Out Of Time

fifteen

On the plane ride over, Y/N read the file. Tony Stark went missing in Afghanistan three months ago, after a weapons demonstration went wrong. She was tasked with protecting him, as his personal security detail, and finding out what happen during his missing three months. Before they landed, Y/N make sure that she was dressed in a suit with her gun and knifes hidden. The plan had been to meet Stark at the airport but, after they landed, Coulson and her were informed that Mr. Stark had requested a press conference be held at Stark Industries headquarters. They arrived at Stark Industries HQ before Tony did.

"Are you nervous?" Coulson asked her as the entered the room that the press conference was going to be held in.

"No," Y/N lied, to herself and him.

"It could be a long one. Last chance to back out."

"I've got this Phil. I can do it... Even if it is Howard's son..."

The employees and press went wild when Tony's car pulled up. Y/N and Phil waited patiently for the man of the hour to enter and get to the stage before making a move. Tony's right arm was in a sling, and he had scratches on his face. Even from the other side of the room, Y/N could tell that his eyes had seen horrors. Phil went up to Pepper Potts, Tony's personal assistant, first.

"Miss Potts?" Phil said as he walked up to her.

"Yes," she responded.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now."

"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"That's quite a mouthful." Y/N chuckled at Peppers response. She wasn't wrong, there needed to be a better way to introduce their organization.

"I know. We're working on it."

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..."

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?"

"Thank you."

Y/N was about ready to introduce herself to Pepper as well, when the press conference started. Obadiah Stane, who ran the company beside Tony, stood behind the podium while Tony was sitting on the ground in front of it, eating a burger. The more Y/N observed Obadiah, the more she didn't like him. She couldn't put a finger on it, she just didn't.

"Well, let's get this started, uh..." Obadiah struggled to know how to start the conference.

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony spoke up. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..." Everyone listened, either sitting themselves on the ground or squatting. "I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father."

Y/N immediately became very attentive. After Peggy had told her what had happened, she looked up the reports herself. Howard Stark and his wife, Maria, died in a car crash December 16, 1991. She cried over the reports as she read them. Howard deserved so much better. They all had.

"There's questions that I would have asked him," Tony continued. "I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."