[ hiatus ] 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 ━━ 𝐏. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨

Tony sighed, not wanting to sound disappointed. "Why wouldn't you want to tell me?"

"I was going to, I mean I wanted to, I just -," She finally looked up at him, her brows furrowed with the worry that he would be angry with her. But once she saw that his expression was more stoic and concerned, she relaxed. "I was scared."

Tony was quick to place his uninjured arm around her shoulder and pull her so her head was leaning on his chest. "You still should have told me. I don't want you to feel like you can't be honest with me."

Charlotte nodded, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "I didn't want you to be angry with me. And please don't be cross with Ezra! I told her not to tell you!"

"Ezra knows?" Tony sighed, "Why does that not surprise me?" Tony raised his hand and began smoothing a hand over her hair. "I know that you might be scared now, Bruce has been working on another cure, and I think he's almost cracked it "

"This doesn't scare me," Charlotte corrected him, flexing her fingers, watching as the deep red flowed through her veins, illuminating them; her fingertips blackened, as if charred. "It's how it makes me feel inside. That's what scares me."

"And how does it make you feel?"

"You sound like Dr. Lycett." Charlotte deadpanned, using the coping mechanism that the therapist had picked up on, in an attempt to take the edge of the conversation. "Exhausted, mostly," She sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly. "But at the same time, powerful, as if nothing can hurt me. I don't like it. It doesn't feel good."

Tony was quick to react and in one swift movement, he wrapped a warm and comforting arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Hey, it's alright. You're okay."

His words did little to comfort her; she remained visibly disturbed. "No, I'm not," she whispered, her voice trembling. "What if I become like Killian?" She whispered, more to herself. "I don't want to be like that."

Once again, her small and fragile voice had managed to rip through his chest. It reminded him just how young and afraid she actually was. She was not ready for whatever was currently happening to her, and he didn't know if she ever would be.

"Charlotte, look at me." When her gaze remained on the busy streets below, Tony pressed two fingers under her chin, and gently tilted her head making sure that she was looking at him, and only him. "You are not Aldrich Killian. What that psychopath did to you was barbaric and horrific, and I'm so sorry that you had to go that alone."

"I still killed people, dad." She whispered, once again the guilt and resent crept up her skin as she though about her victims.

"We're going to get through this, Charlie. And who knows, maybe after all of this, you can try being a normal teenager a trial run."

"Who wants to be normal?" Charlotte quipped, scrunching her nose in fake disgust.

Tony chuckled at his daughter. The father and daughter remained there for a little while longer, simply enjoying being at peace, for neither of knew exactly how long it would last.
   

༻ ❁ ༺

Upon rejoining the rest of the team back at the tower's laboratory, Charlotte made sure to stick close to her dad, not straying from his side. Tried as she might, the cautious glances and confused expressions were hard to ignore.

Her dad was staring at Ultron's wrecked suit that he had brought with them and placed on one of the desks to study it with a scowl on his face, and all Charlotte could do was watch him with anxious eyes.