Sam: A Summer With My Uncle (Tony Stark fanfic)

Meeting Dr. Clyde

By now, there was a huge building in front of us and I guessed it was Tony's work place. It seemed pretty full with people running around, doing their job. "Come on," Tony gestured me to follow him, so I did while he walked into the office building. I tightened my body up, keeping my arms close to my side, and trying to look smaller. I only did that when I was nervous, so I guess I was pretty anxious of meeting this Dr. Clyde.
"Relax a little bit," Tony nudged me as we stepped into an elevator, which - by the way - was not as nice as Tony's elevator in his house.
"I'm just playing my part. If something happened back at the house, I should be nervous," I pointed out.
Tony scoffed, "Yeah, well either you're a really good actress or you really are nervous."
I glanced at him, "I can't be both?"
Stark gave me a reassuring look, "Hey, no need to be nervous, okay?"
I looked at the adult as if he was crazy - which he kind of was - then ignored his statement about not being worried, going completely silent again.
When the door of the elevator opened, Tony took then the lead and I followed right at his heels, afraid of getting lost in this huge maze. To make it worse, everyone was staring at me like a kid wasn't suppose to be in the building, making me feel even more out of place. Everyone gave me a stare as if watching that I don't break anything, but I knew they wouldn't dare say anything because the staring eyes noticed Tony too.
"Tony," I stopped walking and interrupted the silence as anxiety was screaming in my ears now. I mean, think about it. It's going to talk to the person that just sent an assassin after you... but different. It was hard to think but at the same time there were so many thoughts in my head. When Tony stopped I continued, "Why can't you just talk to him, and I wait out here."
Out of all of the reactions that he could've had - like sympathy - he chuckled, "Do you have more anxiety than I do?"
I rolled my eyes and sighed, shifting my feet uncomfortably, "No! I'm just not crazy!" My thinking was that Dr. Clyde was just waiting for us to walk in so he could attack us again with his stupid robots! But, Tony had a calm expression like he knew what he was doing, and I trusted Tony. I kind of have to.
"Sam, Dr. Clyde is either really smart or really stupid, - although I'm pointing more towards the second option - he will wait until he has a plan," Tony crouched down, trying to whisper this to me, just in case anyone was listening. "We need to stop him first."
It made sense but at the same time it didn't, but I nodded anyway, "Okay," I agreed as I took a deep breath.
Then, right on time as Tony stood up, a professional looking man walked toward us. My body instantly tensed up as I wondered if that was Clyde and the man greeted Tony, "Good afternoon, Stark. Can I direct you to any place?"
"Thanks, Ted. Is Clyde in his office?" Tony questioned.
"No, sir. He is still in the board meeting room," Ted replied.
Tony gave the man one pat on the shoulder then gave me a look that told me to follow him, so I quickened my steps toward Tony like a lost puppy. Tony seemed comfortable and familiar with the building so he took toward the room, knowing exactly where it was. I started wondering how long it took him to remember all of these rooms. Then Tony stopped and I noticed he was standing in front of a door. He glanced at me then winked and gave me a smirk, opening the door.
Stark was holding the door open for me so I was forced to walk in first. Eyes were instantly dragged to me and I scanned the room, wondering if the man was going to be obvious to spot, but what was I expecting? Did I think that Dr. Clyde had some evil scientist hair, with a lab coat, goggles, and some Frankenstein walking behind him?... Woah, too many movies.
Finally, Stark walked in and everyone turned their attention to him. Someone piped up, "So, what happened, Tony?"
Apparently, everyone knew that Stark left in a rush so he clasped his hands together, "I think there was some minor break in, no big deal."
"A break in?" A man repeated.
"Yes, Clyde. A break in," Tony nodded and repeated himself. When Tony said his name, my body officially froze and it took everything in me for me to even look at the man. Instead of some crazy scientist hair, he had brown hair with a large bald spot, instead of a lab coat he wore a suit, instead of goggles he wore some small - nerdy - glasses, and instead of a Frankenstein he held a coffee cup. Yep, pretty normal looking guy.
"Well, it sounds like a bid deal," Clyde pointed out, arguing against Tony's comment. "Did you see anything?"
"No, we didn't see anything. But I think the person breaking in should do a little more research. I mean, I'm babysitting my niece," Tony remarked. The words he was using sounded harsh but he had a calm expression. I knew that Tony was ticked but it blew me away at how emotionless he was acting.
"Yes, we you're very fortunate," Clyde gave a stone look right back to Tony. Was this going to turn into a staring competition?
"Aw! Tony! I didn't know you had a niece!" One of the women squealed.
Haha! Now Tony's face turned pale and I could see him turn red in embarrassment, "Uh..." Then he turned to me and laughed nervously, "You might wanna run."
"What? Why-," before I could even ask, I heard the squeak of a chair then the women run up to me.
"What's your name?" One asked.
"Sam-," I started.
"Aw, why doesn't Tony ever talk about you?" Another blurted out.
So many voices! "She's so cute, look at her hair."
"Tony needs to bring her more often!"
"Julia! You're embarrassing her," another woman called to her friend.
Tony grabbed me and pulled me from the group that was suffocating me, "Alright, that's enough."
"Awww!" All the girls in the room cried simultaneously.
Tony chuckled, shaking his head, "I'll bring her some other time," he promised and my head shot around to look at him. I glared at him, what?! He was basically sacrificing me to his crazy coworkers!
All the woman gave a small cheer then they went back to their seats, composing themselves. Tony glanced at me, giving me a look so I followed him out pretty quickly. I took a long sigh of relief, since everything was so stressful but now we were finally leaving.
"So, what now?" I broke the silence as we stepped into the elevator.
"Now it's time to expose that rat," Tony sounded determined, and like he had an idea...