❝I don't fear monsters anymore. I have been surrounded by them for so long that I have become one myself.❞
❝ You could never be a monster to me. ❞
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{ Captain Amer...
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Bucharest, Romania
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Tony Stark proved to be an enigma of a man, just as his father had been.
He had been so warm and embracing to Allie, prepared to get to know the real her that the files on Trickery never revealed. He welcomed her into his home, offering her the protection and aid she craved. He willingly opened up about his father, a topic that he heavily despised talking about. He even offered her a place to stay for the night, letting a mass murderer sleep on the same floor as him (she thought he must have had a death wish.)
And yet he so often contradicted himself.
Despite inquiring into Allie's life and talking about his father, he left his walls up when talking about himself. Making sure he maintained a barrier between them, not exposing her to the true catastrophe that was Tony Stark.
He also tried to disregard all of his kindness as an obligation, a duty to his father. That it was his responsibility to get to know Allie, not because he wanted to know her, but because he was obliged to. When deep down, they both knew he wanted that lasting connection, someone who could tie him to his father and be the parent he had lost for a while now.
But most of all, Tony Stark was lonely.
He was constantly surrounded by people, employees that served him, paparazzi that dangled off his every word, the public that worshipped at his feet. And yet she could tell he was lonely. Other than the few individuals that truly knew Tony, there weren't many people who bothered to even try. Nobody that really wanted to dig past the layers that Tony presented to see the glittering phoenix of a man that laid beneath.
But Allie wanted to get to know all of Tony. Because as much as she owed it to Howard, she owed it to herself and to Tony. So that maybe she could finally have a friend that was from this era.
Allie had spent the rest of the night at Avengers Tower getting to know Tony. She watched in amazement as he showed her the Iron Man suit and all the other astonishing inventions he had created himself. Gadgets that ranged from tiny, little irrelevant toys to large scale industrial machines.
