Tonight, Tony was announcing the construction of the Stark Expo. Ellie stood backstage with her mother as her father made his entrance in his Iron Man suit.
At first having Iron Man as your dad was cool, especially when you've just entered high school and are trying to make friends. But Eleanor quickly realized that all her friends were only friends with her because of who her dad was. Even the teachers were giving her special treatment because of her father. She hated it. Ellie didn't need it and all she wanted was to be treated like a normal teenage girl.
The only friend she had now was Maddy, and she didn't even have any class with her. She felt immensely alone and her father, who loved her dearly, was too busy living in the limelight of being the world's newest superhero. Ellie would be lying if she said there wasn't a part of her that wished her dad never told the world he was Iron Man, but she also hated that wish, especially since her dad was so fond of the attention.
Later that night, her father was having an after-party at their house, so she was going to stay at her mother's place to do her homework. Since she never wanted him to know how much she hated the fact that he was Iron Man, her father never noticed the resentment towards his newfound fame.
〜〜〜
Ellie was happy that her father gave her mother the job of CEO. She often visited her mother's new office, on her days off from school, so she could join her for lunch. Ellie made her way down to the gym to see if her mother would drop her off at the mall to meet up with Maddy. She watched as a red-haired woman got into the training ring with Happy, then spotted her parents sitting nearby.
"Hey mom," Ellie said as she walked to them while also noticing the redhead, who watched her every move.
"Hey sweetheart," Tony said and Ellie sent her dad a convincing smile before looking back at her mom, who had now looked up at her.
"Mom, I was wondering if you could drop me off at the mall on your way back to work?" Ellie asked and her mother smiled, then nodded.
"Of course, are you meeting up with Maddy?" She asked and Ellie nodded in conformation as she glanced back over to the ring. Happy had gotten the lady's attention and before she knew it the woman pinned Happy to the mat in a heartbeat. "Oh my god!" Her mother exclaimed as the woman got up and out of the ring.
Ellie watched her dad sign whatever papers necessary, then give the woman a small smirk as she left the room. "I like her," Ellie commented which caused her father to smile but her mother to roll her eyes.
〜〜〜
Tony was having another party at the mansion tonight. Pepper had to attend but was going to drop Ellie off at Maddy's house since the girls were planning to have a sleepover anyway. Although, before Ellie left, she walked down to her father's lab in order to tinker around with one of her father's cars. She had an idea on how to make the car fly but needed J.A.R.V.I.S to run a few simulations overnight, while she was gone. Eleanor sat down at her father's desk and turned on the computer to see a bar.
92% Palladium.
'What does that mean?' She thought.
"What are you doing down here?" Ellie heard her father say, bitterly and turned around to see him staring at her with his jaw clenched. "I thought you left to go to Maddy's." She didn't understand why her father was upset, she was allowed in the lab.
"I was about to leave, but I wanted J.A.R.V.I.S to run a simulation for me overnight and if it worked I was hoping you would help me apply it to one of the cars. But-" She turned back to the screen. "I found this when I opened up the computer." Tony sprinted over there and turned the computer off before looking at his daughter. "Dad, what does it mean by 92% Palladium?"
Tony sighed as he looked away from his daughter. He was hoping he wouldn't have to tell her about the Palladium poison coming from his arc reactor. But his silence started to make his daughter worry and he knew he couldn't keep it from her any longer.
"It's the metal I used to make the arc reactor in my chest," Tony said and looked at her with the most crestfallen expression she had ever seen him wear. "The 92%-" Tony's voice cracked. He didn't want to tell her that he was dying. But he couldn't lie to her either, and she had a right to know.
"The 92% what?" Ellie asked.
"There's 92% of Palladium poisoning is inside my body. Once it reaches 100..." Tony trailed off. Ellie felt like time stood still for a moment.
"You're dying?" Ellie stuttered, even though she knew it was true. She only got confirmation when her dad looked away. "Does mom know?"
"No, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell either of you what was going on," He explained.
"Why wouldn't you tell us?!" Ellie yelled. "We could be helping you find a cure!"
"Because I don't want you to watch me die!" Tony yelled back.
"Well, I already have been," Ellie stated and there was a long pause. "You need to cancel your party, dad."
"No, no one can know. Which means I have to keep up appearances and you have to go to your friend's house," Tony said and began to lead his daughter out of the lab. She stopped and turned to him.
"What good will it do if you drink away your time instead of finding a cure?" Ellie asked.
"I've tried-"
"Then try harder," She cut him off.
"I have ok! I have run every simulation known to man and there is NO CURE, ELEANOR!" Tony screamed at her. Ellie was surprised at her father's outburst but then realized that it was out of fear, not anger.
"Then that's more of a reason not to have this party," His daughter stated. "You should be with the ones you love, not with people who are only here to drink away their own problems."
Tony was quiet for a few moments. She was right. He knew that she was right. But all he wanted to do was drink his problems away as well. "Pepper is waiting outside, you should go," Tony said, calmly.
"Dad-"
"Go, Eleanor!" Tony shouted and Eleanor stepped away from him.
'He doesn't think I can save him.' With that thought, Eleanor felt her heartbreak as she looked at her dying father, but did as she was told and went upstairs to her mother.
〜〜〜
The next few days were awkward. Pepper watched as her daughter and Tony didn't speak or stay in the same room as each other. She watched as Tony tried to talk to Eleanor, but Ellie would just ignore him and go to her room instead. Then watched how Eleanor would only go to the lab when her father wasn't there, and the second her father went to join her she would leave.
Tony confessed that they had an argument, so eventually, Pepper just chalked it up to Eleanor having her feelings hurt and inheriting her father's stubbornness. So, as they watched Tony open up the Stark Expo in his typical fashion Pepper mentioned, "When will you forgive him?"
"When he realizes I can help him," Ellie stated. It was true. All the time she spent in the lab recently was to find a way to save her dad, the problem was that she needed his help and was too stubborn to talk to him. This lead to all her ideas failing.
"He knows you can help him," Pepper reassured her, and Ellie almost let out a bitter laugh.
"Really? Cause it doesn't feel like it," Eleanor said, and then all hell broke loose. Almost immediately after, the Expo was attacked. Tony flew towards Ellie and got her far away from the attack. She was at least 3 miles away, on a random rooftop, and had no idea what was going on. "Dad! Dad! What's happening?!" She panicked.
"Stay here, Eleanor! I mean it," Tony said sternly before flying back to the incident.
"DAD!" Ellie yelled as she watched her father fly away.
But she stays where she was, knowing her dad would come back for her and sure enough, within two hours, Tony came back with Pepper - who was screaming at him. Ellie knew better than to get in the middle of them fighting. They ended up kissing which made their daughter very happy. Her parents finally decided to get together, but Pepper pulled away immediately and started looking around until her eyes finally landed on Ellie. Her mother ran up to her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.
"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Pepper questioned frantically while looking her daughter over. Tony walked to them and placed a hand on Pepper's shoulder.
"She's fine, J.A.R.V.I.S. would have notified me if she was injured in any way," Tony reassured her, before bringing his own daughter into a hug.
"Dad, I'm sorry-"
"Don't apologize. I pushed you away," Tony said and looked down at her. "Plus, you're stuck with me for a long time." Ellie's face lit up.
"You found a cure?" Ellie asked excitedly and he nodded. Everything was going to be okay.