Trying to find home

10

"I mean exactly what I said." Stark looked completely serious, which caused me to burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You do realize I hate you right?" I said after I had gotten control of laughter. "Why in hell would I come work for you?"

"Well, I do have my own personal mission to get the best of the best on my team. Its my way of beating out the competition. You, Celeste, seem to be one of the few I need in my side." I laughed again.

"That's rich. You could have anyone else come work for you. Why would you have a girl you just met this morning come help you, even if she is smart?" I sat back down in the chair, glaring at him with all of my might.

"I researched you," he responded, as if that wasn't literally the creepiest thing I had heard today. "I know you built an AI named Lilith, which is how you got an internship here. You fix the tin mans arm for him, and you managed to escape my elevator by hacking into my security system. I need people like you to help me with bigger projects. My question is why you took an internship here if you hate me so much?" I glared at the floor.

"It opens doors and I really need stuff like this. You know, for job experience. An internship at Stark Industries could give me opportunities. It has nothing to do with you. As for the job," I stood up, "I'll pass. I don't want to spend any time with an asshole like you." I strode for the door, but was stopped by a loud voice calling after me.

"I'll pay you." I froze. Those were the magic words. "I know you don't get paid as an intern, so I'm willing to treat this as a normal job." I was stuck in the same position from before, waiting for him to continue. "Think about it. Better materials, better equipment, and defiantly better pay. All you have to do is come up here and work along side me." I turned back toward him. 

"How much money are we talking?" He smiled when he saw my interest. My hatred for him was overridden by my need for cash.

"How about we say 1,000 a week?" My jaw dropped. Holy shit. "You don't need to work crazy hours or days you normally wouldn't come in. Just do the same thing, but come up here instead. Do we have a deal?" He stuck out his hand to shake, which I eagerly did before he could change his mind.

"Deal!" That was more money in a week than I thought I could ever make before I was 18. This was turning out to be less of a shitty day than I thought. A place to live on my own and my own income. "So, what other crazy things do you have in store for me? You know, other than working with you." He sat down in the chair I was in before.

"Per the tin mans request, you have to have dinner with us twice a week-"

"Wait do you mean up here? With you guys?"

"No, I mean down the street. Of course I mean here!" I frowned. That might be a deal breaker. It was a lot of money though........

"Is that a must have or can I say no to that part?" He smirked at me as he put his feet back up on the table.

"All or nothing. That's the deal." I blew a breath of air out of my mouth in frustration. That was not the answer I was hoping for.

"Continue."

"And, again the tin man, you have to go to school." Well fuck. 

"Seriously? Come ON man! I'm just going to get expelled again!"

"Yeah, try not to do that." I threw my hands up and turned away from him.

"Its not like it try to get kicked out of school! It just sorta...... happens!"

"Well you have to try harder." I turned around to try and argue again, but was cut off by Stark. "Listen, you're a bright kid. I don't say this a lot, but I think you're going places. But, for that, you need this job and school." He leaned back as if he had won, which I guess he had. As much as it KILLED me inside to agree with Stark, I did need this job. I don't really care about school, but if it means 1,000 bucks a week, then I could pretend. I rubbed my face with my hands before looking at him again.

"Fine." I muttered. I could feel those words burning me from the inside out, especially when he stood up and smiled. 

"Good. You start on Monday, AFTER school." I glared at him before seeing the flaw in his plan.

"I don't have one yet. I just got expelled from my last one."

"I know, I did research you. I took the liberty of enrolling you in the same school as my son, Peter." He pulled out a flyer that read: Midtown School of Science and Technology. What the actual fuck! How could he have planned this so goddamn fast!

"How did you know I would agree?"

"I didn't, but apparently I chose correctly. Now, that's all. You're free to go, just make sure that you're back in here on Monday." I glared at him, but headed for the door any way.

"Bye bye, bitch!" I called back to him before I flipped him off over my shoulder. I walked quickly back toward the elevator, but suddenly heard people arguing in hushed voices.

"We can't trust her!" I'm pretty sure that was the golden boy himself. Damn, Mr. USA could be mean.

"I agree. I know you know her Bucky, but there is no way she can stay anywhere near us." I turned the corner to see them all standing around the table with Black Widow talking. "I just hope Stark is just telling her to go away."

"Then you'll be disappointed to hear I just got a job up here." I smirked as they all whipped around to face me. "I can see you don't like me, which is good because I don't like you either."

"How did you manage to get a job with Stark?" I watched as Hawkeye gripped his mug harder as he spoke. What the hell was he thinking I was about to do?"

"I'm smart. Or, at least I'm smarter than you idiots."

"Hey!" Bruce Banner glared at me. I raised an eyebrow at him before letting out a tiny giggle.

"Oh please! At least I don't lose my voice when a new person walks into the room!" They all just stared at me again, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Any way, about the trust thing. Is it better I just tell you that I hate you outright instead to hiding it? Now at least you know I don't like you and that I'm not just hiding it to get up here." Of course, I was met with silence. The world's mightiest hero's my ass.

"You're right," grumbled the star spangled man, clearly not happy about it. I smiled at Bucky, showing off my victory. He just shook his head and chuckled softly. 

"Well, I've got places to be, unlike you, so I have to be going. I look forward to seeing again!" I said in an overly sweet tone. "Or, next time I'm here you can make yourselves scarce so I won't tempted to kick your asses." I turned around and strode to the elevator, a small smile still lingering on my face.