid Kyle's size to the ground. He even let her get in a few clean punches before pulling her off the guy who really should have been dead at this point.

"Easy there Muhammad Ali." He said holding her back with one arm. "Now Kyle is going to get back up and he is never going to come within 700 feet of you or Alexandria, because the second we leave here we are stopping by school security and the police station and are going to get restraining orders. Kyle, what are you still doing here?" Wordlessly Kyle peeled himself up from the floor and lumbered away.

"I'm sorry." Rachelle apologized, her fists still balled at her sides. "But I did not like the way he was talking about you and Alex. I couldn't listen to him for another second."

"It was either you or me. At least this way he's alive as a reminder to everyone else what happens when you mess with Tony Stark's girls. Grab whatever you can carry." He instructed. "You moving into the tower. We'll buy you a bed on the way home." Yes, he liked sweet little Rachelle very much.

A/N: So that's probably the last we'll see of Kyle, though maybe he'll show up again sometime in the future because a Steve/Kyle altercation might be interesting to see. But eh, who knows if I'll get to that. The next Chapter we'll be back at to Tower and hopefully we'll get the Avengers verdict about Lex!

WeasleyLover123, hopefully this update came soon enough that you got to read it during your 72 hours before that flight home! If so, enjoy your flight! If not, welcome home!

gotmoreissuesthanvogue This Kyle was named after a character on a show called Last Man Standing. I had been watching it a lot before I started this fic and it was one of the first male names to come to mind. Ironically that Kyle is very sweet and would literally never hurt a fly. So maybe all Kyles aren't so bad?

inazumame1997 It sounds like you skipped Chapter 20 when Steve actually picked Lex and Rachelle up from the party! Try reading that and see if it helps. (The story of what happened to her kind of unfolds slowly throughout Chapt. 19-23)

Just last summer I was in an bus accident and ended up hyper extending my wrist. Thankfully not my writing hand but I was working in Disney World at the time. Try taking apart/building a lightsaber with one hand! It was torture! But I hope your arm get's better soon, know that I feel your pain!

Thank you as always to WeasleyLover123, gotmoreissuesthanvogue, , imazumame1997, & for your reviews of Chapter 24! Also thank you to the hundreds of beautiful people who had Favorited and followed this story! New chapters will be posted ASAP, I hope you enjoyed this one!