REBEL OF THE BALL
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rock music blasted across the room as Tony, hair still a mess after a wild night, was tinkering with his Hot Rod. Now why hadn't he thought of doing this before when he was bored? That was because he already found something — or at least someone — entertaining last night.
He was keeping himself busy because mainly, the after-effects of what he have done finally struck him.
He forgot that Urania was there.
And…there's a high chance she knew what he just did.
Tony's face remained serious and unresponsive as he continued to work. He figured that if he does something, he won't have to think about it. The funny case was, he wished Pepper had done a great job sending Everhart away before his daughter knew it. That way, everything will be much easier.
Damn it, how could he forget that a kid was staying at home? Probably because he drank too much and his alcohol-induced mind was out looking for fun. Tony felt guilty of taking Christine home — but whatever, what's done is done. He'll have to deal with the onslaught later.
Speaking of onslaught, part of his mind screamed that Rhodes will be as annoyed as he would be with him waiting by that plane. Tony was supposed to be taking his flight to Afghanistan.
Carefully, he took out a piece of the engine and began inspecting it, his eyes scrutinizing the metal details like how a doctor would examine a patient.
He looked up at the screen. "Give me an exploded view."
Instantly, the picture of the car's engine split into different parts. Tony's eyes never left the screen, the gears in his mind started working.
"The compression in cylinder three appears to be low." Jarvis informed.
"Log that." Tony ordered and began to work again.
His ears began to catch the miniature beeping of buttons. Tony inwardly braced himself. Here comes Pepper.
"…I'm gonna try again, right now." It seems she was busy talking to someone over the phone, Tony didn't wonder who it was.
"Please don't turn down my music." Was the first thing he said as soon as she came in.
But Pepper did anyway. Tony pictured her, hair tied in a low ponytail, dressed in her usual business attire, a clipboard in hand. Although he wanted to check if he got it right, Tony didn't dare turn around, for fear of being given The Look — which is, Pepper's face moulded into a disapproving scowl.
"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now." She started.
"How'd she take it?" Tony asked instead.
"Like a champ."
He raised a rectangular-shaped piece of metal. "Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?"
"Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and half ago." Pepper explained, but her voice sounded oddly hard. Did something happened?
"That's funny. I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there."
"Tony," Pepper said firmly, clearly irritated with his nonchalant replies. She definitely was in a bad mood. "I need to speak to you about a couple of things before I get you out of the door. And…we need to talk. It's something probably too personal for you."
"I don't like personal."
"I know you don't. But things are getting out of hand."
Tony fell silent. He figured she didn't mean about the flight at all.
Oh well, he's busted.
He whipped his head. "Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?" He asked instead, trying to play dumb and avoid the subject.
Tony positioned himself on a stool as he wiped his greasy hands with a rag. Secretly, he kept throwing his secretary a few curious looks, quite miffed to see she was vaguely distracted about something.
And that something, Tony could plainly tell it includes him too.
"Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no." Pepper said, looking at him.
"Is it a good representation of his spring period?"
"Um, no. The Springs was actually the neighbourhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked." She said flatly, brushing her hair off her face. "Not 'spring' like the season."
"So?" Tony waited for her own opinion. Most times, he could tell Pepper could make decisions like a pro — sometimes far better than he does.
"I think it's a fair example. I think it's incredibly overpriced."
Tony stared at her for a while and said "I need it. Buy it. Store it."
His secretary didn't need to say anything as she jot it down on her notes like any good business staff.
"Okay…the MIT commencement speech —"
"Is in June." Tony finished the sentence for her. "Please. Don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way, down —"
"Well, they're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes —"
"Deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me."
Pepper wasn't listening. "I need you to sign this before you get on the plane —"
"What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got any plans?" Tony joked, trying to ease the tension because, as far as he could see, she looked like she wanted to hurry things up to go talk to him about last night's case.
Pepper shuffled through the papers and met his eyes. "As a matter of fact, I do."
"I don't like it when you have plans."
She paused. Then went back to her papers. "I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday."
Tony froze. Wait — today's her birthday? And he forgot. Nice guy.
"It's your birthday?" He repeated.
"Yes."
"I knew that." He said quickly and added "Already?"
Pepper gave him a strained smile. "Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year."
"Well, get yourself something nice from me."
"I already did."
"And?"
"It was very nice."
"Yeah."
"Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark."
Formalities again. He was sure she wanted the case closed.
"You're welcome, Ms. Potts." He replied.
She nodded and handed him a small cup. The usual.
He took it from her and chugged it down. "Okay."
Tony handed it back to her and was about to walk away when she called out.
"Tony — wait. I told you, we need to talk."
He halted, yet didn't turn around. Yes, he feared an angry woman — especially Pepper. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as Shakespeare would've said.*
"About what? You gotta be sure about something Pep." He tried to say. "First you wanted me to leave, and now stay?"
"It's about your daughter."
Tony said nothing as he stared at the glass door. Oddly, he could spot something from the stairs — a flash of long, black hair. But Pepper's voice snapped his attention away.
"I really thought Urania was perfectly innocent of your actions last night but she slipped and admitted she saw you with Everhart." Pepper began to say, surprisingly in a composed sort-of voice, as if she was holding out her anger.
This time, he spun on his heel and met her steady gaze head-on. Tony crossed his arms, unsure of what to say. Guilt was flooding through his body, making him a little slow at the act of talking back.
He opened his mouth to say something but Pepper cut him off.
"How could you?" She practically spat, fury burning in her eyes. "You — your own daughter! My God, and all this time you knew Urania could see…"
"Wait, I'm missing something here — what are we talking about?"
"You perfectly knew what I'm talking about Anthony Stark! When you called me to practically kick that woman out of your house, I thought you've had the sense to cover everything up. But I was wrong! Don't you realize that she's still a kid? You're ruining everything for her!"
Tony fell silent as he now avoided Pepper's fierce blue eyes. He almost resembled a kid being scolded by his mother.
"I can't imagine you could do that. Gee, you're the smartest person I know — you're my boss, you're practically a responsible adult but damn it, you're still acting like you've never been a kid your whole life to even stop and think…" Her voice began trailing off, but her anger was still obvious.
Tension hang in the air and no one spoke. The only sound heard across the room were the silent drips of the indoor waterfall upstairs.
"Just…" Pepper spoke again, her voice low as she shook her head. "You might be forgetting that Urania's your responsibility, you know. No kid wants to see a parent bring someone in and do those kinds of things. Let alone to a stranger. What you did was... horrible. Although Urania tried to act like it didn't bother her, I knew she's hurt to see her father like this." She sighed. "Tony, I know how things are working out for you. And I don't mind this late-night habit of yours, really. But as you might have noticed — you're not the man you once were. There's a girl out there, looking up at you. And with what you've done, I'm pretty sure you've let her down."
Still silence. Tony's mind was literally blank right now, he was just staring into space, apparently, not thinking of anything except the present situation and his past actions. The fact that he was a jerk was echoing through his mind, bouncing through the walls of consciousness and finally, began settling in.
"Okay, I know it's perfectly none of my business since I just um…work for you but somehow, I just couldn't let things like this happen." Pepper explained, the reality catching up with her now. "You have to understand that Tony. And if I weren't here to tell you this…who would?"
She looked at him, now fearing his reaction.
Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You're right — you're absolutely right."
"I'm sorry, I was just —"
He raised a hand to stop her apologies. "It's fine. I understand. I deserve it. I'm the bad guy." He dropped his open palm and began to pace. "I was a jerk, alright? I just completely forgot. I drank too much last night — very unforgivable, yes. But somehow, I just did it Pep. And the kid new — she's too smart. Too smart."
Suddenly, a clang was heard, followed by a slight thud and someone cursing.
"Hey, I know you're there! Just come in here and stop hiding, will you?" Tony called out, knowing that Urania was eavesdropping on their conversation — including his little lecture from his secretary — the whole time.
Urania appeared, her head bowed as she typed in the passcode and let herself in.
Pepper frowned, hands on her hips. "You were listening the whole time?"
She looked down, abashed. "Yes." And then added quickly "I couldn't help it Pepper! I knew something like this would happen and I just gotta see it!"
But Urania's eagerness shrunk at Pepper's disapproving look.
"Listen, kid — I mean, Urania." Tony began to say, sighing. "You really did saw me, didn't you?"
"Yes." Came her answer.
"How did you feel about it?"
She looked up, eyeing Tony with a frown.
He raised both of his hands in surrender. "Hey, I'm not good of all this touchy-feely stuff here too. Just answer me and let's get this done."
"Alright. I was…well, I was pretty surprised, to be honest. But a little angry too. Because for an old man like you, you certainly got no respect for kids though you act like one most of the time."
Tony cocked an eyebrow. "Old man? Huh, really?"
She shrugged. "Aren't you going to apologize to me, or what?"
Tony was about to say no but when he met Pepper's glare, he instantly cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry, okay? I am. And I promise I won't do it again."
"Are you sure?"
"Why do you keep on — ugh, fine. I'm sure, okay?"
Urania put a hand on her hip, smiling a little. "Apology accepted." And she added "Dad."
"Don't get started on this…" He muttered and was about to turn away when he remembered something. "Pepper, you got that application for Redmond?"
Pepper froze. She eyed him with a wary look.
"Yes." She replied after a while. "It's in here."
Tony stretched his hand out, his face serious. "Please give it to me."
Although unwilling, his secretary did handed it to him. After all, he was the one giving her salary. Strong woman she was, Pepper knew when to speak up.
And this doesn't seem the time to do so. Because Tony's in charge of this situation.
After a quick skim, Tony handed it to Urania, who eyed it with curiosity.
"What's this?" She asked, taking it from his hands.
"An application form."
"For what?"
"Redmond." Tony began to walk away. He knew the onslaught that was coming right after.
Urania shuffled through the papers. "Wait — what does this mean?"
"Urania," Pepper's voice was dead flat. "Redmond is a school for gifted children — it's…a boarding school up in the North."
"Boarding school?" Urania repeated, choked up on her words. She immediately looked at Tony's retreating back. "Wait — you're sending me away?"
Tony didn't dare turn. "As soon as you'd fill it up. And I want you to do it — I'm your Dad after all."
"But —"
"Just do it." He said firmly as he headed to the door.
Tony knew this was making him look like that hard-headed jerk again. But Urania would soon realize that the farther she is from him, the better she'll be. Besides, she doesn't need to depend on a man like him — he was practically irresponsible, aggressive and doesn't make good decisions at all. Who would want a father like that? He knew doing this would make her hate him more — but it's all for the best. Maybe after she'd graduate, he'll be able to give her the business, the house — practically everything she wanted. He just promised to be a great father as best as he could, and this was the solution — sending his own daughter away because he was a crappy, no-good, asshole-kind of a father. He can't risk letting her down again.
"What is wrong with you?" Urania practically screamed, throwing the papers on the floor. "You promised to change just now and you're doing this again? Running away from your responsibilities? Sending your problems away? You're a sick bastard! I hate you! I hate you!"
He said nothing as the door slid open for him to get out. Tony climbed the stairs, still hearing his daughter scream from the garage. But no matter how much it hurts to hear how bad of a Dad he is from his own girl, he kept on walking away.
And he never looked back.