Spiderwoman

32

A/N I realize I've made Tony pretty OOC in this story, but it's fanfiction and yeah I don't really care.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, kid? If not, we can postpone the conference if need be."

Dani rolled her eyes.  "Tony, I'm fine. I'll be okay."

He looked at her and took her by the shoulders. "Kid, look at me. I need you to really think about this, alright? Because once this comes out, your life will never be the same. All eyes are gonna be on you, kiddo. The second you make a mistake the people out there are going to drag your ass through the mud. Now I know you can handle a lot, but this is a huge change, alright? I know what the pressures of those expectations from a young age can do to someone."

Dani paused for a second to consider his words.

"So I need to make sure that you know what you're getting into here. Just a year ago you were some kid from Queens who went around the city at night trying to stop crime. I'm gonna ask out this one more time: are you ready for this? Because I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did, alright kid? You can be better than I ever was, and you will be. Even for a full grown adult this can be a lot to take in. When Pepper took over, everyone hounded her. They doubted everything she did and it made her doubt everything she did. I don't want that for you."

"Thanks, Tony." She gave him a grateful smile. "I think I'm ready."

He gave her a once over before slowly nodding at her with pursed lips. "Alright, knock 'em dead kiddo." He pat her on the back and walked through the doors to the room of hungry reporters.

Dani smoothed down her dress and hair, breathing in and out while Pepper introduced her.

"Thank you, everybody, for coming down today. Recently, some news came out about the future of Stark Industries..."

Dani zoned the older woman out until she heard her name. Time seemed to be going quickly and slowly at the same time, as she waited for her cue. She knew exactly what to do and say, and yet she was more nervous than she had ever been in her life.

She had never had a problem with public speaking, quote the opposite really, being captain of the debate team but this speech was more than that. How she did here would heavily impact Tony and Pepper, the people she looked up to and respected most in the world. She wanted to do well for them. She wanted to make them proud. They had been so kind and sweet to her, Dani didn't know how she could ever repay them. All she could do was not embarrass herself and represent the company she was being trained to lead as best she could.

Hearing here cue to enter, Dani watched Happy open the doors with a smile and nod and saw dozens upon dozens of reporters in there. Way more than when she had her Spiderwoman conference.

"Uh, hi." She looked into the crowd, dozens of cameras were pointed directly at her and she could see herself on the TV at the back of the room that was broadcasting one of the news networks. People had those strange recording devices pointed at her, and microphones as close to her as the could get.

She took a deep breath in and looked to Tony who gave her a reassuring nod. She looked back to the crowds and smiled charmingly.

"Good afternoon, and thank you for joining me here today. My name is Danielle Parker, and as I'm sure you've all heard from this mornings news, I am in fact the current Heir to Stark Industries."

She knew what to do now. It was just like making her opening statement in debate. She'd done it dozens of times - and won, every time.

Dani knew how to charm the crowd, how to make them hold on to her every word - she had since she was a kid. Public speaking had always been something she excelled at, so why should this be any different?

Within two minutes, she had the entire room bursting into laughter at her wit. Mr Sutton may have exposed her secret to try and ruin her, but she was flipping the switch.

"I understand you all have concerns - and if I'm being perfectly honest, so do I. Stark Industries, for many years, has been a large part of so many people's lives including my own. But I can guarantee you that I will work tirelessly in order to improve this company and make it the best it can possibly be."

She looked out at the crowd, who were staring at her with great interest. "Mr Stark and Miss Potts chose me as their heir for a reason. There are many people whom they could have picked, yet they decided to take a chance on me - a teenaged girl from Queens. I am eternally grateful to them for their faith and belief in me, and I may be young, but listen when I tell you that I will raise Stark Industries to its full potential - of that, you have my word. Thank you."

She stepped down from the podium and looked to Tony and Pepper, who wore smiles brighter than the sun.

Pepper walked over to the podium, whispering to Dani on her way, "You did a great job."

Once stood there, she leaned down to the microphone and stated, "Thank you for your time, everybody, this press conference is now over."

~time skip brought to you by i low-key have no idea what happens next in this story so i might just skip straight to infinity war~

"You did it, kiddo. The world loves you. I don't know how, but you won them over." Tony looked at his young protegé with pride for what she's accomplished and the person she'd become. Being the narcissist he was, Tony obviously had to give some credit to himself for helping her realise her full potential but he also could not deny that Dani had played a huge part in her own development and she had really stepped up for both herself and the world.

"Well if I could win over you, everyone else is a piece of cake."

The two scientist superheroes raised their coffee mugs and said "Cheers!" While everything happened outside that lab, Dani and Tony were in their own world of working on a new mark of the Iron Man suit, just two nerds geeking out about robotics.

A/N Okay, well there you have it my 'orginal' little arc for Dani is complete. Next we move onto Infinity War, which truthfully I've only seen once so I will absolutely be rewatching when I decide to continue with this - not tonight though because it's almost midnight and I unfortunately have online school tomorrow.
Also I realize the last paragraph kinda sounds like the end of the story but I thought of it and it seemed sweet so idc.
I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for being here and putting up with my ridiculously infrequent and far apart updates and just for enjoying this story. Whether you've been here since like August 2019 when I published it or just found the book today, thank you so much for your ongoing support of Dani's journey. So yeah not long left and then Spiderwoman will be done. It might take a while though because I'm very slow and school is kinda taking a lot out of me right now. I predict probably no more than ten chapters and an epilogue and I'll finally have finished this story.
As for what happens for Dani in IW, hehe let's just say I've got a few tricks up my sleeve (some of which make no sense) but hopefully they'll work when I watch it.
Just noticed how long this author's note is damn, so I'll leave you with one more thing.
I cut my own hair because hairdressers are shut for a while and I'm just realising it gives me very Dani vibes but brunette - so if she had stuck to her natural hair colour. I'm also noticing I've very much based Dani's personality on myself which is why she's so different to how Peter was because I like to live vicariously through my characters.
If you read all this you're a real one.
Stay healthy, stay safe, WEAR YOUR DAMN MASK, and don't be a piece of shit.
also if you're reading this at a time when life is back to normal, i envy you.
also just realized we hit 50k reads holy shit.