Chapter 8
"Can't you track the snake?" Shuri asked as she trailed next to Salem as the teen tried to find the animal.
"No," Salem muttered, looking at the map in the corner of her sunglasses. "He doesn't leave my side, and if he does, he comes back. How do you track a snake anyway? He doesn't like needles so I can't get him microchipped."
"He's one slippery animal, eh?" Shuri grinned as Salem snorted as they continued towards the centre of the mall.
"There are multiple bombs placed around the mall, some on stablinsing beams which will cause a complete collapse of the structure," LILITH said, the writing also appearing at the bottom of the sunglasses so Salem could actually read what was said and not miss anything if she didn't listen. "You need to get out now."
"I'm not leaving without Duke, you know this, LILITH," Salem said, turning to Shuri. "You really need to leave, Shuri. It's not safe."
"If it's not safe, we both need to leave," Shuri raised an eyebrow. "Or are you just suicidal enough to stay?"
"Look, if this place goes down, there will be a war if you die on American soil. If I die, I'll just be a caustaly of the event,"
"Your father will be worried and upset if you die,"
Salem laughed. "He'll be more worried about the bad PR than me."
"Just leave the snake," Shuri tried grabbing her by the arm and to tug her along. Salem stayed in place like she was a statue, unmoving.
"I'm not leaving without Duke," She flared her nostrils in anger, trying to keep everything and herself under control. "You might not understand, Princess, but I've had that snake for almost seven years." She licked her lips, chewing the inside a tad. "I like him more than most people so I'm sorry if I prefer to save one of very few good things in my life." Salem removed Shuri's hand from her arm, taking a good few steps before bolting away.
Shuri grumbled under her breath. "What is it with white girls and being crazy?"
)()()(
Salem was running throughout the floor she lost Duke on, eyes scanning every inch as LILITH X'ed out each room which had no life signs. She ran past many stores, all empty but still open. Everything left in a hurry to leave the building lest it collapsed on top of them.
The building had been evacuated a couple minutes ago, even the guards had been sent out as silence finally echoed through the empty place. A faint blaring of sirens from outside could be heard, but she was halfway away from the main entrance so it could have just been an echo of them being far away.
The more steps Salem took, the more anxious she became.
Panic filled her chest as she took in each new breath, each stride causing her eyes to feel like they were being pierced by the normal lights.
Each breath felt heavier and heavier as she felt her heart rate increase inside her chest.
LILITH put up her vitals, showing the heart rate, body temperature and oxygen levels.
Her heart rate was too high compared to her normal, going from the resting forty to one hundred and twenty until that also doubled to two hundred and forty.
Body temperature dropped well below habitat for a human, but Salem could only feel the heat of the air on her skin.
Her shirt felt scratchy everywhere it touched her, moving with her as she stopped in the middle of somewhere and rubbed the middle knuckles of both her hands together. The constant, repetitive motion calmed a little but not enough to stop the chills. She rose her shoulders up to her head, jutting her head to the right and into her shoulder a little without meaning to.
It would happen whenever she became overwhelmed and needed to release some energy.
She continued rubbing her middle knuckles against each other, needing some stability as she continued to panic silently.
The constriction of her torso was new, familiar, and welcoming.
In her panic and slight sensory overwelmbment, Salem didn't realise that the creature that she was looking for was there. Duke had slithered up her form, going to her torso and wrapping himself around her, giving her a strong, constricting hug as a way to calm his mistress down.
As Salem took in a couple more breaths, she realised Shuri had caught up with her when she swore loudly.
"That… That isn't normal…" Shuri said, stopping at the edge of the icy patch of flooring completely around Salem.
The floor was covered in a thin sheet of ice, getting thicker as it reached Salem and encased the bottom of her shoes in it. She lifted her feet and the ice dispured like a mist when she began to walk.
"LILITH, destroy the video," Salem said as soon as she was capable of once again speaking. Her voice was quiet and still a little weak but it was better than nothing. She whispered near Duke's head. "Leave me again and I'll make you into a leather belt!"
Duke waved his tail like saying As if.
)()()(
Shuri and the Dora Milaje left later that day after they also evacuated the mall.
Shuri made Salem promise to contact her at some point so they can continue to be friends. Luckily Shuri didn't comment on what she saw, besides for saying that it was cool.
By the end of the next day, and a lot of speeding later, Salem was back at the compound and completely regretted being back.
)()()(
"Pourquoi partiriez-vous alors que vous ne connaissez pas vos pouvoirs?" Tony paced in the living room of the compound, around and around as Salem did the same thing on the other side of the coffee table.
Natasha was translating for the whole group, a few of them didn't know French and so needed help. Neither Stark minded.
"Why would you leave when you don't know your powers?"
"Parce que je ne serai pas contenu comme un animal ou une expérience que vous pouvez tester, Papa!" Salem gestured wildly with her hands. "I am not an experiment!"
"The first bit, Nat?" Clint said.
Nat translated, "Because I won't be contained as an animal or an experiment you can test, Dad."
With how angry both Starks were, they changed to Italian without meaning to.
"Devi smetterla di correre rischi!" Tony spat. "Porterai troppa attenzione su di te e metterai in pericolo te stesso."
"Italian," Nat said. "You have to stop taking risks. You will bring too much attention to yourself and endanger yourself."
"Dice il Vendicatore!"
"Says the Avenger."
"E ' il mio lavoro!" Tony gestured to himself. "I have to be an Avenger, it's my job, Salem."
"No, your job is to be my father!" Salem wanted to scream but didn't.
Clint leaned closer to Wanda. "I feel like we shouldn't be here…"
Natahsa shrugged. "This isn't the worst it has gotten."
"I'm Tony Stark!"
"And I'm your daughter!" Salem's dark hair suddenly turned to purple flames as she became angry, never hurting her. Her hair turned white but the flames were purple with her eyes glowing the same shade.
"I never wanted a child!" He yelled out like he was almost trying to keep it in. "I never wanted the burden of responsibility of having to look after another when I can't even look after myself without endangering the whole world! I never intended to have a child. Why couldn't your mother just keep you instead of abandoning you?"
Salem's anger seemed to simmer down, cooling as her once flame hair went back to her normal ink colour.
Natasha noticed the sudden change of emotion in the air, silently telling the other Avengers to leave the room as the two Starks argued. She almost knew what was going to happen, and it would be dangerous if the other Avengers knew what type of relationship the two Starks had.
Salem started again, wanting to hurt him as his comments started to hurt her. "Sometimes I wonder why she left me with a useless father like you?"
"If I'm such a useless father, why would I protect you from the world?" He rubbed his hand down his now scruffy beard. "Why would I send you to boarding schools if I didn't have to? Why would I fund everything you want? I send you away to keep you out of my way! You're just a kid, Salem. A kid I didn't want!"
"You could have left me instead of dragging me along into your life but if you did that, it would have ruined this perfect image of CEO, billionaire, playboy, genius."
"You should be grateful!"
"I should be grateful?" She bit her lip as she hesitated before letting her overwhelming anger out. Each word was almost stopped with a shuddering breath. "Why should I be grateful… for a father that is never there? For a parent who… who didn't even want me in the first place? I was eleven when I realised exactly why you send me to boarding school as long as you can, why you give me enough money to live without needing to ask for anything."
Salem took a shuddering breath in, trying to stop the tears but not being able to. "You send me to boarding schools so you don't have to parent me. I know you don't want me, but I rather have been abandoned completely… than be…" Salem covered her mouth as tears dripped of their free will.
"Than be what, Salem?" Tony snapped. "Finish your sentences. You can't even get decent grades at school, so at the very least you can finish your sentences and we can end this conversation."
"That's all you care about," Salem smiled regardless of her emotional state, trying to goad her father into reacting. "Ending this conversation and pretending that everything is alright. You love to pretend everything is okay when you have PTSD because of being Ironman. Everything was alright for a couple years and then you get kidnapped and come back as Ironman and my dad is gone."
"I was tortured for months. I was taken by a group that took my creations and corrupted them. I was betrayed by someone I thought was a friend. I was fatally injured but I survived, Salem. I survived being in the desert, survived being hurt, having an arc reactor in my chest and being poisoned by it." Tony said, pouring a drink from the side area before coming back. "I survived all of this! I still raised you to the best of my ability while I was going through it all!"
"But you're gone," Salem went back to be quieter, calmer, more contained than before. "After all of that, you became a shell of a man. I miss my dad. I miss the man who was happy when I took my first steps, when I learned to walk, and run, and ride a bike. I miss the man who taught me how to use a screwdriver and who let me in the basement with him to play with electronics. I miss my dad."
He had finished it within the time it took her to speak, making him pause as she finished.
Salem watched as he had calmed down but the anger was back tenfold, crinkling his eyes and making him grit his teeth as he threw the glass. Fear wrinkled through him as he saw a flashback of something instead of seeing his daughter.
He saw the exact moment when Salem changed completely, turning cold enough to see the emotional change in her stance.
Salem flinched as the glass crashed behind her and golden liquid splashing only a few dots onto her cheek. She turned her head to the area, flinching again when she saw the broken shards behind her.
He almost screamed, "I'm not gone!"
"While I can deal with the neglect, I won't deal with abuse, intended or not," Salem said, turning her back to him. "LILITH, tell Pepper I'm coming. I just need to get my bags."
"You're not leaving!" He stepped forward, grabbing her hand as a way to tug her back. "You can't leave me…"
She reacted without meaning to, her newfound powers sensing a danger and reacting for her to keep her safe.
He was thrown backwards, landing into the wall as it cracked from the force. The wall was dented where he hit it, groaning as he dropped from it as Salem looked on in horror at what she just did.
She looked from her trembling hands, looking up to her father who was groaning in pain from being thrown into a wall. She scurried away, getting her bags without another word.
The other Avengers came into the room quickly after that, finding Tony on the couch with a drink in his hand and an ice pack to his head.
He was hunched over, almost shaking his head before he looked up.
"Tony, what did you do?" Natasha started, slowly inching forward. "What did you say?"
"I screwed up, Nat," Tony said, a mournful tone in his voice. "I fucking screwed up big time. I thought… I saw someone else instead of her, instead of Salem. I thought I was… I was in the cave, the same one where the Ten Rings took me. I reacted. I reacted badly."
Natasha scanned the room, her eyes landing on the broken glass. "You threw it at her."
He looked up with despair. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to but I did. I saw the fear I put on my daughter's face. I made her feel like she should be scared of me, I'm turning into my fucking father!"
"Where did she go, Tony?" Steve asked seriously.
"She went to Pepper," Tony hung his head again. "I can't… I can't fucking believe how badly this conervsation went. She thinks I hate her, that I don't want her."
"You did say you never wanted a kid," Clint mentioned, becoming quiet when Natasha gave him one of her darkest looks.
"I never wanted a kid, but I have one," Tony said. "I mentioned her academics. I shouldn't have… I told her she should be grateful. Children shouldn't be grateful for shit parents like me! I made her afraid of me! What kind of shitty parent does that?"
"The kind that didn't know what was happening," Wanda quietly said, standing to the side. "I could sense your emotions even in my room. You both were projecting a lot. You both were scared, of what I don't know. Scared, sad and yet angry. When you mentioned that your creations were being corrupted, Salem became… hurt at that comment."
"I threatened to take her AI earlier this week," Tony muttered. "She… she thought that I wasn't proud of her achievements. I think she thought I would take her AI and… and manipulate it. No, no, no. I just don't want her to be betrayed by her AI, by one of her creations. Ultron was bad enough. I wanted to make sure there wasn't any flaws in LILITH's programing."
Wanda didn't react. "She didn't know that. She most likely thought you were going to do something to LILITH."
"How am I supposed to fix this?"
Tony didn't let himself cry, he could do that later.
"May I suggest something?" Vision asked, pausing as Tony looked up with red rimmed eyes. "I— Why do you not try and show her that you are proud? Perhaps not in huge gestures as she would be opposed to them. Perhaps try to be a good parent to her?"
"How am I supposed to be a good parent when I never had good ones myself?" Tony said. "I'll have to ask Pepper for help."
"The great Tony Stark, asking for help because his daughter is rightfully upset with him," Natasha teased.
"Fuck you, widow." Tony finished the glass of alcohol.
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