It was dark backstage, and I tripped over too many things to count.
Originally, I was planning to watch from the audience. But because of safety reasons, it was decided that I would have to stay backstage.
So instead, I hid from the audience behind a curtain to watch as close as I could.
On stage, my dad presented a piece of technology he wanted to create when he was an MIT student. It would allow you to relive a memory, or to re-experience something in a different light.
Although as an MIT student, he didn't have the money and no one was willing to fund his project so he wasn't able to do it then.
I watched curiously, since the memory he presented with was of the last time he saw his parents.
Unfortunately however, it was very difficult to see everything on stage, which is why I wanted to sit in the audience in the first place. Although, I managed to see most of it by watching at a weird angle from the side.
My dad never really talked about his parents. He never showed me pictures, all he ever told me was that his relationship with his father was complicated.
The presentation started with a woman playing the piano and singing. Her voice was calming, though I had to fumble with the curtains awkwardly so I could see her.
Luckily, the room was dark so no one could see me.
"Wake up dear, say goodbye to your father." She said, no longer singing as a man with impressively white hair entered the room, though she continued to play piano.
"Who's the homeless person on the couch?" The man asked, lifting the red blanket off the couch to reveal a young man with a Santa hat.
He emerged from the couch, and at first I didn't recognize him. But when I realized it was my dad without facial hair, I smiled.
"This is why I love coming home for Christmas, right before you leave town." The young version of my dad told his father, and I realized his voice sounded mostly the same.
"Be nice dear, he's been studying abroad." The woman told her husband. She was mostly focused on the piano, but she still pitched in to the conversation.
I wish I could hear her sing again.
"Oh really, which broad?" The man with white hair asked exasperated, straightening his spine to show dominance over his son. "What's her name?" He added as he pulled off the Santa hat.
"Candice." He replied, though I couldn't tell if he was still being sarcastic.
"Do me a favor, try not to burn the house down before Monday." The man said, sounding rather annoyed. Even though it was just a memory, I was getting annoyed with him as well.
"Okay, so it's Monday? That is good to know, I will plan my toga party accordingly." Young Tony Stark replied, and I had to refrain from laughing.
I highly enjoyed seeing how my dad interacted with his parents, though I silently wished they were all closer.
Clearly annoyed with his father, my dad walked away from him to join his mother at the piano who was still paying little attention to the conversation.
"Where are you going?" he asked, shoving his hands tightly in his pockets.
It was almost weird seeing him in such casual clothes, even if it was around 20 years ago.
"Your father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little get away." She replied.
"We might have to make a quick stop." His father said, wedging himself back into the conversation.
I was getting really annoyed, and wished he would have just left them alone. Young Tony clearly didn't want to talk to him.
"To the Pentagon, right? Don't worry, you're gonna love the holiday with commissary." Young Tony told his mother, though it was targeting his father.
"You know, they say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that's true, you're going to be a great man some day." He told his son.
I suppose he was right.
"I'll get the bags." He mumbled to his wife, then left the room.
I didn't realize she stopped playing the piano till when he left the room, it was too quiet.
She took a deep breath, exhaling as she spoke. "He does miss you, when you're not here."
I watched young Tony curiously as something shifted in his eyes as she spoke.
"And frankly, you're going to miss us." She said as she stood from the piano, and walked slowly towards her son.
My heart dropped.
I was too amused by watching my dad when he was young, and had forgotten that this was his last memory with them.
At that moment, I also realized that this wasn't part of the memory. This was my dad, telling the younger version of himself through his mother what he wish he knew then.
I straightened up, taking a shallow breath.
"Because this is the last time we're all going to be together." She pointed out as she got closer. As she said that, I felt something in me break.
I couldn't imagine being separated from my dad, or any of the Avengers for that matter. They're my family, and family is meant to stay together.
"You know what's about to happen."
A sudden movement in the background caught my attention, and I noticed the man re-enter the room with all their stuff.
"Say something. If you don't, you'll regret it." She pleaded.
Young Tony lingered on his mother's eyes, reading the desperation in them. Giving in, he turned over his shoulder to his father who had rejoined the conversation.
"I love you, dad." He said briefly, then turned back to his mother though he was still talking to his father. "And I know you did the best you could."
His mother watched him sadly, then slowly kissed his cheek. I tried to stay focused, though it was incredibly difficult after watching my dad's last encounter with his parents.
My grandparents.
"That's how I wish it happened." My dad said, pulling me back to the presentation. "Binaurally Augmented Retro-Framing or BARF, I've got to work on that acronym." He said, looking through the open piano and making eye contact with me as he smiled.
In response, I smiled at him through my silent laugh before he turned back to the audience.
"An EXTREMELY costly method of, hijacking the hypo campus to clear, traumatic memories." He explained as he walked towards the piano.
He tried to blow out the projected candle, but it didn't go out. I was amused by his expression when he realized it didn't work, then he tried again and managed to blow it out.
As he explained it, I briefly wondered if it could help me clear my traumatic memories. But realizing I would have to relive that day, chills ran up my spine and I quickly pushed the idea away.
"It doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport," he continued, "or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief." He explained as he pulled off his glasses.
I watched curiously as the projected world slowly disappeared around him in blue light, leaving him standing around white objects that were used to be projected on for the presentation.
"Plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment. No one, in their right mind would have ever funded it." He said as he leaned up against the white piano. "Help me out, whats the MIT admission statement?" He asked, walking away from the set and towards the front of the stage.
"To generate, desalinate, and preserve knowledge." The audience said with my dad.
Almost forgetting they were there, I briefly glanced over the full audience before returning my attention to the presentation.
"And work with others!" He quickly added, though more enthusiastically. "To bring to bare, on the worlds, great challenges. Well you, are the others." He continued, making his way towards the other side of the stage. "And quiet as it's kept your challenges, are the greatest man kinds ever known. Plus, most of you are broke."
The audience all laughed in confirmation. I loved hearing them all laugh, and I smiled.
"Oh so you'd rather work. As of this moment, every student has been made an equal recipient, of the September, foundation grant. As in, all of your projects have just been approved and funded." He announced.
Excited, the audience erupted into applause.
"No strings, no taxes, just, reframe the future! Starting now." He called over the roaring crowd.
All of a sudden while the crowd continued to cheer, I noticed my dad freeze.
Confused, I looked up at the teleprompter and realized why he froze. It said:
"Now I would like to introduce the head of the foundation, Pepper Potts."
My dad decided when I was young that he would keep me out of his love life, and for the most part he was successful and I in many ways appreciated it. Although since Pepper lived with us for so long, my dad told me when they decided they were taking a break.
My heart sank as I read the teleprompter, but my dad recovered quickly.
"Go break some eggs." He said, then made his way off the stage.
As he approached, I emerged from the curtains with a big, encouraging smile. He grinned, and held out a hand when he was out of sight from the audience. I did the same, and gave him a big high five that left my hand throbbing.
"How was it?" He asked, still a little shaken.
"It was awesome!" I encouraged, trying to cheer him up.
He turned to walk out for a breath of air, but as he tried to leave he had some faculty guy trying to convince him to fund his project too, and a woman quickly caught up to apologize about the teleprompter.
As I watched him exit I ran my fingers back through my hair, letting my hand linger on my scalp for a moment before running it the rest of the way through and dropping my arm back to my side.
I glanced around, then decided to find a drinking fountain.
When I found one and got a drink, I realized I could hear talking from the other side of a double door a few feet away.
Curiously, I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if everyone was excited and liked the presentation.
I slowly opened the door, at first being blinded by the brightly lit hallway full of people. When my eyes adjusted enough, I quickly slipped through the door, making sure it closed behind me.
I slowly walked through the crowd to try and catch glimpses of conversations. Most of them were about the grant but if they weren't, I stopped listening out of respect for their privacy.
When a hand grabbed my arm, I was startled. I whipped around quickly, only to find myself face to face with a girl who I could only assume was an MIT student.
"Are you Tony Stark's daughter?!" She quickly asked, catching me off guard.
How does she know who I am?
Realizing I probably looked like a deer in the headlights, I forced myself to relax though I was still on guard.
"Um, yeah." I confirmed awkwardly. I ran my free hand back through my hair again, trying to not sound as uncomfortable as I felt.
When she realized she was still holding my arm, she quickly let go and a flush of pink crept it's way to her cheeks of embarrassment.
"Sorry." She said awkwardly, breaking eye contact.
"Oh no, it's okay." I assured her with a forced smile. "So um, did you enjoy the presentation?" I asked, trying to make her feel more comfortable though I was resisting the urge to run.
"Yeah! I'm so excited! I have this great idea-" She started before I stopped paying attention. I knew she wasn't going to stop talking any time soon, and quickly glanced around the hall in hopes of seeing someone who could save me.
"Who's this?" A guy joining us asked. He has messy brown hair, and couldn't be older than 19.
"This is Tony Stark's daughter!" She quickly introduced in her high pitched voice, and I began to panic.
Several more people joined, all trying to give me their ideas. Some of them knew about me going to nationals and I caught glimpses of them talking about the exoskeleton glove. They made it sound as if I had it on display, when in reality I lost it several years ago.
When another hand grabbed my arm, I quickly turned around in panic. But when I recognized the security shirt, relief fell over me.
"What are you doing?" He asked, confused.
"I was just getting a drink, I didn't mean to come out here." I told him, partly lying. When he realized I wasn't expecting this, his expression softened.
"Come on, let's get you out of here." He said, and I agreed.
Obediently, I walked ahead of him so that he could watch me. Since I was walking with the guard, many more people noticed me and started to point fingers. But thankfully, I got out alive.
"How was the press tour?" A familiar voice asked. I looked ahead to see my dad walking towards us, and laughed lightly at the joke.
"I don't know how you do this every day!" I laughed. I didn't hate it, but I didn't enjoy it either. It happens to me occasionally, but I'm not usually alone when it does.
When he realized I was laughing about it, he smiled.
"Lot's of practice."
.
.
.
A month later, the new Avengers facility was completely finished, meaning it was time to start moving over.
For whatever reason, we decided it would be best if we moved our personal belongings so it didn't get all mixed up in everything. It seemed like a good idea at the time, till we realized we all had too much stuff and it turned into a pain.
Wanda and Vision had the most time, so they were the first to be completely moved in.
Getting use to my new room was strange. At Avenger tower, my room was a lot more technical. But at the new facility, it's designed to feel more like home which is making it more difficult to adjust.
I would visit the facility a lot while it was being built, but actually living here has been super weird.
Over the summer, Sarah somehow managed to convince my dad to allow me to join her at her public school for high school. He went to private schools his entire life, and wanted the same for me so I don't know what she did to change his mind.
We got me all registered and ready to go almost immediately since it was so last second. I was super excited- until we got back to New York.
The closer school got, the more anxious I became. I was terrified of having a repeat of what happened at my last school, especially since it was attacked because of me, and they haven't caught the man who did it yet.
So now we're 3 weeks into the school year, and I have yet to show up.
After I finished training with Natasha for today, I wasn't very sweaty so I didn't bother to change.
Walking over to my bed I threw myself on it, completely ignoring the fact that I just messed up the covers and pillows.
I pulled out my phone, and realized that Sarah tried to call me while I was training. Since I didn't answer, she left a voice message.
I already knew what the message was going to say, but decided to listen to it regardless.
"Hey Alice, I was just wondering when you'll be starting school. We're already 3 weeks into the school year, and you've get to come. I don't want you to get far behind, and it might be easier to adjust to a new school along with all the other new students. You've already registered and everything, so yeah. Just call me back when you get this."
At the mention of school, chills came over me.
I felt guilty because I knew she was excited for me to join her, and now each message I receive is less enthusiastic than the last.
Because of my fears and my anxiety, I really did not want to go to school. Although, I knew I'd have to suck it up and go soon.
But for now the longer I can put it off, the better.
I exhaled deeply, letting off some stress with it. But before I had the chance to call her back, there was a knock at my bedroom door followed by someone entering.
I quickly sat up, trying to not look like a total mess as my dad entered the room. But with my hair flying in every direction, I failed.
"Oh, hey." I said, trying to act natural. I pulled my hair out of the ponytail in an attempt to try and fix my hair situation, though it only made it worse.
Accepting that there was no fixing it till I showered, I sat comfortably on my messed up bed.
"Kid, I need to talk to you about something." He said as he entered, shutting the door behind him. Confused, I watched him walk towards me till he sat next to me on my bed.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked trying to read his expression though it seemed to be a jumbled mess.
"The United Nations came together, 117 countries decided that it's time to put a restraint on the Avengers." He explained straight forward.
For a moment, my heart dropped to my stomach as I realized what it could mean for the Avengers.
They wouldn't be able to operate freely anymore, and I knew none of them would like being told how and when to do their jobs.
"When did this happen?" I asked, concerned.
"Yesterday. They're ratifying the accords in 2 days in Vienna, and I can't just leave you here."
When I realized he was looking at me, I looked up to meet his gaze.
He'd been acting weird ever since the September grant, though I hadn't been able to figure out why.
But looking at him now, I know exactly what he's feeling. It's such a simple emotion, though it makes my stomach turn.
He's scared.
So much for going back to school.