Blind Eyes

Chapter 9

To say the next few days were hard would be an understatement. Pepper was trying to control the damage the attack had caused on the Stark Industries stock while Natalie, as dad's new PA, was giving statements to the press about how Iron Man is still a national hero and will continue to protect people no matter how many attacks on his life are attempted. They were both working extremely hard but the only person who could correct the situation was dad who was spending most of his time in the garage doing god knows what. There were even more paparazzi camped outside the gates than when we left, all of them waiting for him to emerge. So for the foreseeable future I was remaining inside the mansion as was dad, although everyone was trying to change that. Pepper and Natalie were desperately trying to convince dad to go out and talk to the press but he was having none of that. Even Rhodey came around to speak to dad but he emerged from the garage looking defeated and concerned. I asked him what dad had said to him but he didn't say much besides that dad wasn't going out to speak to the press.

In between the late nights and numerous phones, I had my first official meeting with Natalie. I had been sitting in my PJ's in the kitchen, eating left over pizza when I had heard the clacking of heels against the tiles. I looked up, hoping to see Pepper joining me for a snack but instead Natalie came through the door.

"Miss Stark," she said in a very professional tone. "I thought I should properly introduce myself. I'm Natalie Rushman." She stuck out her hand, waiting for me to shake it.

I briefly entertained the idea of just sitting there, letting her stand there with her hand outstretched. But I decided against it. Who knows how long she could be sticking around? I would have to get use to her if she somehow managed to put up with dad and stay on as his PA.

"Nice to meet you," I said as I shook her hand. "Please just call me Morgan."

She nodded. "Of course. I know I'm your father's PA but if you ever need anything, just let me know."

I gave her a fake smile I'm sure she saw right through. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes the second she turned around to leave. I didn't like her at all. I had no idea what it was about her but I didn't trust her one bit. I didn't know if it was intuition or the fact that she just wasn't Pepper. Something about her just seemed off and I made a mental note to do some research on her. But in the mean time I told myself I was going to act nice. Maybe.

One of the few good things that happened was in the days after my talk with dad, I hadn't had a single nightmare. I hoped they were gone for good but I wasn't holding my breath. I was just glad to get some uninterrupted sleep for a change.

Another good thing that happened was Ivan Vanko's death. I hated that I was glad a man was dead but I couldn't pretend to feel anything other than happy that the man who had tried to kill dad was dead. Apparently there had been an explosion in the prison and he had burned to death. I felt safer knowing that there was one less person in the world trying to hurt my father. I still hadn't found out why he had tried to kill dad in the first place. Dad said he had done some research on the guy but nothing had come up that would indicate why he had been so set on destroying him. He said he was going to keep searching but told me not to worry about it anymore. But I couldn't. Ivan had spent weeks, maybe months, building a replica arc reactor and electrified whips, all in the hopes of killing Tony Stark. I didn't believe he would go to all that effort without a reason.

The days ticked by until it came to the one I had been dreading; dad's birthday. Of course I wanted to celebrate dad's birthday, I just wanted to celebrate it in a low key way. I hated this party. I hated having hundreds of strangers invading my home. The morning after I always wake up to find things broken and our house a mess. I had hoped that since the Stark image had suffered slightly in the past week, dad might cancel the party but no such luck. I watched from the couch as box after box of alcohol was brought in. I moved down into the garage when the DJ began setting up his equipment.