Hey everyone so I'm a major procrastinator and I finished another chapter. I know, I'm a horrible student but Calculus sucks. Anyway here it is. Let me know what you think. Enjoy :)
I spent the day after Dad's invitation to the Mandarin preparing everything for Christmas dinner.
"Nora don't you think this is a bit much?" Wren asked as he walked in to the kitchen where I was prepping a string beans with bacon and candied almonds dish.
"What no? I do this every year." I said as I started shredding cheese.
"It's only five of us including Connor." He said.
"I don't plan on cooking until next year so the more we have the more leftovers we can heat up until New Years. Besides Jess is in charge of the turkey, I'm just making the sides and desserts." I defended.
"Yes the three pies. Why do we need three pies?" He asked.
"Do you not like pie?" I said.
"No pie is great just think you might be overdoing it a tad bit." Wren said.
"Trust me Wren, there can never be too much pie." I said getting back to work. All the dishes were prepped all we had to do was heat them on the next day.
"I don't think I ever seen so much food in one place." Wren said.
"What do you normally do for Christmas?" I asked.
"Uh, don't really celebrate. Never had anyone to celebrate it with. Normally just go away for two weeks, somewhere warm. Eat dinner at whatever hotel I was staying at and find some other lonely soul to spend the night with." He said. Wren saying that just made me sad. I went over and hugged him.
"What are you doing?" He said.
"You looked like you needed a hug." I said. "And I'd get used to it if I were you. If Jess finds out this is the first time you actually celebrate Christmas she'll cry and hug you."
"Did you wrap all of your gifts?" He said.
"Yes I did. Took advantage of last night's insomnia to get to it." I said.
"You actually had enough paper for all of that?" He said surprised.
"Of course. I dropped most of them off and Jess and Sam's place this morning." I said. I'll admit I overdid it again but it was worth it. It didn't even put a dent on my bank account.
"I had mine shipped to their house as well. Hope Jess likes designer shoes." He said.
"Are you kidding me, Expect some excited screaming." I said.
December 22nd, 2012- Malibu California- Third Person's POV
Tony spent the following twenty-four hours after visiting Happy in the hospital locked in his lab looking over all the information he could find on the Mandarin.
"I've compiled a Mandarin database for you, sir. Drawn from S.H.I.E.L.D., F.B.I., and C.I.A. intercepts. Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction." Jarvis says projecting a virtual reconstruction of the crime scene with all the information collected also pointed out. Tony started walking through the projection to look at all the data.
"Okay, what do we got here? His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning "adviser to the King". South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher. There's lots of pageantry going on here...lots of theater." Tony moved the information tab down and closed it.
"The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly." Jarvis notified him.
"No bomb parts found in a three mile radius of the Chinese theater." Tony noted, realizing how strange it was that no bomb fragments were collected.
"No, sir." Jarvis confirmed.
"Talk to me, Happy." Tony said to himself seeing a hologram of his friend during the attack. "When is a bomb not a bomb?" He zoomed in on the picture of some dog tags. "When is a bomb not a bomb? Any military victims?"
"Not according to public records, sir." Jarvis answered.
"Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in three thousand degrees." He ordered Jarvis.
"The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now." Jarvis said bringing up the map.
"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack." Jarvis removed the sites leaving only a few. "Nope." He clears one off and notices one in Dallas, Texas. "That. You sure that's not one of his?"
"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide." Jarvis said.
"Bring it around." He said as the case information came up.
"The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius." Jarvis said.
"That's two military guys. Haven't been to Dallas in a while, Jarvis?" He said remembering the reason why.
"Creating a flight plan for Texas." Jarvis said as Tony started getting ready. Right when he was going to put on the suit his doorbell rings.
"Are we still at "ding-dong"? We're supposed to be on total security lock down. Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?" Tony said annoyed and a bit concerned.
"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address." Jarvis retorted. Tony saw the live feed seeing a brunette standing at his door.
"Right there's fine." He said as he opened the front door. Tony was wearing his suit and was prepared to take her down if need be. "You're not the Mandarin, are you? Are you?"
"You don't remember. Why am I not surprised?" Maya said chuckling a bit to cover her scoff.
"Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast." Tony said not letting his guard down.
"Gluten-free waffles, sir." Jarvis reminded him
"That's right." Tony said
"Okay, look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent." She said trying to get him to come with her.
"Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed relationship." He said walking into his living room where Pepper threw two bags down. "It's...with her." He said making it clear he wasn't interested.
"Tony, is somebody there?" Pepper called out as he got out of his suit.
"Yeah, it's Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely." He said, Surprising Maya that he did actually remember her. "Please don't tell me that there is a twelve year-old kid waiting in the car that I've never met." 'I already have one kid I can't even find,' Tony thought.
"He's thirteen. And no, I need your help." Maya said sarcastically.
"What...what for? Why now?"
"Because I read the papers, and, frankly, I don't think you'll last the week." Maya answered getting a bit anxious.
"I'll be fine." Tony said repeating what he'd been telling everyone a lot lately.
Pepper made her way down the stairs. "I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests." She said politely giving Tony a pointed look.
"We weren't." He said defensively
"No, I..." Maya tried to say but wasn't given a chance by the bickering couple.
"And old girlfriends!" Pepper cried outraged.
"She's not really." Tony said in his defense.
"No, not really. It...it was just one night." Maya said backing him up.
"Yep." Tony said in agreement.
"That's how you did it, isn't it? Yep." Pepper said fuming.
"It was a great night." Tony said.
"Well, you know..." Pepper said turning her attention to Maya.
"Yeah." Maya said.
"You have saved yourself a world of pain." Pepper said defensively and a bit annoyed at Tony's childish behavior.
"I'm sure." Maya said wishing she was anywhere but there right now.
"What?" Tony said oblivious to what was going on.
"Trust me." Pepper said turning to Tony. "We're going out of town."
"Okay, we've been through this. Nope." Tony said standing his ground.
"Yep!"
"The man says no."
"Immediately and indefinitely!"
"Honey..." Tony said trying to win her over.
"Great idea. Let's go. I'll..." Maya said walking over to carry the bags Pepper had thrown down.
"I'm sorry. That's a terrible idea. Please don't touch her bags." Tony said.
"Tony, this is how normal people behave." Pepper said trying to reason with him.
"I can't protect you out there. I challenged..." Tony started before he was interrupted.
"Is...is that normal?" Maya asked looking at the giant stuffed rabbit.
"Yes, this is normal!" Tiny cried out.
"Sadly, that...is very normal." She admitted.
"It's a big bunny, relax about it!" Tony said raising his voice.
"Calm down!" Pepper yelled out.
"I got this for you." Tony said.
"I'm aware of that." Pepper said just wanting to leave.
"You still haven't even told me that you liked it!" Tony pointed out.
"I don't like it!" Pepper yelled.
"I asked you three... You don't like it?!" Tony said losing his patience. The TV was on in the living room on a news channel. Maya noticed how the helicopters were getting closer.
"Tony, we are leaving the house; that's not even up for discussion." Pepper said walking toward the living room to grab the bags.
"I said no." Tony said stubbornly.
"Guys, can we um..." Maya said getting their attention.
"What?" Tony said annoyed. Maya just pointed to the bomb that was launched by a helicopter outside the house.
"Do we need to worry about that?" She said. All of a sudden the bomb hits and the house shakes and there are explosions. Tony sent the suit to protect Pepper while Maya was knocked out. The ceiling is about to fall on him but pepper manages to shield him in time.
"I got you." She tells him.
"I got you first. Like I said, we can't stay here." Tony said finally giving in. The helicopters starting shooting at them. "Move! I'm right behind!" As Tony runs after pepper the floor starts to collapse. Pepper is about to turn back and help him but Tony stops her. "Get her, I'm gonna find a way around. Stop stopping! Get her, get outside! Go!"
Pepper manages to make it outside but when she looks back she sees the house collapse with Tony inside. "Oh my God. Tony!"
"Sir, Miss Potts is clear of the structure." Jarvis tells him giving him the okay to call the suit to him.
"Jarvis, where's my flight power?!" Tony said yelling and avoiding parts of the collapsing structure.
"Working on it, sir. This is a prototype." Jarvis reminds him. One of the helicopters got close enough for Tony to take down.
"That's one." He said to himself.
"Sir, the suit is not combat-ready." Jarvis said.
"That's two." He said as he took another one down but it fell towards the house making the remaining structure fall into the ocean.
"TONY!" He heard Pepper scream.
"Sir, take a deep breath." Jarvis said knowing Tony was starting to panic. "Flight power restored." Tony was still not responding.
"Sir. Sir!" Jarvis said waking him up.
"Alright, kill the alarm. I got it." Tony said.
"That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below five percent." Jarvis said as the suit strated to fall. Until he crash-landed. He looks around and noticed that he was in the snow. He took his helmet off to catch his breath.
"It's snowing, right? Where are we, upstate?" Tony said confused.
"We're five miles outside of Dallas, Texas. A short hike from Miss Stark's residence." Jarvis notified him.
"Why?! Jarvis! Not my idea! What are we doing here? This is thousands of miles away, I gotta get Pepper, I gotta..." Tony said freaking out.
"I prepared a flight plan. This was the location." Jarvis reminded him.
"Who asked you? Open the suit." Tony said angrily. This was the last place he wanted to be. It wasn;t bad enough that his house got blown up and he was thousands of miles away from his girlfriend but he was in the one place he'd avoided for months so he wouldn't think of her.
"I...I think I may be malfunctioning, sir." Jarvis said as his voice became distorted.
"Open eject." He said taking the suit off. "That's brisk! Maybe I'll just cozy back up for a bit." He said as he started shivering.
"I actually think I need to sleep now, sir." Jarvis said as the suit powered off.
"Jarvis. Jarvis? Don't leave me, buddy." Tony cried out but there was nothing he could do. He dragged the suit to the nearest gas station and left Pepper a message before heading to the last place he wanted to be right now.
December 23rd, 2012- Dallas, Texas- Nora's POV
This can't be happening. It can't be true. He survived being kidnapped by terrorists, getting shrapnel embedded in his chest, and palladium poisoning. This is nothing. This Isn't true.
"I'm standing in front of the remains of Tony Stark's Malibu property where a few hours ago, Stark was attacked by what is believed to be another attack by the Mandarin. Helicopters approached the property where the billionaire and his girlfriend and CEO of his company Pepper Potts resided. Miss Potts managed to get out of the collapsing building but the whereabouts if Tony Stark himself remains unknown. It is believed he may have fallen with the rubble and perished in the attack." The reporter said.
I felt as the remote fell out of my hand and onto the floor. I couldn't breathe.
"Nora?" I heard Wren call out.
"Can't be happening." I whisper out.
"Nora, hey look at me." Wren said trying to get my attention. "It's okay just take it slow. Deep breaths."
I followed his lead and tried to calm down. "Come on let's take a walk" Wren said helping me up. I put on a coat and some gloves. We took Axl with us and we walked around the property.
"You want to talk about it?" He said.
"I'm fine just, had a weird flashback." I lied.
"About Afghanistan or…" He said.
"A bit of both." I said shivering a bit. As we walked by the old barn we use for storage Axl let out a bark and ran inside.
"Axl." I said running after him. Wren teleported next to me and stopped me from going in. He signaled me he was going in first and pulled out a gun. "Where the hell did you get a gun?!" I whispered harshly.
"Shush." He said going in quietly.
"Freeze! Don't move." I heard Wren say.
"You got me. Nice gun." The man said. That voice was so familiar. The wide gauge's gonna diminish your FPS." Wren took a shot and broke a glass. "Careful where you pint that thing." He said and that's when I recognized him. I walked in and he saw me.
"Nora?" Dad said.
"Dad?" I said running over to hug him.
"Dad?" Wren said confused.
"What are you doing here?" I said.
"Oh you know, running from terrorists. What about you where the hell have you been?!" He said.
"Uh," I said not wanting to answer that.
"Um, excuse me, did you just say Dad?" Wren said still looking at both of us.
"Who's he?" Dad asked.
"Um, long story. Uh Wren, put the gun down." I said and Wren hesitantly put the safety on and put the gun away."
"So um, Nora Martell isn't actually my real name. It's Nora Stark. This is Wren Spencer," I said introducing him to Dad. He just looked at me confused. "Wren, this is my Dad, Tony Stark."
"I'm sorry come again." He said.
"You heard right." I said.
"So when you said your Dad wasn't okay with… It was because of."
"Yeah." I answered.
"And when you said he's in the Tech business…"
"It was kind of true." I said in my defense.
"Nora, who is this guy." Dad asked.
"Wren's a friend I met him a few months ago." I said. "I know I have a lot to explain but I think for now it's better if we move this reunion to the house so you can warm up and I'll heat you up some food. Sound good. Great." I said walking out of there.
"Is this really happening?" Wren said.
"Yup." Dad said walking past him to the house.
I walked into the house and took of my coat. I walked over and started making coffee.
"Nora?" I heard Dad call.
"Yeah." I said focusing on the task at hand. I was avoiding this talk for as long as possible. I was avoiding eye contact and making this coffee as slow as possible.
"Where the hell have you been?" Dad said.
"Kind of a long story. I know you were worried I know what a dumb move it was to leave without a trace but it was just something I felt I needed to do. I'll tell you everything I swear but now right now we have bigger things to worry about." I said.
"We're having this talk." He said,
"We will." I said looking at him. "Why are you wearing a poncho?"
"They're trending" Was all he said.
"Your rooms just the way you left it if you want to shower and warm up." I said.
"Yeah, I'll be down in ten." He said walking away.
"Oh one more thing." I said walking over to him. I surprised him with a hug. "I really missed you Dad."
"Missed you too kid." He said hugging me. As soon as Wren walking in the door.
Once Dad was upstairs Wren just glared at me.
"So," I said. He teleported next to me and slapped my arm.
"Ow, what the hell Wren?" I said rubbing my arm.
"You are such a moron. What is wrong with you? Your last name is Stark and you sign up for three months in the Middle East, the most dangerous part of the world for anyone with your last name. Are you insane?" He said making sure dad didn't hear.
"I'm not insane, I used a fake name and no one even knows Tony Stark has a daughter. I was good." I said.
"How are you still here? I thought the stone didn't want you near your Dad." Wren said.
"Apparently this was the right time to see him again. It isn't trying to zap me away so I guess this is okay." I said.
"You're life is complicated." He said.
"You have no idea. Listen I think it's a given but…" I said.
"Keep this a secret. Don't tell anyone including Sam and Jess?" He said.
"Yeah." I said.
"They don't know." He said confirming what he already figured out.
"Look at it this way, you have silent bragging rights over Jess." I said.
"Does that make us BFF's?" He said teasing me. I punched his arm.
"We're getting there." I said before turning and pouring dad a cup of coffee. Thirty seconds later he was walking down the stairs in a change of clothes. I placed a coffee mug next to him and he grabbed it after it was set down.
"I need to power the suit." Dad said.
"Can you hook it up to the backup generator in the barn? I have an adaptor in the lab." I said.
"Could work. I need to run diagnostics on Jarvis he was crapping out." Dad said heading downstairs.
"Someone's in a bad mood." Wren said.
"Well I did disappear for six months and then show up and avoid talking about the giant elephant in the room." I said.
"You need to talk to him, and tell him." Wren said.
'Don't tell him about me. I already had your grandfather toying with things he didn't understand, I'd rather not have to repeat that lesson.' The stone said.
"Not telling him about it." I said, "I'd rather not get turned into a toddler again."
"What?" Wren said confused.
"I got it," Dad said walking in. "You got a text by the way." Dad said putting my phone down in front of me.
"Let's go check the suit out." I said.
"I'll stay here, want to catch up on my shows before I'm shipped out again." Wren said walking to the living room.
"Cool," I said. I checked my phone and saw the text was from Jess just letting me know she had gotten Wren's gifts.
"Where'd he come from?" Dad said as we walked out.
"I met him while I was away. He was my mentor at work." I said.
"You two seem very close for a mentoring relationship" He said.
"We spent a lot of time together, went through some stuff. He's a good friend. Don't worry, He'll keep the secret," I assured him.
"You really trust him? You haven't even told Jess." He said.
"That's a different situation. Jess has more on the line, ignorance is bliss." I said as we walked into the barn. I walked over to the suit and saw all the scratched and dents. "You put this one through the ringer."
"Yeah, it was just a prototype, lasted longer than I thought it would." Dad said pulling out a screwdriver getting ready to adjust the generator to increase output.
"Mark 42? Dude how many suit do you need?" I said.
"Don't know, you know I hate repeating outfits." He sassed back.
"Your closet must be packed by now." I said checking out the helmet.
"How long have you been back?" He asked.
"Not now." I said.
"Nora." He said sternly, "How long?"
I sighed. "A week. Would've been earlier but had a hard time getting a flight back." I said.
"Back from where?" He asked.
"What do you know about the Mandarin?" I said. We were at an impasse. I wasn't going to give in and give him answers, not yet at least. He was trying to stare me down. If a five star general couldn't get me to crack, dad won't either.
"Not much, there's only been five bombings the public knows about but there have really been nine. Same MO. Explosion of at least 3000 degrees Celsius, no bomb fragments at the sites. No trace of the bombers. I checked thermogenic signatures around the world up to a month before the Mandarin became public knowledge. Closest match that was seemingly unrelated to the attacks happened here in Dallas." Dad said.
"I'll check it out." I said taking my phone out and searching it up. "So were you the one that gave War Machine a makeover or was that Rhodey's idea?" I said trying to break the ice.
"Apparently it was to aggressive." Dad said mockingly.
"I though that was the point." I said.
"I think the military's trying to take advantage of Cap's recent comeback to gain public support or something like that." Dad said. At the mention of Steve I just turn away, trying not to tear up.
"How was it? Teaming up with Captain America." I asked.
"He's everything your grandfather ever said he was. The living embodiment of patriotism and all what we all should aspire to be." Dad said with a bit of anger at the mention of Gramps.
"Sounds like a nice guy." I said. "How's he adapting?"
"You really want to talk about Spangles?" dad said.
I shrugged. "Just curious he was the talk of the ba-town where I was." I said trying to cover up my slip up. "Besides, it's a whole new world for him. He's probably the only person on the planet that doesn't know Darth Vadar is Luke's father. Imagine the look on his face when he finds that out." That made dad smile a bit.
"I should get Romanoff and Barton to record his reaction to it." Dad said. "Banner's living at the tower. Moved in after the battle."
"That's good, finally found someone who can keep up with you in the lab." I said.
"I already had someone who could." Dad said making me feel guilty.
"For when I'm not there," I said.
Things got quiet after that. I looked up everything related to the bombing and found the site.
"One of the family members of a victim worked at a bar downtown." I told Dad.
"I'll go check it out?" he said.
"I'll come with, you always get lost. How's the suit?" I said.
"It'll be a few hours before it's at full power." He said. "I hooked it up to Friday so it'll be easier to work on it long distance."
We walked into the house and walked over to the living room. "Hey." I said grabbing Wren's attention.
"Hey." He said.
"We're going out for a bit, Think you'll be okay on your own?" I said.
"I'm a grown man Nora, I think I'll make due." He said.
"Kay, text me if you need anything." I said.
I walked over to the garage where Dad was already next to the Audi.
"We're not taking that one." I said.
"Why not it's faster?" He whined.
"Because you're supposed to be dead and we need to keep a low profile. That car sticks out like a sore thumb now get in," I said unlocking the car.
"Stupid grandma car." Dad muttered.
"It could be worse, we could've biked it." I said driving out of the garage.
The car ride was silent. All Dad wanted to do was talk about where I was, which I wasn't ready to talk about it. I was trying to find the right words to say and explain everything but I kept drawing blanks.
We got down town and got to the explosion sit. People had left flowers, photos, and candles for the victims of the explosion I looked at the walls and saw the shadows of the people that were close to the explosion.
"What was the official story? What happened?" Dad asked.
"Local hero, Chad Davis, lived in the area. Won a bunch of medals in the army. Story is he had a nervous breakdown brought on by PTSD. One day he lost it, made a bomb and blew himself up." I said reading off my phone.
"Six victims right?"
"Yeah."
"That doesn't make sense." Dad said looking at the shadows.
"Five shadows, six victims." I said.
"I don't buy it." Dad said.
"Shadows remind me of footage I saw of New York. At the train station, I think it was."
"Don't. I don't want to talk about it." Dad said looking away.
"Sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve." I said. I looked at Dad and I noticed his breathing was off. "Dad you okay?"
"Yeah, Can't a guy just catch his breath for a second?" He said. I knew those symptoms. He was having a panic attack.
"Remember when I was a kid and I saw that episode of Goosebumps. You know the one with the gross, three eyed monster with the gross yellow claws and I couldn't sleep because I thought he was going to come out in the middle of the night from under my bed. You told me, Nora there are a lot of scary things out there, but most of them are only scary if you let them scare you. There was a trick to it right. I had to close my eyes and count back from ten slowly. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. By the time I opened my eyes there was nothing to be scared of anymore." I said.
"There was nothing to be scared of because you fell asleep by three." He said.
"Three's my lucky number," I said I said with a smirk.
"The guy who died, you said he has a relative in the area." Dad said.
"His mom works at a bar at the end of the block." I said.
"Let's go pay her a visit." Dad said making his way over.
On our way to the bar dad bumped into someone. I didn't really pay attention to their conversation I just went in ahead just to do a bit of recon.
Mrs. Davis wasn't working at the bar, she was sitting at a table alone drinking a beer. Judging by the way her eyes wouldn't focus on a single thing and the way she was swaying I'd say it wasn't her first drink.
Dad walked in a few minutes later and sat next to me at the bar. "That her?" he asked looking at her.
"Yeah, been here a while by the looks of it." I said.
"Imma go talk to her." He said getting up and walking over. This wasn't going to go well, dad tended to rub people the wrong way.
"Mrs. Davis, mind if I join you?" Dad asked.
"Free country" She said not bothering to even look up at him.
"It sure is." Dad said sitting down.
"Alright. Where'd you like to start?" She said finally looking up at him.
"I just want to say I'm sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened." He said. That's new; he was actually being subtle and tactful.
"Look, I brought your damn file. You take it and go." She said dropping a file in front of Dad. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."
"Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Yeah? Supposed to meet somebody here?" Dad said figuring out something was off.
"Yeah." Mrs. Davis said looking confused. Dad looks through the file and he makes a face. He saw something.
"Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself, I guarantee you. He didn't kill anyone. Someone used him." Dad said. What is going on?
"What?" She said. Yeah what?
"As a weapon." Dad said. Weaponized humans? Human Bombs?
"You're not the person who called me after all, are you?" She said realizing it finally and at that moment the woman who dad bumped into outside slammed a phone on their table.
"Actually, I am." She said. She grabbed his arm and twisted it before slamming his head on the table. Dad struggled to get out of it. I was about to get up and do something when a police officer stood up first.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's all this about? What the hell's going on here?" She yelled.
"It's called an arrest." The woman said pushing Dad onto the ground. "Sheriff, is it?"
"Yes ma'am, it is. And you are?" the Sherriff said.
"Homeland Security." She said holding her badge up. "We good here?"
"No, we're not good. I need a little more information than that." The sheriff said standing her ground.
"Well, I think it's a little above your pay grade, Sheriff." She retorted.
"Yeah, well, why don't you get on the horn to Austin and uh...upgrade me?" the sheriff said not liking her tone. I looked over at Dad and he gave me a look before gesturing to the file on the floor. I took advantage of the argument to walk a bit closer and dropped my coat over the file then dragged it over closer to me with my foot.
"Alright, you know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way, but uh...the fun way's always good." Her hand started burning red-hot melting the badge in her hand.
"Deputy, get this woman and..." Before the sheriff could finish giving his orders the woman shoves the badge into his face and grabs his gun and shoots him. Dad ran out of there and the woman followed him. I took that as my cue and ran out the back door. I took a short cut and tailed dad and the woman chasing after him.
"Hey hot wings, you wanna party? You and me, let's go." Dad said running again. I run over to the other side and hide behind a car. I heard footsteps coming closer and I get ready to throw whoever is coming close away from me. Just as I'm about to raise my hand dad comes over. "Crazy, huh?"
"Yeah." I said panting a bit. Shit that was close.
"Watch this, stay close." He said he threw a brick into a shop window shattering it. Dad runs in and the woman follows after him. I ran to the back of the shop and stayed hidden. "At some point he started a fire. "You walked right into this one, I've dated hotter chicks than you." He said before throwing the dog tags into the microwave and flipping the gas on.
"That's all you got? Cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?" She sassed not realizing how screwed she was.
"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography." He said. I don't know if I should be impressed or a bit sad that that's actually a very accurate description of dad's personality. Dad runs over and we run out the back door before the shop exploded.
As we walk outside some guy walks up to us pushing some kid to keep up with him. Dad walked ahead of me, keeping me behind him.
"Let me go!" The kid says struggling against him.
"Help me! Help me!" the man mocked. "Hey kid, what would you like for Christmas?"
"I want to go home!" The kid cried out.
"Oh. No, no. I think he was trying to say, "I want my goddamn file."" The guys said. At that minute the kid squirmed around and kneed him in the gnads making him let go. He ran away probably back to the main streets. The man went red hot and took advantage of us backing away to make a run for it.
"Well that takes care of that, for now." I said. "Anything you forgot to mention?"
"I don't know, it seems were both pretty quiet lately." Dad retorted. "Where'd you leave the file?"
"I stashed it in the car." I said as we walked back to the main street.
"Thanks kid, I'll call you when all of this is over." He said getting in the car.
"What are you talking about? I'm going with you." I said.
"No you're not. You're staying here." He said.
"You're leaving me out in the cold." I said not believing what I was hearing.
"You're wearing a coat." He said.
"That's not happening Dad."
"Nora, it's dangerous."
"I know which is why I'm not letting you go alone." I said opening the car door but dad just pushed it close.
"No, this isn't your business, it's mine. Why should I let you come along?" He said.
"I'll answer all the question you have about where I've been for the past six months and why I left." I say.
"Get In." He said opening the door for me.
He got in the drivers seat and started driving out of town.
"Start talking." He said.
"Need to make a call first." I said Dialing Wren. He answered on the third ring.
"Yeah," He greeted. I could hear the TV in the background.
"It's me, just calling to let you know I have to leave town for a bit. I should be back by tomorrow but I'm going to need you to heat everything up." I said.
"Where you of to?" He asked.
"Not sure yet, I think dad'll tell me after the interrogation." I said.
"You two finally talking?" He said.
"Something like that."
"Well good. What do I have to do?"
"Friday will tell you exactly when to start and when to take it out. If you need anything just ask or if not call me."
"Course, same goes to you. Send me a photo and I'll pick you up." He said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, now stop avoiding your Dad." He said.
"Fine but you better not watch the next episode of Game of Thrones without me." I said.
"Um, Sure," He said with a slightly high pitched voice.
"Wren..."
"Got to go, safe travels, bye." He said quickly before hanging up. Bastard, if he spoils anything I will make his life hell.
Things in the car were quiet. I guess dad was waiting for me to start. I pulled out my dog tags from my pocket and hung them on the rearview mirror.
"I joined the army." I said. Dad slammed on the breaks and stopped the car.
"You what!?" He yelled.
"I joined the army. I wanted training as a Trauma Surgeon and that was the best place to learn." I said.
"So they sent you to Germany." Dad said.
"No." I said really not looking forward to his reaction to the next part.
"Where did they send you?" Dad asked gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckled were white.
"Kandahar." I said.
"What the hell Nora?!" dad yelled.
"I took all the precautions. No one knew my name and I never mentioned I knew you. I was good."
"Do you not remember that little incident a few fears back where I was kidnapped and kept as a hostage for three months?!"
"Yes dad, I remember I was the one that found you remember." I defended.
"Yet you didn't think of that when you signed up to go train in a warzone." He said.
"It was good for me to get away. I finished my residency in six months and I'm taking my boards at the end of January."
"War zone Nora!" He said.
"Would you relax I was only close to an exploding bomb like twice." I blurted out before I realized what I had just said. What is wrong with me.
Dad slammed his foot down on the breaks again.
"What?!" He yelled.
"Dad maybe I should drive?" I said seeing the vein on the side of his forehead pop up. I'd only seen that happen once before and that was before he got kidnapped in Afghanistan and we had a falling out.
"Don't you dare change the subject. Why the hell did you sign up without telling me or anybody for that matter? You disappeared off the face of the Earth then show up six months later with some British guy acting like everything's okay. Everything is not okay Nora!" Dad yelled.
"I Know! I fucked up! I get it. I wanted to tell you, you have no idea how many times I almost called you. As soon as I found out about New York and you almost dying I almost got on the first plane flying out of Kandahar but I couldn't." I said.
"Why the hell not?!"
"Because as much as I want and need my Dad around the world needs Iron Man more!" I yelled, tears falling down my face. "Pull over." I said.
"Nora,"
"Dad pull over!" I said.
He pulled over on the side of the road. I ran out of the car and took a few steps before I started throwing up. At some point Dad got out of the car and held my hair back as I purged. When I was done he handed me a bottle of water so I could rinse my mouth and we got back in the car.
We were silent for about an hour before Dad finally talked.
"Why did you think that?" Dad said not taking his eyes off the road.
"When I gave my graduation speech I started thinking about all of those milestones. The day I decided I wanted to be a doctor you were in New York at some fashion show hitting on models. The day I got my acceptance letter to Harvard, we weren't speaking and you were in Vegas hooking up with that one reporter that hates you. Day I freaked out over my first exam in Medical School and I had a panic attack you weren't there, you were dealing with terrorists somewhere. Dad you weren't there for any of those. I looked out into the audience and I didn't see you there, and you want to know what I thought? I thought Dad isn't here again, another global catastrophe or terrorist to take out and that's okay. I hate the fact that you're never there but I can't be mad at you because I'm so damn proud of you." I said crying towards the end. "When you called about helping SHIELD out with the extraction theory I realized that there are bigger and more important things to worry about and I'm just a distraction so I left. I didn't tell you because I knew that you'd do everything to get me back to the US and I didn't want to come back." "Then why did you come back?" He asked.
"There was an incident three months after I got to Afghanistan. Wren and I were working at this clinic and there was this little girl and her Dad. They had come in for a check up. We did our jobs and at the end of the day we were leaving and a bomb went off destroying the clinic. There were bodies and wounded people all over the place. We got to work triaging and treating who we could. The girl's father was screaming for her because he couldn't find her. Wren found her under a part of the wall. Half her body crushed, broken ribs and punctured lung, broken hip and dislocated leg and shrapnel embedded in her stomach. There was nothing we could do except wait. She died in her dad's arm choking on her own blood. The way he cried and sobbed. You deserved better than marshals showing up at your door or a folded up flag at my funeral. Then I realized I didn't put you down in my contact information and I covered my tracks so well I probably would have ended up in an unmarked grave or dead in a ditch somewhere so I did my time and came back." I said.
"Why the hell didn't you talk to me about this?" Dad said.
"Cuz Dad my biggest fear in life wasn't dying, it's disappointing you. And that look you're giving me right now tells me I just did that. If I had called you I would have chickened out and I needed to go." I said.
"Nora you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. You're my conscience and my best friend all rolled in to one. Don't tell Rhodey I said that. I can't be disappointed in you. If you had listened to any of the messages I left you you'd know how proud of you I am. Those were going to be my last words ever." Dad said.
"Well actually your message got cut off before you finished so…" I said.
"You're right, I was never there and I should've been. I should've been there for your first words, first steps, first grade skipped, first blackout you caused, First alcoholic drink, Wow I just realized how strange our relationship is." Dad said.
"Normal's relative. Most normal people don't have a dad that saves the world." I retort.
"Most dads think they have the world's most amazing but I know I do." He said.
"You read that on a birthday card didn't you?" I said.
"What? Nooo." He said pretending to be innocent. I just gave him a look. "Maybe." He finally admitted making me laugh.
"Point is you're not second to the world, you are my world. I know I've missed out but that doesn't mean you don't matter and I don't want you to ever feel that way. I want to know what's going on with you. I want to be there for your day to day stuff not just once or twice a year."
"I know and that'd be great but we both have responsibilities dad." I said.
"We'll figure it out but we're fixing this, right after I take down the Mandarin."
"You mean we take down the Mandarin." I said.
"I'm doing the heavy lifting. He literally dropped a building on me and I had to lift it off."
"I helped build the suit." I retort.
"Take down twelve percent of the Mandarin." Dad offered.
"Fifty," I said.
"Fifteen and I'll throw in a getaway for you and your boyfriend." Dad said.
"Boyfriend?" I said confused.
"Carrot top watching Game of Thrones in your living room." He said. I just burst out laughing.
"AHAHAHA, You think, Wren and I. HAHA. Ah that's hilarious" I said not being able to stop laughing. "Wren and I aren't dating, we're just friends."
"Friend that you met six months ago and already invited to the fortress of solitude and told him your real name." dad said.
"Again, he's a friend. I trust him. We've been through a lot together the past few months. He's the one that talked me into coming back and not signing up for another six months in Afghanistan. He's stuck there until end of February, he's on leave until Christmas," I told dad.
"How can you trust him? You haven't even told your best friend who you consider your sister you're real name." Dad said.
"He saved my life." I said,
"What do you mean?"
"About two months ago we were called out to treat some soldiers that had gotten pinned down by rebels. The fired bombs and one landed a few feet away from me. Wren pulled me out of the way and behind some cover risking his own life to do so." I said not adding the exact details of how he did that or the fact that I met him in the future.
"Huh." Dad said. "You sure that's all."
"Of course, what else would there be?" I said.
"I don't know, the way you two bicker reminded me of the way Pepper and I get along." Dad said.
"We're just friends dad, good enough friends we're comfortable enough to call each other out on our shit." I said.
"If you say so."
"I'm serious."
"Would it be such a bad thing if there was more than that?"
"Where's this coming from?" I said.
"Nowhere it's just, seeing you with him it was the first time in a long time I'd seen you smile for real since Geneva." Dad said.
"I smile plenty." I said smiling just to prove a point.
"You smile to keep up appearances, To make sure I don't worry not an actual smile. I could see it in your eyes kid." He said. "With him you actually smiled."
"We're just friends. We didn't always get along. He used to drive me mad." I said,
"Drove you 'mad'" dad said emphasizing the word.
"I've spent everyday in the past six months with the guy, the Brit has rubbed of on me." I said.
"Uhuh." Dad said with a smirk.
"Dad I'm serious, there is nothing going on with me and Wren and there never will be. I'm emotionally unavailable and he'll jump anything that moves. We're friends that's it. End of discussion." I said.
"Used to say the same thing about Pepper." He said in a sing song voice.
"Dad you were oblivious and in denial. That woman put up with so much because she loved you for years. It just took getting kidnapped and an electromagnet in your chest for you realize it."
"They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"That doesn't apply to this situation." I said curling up in my seat.
"Sure it doesn't."
"I don't see him that way. He's just a good friend, maybe an older brother figure but nothing more." I said rubbing my wrists. No one can compare to Steve and Bucky.
"You know I want you to be happy. I don't think they'll ever be a guy worthy of you but that doesn't mean I'm against someone trying to be." He said ever so casual.
"Is this your way of saying I need to get laid?' I said making him swerve the car.
"Nora, no father is ever okay with their daughter getting laid, but if you wanted to you are an adult and if I never find out then it never happened."
"Dad it's been over a year and the last time wasn't exactly a great experience for me. I think I'm going to wait until I meet the right guy before I go for it again." I said.
"That works too."
"Remember how you said something about how normal Dad's and daughters get along? I don't think normal daughters discuss their sex life with their Dad's." I said.
"Normal's over rated. We're awesome. I wouldn't change us for the world." He said,
"Same here" I said yawning.
"Get some sleep kid." He said.
"Okay, wake me up in an hour or two drive so you can get some sleep." I said resting my head against the window.