{Chapter Sixteen}
Abby sat in the car as Happy parked up outside the Hotel de Paris as people cheered. Abby glanced out of the window to see a crowd stood waiting for them to get out of the car. Tony glanced down at his daughter as she watched the crowd outside.
"You coming, munchkin?" He asked her softly earning a short nod in return, "Just smile and don't answer any questions, okay?"
Tony clambered out of the car holding the door open for his daughter to climb out too. The father wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulders and lead her into the hotel Pepper following closely behind them.
"You know, it's Europe. Whatever happens in the next twenty minutes, just go with it." Tony spoke as Pepper caught up with the father-daughter duo.
"Go with what?" Pepper asked looking at the man.
Abby frowned when she saw the redhead notary that had been at the mansion was approaching them.
"Mister Stark?" Natalie smiled politely, "How was your flight?"
"It was excellent. Boy, it's good to see you." Tony smirked.
"We have one photographer from the ACM if you don't mind," Natalie said as Pepper turned to face Tony.
"When did this happen?" The woman asked him.
"What? You made me do it." Tony shrugged.
"I made you do what?" Pepper raised her eyebrows at him.
"You quit. Smile." Tony instructed both Abby and Pepper.
The young girl still had a frown on her face. She didn't know how she felt about Natalie yet. Abby never liked meeting new people, especially women her father flirted with. Sure, he flirted with Pepper, but she had raised Abby for the past three years. After her mother died, Pepper had taken the role of the maternal figure.
Abby followed closely beside her father and Pepper as they moved through the room greeting people. She had never been good at the social aspect of her life as a Stark.
"Mister Musk. How are you?" Pepper asked approaching a man Abby did not recognize.
"Hi, Pepper." The man smiled, "Congratulations on the promotion."
"Thank you."
"Elon, how's it going? Those Merlin engines are fantastic." Tony spoke from beside his daughter who immediately seemed to gravitate towards him.
"Thank you. Yeah, I've got an idea for an electric jet." The man replied only to be brushed off by Tony.
"You do. We'll make it work." Tony turned to Pepper, "You want a massage?"
"Oh, God," Pepper sighed, "No I don't want a massage."
"Don't want you tense," Tony spoke over Pepper as she refused a massage
Abby stood between Tony and Pepper at the bar arguing over the fact that Tony had hired Natalie. She sighed rolling her eyes as Justin Hammer spoke up approaching the small family.
"Anthony! Is that you?" The man asked.
"My least favorite person on Earth," Tony muttered causing Abby to giggle at him, "Justin Hammer."
"How you doing? You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car." The man turned around to introduce his date, "You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair. You guys know each other?"
The woman Abby had met the previous year approached them with a large smile. The youngest Stark stood there glaring at the woman she had come to despise.
"Hi." Pepper smiled as Abby moved closer to her.
"Yes, roughly," Tony replied as Christine nodded.
"BTW, big story. The new CEO of Stark Industries. Congratulations." Hammer smiled at Pepper.
"I know. My editor will kill me if I don't a quote for our Powerful Women issue. Can I?" Christine requested.
"Oh! Sure." Pepper nodded with a smile.
"She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair. I thought I'd throw her a bone you know." Justin cut in with a smug voice.
"Well, she did quite the spread on Tony last year."
"And she wrote a story as well," Tony smirked
"It was very impressive." Pepper continues to talk as though Tony hadn't interrupted her, "I'm gonna go wash."
As Pepper walked away Abby followed making her way towards their table. Both ignored Tony's pleas for them to stay and save him from having to talk to Justin Hammer. Abby sat on her own for five minutes but it felt like forever. She hated going to events like these but since Tony had told the world he was Iron Man they had become a more common occurrence.
Though the father-daughter duo spent a lot of their time together Abby couldn't help but feel alone. She sometimes wished that life could go back to normal, just her dad and Pepper no Iron Man no press. Tony was often busy with his suits so even though the two spent all their time together they didn't talk much. The young girl sometimes felt like her father was keeping things from her, like some big secret that just made her feel more alone.
After a couple more minutes Pepper approached the girl, her face red from anger, Natalie following closely behind her.
"What's wrong?" Abby asked them confused by their anger.
"Your father." Pepper replied causing Abby to nod. It wasn't rare for Pepper to get mad at her father, actually since Tony became Iron Man it seemed to happen more often.
"What has he done now?" Abby asked following the woman's harsh glare at the TV. Her father was shown on the screen stood on a racing track causing Abby's eyes to widen.
"Well, what's the point in having and owning a race car if you don't drive it?" Tony spoke on the screen causing Abby to roll her eyes.
"Well, what's the point in having a father when all he does is act like a large child?" Abby muttered under her breath earning an amused look from Natalie.
"Wheres Happy?" Pepper asked looking over at the redhead beside her.
"He's outside, in the car waiting," Natalie replied immediately.
"Okay, get him. I need Happy." Pepper demanded causing Natalie to turn and leave.
Abby and Pepper watched as a man with dark hair in an orange suit walked onto the track Tony was driving on. The man unbuttoned his suit to reveal an ark reactor causing Pepper to gasp.
Two whips fell by the man's side sparks flying from them. Abby felt a sudden wave of anxiety hit her and glanced up at Pepper's panic-stricken face.
Pepper stood from her seat and rushed from the room, Abby on her heels. It was only then that Abby noticed Happy stood at the door with a case in his hands. The case carried a portable Iron Mand suit her father brought with him everywhere for emergencies.
The three of them got into the car and Pepper turned to Abby wide-eyed.
"Abby what the hell do you think you're doing?!" The woman shrieked only just noticing that the child had followed them.
"I'm coming with you." Abby told her in a 'duh' tone fastening her seat belt, "Happy drive."
Happy drove quickly down the road. Pepper held Abby close to her as the car crashed through the gate leading to the track. The car sped down the track as they looked for Tony.
Abby could feel both Pepper and Happy's panic causing her breathing to pick up. Once they reached the man with the electric whips they could see Tony attempting to fight him off.
Happy aimed the car trying to hit the man attacking Tony causing the Stark man to jump onto the fence not wanting to be hit.
Tony jumped off of the fence and walked over to the car windows.
"Are you okay?" Happy yelled.
"Yeah. Were you aiming for him or me?" He asked Happy, "Because I can't tell!"
Tony then looked into the back of the car seeing Abby sat there with a scared look on her face.
"You okay, munchkin?" He asked her causing her head to snap to look at him. All Abby could do was nod her head while she tried to control her breathing.
"Are you out of you're mind?!" Pepper shrieked at the man causing both him and Abby to flinch.
"Better security," Tony spoke looking at the woman.
"Get in the car right now!" Pepper demanded.
"I was attacked! We need better security!" Tony yelled at her.
While the two were screaming at each other Abby was busy trying to control her breathing, her eyes focused on the man in front of her. The small girl's eyes widened when she saw the man begin to move.
"Get in the car!" Happy yelled. Tony walked round to the other side of the car where Abby was sitting and opened the door.
Abby screamed as she watched the man in front of them lifted one of the whips and sliced the car door in half.
"Hit him again!" The girl yelled at the driver.
Abby went to reach for the case in Pepper's hands so that she could give it to her father as the man sliced the whip down the center of the car. Abby cried out in pain as a piece of the car fell onto her arm slicing it open. Tony ran to Pepper's side of the car as the man destroyed the doors.
"Give me the case!" The man yelled causing Pepper to throw the red case towards him.
Once Tony was in the suit he kicked the car away. Pepper pulled Abby closer to her examining her arm that was covered in blood. Abby screamed as the man with the whips threw her father onto the hood of the car causing Pepper to hold her tighter.
Tony grabbed the whips that the man had wrapped around him and used them to pull the two close. Once he was close enough Tony flipped the man so he landed on his back and reached down pulling the Arc Reactor from his chest. Tony crushed the Arc Reactor as Abby climbed out of the car.
The helmet of the suit lifted and Tony turned to face his daughter. Instantly Anny rushed to her father allowing him to lift her into a hug. His heart broke when he could feel the nine-year-old trembling with fear in his grasp.
"I'm so sorry, munchkin." He whispered to her only for her to hug him tighter.
As the father hugged his daughter in the middle of the racing track, the man was dragged away by security while yelling.
"You lose! You lose, Stark!"
"You lose!"