p • r • e • s • s • u • r • e

Somebody's Daughter

"Alright, JARVIS tell me about this asshole. Just show me," he whispers, quiet enough that the mic in his suit barely picks it up.

Tony reads the info on the heads-up display.

Ex-Marine.

Discharged. Reason: Mental Instability, suicidal ideation.

You and me both, pal

"You were a marine, right?"

The man with the gun's eyes widen.

"How-how do you know that?"

"Your stance. It's very distinctive...a buddy of mine is the same way."

He's lying through his teeth, but at least this way he's making things more personal. Throw emotion into any situation, and nothing is predictable.

"Yeah...he got sent off to god knows where a few years ago, came back a different person. Never talked about it again. Tried to kill himself a week after he came back."

The man shakes, the gun dropping just a little. Tony silently switches the weapon in his suit panel to stun using eye-tracking tech.

"He uh...he never told me what happened back there, but he's good now. His daughter...just graduated fifth grade."

Tony lingers on the word daughter, and the man looks down at the little girl with her hands clasped over her mouth, eyes pleading.

Somebody's daughter, the man thinks.

The AR-15 drops just a few more inches and Tony takes his shot, not caring to wait for him to change his mind. In one swift motion, he point's his arm at the man and a small bullet shoots out with a loud bang and clamps onto his chest, the electricity from it knocking him out.

Tony's ears ring, and he stops.

Wait a minute.

It's supposed to be silent...

He looks in horror at the girl falling to her knees, a man in the back of the room gagged with his arms and legs bound screaming.
Oh my god...

Tony rushes forward and grabs the girl.

"J, is it-where did it hit-what-"

"The bullet went straight through and did not hit any vital organs or major blood vessels, though I suggest you take her to a medical facility immediately."

"Yeah..." he breathes and picks the girl up bridal style, angrily blasting a hole in the roof and flying as fast as his boots will take him to the nearest hospital, where he hands the child to a nurse.

"Wait, what room?" He shouts.

"Forty-three!"

Tony nods and flies back to the law firm and back through the ceiling, where multiple police officers are untying people.

The man who was screaming before-he could only assume to be her father-was shouting.

"No, you don't understand-he took my daughter! She was-"
He turns to look at Tony, and the engineer is suddenly grateful for his armour.

"You!" He shouts and runs at him, ready to punch. His eyes shine like daggers.

"Countermeasures ready," JARVIS chirps.

"Do not engage!" Tony tells him.

The dad comes at him full force, bruising his hands against Tony's suit.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!"

Tony sighs.

"I need you to cal-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Dude! Listen to me! She's at a hospital. She'll be fine."

Without warning, Tony wraps an arm around the guy's waist and takes him just outside the hospital and retracts his mask.

The engineer knew it was important that people see Iron Man and Tony Stark as two different people, but...

"I scanned her, she's gonna be fine. I'll cover the bills."

The man is fuming, quiet now.

"You killed her."

What?

He's obviously upset-

Tony doesn't see the fist coming until it hits him, hard. He reaches a hand up to his eyebrow, his fingers coming back red.

"Feel better?"

The man keeps shouting, but Tony clamps his mask back on.

"You know what, sue me if you want but I got a conference call in five minutes. I'm sorry about your kid."

With that, he shoots upward to the tower.

He tumbles onto the landing pad.

"Sir, I suggest you contact your lawyer."

"It's fine. He'll get me for a few million and I'll settle."

It's the least I can do...

Tony closes his eyes and all he sees is Morgan in the girl's place. He looks down, and the blood on his suit is Morgan's, too.

Oh my god, I killed her.

"Sir? Mister Stark? I suggest you regulate your breathing, you're-"

"Yes, I know!"

He shouts and sheds his suit. Bruce is waiting for him.

"What happened to you?"

He's at his side instantly with a tissue, wiping the blood from his eyebrow. Tony bats him away.

"I'm fine."

They get to the elevator and the engineer announces his immediate need for espresso.

The walk into the kitchen and Bruce beats him to the espresso machine, making him a double-shot.

"Didn't you have that conference thing?"

Tony stares at the counter.

It could have been Morgan

"Tony?"

"Mm?"

"The conference call, the one you had scheduled for fifteen minutes ago?"

"Yeah, I'll...I'll skip it."

"Good. You look tired."

"I'm fi-"

"If you say what I think you're about to say I will punch you in the face."

"Go right ahead. Though I charge a fee of twenty bucks a hit. Forty if you use brass knuckles."

Bruce expects to see a smile on his face but hands him his steaming espresso, finding the seriousness in his expression and his voice really, really concerning.

"Uh-huh."

Tony sips it, and Bruce eyes him cautiously.

"So how'd it go?"

"Well, the agent they sent in is dead. He had hostages...um. Yeah. Nobody else died."
Not really lying.

"Good. How are you, though?"

Tony rolls his eyes.

"I'm just dandy."

He gets up and walks downstairs to his workshop without another word, stopping halfway down the staircase at the sounds of Bruce's voice. It's cold and terrified.

"Tony...Tony what is that?"

A/N 

This is also on AO3 btw I just forgot to update here. Sorry.