THE ELEVENTH HOUR » tony stark ²

𝐒𝐍𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐓

a few years later...

TONY

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

'Daddy, can I come in?'

Tony had been awake for thirty-six hours and counting. He had been slowly dragging himself into the oblivion of sleep, right beneath the foot of the Iron Man armour when his ebbing conscious suddenly reeled back into him. With a distressed grunt, he pulled himself up and tossing the screw compressor behind his back, to rub the sleep from his eyes.

'Sure, sweetheart,' he waved at her to beckon her inside.

He swirled in the stool to face his little girl who stood at the steps on tiptoes to reach the security pad to the door. Margo jumped, slapping her palm onto the tablet and scuttling in when the glass door opened with a pillow hooked between her fingertips. Her brown ringlets mussed from an uneasy sleep, dark eyes still heavy with fatigue. Her specs were slanting over the bridge of her nose and the thin onesie not producing any noise as she made her way to him. 

'Morning early birdie,' he whispered, glimpsing at the digital clock which spelt out two fifteen in the night. The four-year-old climbed over the nearest master-chair and leaning over, as if ready to listen to him intently.

'Why are you still up?' She whispered back, her eyes narrowing with accusation. 'Can I call mommy?'

'No,' he disagreed. 'Nope, I was just finishing up here. Hitting the sack in a sec.'

Margo didn't need to know that Elle and Tony weren't on speaking terms at the moment. It might have something to do with him going on an impromptu date with a Sri-Lankan, biophysicist lab expert from her university to milk new ideas for the new invention he had cooking up in his workshop. Elle was agitated nevertheless, not ready to heed to his explanation. This had been going on for a week now and neither of them was ready to let go of their ego and talk to each other. Although, yes. 

Tony had his ways. Sooner or later, Elle was bound to call him up. Even if it weren't on the happiest expressions because of the stupidest of shit he was going to pull.

'Is he okay?' She pointed a finger to the work-in-progress, newest Mark armour behind him. The armour was still hooked to an undersheath so Margo figured that he was designing something new.

'Course, he is,' Tony smiled, rubbing a hand from the back of his head. He felt the tension crack between his shoulders, a slow sigh leaving him. 'I just had something on my mind.'

'Outer-space?'

He pursed his lips. Observative. 'Maybe.'

'Cocoa Puffs?'

'Was that a shakedown, Stinkerbell?' He fought off a chuckle, reaching over the table to lift her by the waist. Instead of slinking her over his arms, he flopped her askance over his shoulder and a small laugh pealing out of her. He felt her bones dig into his shoulder, securing an arm over her torso safely.

'So, it wasn't Cocoa Puffs,' she giggled. 'What was it?'

'Someone,' he started with a short clearing of his throat, making his way to the stairs that lead out to the living room. He was hesitant to say it to her but who was she going to say it to? She was a kid. 'Someone who I thought was dead is not.'

She breathed out a low, 'woah.'

He slinked her back to his arms and waggled his eyebrows at her. 'Hey. Wanna hear a cool story?'

'Nah duh,' she whispered as if conveying a secret. Elle was going to murder him for this. He took his chances anyway. 'What happened?'

'A few years ago, your mom and I were caught up in this weird, psychic brainteaser,' he explained. Her lips formed a perfect O. 'And then, mommy saved my sorry butt from this insane masked lady who, I thought, was dead.'

'But, she isn't.'

Definitely not. After three years of being on SHIELD's top-ten most wanted list, Madame Masque had finally popped up on his radar. Instead of going all out for her first appearance, she had pierced a bullet into the skull of the infamous superhero collectors, Ed Gross, during a buyout. The investigation was yet to be conducted on what she stole but he knew, it had something to do with him and Elle. His fright upped a level when he knew he had much more to lose, given his status as a father.

'Nope,' he popped his lips. 'Still out there.'

'Are you gonna catch her?'

He bumped his nose with hers with a sly smile. She pushed his face away, scrunching her nose when his facial hair tickled her chin. 

'D'you know who I am?'

She nodded. 'Iron Man.'

'And, what do I do?'

He had notoriously trained and ingrained it into her to give the exact response every time. Call him narrow-minded or miserly, it was the only way he could pump up his confidence to levels he didn't know existed. 

'You save the world,' she said proudly.

He grinned. 'Every damn time.'

∞

[ POST NOTIF!

a little sneak-peek into the third instalment of the series. and *gasp* Madame Masque is still alive? 

'the finest hour' is now up on my page and Ellony is back with more twists and adventures! hope you read onto their story and really trust you enjoyed this one :) 

until then, onward and upward, iron youth! 

- deidra

]

edited!