Iron man 3 [MCU x OC] [Book 3 of the Stephanie Stark Series]

Chapter 5

Stephanie was back in the back seat of Maya's car. The three of them had left behind the Malibu mansion and were headed to someplace safe that they could stay for the night. It's hard to distract your mind when everything you used to do is gone. She couldn't draw, she couldn't eat or watch her favorite shows, she couldn't even sleep having slept earlier and was now wide awake. Not to mention the car ride was silent and Stephanie didn't have anything to say to start a conversation. She tried to close her eyes and just rest, but this car was not comfortable at all, so she was stuck looking out the window. Not much to see besides more cars and distant city lights.

It's weird. Tony isn't dead, but I still feel upset. It's strange to think about; all that had happened in the last 48 hours. I don't think most kids deal with this kind of stuff. Not the most empathetic thoughts to be thinking right now but it was true. For someone who could have anything and everything, she still felt jealous of people she'd never know. In a perfect world she'd be living with Tony and Pepper, preferably still rich, with no superheroes, no supervillains, and no crazy terrorists. A happy family that acted accordingly.

Stephanie huffed. Stupid thoughts make stupid actions. Stop thinking. She squeezed her eyes shut. She really wished she had something to do, a real shame it all got blown up.

"So what was the real reason you wanted to talk to Tony?" Pepper asked Maya.

My savior.

"I think my boss is working in Mandarin." Kill me now. "So if you still wanna talk about it, I suggest we get ourselves someplace safe."

"Your boss works for the Mandarin, you think? But Tony says you're a botanist. So..." Stephanie could see Pepper's hand tightening around the steering wheel.

"That figures. What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of 40 out of a privately funded think tank. But sure, you can call me a botanist."

"This boss of yours, does he have a name?"

"Yeah, Aldrich Killian." Didn't ring any bells to Stephanie but she could tell Pepper definitely recognized the name.

The car ride was silent again. I might as well knock myself out.

______________

With Tony

"Sandwich was good, springs were a little rusty but the rest of the materials were fine." Tony was walking next to the Harley kid he met when he crash-landed in Tennessee. The kid was smart and knew how to keep things a secret so Tony decided he was okay to keep around. "Also, when you said your sister had a watch I was assuming something more adult than this." Tony pulled up his sleeve a little bit to look at the pink Dora watch fastened around his wrist.

The kid laughed. "She's six, what'd you expect? It's a limited edition anyway so... Hey! When can we talk about New York?"

Tony huffed and kept his attention on the small lit-up memorial they were walking towards. "Maybe never. Relax about it."

"What about the Avengers?"

"Later. Never. Hey kid, gimme space." They stopped in front of some candles. "What's the official story here? What happened?"

"A guess this guy named Chad Davis used to live roundabouts. Won a bunch of medals in the army. And one day, folks said he went crazy and you know, made a bomb." Tony ran his hand across the forever-stained wall that held the shadow of someone. "Then he blew himself up, right here."

"Six people died right?"

"Yeah."

"Including Chad Davis."