The deal was that Tony and Melody would work for an hour and then they would let the two go and see Pepper. They were both going through what was in the case, Tony pulling out a huge blue print of the arc reactor with Howard and Anton's names on it and Melody pulling out multiple rolls of film and separating them by their labels.
Tony got in a projector once Melody showed them to him and they began watching the tapes as they went through Howard's journals. Melody looked up at the screen to see that it was one of the many practiced intros to the Stark Expo. "Everything is achievable with technology. Better living. And for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace." Melody looked over at Tony who was fidgeting with one of the top corners of one of the pages in one of the notebooks. "I'm Howard Stark and I'm here to tell you that everything you need for the future is right here."
"Tony," Melody began as she watched him. He looked up at her, ready to hear what she had to say. "You don't have to watch these. I can watch this and tell you if I find anything."
He gave her a slight smile, noticing that little bit of the old Melody in her new personality. She would always be looking out for him no matter how she acted. "I'm fine."
"Tony, what are you doing back there?" They both looked to the screen to see a little Tony messing with what was on the board demonstrating Stark Expo. "Put that back." Howard demanded while pointing at him. "Put that back where you got it from." Tony put it back looking completely ashamed which was kind of breaking Melody's heart. "Where's your mother? Maria!" James had showed up instead, picking up his younger brother and taking him away. Tony remembered that moment vividly. He remembered asking James why Dad was so mean to him and James responded with Dad didn't know how to show his love.
As Melody watched, she saw that Howard was under a lot of pressure during this time, but she knew that was no excuse to the way he treated Tony as a child. "Tony," They both turned to look back at the screen with confused faces, not sure what exactly to expect. "You're too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put it on film for you." They both shared a quick glance before looking back to the screen. "I built this for you. And someday you'll realize that it means a whole lot more than other people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time. But one day, you and your brother will figure this out. And when you do, you'll change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation, is you."
Melody looked over to Tony who hadn't taken his eyes off the screen even when the footage stopped running. "Are you okay?" Melody finally asked him.
"Um," He finally looked away from the screen and down at his hands. "I'm gonna go talk to Pepper." He stood up and Melody looked up at him from her spot on the floor. "I'm going to try to apologize." He began to walk to the stairs when he turned around as if he almost forgot her. "Do you want to come?"
She shook her head and looked back down to the notebooks all around her. "I'll keep looking here. You go." He nodded and walked off, but Melody continued to look where he went for a long time.
Since Tony had left, Melody was reading through notebooks of Howard's scribbles. She picked up a new notebook and realized that one notebook wasn't filled with notes on the arc reactor or more discoveries which blew her mind. One notebook had all of Howard's feelings and thoughts. One notebook was Howard's diary.
She debated on whether she should read more or not once she discovered what it was. She shut it and put it to her chest, deciding it wasn't right. She knew Clint, Coulson and Emily were upstairs and she knew that neither of them would bother her so she wouldn't get caught. She sighed as curiosity got the best of her and she opened the journal, beginning to read Howard Stark's diary.
Tony sped down the street when he suddenly pulled over to the side of the road to a strawberry stand. He knew there was some connection between Pepper and strawberries and he was just hoping that it was a good one. He quickly handed the man the money, overpaying for the strawberries, forcing him to take the money even though the man kept refusing. "I have a problem with being handed things." He explained quickly. "So just drop them in there." The man carefully put the strawberries into the passenger's seat. "Thanks."
The man then pointed at him, knowing he looked familiar. "Aren't you Iron Man?"
"Thanks again." Tony told him quickly before driving off.
The man waved with a huge smile on his face. "We believe in you!"
It didn't take long to get from Stark Industries from there. Whenever someone told him he couldn't go someplace, he would simply reply with, "My name is on the building."
The same problem happened with Pepper's assistant. She was refusing to let him in so he opened the door for himself. "Miss. Potts," She announced as she tried to follow him in. "Mr. Stark is here."
"Relax." He told her as he turned to close the door on her.
"He refuses-"
"I don't." He spoke right as he shut the door and Pepper put a hand up, trying to tell him to be quiet until she got off the phone.
She argued on the phone with someone named Burt as the news station that was on began to question Pepper running Stark Industries. Tony knew she was mad about both the phone call and the news so he decided to mute the TV for her while she continued on the phone. Tony began to walk over to his pile of stuff that was in the office before Pepper moved in. "I'll get this stuff out of here." He told her, but all she did was give him a brief look before returning back to the phone call.
"We'll talk about it at the Expo." She spoke as Tony turned to the board which had the Stark Expo all planned out. "Hammer's doing some presentation. Will Tony Stark be there?"
She looked over at Tony who was sitting down in a chair in front of her desk. "Will I?"
She continued to look at him with an angry glare when she finally said, "No, he will not be there. Goodbye." She hung up the phone and turned to Tony who looked like a nervous school boy.
"Got a minute?"
"No." She spoke immediately, looking down at her desk, about to do something else.
"Come on, you just got off the phone. You have thirty seconds." She sighed and leaned back into her chair, beginning to count down from thirty. "Alright," Tony spoke quickly, realizing he literally had thirty seconds to talk to her. "I was just driving over here and I thought I was coming to basically apologize, but I'm not."
"Oh," Pepper spoke as she leaned on the desk. "You didn't come here to apologize?"
"That goes without saying and I'm working on that, but I haven't been entirely upfront with you and I'm just trying to-" Tony sighed as he looked down at her moving desk decoration. "Can I move this? This is crazy. It looks like a Ferris wheel."
"No."
Tony sighed, looking down at the paperweight one more time and then back at Pepper, moving so he wouldn't be right next to it. "Do you know how short life is?" She just stared at him blankly, still clearly upset about what had happened at the party. "And if I never got to express…and by the way, this is somewhat related to me, and if I care…I mean, I care…it would be nice…I'm not expecting you to…look, here's what I'm trying to say. I'm just gonna say it."
"Let me stop you right there," Tony looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Because if you say 'I' one more time, I'm gonna actually hurl something at your head, I think." She slammed her hand on the desk, trying to get Tony's attention. "I am trying to run a company! Do you have any idea what that entails?" All he did was nod, thinking back to being a school boy in trouble. "People are relying on you to be Iron Man and you disappeared and all I'm doing is putting out the fires and taking the heat for it."
He began to play with one of paperweights on her desk which ended up shooting the top right off of her which she caught. "I am trying to do the job that you are meant to do." She told him calmly. They sat there for a moment in silence as Pepper stared him down and Tony tried not to look her in the eye. "Did you bring me strawberries?" He looked up at her, hoping for some positive reaction. "Did you know there's only one thing on earth that I'm allergic to?"
"Allergic to strawberries." He repeated while hitting her desk, knowing the connection was on the tip of his tongue. She continued to stare at him as Tony thought about what to say next. "This is progress, Pepper. I knew there was a correlation with between you and this."
She took a long breath. "I need you-"
"I need you too." He spoke as he leaned forward. "That's what I've been trying-"
"To leave," She finished her sentence and Tony felt a part of him get disappointed that he never got to tell Pepper what he came here to tell her. "Now."
"Miss. Potts?" Tony turned around to see Natalie…I mean, Natasha make her way into the office as Tony gave her a confused look.
"Come on in."
Natasha walked in as Tony continued to stare at her with a disgusted look on his face, finding it hard to believe that he ever found this woman attractive. "Wheel's up in twenty-five minutes."
"Thank you." Pepper told her as she moved behind Pepper's desk.
"Anything else, boss?" Happy asked from the back of the room.
"No-"
"I'm good, Hap." Tony spoke as Pepper stared at him for cutting off her sentence.
"I'll be just another minute."
Tony looked back and forth from Natasha to Happy, neither of them looking at him. "I lost both kids in the divorce!" He spoke happily while throwing his hands in the air.
"Where's Melody?" Pepper asked, still looking down at the papers. "I been trying to call her and I didn't see her get out of the house. Is she all right?"
"She's fine." Tony told her with a nod. "She's at home."
Pepper looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "She's staying there? With you?" Tony nodded. "And she's not killing you?"
He shrugged with a light smile growing, knowing that he had still won Melody. "We fight sometimes. You know Mel." He looked over at Natasha, wanting to get to her. "Are you blending in well here, Natalie?" She turned to Tony, giving him a glare, knowing exactly what he was doing. "Here at Stark Enterprises? Your name is Natalie isn't it?" She gave him a slight eye roll before turning back to Pepper. "I thought you two didn't get along?" Tony asked while gesturing to Pepper and Natasha.
"No." Pepper said while turning to him. "That's not so."
"It's just me you don't care for?" He asked as she stood up and didn't say anything to that. "No? Nothing?"
"Actually," She finally told him. "While you're here, maybe you and Natalie can discuss the matter of your personal belongings."
Pepper gestured to the things sitting in the corner of the office and Natasha nodded eagerly as Pepper began to walk away. "Yes, Miss. Potts." Pepper then walked out the door of the office with Happy pulling her luggage, ready for them to get on a plane to New York for the Stark Expo demonstration taking place there. "I'm surprised you can keep your mouth shut." Natalie spoke, turning Tony back around, reminding him he wanted to talk to her.
"Boy, you're good." He commented as she picked up a few files, losing the innocence of "Natalie". "You are mind blowingly good. How do you do it?" He asked with fake enthusiasm. "You're a triple agent." Natasha just stood there, staring at him angrily with the files in her hands. "I've never seen anything like it. Is there anything real about you? Do you even speak Latin?"
She gave him an unimpressed face and began to speak Latin as she walked towards the door, leaving Tony sitting there clueless. "Wait, what?" He called once she opened the door to the office and he turned around to look at her. "What did you just say?"
"It means you can drive home or I can have you collected." She translated quickly before closing the door, leaving him in there with the moving paperweight and strawberries.
He had finally had enough of the moving paperweight. He leaned forward, grabbing it, just wanting to stop it from moving. He quickly switched hands, not wanting to see it move again so he could grab something to put up against it. It had stayed there for a second, but began moving again, causing Tony to roll his eyes and get up with his strawberries.
He took one strawberry out and threw the rest in the trashcan nearby, most of them landing on the floor. As he turned around, something in his pile of stuff caught his eye. He looked at the board of the Stark Expo plan and suddenly got an idea, deciding he had to take it with him.
Melody stormed up the stairs, looking all around. "Melody." Clint called as he walked up to her with a shirt finally on. "What's wrong?"
"Did you know?" She yelled as she moved right up to him. He just stared at her blankly. "Did you know?!" Other agents around them began to look at them as she pushed him back.
"Know what?!" Clint screamed back at her.
"Where's that bitch?" Melody asked as she moved past him and with wild eyes which began to scan the room, looking for her target.
"Who?" Clint asked as he followed her as she checked all over the first floor.
"Emily!" She yelled as she turned around to look at him.
Before she could turn around to finish her search, he grabbed her by the shoulders and stared right into her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Melody was breathing heavily, trying to keep tears from falling out of her eyes. "Did you know that it was Howard who started my project?"
"What are you talking about?" He asked again, calmly, as he searched her eyes.
"The reason I'm an experiment is because of Howard Stark. My grandfather." All he could do was stare at her dumbfounded. "He thought having three out of the four founding members of SHIELD as grandparents would give me a good start at being a SHIELD agent. And Peggy Carter, my mom's mom, approved it." Clint looked at her as she flipped through the notebook she had in her hands and pointed at a page while giving it to him. "My mom got pregnant, then Howard asked both my father and my mother what they thought and they both agreed to it."
Clint stared down at the notebook right before she ripped it from his hands and began her search for Emily again. Clint ran after her, getting right in front of her. "Emily left. She's not even here anymore." Melody took a deep breath and ran a shaky hand through her hair, feeling her whole world collapse. Not only was she an experiment to her mother and father, but to her entire family. "Come on, let's go outside." He guided her out the door with his hand on her back and she grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the counter. "Since when do you smoke?" He asked her as she began to light one of them as they got outside.
"I actually hate it. I did it because I thought it went good with my new bad girl attitude, but it does take an edge off." Her hands were shaking as she held the cigarette, taking deep breaths. "What the hell is wrong with my family?"
Clint shook his head as he rubbed her back. He opened his mouth, not really sure what to say when someone else's voice came out, not too far from them. "Melody!"
They both turned to see Kyle making his way towards them. All Melody could do was roll her eyes. "So not the time." She told him while looking back to Clint, not wanting to try to get into any conversation with him.
He smiled as he got right next to the two. "Yeah, I thought you would be like that, so I brought a little help."
Joey came out from behind Clint as hit him on the head, hard enough to knock him out. Melody almost let out a scream when Kyle put his hand over her mouth and a gun to her head. "Scream and Joey shoots Clint right between the eyes."
Melody let out a few shaky breaths as Joey put a gun right up to Clint's head as he laid on the ground, unconscious. Kyle slowly took his hand away from Melody's mouth and when she didn't scream, he nodded and began tying up her hands. "Good girl."
"What are you doing?" She asked as he pushed her forward and Joey began to drag Clint to Kyle's car.
"Well," Joey began as Kyle pushed her into the back of the car. "We're the boys." Melody's eyes grew wide and before she could say anything else, Joey hit her in the head with his pistol, knocking her out.
It's starting to get real! I put a lot of stuff in this chapter and the last that you'll learn more about in the next story which will completely explain Melody's family tree. I hope you all enjoyed! Please review!