OLD MAN | stark

eleven

pepper potts, tony stark's life saver

"Tony? Jackie said you needed me, that someone came to see you and you didn't know how to handle it."

Stark Tower - January 9th, 2016

The sound of shoes on metal echoed faintly throughout the room as Stark, Christa, Clint, and Jackie began walking down the hall, the one known as Iron Man in the lead. He didn't look at any of them, simply walking straight ahead, and on his face was a mix of expressions that nobody could see: Terror, anxiety, confusion, and perhaps a little regret.

He wasn't the only one feeling that way.

Christa's life had been a whirlwind from the start. Her mother raising her by herself; several moves, always to a different state, but then back, finally, to the place Christa had been born and her mother had said she had started her life off in. But it was a normal whirlwind. Something lots of people could deal with or relate to, and it meant that her life was average. And despite the fact that she didn't have a dad, or even a father figure, up until now, that was okay. She had friends--people she often had to leave, but they were friends all the same. Right now she had Angus. Sure, from a few years up until New Year's Day her mom had been sick, and that wasn't exactly a party, but at least she had been there.

She had had her mother, and she was happy.

But then her mother had died.

And then Christa had landed herself with the Bartons, and that had been good! Better than she would admit to herself.

And maybe if that was where she would be for the rest of her life, that would be okay.

But then her dad had to turn out to be a jerk.

"Hey, you okay?"

Christa turned to look up at Clint, whose eyes were following her with a concerned look on his face.

She paused for a moment before saying quite bluntly, "Why didn't you tell me my dad was such a dick?"

Clint took a moment to respond, shrugging his hands up before saying, "I don't know. I guess I thought it might make you biased. Plus, you've seen him on t.v.--you know how much he likes the spotlight. And...." At this, he leaned in towards the girl a little bit and said in a quieter voice, "To be honest, I thought he would be even more of a dick."

"Hey, I heard that," came the voice of Stark from up ahead, turning his head around slightly, but not enough to look anyone behind him straight in the face. "And by the way, if you're saying I have a big head... I am Iron Man."

A trio of eye rolls could be viewed being borne behind him.

And so the group walked, Stark seeming to know where he was going, but then he suddenly stopped and turned around on his heel, finger pointed absently and an expression of contemplation and worry on his face.