The Anthem of the Damned

Chapter One

Drusilla Stark Files For Emancipation!

The headlines of the morning paper give Tony a headache but reading her already written testimony just about breaks his heart. As usual he sits in his lab with blueprints of his newest weapons ideas spread all over the table. He only opened her testimony this morning when Pepper showed him the newspaper.

Close to 18 years ago shortly after he took over the company he was confronted by a previous one night stand. She told him she was pregnant and of course it was his. Tony didn't intend on being a father at that time and he definitely wasn't going to let this woman use her child as a way into his life or his bank account.

After the baby was born they did a paternity test which turned out to prove Tony a father. A few months of quiet court negotiations and a lot of money later and it was decided that Drusilla Marie Stark would spend her school year with her mom in Portland(or away at school) and her summer with her Dad in Malibu (or wherever he was working and living at the time).

They knew she was smart right away. Tony shelled out as much money as necessary for her to go to the best schools and honestly couldn't remember the last time he laid eyes on his daughter before the big fight.. She graduated high school at 10, and moved on to college with a Doctorate in both Mathematics and Chemistry by 14. The plan was for another degree in Engineering so she would be prepared to take over the company but she changed her interests and obtained a PhD in Psychology with a bachelors in sociology .

When she was little it was easy. She'd hang with Pepper during the day and every other weekend or so Tony would take a night to watch movies or have dinner with his daughter, but somewhere in the last 10 years he lost her. Lost track of where she was in her life, what she was doing and he couldn't remember when he turned into his father. Then a few months ago Dru showed up at the front door....

Tony was in his lab working as usual when JARVIS cut off his music to announce Drusilla's arrival. Tony thought for just a moment about ignoring the information and continuing with work but he knew Pepper would come down and get him. Plus he hadn't seem Dru in... a long time. He wondered why Pepper didn't let him know she would be arriving and put down his tools to wipe his hands on the way up the stairs. He could hear talking in the kitchen so he headed that way. Pepper stood at the stove putting a kettle on the stovetop for tea while she spoke with a woman sitting on the stool across the island from Pepper. This girl couldn't be his daughter. The last time he saw his daughter she was like 40 pounds of little princess. The girl Pepper was talking to was grown, she was dressed in a light purple blouse with black dress pants and a matching blazer, high heels and make up! This couldn't be his daughter. Just as he decided to turn around and wait for Drusilla to arrive she looked towards him and smiled politely.

"Tony. Good to see you. I have a few things I need you to sign and I'll be out of your hair." Her words were polite and her smile was nice but her eyes were hard. He frowned looking at Pepper for the answers. Who was this girl and why is she here?

"Tony, Drusilla has been offered a pretty amazing opportunity to work with the FBI. They have some issues with her age however and they need you to sign off on some things." Peppers voice was soft and her eyes were sad as she looked towards him.

He froze. His Dru was grownup now and wanting to work with the FBI? How could his little girl work for the FBI? He did some guesstimated math in his head and thought real hard about everything he knew of his daughter. Honestly it was mostly cost related. He'd paid for a lot of schooling and he kind of remembered a conference call with her and an advisor at CalTech about a Math degree? And chemistry. And even though she was only across town he'd seen her once that year maybe? For lunch.. she lived in some genius sponsored single dorm on campus.

He realized that the girl at the island was his daughter. Same brown eyes, same dark hair as his. His body flooded with guilt when he realized how long it had been since he took an interest in her. He stepped towards the island where she sat a pile of paperwork.

"Working with who?" He asked, his brain scrambling to think about what to say or how to handle the situation. He realized she'd called him Tony, like he used to do with Howard instead of the honor of being called Dad.

"The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. The Unit I've been offered to work with focuses on serial murders." She looked like she was going to continue before she cut herself off and Tony didn't hesitate to pick up.

"Wait, you wanna go catch serial killers? You want me to sign off on my 15 year old daughter going around chasing serial killers? I don't think so." He didn't even look at the packet she brought with her before dumping it in the trash. "Go back to school, get a degree in criminology or something if you think it's that interesting. I thought your degree was in math and you were taking steps towards Stark Industries? How are you even qualified to do this job?" His attitude was wrong, his words were coming out harshly but he couldn't stop. He could feel a blanket of worry cover him head to toe thinking about her facing down some psychotic serial killer. He still couldn't get his head focused enough to understand how so much time had passed and so much distance had grown between them.

Pepper straightened as the kettle started to screech and poured three cups of tea her eyes darting between the two while Tony stared down his daughter. Just as the silence began to get uncomfortable Dru straightened, lifted her eyes from the counter and stared Tony right in the eyes with no emotion.

"I'm almost 17 years old. I have an IQ of 245, an eidetic memory and I can read 20,000 words per minute. I have a Doctorate in both Math and Chem and a PhD in Psych as well as a Bachelors in Sociology. For my PhD I studied serial murders. I've been interviewing serial killers for the past two years. Now I want to catch them. I passed all physical and psychological requirements for the FBI. My background check is clean obviously. A profiler is not required to carry in the field thankfully so I don't have to dance with that red tape. I could wait a year and apply then but there is a spot for me now. And I intent to accept it. So. Pull the paperwork out of the trash. The signature lines are all marked, Victoria has already signed and I've given Pepper the fax number. I'll be in town for another three days before I head back to the East Coast. I hope to have everything squared away by then." With that she turned to Pepper with a real smile and said "please call me tomorrow. I'd like to have coffee before I go okay?" And jumped off the stool to head out of the kitchen.

Before she could walk by him, or an obviously uncomfortable Pepper could reply he grabbed her arm. The result was a loud screech and she jerked herself back so hard her back hit the doorway opposite him. She looked fine and he was talking before he could think.

"Excuse me? I'm your father. Show some respect, I don't know what your mothers been teaching you but you don't get to come in here and start demanding things like I haven't given you everything already. I said no. You're not going off to chase serial killers. You're a child." She was shaking her head with an angry smile from the first word and he found himself really starting to panic and with the panic came the anger. An hour ago he was downstairs making explosives and all was right with the world. Now he desperately needed a drink and to lose himself in figuring out how to fix this mess.

"FUCK. YOU!" She screamed before storming out the door. Tony followed, yelling at her to get back with Pepper right behind trying to get them both to calm down but she was gone. Speeding down the driveway like a bat out of hell away from him.

Two days later he was served a court document stating her file for emancipated from one Tony Stark and a Victoria Jones. He spent the rest of the day and night drinking himself into oblivion and this morning Pepper dragged him off the couch in his lab and up to the kitchen for coffee and the paper. Staring at the paper made him open the file Pepper slid towards him. It was her life. Everything about her and her testimony for court. How the fuck did this happen?