Author's Note: So a lot of people have pointed out that this doesn't seem like and SI/Self-Insert fic and you're right. It's not. I've fixed the summary. Honestly, I've been so used to Samsaric/Rage, Rage/the other SI fics I'm working on that I think I added that to the description just by habit. Thank you for pointing that out to me! This is just an OC-fic, with the main character having no prior life and/or memories.
This chapter title comes from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
I give you the sixth installment of But Iron, Cold Iron.
Chapter Six - I have been bent and broken (I hope into a better shape)
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Rhodey dropped to his knees in the shattered glass and his fingers slipped against the blood as he felt for a pulse. "Oh, thank god," he gasped out, shoulders slumping. Then he dug out his phone, smearing blood across the screen as he typed in the number. "JARVIS, where's Tony?"
"He's downstairs in his shop. Currently unconscious."
"Thank you." Rhodey got to his feet and rushed to the stairs, lifting his phone to his ear. "I need an ambulance right away!" He listed off the address and hung up as he reached the door to Tony's workshop. He stepped inside. "Tony? Tony? Tony!" He put a hand on Tony's shoulder and shook him. "Tony! You okay?"
Tony gasped, snapping up and his hand closing sharply around Rhodey's forearm. "Where's Dani?" he rasped out.
"Upstairs. I called an ambulance."
"Where's Pepper?" Tony asked, struggling to his feet.
"She's fine. She's with five agents."
Tony limped over to his suit. "Not gonna be enough. Take care of Dani."
"What— Of course." Rhodey stepped back, staring as the suit closed around Tony. He swallowed. "You need me to do anything else?"
"Keep the skies clear. And keep my kid alive."
The walls were deathly white, except for where they met the ceiling. There, they were pasted with an ugly, flower-patterned wallpaper, interrupted only by an old flat-screen TV that was playing some sort of Spanish soap opera. Her head lolled to the side and a flinch shuddered up her spine at the way her head ached when she moved. She spotted Tony in the recliner next to the bed, flat out asleep.
"Dad," she tried to say, but it came out as more of a rasp of air over her teeth than a word. She tried again. "Dad."
He jerked up, rubbing his eyes. "Dani?"
"Can you change the channel?" she whispered, smiling weakly.
"Oh my— Dani!" he exclaimed. She winced back at the noise and he hesitated before pulling his chair closer. "Sorry. How do you feel?"
"Did you sue the bus driver that hit me?"
"Sure did." He smiled, but it was strained. "Do you remember what happened?"
She closed her eyes, her headache making it hard to think. "Yeah," she mumbled. "You're okay, though."
"I'm okay."
"And Obadiah?" She opened her eyes.
"He's not going to hurt you ever again, okay?" Tony smoothed her hair away from her face and leaned forward. He kissed her sweaty forehead.
"Okay." She scratched at the bandage over her IV.
"Don't do that," he murmured, pulling her hand away.
"But it itches," she whined.
He chuckled. "I know. I'm sorry." He put his hand on her hair. "Get some more sleep, sweetie. You need as much of it as you can to heal up."
"But—"
"I'll be here when you wake up."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Dani. Dani, wake up, sweetheart."
Danielle stirred. "Five more minutes," she mumbled. But as she turned over, blinding pain shot through her head. She yelped in alarm.
"Whoa, careful. Try not to move too much." A hand gripped hers. "I have to go to a press conference about yesterday, okay?"
"Okay," she murmured, managed to open her eyes. "You gonna be gone long?"
"Well, afterwards I'm gonna go back home and get it straightened up for when you go home tomorrow. But then I'll be back."
"Change the channel for me?"
"Of course." He picked up the remote attached to her bed and cycled through the channels until he got to the news. "There. Rhodey's out in the hallway. He's gonna come stay with you. Have him call me if you need anything."
"Okay." She managed a smile, though her eyes were dragging. She gave in and closed her eyes. Danielle felt him press a kiss against her forehead. When she opened her eyes again, Rhodey was sitting in the chair by her bed and reading a book. "Rhodey?"
He looked up and smiled. "Hey, Goose. How are you feeling?"
"Like hell," she groaned, fumbling for the remote. She pressed the button to raise the top of the bed, making it easier for her to sit up. "How long was I asleep?"
"Just an hour. Tony's gonna be on soon."
She glanced towards the TV. "Oh, okay."
"Are you hungry? You missed breakfast and lunch got dropped off just a couple minutes ago."
"I'm okay," she mumbled. "Maybe a little later. There's Dad." She watched as he got up to the podium and started reading from the cards, only to be interrupted by Christine.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit the conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you—"
"I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero."
"Oh god," Danielle mumbled. "He's rambling."
"Did you really expect anything else?" Rhodey asked, though he looked incredibly unimpressed.
"I'm just not the hero type," Tony said. "Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public—" To his right, Coulson leaned in and said something. Tony took a deep breath and lifted the cards, staring at them. "The truth is . . . ." He looked up at the crowd and something in his expression changed. "I am Iron Man."
"Oh, Tony," Rhodey groaned.
Danielle frowned. "Iron Man? It's— The suit's not iron," she instantly began protesting.
"Yeah, okay, nerd," Rhodey chuckled. "C'mon. You need to eat."
Tony stared at the shattered glass table and the blood that stained the broken pieces. He forced the rage suffocating his heart to stop. "JARVIS. Call a cleaning crew to come in and take care of all this. And call someone to finally fix where I fell through the house. Can't bring Dani back to this disaster." He started towards the stairs, but something crunched under his feet.
Tony looked down, stepping back. The wrapped paper was dirty and torn and the envelop tied to it was bent. He leaned down and picked it up. Dad was scrawled across the envelop in Danielle's familiar cursive and he felt his heart constrict. He swallowed and slid his finger under the flap, loosening it. Tony pulled out the card inside. He chuckled at the cute dog on the front and opened it.
You're pretty pawsome!
Under the text sat her practiced, loopy handwriting, dotted with plenty of smiley faces and stars and hearts. Her words filled the rest of the card, talking first about how she had stared writing the music to distract herself while he was gone before rambling into a story about having to call in a piano tuner, which spilled into the same tuna-piano joke he'd heard from her dozens off times and took up enough space that it continued on the back of the card. With shaking hands, he tucked the card away in his suit jacket.
"She's okay," he reminded himself. "This won't ever happen again."
"Careful. Don't go too fast, now. Whoa, whoa, don't—"
"Dad," she whined. "I'm not going to fall apart. You're being a worrier." Despite her words, she clung desperately to his arm and her knees shook as she walked.
"Welcome home, Danielle," JARVIS greeted warmly.
"Thanks, J."
"Would you like the lights up?"
"No, thank you. My eyes are still hurting." With her father's help, she made it over to the couch. He lowered her down.
"Anything I can get for you, kiddo? Water? Hot chocolate?"
"Wine?" she asked hopefully, grinning. When he gave her an unimpressed look, she pouted. "Fine. I'll have some hot chocolate."
Tony nodded and straightened. "Coming right up." He turned towards the kitchen.
"'I am Iron Man.'"
Tony whipped back around to the voice, stepping between it and Danielle. She squeaked in alarm, grabbing a pillow as a poor form of self-defense. Tony scowled at the figure that was standing at the window, looking out at the sea. "Who the hell are you?"
"You think you're the only superhero in the world?" The man turned, hands folded behind his back. Danielle watched him nervously, unable to stop the way her hands had begun to tremble. "Mr. Stark," the man said. "You've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."
"Who the hell are you?" Tony asked again, voice tight. Unrelenting. Angry.
"Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."