Kaylee observed from the sides of the stage as her brother announced to the students at MIT that they had become recipients of the September Foundation Grant. Her body then tensed up as she noticed the message on the teleprompter;
Now I would like to introduce the head of the foundation: Pepper Potts.
She felt pained as she noticed her brother grow rigid as well, evidently feeling awkward about looking at his ex-girlfriend's name.
After an excruciatingly uncomfortable pause, Kaylee felt her muscles relax as Tony came up with an alternative ending to his speech. "Go break some eggs." he declared, followed by a wave of cheering & clapping from the crowd.
Tony gave a slight wave to the crowd before striding off stage, making eye contact with his sister. As Tony reached Kaylee's position from offstage, he motioned for her to follow him down the hallway. The pair barely walked a metre together before a man walked up to them, praising Tony for his generosity.
"Uh, that took my breath away." the man exclaimed with multiple hand motions. "Oh, Tony, so generous- so much money!" the man continued, not to the delight of Mr Stark. "Wow! Out of curiosity, will any portion of that grant be made available to faculty?" the man questioned while following the pair down the hallway, clearly unwanted.
"You may be thinking, 'Ooh, gross' but hear me out. I got this killer idea for a self-cooking hotdog-" the man told Tony, before being interrupted by a woman coming to apologise for the mistake with the teleprompter.
The woman tapped Tony's shoulder before speaking, "Mr Stark, I am so sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know that Miss Potts had cancelled, they didn't have time to fix it."
Tony accepted the woman's apology before excusing himself & Kaylee away from the situation. The pair walked down the hallway in silence for a few moments before starting a conversation.
"Sorry about that, I know the breakup was hard on you." Kaylee consoled her brother while placing an arm around his shoulder. "It doesn't matter, I'll get over it," he responded, an uncomfortable silence filling the hallway.
The siblings walked down to the elevator in quietude and soundlessly waited for the elevator to reach their level. A few moments into the tedious waiting, a dark-haired woman approached the pair.
The group stood in silence for a while before the woman spoke. "That was nice, what you did for those young people," she praised Tony, fiddling with her bag. "Ah, they deserve it." he nodded, gazing at the wall. "Plus, it helps ease my conscious," Tony commented.
"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But, if you got the money, break as many eggs as you like." the woman remarked, looking over at Tony. He looked at her, then back to the elevator.
Kaylee desperately wanted to escape the inconvenient situation and decided she would much rather of stayed back and had to deal with the self-cooking hotdog man. As she turned around to try and get away from this awkward encounter, Tony placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, imploring her not to leave him.
After noticing the elevator button hadn't been pressed, he went to push it, a confused look on his face. Kaylee was perplexed why the woman hadn't pressed the button before. "Are you going up?" Tony questioned the woman, gesturing.
"I'm right where I want to be." the woman answered, reaching for something in her bag. Tony swiftly placed his hand on the bag, stopping the woman from taking anything out of it. "Sorry, occupational hazard." he apologised, shaking his head and withdrawing his hand.
"I work for the state department," the woman told Tony, a flash of anger briefly taking over her facial features. "Human resources. I know it's boring, but it enabled me to raise a son." she continued. "I'm very proud of what he grew up to be," she remarked while taking a picture out of her bag.
Tony looked down at the photo and Kaylee peered over his shoulder to look at it, wondering what the woman would say next. "His name was Charlie Spencer." the woman stated, anger in her eyes. "You murdered him. In Sokovia." she accused Tony, her body shaking.
"Not that it matters in the least to you," she spoke harshly, glancing over to Kaylee for a moment who had a rueful look on her face. "You think you fight for us. You just fight for yourself." the woman hissed, her voice breaking.
"Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead, and I blame you." she strode off, leaving Kaylee and Tony in silence. Kaylee glanced over to Tony, who had a conscience-stricken look on his face. "It's not your fau-" Kaylee reassured, before being cut off by her brother.
"Yes, it is. If the Avengers can't even stop innocent citizens being killed, are we really better than the bad guys?" he questioned, a hurt look on his face.
A/N: first chapter done! I'm really excited about this story as I absolutely love the plot :)
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This Means War → the avengers
Fanfiction"If I was a superhero, I would never sign that thing. The government has enough power. Why give them more? And if you say it's the right thing to do, I'll punch you in the throat." In which Iron Man's sister takes the opposing side when it comes to...
