The Golden Daughter✓Tony Stark

10: Accountability.

"God, you need a new name for that." Dad says

"Yeah, maybe an acronym or something or maybe you should change the name of the agency completely. S.H.I.E.L.D has a nice ring to it." I quipped

"Yeah, I hear that a lot and we're working on it. Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things." Agent Coulson told him and I zone out from the conversation.

I walk away from the room to the balcony. I felt like I could finally breathe.

I rest against the wall and peek into the room to see dad and Pepper dancing. I smiled to myself and leaned back against the wall looking up at the stary sky.

"Fancy seeing you here." A voice I never thought I would hear again  said to me.

"Eddie?"

Flashes of my childhood pass in front of my eyes. Me and Ella sneaking past him to go and play, him shouting at me when Ella got hurt and scraped her knee, him threatening me with a syringe never to come to their apartment again.

"W-what are you doing here?" I ask my throat closing up remembering our last conversation.

"You're looking all grown up, you know, some people never got the chance to do that." He said walking closer to me.

"You know what happened is not my fault." I said backing up into the wall feeling defenseless.

"Oh my, is little Melissa getting scared? The needle isn't even out yet." The way he spits out the name makes me hate it even more.

"She wouldn't want this." I whispered.

"You don't get to talk about her. You don't even get to think of her." He snarled gripping my face. "But you're right. She wouldn't want this, at least not in the midst of all these people." He continues suddenly leaving my face and adjust his suit jacket. "I just wanted to say hi. Oh and wipe your face will you, we wouldn't want people to ask questions, now would we?" And with that he was gone.

I quickly wipe my face and try to calm myself down. I head back inside to see dad at the bar with that bitchy reporter? What was her name again?

"Carrie." I heard dad say. Was it?

"Christine." She corrects.

"That's right." Dad agrees

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?" She asks.

"Why? Considering you know, he hosted the event?" I ask making my presence known.

"Melissa Stark." She greets and I inwardly cringe.

"That's Lisa to you and everyone else." I replied glaring at her.

"I would say panic is my reaction." Dad suddenly says, trying to cut through the tension.

"I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity" she replied to dad.

"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you." Dad says turning to the bartender. He seemed impatient.

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker." She says and I roll my eyes.

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear."Dad says.

"Is this what you call accountability? It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?" She asks as she pulls out pictures from God knows where.

Dad glances through them before passing them to me.
"When were these taken?" He asks her.

"Yesterday." Dad and I shared a look.

"I didn't approve any shipment." Dad says.

"Well, your company did." She replied folding her arms.

"Well, I'm not my company." Dad said before walking out to find the only person who could be responsible for this.

"Please, do you mind?" Obadiah tries to chase the reporter's away.

"Have you seen these pictures? What's going on in Gulmira?" Dad asks not caring that we are in public.

"Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive." He replied trying to take dad inside.

"You know what? I was naive before, when they said, 'Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business.' If we're double-dealing under the table... Are we?" Dad asks

"Tony, your picture, please!" A reporter asks, shoving his camera in our faces.

"Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time! Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you." Obadiah said as he patted dad's shoulder and walked off leaving us standing there.