The Daughter of Iron Man

The Assistant

It's been nearly 2 years since I first took Alice in, and I can confidently say the first year was a mess.

I had zero clue how to take care of a baby, and I relied heavily on JARVIS since I didn't have anyone else around. To add to it, Alice was in a new environment so it seemed like she was constantly sick. I thought I'd mastered parenting right up until she started to walk. Having a mobile toddler in a mansion is rough, and I probably lose her close to 7 times a day. I also quickly learned that I have no sense of little girl style, so today she's wearing a purple shirt with blue shorts covered in poka dots.

It was incredibly difficult doing it by myself, so I began to look for an assistant. I was just having a hard time finding the right person.

Work fortunately wasn't too much of an issue. I can usually work from home, and when I do have to go to work I just bring her with and let her play in my office. She's surprisingly easy going, though I suspect it won't stick forever.

Work was going as usual, pretty boring. I stayed in my office for most of the day and let Alice roam the room. She's become especially fascinated with her surroundings. Alice was looking at some of my books and picked out one. She waddled away to her corner with toys and sat down with the book on her lap. I smiled as she shuffled through the pages as if she could read.

Roughly an hour before we could go home, I heard fighting outside my office door. The image of a woman was visible through the frosty doors as she fought past security. Soon enough, she came bursting into the room. Alice looked up with her big blue berry eyes to watch the woman, and two guards followed close behind.

"Mr Stark, I'm so sorry I just need a moment of your time-"

"Ma'am, you can't be in here!" The first called in a level but demanding voice. The second grabbed her arm, and she forcefully pulled her hand away.

"Don't touch me, I have pepper spray!" The thin woman shouted.

"It's fine, let her go." I told the security officers. "Go take a break or something, I can handle this." Both officers hesitated, looking at each other before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind them.

The thin woman straightened out her pencil skirt and gently moved her strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Mr Stark-"

"Please, call me Tony." I responded, relaxing in my chair.

"Tony," She smiled nervously. "I'm an accountant, I was reviewing some forms when I found a huge error that could cost the company thousands of dollars. My superior told me to just ignore the problem, but that didn't seem right." She explained in a professional tone. She pulled up the information on her iPad and passed it to me. After a quick moment of reviewing the information presented, I nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I'll take care of it." I reassured her. She beamed proudly.

The woman turned around and began heading towards the door. She stopped when she saw Alice in the corner, still watching her.

"That must be a pretty good book you've got there!" She smiled at the 2 year old. Alice smiled back, and hit the page with her hand in excitement.

"Oh hey, I didn't catch your name."

The woman stopped before the door, and turned back to me. "Virigina Potts."

"Nah, seems too formal." I told her, standing up. I walked towards her. "What about Pepper?"

Virginia shot me a confused look. "You know, because you threatened my security guards with pepper spray that you obviously don't actually have with you." I smiled. She blushed.