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Chapter 4

June

The last shot rang out; I flinched as I had every time at every funeral I had been to this week.

One funeral for every person who died to protect my father and me.

And this was the last one, thank God because I hated crying and I had done nothing but cry at every one.

Everyone had left except for this soldier's family, I wanted to give them privacy but I also needed to talk to them, they hadn't returned any of my phone calls.

"What are you doing here?" the woman who I am assuming was his mother snapped at me.

"I need to talk to you and your family," I said looking up at her and her husband.

"I would have thought that you could have taken the hint," she yelled. "We don't want to talk to you."

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," I said. "I'm so sorry and thankful for your son; what he did."

The little girl walked up to her mother and father.

"Lily, sweetie," the mom said picking her up.

"Your son was the one driving the Humvee I was in," I said my tears running down my face. "His quick thinking and skills saved my life and gave me a chance."

"I don't want to hear this," the mom said.

"I know," I sniffed, "and I'm sorry and I know that there isn't anything I can do to bring your son back, but I'm going to try−"

"How?" she sneered, "how could you possibly try?"

"Lily has a college fund set up in her name that she has access to when she graduates," I began. "and the college your son went to, UCLA, now has a scholarship set up in your son's name, you and your husband will get to choose the recipient each year."

The mom started to cry while Lily hugged her tight.

"I don't," the father began, "I don't−"

"Please," I said. "You don't have to say anything, it's the least I can do and I wanted to give you this," I said handing them a piece of paper.

The dad picked it up and looked at it.

"It's the number to my personal phone, don't hesitate to call or ask for anything." I said sniffing again.

The father looked back down at the piece of paper he had and then back at me. "Thank you," he said sticking his hand out for me.

I shook his hand. "I'm so sorry," I said looking at the both of them.

The little girl struggled in her arms until her mother set her down; she walked over to where I sat in my wheelchair.

"You knew my brother?" she asked her eyes wide and red from crying.

I shook my head. "Your big brother saved my life," I said.

"He was a hero?" she asked.

"A superhero," I said leaning in whispering. "He was the best."

"I know," she said frowning.

My heart broke; this little girl had lost her hero and it was my fault.

"I gave your daddy my phone number, if you need anything you can call," I said.

She gave me a huge smile and hugged me.

I hugged her back and afterwards she went over to her parents.

"I'll leave you guys alone now," I said as I wheeled myself over to where Happy was.

"You okay?" he asked as I lowered myself into my car seat.

"I'm just glad that it's over," I said as the tears finally stopped falling. "I can't handle looking anyone else in the eye and knowing that I am the reason that their loved one is dead."

"There is nothing I can say to make you feel better is there?" Happy asked.

"Not today," I said.

He handed me a box of tissues and I took them silently. "Let's go home," I said.

He nodded and we drove off.

The trip back home was a silent one and I gave Happy a quiet thank you after he had helped me get out of the car. I was emotionally drained and tired so I managed to wheel myself into our home base where Peter and Max were there to greet me.

"What's next on the agenda?" Peter asked me as I pushed myself onto the couch.

I sighed, "Jarvis has there been anything on the feed?" I asked.

"None that I could find, Scarlett," Jarvis replied.

I leaned my head back on the couch. "Can I call in my rain check?" I asked.

Peter just looked over at me and put his arm around me as I curled into him. "Of course, Red," he said.

"That was the last one," I mumbled as I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Does that make you feel any better?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No, it doesn't," I said. "But I just need a nap before I head over to Stark Industries."

"What are you going to do?" Peter asked.

"There is something happening behind my back and I need to figure out what it is. So I'm going to try and shut down production while I figure out what is going on and how can I stop it," I said.

Peter just kissed the top of my head. "Get some rest Red, I'll wake you up when it's time to go."

I mumbled my thanks while I closed my eyes and allowed the exhaustion I was feeling to drown me and take me under.

I wheeled myself into the boardroom of Stark Industries. Using the superpower that is my last name I decided to call a meeting with the board members wanting to get everything settled. Since the accident I had taken to talking with Uncle Rhodey about what I had remembered.

That whine was clearly one of the Stark missiles, which made sense to what Rhodey was talking about when I first woke up. Either way I was not going to have our name and reputation tainted by this so I had devised a genius plan (with the help of Peter and Max).

Obi was the last one to come into the room and once he was settled I stood up, yes I stood up but hold your applause for now; all the work I had been doing with Clint was paying off, slowly but surely. Pepper still hadn't gotten me a new doctor but that is a bitch fest for another time.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, I stood up and everyone was shocked but they had the decency to cover it up vaguely.

"So I know everyone wants to know what happened, but the truth is that it isn't important. What is important is the men and women who died over there protecting my father and me. So in honor of them we are going to have three weeks where we shut down production," I said.

The board members who hadn't had much experience with me looked at me with sweet pity a kind of oh she is so sweet and innocent look, while the others who did know me looked at me with a pained expression.

"I know this is unprecedented but I've done the math, we are not going to lose any profit with this shut down, our Christmas bonuses aren't going to be as large but I, for one, am willing to take it in honor of those brave men and women," I said with a teary smile.

I watched as one by one they slowly accepted the fact that this was happening whether or not they wanted it and to just go with the flow.

I had them by the heartstrings and they bought every line I sold them.

Not that I wasn't thankful, not at all. In fact, I had already set up bank accounts and talked to the remaining family of those men and women. In fact, I had lost my personal billionaire status by giving away the money I had made from all of the accounts I had set up for the children of the families, but they didn't need to know that. All they needed to know was that we were not selling anything while I went through every single sale and product to make sure that they didn't get those missiles from us.

I sat back down and asked if anyone else had any business or anything to talk about. If they did it was nothing of import so I tuned out and started to think about how I was going to hack into the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, which seriously needs an anagram or a new name, maybe when I finally hack into them I'll create one. I was going to have to be creative in how I did it; I also had one chance before they realized who I was and what I was doing.

Some people had started to stand up and I guess that signaled that the meeting was over. I stood back up and shook some hands as everyone left the room.

Well, everyone except for Obi, who was extremely pissed.

"Is there a problem, Obi?" I asked him, knowing the answer already. That was a personal thing; only ask questions you already know the answer to. That way you know if they are not tell the truth and you don't have to do anything drastic for answers.

"What are you doing, Scar?" he asked

I glare at him slightly at his use of my nickname; I hadn't dubbed him worthy of it.

"I'm showing the world that the Starks' always pay their debts," I said sitting back down. My legs had gotten a little shaky and I didn't need Obi knowing that.

Obi just shook his head and walked a little closer to me. "You know," he began, "you are so much like your grandfather."

I felt a rush of pride at that. I had read about Howard Stark, not being able to know the man. But he had some journals lying around in a box I had found when I was thirteen. Peter and I were in our spy phase. In fact that was the reason I had decided to learn how to fly a plane. Apparently, Howard Stark was known as the best civilian pilot, and I wanted to honor that.

"And how is that?" I asked him.

"You have a subtle way to make people do what you want while you do something completely else," Obi said.

Well damn, I guess I wasn't as smooth as I thought I was.

"Oh" I said for lack of a better answer. To confirm his belief would be to rat myself out and to outright deny his accusations would involve a whole lot of lying.

Now lying is something I had become good at but Obi has this way of digging and soon you are trapped in a web and you don't know how to get out. No, with Obi it's best to deal in the vague.

"Scar," Obi began.

But the bell saved me; well technically it was the soft ring of my phone.

"Excuse me," I said answering it in front of him.

"What do you want, Peter?" I ask.

"You need to come home Red," Peter said, his voice held none of the humor it usually did so I knew right away something was extremely wrong. "Happy is there and outside the door."

"Ok," I whisper and hang up on him. I turn to Obi, "I have to go, and we will talk about this another time."

I left before he had a chance to answer, I was extremely glad I had grabbed all of the information; paperwork and computer trail that I needed before the meeting. I wheeled out of the boarding room and looked at Happy.

"Let's go," he said. I nodded and let him wheel me out of the building; I ignored the people who said the usual hello to me, too focused on what could possibly be happening.

Happy was quiet and that's all I needed to start my slow decent into a full-blown panic attack. We rolled up the driveway and by that time I didn't think I could wheel myself into the house. Happy seemed to know fully well I was panicking because when he opened the door he handed me my inhaler, God I hate this thing. When I found out I was leaving Peter I had my first panic attack, and my dad might have had one too but I'm not sure about that. And ever since then I had been prone to having them, and after a really bad one when I was fourteen, Pepper took me to a doctor and he prescribed me my inhaler.

Rolling my eyes I took it quickly, closed my eyes and counted to ten.

I nodded to Happy that I was good and he wheeled me towards the house.

When I made it to the living room, I saw it.

My small family, minus my dad, two lawyers and Creepy Doctor.

All standing around waiting for me.

My mind immediately went to different scenarios that could possibly happen.

No matter what, it was bad, otherwise Creepy Doctor wouldn't be there.

Which pissed me off.

I was Scarlett Stark; I did not need a doctor on call every time something went wrong. I did not need anybody.

But recently, I did need a doctor; I needed a lot of people to do things for me, which made me feel incompetent, useless, like dead weight.

"Tell me," I said, my voice cold detach less, the voice I use when dealing when things that dealt with business.

"Red," Peter said. "It's been a month and a half since the accident."

I nodded that I was indeed well aware of how long I had been failing at finding my father.

"Technically it's time," Rhodey said looking at me. "We have to−"

"No," I said shaking my head. "Not going to happen. No."

No, no way in hell was I going to declare my father dead.

Nope.

"Told you," Peter said, "so this meeting wasn't needed."

"Sweetie," Pepper tried again.

But I just rolled away. "Scar," Cory called to me. "Where are you going?"

"To do important things," I snapped. "Like finding my dad, something you all should be doing!"

I heard Peter sigh and Max running after me as I trailed into my computer lab.

But I kept rolling past the lab, Peter took the hint that I needed to be alone but Max kept following me. I rolled into my room and onto my balcony.

I buried my hands in my head and willed the tears away.

How dare they!

How dare they ambush me and expect me to be okay with declaring that my father was dead.

I was furious, I was livid.

I was tired.

So tired, tired of fighting against everyone who had already signed off my dad as dead. I was tired of trying to convince myself that he wasn't.

"Scarlett," I heard a voice behind me.

I knew who it was immediately; there were only three people that were stupid enough to come into my room. And two of them wouldn't have called me Scarlett.

"Doctor," I said. "I wasn't aware that you and I had an appointment."

"Pepper called me and asked if I could come over, they were afraid that you might have another panic attack," he said calmly.

I was having a bad day and it wasn't going to be over for quite some time, and his tone wasn't helping any.

"Well they were wrong, I'm fine," I snapped trying to get him to leave.

"It was a good thing I was over here, you haven't been sleeping, I can tell." He said.

I didn't say anything but let my irritation just sit in the air.

"You can't get better if you don't sleep," he said he voice closer to me.

"Listen," I snapped turning towards him.

I felt a pinch and looked up at Creepy Doctor, he was pulling a syringe away from my neck.

"Wha−?" I asked as I heard Max start to growl and bark.

"Sleep," he commanded.

My eyesight started to blur and I heard a cry of pain, and then nothing.

I woke up feeling good, which freaked me out, I hadn't felt good for a while now.

I looked at the clock, and saw that it was 10:26 am.

"Holy shit," I yelled pushing my covers back. Max came running into my room and bounced on the bed.

Pepper walked into the room and smiled at me. "It's about time you woke up," she said.

My first thought was she was waaaaayyyy too chipper for me; my second thought was what the hell happened?

"Pep?" I asked still a little groggy from sleep.

"Scarlett, you really can't run yourself ragged like that," she reprimanded me,

"What happened?" I asked petting Max as he scooted closer to me.

"Well, your doctor thought you might have a panic attack so he went to your room and found you out on the balcony almost hyperventilating," Pepper explained. "So he gave you a sedative and put you in bed, of course, that was after Max bit him."

Max barked and looked up at me. "Good boy," I said patting him on the head.

"No, he's not," Pepper said.

"Listen, if Creepy Doctor is going to, once again, inject me with something that I haven't given him the ok for, he deserves to be bitten." I snap, my anger at the guy growing.

"I don't even remember having a panic attack," I said pushing the hair off of my head.

"He helped you," Pepper defended him and she sat on my bed.

I glared at her and didn't reply, it was clear that we were going to stay on opposite sides of this subject.

I pulled off the covers and watched as I moved my toes. Clint says that it's a good thing, but after a month and a half all I can do is stand and move my toes. It sucks and I just want to walk down on the beach again, feel the sand between my toes. I pushed that feeling of longing-ness down and looked at Pepper. "The next time he injects me with something I don't give the go-ahead for, I'm suing his ass." I spat as I lowered myself into the chair.

I didn't wait for her reply as I wheeled myself out of my room and down to my lab.

Peter looked up as I rolled in and handed me the papers from Stark Industries.

"So none of the documented sales are sketchy but the numbers don't add up," Peter said.

"So it was an under-the-table thing?" I said

"Yep," was his only reply.

I stared at the computer screen, watching them as they just stared at desert. I really needed to figure out a way to hack the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, I had guessed that I couldn't hack into it, so I was going to have to sneak my way in, but how? That was a completely different story.

"I believe you," Peter said suddenly.

I turned to look at him. "Okay?" I said. "About what?"

Peter pulled up the security feed from my room and showed me what happened.

"That son of a bitch," I growled seeing what happened.

"I called and cancelled your appointments," Peter said looking down at me. "As soon as I did something happened to the security system and this footage disappeared."

I ran my hand through my hair. "Okay, so Creepy Doctor is now on my list," I said, the feeling of something else hitting my pile of things to do on my shoulders.

I stared and stared at the computer screens thinking about how I was going to possibly do anything. How was I going to be what everyone needed?

"I need a drink," I said as I wheeled over to the bar we kept in my lab.

Peter didn't say anything but I felt his worried stare on my back.

AN: So creepy doctor is being... creepy

;) what's his problem and who is this Clint guy who creepy doctor recommended?

Leave a review and let me know what you think!

A huge shout out to the 2 reviews I got

Guardian of Heaven: Thanks for the review! and I'm sure scarlett is fine with you calling her Scar ;) and i'm glad you enjoy this storyline, i was a little worried that it wasnt going to go over well with some people

NicoleR85: Once again thanks for the review! I'm always excited to see your name pop up on my reviews

So I have something to ask you guys, these past two chapters i've only got 2 reviews per chapter. And i know i've got more followers/ favorites each chapter, and I guess i'm just kinda bummed.

For those of you who just read, leaving a review lets the author know how you're feeling about the story, your ideas or even sometimes things you don't like, (but lets be nice please).

So what I guess i'm trying to say is that i'm not getting a lot of feedback for this story.

And i'm never going to withhold chapters till i get a certain amount of reviews but maybe i'll do a sneak peak or piece of info?

I don't know, I hope this isn't to much of a begging for reviews or whatnot

I guess thats it for my AN! see you next friday!