Stones and Glass Houses (Book 1)

🕷(32) The Charity Gala

Pepper POV-

"This is atrocious" Brook exclaimed, "Why do they even have these things anyways? The money spent making these galas could be used for the humanitarian causes these pocket-wells spend their time discussing"

Pepper, seated in front of the young girl, couldn't help but smile. 

The plane ride had been rather quiet for a few hours, and the only time conversation had sprung up it had been from either her or Tony. Brook had remained in her large seat with headphones on and a pile of books on the small table. Her nose was buried in them, trying to soak up as much information on weapon mechanics as possible. 

Usually, young teenage girls would be busy looking at magazines of handsome actors and singers, but not Brook. A few days ago, the girl had asked for more information on weapon manufacturing to better understand how the alien weapons could function, and better yet, how to stop them.

She'd argued if one of the alien missiles was discovered, or a bomb was found, she needed further information from her Red Room knowledge to do her job well. Luckily, Stark Industries had once been a weapons manufacturing company, and Tony had a rooms worth of knowledge stashed away from his college days.

Looking beside her, Pepper noticed how Tony already had his eyes on his daughter. 

It was rare to see her so calm and focused on something that wasn't a fight. Even Tony seemed to have enjoyed the quiet time they'd gotten before the flight attendant had announced they'd arrive to Metropolis in a few minutes.

Now, Brooklyn seemed to be reminded as to why she was shoved onto a private jet for a weekend getaway. Like the time before the plane took off, the girl seemed nervous with the idea of her first public appearance as a Stark in front of all the media and the world.

Word had speed fast these past few hours since Stark Industries announced the young heir would be attending, and Pepper had caught Brooklyn looking online to see what people had to say about it.

The woman could only imagine how nerve-racking this must be, and on such short notice too. Originally the plan had been for Tony and Pepper to go alone as they'd planned weeks ago, but then the press got talking and the original plan had to be changed.

Since many of the Avengers were away on missions and wouldn't be able to spent the day with Brooklyn, Tony had decided it was a good idea to bring the girl along. Pepper had been ecstatic to spend more Tim with Brook, specially since they'd been bonding so well recently, but she couldn't help but worry at the same time.

There would be a lot of people there who'd have their company's future in mind when they behind the young Stark, and from what the woman had observed, Brooklyn was not a big fan of cameras.

Even now, when the girl head the announcement of the imminent landing, she'd tried to hide her fear with comments about the event.

Pepper gently pulled Tony's attention from his worried staring, and when they locked eyes, she urged him to do something to calm his daughter. 

So Tony set down his shades and threw his daughter a bag of M&Ms, which she caught with barely any effort, keeping her eyes on the open book.

"Relax kiddo, it will only be for a few hours then we'll be on our way back home" he said, "Besides these things are set up so that investors can donate even more money than what the party is worth"