*Trigger Warning*
Amelia wakes early to the sound of her alarm buzzing across the nightstand. The stench of booze fills the 17 year old's nose as she forcefully shuts the phone alarm off. The alarm reads 6:30 am- it is time for her medication. She groans and slowly gets up realizing her naked body under the sheets next to a fellow classmate. 'Damn it.' She thinks trying to scan the room for her clothes. Quickly she grabs her bag and her clothes and run into the bathroom to change. The party last night was wild to say the least, but to Amelia it was a typical night. She gets extra high from mixing her medication and alcohol at parties, sometimes she even mixes pills. Anything to numb herself up. Whatever happened during the process, meaning who she slept with or what she did means nothing to her. She's a troubled teenager with deep inner demons mixed with being forced to go to college due to having a "mind far beyond its years." Amelia tries to blame her father- he declared that her mind shouldn't go to waste. Now while she works to get a piece of paper, her mind will be torn apart from her mental cages. No matter what life obstacles she is facing, Amelia cannot break free from her own mind prison. She could never truly explain why she suffers with herself the way she does. The relationship around her and her father focuses around guilt, she is in constant run-ins with SHIELD 'checking' on her, and being the daughter of Tony Stark had an unnecessary amount of pressure and fear. Tony told her that when she was five there was an accident involving Gamma radiation meaning she has to be on medication forever to keep her alive, but he is forever guilty. She notices the way he sometimes looks at her, like he is scared of himself for what he did to her. Not to mention how all of Tony's enemies attack and try to kill her, making Amelia live with a serious target on her back. Also the stress from it gives bad reactions in difficult circumstances.
"Fuck hell." Amelia mumbles, fully clothed now. She is not in any way putting on those heels again. Instead she quickly rummages through the closet of whoever's house this is and steels some slippers. She quickly leaves and walks to her father's tower. The medication she is forced to take comes every month in an unnamed bottle but the side effects vary such as hallucinations, depression, fatigue, heart issues (which she has an irregular heartbeat with palpitations), headaches, nausea, and sometimes vomiting. The mental side effects of her medication make her feel the worst. Amelia finally gets to the tower, her stomach turning with regret. She really hopes her father doesn't catch her this time. She is not shameful of her actions, honestly she could give less of a shit what people say or think, but she does care about her father's opinion. All these years she spent so much time in getting him to not be guilty and to fully appreciate her. The elevator dings and the teenager walks through the doors into the penthouse. The apartment looks untouched besides a note on the the table :
' Heya Peanut, Pepper and I are gonna be home tonight for dinner. Join us ? Love you! '
Amelia decides to quickly shower, throw on some comfy clothing and get to work on her thesis paper.
By the time 1 o'clock came she started to feel dizzy and exhausted. It isn't the first time. Hours must have passed without her noticing until she heard the elevator ding. The sudden noise causes the young girl to jump but Tony's laugh quickly calmed the girl down. "Hey Dad, hey Pepper." Amelia called out, tugging on her dark hair.
"Hey kiddo, whats wrong?" He asks, noticing the slight red look under her eyes.
"Just a headache, nothing crazy." She underplays how shitty she actually feels. Tony knows this but doesn't say anything.
"I got some takeout, I bought your favorite." A big smile appeared on her face as she jumps to eat with them. Pepper and Amelia are pretty close. Pepper practically stepped into the mother role and she loves Amelia like a daughter. Amelia's real mother is a mystery to her, her dad told her that she left him and never wanted to contacted. It hurt her a lot, especially when she was younger. Slowly but surely she got over not being wanted- her dad and Pepper want her and that is enough. Amelia fills her plate with fried rice, dumplings and chicken as she half listens to her father's ideas. She is finding it harder and harder to concentrate lately. "Wanna come, peanut?"
"I-uh...Come where?" She asks. Tony and Pepper glance quickly at each other. They have been noticing personality changes and attention decline in her. Tony made a mental note to call her doctors over the medication.
"The Stark tower will become a beacon of clean energy tonight, I have a suit all ready for you if you want to come."
"N-No, that's alright. I'll stay back with Pepper."
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, it's just those stupid headaches." She jests and quickly changes the topic. Once dinner was finished and clean, Tony put on his Iron man suit and headed out in the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia helped him with this plan a few weeks ago. He is going to cut a pipeline transport with a laser cutter coming from the suit. He then is going to place the stark energy reactor in. However, he is gone longer than expected, which makes the girl get irrational fears and very nervous. She already almost lost her father tragically a few times now and that fear stays.
"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you guys." Tony's voice comes over the coms. "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."
"Wow. So maybe the reactor takes over and it actually works?" Pepper asks in awe. She is constantly amazed by her lover's mind, and even his daughter's.
"I assume. Light her up." He instructs, flying into the Stark tower. The power switches on and the Stark sign lights up.
"How does it look?" Amelia asks excitingly.
"Like Christmas, but with more...me. I'm kidding ! More us."
"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards." Pepper rambles.
"Pepper, you're killing me. Enjoy the moment."
"Then get in here and I will." Pepper flirts.
"Ew, guys stop." Amelia pretends to gag. Tony arrives at his skyscraper penthouse and his suit is taken off him by his well designed gadgets.
"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line." JARVIS voice calls out. Amelia has met Coulson a few times, she likes him. He is nice to her.
"I'm not in. I'm actually out." Tony lies, trying to avoid the agent. This is Tony's routine with SHIELD.
"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."
"Close the line Jarvis. I'm busy." Amelia scoffs at her father's persistence. Pepper and Tony flirt among each other, having their own little moment. Amelia doesn't interfere, she never really does. Instead she goes on her phone and passes the time by playing games.
"Sir, the telephone...I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten." Jarvis voice calls out again. Amelia raises her eyebrows in surprise. It is not usual that anything can override Jarvis. Agent Phil Coulson appears out of the elevator doors and walks up to the group.
"Security breach," Tony starts and then points at Pepper. "That's on you."
"Mr. Stark." Coulson addresses.
"Phil! Come in." Pepper calls out.
"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." Tony comments back, flashing his daughter a toothy grin to make her laugh.
"Come on in, we're celebrating." Amelia calls out, overing Phil a glass of champagne.
"Which is exactly why he can't stay. It's a family thing." Tony quickly jumps in, taking the glass for himself.
"We need you to look this over," The agent says, handing Tony a file. "as soon as possible." A feeling of intuition comes to Amelia. She tries to get a good look at the file but fails.
"I don't like being handed things. " Tony remarks, continuing to be difficult.
"That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper jokes, passing her glass of champagne to Coulson and taking the file in return. She then takes he glass back and hands the file over to Stark. "Thank you."
"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Tony continues.
"This isn't a consultation." Phil replies, oddly calm.
"Ohhh! Is this about the Avengers?...Oh Which I..know nothing about." Amelia slips out and nervously smiles.
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify."
"Oh we didn't know that." Pepper says purposely to not leave Amelia alone in her slip up. She knows how anxious Amelia can get, especially from SHIELD members.
"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony continues, the bitterness is dripping from his words.
"Okay, that we did know." Pepper jokes....well it wasn't really a joke.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Phil comments back.
"Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?" Tony gestures. Pepper walks over to Tony who places the files into his own databases.
"How are you, Amelia?" Phil asks her genuinely as Tony and Pepper talk. "How are you feeling?" He looks at her like he knows something she doesn't. She has gotten used to that look, especially by SHIELD.
"I'm alright, you know. School and whatever." She says kindly. "What about you?"
"Eh-"
"What is all of this?" Pepper asks, cutting Phil off.
"This is, uh..." Tony trails off. he expands his arms and different profiles appear in a holographic form floating in the air in front of Tony and Pepper. "This." Screens appear of Captain America in action, the Hulk roaring as he attacks the army at Culver University, Thor fighting the destroyer and another is of Loki and the Tesseract. Amelia stares at the one of Loki, not knowing his name or who he even is. He just looks so familiar.
"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight." Pepper says.
"Tomorrow." Tony more demands. He wanted to have a great night with his two best girls.
"You guys got homework. You both have a lot of homework." Pepper says, getting ready to leave.
"You think I am going to let my daughter anywhere near this? Are you out of your mind?"
"Amelia has a bright mind, she might help you out. You know she always gets the ideas you can't finish. You can use her." Pepper argues back to Tony, mostly for Amelia. She knows the girl is struggling and a project like this might help set her straight like it did her father. Tony doesn't reply. Instead he takes Pepper's words into consideration. He is hoping something does help the girl. "Work hard." She says, giving Tony a kiss. She then walks to Amelia and hugs her. "Stay safe, ok?"
"What? You aren't going to tell me to stay safe?" Tony calls out.
"You never do." Pepper answers and leaves with Phil.
"Come on, we got work to do." Tony says, grabbing the holographic tesseract. However, the image of Loki burned in the back fo the girl's mind.