May 29 2010
A few days later, Tony's birthday rolls around and, despite saying he didn't want a party, he seems more than happy to have one. As people start to arrive, Josie stays, confined to her room. Tony's about to head down to the party but quickly heads into Josie's room.
"Hey.", he says, pushing the door open.
"Hiya.", she's sat at her desk, drawing.
"Stay in your room tonight, got it?", he walks over to her desk.
"Yeah, I know. It's the same as every party you have.", she says, keeping her attention on the drawing.
"If you need anything, call me or Pepper or Happy or Rhodey, okay?"
"Yeah, got it.", she nods, still not looking up.
"So, you don't want me to have this party?", he raises his eyebrows.
"Not really, but it's a bit late for that now.", she signals out the window to the cars queueing all the way up the drive.
He sighs, "You know, Jellybean, I love you."
"Yeah, I'd hope so."
"No, I really do, J. I just- If anything were to happen to me, you'd be okay, right?", he asks.
"I don't know. I'd be an orphan so that probably wouldn't be fantastic, but- Is this about Monaco? Dad, that was an- That's over now, the guy's in prison."
"Dead.", he corrects her.
"Dead? That's even better! Well, it's not good that somebody's died, but, you know, dead men are usually less likely to try and kill you than... you know... alive men.", she gives him a small smile, he just looks away, "Come on, Dad. You're like the coolest guy... ever. You're Tony Stark, you're literally Iron Man. If anybody is invincible, it's you."
"Yeah, I thought that too.", they sit in silence for a few seconds, the only sound being the thumping of the music downstairs.
"You best get off to your party.", Josie says.
"Yeah, I probably should.", he claps his hands together and kisses the top of her head, "I love you, Jellybean."
"As you've said, numerous times. I love you too.", he turns to leave, "Oh, and, Dad.", she calls after him, "Happy birthday. Don't do anything stupid."
"It's me, when have I ever done anything stupid?"
Ironic.
Later on, Josie's still sat in her room, when she hears screaming from downstairs. Obviously, there's been screaming and cheering all night- it's a Tony Stark party. This screaming is different though, more fearful. Still, Josie can't leave her room, so she just fishes out her earphones and plugs them in, then blasts her playlist.
Suddenly, her music is interrupted, as a loud crash sounds behind her. Immediately, she spins around and sees Iron Man and one of her father's newer suits, War Machine, crashing through the floor, right behind her. They wrestle on the floor, and Iron Man throws War Machine into the wall.
Josie jumps off her chair, screaming and backing up against the wall. War Machine rips a shelf from the wall and tosses it at Iron Man, who dodges it. The shelf flies past him, narrowly missing Josie's head.
"Oh my god!", she screeches.
Iron Man only just seems to realize which room he's in, "Josie, get out of here!", he yells.
"I told you not to do anything stupid!", she shouts, as she runs out. As she sprints to the stairs, she sees them covered in shards of glass, which prove very hard to maneuver past with bare feet. The second she makes it down the stairs, she legs it to the kitchen, dodging around more shards of glass. Why is there so much broken glass? She runs into the kitchen and finds her dad with his head in the fireplace. She stops in the doorway and watches, as Tony pulls his head out of the fireplace and raises his blasters towards War Machine.
"Put your hand down.", War Machine says, whilst already raising his own hand. Is that Rhodey in the suit?
"You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?", Tony asks.
"We don't have to do this, Tony.", War Machine, or Rhodey, says.
"You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot."
"Put it down!", Rhodey yells.
"You gonna take a shot?", Tony taunts.
"Put it down!", Rhodey repeats, as the blasters fire up.
"No!"
"Drop it, Tony!"
"Take it!"
The two blasts hit each other and Josie turns to run in the opposite direction. As the explosion goes off, she's tossed across the living room, luckily landing on the sofa. She gets up and stumbles towards the kitchen, every limb in her body aching. As she gets into the doorway, she sees Rhodey fly away in the suit, and Tony laying on the floor.
She rushes over to him and kneels by his side, "Dad! Dad! Are you okay?"
He stares at her, emotionlessly. Her usually perfect, almost-porcelain skin covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Her big, brown eyes glass over, tears threatening to pour out. All because of him. God. He could have just not had a party, not got drunk, stayed at home and watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Despicable Me with Josie. Then, she wouldn't be hurt. Then, he wouldn't have hurt her. But no, he had to have a party, he had to get drunk, he had to fight Rhodey, he had to hurt the only thing that matters to him, he had to do the one thing he swore he never would. He's going to die, that he's sure of. Having Josie around will only hurt her more. So, he lets three words escape his mouth. Three words he really shouldn't say.
"Go away, Joselyn."
"What? No, D- Dad. I'm right here, I'm not going.", she stammers, confused.
"Leave, go find Pepper or Rhodey or Happy. I don't care. Just get away from here, from me. I don't need you, Joselyn. Just go.", he says, standing up and walking away, towards his workshop, still wearing his suit.
"How can you say that? I'm your daughter!", she yells, her voice cracking.
"Just go.", he says, voice void of emotion.
* * * * *
(a/n) Hey guys! Remember to vote, comment, and all that jazz!
- Hannah(;
Coming up soon:
Present day:
Homecoming!!!!!
What will happen now Josie knows Peter's secret identity?
2010:
Stark Expo 2.0!
Will Tony apologize?
Next chapter title:
Josie meets homecoming