The Golden Daughter✓Tony Stark

38: Poisoned?

I look up at the screen to see Joan Rivers on 'The Fashion Police' talking about the new War Machine suit, or should I say 'Iron Patriot'.

"Same suit, but painted red, white, and blue. Look at that. And they also renamed him Iron Patriot. You know, just in case the paint was too subtle." She says and the presenter throws his head back laughing.

"It's a dumb name, who the hell chose it?" I ask, tuning out the TV.

"It tested well with focus groups, alright?" Rhodey defended and dad made a face.

"I am Iron Patriot..." He mocks and I shove a fry into my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

"Listen, War Machine was a little too aggressive, alright? This sends a better message." Rhodey defended, I could see that he clearly didn't like the rebranding.

"So what's really goin' on? With Mandarin. Seriously, can we talk about this guy?" Dad asks, stating the main reason he was here, moving closer to Rhodes.

"It's classified information, Tony. Okay, there have been nine bombings." Rhodey divulges.

"Nine." I mutter in shock.

"The public only knows about three. Here's the thing, nobody can ID a device. There's no bomb casings." Rhodey continues.

"You know I can help, just ask. I got a ton of new tech, I got a prehensile, I got a...I got a new bomb disposal. Catches explosions mid-air." Dad says and I sighed.

"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?" Rhodey asks before turning to me. I open my mouth to reply but dad cuts me off.

"Einstein slept three hours a year. Look what he did?" Dad defends.

"More than seventy two hours ago." Dad glared.

"People are concerned about you, Tony. I'm concerned about you. She's concerned about you too." Rhodey replies gesturing to me.

"You're gonna come at me like that?" Dad asks defensively.

"No. No, look, I'm not trying to be a dic..." He cuts himself off when two kids approached us.

"...tator." he covers up immediately.

"Do you mind signing my drawing?" She asks dad before turning to me too, sliding another drawing in my direction with a crayon on top.

"If Richard doesn't mind." He replies gesturing to Rhodey. "You alright with this, Dick?" He asks jokingly.

"Fine with me." Rhodey replies as I pick up the crayon.

It wasn't a drawing of aliens, instead I was surrounded by drones, the hammeroids. I was talking to a little dark skinned girl.

I smiled, signing the drawing before looking up at her.
"My cousin loves you so much. She's going to adore this piece forever." She replies and my smile brightens and I slide the drawing back to her.

"What's your name?" Dad asks.

"Erin." She replies.
Dad looks down at her brother and smiling.

"I loved you in A Christmas Story, by the way." He says as he scribbles on the paper.

"Listen, the Pentagon is scared. After what happened in New York... aliens, come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is priority, but it's not..." Rhodey states.

"It's not superhero business, I get it. We get it." He replies.

"No, it's not, quite frankly. It's American business." Rhodey replies.

"That's why I said I…got it." He says and his tone has me looking up from my fry.

Dad had his hand on his face, looking very sick.